I used to be the girl growing up that hated anything that could scare me. When I got into High School, I found myself doing a lot of YouTube and newspaper movie reviews that required me to go see scary movies and rate them. Because of that experience, I started to become less scared of horror movies and more appreciative of their stories and their craft. Most people my age think that the best scary movies are the ones with jump scares and have no plot otherwise, those are just gimmicks made as a cash grab and are critical trash. If you want to get into Horror (the RIGHT kind of horror that actually are critical masterpieces) here are 5 movies you should try!
1. "The Silence of the Lambs"
(So Far) The only genre horror movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This movie is a masterpiece full of suspense, drama, and less of the gory aspect most genre explicit horror movies derived from. This move will keep you on your toes and will take you through twists and turns, trusting characters you never thought you would ever trust. This is one of the 2 best movies to start you on horror movies, the other one is next on the list!
2. "Saw"
James Wan (the director of the Insidious and The Conjuring series) started his film career with this masterpiece! I know what you're probably thinking. You probably assumed this movie to be full of people being mutilated...the awful sequel that came after this movie by different directors made that stereotype. This movie barely even has blood in it (yes, you read that correctly) because you see, the budget for this movie back in 2004 was so limited that James Wan could barely afford fake blood for the scenes that needed it, so anything scary you might see is off-screen due to that budget. The camera work and the script are both winners, too. I highly recommend this movie and the last one for first timers!
3. "Get Out"
This movie is a modern master and was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This movie is not "full of jump sequences," rather it focuses on the reality of racism in America and the complications that might come with that (especially when his girlfriend's family goes crazy). This movie is more than just a scary movie, it's also a tale about humanity.
4. "Hereditary"
This movie got snubbed for soooo many Oscar nominations it's insane. This movie, if I even try to describe it without spoiling the true plot of the movie, is about this family grieving from the loss of their grandmother while weird things start happening in their household. This movie makes you think and is worth watching for Toni Collette's performance as the mother alone.
5. "Hush"
This movie is just straight up chilling to the core. It's about a deaf-mute who lives in isolation whose house gets broken into. The best part about this movie is seeing how someone with that kind of disability would handle this situation, especially since she can only sense that he's nearby her other senses. She can only FaceTime, not call, and she can only tell he's behind her by the sensation of his breath. This movie is a great one to watch and it's on Netflix!
