Our favorite horror movies usually have some sort of a mystery element to them. We’d both rather have a solid and suspenseful mystery or thriller than just straight gore. So here’s a list of just that. Movies that bring a little more to the table than co-ed’s getting stabbed by a deranged maniac.
Some of these are more “thriller” or “crime” than mystery but you get the idea. It’s our kind of shit.
Scream (1996)
This movie really revitalized the slasher genre, as well as Wes Craven’s career. I’ll never forget the ’96 Halloween season, half the neighborhood wore Ghostface masks. Such an iconic movie. And I’ve gotta say, the Ghostface Killer (3 years after 36 Chambers came out) hustles in this. Getting smashed in the face with a door, kicked in the nuts. I mean, watch this clip. He earns every kill. Just absolutely leaving it all on the field.
I just recently watched it for the first time in years and man, it still slaps. This is a great thriller / mystery movie. It’s not your average slasher flick. And holy shit what a cast. Obviously you know about Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Courtney Cox and David Arquette (Dewy’s my favorite character). But I totally forgot it had Henry Winkler, Jaime Kennedy, and very briefly, Liev Schreiber.
It’s also a very hyper aware movie with countless references to other horror films. Usually I don’t love it when movies are like “if this was a movie” but that’s a big part of Scream and I don’t mind it. It actually gives it some charm. Here’s Jaime Kennedy talking about the rules of surviving a horror movie.
And of course the rules are, there are no rules. They break all of them.
The Awakening (2011)
This movie kind of got slept on but I really enjoy it. It takes place in England in 1921. The Great War has just ended and it’s left a stain on everyone’s lives. Rebecca Hall plays Florence Cathcart, an author who we see in the opening scene at a séance cutting through the charlatans bullshit.
After her husband died in the war she’s devoted her life to debunking ghosts. Jimmy McNulty, Professor Umbridge, and Bran the Broken round out the rest of the cast.
Robert Mallory (Dominic West) brings Cathcart to a boarding school that is said to be haunted. The men at the school have PTS from the war. I don’t call it PTSD by the way, to call it a disorder would mean that being effected by horrific events is wrong. It’s totally natural to be effected by trauma.
Anyway, there’s only one ghost at the school but all of the characters have to work out their personal ghosts as well. This is a well rounded movie with a few fun twists in the end.
American Psycho (2000)
Based on a novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho is a satirical psychological horror film about a successful businessman who also happens to be a Manhattan based serial killer. Christian Bale basically plays Bruce Wayne, if Bruce Wayne was a stone cold psychopath.
Get Out (2017)
This is an awesome horror movie about a family of crazy white people. We’re huge fans of Jordan Peele and he smashed the door in with his directorial debut. I almost didn’t add this to the list because it was so huge and so recent that most people reading this have seen it. But if you haven’t, you should. It’s really good.
Also, try to stay away from the sunken place.
Psycho (1960)
Based on a novel of the same name by H.P. Lovecraft protégé Robert Bloch, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho revolutionized the horror movie. It’s basically the first slasher film.
We mentioned in a previous article that Ed Hopper’s painting The House by the Railroad served as an inspiration for Norman Bates’ house. Here’s the painting:
It’s been said that Norman Bates character was inspired by real life murderer and nipple belt artisan Ed Gein. But Bloch said in an interview that he was almost done writing the book Psycho when he found out about Gein. He said he was amazed at how close they resembled each other, especially the mommy issues.
Regardless of the origins, Norman Bates is as bad a villain as you can get. On the Hannibal Lecter scale, he scores high.
The Shining (1980)
It’s not a mystery but it delivers as a psychological thriller. We’ve got a few pieces of artwork by Laurent Durieux, his stuff’s great. The link brings you to his website. Here’s another one.
It seems like we can’t write an article without making at least one Stephen King reference. But this is King’s time of year, he’s got so many good horror movies and thrillers to do a list of great Stephen King books would be to just merely list them all. However, he didn’t love this version of The Shining. King felt that Kubrick wasn’t faithful enough to the book. That may be true but Kubrick still delivered a masterpiece with excellent acting from Jack Nicholson.
I’m very excited to see Doctor Sleep by the way.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
My mom saw this movie before I did. She came home from the theater and said “You’ll never guess the ending.” I joked and said “What, is Bruce Willis dead?” I could tell from her face that I was correct and the first viewing was kind of ruined for me. Same thing happened after she watched The Happening. I was all like, “I bet it’s the trees.” – OK That was a joke but guessing Bruce Willis was dead did happen and I still loved this movie even though I knew the ending.
This was the fourth and best film M. Night Shyamalan directed. But did you know he wrote the screenplay for this, She’s All That, and Stewart Little in the same year? 1999 was a big year for the Shyam-man.
Visions (2015)
This might be the most controversial of my picks on here because it got some shitty reviews when it came out and went straight to VOD. However, I’m not afraid of putting out hot takes on this page.
Starring Isla Fisher as a pregnant lady in wine country I watched this when it was available on Netflix a while back and was pleasantly surprised. It had a fun ending that was original enough for me to be pissed that I didn’t think about it first.
Stir of Echoes (1999)
This was another pleasant surprise for me. Kevin Bacon’s great and the story is more of a horror mystery than most on this list. Kevin Bacon get’s hypnotized and now a door is open. Just like Haley Joel Osment in the other movie that came out the same year, he’s gotta solve a murder.
Mandy (2018)
I think the best way to describe Mandy is, Horror Vigilante Acid Trip. It features a Manson Family kind of hippie cult and demon bikers. It’s really a genre of its own. With bold colors like a Giallo coupled with psychedelic animation. If you want to get weird, Mandy is the way to go.
Also, this is a roll that only Nicolas Cage can play. He was born for this. When I saw the trailer I thought “God I hope it’s not like The Wicker Man.” It’s not. But it sure is wild.
Cabin in the Woods (2012)
I’m putting this one on here because a.) I enjoyed it b.) It features a Merman and c.) They play up the slasher film movie tropes pretty well, á la Scream. As I re-watched Scream I found myself wanting to watch this Horror-Comedy movie again.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a watch. At first you’re thinking it’s just your average horror movie and then you see Bradley Whitford in the lab department and you realize this is not your average horror movie.
