Our comfort horror films 👻, 'Intruder' gets its due 🥫, Jamie Brandel's faves 📼, & more!

Horror has, quite simply, saved my life. I know I'm not alone in feeling this way. Whenever I'm down in the dumps about work, a breakup, or anxious over the state of this country, I can flip on one of my favorite films and get lost for 90+ minutes. Experiencing fictional horror alleviates those internal and external pressures. The visceral nature of the genre permits me to exorcise my demons through fear - it's like bloodletting. Unbridled terror courses through my system and everything that's congealed inside my body oozes from my pores like squished Jell-O.

Ever since childhood, when films like Child's Play 2 and A Nightmare on Elm Street saw frequent rewatches, I've found myself using horror like a salve to my anxiety-riddled brain. As a kid, I escaped from real-life troubles through the TV screen. I don't think I would have made it through those violent occurrences without horror. It's always been a lifeline - something that made it easier to deal with the world and what was rattling inside the house. From Michael Myers stalking Laurie in Halloween 2 to Davey turning people into mannequins in Tourist Trap, the genre I love so dearly made me who I am today. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

When considering the broader horror community, we're all built so differently. I know people who put on French extremist films like Martyrs to wind down from a stressful day, or maybe even Calvaire (2004). Others might put on Scream (1996), The Tragedy Girls, or something much lighter like Lisa Frankenstein. There's something for everyone! Slashers, supernatural, Giallo, found footage - we've all got our favorites that have become our warm, inviting comfort blankets.

To accompany this week, Brett and I have put together a Letterboxd list of our collective favorite comfort horror films - can you guess mine? I'll give you a few hints: 🔪🏚️📹👸🏻🔫

Yours Cruelly,
Bee

P.S. I have officially watched 100+ new releases of 2024 and put together a Letterboxd list of everything I've seen so far this year. Got a rec? Let me know on Twitter/X!

P.P.S. I recently became Tomatometer-Approved 🍅 It's been a very long journey to this moment, and I can't wait for what's to come. Got an upcoming film? Email me and let's chat!

Issue 006’s Letterboxd list can be found here

[Pet Sematary] Stephen King is a household name in the horror genre, and this is one of my all-time favorite books from his collection- it’s a twisted kind of comfort for me. 

It delves deep into themes of grief and the blurred lines of right and wrong as well as the dangerous repercussions of meddling with the natural order of life - a temptation that most of us would find hard to resist.

While the real horror in the story unfolds towards the end, a sense of foreboding and unease permeates the entire book like a slow-motion car crash. There is no clear-cut villain in this tale, only the looming specter of death and the haunting consequences of refusing to let go.

This book is an exploration of the aftermath of loss and the lengths some will go to in order to defy the inevitable. It's a chilling reminder of the fragility of life and the darkness that can consume us when we refuse to accept its natural course.

Intruder at 35: An Underrated Classic

As a society, we have failed Intruder. Released in 1989, Scott Spiegel’s film remains one of the most underrated horror films ever – it currently has a lackluster 53% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (and only two critic reviews). Even though it arrived super late in the slasher game – the peak of slashers was arguably 1982 before slowly fading out by the decade’s end – it’s one of the subgenre's best entries. A few years ago, I included it on my /Film list for best slashers of all time, ranking it at No. 32.

I recently revisited the classic as the film turns 35 this year and was once again blown away by its effectiveness. What’s so striking about the grocery-store-set picture is the inventive kills, peppered throughout its setting like shiny store displays. The killer, revealed in true slasher fashion in the third act, makes great use of the tools and equipment around them. From your typical stomach stabs and dismemberments, there’s also a trash compactor death, a slice through the skull via meat saw, and an eye puncture with a receipt spike. How fun!

The story is quite simple. A group of youths, which includes Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox), Linda (Renée Estevez), and Randy (Sam Raimi), close up shop for the night. Jennifer’s ex-boyfriend Craig (David Byrnes) is alone in the store and approaches her at the cash register where he begs for an explanation for breaking up with him. Things turn violent when she declines his advances and other employees jump in to ward him off. They eventually toss him out into the parking lot, and he runs out of frame.

But things aren’t over. A stalker, only shown in shadow or from a distance, peeps around the corner. First-person POV also hides their identity and boosts the film with much-needed creepiness. That trick, offered up in other horror essentials like Peeping Tom and Halloween, serves the film well, considering it brushes up against numerous tropes and cliches.

The killer then slowly makes his way inside and tip-toes through the aisles, toying with his victims in a playful cat-and-mouse game. With Jennifer manning the front of the store, her friends disappear one by one and meet the most grisly ends. As Yeah Yeah Yeahs sing in their iconic song, heads will roll! From several decapitations by meat cleaver to one character’s limbs positioned for a discount display, Intruder doesn’t skimp on the violence. In fact, it’s one of the most gruesome of its era.

While there’s no explicit sex, there is plenty of groping and making out on top of a cash register. As such, the characters must pay for their crimes by any means necessary. As far as tropes are concerned, the group also never questions where everyone has gotten off to and instead, just shrugs it off. Even more, the cops prove useless (as expected), raising the stakes for what’s to come. When all is revealed in the third act, the killer confesses their motive to punctuate an already silly premise (in the best way possible).

As things reach a climax, the finale cements the film as an absolute treasure. Not to dip into spoiler territory in case you haven’t seen it, but it flips the slasher on its head with an unexpected twist in the last few minutes. For her part, Jennifer lets out a blood-curdling scream… and cut to black. What an ending!

While modern reassessments have turned the tide, there’s still not enough conversation happening about how damn great it is. It fits snuggly next to your other favorite messy ‘80s flicks, but its charm makes for a great time. Whether you watch it with your friends on a Friday night or rewatch it on your own one Monday morning, the film continues to be a standout of the slasher boom.

It’s finally time we give it its due. Intruder deserves better.

Horroverse's Favorite Comfort Horror Films

While there's a large library of horror films to watch that'll keep you busy until the end of time, we find comfort in watching these films multiple times, even though we know how each one ends. In the comments below, tell us what your favorite comfort films are (no matter the genre). Check out our Comfort Horror Films list on Letterboxd.

Silver Scream Con, the horror convention that brought 5,000 blood-thirsty movie fans to Boston's North Shore in each of its first two iterations, brings the Three-quel everyone's been dying for to Worcester’s DCU Center on September 13-15, 2024. Tickets and information are available now at silverscreamcon.com.

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.