5. The Wailing (155 min)
Writer-director Na Hong-jin made an international splash in 2008 with his debut “The Chaser” but “The Wailing” is something else. The film is about a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illnesses.
Jin got the inspiration for the film when people he knew died of unnatural causes and he says in an interview that “there is one thing I wish everyone who watches this film to feel, regardless of who they are: a condolence for those who disappeared after having fallen as victims of the world, and for those who are left behind.” That’s a good way to put it.
His direction is masterful here and it helps that there engaging characters, some ambiguous moments and overall involving atmosphere. All these makes “The Wailing” more than a typical “Good vs. Evil” story that some reviewers would lead you to believe.
As for its running time, the film is indeed long, also a slow burner, has a complex narrative and if you’re not a fan of horror films that are not constructed in the way most films are, then you may find it hard to watch but if you’re a patient person, it delivers commensurate rewards. But you should be stay focus to not miss plot details.
4. The Conjuring 2 (135 min)
Some may not want to admit it but we’re living in almost the Golden Age of Horror, but that’s mostly because of how independent horror filmmakers keep us giving us great stuff. The same is not always true for studio horrors but when the first “The Conjuring” came up, it showed that you can still make an effective film with great acting, great sound design, set work, right atmosphere and where to use jump scares.
The first film was all-around success, which means it was not an easy task to make a successful successor but James Wan pulled it off perfectly. “The Conjuring 2” is longer than the first one but for a reason: now we have a bit of humour, we have more character development, we have more drama and even some moments of sweet romance: it’s unusual to see a heartwarming moment like Patrick Wilson singing an Elvis song to Vera Farmiga in a horror film.
Besides all these things, yes, it was also scary as hell. Some scenes are destined to be iconic. Valak scene is so popular that of course, studios wanted to get more money out of it and just this year they gave us incredibly dull “The Nun”.
3. It (135 min)
When Cary Fukunaga, director of all episodes on “True Detective” first season along with several acclaimed films, left the project citing creative differences, many people started to think that maybe the film will not be scary enough and that it’ll care so much to appeal to general audiences.
We don’t know what kind of version Fukunaga would give us but Andy Muschietti has done a pretty strong job that impressed critics and audiences alike, which made “It” a global box office hit and even though Tim Curry was excellent enough in previously adapted miniseries, Bill Skarsgard brought a fresh air to the character of Pennywise and added more to its iconic legacy.
The film was just an hour shorter than the previously adapted 1990 miniseries and when the news were announced that it’ll be over two hours long, it made fans happy as the original book is spans well over 1,000 pages. Sequel is on the way and we’re hoping it’ll be as good as the first one.
2. The Shining (146 min)
David Cronenberg claims Kubrick didn’t understand anything about horror, Wiliam Friedkin may be a Kubrick fan but he’s also not big on The Shining, John Carpenter says it’s good but only “as a comedy”. Ari Aster is a fan of the film but he also thinks it works better as a comedy.
No matter how it works for you – as a comedy or a horror or just an ambitious, unique film– The Shining is often considered to be one of the best horror films and even at times, one of the best films of all time in general. Roger Ebert may have criticized some of Kubrick’s famous works but he gave this one four out of four.
The film is based on a novel by Stephen King (who – famously – hates this film) but Kubrick brought his own touch to the story. After all these years, “The Shining” remains as one of the most iconic films of its time and has a massive influence on popular culture.
It was originally released with a two-minute epilogue that’s only been seen by a handful of viewers. Three days after the release of the film, Stanley Kubrick ordered all projectionists to cut about 2 minutes from the end of the film, and send the footage back to the studio. After meeting with divisive critical reception, they cut even further. But luckily now the most commonly available version is the longer version.
1. Rosemary’s Baby (137 min)
Mother of all cult horrors, “Rosemary’s Baby” is often, well deservedly considered one of the most influential, iconic and important films of all time and is still effective and scary as ever. Its success launched a trend for devil-baby, “evil kid” and satanic pregnancy movies that extended well into the 70s and is still very influential, considering we just got “Hereditary” that has some similarities.
Another recent example could be Ali Abbasi’s “Shelly”. Obviously its influence is still strong as ever on the genre and will keep on doing so. It’s chilling, atmospheric and it gets under your skin. One would wonder how modern audiences would react to it if it wasn’t made back in time considering now they react to every arthouse horror as “boring” and then it gets a low Cinemascore.
Rosemary’s Baby is 137 min. Even though the film was found to be problematic for UK censors and the rape scene was toned down but since then all releases were the uncut version. Oh and it’s still a mystery how Mia Farrow got snubbed at the Oscars. Iconic performance.