Leigh Whannell picks his 10 favourite horror movies
Leigh Whannell is one of modern horror’s most promising faces. His contributions include Saw, the thrilling yet gruesome 2004 horror, the creative supernatural film Insidious and the unsettling Dead Silence, all directed by James Wan. In addition, Whannell also directed the cyberpunk action Upgrade and The Invisible Man, a modern adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic novel.
During an interview with The Guardian, Whannell expressed his goal of rejuvenating horror and its traditional monster icons when it came to directing this adaptation. “I saw an opportunity to change people’s perceptions of what The Invisible Man was,” Whannell revealed. “He’s very well known, but I think as time has gone by, that character has become almost comical: you know, the floating sunglasses and bandages. The more I thought about it, the more I realised The Invisible Man movie I would love to see has never been made.” This vision proved successful, as The Invisible Man received critical acclaim for its unique presentation. Whannell’s take on the character is terrifying, relevant and incisive in delivering a commentary on domestic abuse.
Whannell’s credit doesn’t end there since he also wrote the Saw video game adaptations. Continually on the grind, he is credited as a co-writer on Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion’s comedy horror Cooties, which starred Elijah Wood. The actor/writer then featured in the low-budget Australian horror Dying Breed as a zoologist searching for a Tasmanian tiger, only to be hunted down by cannibals.
Despite his success with Wan, in a November 2013 post on his blog, Whannell implied a new chapter beyond his partnership, as the director had finally achieved his goal of making epic-style blockbuster productions. Whannell explained: “Now, he’s off making the films he’s always wanted to make – the big ones. I do not doubt that his name will be added to that special club of film directors that he’s always admired very soon. I’m so happy for him, like a proud father. And that is why it is the end of an era.”
The two did share their favourite horror films on MovieMaker in 2011, following the release of Insidious. Wan expressed a love for the slasher Black Christmas, calling it an “underrated masterpiece”. Meanwhile, supernatural chillers and extraterrestrial thrillers populated Whannell’s list.
He opens his list with a quintessential horror piece. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is cited as one of the greatest horrors of all time, following a writer who is driven insane once he becomes the caretaker of the Overlook hotel. The film is adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name and was released to mixed reviews on November 7th, 1980.
The Shining then received a re-assessment, causing it to be recognised as some of horror’s best filmmaking. Whannell expresses how the film is “the scariest film I’ve ever seen, then and now” and that he “still couldn’t watch it late at night if you tried to make me”. When it comes to The Shining, the tone is everything, as Kubrick designed the film to send chills down spines, from the shot composition to the eerie soundtrack. “Horror is a very technical genre—everything is a fraction of a fraction’s difference between scary and not,” Whannell explains. “Kubrick’s masterful combination of sound, music and imagery is note-perfect.”
The next entry on Whannell’s list is another horror classic hailed as one of the best. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws focuses on a bloodthirsty shark which terrorises a small beachside town, prompting a marine biologist, police chief and a fisherman to set out to sea to take it down. As the prototypical blockbuster, Jaws was initially the highest-grossing film until Star Wars came out two years later. Three less successful sequels have complicated its legacy since then. However, Jaws still remains a significant and beloved contribution to cinematic history.
Whannell counteracts any citings of the film as just a thriller, claiming that Jaws “is a classic monster movie, and the monster movie sub-genre falls firmly under the umbrella of the horror genre”. For him, the film is still captivating to watch years after first seeing it. “Today, it is merely a masterpiece that I can watch over and over without ever getting bored,” he shares. “It is my favourite film of all time and deserves a place on the horror mantel.”
Another one of Whannell’s favourite horrors is Ridley Scott’s Alien, an atmospheric sci-fi film that keeps its monster in the dark. Alien met with mixed reviews on release, but it was a box-office success, outgrossing its budget through non-stop ticket sales. The film also earned its fair share of awards, including the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, three Saturn Awards and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. In cinema history, it is now cited as one of the most influential sci-fi horrors of all time.
“When people talk about a golden age of horror in the ’70s and bemoan the fact that throughout the ’80s, horror became a cheap, trashy genre, they are getting nostalgic about a film like Alien,” Whannell explains, commenting on the difference between ’70s and ’80s horror. “Think about it, through the ’70s, and early ’80s, directors like William Friedkin, Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick all made horror films. If directors of that calibre were making horror films today, it would not be a dirty word.”
Interestingly enough, Whannell follows this classic ’70s horror with one of the ’80s’ best – Evil Dead II, the sequel to Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. Following the events of the first film, in which a group of friends are possessed by a demonic entity, one of the surviving friends, Ash, continues to battle the evil spirits in isolated woods. After his girlfriend is possessed, Ash realises escaping the woods is impossible. Evil Dead II is kept alive by a cult following who rank it among the best additions to the genre.
Whannell revealed he “had to pick this one over” the first Evil Dead film “purely for the nostalgia value.” The actor adds: “Before I saw it, I was deathly afraid of it. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to handle the gore.” However, Evil Dead II defied Whannell’s initial expectations, as when he eventually watched it, he “couldn’t believe how funny it was”.
Check out Whannell’s full list below.
Leigh Whannell’s favourite horror movies:
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
- Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
- Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)
- Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998)
- The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001)
- Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
- Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1987)
- Poltergeist (Tobe Hopper, 1982)
- The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
- The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)
