John Cusack names his five favourite horror movies of all time
Horror fans aren’t always basement-dwelling nihilists. They, indeed, roam among us, with movie fans, young and old, loving being scared out of their wits from time to time. The same can be said for celebrities, with such icons Jordan Peele, Seth Rogen and John Cusack being raging horror lovers, with the latter appearing in some of the genre’s most underrated contemporary greats.
Sure, Cusack’s modern double-bill of horror might not have won any awards, but they’re worthy additions to the pantheon of horror nonetheless. While 2003’s Identity, which attempted to sway its audience with countless twists and turns, 2007’s 1408, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, is the most impressive of the two, telling the story of a man who is driven insane by a haunted hotel room.
In a conversation with Rotten Tomatoes back in 2012, Cusack proclaimed his love for the genre by naming his five favourite horror movies of all time.
Picking a handful of undisputed horror classics, Cusack’s first pick went to Danny Boyle’s seminal 2002 viral-related flick 28 Days Later. While zombie fans were quick to cry that Boyle’s monstrous creations were, in fact, ‘infected’ and not the ‘walking dead’, the film still went on to inspire countless genre copycats. Starring the likes of Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson and Naomie Harris, the film remains a modern great.
Sticking on the theme of the walking dead, Cusack’s next pick went to the 1978 George Romero film Dawn of the Dead. A criticism of the increasing consumerist ideals of the time, Romero’s film told the story of a group of survivors who take shelter in an abandoned mall during a zombie outbreak, where they must learn to survive with each other and find a way out of their self-made prison.
Before Dawn of the Dead, however, came Cusack’s next choice, Romero’s iconic 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, which popularised zombies on the big screen. Speaking about both movies, the actor states: “I think they’re… well, it’s obviously about racism, and class issues, and consumerism and capitalism, you know, thematically and satirically.”
Often touted as the best horror movie of all time, Cusack’s next pick is William Friedkin’s 1973 film The Exorcist, starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair and Max von Sydow. A drama and coming-of-age film about faith and bodily transformation, Cusack calls the film “the scariest movie of all time,” exclaiming that it’s “head and shoulders above… there’s nothing more terrifying, or deeply sinister than that.”
If a horror lover doesn’t put The Exorcist at number one on their list of genre favourites, then it’s likely that they’ve chosen Stanley Kubrick’s Shining instead. Known as one of horror’s most influential films, the movie stars Jack Nicholson as a writer who agrees to take care of the haunted Overlook Hotel. A big influence on 1408, Cusack comments: “I remember being really, I mean really scared coming out of that theatre; like, I did not want to leave the street lights to walk home.”
John Cusack’s five favourite horror movies:
- 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002)
- Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, 1978)
- The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
- Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968)
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
