A couple of months ago, I had three different conversations with friends of mine who all shared a similar sentiment. Something along the lines of “I think horror movies are interesting, but I don’t know where to get started” and “I’ve been scarred before by jumping into a horror movie that was too intense for me.” As someone who loves horror and watches it year round, I took this as a challenge and assembled these friends for a weekly horror series at my home that we first dubbed ‘Horror 101,’ but which soon became known as ‘Sunday Scaries.’
Over the last 10 weeks leading up to Halloween, we watched 10 horror films that I consider to be essential to understanding the genre and an appetizer for what I hope to be a full meal as these friends dive deeper into the genre now that they have gotten a taste for what is out there.
Before we move onto our next series which I am calling ‘Horror 201,’ I asked my friends to provide feedback on their experience and tell me which of the ten films we watched were their favorites and which were the ‘scariest’ in their opinion. My favorite part of this experiment has been their reactions, with movies I did not consider scary topping the list of ‘most scary’.
My hope is that by reading through this, you too will feel bold enough to dive into the horror series with a group of friends and use this list of ten films to help get you started with what I believe is the most entertaining and interesting film genre right now.
Week 1: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) dir. by Jonathan Demme
The first horror film we started with was the iconic and seminal Jonathan Demme film, The Silence of the Lambs. As someone who first became obsessed with the character of Hannibal Lecter and his exploits in college, this film has always been close to the top of my list in terms of essential horror viewing. Plus, even though I consider this to be on the scarier side of realistic horror films, after almost 35 years of cultural references I figured most of the shock factor would be dulled by the myriad of references that have been made to this film in other shows and films.
My other thought with showing this and The Shining first was that in order to hook my friends into watching more horror, I would start off with two films that many might say ‘transcend the horror genre,’ meaning that they are good films on their own that happen to be horror. I did this because I think the common misconception with horror is that the genre is not as ‘elevated’ as others, so why not start off with a film that won 5 Oscars? Once you see what a well-made horror film looks like, it is easier to seek out more films that may not be as technically impressive, but still scratch the same itch.
I believe this was a good choice, as the feedback I received from my friends was that although it wasn’t terribly scary, it was an overall good film, earning an average rating of 8.57/10 on the overall rating scale and only a 4.71/10 rating on the ‘scariness’ scale. This was the beginning of a trend I noticed where the scariness rating of a film was highly dependent on when the film was released, with films from the last 25 years rating higher than older ‘classics,’ likely due to the improvement in filmmaking options and a more desensitized modern audience expecting more intense imagery and scares.
The Silence of the Lambs.
Overall: 8.57/10.
Scariness: 4.71/10.
Recommended similar watches: Se7en (1995), Longlegs (2024)
Week 2: The Shining (1980) dir. by Stanley Kubrick
Similar to The Silence of the Lambs, The Shining was the next logical choice to me due to the cultural influence of the film along with the fact that it was one of the first horror films I watched that got me hooked on the genre in college. Unlike our previous film, however, I consider The Shining to still be an intense and terrifying film, despite being nearly 40 years old and almost considering leaving this one off the list until later for fear of jumping in too deep too early.
Thankfully, the response to this film was exactly what I hoped, with the mood in the room as we watched it turning from lighthearted to quiet and intense focus as the days in the film began to slip by as Jack Torrence descends further into madness. This speaks to the excellent direction of Kubrick along with the incredible performances from Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. One thing I really appreciated on this rewatch was the way that music is used in the film, both to build and relieve tension throughout.
By the time we reached the final trudge through the maze at the end of the film, I could feel a collective sigh of relief as the credits began to roll. Not only did the group rate this film highest overall with a 9/10 rating, but it was one of the scarier films we watched so far, earning a 6.33/10 on the scariness scale. Thankfully, we had The Simpsons ‘Treehouse of Horror’ episode to watch as a palate cleanser before everyone went home so no one was too spooked.
The Shining.
Overall: 9/10.
Scariness: 6.33/10.
Recommended similar watches: The Lodge (2019), Misery (1990)
Week 3: The Thing (1982) dir. by John Carpenter.
So far we had dealt with a serial killer and a husband/father slowly losing his mind in a secluded hotel. And while there are certainly elements of paranormal activity in The Shining, the two films we had watched so far were definitely more in the realm of realism than what I had lined up next. With that in mind, as the master of horror and someone who blends sci-fi and horror so well, I knew that a John Carpenter film had to be on the agenda.
The timing couldn’t have been better, as Austin Film Society was showing the 4K rerelease of The Thing (my personal favorite Carpenter film) just in time for week 3. Moving out of the living room and into a packed theater elevated the experience significantly and took us into the next area of horror I wanted to explore: the grotesque and the weird.
Similar to The Shining, The Thing does an exceptional job at building tension throughout the film and then exploding that tension with intense moments of gore and practical effects. Although less scary due to the limitations of the time, I still believe that the effects in this film look fantastic for being over 40 years old. I also have to give a shout out to the excellent acting of the dog in this film who plays the titular ‘Thing’ in the first half. There should be an Oscar for animal performances just to retroactively give one to Jed the actor dog for this movie.
With the heightened atmosphere of the theater, the feedback from the crew was again solid, earning a 8.67/10 rating overall and the same rating as The Shining in terms of scariness, 6.33/10.
The Thing.
Overall: 8.67/10.
Scariness: 6.33/10.
Recommended similar watches: The Fly (1986), They Live (1988), Annihilation (2018)
Week 4: The Evil Dead (1981) dir. by Sam Raimi.
Now that we had dipped our toe into the gooey practical effects of The Thing, I knew we had to take it up a notch with our next watch. What better film to do next than Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead? My intention here was to move away from the prestigious horror that we had watched so far into what most of the horror genre is: campy, absurd, and fun. And nothing meets that criteria like The Evil Dead series.
Before we watched this one, I did preface it with two things. First, Sam Raimi made this when he was barely 20 years old and as such, there are definitely some moments that do not hold up (the tree scene, for example) and/or were clearly made by a 20 year old man in the 1980s. Second, the budget of the film was by far the smallest of all the films we had watched so far, so the quality will attest to that.
In the end, this was our lowest rated film so far, and I think that is understandable. However, I believe it set the tone for other movies we would watch, which was what I was hoping for. I certainly remembered this one being scarier when I first watched it and it definitely is still a classic, but unlike other series, I believe that Evil Dead gets better as you go, with each installment adding to the lore and style created in this one.
The Evil Dead.
Overall: 4.67/10
Scariness: 5/10
Recommend similar watches: Evil Dead 2 (1987), Army of Darkness (1992), Dead Alive (1992), Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Week 5: Scream (1995) dir. by Wes Craven.
Now that we had dipped our toes into the weirder side of horror, I wanted to keep the ball rolling with another classic that plays with the genre itself. This of course led us to Scream, one of my personal favorites and a good film to watch in order to call out the tropes of the horror genre that make it more fun to watch other films that make similar decisions. We had our highest attendance for this one, with the entire crew present, making for a very enjoyable screening.
One of the best things that Scream does is misdirection, starting with the iconic opening scene with Drew Barrymore. Even though I’ve seen the movie multiple times before and know who the killer(s) are, the film does a good job of making you second guess yourself. Hearing my friends try to guess how it was going to end and react to the multiple twists made this one of my favorite watches of this series and reinforced why I wanted to do this with a group in the first place.
I figured that this film would rank lower on the scariness score than others and it did with a 4.38/10, but overall enjoyment was high across the board, earning a 7.63/10 rating. This film was also getting us closer to the 21st century and I was curious how the group would react to more modern approaches to horror after starting off with defining works of the 80s and 90s.
Scream.
Overall: 7.63/10.
Scariness: 4.38/10.
Recommended similar watches: – Scream 2-6, Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Week 6: The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir. by Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick.
Now that we were 5 weeks in, I thought I had a good idea of what the group could handle, but I was pleasantly surprised by the reactions to The Blair Witch Project. Personally, I hadn’t seen this one until later in my horror viewing and had not seen it as particularly scary when I first watched it. However, this was by far our most locked in and intense screening so far, with the group buying into the story and genuinely feeling the tension build and build until the iconic final shot.
Despite my surprise at the reaction of the group, this solidified for me why horror is such a fun and interesting genre to explore with friends: you can never predict which films will have an effect on you that they might not on someone else and vice versa. I originally chose this primarily due to the fact that it opened up the ‘found footage’ genre that would dominate the early 2000s, but what I realized is that because this was the first film we watched that felt like it could really happen to you, it was also the most intense to watch together.
Thankfully we again had a good palate cleanser with the Scooby-Doo homage The Scooby-Doo Project that originally aired on Cartoon Network. The overall score on this one was 6.8/10, but the scariness rating was 7.6/10, highest among the films we have explored so far. This forced me to re-evaluate how I was choosing films and think through each choice from not just my own perspective, something I am appreciative of and did not expect.
The Blair Witch Project.
Overall: 6.8/10
Scariness: 7.6/10.
Recommended similar watches: [REC] (2007), Cloverfield (2008), The VVitch (2015)
Week 7: Alien (1979) dir. by Ridley Scott.
Before jumping into the 2000s, I realized that we hadn’t watched another essential film in the horror and sci-fi canon: Alien. Any film that blends both horror and sci-fi is immediately something I love and as I looked ahead to other films I wanted to show such as Annihilation, Sunshine, and Event Horizon, I knew we had to start with the iconic film that influenced the rest.
Like most of these films, the cultural impact of Alien is such that I knew there would be references that the group didn’t even realize were from this film because they are so ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist. Still, nothing compares to actually seeing the film yourself.
Coming in at one of the highest overall ratings of 8.75/10 and a solid scariness score of 5.88/10, Alien is remarkable for being 45 years old and genuinely looks better than movies made today in terms of set design and the use of lighting. Plus, for how little the xenomorph is actually in the first movie, it was an instantly iconic horror villain that was terrifying for how little you actually see of it.
Alien.
Overall: 8.75/10.
Scariness: 5.88/10.
Recommended similar watches: Aliens (1986), Sunshine (2007), Event Horizon (1997), Predator (1987)
Week 8: 28 Days Later (2002) dir. by Danny Boyle.
As we continued to progress, I wanted to expand the different sub-genres we were exploring. We had done horror comedy, sci-fi horror, found footage, and now that we were entering the 2000s, it was time to explore the sub-genre that would dominate a good deal of the decade: zombies. Although there are plenty from the late 60s on to choose from, I thought that 28 Days Later would be a solid choice to get into this sub-genre due to how influential it was to our modern idea of zombies.
It had been a few years since I had revisited this one myself and while it does still have its moments, the digital camera technology of the day has not held up in my opinion. The story, acting, and terror that the fast-moving zombies instill is still there, but the grainy quality of the film makes it hard to see what is going on, especially in the night time sequences.
Despite the quality, however, the effectiveness of the film is still there. The true horror coming more from the humans than the zombies lead this one to be rated high in terms of scariness with a 7/10 even if the overall rating was 6.33/10.
All that said, I still believe that this is essential viewing before you dive into the other films that defined and expanded this subgenre. Next we’ll likely explore the zombie-comedy with Zombieland, the more intense version fast zombies with Train to Busan, and the almost self-parody of the subgenre with The Dead Don’t Die.
28 Days Later.
Overall: 6.33/10.
Scariness: 7/10.
Recommended similar watches: 28 Weeks Later (2007), Train to Busan (2016), Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Dead Don’t Die (2019).
Week 9: The Cabin in the Woods (2011) dir. by Drew Goddard
Due to the success of Scream with the group, I thought we would jump ahead to 2011 with another film that plays with the slasher genre and the tropes you are familiar with, The Cabin in the Woods. While this film definitely has 2011 written all over it, I have always found it to be a fun, entertaining romp, if not that scary of a horror flick. Of course, now that we have showed them two films parodying / playing with slasher films, we will soon be watching some staples of the genre such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th.
I had made a habit of introducing each film with some information about it and why I chose it, but for this one I tried to keep it brief because I think going in blind on a movie like this is the best way to see it. Overall, it was a fun time and shows the different ways you can make a horror film effective while still keeping the story fresh and interesting.
Although it is not considered your typical horror classic, I think its influence can be seen in other recent films like Ready or Not (2019) and The Blackening (2022). Overall, the group rated it a 6.75/10 and only a 4 on the scariness scale, our lowest so far.
Week 10: Jennifer’s Body (2009) dir. by Karyn Kusama
Finally, on our 10th week, we went with the misunderstood 2009 film, Jennifer’s Body. Although it was mismarketed when it first came out, this film has become a cult classic and that status is well-deserved. Not only does it subvert your expectations, but its cultural commentary was ahead of its time and the dialogue, although absurd, fits right in with the vibe of the film.
Although this was our smallest group watch, we had a blast watching Megan Fox rip boys to shreds and deliver incredible lines like “My mom has a date with the guy who owns the ham store.” While not terribly scary, this film is essential horror viewing for the camp fun that it revels in while giving us a story about a man-eating teenage girl. What’s better than that?
Jennifer’s Body
Overall: 9.25/10
Scariness: 4/10
Recommended similar watches: Ginger Snaps (2000), Lisa Frankenstein (2024), A Girl Walks Alone Home at Night (2014)
‘Programming’ this series for my friends has been one of my favorite things to do and I am hoping to keep it going as we progress from the not-so-scary (Horror 101) to the pretty-scary (Horror 201) before we graduate to the actually-scary (Horror 301) and the upsetting-scary (Horror 401). I truly believe that horror is a big enough genre that everyone can find something they love in it. Sometimes it just takes a guide to find what you enjoy.
However, even if horror isn’t your thing, I hope that you can still take something from this, even if your own version of ‘Sunday Scaries’ is watching 90s Disney Channel Original movies with your friends. The point is that movies are for everyone and are best enjoyed with a group, whether that is going to a theater or inviting friends over to squirm in your living room, because you never know what you might discover together – both in terms of the films you like and the way you react to them.
I also wanted to shout out a few friends who helped guide me in the horror genre when I was first getting into it – Kevin and Armando – for which I am forever grateful.
Nathan Ellwood – Follow me on Letterboxd/Instagram/Twitter for more @NPEllwood.
