Michaela Coel names her favourite horror movies of all time
Few icons in British cinema carry quite as much influence as actor, writer and director Michaela Coel, the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning star who has set new standards for the contemporary industry. A bastion of independent film and TV, Coel has also given her talents to the Marvel cinematic universe in the shape of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as well as Star Wars, where she played a minor role in 2017’s Last Jedi.
Whilst she’s taken to mainstream Hollywood cinema, Coel is far better known for her successes on the small screen, first thriving in 2015’s Chewing Gum before she created one of the best HBO series ever made in the form of I May Destroy You. Starring in the series, which she also wrote and directed, the show explores sexual consent in contemporary society and opened the door to the discussion of similar topics in real life.
As well as one of Britain’s greatest cinematic creatives, Coel is also a passionate film lover herself, with the actor telling us about some of her favourite horror movies in an exclusive interview.
Starting off with a recent classic, Coel calls the 2018 Ari Aster movie Hereditary “one of the greatest”. Often considered one of the best horror movies of recent years, Aster’s film starred Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro and Alex Wolff, and told the story of a family grieving a recent loss who are plagued by the shroud of a historic supernatural force.
Continuing in her thoughts about the movie and the director, she exclaims, “I loved that. I met him [Aster] in August. He’s the most hilarious guy I’ve ever met. He’s like a stand-up comedian. Which is hard to understand because he writes the most terrifying movies, but he’s jokes”.
In fact, Coel is something of an Aster superfan, exclaiming her love for Beau is Afraid, as well as his lesser-known short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, which is known for its subversive approach to the genre.
Barely able to describe how much the film disturbs her, Coel says of the short, “It’s a horrific film. Basically, what I’m assuming is that only those who really have a thirst for horror will go down this rabbit hole…There’s no need to put that on to the world.”
Elsewhere, there are some other horror movies that Coel loves that aren’t directed by Aster, earmarking Roman Polanski’s 1968 classic Rosemary’s Baby as another particular favourite.
Take a look at the trailer for the short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons below, at your peril.
Michaela Coel’s favourite horror movies:
- Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018)
- Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
- The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (Ari Aster, 2011)
