In the 1981 non-fiction book,Danse Macabre(updated several times over the years),Stephen Kingcomments extensively on the horror genre, explaining why he adores it so much and how society shapes it. The author provides great academic insight into the genre’s history, archetypes, influential authors, common narrative devices, and what it takes to create a masterpiece, whether in literature, television, or film.
King explains that any great scary work ought to deliver on three well-defined levels — terror, horror, and revulsion. Terror is the suspenseful moment before the villain/monster is revealed, horror is the moment at which one sees the creature/villain and their actions, and revulsion is the reaction.
The King of Horror explains that he uses these three levels not only to make his books stand out but also to judge films and TV shows. Over the years, the opinionated best-selling author has commented on various films, recommending them to audiences for their authenticity and uniqueness. For ‘90s horror, here are 5 movies Stephen King thinks you should watch.
5’Stir of Echoes' (1999)
Be careful what you wish for. During a party, Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon), a Chicago phone lineman,challenges his wife’s sister, who is a believer in paranormal activity, to hypnotize him. Shortly after, hestarts experiencing visions of a ghost.Tom initially dismisses the visions as mere hallucinations but starts taking them seriously after learning they areconnected to Samantha (Jennifer Morrison), a 17-year-old girl who disappeared from the neighborhood a few months earlier. He then finds himself getting more and more obsessed with the visions, causing a strain in his marriage. Will he help both Samantha and himself?Stir of Echoeshas twisty answers.
Getting to the Bottom of It
In 2007,Stephen King sat down with Entertainment Weeklyand randomly listed great movies he had seen in the ‘90s and early 2000s. Without elaborating, he listedStir of Echoestogether with non-horror movies likeFargoandAmerican Beauty.King’s adoration is hardly surprising as he is a big fan of author Richard Matheson, from whose book the movie was adapted. InDanse Macabre, he credits Matheson as“the author who influenced me most as a writer,”praising him for his effortless ability to infuse horror into everyday life instead of preserving it for gothic castles and haunted houses.
The movie might have beenovershadowed by the more popular 1999 occult flickslikeThe Mummy, The Blair Witch Project,andThe Sixth Sense, but it’s still a force, excelling via the interactions between Tom and Samantha. We see the oblivious yet curious family man brazenly manipulated by the feisty, savvy girl, who isn’t mean or nefarious — just plain hungry for justice. But none of it would have come off as beautifully as it does if we didn’t have Kevin Bacon in the lead role. He outdoes himself, and Jennifer Morrison does her best to keep up.
4’The Blair Witch Project' (1999)
Curiosity always kills the cat in horror movies, but no one ever gets the memo. InThe Blair Witch Project,three filmstudents go hiking into the Appalachian Mountains near Burkittsville, Maryland, to investigate the local Blair Witch mythand shoot a documentary. They see this as their big break, something that might even get them through the corridors of Hollywood in the future. But from the opening minute, we can tell that only their nightmares will come true, not their dreams. The events we see arefound footagefrom the discarded cameras of the three filmmakers who have all gone missing.
Too Spooky, Even for the King of Horror
So good isThe Blair Witch Projectthat even Stephen King was scared.Bloody Disgustingrevealsthat the author first saw the movie as he was in a hospital bed recovering from an accident, and couldn’t handle it.“I asked my son to turn the damn thing off. It may be the only time in my life when I quit a horror movie in the middle because I was too scared to go on” he said,adding that“the damn thing looks real, and because it does, it’s like the worst nightmare you ever had.”
Unlike King, many people had the nerve to watch it. Made on only a $750,000 budget, the film grossed $246 million, becoming one of the most profitable Hollywood productions of all time. For a film made for artistic reasons rather than commercial necessity, this was totally impressive. The luscious Rei Han scores points for her portrayal of the only lady in the group, while Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams’ astute handling of all the chaos resulting from the choices of their characters make them deserving of all the success they got after. Interestingly, all three actors sued, claiming unfair compensation, a move that says a lot about our culture’s use-and-dump nature.
3’Deep Blue Sea' (1999)
Events inDeep Blue Seatake place at an isolated underwater research facility wherescientists are genetically engineering mako sharks to extract a unique protein from their brains that could cure Alzheimer’s. When the arm of one of the staff members gets bitten, a helicopter is called to evacuate him. Unfortunately, the largest shark grabs the stretcher and pulls the helicopter into the walls, severely damaging the facility. From there on, it’s hell as other sharks go on the loose and start attacking everyone.
Like ‘Jaws’… With Claustrophobia
Stephen King revealed thatDeep Blue Seawas the first horror movie he watched after recovering from the accident, and he enjoyed every minute of it.“Yessss! I screamed out loud, and I treasure any horror movie that can make me do that,”he noted in the 2011 revised edition ofDanse Macabre. He is specifically talking about a moment where a shark bites Samuel L. Jackson’s character in half.
The sci-fi horror flick has little relevance to anything except its astonishing hair-raising virtuosity, but it isn’t just nothing but a story where Samuel L Jackson’s character dies early. A lot is going on with… the other guys. What keeps audiences glued throughout the 165-minute running time is the mounting suspense and unpredictability around the sharks. You never really know how each kill is going to happen. Wonder why the sets look so cool? They were constructed above the large water tanks that had been built forTitanic.
2’Event Horizon' (1997)
Set in 2047,Event Horizonfollows an astronaut crewsent on a rescue mission to Neptune after a missing starship, theEvent Horizon, is suddenly spotted around the planet. Upon reaching the derelict vessel, the astronauts find a terrifying message consisting of howls, screams, and what sounds like the Latin phrase “Līberāte mē” (“Save me”). Upon investigating further, they discover the ship’s experimental gravity drive created a portal to a hellish dimension, and that the ship has also become sentient and malevolent, possessing the astronauts and amplifying their deepest fears. This thus turns from a rescue mission to a desperate fight for survival.
Capturing the ‘Alien’ Vibe
Stephen King hasn’t written as many science fiction horrors as fans would have loved, but he always seems to enjoy movies in that particular category.Bloody Disgusting has the author explaininghas the author explaining thatEvent Horizonis“basically a Lovecraftian terror tale in outer space with The Quatermass Experiment vibe, done by the Brits,”adding,”The plot’s messy, but the visuals are stunning and there’s an authentic sense of horrors too great to comprehend just beneath the eponymous event horizon.”
Despite being plagued by numerous behind-the-scenes challenges, the cult feature is as good as fans always get. Clearly inspired by Ridley Scott’sAlienworld, it builds to a nifty surprise finish, with events held together by great performances from Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne. As far as astronauts go, these ones make a pretty inept bunch, often trapped in shared delusional fantasies about how to solve problems. But we have to admit. There’d be no fun if the protagonists weren’t a little incompetent.
1’The Silence of the Lambs' (1990)
Adapted from Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel,The Silence of the Lambsstars Jodie Foster asa young FBI trainee, Clarice Starling, hunting the notorious serial killer, “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine), who is known for skinning his female victims. To learn more about the minds of psychos, she goes to interview the imprisoned cannibalistic killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), and you bet he’ll make her some irresistible propositions. Who will really come out on top in the end? Starling? Hannibal or Buffalo Bill?
As Close to Perfection as Horror Gets
Labeling it a“genre classic,”Stephen King has often usedThe Silence of the Lambsas a benchmark of excellence when giving opinions about other movies. He famously compared Matt Reeves’ 2010 hit,Let Me In,to it, saying,“You know how good it is? OK, thinkThe Silence of the Lambs. It’s that good.“Additionally, the best-selling author has praisedHannibal, the third book in Thomas Harris’ series, declaring it one of the two most frightening novels of modern times, alongsideThe Exorcist.
Indeed, this is certainly one of the most visually arresting and terrifying horror flicks to have had its limited but intense gore-drenched scenes splattered across cinema screens in the 20th century. In many films of its kind, the gruesome excesses tend to go too far, paving the way for an air of theatricality that weakens the tension and leaves a nasty taste in the tongue. Here, the tension remains, thanks to Anthony Hopkins’ acting, his face mask, and the dialogue. His escaped character even closes the proceedings by announcing he’s “having an old friend for dinner.“Greatest horror villain of all time?
