Science Fiction horror. There are so few movies that do it right. I don't want to see a goofy monster chasing people around a ship. I want to feel the dread and helplessness of being isolated in the emptiness of space and having to deal with some unknown horror. A big part of the fun is the mystery and the endless possibilities.
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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Firefly does a good job of this with its Blue Gloves, Jubal Early, Adelai Niska, and Reavers. They're the worst kind of monsters—human ones.
Also Twilight Zone (Peele series), Six Degrees of Freedom is fantastic existential scifi horror.
I love a good science fiction that's just beyond reality. Things that could actually happen in the real world with a not-too-unlikely dice roll.
The Last Of Us for example: a known, real-world fungal spore that takes over its hosts body (ants) and uses it to attack and spread to other potential hosts; mutates to survive earth's rising temperatures allowing it to survive in and control larger warm-blooded hosts (humans).
Thus, real zombies that aren't the result of some total fantasy fabricated in a lab that fucked up somewhere.
It's more believable making the fear more real.
Eldritch. And not just "this guy is old", but some real eldritch shit. The monster has plans and somehow a regular person just happened to get in their way. There is no hope, no reason, no chance of survival. The only thing the character can do is mitigate the damage to their psyche.
Have you seen The Void? Not too many people know about it, but I think it should be right up your alley.
Nice. I'll give it a look.
Zombies. I have 1839+ zombie movies
What's your top 3-5?
I’m a big fan of the 80s stuff so: Return of the Living Dead, Zombie, Burial Ground, Dead Heat, Night of the Comet, etc
I've actually never seen Dead Heat ot Burial Ground so have a few new to watch. Thanks.
+1 for Dead Heat, that was such a fun movie.
Body Horror.
Things going wrong with the human body are viscerally frightening.
See: David Cronenberg
Assume you're a fan of the substance from last year?
john carpenter's 'the thing' paul verhoeven's 'total recall' come to mind.
Probably eldritch/cosmic horror or something sci-fi-ish. I kind of view horror as a kind of speculative fiction where most titles are huge disappointments. I still watch a fair bit just hoping that there will be An Idea. Something that will make me re-think my life and haunt me for years like any good book does.
No body horror or crime or anything plain, cheesy, or tropey like zombies or vampires. Or torture porn of any kind.
"Situational," if that's a thing? Especially with surreal elements.
Curve short film as example. I'm existentially afraid of spillways now.
Another example which is body horror on the surface, but the situation is the real scary thing as you find out alongside the main character exactly how fucked up things are in his world and how betrayed he is by authority: Operator (link is to the 2nd in the series, but that's the one where the plot takes off)
Pop culture examples:
- Doctor Who (2005– series) S04E10 "Midnight"
- Enigma of Amigara Fault (yeah it became a meme but it fuckin got to me)
- Triangle (2009 film)
- Get Out
- Twilight Zone (Peele series) S01E06 "Six Degrees of Freedom"
Jordan Peele is a modern horror legend
Folk horror.
Generally films where the "good guys" don't win, but if I had to pick a single genre that'd be cosmic horror. In the Mouth of Madness, Event Horizon, Color out of Space, Annihilation, etc.
I love the incomprehensible horror where it's impossible to figure out their intentions or goals at all. Otherside Picnic did this, and I liked it a lot.
My favorite kind of comedy is a horror comedy! But none of those are really horrifying, they are using the horror as part of the punchline. Ready or Not and The Menu were two that I really enjoyed recently.
But my favorite kind of horror is body horror, especially if it has some kind of futuristic, alien, or supernatural effect. Something that is not part of our normal reality, possibly with menacing intent but also with something that is just doing its supernatural thing that ends up causing harm. I want horror to make me feel uneasy and full of dread in some way to find it horrifying, whether from cold and uncaring actions or the effects the thing has on the characters, as long as I am anticipating something wrong is going to happen and I am not sure what it will be. I especially love a dark or ambiguous ending!
Unfortunately this means most horror movies are enjoyable for the first two acts and then they often fall apart in the third act by either overexplaining or leaning too hard into jump scares. They lose the effect that not knowing brings, or introduce something that undermines what was causing the dread.
if you haven't seen: "the stuff" it would be right up your alley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ROA_ZEGfA (trailer)
prefer psychological horror myself- i.e. 'the shining' or 'hereditary' and such.
I have but thanks. Honestly I love so much from the 80s.
"hey! you're chocolate chip charlie!" classic.
Kind of a toss up, but zombie is up there, along with eldritch/lovecraftian. After that, it's old school slasher, which is often comedy after the first two or three in a given series lol.
ambient. one that makes you think it is there but isn't. generally not a monster but a situation slowly spiralling out of control.
imo, part of the scare is the impending danger and the signs that it will catch up to the main characters. bonus points if the characters try to fight it with a bad decision.
Snuff