Chris Rock names his favourite horror movie
Well-known as one of America’s most beloved comedians, Chris Rock climbed the ranks of industry stardom in the late 1980s and 1990s, impressing on both stage and screen. While he wouldn’t become known for his acting talents until a little later, he still collaborated with some of the era’s greatest filmmaking talents, including Kevin Smith, Tony Scott, Mario Van Peebles, Richard Donner and Steven Spielberg.
Indeed, his most consistent work on the silver screen has come alongside Adam Sandler and his Happy Maddison production company, first working with the fellow comedian in 2005 for the remake of The Longest Yard. Such became merely the first of many collaborations with Sandler, later appearing in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and Grown Ups alongside the likes of Rob Schneider, Kevin James and Salma Hayek.
A fond lover of the horror genre, in 2021, he starred and produced one of his own, helming Spiral: From the Book of Saw, an instalment of the infamous Saw franchise known for its shockingly violent torture scenes. A strange name to star in a Saw movie, Rock stated at the time, “I love all the other Saw movies, but there’s almost no humour in them,” with the film adding a half-hearted dose of comedy into the mix in the form of a buddy-cop narrative.
None of the ten Saw movies were selected when he picked out his all-time favourite horror flick; however, instead, he opted for an altogether more alternative choice.
Speaking to Bet, Rock chose “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate! It’s like a horror movie — Lynn Whitfield is like, ‘Oh, my God!’ Your worst nightmare!”
Not actually a horror movie, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate is a comedy crime flick released back in 1996. Starring Martin Lawrence, Lynn Whitfield and Regina King, the film tells the story of a nightclub promoter and ‘ladies man’ who chats up the wrong person in Brandi, a psychotic young woman who isn’t afraid to punish him if he breaks her heart.
Inspired by such movies as Boomerang and Fatal Attraction, as well as Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, more surprisingly, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate is the kind of throwaway ‘90s comedy that wouldn’t be made today. Making $34.8million from a budget of just $8m, the juice simply wasn’t worth the squeeze, especially when considering that Chris Rock is probably the only person who actually remembers the flick.
If you fancy taking on the comedy movie, take a look at the trailer below.
