- Highlights from My Journey Watching 666 Horror Films: The 1890s to the Early 2000s
- Highlights from My Journey Watching 666 Horror Films: The 2000s to the mid-2010s
By Draven Copeland, Managing Editor
Like I talked about in the last entry in this series, I recently completed my goal of watching 666 horror movies, because why not? I’ve learned a lot about both the genre and myself as I trucked along through the good, the bad, the terrifying, and everything in between.
Because the horror genre is so all-encompassing, including subgenres of all vibes from teenage comedy-horror to found-footage zombie horror, it allows for all kinds of experiences, encouraging artists to consistently create something new and different from the rest in contribution to the ongoing legacy of telling spooky stories. While not all horror movies are actually meant to be scary, I’ve discovered that the act of confronting fear in the safety of the movie theater or my living room can be a positive opportunity for personal growth.
Despite the argument that these movies “desensitize” their audiences – which is not entirely untrue – I’ve realized that taking these safe opportunities to learn about what scares us and why can help us to grow out of those fears andcan help us become a better person. Whatever the case, take this journey with me as I walk you through the highlights of the second set of 222 movies on the list. So, here are the winners of each category of list numbers 223-444!
Least Scary of the Bunch
Ooga Booga (2013)
Made by Full Moon Studios – the production company behind the Puppet Master and Killjoy franchises I covered in the previous entry in this series – this B-horror blaxploitation film starring another killer puppet that isn’t scary in the slightest. When the soul of a Black man killed by racist police officers is placed into an action figure, he goes on a spree of murderous vengeance to clear his name for the sake of his family. It’s actually a pretty interesting storyline, albeit bogged down by the abundance of racial stereotypes that have plagued Full Moon’s films for decades now; nonetheless, for a movie made primarily to serve as a backstory for a background character in the Evil Bong films, it’s surprisingly well thought-out.
Deathgasm (2015)
A hilarious mix of metalhead culture and Evil Dead-esque demonic zombie action, Deathgasm was a comfort watch for me when I was a young high schooler listening to Bring Me the Horizon and Motionless in White on my headphones all day long. Serving as both a satirization of ultra-violent horror movies and a love-letter to teenage metal-loving outcasts, this film feels like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World meets Night of the Living Dead with tons of references to songs by classic bands like Cannibal Corpse and Mayhem.
With a sequel finally on the way – tentatively titled Goremageddon – now is the perfect time to try this one out! I’ve never seen it taken off of free streaming services like Tubi or Plex, and it’s a fun, gory ride anytime you need one.
The Scariest Picks
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
One of the eeriest movies I’ve ever seen, primarily because of the extremely realistic documentary style, The Poughkeepsie Tapes is one of the only horror films I’ve seen that I truly believe could’ve happened in real life. Although it is fictional and scripted, the film is portrayed as a retrospective on the investigation of a prolific serial killer in New York who intricately filmed all of his crimes and left them for the police to find after he’d gotten away with everything he’d done. Although we never see him clearly – he’s either behind the camera or wearing a mask when he’s seen – the fear we see in his victims and the horrific connotations of what relatively little we see in these tapes make for a viewing experience that truly gets under your skin.
To this day, it’s one of the most psychologically terrifying movies I’ve ever seen, despite its low budget and unprofessional actors. It freaked me out so badly the first time I watched it that I actually ran up the stairs to my bedroom, which I can’t remember doing otherwise since childhood.
Lake Mungo (2008)
Another documentary-style horror film, this one is terrifying in a very different way from The Poughkeepsie Tapes – the fear brought on by Lake Mungo comes largely from the threat of the supernatural instead of horrifyingly real. The “documentary” follows a family discussing their inexplicable experiences following the sudden disappearance and death of their daughter, who drowned in the titular lake. Although the movie has plenty of creepy moments, it’s the film’s exploration of the inevitability of death and the unseen tragedies in life that really sticks with me long after watching.
Although jump -scares are generally heavily criticized by the horror fan community, the single jump scare in this film is genuinely the best one I’ve ever seen and still terrifies me even when I know it’s coming. Not only is that shot itself freaky as hell, but it’s also the meaning behind it that puts it above all the rest. I’d highly recommend this if you’re okay with a slow-burn horror that will really fuck with you even after it’s over.
Oculus (2013)
I have such nostalgia connected to Oculus, as it was the first time I watched a horror movie with a group of friends that had us all shaking after it was over. I’m happy to say it still holds up watching as an adult – the constant uncertainty caused by the combination of psychological and supernatural horror works incredibly well to make for a steadily stressful experience throughout the whole movie. Following two siblings who reunite to prove the supernatural abilities of a cursed mirror, the plot is relatively simple but with great character development that plays into the horror as the film goes on.
Written and directed by my favorite horror filmmaker, Mike Flanagan, who went on to make the amazing Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher, this film proves his unique understanding of what makes us afraid and how it connects to tragic experiences in our lives.
The Most Disturbing to Watch
Tokyo Gore Police [original title: 東京残酷警察] (2008)
Unlike the rest of the films in this section, I had an absolute blast watching this movie; the extreme gore/body didn’t gross me out, but instead was played as a dark comedy that really worked for me. In a dystopian future version of Tokyo riddled with mutants able to turn their injuries into weapons, a lone member of a specialized police force battles against them to avenge her father and bring peace to the city. There’s no shortage of the wildest character designs I’ve ever seen – from legs that become a crocodile mouth to arms that, when sliced off, becomeing a pair of chainsaws attached to yo-yo-esque strings of muscle, I can’t even scratch the surface of what crazy biomechanical contraptions come out of these people.
It’s honestly the most insane film I’ve ever seen in my life, all starting with a scene in which the main character shoots a rocket launcher into the ground and rides the recoil up to the top of a building to fight the chainsaw-arm guy. The fever-dream-like cinematography and entirely unpredictable plot are really fun if you’re interested in that sort of thing, but I could see this being extremely uncomfortable to watch if you’re bothered by gore.
A Serbian Film [original title: Srpski film] (2010)
Although I actually find artistic depth in this film, the abyss of depravity it reaches is truly something I’ve never seen from any movie other than Salò, which I covered in this same section of the last entry in this series. Following an aging adult film star who is dragged into starring in one last “art film” that would solve his growing financial problems for the rest of his family’s lives, he soon realizes that the film he’s making is not at all what he thought it was. Interrogating the film industry and its persistent need to do something more shocking than what has been done before, there’s actually some depth to the plot, although the film actually becomes what it’s criticizing in many ways.
With some of the most unbelievably graphic content I’ve ever seen in my life, I can say this is the most disturbing film I’ve ever seen. I can’t recommend it at all, and actually struggle even to talk about it, though I do think there’s some value in it as a part of the New French Extremity movement.
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
(Note: I couldn’t find a poster that didn’t unreasonably sexualize the lead character to the point that it wasn’t appropriate for the journal, which should tell you all you need to know about this movie.)
Boy, do I hate this franchise. Despite the fact that this remake and its sequels are far better movies than the original 1978 “classic” of the horror subgenre, these rape-revenge horror films continue to be grossly indulgent and are still being written and directed by men for some reason. Following the same plot of the original film, a writer is brutally assaulted by a group of men in a long and needlessly exploitative scene before returning to the town for gory revenge. The vengeance is a lot better than the original film, with Saw-inspired traps and otherwise-inflicted torture on the rapists that is admittedly enjoyable to watch, but still doesn’t make up for the unreasonably long and gratuitous assault sequence.
If you’re going to watch any of these films – and I still maintain that you shouldn’t – this is the best option in the five-film franchise as far as I’m aware, as I stopped watching them after the first three. If you’re looking for a movie in this genre and want one that’s actually good, I highly recommend Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge; it’s one of my favorite horror films ever made and actually does the genre feminist justice.
The Worst Ones
Gingerdead Man 2: The Passion of the Crust (2008)
While the first Gingerdead Man is actually pretty entertaining, as it combined the vibes of a cutesy Hallmark small-town romance movie with a gingerbread man possessed by the spirit of an executed serial killer – yes, really – this sequel loses all of the novelty and becomes just a bad puppet horror movie. You probably guessed it was a Full Moon film, and you’d be absolutely right., I don’t know why the hell I keep watching these things. The references to Passion of the Christ pretty much end with the title, although there is a brief crucifixion of the titular killer; I feel like if the movie were to lean more into that, it would’ve at least been entertaining?
The third film in the series, Saturday Night Cleaver, features time-travel and is actually pretty good as well;, this middle entry in the trilogy is just hot garbage with no fun to be had at all.
Hellraiser: Revelations (2011)
If I’m completely honest, the vibes of the Hellraiser franchise are the best thing to come out of the long-running horror hits of the 80s, and the books by franchise creator Clive Barker are even better. The combination of psychosexuality and dark-fantasy inspired demonic creatures, all done with practical effects and makeup, is something I love to see, even though the films are always hit-or-miss as they continue along.
This ninth entry in the franchise is the biggest miss of the bunch – I truly don’t understand how this passed through the hands of so many people and didn’t get scrapped along the way. The new actor for Pinhead, the lead antagonist of the franchise, is an awful replacement for the amazing Doug Bradley, the production quality feels worse than it ever has in the series before or since, and the acting/dialogue is damn near insufferable. Please just skip this and watch the far better Hellraiser: Judgement instead… or just stick with the first four and the remake, they’re the best ones anyways.
The Most Underrated Ones
Kristy (2014)
Recommended to me by my favorite uncle, Kristy is the most underrated horror film I’ve ever seen in my life. The story centers on a college student alone on campus during Thanksgiving break, being targeted by a nationally -operating, dark-web organization of murderers tasked with killing “Kristys,” a Latin name they assign to their victims that means “follower of God.” The killers live-stream their murders for their fellow members to watch, which is an extremely underused concept in horror/thrillers, and the movie is intensely stressful from start to finish – exactly what we like to see.
It’s not the greatest horror-thriller ever made, as it definitely feels like a mid-2010s indie-horror film, but the fact that I had never heard of it and never heard anyone talk about it until my uncle recommended it is absolutely crazy for a movie this good.
Last Shift (2014)
The best low-budget horror film to come out of the 2010s, and one of the best demonic cult-centered movies I’ve ever seen, Last Shift is extremely creative with its premise and scares. When a rookie policewoman is assigned a solo graveyard shift at a closing police station, she encounters increasingly aggressive, terrifying visions related to a Satanic cult that had terrorized the small town in past years. Relying on psychological terror and practical effects/camerawork to work with the low budget, the editing, acting, and scares are absolutely top-notch – this film is more effective than even the majority of big-budget horror.
Although it was remade as Malum in 2023, this version is far superior – from what I hear, at least., I never gave it a try because I’ve always decided to rewatch this one instead. If Satanic psychological terror is your thing, Last Shift is one of the best options out there, and is usually streaming on free apps, currently Tubi, Fandango, and Pluto TV.
Southbound (2015)
One of the many anthology horror films that became popular in the 2010s after the success of Trick ‘r Treat and V/H/S, Southbound is actually my favorite in the subgenre, as the separate stories are all connected by a cursed stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. A collection of road-trip horror stories that all feature some degree of surrealism and may actually be set in hell, this film doesn’t suffer from any of the low points that plague the anthology genre, as every single story is equally interesting in its own right. The design for the demon angels that are ever-present in the background is one of my favorite creature designs in all of horror, and incredibly well incorporated into the shots with CGI – something especially impressive considering the film’s low budget.
I stumbled upon this at some point in high school, as I was intrigued by the cover, and have never heard anyone talking about it before or since. It’s one I’ll always recommend to those interested in a fun short-horror collection, and I’d confidently say it’s better in consistent quality than pretty much any of the others out there.
The Best Ones
The Descent (2005)
Combining the confined monster-horror of Alien with the psychological vibes of Shutter Island and gory violence similar to Predator, this is the most grounded monster movie I’ve seen. Set in an underground cave and following a woman still reconciling with the sudden death of her husband in the most violent car crash sequence I’ve seen put to screen, her group of friends is stalked and eventually attacked by grotesque humans that have evolved over hundreds of years to survive in the eternal darkness of the cave.
I actually got the chance to watch this film in a cave a couple of years ago, solidifying it as one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen – I kept thinking I was seeing the creatures in the shadows as I made my way out. If you’re a fan of any of the films I mentioned in the last paragraph, please do yourself a favor and check this one out.
[REC] (2007)
I feel like this Spanish found-footage zombie classic is often overlooked because it came out just before zombie media became hugely popular in America, following the success of the honestly inferior works like The Walking Dead and World War Z. [REC] is honestly up there with Night of the Living Dead and MadS as my favorite zombie movies of all time, and it’s certainly the scariest I’ve seen from the subgenre. Following a television reporter covering a day in the life of a firefighter on an overnight shift that is quarantined in an apartment complex after an unknown virus outbreak begins in the building, the deterioration of the situation is shown through the handling of the camera and the growing anxiety among the group stuck in the building.
I love the use of a confined space in the zombie genre; instead of an apocalyptic threat, the virus slowly takes over the small group of unwitting citizens, making the danger feel more real and pressing instead of dystopian or fantastical. The English dub of this film is terrible, so I recommend you watch the original Spanish- language version if you check this one out.
Black Swan (2010)
Directed by one of my all-time favorite directors, Darren Aronofsky (of Requiem for a Dream and Mother! fame), it’s safe to say that Black Swan is one of his most popular films, combining body-horror imagery with psychological horror in the context of ballet. Starring Natalie Portman in her Oscar-winning role, her character faces the extremely competitive environment of professional ballet, demonizing her competition for the role of the Black Swan in her performance of Swan Lake to the point of psychosis.
Delving into the hellish demands of performance and intense competition, Black Swan is more artistically deep than most horror films, using the subtext of the plot as the main source of terror – along with the creepy cinematography, of course. If you like the vibes of Shutter Island but wish it took place on a ballet stage with Natalie Portman, this is for you.
Conclusion
Like last time, I have a few more I want to mention that didn’t make the cut for any of these categories: the extremely effective found-footage exorcism film, The Last Exorcism, the Saw-inspired serial killer horror film The Collector, and another “mockumentary” horror classic that is not talked about nearly enough, Hell House LLC. I’ve had a lot of fun sharing this exciting journey with whoever has gotten this far. With the obvious exceptions, I’d recommend any of these films if you’re looking for a fun horror movie to watch. Be sure to check out my last article if you’re looking for something older, and stay tuned forcheck out the final entry next week if you’re looking for something from the last decade!
