Ten killers

A horror playlist

As is my tradition every October, my favorite month, I’ve begun a daily mainlining of horror movies—at least one a day, some days upwards of eight. 

Each choice informs the next. Some are old favorites, others are new stuff recommended by friends, and a few I revisit to see if I like them better than I remember. It’s sort of an on-the-fly mixtape, though if these were music, they’d be songs for your funeral.

I didn’t want to waste time writing about mainstream horror. These picks are not comfort food. You don’t need me telling you to watch “The Shining” or “Gremlins.” Most of these selections are meant for the hardcore horror hound. I think of them as extreme art. Like a car wreck you can’t look away from. You’ve been warned.

The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
Reprising their roles from Rob Zombie’s 2003 debut, “House of 1000 Corpses,” “Rejects” finds the Manson-esque Firefly clan (Bill Mosely, Sherry Moon Zombie, Sig Haig, and Leslie Easterbrook) running from the vengeful Sheriff Quincy Wydell (William Forsythe); while kidnapping, torturing, and gleefully killing anyone who looks like fun, or gets in their way.

With a great genre cast, this is the pinnacle of Zombie’s psychobilly, ‘70s-inspired exploitation films. He revels in the sleaziness of his characters, the terror they inflict, and even has the balls to make the killers anti-heroes—while embodying the look and tone of true grindhouse flick. Gore effects from Robert Kurtzman punctuate the bombastic and bloody Wild West inside of Rob Zombie’s head.      

The Mist (2007)
It might seem like I’m taking it easy on you here with a Stephen King adaptation from the creator of “The Walking Dead.” A socio-political, dark satire that centers on a group of Mainers trapped in a grocery store—surrounded by an endless fog that hides Lovecraftian beasties—much of “The Mist” is standard issue monster movie stuff.

That is, until the Twilight Zone-inspired finale, wherein director Frank Darabont squats over the toilet of our expectations and merrily drops a bomb. Love it or hate it, you will admire his nerve.       

Necromantik 2 (1991)
Ok, back to stuff that’ll make you unfriend me on Facebook. This sequel to the Jörg Buttgereit’s 1987 necrophilia classic (what a phrase!) finds the now-dead Rob (Daktari Lorenz) exhumed and in the loving arms of Monika (Monika M.), who quickly finds she can’t get off with him, despite his eternal turgidity. She decides to try a normal relationship with a still-breathing boyfriend instead (Mark Reeder). But her twisted compulsions soon reclaim her sexual desires, to which the new guy isn’t privy until it’s far too late. 

Perverse doesn’t even come close to describing the depths of discomfort this film elicits. You can almost smell the putrefaction wafting off the screen. Completely repulsive, you’ll want to take a long shower afterwards. 

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
This bizarre, body-horror exhibit from Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto defies much in the way of narrative description. A man called Metal Fetishist is hit and seemingly killed by a car driven by an office drone and his girlfriend, who hide the body and then have sex nearby. Thinking they got away with it, the salaryman soon finds bits of circuitry sprouting from his skin, as he’s pursued by a woman who is possessed by the Fetishist—leading to a showdown as both grow into metallic monsters.

Robotized dildo drills (drilldos?), bloody biomechanical metamorphosis, and cyberpunk eroticism converge into a David Lynch-induced nightmare, with a great soundtrack for those who love their crushing anxiety industrial-strength.

Piranha 3D (2010)
​Alexandre Aja’s remake of the 1978 Roger Corman shlock-fest is a ridiculously gory blast that had me wondering how it got away with an R rating. (Full-frontal lesbian underwater ballet is complemented by the kid from “Stand By Me” getting his manhood bitten off and burped up by a fish. In 3D.) 

Prehistoric, man-eating piranha, loosed from a fissure in the earth, feast upon drunk and horny spring breakers at a gorgeous desert lake. Blood, boobs, and mayhem. 

Maniac (2012)
This remake of the 1980 slasher turned out to be one of the best films of 2012. Frank (Elijah Wood) runs an arty mannequin shop and scalps hapless women to make wigs for his lifeless creations. When he meets a gorgeous photographer (Nora Arnezeder) Frank feels the pangs of real love. But his stab at normalcy quickly crumbles under the weight of his psychosis. 

Shot entirely from Frank’s point-of-view, “Maniac” is brutal. But it’s also incredibly well-made and nuanced, as Wood expertly walks a Norman Bates tightrope between sympathetic casualty and pure evil.    

Phantasm II (1988)
After some of the selections here, writer/director Don Coscarelli’s second film in the “Phantasm” franchise seems positively lighthearted. Picking up where the first one leaves off, Mike and Reggie (James LeGros and Reggie Bannister) join with Liz (Paula Irvine), a psychic woman, to hunt down The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) who’s still stealing dead bodies and sending them through an interdimensional portal to be transformed into undead, grave robbing Jawas. Stoner horror, at its finest.

Dead Alive (1992)
While Peter Jackson is best known for his epic “Lord of the Rings” adaptations, this batshit zombie comedy already had him on the radar of horror fiends. Lionel (Timothy Balme) is a nerd living with his domineering mother, who takes a dim view of her son’s interest in the girl from the corner shop. When mum is bitten by a Sumatran Rat Monkey, she turns into a ravenous zombie that Lionel has to protect from discovery.

This thing is loaded with more blood, pus, and gloopy gore than just about anything out there. It’s literally in the Guinness Book for using over 20,000 gallons of fake blood. And not only is there zombie sex, but even better, a zombie baby is born. 

Martyrs (2008)
The French have been on a tear, making some of the most brutal horror films of the last decade. “High Tension,” “Inside,” and “Frontiers” could have all made this list, but something about the way “Martyrs” delights in pain and suffering—combined with the French predilection for extremely sadistic violence—puts this Pascal Laugier film over the top.

As a child, Anna (Morjana Alaoui) befriends the abused Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) in an orphanage. Years later, Lucie murders the family she believes responsible for her basement tortures. Anna, at first, attempts to save a survivor. But she learns Lucie was right all along, when she meets the Mademoiselle, an elderly member of a secret society that believes extreme agony opens a window into the afterlife. “Martyrs” will make you wonder what the hell is wrong with French people. 

A Serbian Film (2010)
Miloš (Srdan Todorovi´c, who also produced and directed) is a past-his-prime Serbian porn star-turned-family man who takes a mysterious job from an indie smut kingpin. Sold as art, with no script, Miloš is soon coerced into filming increasingly depraved scenes of sexual violence and eventual murder, becoming the architect of his own demise in the most extreme terms possible.          

You think “A Serbian Film” is getting transgressive in the first act. It’s not. What follows is too fucked up to describe in this newspaper (and yes, I say that after describing “Necromantik 2”). Banned in many countries, the Serbian government investigated the production after its release. It’s a film born of extreme anger and pain, and it shows. In response to the controversy, director Todorovi´c said, “This is a diary of our own molestation by the Serbian government ... It’s about the monolithic power of leaders who hypnotize you to do things you don’t want to do. You have to feel the violence to know what it’s about.” Indeed, “A Serbian Film” will have you questioning everything you know about human nature—especially your own, if you actually finish watching it.

For more from Joe, read his review of Nate Parker's “The Birth of a Nation.”