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1) Am i Fucking Crazy or Is This Place Haunted?
- The Shining
- The Haunting
- The Innocents
It's a great dynamic when you have a character that may be crazy, because you never know if the movie is taking the perspective of a lunatic. Low budget filmmakers should watch all of these just for the sound, too, 'cause it's so simple and effective... like a lunatic.
2) Documentary/Dramas are Scary, Too!
- JFK
- The Thin Blue Line
- 9/11: The Rise of Martial Law
- Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
These movies touch on some kind of horror you can't get from horror genre flicks. They are all frightful, produce revolting feelings, etc. but they are about collective political fears as opposed to collective sexual or religious fears... or those fears like being physically tortured to death. The way we classify movies in general seems vague, but especially horror movies. The newer trend of conspiracy movies are really interesting in terms of how they interact with the audience, too. They put you in a very awkward place socially and politically. Whether or not you agree with their arguments is beside the point--what's cooler is how they divide people, make you take a side, and keep you on guard.
3) Carnival of Souls
We watched this during pre-production and modeled Warren's ghost's make-up from Fever Night after it. It's very simple, just black and white on someone's face; that's all you need, and it's much scarier than the ghouls/zombies today. Actually, the whole movie is simple as hell... again, is the protagonist crazy? And it has an awesome score.
4) De Palma Flicks
Movies like Carrie, Sisters, Blow Out, and Murder a la Mod make me realize the incredible potential of movies as both art and escapism. Murder is especially interesting since it was his first movie, and the opening is great. It's got all the De Palma goodies, but on such a small budget, and he's really trying hard.
5) Vampire's Kiss
The only thing actually scary in this movie is Nicolas Cage's facial expressions--overall, it's just uncomfortably hilarious (fast forward through any scene without Nic Cage... or not, it's your life). For more great vampire monologues, watch another Bad People favorite, the Warhol-produced, Morrissey-directed soft-core horror porn, Blood for Dracula... "The blood of these whores... is killing me!"
6) The Brood
My favorite Cronenberg because this is the one in which I feel he most successfully presents a relatable world in the beginning of the film that gradually depreciates into bizarro mutant insanity.
7) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
This is one of those films you can only watch every once in a while because it definitely pushes the limits of entertainment--just below Cannibal Holocaust on the list of making you feel like shit while you watch it, but afterward you feel like you've watched something really amazing... then you realize every scene was one shot.
8) Suspiria
Is this movie perfect or did I just crane up into a light bulb? High art meets low art at its very best. This is the surreal, saturated aesthetic we strove for when making Fever Night.
9) Zucker's American Carol, Fox News etc.
It's not the politics, it's the attitude of disinformation, manipulation, propaganda, and traditionalism that scares the heckballs out of Bad People everywhere, but we can't stop watching it... Chances are, Fox is on in the background at Bad People HQ right now.
10) Evil Dead 2
Intentional/unintentional humor that will never be topped, no matter how hard many try (including Bad People). For actual unintentional humor, look to the little known sub-genre of crawlspace dwellers- start with Bad Ronald and Hider in the House (with Gary Busey in top gear).
--Bad People
