My top 5 Horror Movies (Part 2)

The last post I wrote about my favorite horror movies was in 2015. Its been almost 5 years since then and my list of favorites has now a number of new additions. Without further ado here are my favorite horror movies (in no particular order) since that last post. 

1. The VVitch

The VVitch (that's how its spelled in old english) is the debut feature of Robert Eggers who is considered one of the 'hottest' horror directors working today (along with Ari Aster). One of my top 3 horror movies of recent times, VVitch tells the story of a couple in 1630 who's youngest son disappears. Suspicions turn towards their eldest daughter who is suspected of Witchcraft. Bordering on the style of fairytales of the Grimm's brothers (not the fairytale of the Disney kind) The VVitch stays true to the period it is set in with old English dialogues and the details of the living conditions. Full of atmospheric horror and unsettling scenes, it is a Slowburn horror. The tension builds slowly and it never fully eases till the ending. It has some of the best witch depictions I have seen so far. The best scene comes quite early in the movie, the eldest daughter is playing a game of peekaboo with her youngest brother. She covers her eyes three times and uncovers it making the baby laugh, the fourth time when she opens her eyes, there's no baby. 

Why I liked it: Slowburn horror, extreme tension in the air, unsettling scenes and unexpected twists. 

2. The Wailing

The Wailing is a Korean horror movie about strange happenings in a town: people killing their family members and looking like zombies the next day. A police inspector is tasked with investigating these murders. The rural setting immediately brings to mind the classic Korean movie 'Memories of Murder' but here what looks like elements of supernatural soon turn into full scale evil. There are so many things happening in this movie its hard to keep up with it. As the story progresses it feels less like a linear narrative and more like branches of a tree with many different things all happening. Half way through the movie the police inspector calls for help in the form of a famous shaman. His entry adds more spice to the proceedings. The Wailing contains the finest exorcism scene I have seen so far in horror movies. So many unexpected things happen in this movie that somewhere along the way you know that anything can happen and even then nothing prepares you for the final twist. Thoroughly entertaining and absolute fun!  For full effect I watched this movie at 12 am in the night and it ended somewhere between 2am and 3am. Not to mention that I used to live alone at that time. Sometime after completing this movie as I was just falling asleep someone rang my doorbell. Needless to say I was sacred shitless. But I did go and after calling out 'whos there' and opening the door I saw no one at the door. I slept with my lights on for the rest of the night. The next day I found out that the guy next door had drunkenly rang my doorbell instead of the light switch which was the adjacent switch. I couldn't help but think that it had to happen on that night of all nights.   

Why I liked it: Creepy scenes, brilliant cinematography, amazing actors and a thoroughly unsettling ending. 

3. It Follows

'It follows' has a simple plot. There is a curse going on that jumps from one person to another through sex. Who ever has it, that person is followed by a strange entity which is never fully explained. This entity takes the form of other people. During the initial part of the movie the protagonist gets it from her boyfriend.  The rest of the movie is about how she tries to figure out a way to escape from it. The acting is top class but the highlight is the downright creepy soundtrack by Disasterpeace. What sets apart this movie is that unlike other entries on this list the movie is set in a town and all of it happens in everyday situations and places. 

What I liked about it: Creepy throughout with some top quality jump scares. In fact some of the best  jump scares I have seen so far. 

4. Suspiria (1977)

Suspiria is the most recent addition to this list and I was blown away in the first 10 mins itself. The first 10 mins of the movie has everything that makes me a horror fan. I have watched that scene multiple times now. The movie begins with a girl making her way out of the airport to a ballet school she has come to join in the city. As she begins to walk out, we hear the spine chilling theme music begin to play and we immediately get the sensation that something is wrong. She takes a taxi to the ballet school in the pouring rain. Here we the emotions on her face as she is coming to grips with the roughness of her situation. A single woman in a new city at night time in pouring rain. Shades of pink from the surrounding lights fall on her face as she tries to strike a conversation with the taxi driver. The red and pink color palette contribute in a huge way to make Suspiria what it is. As she begins to spend more time at the school she notices strange happenings and soon comes to a conclusion that something is wrong with her instructors. What it is I leave it for you to find out. Originally from Italy, the land of the Giallo, Suspiria is Dario Argento's masterpiece. 

What I liked about it: theme music, the setting, creepy atmosphere, opening scene, colour scheme

5. Tumbbad 

Tumbbad is a Hindi language movie which tells the story of a man searching for a hidden treasure in the village of Tummbad. Set in the Pre-independence days (before 1947) the sets and costumes are authentic, adding to the creepy nature of the movie. For me the number one criteria for a good horror movie is the atmosphere of dread it creates and Tummbad absolutely nails it in this area. There are folk elements present and more than one mystery to understand. Some characters are downright nightmarish  and many scary situations. In fact I was watching this movie with a group of friends and on at least occasions I could hear a audible of f**k go around the room. I am a huge horror fan both of stories in the written form and movies. Keeping in mind all of my horror fascination in mind and the work that I have read and watched I can safely say that Tumbbad is one of the best Hindi Horror movies ever. If I can take it a bit further it can be even be called the best Hindi horror movie ever.

What I liked about it: The authentic feel, the atmosphere of dread throughout, the crisp visuals, the multiple layers of mysterious characters.

Book Post 14 : At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

Book Name : At the Mountains of Madness 

Author : H.P. Lovecraft        

Genre : Cosmic Horror

Year of Publication : 1936

What is it about? : About a scientific expedition gone wrong in Antarctica.

How I came to read it :  A casual conversation about Horror bought back memories of a book I had bought long back but couldn't read it. It was a book of Horror stories by H.P. Lovecraft. I thought its time I start reading Lovecraft. So I picked up this Magnum opus of his.  

Did I like it? 

I loved it. For me three factors make up a good horror story. The Setup. The Buildup and The Delivery. 'At the Mountains of Madness' excels in all three. The setup is brilliant. A University team goes to the Antarctica to conduct some scientific experiments. There a sub team ventures further into the heart of the deserted land to gather some samples. The team at the base receives a message that they have found something spectacular. Something that will make all the known history and science to be rewritten. But the team fails to return and the base team sends a second team to investigate. What the second team finds there is what forms the delivery. The transition from the setup to the delivery is the buildup. All of this has been done expertly. The scale of Lovecraft's themes are gigantic. He does not scare you at an individual level but something far more deeper. 

An excerpt from an article in the Guardian in 2010 perhaps sums up best what Lovecraft is about. 

''The American writer HP Lovecraft, who died in 1937, has been called "the man who scares Stephen King". A writer of horror and science fiction, Lovecraft's guiding principle was that the universe is incomprehensible and terrifyingly alien, and that there somewhere exists an abyss which, should we have the misfortune to gaze into it, will rob us for ever of our sanity. Many of his books feature a grimoire (my favourite word ever) called the Necronomican, which was written eons ago by a man called Abdul al-Hazred in Sana'a, Yemen. Spooky, eh? Lovecraft isn't easy to read; his language is archaic and convoluted, and you might not know half the time what he is going on about.''

True, Lovecraft is a bit hard to read but therein lies the beauty. It is like the process of diffusion of a gas in a room. The idea of what is happening spreads slowly in your mind like the smell of a perfume in a closed room. By the time the idea is full established in your mind you realize the horror of it all. Lovecraft is a master! And 'At the Mountains of Madness' easily climbs into my list of favorite horror books.  

An Unearthly Ride.

This is not a true story.
Being a huge horror fan I thought why not write a story of my own.This is a small attempt.The setting of the story is true and this trip did take place in Chhattisgarh last year.But none of this supernatural stuff happened.But there are a few things true.

                                                                           Part 1

How did I get myself into this? That was the question swirling in my mind as I was drinking a coke sitting in a ramshackle shop in a small village in Chhattisgarh. The sun was just above the horizon slowly making its way down. Even then my shirt was already wet with perspiration and was sticking onto my body making me feel very uncomfortable.But more than that the thought of the journey ahead was worrying me.I was on a bike ride from Bilaspur, a city, to Tamnar, a remote village which is where I worked in a Power plant.

Now there were two ways I could get from Bilaspur to Tamnar. One was the main road which took a longer route and was used by many. The other was a remote route which passed through the jungles of Korba. These jungles had a reputation of being infested with elephants and bears.I had heard many stories about people encountering elephants and bears.Some people were lucky, they just got only a glimpse of the animals while they were crossing the road but others not so much.There are cases where people have even died.Naturally I was worried.I was through half my journey and right now was sitting in the last proper village before the actual thick jungles started.

My actual plan had been to start in the afternoon and reach my room in Tamnar by evening before darkness sets in. But my being unfamiliar with the narrow village roads and because of a number of wrong turns I had covered only half the distance.The other half was through the jungle and I did not intend to cover it after dark. The sun was setting as I sat there pondering over the journey ahead.There was one more small detail which kept gnawing at my mind. There was a particular stretch of road right at the end of the route which had a reputation of a different kind. There were rumours of it being haunted.Most of the people use it only during the day and people who even think of using it after dark do so only in pairs.Even in pairs there were a couple of stories, recalling ome such story sent a chill down my spine.

Two people on a bike were going through that stretch after a late night party at a dhaba. Normally they wouldn't have dared to take that route but on that particular night a combination of factors, chief among them a copious amount of alcohol made them take that route. As they were passing through a particularly sharp curve, an oncoming bike with high beams made them lose their balance and both of them tumbled on to the field beside the road. Their bike fell on its side and screeched to a halt a few metres ahead. Its headlight flickered for a while and then shut off. Total darkness now. The oncoming biker, god knows who that was, did not stop and was away on his/her/it's way. There were no villages on that route.And because of its reputation there was no one to be seen. One of the guys now barely conscious lifted his head off the ground only to see a small red glowing ball behind the bushes which lay directly ahead of him.As he was trying to make sense of what he was looking at, he saw a sight he wont forget for the rest of his life. As he was focusing on the ball to make out what it was, slowly as if a screen was being lifted in front of it, another similar red ball appeared beside the first one. It took 5 seconds for the guy to realize that what he was looking at was a pair of eyes.Somehow he knew those eyes belonged to no man or animal. With a huge scream he leapt back and crawled on to the road.Somehow in the darkness he lifted his friend and the bike and managed to make his was back to the nearest town. He spent the next two days at home with high fever. His friend was lucky.He didn't see anything.

The fact that I had to pass through the same road was making me very nervous to the point I was on the verge of deciding to go back to Bilaspur. But I had to report for duty the next day and I had to reach home. I always prided myself on the fact that I could lay good plans. This particular one just backfired massively. After weighing my options I finally I decided I had no other feasible alternative but to press forward on the route. I thought Ill take the chance.Little did I know what I was getting into.

To be continued...

Horror.One of my Favourite genres. Part2

Continuing from my last post.
     Along with horror stories I have been watching horror movies since my school days.It started with Aahat, Sony's horror series.The best thing about Aahat was its theme music and the opening animated sequence. Zee horror show was another show which too had an equally chilling theme music.The skull at the start of the show used to terrify me more than the show itself.

     The following movies are some of my favourites.I like psychological horror which involves little to almost no gore.Slasher movies don't interest me and I don't bother watching them.

-Ring,the Hollywood remake.

Ring was a great movie which reignited my interest in horror.Its ending remains one of my most favourite horror moments.After 'Ring' I started looking for horror movies.

-The wicker man by Robin Hardy

This was the most recent horror movie I saw and this is a horror movie like no other.Other horror movies have normal events taking place and then things turn for the worse.But in 'the wicker man' from the beginning you sense a undercurrent of foreboding.And there are no sudden sound effects,everything is shown so casually and normally.And yet as time passes by you can feel the helplessness and the desperation of the lead character.This film is not easy to forget.

-The Exorcist by William Friedkin

The story of an exorcism of a young girl has some spine chilling moments.The spider walk down the stairs was one such.The theme song tubular bells provided the perfect atmosphere for the movie.I was once narrating a horror story to a friend and along with I was humming this music in between words.After a few minutes into the story he stopped me exclaiming that I was unnerving him.

-The shining by Stanley Kubrick 

This has a superb premise.The sense of isolation is one of many factors of a horror movie and shining excels in it.The three characters are shut off from the world and the effects of the isolation slowly start showing in the main lead.Jack Nicholson's acting adds to the already tense setup.

-The Thing by John Carpenter

Again isolation plays a main role here.The research station in the Arctic plays a perfect part as the background of this masterpiece. 

-Alien by Ridley Scott

The opening sequence where we first see the spacecraft and then slowly the different parts of it remains one of my Favourite opening sequences.The stillness and the lifelessness of the craft provide a prelude to the coming events.
  

-The Blair Witch Project

 It remained with me for a long time.The whole premise of a group of students documenting a trip to a haunted forest to investigate the rumours of a witch was very interesting.The camping scene was truly terrifying.Nothing is seen except the expressions of the actors as they listen to some unusual sound coming from the forest around them.When I was camping in the hills of Uttarakhand all I could think of during the night was this movie.

-The Birds by the great Alfred Hitchcock. 

 Birds will never look the same again after you see this movie.Back home we have a lane which  is lined with trees on both sides and every evening crows crowd the branches and caw continuously. The last time when I was walking there all I could think of were the birds of the movie 'Birds' It was a bit unnerving.I chuckled to myself thinking of the effect the movie was having on me.

-The sixth sense by Night Shyamalan.
The story of a boy who could see dead people has a scare a minute.The twist in the ending is one of the best ever.

Some other movies which I like

-The Village by Night Shyamalan

-The Others by Alejandro Amenabar

- Jaws by Steven Speilberg

-Night of the Living Dead by George Romero

-Ju on.The Grudge by Takashi Shimuzu

-Scream  by Wes Craven

-Session 9 by Brad Anderson

-Signs by Night Shyamalan

Horror.One of my Favourite genres. Part1

What makes horror stories so interesting?
Is it in the chills that pass through your spine.Or in the electric feeling that you get on your skin.Or maybe because of the scares it provides.Or maybe simply in the atmosphere of paranormal. The supernatural,that realm that lies on the border of reality and fiction,that space whose existence is acknowledged by some and scoffed at by others,has an undeniable truth to it that it creates an interest. Doesn't matter if you like it or hate it, it elicits a strong reaction nevertheless.I was drawn to horror stories right from my childhood and used to read a lot of them.I like the atmosphere created in those tales of terror.And they make the imagination run wild. Horror stories have always fascinated me.
         I used to read a lot of them during my school days.Some of the earliest stories that I have read are some of my favorite too.It began with Stories of Algernon Blackood and Ambrose Bierce. Blackwood's 'Wendigo' was one of the reasons I got lured to this genre.The atmosphere of suspense and mystery it creates is unmatched.The bleak climate,the swamps of Canada,the cold,a group of hunters and a mysterious creature.The story stayed with me for a long time.It made me hungry for more.And more I did find.Ambrose Bierce's 'The Damned Thing' again about an unknown being was an excellent read.
         My favorite compilation of horror stories was a book by Ruskin Bond 'Ghost Stories of the Raj' It had stories of British and their supernatural experiences with the natives. Though not any one story stands out it is the combination that sends the reader back to the days of the British Raj and their thatched bungalows,lonely forest rest houses and hunting lodges.It is one of the reasons I have a fascination for the forest rest houses left by the British in the jungles of India.
         And then there are stories by Edgar Allan Poe.I read a few,among them 'The pit and the Pendulum' stands out. More than the stories I liked his horror-poem 'The Raven'. For all the readers I suggest you read it after 2pm in a lonely cottage somewhere in the middle of a jungle.The essence of the poem will flow out then.Stories of the master of horror H.P.Lovecraft I have read a few.His creation Cthulhu has become an Internet sensation lately.I still have to read a lot of his stories.
        And then there are stories whose moments got imprinted in my mind but I don't remember the name of the story or the author.Like the one about a young man and his young lady friend he makes across the street.The twist in the ending is one of the best I have read.This particular story was a big hit at many storytelling sessions we used to have back in our school days.And the one about a hunting expedition gone wrong due to a supernatural sighting in an abandoned hunting lodge.Or the one about an out of the world object found in the ruins of a house in the jungles of Burma.I am still trying to find these stories.I hope to find the names someday.
My interest has not subsided even now and am still reading horror stories.

Apart from the above mentioned stories the following are some of my favourite stories
-'The monkeys Paw' by WW Jacobs
-'The most dangerous game' by Richard Donnel
-'The country of the blind' by HG Wells
-'The Signal Man' by Charles Dickens
-'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce
-'The Willows' by Algernon Blackwood.

Look out for my next posts on Horror movies and Horror story telling sessions we used to have.