Some Horror recommendations pt.5

Part One: Good For PartiesPart Two; Bad DreamsPart Three: Clever and ScaryPart Four: Fresh and Visceral

Part Five: Trauma, Grief, and Ghosts

The Dark, Justin P. Lange, 2018

Amazon Prime

"A murderous, undead girl haunts the remote stretch of woods where she was killed decades earlier. One night, she discovers a blind boy hiding in the trunk of one of her victim's cars. Her decision to let the boy live throws her solitary existence into upheaval, and ultimately forces her to re-examine just how much of her humanity her murderer was able to destroy." Beautiful, harsh, kind, and underrated.

A Dark Song, Liam Gavin, 2017

Netflix

"A heartbroken woman and recluse occultist perform an ancient, dark ritual to bring her child back to life..." This is a kind and lovely and sad and brutal little Irish horror film. 

Southbound, Radio Silence, Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, and Patrick Horvath, 2015.

"Five interlocking tales of terror follow the fates of a group of weary travelers who confront their worst nightmares and darkest secrets on a desolate stretch of desert highway." This anthology is really pretty solid and arresting, and it's better than the V/H/S anthologies for sure. 

Halloween, David Gordon Green, 2018

DGG does a beautiful job here.This is nothing like the many sequels or the horrible Rob Zombie remake. It's great to see an older female character kick ass while also dealing with PTSD and it's great to see teenagers written with respect (and realistic dialogue) rather than as just empty gore-fodder.

A Ghost Story, David Lowery, 2017

Amazon Prime

This shouldn't be on a list of "horror," but it's hard to find the right genre. It's a lyrical, slow-paced, gorgeous film.

Don't Look Now, Nicolas Roeg, 1974

"While Don't Look Now observes many conventions of the thriller genre, it focuses on the psychology of grief and the effect the death of a child can have on a relationship. Its depiction of grief has been identified as unusually strong for a film featuring supernatural plot elements."

Boys in the Trees, Nicholas Verso, 2016

"A pair of skateboarding pals (Toby Wallace and Gulliver McGrath) sort through their own visceral memories, as well as their most meaningful dreams and concerns, in this Nineties-set fantasy drama"


The Halloween Tree, Mario Piluso (story by Ray Bradbury), 1993

I love this sad and kind cartoon. "A fast-moving, eerie...tale set on Halloween night. Eight costumed boys running to meet their friend Pipkin at the haunted house outside town encounter instead the huge and cadaverous Mr. Moundshroud. As Pipkin scrambles to join them, he is swept away by a dark Something, and Moundshroud leads the boys on the tail of a kite through time and space to search the past for their friend and the meaning of Halloween. After witnessing a funeral procession in ancient Egypt, cavemen discovering fire, Druid rites, the persecution of witches in the Dark Ages, and the gargoyles of Notre Dame, they catch up with the elusive Pipkin in the catacombs of Mexico, where each boy gives one year from the end of his life to save Pipkin's. Enhanced by appropriately haunting black-and-white drawings."--Booklist


Cargo, Yolanda Ramke, Ben Howling, 2017
Netflix

"Stranded in rural Australia in the aftermath of a violent pandemic, an infected father desperately searches for a new home for his infant child and a means to protect her from his own changing nature."



Personal Shopper, Oliver Assayas, 2016

"A personal shopper in Paris refuses to leave the city until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there."