What better way to embrace this festival of fear than by dipping into some of the quality horror content available at SBS On Demand? There’s three horror seasons currently on offer, each providing a different taste of horror thrills - plenty of material to give your spine a grade-A shiver workout.
Modern Horror
We’re currently living through a golden age of horror movies. Forget the one-dimensional slasher films that once dominated the genre: these days if a movie wants to scare you there’s nothing they’re not going to try. And even when an old favourite is dusted off, there’s always a new spin to it: Let The Right One In gives a chilly vampire tale a coming-of-age twist, while Thirst pushes blood-sucking down a darkly sensual path. Other monsters are more contemporary: Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson, features a stylishly alienating take on a creature harvesting humans only to feel herself becoming like them, while a European holiday hook-up turns out to have actual hooks in Spring.
Let The Right One In
Sometimes the horror comes from being trapped, like in Afterparty and Cold Prey 2. Other times it comes from being hunted by a creature that can’t be stopped or reasoned with, like in It Follows. And then there are the times when the horror is inside you, waiting for the right moment to burst forth, like the notoriously shocking, yet strangely moving, French coming-of-age film Raw (some audiences actually passed out during screenings). Well, initially it’s only vegetables that are inside Raw’s lead (she’s a vegetarian); it’s when her diet moves more towards those with heartbeats that things get disturbing.
Raw
Cult Horror
Sometimes the creepiest thing a horror movie can do is give you the sense that everything is somehow not quite right. One of the best ways to soak up that feeling is by checking out a horror movie that’s stood the test of time: not only are they scary on their own terms, but their age often gives everything a slightly off-kilter feel that only makes things more unsettling. Poltergeist is already a frightening tale of a haunted house; the fact the house is now close to 40 years old only makes the whole film seem even more out-of-balance. The psychic powers and mind-bending antics of Altered States and Patrick are firmly of their time, but that makes them scary in a way they wouldn’t be if made today: back then people really believed in psychic abilities – and as with any good monster, believing in them only makes them stronger.
Poltergeist
Of course, when you’re dealing with bona fide classics you’re going to be scared no matter what. Halloween is so terrifying it single-handedly created the slasher genre (it’s never been bettered), while Night of the Living Dead gave birth to the zombie genre and a world of nihilistic fear. And The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is without doubt the scariest film ever made; it’s as close to a work of pure genius as the horror genre has seen, even if Drive-In Movie Critic Joe Bob Briggs once described it as “a film that can scare the bejabbers out of you to the point where you think it was made by a cannibal”. Rest in peace, director Tobe Hooper.
Night of The Living Dead
Comedy Horror
It’s no secret that comedy and horror can often be two sides of the same coin. Things that make us laugh can also scare us, and vice versa – just look at Pennywise the Clown from current box office hit It (well, in theory clowns are meant to be funny). No wonder then that there’s plenty of comedies that dabble in horror, and loads of horror movies that don’t mind throwing a few jokes into the mix.
Housebound
Source: SBS Movies
Fresh Meat
