Mumblegore: 10 Essential Lo-Fi Horror Movies

A by-product of the Mumblecore movement, a special genre of independent film, Mumblegore is a Millenial-era brand of horror that relies on dialogue, low-budget aesthetics, and interpersonal relationships to develop scary stories. The actions and speech in these films often feel improvised, and directors like to employ B-Movie minimalism that maximizes the limits of a small budget.

Mumblegore filmmakers include Adam Wingard, Ti West, Joe Swanberg, Mark Duplass, and Amy Seimetz. Anthology movies like V/H/S and XX are credited with bringing this distinct type of horror to mainstream audiences. This list complies 10 essential Mumblegore horror films any fan of the genre should know.

10 Baghead (2008)

Baghead is the work of the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay. A comedy-horror mash-up in the vein of April Fool’s Day, it’s an early example of Mumblegore’s potential. The movie stars Little Women director Greta Gerwig, Ross Partridge, Elise Muller, and Steve Zissis as a group of actors who decide to write their own movie after going to a film screening for their friend Jett.

At the cabin in the woods, the friends are taunted by a figure wearing a paper bag on its head. As the circumstances become more horrific, they are forced to reconcile with their own creative differences and the rising body count.

9 A Horrible Way To Die (2010)

Mumlegore directors often act in each others’ films, and A Horrible Way to Die is a prime example of independent moviemakers coming together to generate their characteristic storytelling. Directed by Adam Wingard, this is one of the most artistic and restrained on this list.

It stars Amy Seimetz as the traumatized ex-girlfriend of a serial killer who ultimately turned him in to the police. She plays Sarah who, upon learning her ex, Garrick, escaped police custody, relies on her new friend Kevin, played by Joe Swanberg, for help. Kevin soon turns into a new nightmare for Sarah.

8 House Of The Devil (2009)

Ti West’s House of the Devil is a throwback Satanic panic flick about a college student in the ’80s so desperate for money she accepts a babysitting job from a strange couple living in a large, isolated house who make it obvious from the beginning they are up to no good.

The film’s predictable outcome and occult themes actually contribute to its rising tension as viewers watch Samatha, played by Jocelin Donahue, slowly approach an inevitable and gruesome fate. Tom Noonan co-stars as one of the house’s proprietors, Mr. Ullman, and Greta Gerwig is featured as Samatha’s friend Megan.

7 Creep (2014)

Creep is a hilarious parody of the found-footage horror movie that manages to be full of legitimate scares. Mark Duplass plays a troubled man named Josef, who places an ad online for a videographer to help him with a project. Aaron responds and begins an ill-fated business partnership with Josef.

Josef claims to have inoperable cancer, and he wants Aaron to record a series of movies for his unborn son. Aaron soon realizes this is all a lie, and Josef’s erratic behavior escalates. Josef stalks and taunts Aaron with videos and threats while donning a wolf’s mask, which amplifies his creepiness.

6 The Innkeepers (2011)

The Innkeepers is Ti West’s follow-up to House of the Devil. In it, he tackles another common trope in horror: paranormal investigations. Sara Paxton and Pat Healy star as employees at the Yanke Pedlar Inn, an old hotel with a haunted history. On the hotel’s final weekend open before it closes forever, they decide to figure out if the ghost stories are real.

A slow burn for sure, The Innkeepers both enhances and subverts haunted house motifs as Paxton and Healy’s characters, Claire and Luke, escalate their inquiry. They focus most of their attention on Madeline O’Malley, who supposedly hanged herself in the hotel after her husband-to-be left her at the altar.

5 You’re Next (2011)

Adam Wingard is responsible for this home invasion thriller that earned $26 million in theatres against its $1 million production budget. Sharni Vinson plays Erin, a woman who accepts her boyfriend Crispian’s invitation to his parents’ anniversary dinner at their large country home.

AJ Bowen, an actor in many of the films featured on this list, plays Crispian, and his family’s celebration comes to an abrupt end when masked strangers fire crossbows at them through the dining room’s windows. Erin is left to fight for her life after Crispian flees, claiming to be on the hunt for help, ultimately proving herself to be one formidable final girl.

4 Blue Ruin (2013)

Blue Ruin is a dark Southern gothic film from Jeremy Saulnier, who is known for Green Room. Macon Blair plays Dwight Evans, a middle-aged transient who returns to his hometown in Virginia, where his parents were brutally murdered 20 years earlier. The culprit, Wade Cleland, is set to be released from prison, and Dwight intends to seek vengeance.

This brooding character study into a life turned upside down by extreme violence is messy and complicated, as most lives tend to be. Saulnier manages to tell a unique revenge tale full of grim honesty.

3 24 Exposures (2013)

Joe Swanberg is behind this erotic thriller that integrates horror, suspense, and detective genres. Adam Wingard stars as a photographer who found a name for himself in a unique niche: staged photo of women pretending to be dead.

When one of his models is murdered in real life, he assists in the investigation, and the lines between art and reality become blurred. Even though the film maintains weaker critical reviews than other Mumblegore features, its reliance on meta-narratives and self-aware storytelling make it a worthwhile watch.

2 Creep 2 (2017)

Mark Duplass returns as Josef in this sequel to Creep that is just as engrossing as the original while maintaining a unique narrative. In this film, Josef is in the midst of an existential crisis, unsure why he continues to kill.

Desiree Akhavan plays a college student named Sara, a wannabe YouTube sensation whose web series, Encounters, suffers from low viewership despite its interesting premise. Sara meets strangers through friendship ads on Craigslist, documenting their interactions on video. She engages with Josef, who now calls himself Aaron, through the website, and the tale of terror starts anew.

1 Sun Don’t Shine (2012)

Sun Don’t Shine is a hallucinogenic, sweaty Florida road trip film marked by murder, lust, and swamps. Amy Seimetz directs the film, which stars Kate Lyn Sheil and Kentucker Audley as a pair of lovers on the run from their pasts.

As Crystal and Leo, the actors maintain a tense relationship defined by desire and inevitable negative consequences after viewers are made aware that in the trunk of their car lies Crystal’s dead husband. They arrive in South Florida, and the passion between them reaches new levels of toxicity.

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