Top 10 Comfort Horror Movies
Having spent the last year and a half or so under the nihilistic haze of a pandemic that has completely altered the way we live, I, like so many others, have often retreated into nostalgia and things that provide comfort. Movies, especially horror movies, are one of the primary fonts from which I derive the life-vigor that keeps me from slithering into despair. The films I turn to most often are rarely my all-time “favorites.” Outside of a couple of them, I wouldn’t put any of these on a list of my all-timers. But all of them strike some kind of chord inside me and resonate with me on a very base level. This is kind of melodramatic, but I can watch any of these and remember the great, joyful things human beings are able to create, even as they seem intent to tear things down. This is such a subjective topic, so mileage is going to vary greatly here, but these are the flicks I turn to to restore my equilibrium.
10. What We Do in the Shadows (2014; dirs: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi)
Although it was eventually overshadowed (pun of course intended) by the brilliance of the show on FX, which has the space and time to better develop its characters, the original movie by New Zealand duo Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi is still absolutely hilarious and may be the most joke-dense horror movie in existence. It’s my go-to any time I’m feeling drab and humorless, because it instantly revives my ability to laugh so hard I snort. This film is such a keen mix of genre satire, absurdity, heart, and genuine love for what its skewering that you can’t help but have your pants charmed off by it.
9. Spookies (1986; dirs: Brendan Faulkner, Thomas Doran, Eugenie Joseph)
There’s no other way to spin it: Spookies is a goddamn mess of epic proportions, thanks to a production fraught with squabbling, money and time shortfalls, and a few terrible ideas. But it’s also rich in creativity, ingenuity, and monsters of all sorts. Spookies is so drenched in imaginative creature effects and ‘80s atmosphere that it’s incredibly easy to overlook its garbled plot and flat characters. Every time I watch it, I’m instantly transported back to a childhood spent exclaiming, “How’d they do that??” every time a monster slithered on screen. I mean, in this case, you can literally see the puppeteers on camera at times, but never you mind!
8. Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986; dir: Tom McLoughlin)
One of my favorite “You’re so fucking sneaky!” maneuvers as a kid was staying up late and watching Friday the 13th marathons on cable after my parents had gone to bed. As a gateway to the larger genre, the franchise is packed with nostalgia. And the sixth entry in the series, although not my favorite as an adult, best embodies what I loved about them at the time: Jason’s rotting and gross and obviously not human, there’s lots of moody rain and misty forest, it’s got some gnarly kills, and yet it’s not so grim that it terribly warped an 10-year-old watching stuff he definitely shouldn’t have been watching. It’s perhaps the most “fun” entry and the one I watch for a quick fix of Camp Crystal Lake.
7. The Gate (1987; dir: Tibor Takács)
Like Spookies, The Gate perfectly distills what the horror-curious kid wants out of their spook-flicks, except it does it with competence, finesse, and a little more kindertrauma. And it’s a two-fer if you also loved heavy metal, since it swirls in a bit of Satanic panic. There’s a metal album that frees demons from the earth, there are kid heroes, there’s great stop motion animation, there are monsters of all sizes, there are goopy, memorable deaths, and it literally takes place during a sleepover, so it’s a perfect sleepover flick. It’s all the shit my friends and I were up to back then, minus the summoning of old gods intent to enslave and/or destroy humanity.
6. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981; dir: Frank De Felitta)
Every September, this made-for-TV joint is the first movie I put on to welcome the Halloween season. It’s got a perfectly autumnal atmosphere, lush with corn stalks swaying in rain-tinged breezes and hues of orange and yellow, mixed with the fading dusts of summer. It’s maybe a little disappointing that it’s not actually a supernatural killer scarecrow flick like its marketing strongly suggests, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less spooky. Larry Drake is a very sympathetic lead and Charles Durning is the perfect small-town scumbag whose comeuppance you’re happy to welcome.
5. The Fog (1980; dir: John Carpenter)
The Thing is my favorite flick from John Carpenter, but it’s a bit bleak to watch often. Whenever I’m in the mood for JC, I tend to put on what is probably his most eerie film, The Fog. There’s not much to this campfire tale of ghostly pirates, and it founders a bit at the end, but its atmospherics are as thick as the titular mass of precipitation. You can smell the sea through the screen and feel the fog horns reverberate in your head. And any cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, and Hal Holbrook can’t possibly be anything remotely unwatchable. Seaside horror is one of my very specific loves in the genre, and Carpenter nails that aura here.
4. TerrorVision (1986; dir: Ted Nicolaou)
TerrorVision is the origin of some of my earliest memories of horror, especially the image of grandpa’s goo-lathered head attached to an alien tentacle. Even when I was too young to really understand what the fuck was going on in this zany flick, I really dug its acid-tinged music video vibe, replete with neon spandex, headbands, banana hammocks, ample curls, mullets, Cold War paranoia, consumerist fetishism, and of course slimy monsters and gore. TerrorVision is the entirety of the 1980s encapsulated in 83 minutes of special effects mayhem, and I am always down for it.
3. Creepshow (1982; dir: George A. Romero)
Creepshow is the perfect marriage of the talents of George A. Romero and Stephen King. Both have similarly sincere sensibilities that infuse their at times very dark and visceral brands of horror with an undercurrent of youthful energy and wonder. King is a well-known fan of the Ramones, and this movie has the same unpretentious, unassuming synthesis of adult themes that Joey, Dee Dee, Tommy, and Johnny channeled in their music. Its unique spirit combines with its striking aesthetic and memorable gore to result in an extremely rewatchable movie that goes goes down easy and never fails to satisfy.
2. Jaws (1975; dir: Steven Spielberg)
Of course, I’m not alone in thinking Jaws is a perfect movie. It pretty obviously is, thanks to Steven Spielberg’s uncanny sense of suspense, forged through skill and circumstance, the terse chemistry between its three stars, John Williams’ unforgettable music, and the plethora of moments that have deeply permeated pop culture. For many folks, Jaws forever steered them away from the ocean, but every time I watch it, I instantly pine for summer and the sea. Jaws invigorates my senses in a way few horror movies do, and it’s not fear. As crazy as it sounds, I want to be floating in the Orca, drinking beers, swapping stories, and listening to the gulls overhead. I’d skip the chumming, though.
1. Aliens (1986; dir: James Cameron)
By nearly every measure, Ridley Scott’s Alien is a superior movie to James Cameron’s sequel. But it’s also dreary, cold, and very deliberately paced, which means I ain’t often in the mood to watch it. Aliens adds some extremely effective action set pieces, very memorable supporting characters, a lean, efficient plot, and state-of-the-art special effects to create something that lends itself to uncountable revisits. It’s also the first horror movie I ever saw, or at least the first one my memory can recall. It’s woven its way into the fabric of my existence in a way only a couple of other movies have (Big Trouble in Little China and Beetlejuice are the others, if you must ask). Aliens is the ultimate fallback when my scrambled brain can’t settle on anything else.