10 iconic directors name their favourite horror movies
The horror genre is one of the oldest and most established forms of storytelling there is, with cautionary tales of terror being handed down from generation to generation. Whilst many are quick to disregard its importance, the truth is that horror has long played a fundamental role in the way in which cultures and societies reflect on their own existence, holding up a black mirror to reality.
Sure, in recent decades, the genre has been crammed full of torture-porn splatters like Saw, Hostel and The Collector, but even these movies, which many wish to despise, have an important place in the landscape of the genre. Its history goes back to the very dawn of cinema with F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2022, heralding in a new era for arthouse horror.
Ever since then, filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Craven, William Friedkin, Tobe Hooper, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, Jordan Peele and James Wan have worked to innovate and revolutionise the genre.
Horror has long held a tight grip over the sway of modern audiences, with some of the most iconic filmmakers of all time also taking influence from their undeniable magnetism. Join us as we go through ten of the most influential names in cinema and match them up to some of their all-time favourite horror movies.
10 iconic directors name their favourite horror movies
Wes Anderson
The idiosyncratic American director of such contemporary classics as Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs has always drawn inspiration from a range of cinematic sources. Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes about his all-time favourites, however, the filmmaker opted for the Roman Polanski classic Rosemary’s Baby, starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes and Ruth Gordon.
“One movie that I often find myself going back to is Rosemary’s Baby,” he tells the online publication, adding, “This has always been a big influence on me, or a source of ideas; and it’s always been one of my favourites”.
Tim Burton
Speaking of idiosyncratic filmmakers, the gothic energy of the American creative has developed quite the fanbase over the years, especially considering that the director is responsible for such favourites as Beetlejuice, Big Fish and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, Burton picks out his favourite horror movie, choosing Robin Hardy’s iconic folk horror, The Wicker Man starring Christopher Lee.
“It was not a very successful movie when it came out but it’s really quite a hypnotic and amazing film I think. It’s like a weird dream,” Burton says of the classic, whilst also highlighting his love for Dracula A.D. 1972 and The War of the Gargantuas in the same conversation.
John Carpenter
When it comes to cult filmmakers, there are none quite as prolific as John Carpenter, the mastermind of 1980s cinema who brought such classics as Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York to the big screen. As a great lover of the horror genre, Carpenter told The Fader that among his many favourites of the genre, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist was a particular love.
“You know what’s scary about The Exorcist? Everyone knows what’s scary about that movie. It’s the devil,” the director stated, adding, “The first time I saw it, I thought, in order to be really effective, this movie requires a belief in a higher power. But since then, I’ve come to appreciate it just for what it is. I watched it again recently and was surprised by how intense it is”.
Sofia Coppola
Filmmaker of Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola, has become one of the most celebrated filmmakers of the 21st century thanks to her intimate style of moviemaking. More recently, the director drew inspiration from the 2008 arthouse vampire movie Let the Right One In, a film the director often names as one of her favourite horror movies of all time.
There’s little surprise that Coppola is such a fan of the dark film by Tomas Alfredson, with the violent elements often taking a backseat to the coming-of-age love story that sits at the very centre of the multi-award-winning movie.
David Cronenberg
The Canadian king of body horror David Cronenberg, is still working at the very top of his game, having released Crimes of the Future to the sound of uproarious applause at the Cannes Film Festival 2022. Speaking to the Konbini YouTube channel in 2022, Cronenberg picked out the classic 1973 Nicolas Roeg movie Don’t Look Now, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, from a vast collection.
“This was a movie that really stunned me. I was really very impressed by it,” Cronenberg stated, adding, “Very strange. Very much about death, but at first you’re not aware that that’s really the subject matter. It’s really a love story, but it’s really a love story about love and death”.
Robert Eggers
It hasn’t taken the American filmmaker Robert Eggers too long to be considered one of the greatest filmmakers of modern cinema, working with the likes of Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson and Nicole Kidman for such movies as The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. A lover of classic horror, for Eggers, nothing gets better than F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, which celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2022.
“Nosferatu invents horror movies,” he states, adding, “The editing of the parallel story together in some ways invents cinema”. Meanwhile, in a separate interview, he goes so far as to comment that Nosferatu is “one of the greatest and most haunting films ever made”.
Jim Jarmusch
A pioneer of independent American cinema, Jim Jarmusch was an integral filmmaker throughout the late 20th century and continues to be significant to this very day, with recent releases including The Dead Don’t Die, Paterson, and Only Lovers Left Alive. Discussing his most beloved movies of all time, Jarmusch cited the works of Claire Denis and John Waters but finally decided on a Mary Harron classic as his all-time favourite horror.
“My number one is American Psycho, 2000. A masterful adaptation of words to cinema by Mary Harron, an important American director, and writer,” Jarmusch told Rotten Tomatoes back in 2019.
Martin Scorsese
Director Martin Scorsese is part of the dialogue of American culture at this point, so much so that the filmmaker behind Goodfellas, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull barely needs an introduction. A lover of cinema history, from the likes of Jean-Luc Godard to Alfred Hitchcock, he names Scorsese’s favourite horror film the classic 1961 ghost story The Innocents by director Jack Clayton.
“This Jack Clayton adaptation of The Turn of the Screw is one of the rare pictures that does justice to Henry James,” Scorsese told The Daily Beast in 2019, adding, “It’s beautifully crafted and acted, immaculately shot (by Freddie Francis), and very scary”.
Quentin Tarantino
From one American icon to another, Quentin Tarantino has become a beloved filmmaker of the 21st century, thanks to such films as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown giving him a leg-up in the 1990s. A lover of violent movies and slasher flicks, Tarantino has quite a few favourites in the horror genre, picking out ten films from Mario Bava, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Pedro Almodóvar in his past.
Though, we want to highlight his love for Takashi Miike’s 1999 horror movie Audition, calling the movie “a true masterpiece if ever there was one”.
Guillermo del Toro
The Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is enjoying a stellar year in 2022, releasing the celebrated Netflix movie Pinocchio as well as the brand new horror series Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring films from such names as Jennifer Kent and Panos Cosmatos. A lover of classic gothic cinema, del Toro picked out the 1960 Georges Franju movie Eyes Without a Face, starring Pierre Brasseur and Alida Valli.
Speaking about the movie, del Toro stated, “It influenced me a lot with the contrast between beauty and brutality…The clash of haunting and enchanting imagery has seldom been more powerful. Eyes Without a Face boasts an extraordinary soundtrack too!”.
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