4. May
Sure to divide audiences, May…may…not be everyone’s cup of blood, but if this little seen 2003 flick does not give you some f$%!@d up dreams then you may have just as many problems as our anti-heroine here.
May tells the tale of a psychologically traumatized girl who in a desperate attempt to find a true friend decides to make her own, with Frankensteinian results. Everything about this movie succeeds in making one squirm; from the awkwardness of May, to the gore, to the grungy tone, right up to the utterly disturbing climax.
For diehard fans of the horror genre, if you have not seen May put it to the very top of your queue.
3. Slither
As I discussed with regards to Severance, (and as I will soon discuss again) horror-comedies are exceedingly hard to pull off. Few films are more successful than James Gunn's Slither, a criminally overlooked creature feature starring the equally underrated Nathan Fillion.
Slither is whip smart, hilarious, gory, ominous, sad and deliciously acted. It has a similar psychological effect as did Arachnophobia 20 years ago and is as funny and entertaining as a film like Sean of the Dead. Slither is a film for both fans and non-fans of the genre.
2. The Orphanage
Modestly attended, but universally celebrated and debated over, El Orfanato (as it is called in its native Spain) is both a tragic family drama and a terrifying ghost story. The Orphanage is the type of film that can be dissected in so many ways and viewed in so many lights the film actually achieves another level of sophistication.
Thanks to Guillermo Del Toro attaching his name, the non-subtitle-shy were drawn out by solid word of mouth. This is not only the purely best chiller of the past…who knows…but has so many complex layers it has something for everyone; and that something is bad dreams.
