I'm addicted to Scandinavian horror. I know people who strictly like French or Australian. There is something about a culture's ability to present horror that brings something new and fresh to it.
Here's some countries and a sample of their horror films:
Scandinavian
These are harsh, barren, detached and disturbing--
"Let the Right One In" (my favorite vampire)
"Dead Snow" (my fav zombie)
"Sauna" (my fav drama/horror/historical)
"Troll Hunter" (one of my favs of all time!)
Italian
These are gothic and atmospheric, sexy and forbidden--
"Demons"
"Deep Red"
"Black Sabbath"
"Suspiria"
Japanese
These are usually legend-driven and spirit/technology related--
"Infection:
"The Ring"
"The Grudge"
"One Missed Call"
Australian
These are gritty, rough, psychologically draining, harsh, and repentant.
"Wolf Creek"
"Roadgames"
"Lake Mungo"
"Long Weekend"
French
These are fast-paced, rough, stylish, and have a twist --
"Switchblade Romance"
"In My Skin"
"Martyrs"
"Irreversible"
Honestly, if you tend to like indie horror because you're sick of the milked down crap the big studios do--definitely go foreign! It's like finding hardcore porn after watching "Red Shoe Diaries" continually for years. It kick-starts your love of horror all over again with novel approaches, new settings, and faces you don't know from a zillion other films.
I saw Troll Hunter as I was browsing through the Netflix instant queue. I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteBarry, just another example of why foreign horror movies are badass!
ReplyDeleteI am a huge Asia Argento fan. Did you ever see her film "Scarlet Diva" ? It is such a beautiful, moving, and provocative film. One of my all time favorites. And one of the best, most fucked up and disturbingly wierd American horror films that most people never heard of is "The Sentinel". It's 70's horror at its twisted and most scary best.
ReplyDelete