Tarantino, Scorsese & 38 More Directors Pick Their Favorite Horror Movies

Rounding up a substantial list of films to watch this Halloween weekend, directors Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and 38 more discuss their favorite horror movies. Horror movie viewing is always the highest in October and while not everyone loves to be scared most directors have an appreciation for the genre. Even directors who haven’t ever made a horror movie themselves, like Tarantino and Scorsese, can enjoy a well-made scary movie.

While, Tarantino has yet to make a pure horror movie, yet many elements of his films like Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and even Once Upon a Time in Hollywood contain elements of horror in the bloody violence that occurs. The Irishman director Martin Scorsese also focuses his work on the crime genre instead of horror, yet he exhibits an appreciation for the genre, as other directors do as they discuss their favorite horror movies this year.

Indiewire, compiled a remarkable list of forty directors citing their favorite horror movies. From classic films like Audition (1999) to recent hits like Midsommar (2019), each director has something to say about their favorites in the genre. The full list of each director’s pick for their top horror flicks is below:

Wes Anderson – Rosemary’s Baby

Natalie Erika James – Ringu

Mike Flanagan – The Blackcoat’s Daughter

Bong Joon Ho – Midsommar

Osgood Perkins – The Strangers

Robert Eggers – Nosferatu

Josephine Decker – Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria

Guillermo del Toro – Eyes Without a Face

Quentin Tarantino – Audition

Martin Scorsese – The Innocents

Edgar Wright – Dead of Night

David Lowery – Hereditary

Jordan Peel – Misery

Jennifer Kent – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Luca Guadagnino – The Fly

Sam Raimi – Night of the Living Dead

Anna Biller – Peeping Tom

Christopher Nolan – Alien

Andy Muschietti – Near Dark

James Wan – The Others

Ana Lily Amirpour – Antichrist

Bo Burnham – Raw

Eli Roth – Creepshow

Ben Wheatley – Eraserhead

William Friedkin – Funny Games

James Gunn – Green Room

Coralie Fargeat – I Saw the Devil

Gaspar Noé – Un Chien Andalou

John Carpenter – The Exorcist

Karyn Kusama – Habit

Nia DiCosta – Under the Skin

Patrick Brice – Jacob’s Ladder

André Øvredal – Poltergeist

Tim Burton – The Wicker Man

Pedro Almodóvar – Rapture

Jim Jarmusch – American Psycho

Ti West – The Shining

Rob Zombie – 28 Days Later

Julia Ducournau – Dead Ringers

Peter Strickland – Climax

Tarantino often cites Takashi Miike’s Audition (1999) as one of his favorite films, and the most disturbing, since becoming a director. In fact, he included the movie in his list of top 20 films released since 1992, the year he became a director. Scorsese placed Jack Clayton’s 1961 psychological horror The Innocents, an adaption of the Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw that follows a governess who watches over two children she begins to fear are being possessed, on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time. The Innocents is also one of Guillermo del Toro’s favorites.

Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho includes writer-director Ari Aster, who brought to life psychological thrillers Hereditary and Midsommar, among his list of favorite horror directors. In fact, Bong named Midsommar as one of his favorite movies of 2019 in a list for IndieWire. Robert Eggers picked maybe the most classic film on the list in F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film, Nosferatu. While the film was originally in black and white, a newly restored color-tinted version is available, though Eggers himself praises the rough-around-the-edges black and white version. Speaking of classics, The Nightmare Before Christmas filmmaker Tim Burton praises Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) as his horror film of choice.

A common theme in these films is the psychological thrill that introduces a real-world element to the stories. Psychological thrillers don’t necessarily play with the character’s mind, but with the audience’s. Films like The Innocents and Midsommar emphasize the unstable or delusional mental conditions of the characters on screen that might make the audience question their own minds as they leave the movie theater.  

Horror and non-horror filmmakers alike have their favorite films in the genre, and for some directors, these films might even be their favorites of all time. As October comes to a close, it might be worthwhile to take a look at some of these highly-acclaimed favorites, whether you’re looking for a classic or contemporary piece.

Source: IndieWire

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