Spring 2020. What a time to be alive.
Every horror fan as a list of films they wish they’d seen, but haven’t quite got around to yet. As soon as it became clear that we’d all be stuck at home for an extended period, I sprung into action: rapidly constructing a list of the horror films I wished I’d seen, always meant to see, perhaps even had on my shelf… but had never quite gotten around to. If there was ever a time to plug those gaps, this was it. I was going to take viral lemons and make horror movie lemonade.
Initially I thought this list might consist of around 25 movies or so, but it expanded so rapidly I had to cap it at 100. Relatively hefty. But with two or three months to fill (?), 100 seemed doable. The main driver for putting the list together was simply closing my eyes and accepting whatever came to mind – letting my subconscious guide the way. I got up to about 60 films just doing that. Suggestions from friends, a hunt through Letterboxd, a browse through James Marriot and Kim Newman’s The Definitive Guide To Horror Movies and a quick double-check of my shelves quickly filled in the rest.
Some of these are horror-adjacent rather than outright horror: George Romero’s Knightriders, or Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer. I’m ok with that. There are some significant films I’ve never seen that are still missing: Halloweens 4-6, Brides of Dracula, and uh… Horror Workout. But there’ll always be something to leave for another day.
And so, my mission: Stop myself going nuts in solitary isolation by watching all 100, in chronological order. A history of horror, built out of everything for which I’d never previously found the time.
As I make my way down the list, I’ll be giving my thoughts. For every period in horror I’m going to say what my previous favourite was from that period, and my favourite from the catchup.
And if you have any suggestions for films not on this list, that you think I may not have seen… please let me know!
The Lockdown Horror Catchup List
(Also available on Letterboxd here: https://letterboxd.com/andrewpope/list/horror-watchlist/)
- The Haunted Castle (1896)
- The Phantom Carriage (1921)
- The Cat and the Canary (1927)
- The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
- The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
- The Seventh Victim (1943)
- The Leopard Man (1943)
- The Body Snatcher (1945)
- Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
- Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
- The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
- Dracula (1958)
- The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
- House on Haunted Hill (1959)
- A Bucket of Blood (1959)
- The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
- Kwaidan (1964)
- The Gorgon (1964)
- Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
- Viy (1967)
- Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968)
- Hour of the Wolf (1968)
- Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)
- The Cremator (1969)
- Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
- Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
- The Devils (1971)
- Straw Dogs (1971)
- The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
- All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
- The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)
- Tales from the Crypt (1972)
- Death Line (1972)
- The Stone Tape (1972)
- The Last House on the Left (1972)
- Lisa and the Devil (1973)
- Horror Hospital (1973)
- The Crazies (1973)
- It’s Alive (1974)
- The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974)
- Alice Sweet Alice (1976)
- Martin (1977)
- The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
- The Shout (1978)
- Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
- Terror Train (1980)
- Knightriders (1981)
- My Bloody Valentine (1981)
- Basket Case (1982)
- The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
- Children of the Corn (1984)
- Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)
- The Bride (1985)
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
- Chopping Mall (1986)
- Deadly Friend (1986)
- Near Dark (1987)
- Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
- Child’s Play (1988)
- The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
- The Seventh Continent (1989)
- Hardware (1990)
- The Reflecting Skin (1990)
- Benny’s Video (1992)
- Dust Devil (1992)
- Body Melt (1993)
- The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)
- Funny Games (1997)
- Ravenous (1999)
- Ginger Snaps (2000)
- Ichi the Killer (2001)
- Sleepless (2001)
- Frailty (2001)
- Irreversible (2002)
- Bug (2006)
- Slither (2006)
- Hostel: Part II (2007)
- Inside (2007)
- Splinter (2008)
- The Loved Ones (2009)
- Insidious (2010)
- The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011)
- Antiviral (2012)
- The Purge (2013)
- The Borderlands (2013)
- Curse of Chucky (2013)
- Unfriended (2014)
- Annabelle (2014)
- Late Phases (2014)
- Baskın (2015)
- They Look Like People (2015)
- The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) (2015)
- Cat Sick Blues (2016)
- The Transfiguration (2016)
- We Are the Flesh (2016)
- Cult of Chucky (2017)
- The Night Eats the World (2018)
- After Midnight (2019)
Coming soon: thoughts on the first 9, covering everything up to 1945.
Whitlock&Pope 