In the 1950s, horror films were in the minority, or at least aimed at a very young audience. This allowed directors and screenwriters to explore the genre through experimentation. From the elaborate makeup that is at the heart of the special effects industry to new themes. Suspicious stories provided the perfect environment to create a new type of cinematic experience that transcended the confines of the studios.
In fact, a good portion of the first films with creepy themes devoted their plots to more controversial topics than it seemed at first glance. Monsters that were an allegory for racism, women facing aggressive creatures that were obviously the result of domestic violence. Gradually, the genre became a sounding board for themes that would otherwise be difficult to bring to the big screen in a conservative era. This meant that horror films were often decades ahead of their time or perfectly suited to presenting original premises.
2023 demonstrated this to the fullest. Here are five of the most original creepy-themed films released in recent months. Everything is in the Netflix catalogue. From a dictator turned into an immortal monster to terrifying children taken to a more complex level. The selection covers all the genre’s attempts to renew itself. and, as always, reaching unknown places in approach and point of view.
Count
Pablo Larraín has dedicated some of his most personal projects to the deconstruction of historical figures. This is through biographies that oscillate between fiction and chronicle. From Jacqueline Kennedy to Diana Spencer. It is important for the director that the narration is a symbolic act, covering more than just the most famous facts. As well as the context and myth surrounding the on-screen storytelling. It is therefore not surprising that his version The bloody story surrounding the dictator Augusto Pinochet is immersed in the horror genre.
But Count Going beyond that. The film takes a controversial character and turns him into a vampire in decline. Especially when he has to face his historical oblivion and the suppression of his bloody passage through the political world. Larraín then turns to the entire imagination of the immortal being par excellence: tell a mocking satire in which there is no shortage of devoured hearts and severed heads.
The final scene, which features yet another key name in world politics turned into a prowling beast, leaves the film surprising and disconcerting. But it also leaves behind a dark message. The most terrible and voracious creatures often have a human face.
Sister Death
Paco Plaza surprised in 2017 with one of the most solid horror films on the Spanish film scene. Veronicawhich details the infamous Vallecas Files, manages to tell the story of a controversial supernatural event while at the same time analyzing the day-to-day environment of a country that is changing. The result is a look at Madrid in the nineties, where paranormal activity becomes increasingly sinister.
Regarded as a rare gem for its proper use of mystery coupled with a modern tone, the feature film also opened the door to experimentation. In its version in Blue RayThe production included a comic strip that provided some of the context for the mysterious event. Narcissa’s sister (Consuelo Trujillo). A troubled blind woman with a dark past. it seemed to suggest that his story was even more complex than one might have guessed.
What Plaza brought to a whole new dimension in Sister Death. The film explores the past of a nun and combines it with religious horror in an elegant balance. From the video Knotwhich explain the record of inexplicable events, down to a unique tradition Saint Lucia. The work covers a wide spectrum of genre cinema and gives it a twisted gloss in accordance with the mythology built by the director in his previous works.
Strangers
Domestic and domestic horror were also part of the horror offerings in Netflix’s catalog this year. Nathaniel Martello-White uses the paranoia and secrets of a woman fleeing a turbulent past to create a story that is as terrifying as it is painful. “Strangers” explores the idea of how everyday routine can suddenly turn into a dark area. Especially when it gives rise to secrets of the past that are often better hidden.
This is the case Neve (Ashley Madekwe), a woman who enjoys the privilege of a quiet and serene life. However, he hides as best he can the circumstances that marked his life and are part of a long chain of cruel events. The director, who makes his debut with this film and is also its screenwriter, manages to make the story increasingly painful without deviating from the codes of horror cinema. Neve She must find a way to avoid exposure, which could ruin her future but also expose her to a hidden threat.
In its heartbreaking and disgusting ending, the film is more than just a horror story. It’s also a very hard-hitting look at prejudice, fear and loss. His greatest strength.
Tin and Tina
Creepy kids are a tricky subgenre. Moreover, they usually touch on controversial topics, which in a child’s figure become increasingly darker. It is for this reason that Rubin Stein’s film, which combines this image with religious terror, is particularly disturbing. Not only does he explore the roots of faith, fanaticism and faith become vehicles for the supernatural. At the same time, they analyze the idea of the paranormal. through human behavior and its ability to reach alarming limits, be it physical or mental.
Lola (Milena Smith) has just had an abortion and her need to be a mother is greater than any other. For this reason, taking on Tina (Carlos G. Mogollon) and Tina (Anastasia Russo) will make you ignore the danger signs. At least, that will be the case until the inevitable tragedy occurs.
Little by little, his family and entourage will fall to pieces under the influence of seemingly suggestion, and then the action of some invisible force. But the film offers no easy explanations and leaves it up to the viewer to decide what happens in the middle of the long, silent corridors of the family home. Also in Lola’s life. An element which in its final sequence makes the pain of death and the uncertainty of fear the most terrifying elements to consider.
Bayi Ajaib
The realms of unseen beings are often surrounded by mystery, underlying a seemingly ordinary story. Such is the case with this Indonesian film directed by Rako Priyanto. What begins as a story about a family trying to deal with mounting tragic tensions turns into a horror story. That is, when the youngest son in the family is possessed by a spirit full of hatred.
But what seems like a normal premise of the genre becomes even more painful when a supernatural event reveals shameful secrets. While horror lurks, the truth about the horrific event comes to light. Which ultimately becomes the answer to the mystery of what lives in the darkness and has taken a little boy hostage.
Source: Hiper Textual
