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Horror 101: Exploring the Cozy Gothic Scares of Hammer Horror

When I finally started watching Hammer horror in my late teens, I fell in love with these films, an infatuation that only grew as I ventured deeper into the company’s vaults. But talking about them to other horror fans in the U.S., I’m usually met with blank expressions. Some folks seem vaguely aware of Hammer and its biggest stars, sheepishly admitting they’ve never seen any of the films before asking, “Where do I start?” That’s an important question, because picking the wrong entry point with Hammer can be off-putting. Never fear, though: you’ve got a well-traveled guide to accompany you on this journey. On this month’s Horror 101, take my hand as we travel through the hallowed halls of Hammer to find the right starter film for you — and explore why Hammer is still synonymous with Gothic horror excellence.

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Growing up in the UK as a kid obsessed with movies, two titans of the British film industry were on my radar from a very young age: James Bond and Hammer Film Productions. They were names that constantly cropped up in the TV guide, and while I associate the former with lazy Sunday afternoons spent on the couch with my dad, the latter held an air of mystery for me for years, its film synopses read and re-read, conjuring feverish imaginings in my young mind.

All about Hammer horror

When I finally started watching Hammer horror in my late teens, I fell in love with these films, an infatuation that only grew as I ventured deeper into the company’s vaults. But talking about them to other horror fans in the U.S., I’m usually met with blank expressions. Some folks seem vaguely aware of Hammer and its biggest stars, sheepishly admitting they’ve never seen any of the films before asking, “Where do I start?”

That’s an important question, because picking the wrong entry point with Hammer can be off-putting. Never fear, though: you’ve got a well-traveled guide to accompany you on this journey. On this month’s Horror 101, take my hand as we travel through the hallowed halls of Hammer to find the right starter film for you — and explore why Hammer is still synonymous with Gothic horror excellence.

What are the origins of Hammer horror?

Hammer was founded in 1934 by music hall comedian William Hinds, better known by his stage name, Will Hammer. The following year, Hinds partnered with former cinema owner Enrique Carreras to form Exclusive Films, which would distribute Hammer’s output. A handful of movies came out of this early period, including one starring Bela Lugosi (1935’s The Mystery of the Mary Celeste), but a slump in the British film industry quickly caused Hammer to close its doors. They wouldn’t reopen until 1946, when the company began capitalizing on the demand for so-called “Quota Quickies,” films that would satisfy the then-requirement for UK cinemas to show material of domestic origin.

Hammer certainly wasn’t the only player in this arena. But where other film production companies of the day have fallen into obscurity, Hammer became a household name due in part to its uncanny knack for identifying opportunity. This began with adaptations of popular radio serials, then television shows, leading to Hammer’s fateful 1955 film The Quatermass Xperiment, released in the U.S. as The Creeping Unknown.

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An adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s popular BBC sci-fi serial The Quatermass Experiment, Hammer’s Xperiment is a story of space exploration gone wrong. The film not only leaned into the rising popularity of sci-fi horror in the 1950s, but strategically dropped the “E” from the source material’s title to cash in on the British Board of Film Censors’ new X certificate. And X-rated it was: The Quatermass Xperiment features a haunting performance by Richard Wordsworth as an astronaut gradually mutating into a grotesque entity, enhanced by horrific body horror effects from makeup artist Phil Leakey.

Hammer had, somewhat to its surprise, struck gold. Up until now, the company had largely produced spy thrillers, comedies, and noir, but the positive response to The Quatermass Xperiment suggested that audiences were hungry for horror. To test the theory, Hammer turned its attention to an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.

This was by no means a sure bet. By the 1950s, the Universal Monsters were looking a little toothless, having largely given up scares in favor of Abbott and Costello comedies, so there was no guarantee that audiences would be interested in a return to the creaking castles and laboratories of yore. What’s more, Hammer was wary of getting sued by Universal, so it couldn’t even fall back on a nostalgic look for its creature.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Rather than falling back on the iconic square-headed monster design that audiences were no longer scared of, Leakey created a creature that is almost as shocking today as it must have been to viewers in 1957, complete with rotting, misshapen flesh and one blind, milky eye. Combined with Hammer’s last-minute decision to shoot in color for the first time in the company’s history, making its house blood — the brilliantly red “Kensington Gore” — truly pop, this makeup job would ensure that The Curse of Frankenstein was met with much the same reaction that the Terrifier films are today. Critics called it gruesome and revolting, but audiences couldn’t look away.

What makes a Hammer horror film?

With The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer had created a template that it would use to dominate the British horror film industry over the following decade. This included hiring director Terence Fisher, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, and cinematographer Jack Asher who would collectively help shape the feel of Hammer horror, one that balanced surprisingly lush production value with frugal budgets and tight turnaround times.

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But it was the two actors recruited to play the titular scientist and his creation who would become the faces of Hammer horror: Peter Cushing, the gentleman of horror, and the indomitable Christopher Lee.

By the 1950s, Cushing was already a household name in Britain thanks to his award-winning work on live TV. A fan of James Whale’s 1931 adaptation for Universal, Cushing was keen to appear in a Frankenstein film and, recognizing the potential for a TV star to lure audiences back to the theater, the ever-savvy Hammer was only too happy to oblige.

Lee, on the other hand, was a complete unknown. After a post-war stint hunting Nazis, he had spent a decade trying to break into the industry but was repeatedly told he was too tall to be a leading man. His intimidating height and experience with mime made him perfect for Frankenstein’s mute creation, which he portrays with a tremendous amount of pathos, but he was capable of so much more.

Lee’s big break came when Hammer cast him as the eponymous Count in its 1958 follow-up, Dracula (retitled Horror of Dracula for its U.S. release). Injecting an edge of brooding, sexy danger into the film that has inspired countless imitators, Lee would reprise the role of Dracula in six sequels for Hammer — often facing off against Cushing as various members of the Van Helsing bloodline — and is widely regarded in the UK as the definitive bloodsucking baddie.

After becoming fast friends on the set of The Curse of Frankenstein, Cushing and Lee would go on to star in dozens of Hammer horror films, sometimes together and sometimes apart, as well as numerous films for rival company Amicus. But they’re not the only familiar faces you’ll start to see as you explore the house of Hammer. Ralph Bates, André Morell, and Star Wars’ David Prowse pop up frequently, along with a slate of memorable leading ladies, including Barbara Shelley, Veronica Carlson, and Ingrid Pitt.

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By building a stable of actors, writers, directors, and production personnel that it reunited time and again, Hammer established a distinctive look and feel for its films that, once you’ve watched a few, is not unlike slipping into a warm bath. Hammer horror films are, above all, cozy. But that doesn’t mean they can’t offer any thrills today.

Where should you start with Hammer horror movies?

Hammer is perhaps best known for its Dracula movies, and this series remains an excellent entry point. While some of the sequels are certainly better than others, 1960’s The Brides of Dracula is — for my money — one of the best (and queerest) films that Hammer ever made. Despite the title, it is one of only two films in the series that Lee did not star in, but actor David Peel is an admirable replacement as the polyamorous Baron Meinster in his swishy lavender cloak.

Lee returned for the series’ third entry, 1966’s Dracula: Prince of Darkness, giving a deliciously menacing performance despite being so dissatisfied with the script that he refused to speak any of his dialogue. He would grow weary with the role and the typecasting it entailed over the years, but that never stopped him from giving it his all. Later entries like Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) are delightfully silly if you stick with the series, with the Lee-less final film —The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) — even adding copious martial arts.

After you’ve had your fill of vampires, The Curse of Frankenstein is a personal favorite, though it admittedly takes a little while to get going. Cushing’s icy performance as Victor Frankenstein is something of a rarity, with the actor usually playing the kindly hero to Lee’s wicked villains, and the film’s visual influence on The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) is striking. Cushing resurrected Frankenstein in every sequel except the soft reboot (1970’s The Horror of Frankenstein), with the very last — 1974’s Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell — holding up especially well, despite Cushing’s regrettable wig.

Hammer’s other classic monster movies are also worth a watch, though perhaps not as your first course. The Mummy (1959) boasts another superb mute performance from Lee and some of Hammer’s most lavish production design, but the uneven pacing and overreliance on flashbacks bog it down. The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), meanwhile, marks the first starring role of Oliver Reed, playing Hammer’s only lycanthrope.

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Once you’ve gotten a taste for Hammer’s style, consider taking a deeper dive into the company’s catalog with these top picks:

  • For zombies: Plague of the Zombies (1966). Two years before George Romero’s landmark Night of the Living Dead (1968), Hammer was experimenting with an undead epidemic in rural Cornwall. Like many early zombie movies, this one involves voodoo rather than biting and brains, but you can see the bones of the soon-to-be zombie craze lurking in his atmospheric chiller.
  • For satanic panic: The Devil Rides Out (1968). Good luck finding it streaming, but this cult Hammer film is one of director Terence Fisher’s best. Lee brings his usual suave flair to the Duc de Richleau as he faces off against the leader of a devil-worshipping cult (Rocky Horror’s Charles Gray). For more of Lee playing the good guy for once, check out 1964’s The Gorgon.
  • For lesbian vampires: The Karnstein Trilogy, consisting of The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for a Vampire (1971), and Twins of Evil (1971). Twins has the least lesbianism but makes up for it with a razor-sharp performance from Cushing as the puritanical Gustav Weil. For more queer thrills, albeit of a somewhat problematic nature, 1971’s Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde delivers a campy, gender-bending take on the classic source material.
  • For sci-fi scares: The Quatermass Xperiment. Hammer’s first foray into horror largely holds up, and the moody black-and-white look serves as an interesting contrast to the vibrant Eastmancolor that Hammer is known for. Quatermass 2 (a.k.a Enemy From Space) from 1957 is a little rockier, but Quatermass and the Pit (1967) is well worth a watch.
  • For mystery, my dear Watson: Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). The first Sherlock Holmes adaptation to be shot in color, Hammer’s interpretation of the beloved novel ramps up the horror elements, though its hell hound leaves something to be desired. However, Cushing makes for a wonderful Holmes and would don the deerstalker multiple times throughout his career.

What happened to Hammer horror?

They say all good things must come to an end, and for Hammer, that end appeared nigh in the 1970s. The horror landscape was undergoing some seismic changes, and films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) made Hammer’s brand of Gothic terror look positively quaint.

Hammer struggled onward for a few more years, taking advantage of Britain’s loosening censorship rules to amp up the sex and violence, but it was too late. After the weak Lee vehicle To the Devil a Daughter (1976) and the Hitchcock remake The Lady Vanishes (1979), the company made the shift to the small screen with the anthology series Hammer House of Horror (1980) and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984), before shuttering its windows, seemingly for good.

But much like the vampire that helped build it, you can’t keep Hammer down for long. In the early 2000s, the company began to stir in its coffin, starting with the release of Beyond the Rave on MySpace (remember that?) in 2008. Over the next few years, Hammer would remake the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In, cast a fresh-off-of-Harry-Potter Daniel Radcliffe in The Woman in Black (2012), and even welcomed Lee back into the fold one final time for The Resident (2011).

And it’s still going. In 2023, Hammer was acquired by theater producer John Gore, who states on the company’s website that he aims to “celebrate and preserve the unmatched legacy of Hammer and to usher in a new era of storytelling that captivates audiences worldwide.” The first film under Gore’s watch, 2024’s Doctor Jekyll, isn’t quite the return to form that fans like me hoped for, but the bewitching performance from Eddie Izzard is worth the price of admission alone.

What’s next for Hammer? At the time of writing this, it’s hard to say: Hammer hasn’t announced any new projects since the release of Doctor Jekyll. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that Hammer never stays dead for long — so it’s probably best to carry some garlic on your person, just in case.

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Samantha McLaren is a queer Scottish writer, artist, and horror fanatic living in NYC. Her writing has appeared in publications like Fangoria, Scream the Horror Magazine, and Bloody Disgusting, as well as on her own blog, Terror in Tartan. If she's not talking about Bryan Fuller's Hannibal or Peter Cushing, she's probably asleep.

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Misc

8 Iconic Slasher Movie Final Girls Who Have Sex And Survive

There is a plethora of final girls, even in iconic slasher movies, who do have sex and get to live. Some come from movies that are intentionally bucking this trope, and some star in movies that came out during the time when the trope was being firmly cemented. Here are nine of them. They are ranked, because it’s a list, but very loosely. I organized them mainly by how much them having sex figures into the story or feels like it “matters” in a historical context. Here are a list of eight final girls who have sex.

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For “Fatal Attraction” month at Horror Press, I really felt that we needed to further investigate the “sex = death” trope in modern horror cinema, particularly slasher movies. The connection between sex and death in slashers, and virginity and survival, has been discussed by some of our leading academics, from Carol J. Clover to Randy Meeks. And it’s true that many slasher movie final girls are virgins. Or at least, that their survival is linked to them not being distracted by indulging in the same base desires for hooking up, smoking dope, etc. as everyone else around them. Frankly, I think that an ability to pay attention is really their strongest attribute on average, but that’s not fun enough to write essays about, I guess.

Anyhoo, there is a plethora of final girls, even in iconic slasher movies, who do have sex and get to live. Some come from movies that are intentionally bucking this trope, and some star in movies that came out during the time when the trope was being firmly cemented. Here are nine of them. They are ranked, because it’s a list, but very loosely. I organized them mainly by how much them having sex figures into the story or feels like it “matters” in a historical context.

8 Horror Movies Where the Final Girl Has Sex

#8 Jade Kincaid in Bride of Chucky (1998)

I’ve tried to limit this list to characters who have explicitly had sex that is either part of the narrative or directly addressed in the dialogue. To my recollection, neither of these things are true of Jade, but she gets married to her horny boyfriend then they wake up in bed together in the Niagara Falls hotel, and they seem mighty comfortable with the amount of closeness that they’ve been able to share on their deadly road trip, even with Chucky and Tiffany breathing down their necks. So I’m gonna count her.

#7 Jess in Black Christmas (1974)

Jess came into the picture a good half-decade before the slasher rules were really codified, which is why she’s ranked a little lower. And frankly, the implications of the final scene make it hard to claim that she “survived” the movie. But she’s still a final girl in an iconic proto-slasher, and her storyline (and one of the main reasons that her boyfriend is a suspect) involves her arguing about wanting to get an abortion. Zygotes don’t just come out of nowhere, y’all.

#6 Jessica Kimble in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Jessica Kimble’s situation is a double whammy. Not only does she have a baby with her ex, the total drip Steven, her horrible new boyfriend Robert later brags on the phone about having had sex with her after stealing her mother’s body from the morgue. She may not know how to pick ‘em, but she is sexually active and is one of the finalest final girls there is, considering she sends Jason Voorhees (and the entire Friday the 13th franchise) straight to hell.

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#5 Laurie Strode in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)

Now, this is notable because Laurie Strode is one of the characters who first cemented the “virginal final girl” trope, whether rightly or wrongly. There’s something of a question as to whether she’s actually a virgin or if she’s just better at babysitting than her terrible friends. But her triumphant return in Halloween H20 proves once and for all that she has had sex with, well, somebody, because she spit out a teenage kid with terrible bangs in the meantime. I secretly hope the father is Jimmy from Halloween II, but if wishes were fishes, every Halloween fan could open a sushi restaurant.

#4 Maxine Minx in X (2022)

Maxine Minx stars in a porno movie and survives Pearl’s murderous onslaught so hard that the sequel is named after her. Now that’s power!

#3 Alice Johnson in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

In addition to the Dream Master’s unborn child being central to the storyline of the sequel, the conception of said child is depicted in the opening credits, which is mainly just shots of writhing flesh that are so close up you have no idea what body part you’re actually looking at. But if that’s not sex, I couldn’t possibly begin to tell you what it is.

#2 Ginny Field in Friday the 13th Part 2 (1980)

Ginny Field hooking up with her boyfriend Paul (while the peeping Crazy Ralph gets garroted with barbed wire, natch) in the early going of the movie is important in a variety of ways. First of all, Friday the 13th was the franchise that most dominated the pantheon of 1980s slasher filmmaking, cementing the rules of the slasher formula more than any other group of movies. The fact that one of their earliest final girls more or less explicitly had sex just goes to show that the trope already had cracks in its foundation from the beginning. And OK, technically, she just makes out super hard with Paul, and then it cuts to the next morning, but she’s surprised when she wakes up, and he’s not still in bed with her. The fact that they had sex is simple cinematic language, babyyyyyyy!

The second is that, not only is she a final girl who has sex, she is one of the best final girls out there, using every tool at her disposal to protect herself from Jason: her intellect, her strength, her skill with tools, and so much more.

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#1 Sidney Prescott in Scream (1996)

Scream is the movie that helped fully cement the “virginal final girl” trope with Randy’s big speech in front of a paused Halloween, but it simultaneously turns that trope on its head by having iconic final girl Sidney not only have sex, but (spoiler) have sex with one of the killers! And not only did she survive Scream, she survived Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, the other Scream, and… I guess we’ll have to see about Scream 7, but the gal has a hell of a track record.

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Misc

10 Romantic, Dread-Inducing Movies You Can Watch On Shudder This Valentine’s Day

Love is in the air, and all the romantic horror movies you could want are online. More specifically, they’re on Shudder! As a fanatic for the streaming platform who has had quite a few movie nights saved by its catalog serving up something wild and weird to delight the senses (shoutout the boatloads of weird old Italian horror on there), Shudder can also be your hero when spending time with the person you fancy. No matter how deep into a relationship or how new it is, there are quite a few films to suit you and your significant other this Valentine’s Day. So I’ve compiled a short list of the best horror movies on Shudder for that special date night. These are the 10 best horror movies for you date night!

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Love is in the air, and all the romantic horror movies you could want are online. More specifically, they’re on Shudder! As a fanatic for the streaming platform who has had quite a few movie nights saved by its catalog serving up something wild and weird to delight the senses (shoutout the boatloads of weird old Italian horror on there), Shudder can also be your hero when spending time with the person you fancy.

No matter how deep into a relationship or how new it is, there are quite a few films to suit you and your significant other this Valentine’s Day. So I’ve compiled a short list of the best horror movies on Shudder for that special date night.

10 Best Horror Movies for Your Next Date Night

Audition (1999)

Ah, here we have a lighthearted comedy about a man who auditions for a woman to be his wife but realizes he’s looking for love in all the wrong places!

If you know what Audition is actually like, that was funny. But if you aren’t aware, please don’t take that opening line seriously. Directed by Takashi Miike, a man whose name is branded on Japanese cinema’s back with a hot iron because of his transgressive filmmaking, Audition was one of those films I would see regularly included on “Disturbing Horror” lists back in the late 2010s, and it certainly lives up to that reputation with some of the absolutely nauseating visuals it has on offer. But its cinematography is very well-rounded and garners some pretty interesting shots with its camera work when it isn’t showing you its more spine-tingling content.

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This one is on the list as a staunch reminder for all our Horror Press readers who are as single as a pringle this Valentine’s Day: there are much worse things you can endure than being alone.

Frankenhooker (1990)

Between Nosferatu in 2024, and the forthcoming Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein in 2025, gothic horror that is red with romantic blood is proudly making a comeback. There’s a warmth in their cold nature, a world-ending and monstrous expression of love that captures the grand emotions of the human experience.

Frankenhooker is not that. It is purely fun, goofy, slapstick horror about a guy giving a bunch of sex workers super-crack that makes them explode, and then rebuilding his girlfriend who died in a lawnmower accident with their body parts. Frank Henenlotter permanently put himself in my short list of best directors of all time with this film just because of how fluidly and perfectly he made this horror comedy work with such a small budget and the many constraints he, the cast, and the crew were working under. So, if there’s anything this film represents on this list, it’s the intimate bond between a creator and their creation, between artist and their art.

Which, again, is kind of hilarious given the premise of the film. But it still counts!

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Tragedy Girls (2017)

If you’ve ever seen the meme about that gay ancient Egyptian couple who are dubbed “history’s first roommates”, that’s kind of how I feel a lot of people watched Tragedy Girls. There’s a clear implied romance here people! This horror comedy is about a pair of friends who frame a serial killer for their own series of murders, planning to capitalize on the deaths of their targets to grow a social media following.

It has some pretty heavy queer subtext in it, led by Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp as the charismatic duo of Sadie and McKayla; they deliver a lot of the movie’s funniest lines, and deserve way more credit than they’ve gotten for this film. Supporting performances from Kevin Durand and Jack Quaid round out a phenomenal cast. All in all, it’s a fun little film that needs more acknowledgment.

She Is Conann (2023)

Queer subtext, meet queer fantasy horror that is so blatant it’s basically screaming that subtext is for cowards like Garth Marenghi. It’s hitting subtext with its muscle car and then plunging a bastard sword into its chest.

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One of my personal favorites from Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Bertrand Mandico’s take on the sword and sorcery protagonist who shall not be named for copyright reasons, is a trip of a ride through time and space. It’s about unrequited love between a swordswoman and the dog demon haunting her, traveling through Conann’s life (where several different actresses depict her, each bringing a unique flash to their roles). It backs up that weird premise with some very weird visuals, including a grotesque & gourmet finale you’ll need to sit down for and feast your eyes on.

Villains (2019)

This film had me smiling from the jump, and it’s not just because it’s a black comedy thriller about a pair of bumbling amateur thieves running into a nightmare situation they never could have seen coming. It’s mainly because Maika Monroe and Bill Skarsgård have perfect onscreen chemistry, which synthesizes with their already excellent comedic timing.

Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick, who play opposite them as the two child kidnapping antagonists of the film, also aren’t anything to scoff at since they bring their creepy couple a-game to the table. The movie has some twists on offer, and a bittersweet ending to counter all the boxed chocolates you’ll be snacking on while you watch.

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Mayhem (2017)

Speaking of on-screen couples I love, Mayhem is here! Again! I feel like I’ve recommended this film 3 or 4 times across articles on this site. But I wouldn’t be doing that if I didn’t think this was absolutely positively Joe Lynch’s best work.

People get infected with a virus that removes all their inhibitions, usually resulting in bloody brawls as people succumb to their darkest whims and wants. But with this particular quarantine, a recently fired lawyer at a consulting firm and a woman out to get her loan extended become unlikely allies as they realize they can literally murder their way to the top of the building to get what they want without any legal consequences.

Samara Weaving and Steven Yeun are mind-meltingly great together in this, and they both pull it off as unwitting action horror protagonists who will fight and claw to get what they want. They’re also plain cute together and have a whole romcom subplot going throughout this, so that’s why I am also putting it here.

Perfect movie, no notes!

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Possession (1981)

On the other end of the relationship spectrum is Possession, the most stressful breakup film you will ever watch, and it really doesn’t ever let up since I was still very anxious after the credits had rolled.

It is not cute, it is not fun. It’s a film about a man whose wife suddenly leaves him and his son, the raw wounds of their separation are salted when he finds out his child’s teacher looks exactly like his wife. Things get more confusing from here as the characters enter a downward spiral of pure madness, involving bizarre creatures that turn out to be devious doppelgangers.

It’s through and through an angry film expressing the malcontent of its director, Andrzej Żuławski, who was grappling with feelings of his divorce from his own wife at the time. It’s the kind of raw and emotional filmmaking that you can only pull from a heavy time in your life and sculpt into something breathtakingly frightening. Get ready for a movie that will make you grateful your relationship isn’t that bad, and an ending shot that will punch you straight in the mouth.

Uh, lets maybe get a less depressing film up on the list to mellow things out huh?

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Mother, May I? (2023)

This is quite literally the opposite of what I requested! This film almost made me cry! Which is why it’s on here. One of the less talked about Shudder offerings in general, this film is one of three Kyle Gallner releases from 2023, which sort of pre-emptively got my seal of approval before I even watched it. Because Kyle Gallner can do no wrong, he has the back-to-back-to-back streak of great performances to prove it. If you don’t agree, peep the opening to Smile 2, and if you still don’t agree, argue with the wall.

The premise made me think it was going to be a totally gonzo and off-the-wall horror movie, given it’s about a guy whose fiancé begins to act like his recently deceased mother, and may or may not be possessed by her. What I found was a slow-burn psychological horror with some deeply disquieting moments and an ending that had me hypnotized and leaning into the screen as it unfolded.

The character work Holland Roden does in this film is genuinely incredible, so if you want to see two actors at the top of their game engaging in a mind-bending and uncomfortable relationship, this is the film to look out for. It will keep you and your other half talking about it for hours. 

Mandy (2018)

This might be one of the most romantic movies of all time, and I’m not just saying that because I really like how it looks and how vibrant and red its color palette becomes. After all, what better expression of love is there than forging a battleaxe, getting in your car, and going on a hunt to kill every last member of the demonic drug-dealing biker gang that took your lover from you? It’s a heavy, heavy metal kind of love.

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Panos Cosmatos’ mastery of cinematic language here is profoundly affecting, and Nicholas Cage’s performance is the kind built to slap the taste out of the mouths who claim he is simply a “so bad he’s good” actor. He’s just outright incredible in this, and every rewatch of Mandy reaffirms how absolutely, jaw-droppingly good he is at portraying people going through severe emotional distress.

Also, if Cheddar Goblin doesn’t bring you and your partner together through hard times, I don’t know what will.

Jakob’s Wife (2021)

And finally, one more Horror Press staple to round out the list. If there are three character actors I just can’t wait to see in a movie, it’s Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, and Bonnie Aarons. OH WAIT, WHAT’S THIS? A FILM WITH ALL OF THEM? (Also, AEW’s very own CM Punk is here, which scratches an itch in my brain that loves both horror and wrestling.)

Anne is listless and tired of being the small church mouse at her husband’s side. Jakob is violently complacent and domineering over Anne. But Anne’s attack by a vampire gives her a new lease on life, and their marriage a chance at being repaired after decades of degradation. Jakob’s determination to cure her of her vampirism, however, seems set to undo this new chance. And yes, they do earn that hype description with their performances together; they work off each other wonderfully.

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The movie is surprisingly well-balanced, with many moments for introspection matching against the film’s sometimes absolutely absurdist humor. I’m a big fan of Jakob’s Wife, and if you watch it, you should also check out one of the earlier pieces on the website that the lovely Alex Warrick wrote back in 2022!

BONUS: Habit (1997)

The above entry also reminded me, if you’re looking for more Larry Fessenden and more vampire romance with a deeply rooted allegory for addiction in it, you should watch Habit. The awesome Brendan Jesus put me onto it after I missed its repertory screening last October, and has also written a cool companion piece talking about the experience of seeing it at BHFF, so check that out too!

And if you didn’t find any of these selections enticing, keep an eye peeled on our It Came From Shudder series! Every month there’s a new list of recommendations hot off the presses from the ever-vigilant Sharai Bohannon, sure to zap your brain meats with cool new cosmic and creepy signals pouring out of Shudder! Happy watching horror fans!

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