00:00What makes a good horror movie? Is it the one that scares us the most? One that finds new
00:04exciting ways to tell stories shared time and time again? Or is it one, as with the following
00:09movies, that affects us so deeply that we'll never want or need to return to them again?
00:13At their best, horror movies are a juggling act, tackling grand themes of life's misfortunes and
00:17the highs and lows of the human condition, while simultaneously terrifying audiences with nasty
00:22images and startling twists of fate. Sometimes a horror movie comes along that is so effective
00:26with its message and execution that it almost begs you not to re-watch them. With that
00:31in mind, I'm Sean Ferrick for WhatCultureHorror, and here are 10 great horror movies you'll
00:35only watch once.
00:37Number 10, The Shining, 1980. For the most part, the films on this list are included because
00:41they're unbearably disturbing, but in the case of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, the reason
00:46it's here is because it's far too familiar. Based on Stephen King's seminal novel of the
00:50same name, Kubrick's masterwork is an expertly crafted thriller about one man's descent into
00:55madness, full to bursting with intricate set detail and skin-crawling twists that sneak
01:00up on you with startling effect. Despite its brilliance, though, The Shining also suffers
01:04from some serious overexposure. The beats of its story are so well-known and parodied
01:09that the big moments from Here's Johnny to The Typewriter simply won't land for first-time
01:14viewers as they once did. It's still an absolute must-watch, despite King's misgivings about
01:19what Kubrick cut from the book, and it'll surely manage to leave a lasting impression for Jack
01:23Nicholson's performance alone, but chances are one watch will cut it, and afterwards
01:27you'll probably be content sticking with The Simpsons Halloween spoof.
01:309. The Lords of Salem, 2006. Rob Zombie has never been a filmmaker intent on making
01:36anything resembling high art, the likes of House of a Thousand Corpses and Three from Hell proving
01:41he's really only in it for the entertainingly macabre. That said, he definitely stretched his
01:46creative muscles with The Lords of Salem, which to date may be his finest film. The story of a
01:52haunted DJ who finds herself entangled with a coven of bloodthirsty witches, the film is a tricky
01:56blend of surreal vulgarity, shocking violence, and symbolic psychodrama. And in classic Rob Zombie
02:02fashion, the results are absolutely horrifying, so overflowing with bloodshed, torment, and sexual
02:07depravity that even the most hardened of horror fans will be left wincing by the director's stunningly
02:13twisted imagination. Watching The Lords of Salem from its embattled protagonist, played by
02:18Zombie's wife and creative moose, Sherry Moon, is not an easy journey to take, and its finale will most
02:23likely leave you at a loss for words. The chances of you finishing it and gearing up for another go
02:28are... slim.
02:308. Inland Empire, 1999.
02:32Erasurehead, Twin Peaks, Small Holland Drive. Over the years the great and incomparable David Lynch has
02:38given audiences a wide range of delightfully twisted productions, but none are quite as
02:43indecipherably batshit as his, so far, final film, Inland Empire.
02:48Playing as a nightmarish odyssey into the life of an actress whose latest film proves to be a gateway to
02:54madness, Inland Empire features some of the most unsettling and inexplicable images of Lynch's career,
03:00which may sound more like hyperbole before you watch the thing and attempt to unpack it all.
03:04With a truncated narrative approach and a wonderful sense that Lynch is having the time of his
03:09life. The bonkers burst of surreal randomness that is enrapturing despite its confusion,
03:14and even though you'll go mad yourself trying to figure it out, it's a movie going experience
03:18you have to take. That said, Inland Empire is so weird, and at just over three hours so long,
03:25that it doesn't exactly lend itself to repeat viewings. Once, in this case, is more than enough.
03:307. Green Room, 2015.
03:33Compared to other films on this list, especially those still to come, Green Room is honestly quite tame,
03:38but through the force of its action and its relentless pace, it definitely deserves to be here.
03:44The story of a punk band who are thrust into a race for survival after witnessing a gang of
03:48violent neo-Nazis commit a murder, Jeremy Saulnier's use of constant tension and nail-biting violence
03:54makes it an exhausting sit, if a madly entertaining one. With exciting performances from stars Anton Yelchin,
04:00Imogen Poots, and an against-type Patrick Stewart, Green Room doesn't do anything overwhelmingly
04:06depraved or heart-wrenching, but its boundless energy and breathless displays of violence
04:10certainly leave it sitting in the one-watch-only camp. That being said, it's worth sitting through
04:15the madness to see the late Anton Yelchin in action again, and to feast your eyes on how
04:20terrifyingly good Stewart is as a sadistic Nazi skinhead. What a wild ride this is.
04:266. Don't Look Now, 1974.
04:28Directed by Nicholas Rogue, Don't Look Now implies an intense, slow-burn approach to a
04:34tale that tackles grief without compromise and plenty of unsettling scares. Starring Donald
04:38Sutherland and Julie Christie as grieving parents who are roped into the visions of two psychic
04:43sisters in the English countryside, Rogue's classic horror releases its secrets methodically and with
04:48great care, so each twist and turn of the story comes with such an emotional thud you may be inclined
04:54to
04:54pause the TV. With its moody aesthetic, tantalising score and recurring motifs, Don't Look Now is a
04:59contemplative piece of work that demands patience and reaps many rewards for those willing to settle
05:04into its rhythms. This slow-burn approach doesn't exactly beg you to come back for seconds, and all
05:10told, the film is best watched once anyway, because it's so orderly and ends with such force that any
05:15rewatch couldn't possibly match the first time viewing experience. When it comes to watching Sutherland hold
05:21the body of his dead daughter, once will cut it. Number five, Audition, 1999. One of the most
05:28influential horror movies produced by Japan, Audition is a psychological thriller of the highest order,
05:33taking a relatively simple premise and some shocking violence to explore the idea of loneliness and
05:39mourning. Directed by the great Takashi Miike, the film follows a widower who sets up an audition for a new
05:45romantic partner, which leads him to cross paths with the enthralling Asami, a woman with whom he
05:51becomes inescapably drawn to. So far so creepy, but Miike doesn't waste any time in taking the film's
05:57slow-burn tension and suddenly throwing audiences into a bloody nightmare, revealing every twisted
06:02detail of Asami's past with imagery few will be able to stomach, as vomit, severed body parts and
06:08torture galore, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Bleak to the nth degree and ending with an image
06:13destined to stay with you for nights on end, Audition is a violent, awful tragedy that gives its characters
06:19no chance of escape. You will not be meeting again, that's for sure. Number four, Relic, 2020.
06:26In horror, the best films are the ones that use their scares to say something powerful about the
06:30way we live, and in that grand tradition, recent gem Relic is an absolute must-see, though not one you'll
06:36be itching to revisit. That's because Natalie Erica James' directorial debut about a family haunted by the
06:42physical manifestation of dementia consuming their home is a film so monumentally heartbreaking that
06:48to watch it is to swear off watching horror movies, or maybe just movies in general, for at least a
06:52week.
06:53Unlike many films on this list, Relic isn't violent or all that bloody, mining its tension from dialogue
06:58and a consuming feel of dread. It uses subtleties to explore how the impending spectre of death strips
07:04us of who we are before it finally takes us to the great beyond. As you can see, James' drama
07:09is nothing
07:10short of a depression session, empathetic and even kind of beautiful as it slowly drains you.
07:15You need to see it for yourself, but make sure to lock it away forever once you're done.
07:20Number three, Antichrist, 2009. You hear the phrase, directed by Lars von Trier,
07:26and you instantly know you won't be returning to what you're about to watch. But even by his standards,
07:32Antichrist is a harrowing production. The deeply metaphorical tale of a grieving couple,
07:37played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg with commendable commitment, who travel to a cabin
07:42in the woods in a search for solace, only to find strange visions and stunning bouts of sexual sadism,
07:48this remains von Trier's most infamously bleak movie. Antichrist, to put it in context,
07:54starts with the death of a child, and honestly that opener might be the film's tamest moment.
07:59What follows, the torture, gnarly symbolism, sex and gore of it all, ramps up with every scene,
08:04right up until its horribly cruel finale. It'll be difficult for anyone to get through Antichrist
08:09even once, let alone twice or more, though those committed to the anguish will find plenty of
08:14things to unpack about grief, faith and the endless pit of depression. Good times!
08:20Number two, I Saw the Devil, 2010. The plot is simple and horribly twisted. One day, a serial killer murders
08:27the daughter of an intelligence officer, who, in his insurmountable grief, devises a plan to torture the
08:32killer for as long as possible as punishment for his sins. Though some may question labelling
08:38I Saw the Devil as horror, but the agony and emotional turmoil of the film's central drama is
08:44so dense, so overwhelming, so heartless and without hope, to the very last frame, that there's really
08:49nothing else it could be called. Directed by Kim Ji Won of A Tale of Two Sisters fame and written
08:54by Park Hoon Jung,
08:55this South Korean thriller would make a perfect double bill with Oldboy, both being pulverising
09:01tales of the futility of revenge and lost humanity that offer no solace in their final moments,
09:06or any moment leading up to it for that matter. Sadistic, bleak, frighteningly violent and heartbreaking,
09:13I Saw the Devil is a relentless thrill ride into the darkest depths of humanity, and is such a soulless
09:18tragedy that watching it again is really not an option. Number one, Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me 1992.
09:26Just as David Lynch and Mark Frost rocked on the original run of Twin Peaks with one of the most
09:31maddening TV cliffhangers ever devised, until their return to the series in 2017 at least,
09:36Lynch decided to take one last jump into the life of the late Laura Palmer and her friends. Acting as
09:42a
09:42prequel to the series, Fire Walk With Me follows Laura, the brilliant Cheryl Lee, during the last week of
09:47her life. What happened in the days leading up to her murder, committed by her possessed father?
09:52What kind of secrets does Lynch still have to spill about the mysterious Black Lodge and Bob?
09:57Fire Walk With Me answers all of these questions whilst asking some fresh ones,
10:01with stunning imagery and cast performances. It's truly a sight to behold, but unlike the show that
10:07gave it life, the movie has none of Lynch or Mark Frost's uncanny humour in place to offset the
10:12heartbreak. No, Fire Walk With Me may just be the saddest horror film ever made, a film meticulously
10:18laying out every detail of Laura Palmer's final days with no hope in sight. You'll watch it to learn its
10:24secrets, then lock it away forever whilst you attempt to recover. Folks, I think this is a good place to
10:29end this video and to say go out, play the sunshine, cheer up and maybe give this one a break.
10:34Perhaps
10:35this is a video you will not return to and I wouldn't blame you. Please make sure though that you're
10:38following
10:39us on the social medias. You can follow us at WalkCultureHorror, you can follow myself at
10:42SeanFarrick on social media as well. Until I see you again folks, look after yourselves,
10:46be kind to yourselves and be kind to others and remember you're awesome. Thanks very much. Bye bye.
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