MAINSTREAM horror films are just that-mainstream. These films exist to placate as many audiences as possible and are often pumped out by studios with extremely low budgets, specifically with profit in mind; a PG-13 horror film on a US$20 million (RM93 million) budget will reap hand-over-fist profits if it makes even US$60 million (RM279 million) at the box office.
As a result of that, these films are sanitised, generic, and flat. On the other side of the spectrum, there are horror films that do more than just assault the audience with jump scares and loud noises. These films that go against the grain are tapestries woven for a very specific audience by tailors that know the horror genre on the inside and out.
These are four underrated, relatively unknown films from several different horror subgenres that are sure to tickle the tastebuds of those seeking something different from the mainstream.
The Empty Man
Released theatrically in 2020, when cinemas were getting beaten up by the pandemic, The Empty Man effectively flew under everyone’s radar. In the next two years after its release on home media, the film gained a cult following, and for good reason.
The film opens with a group of friends hiking in the mountains of Bhutan, before one of them, Paul, falls into an underground cave. When another friend goes in to rescue him, he finds Paul staring blankly at a bizarre skeletal figure. Afterwards, bad things happen to all of them.
The bulk of the film then focuses on James Lasombra (James Badge Dale), a former detective investigating the disappearance of a friend’s daughter and its connection with the Pontifex Institute, a cult.
Saying anything more would be spoiling the film, which is based on a graphic novel and is director David Prior’s (strong) directorial debut.
Sidestepping common flaws with modern horror films, Prior’s film has everything that warrants it: a likeable lead played by a good actor, almost no jump scares, a suffocating atmosphere, and a barrage of twists that crescendo into a bleak ending that will unnerve the viewer.
You’re Next
Before he became the director who made Godzilla and King Kong punch each other in Hong Kong, Adam Wingard was an indie director carving his way up the filmmaker ladder with horror films.
Slasher films these days are rare, and good ones are even more rare, so when Wingard’s You’re Next was released in 2013, it was a real treat for the horror community.
Blending macabre comedy with slasher tropes, You’re Next pits Erin (Sharni Vinson) against a group of animal-masked murderers when they crash her boyfriend’s family reunion.
If you wanted a more realistic Home Alone with a badass heroine, and deaths involving crossbow bolts, a meat tenderizer, and even a blender, You’re Next is a great film to throw on, especially with friends.
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
If I had to attach a number to how many found footage horror films are terrible, I would say 99% of them are burning dumpster fires.
Almost everything after 1999’s The Blair Witch Project has been uninspired, soulless regurgitations, but there are some that break the mould, and do something new with the found footage format; Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is part of that minority.
As the owner and host of a Youtube channel that documents horror stories, Ha-joon (Wi Ha-joon) assembles a group with six others to investigate the paranormal rumours in Gonjiam, an abandoned psychiatric hospital.
Sent into the hospital, each of the six is equipped with a harness, a face cam, and a POV camera, with the footage of both their faces and what is immediately in front of them being live-streamed back to Ha-joon, who is watching from a tent outside. Some in the group also have handheld cameras.
Utilising the leverage of modern multi-cam filmmaking and horror staging, Gonjiam thrusts its seven characters into absolute madness, and delivers a lot of fun with how sadistic it gets as the paranormal incidents ramp up.
One of the best scares in the film isn’t even a jump scare; it’s Ha-joon quietly realising there is a seventh person live-streaming the original six.
Demons
The recent Evil Dead Rise had a decent concept, where the main characters’ apartment is under siege by demons, with occupants getting murdered and then possessed.
Unfortunately, the film didn’t fully leverage its setting, as it took place on only one floor of the apartment, with fewer than ten tenants getting attacked.
Let’s travel back to 1985 and a little-known horror masterpiece called Demons.
Directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento, Demons has a similar premise to Evil Dead Rise.
In Berlin, a group of people are randomly given free movie tickets to a screening at a local cinema. After the bizarre film starts, all hell breaks loose. Trapped inside the theatre, with more and more people getting possessed and killed, the survivors only have two options: die or fight their way out.
In most countries, Demons are rated 18 and above. Unlike other films from the ‘80s, there is very little nudity in the film. But the gore, well, it skyrockets through the stratosphere.
Demons is the pinnacle of practical horror filmmaking, as Bava and Argento create a film filled to the brim with grotesque make-up design, endless buckets of fake blood, and practical effects magic. However, do note that this is a film from the ‘80s; those who can’t bear watching anything older than themselves should avoid Demons.
