Anthony Hopkins names his favourite horror movies
Since the 1960s, Anthony Hopkins has been acting across stages and screens, although during the earlier part of his career, he predominantly performed in theatre productions. It goes without saying that the time spent performing Shakespeare plays on established stages like the National Theatre prepped him for a long and illustrious career in the film industry.
While Hopkins starred in films in the late 1960s and 1970s, his performance in David Lynch’s 1980 film The Elephant Man allowed him to demonstrate his abilities to a wider audience. The movie was highly acclaimed, with Hopkins playing the curious surgeon who proves to be no more exploitative than those who kept the titular character on display as part of a freak show. It’s an emotional film, and Hopkins’ performance is a vital part of making it so great.
However, it wasn’t until the early ‘90s that he began to be known more widely, thanks to a terrific performance in a movie that would win him an Academy Award. Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, a horrifying cannibal who Jodie Foster’s young FBI agent Clarice meets in order to learn more about the way sociopaths think, hoping it’ll help her to solve a different case. He is incredibly unnerving but also darkly funny, starkly contrasting the typical depiction of serial killers. We get to see him unmasked and talking about his crimes, clearly possessing a striking amount of intellect.
The movie is one of the greatest horror films ever made, but Hopkins once revealed that he’s not even that big of a fan of the genre, only watching scary movies if they contain “something else going on”. Talking to Movies, he explained that “horror as a genre is not something I would go out of my way to watch”.
He continued: “It’s not just about frightening people with the same old cinematic tricks. It’s about the story and the characters, and creating an atmosphere that terrifies you. You rarely need to actually see the monster, and, in fact, it’s often better – and scarier – when you don’t.”
Thus, he listed two horror movies he really likes, starting with The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin. The movie was actually never meant to be a horror, but the terrifying scenes of a child’s demonic possession soon led viewers to class it as such. It’s easy to see why Hopkins would like this kind of horror film – it doesn’t rely on just scaring the viewer; it aims to dissect complex themes of religion. Alongside The Silence of the Lambs, The Exorcist is one of the only horror movies to have ever won ‘Best Picture’ at the Oscars.
The other horror movie that Hopkins loves is The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, a classic tale of one man’s descent into madness. The film, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, was not as well-received as it is now when it was released in 1980, with many people finding it too confusing and disappointing. Duvall’s performance also received criticism for being too ‘over-the-top’, which has since been reevaluated and widely praised.
Kubrick’s film is an electrifying foray into obsession and family, soundtracked by Wendy Carlos’ atmospheric synthesiser score and painted in bright, striking colours. There is a lot to lose yourself in, and Hopkins certainly believes it to be a fantastic horror movie.
