Nicolas Winding Refn picks his 10 favourite horror movies
Although Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn is among the most divisive directors in the current landscape of cinema, nobody can deny the fact that his cinematic style is refreshingly unique. The director of modern classics such as the Pusher trilogy and Drive, Refn is always unapologetically himself in his works.
Currently, Refn’s fans are gearing up for the release of his new show Copenhagen Cowboy. From the looks of it, the project is going to be yet another sprawling neo-noir series by a director who has a deep understanding of the cinematic medium’s powerful visual elements.
While Refn has a lot of diverse influences, one genre that has always fascinated him is horror. During a conversation with MovieMaker, the director opened up about his favourite horror films and cited Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 opus: “Seeing The Shining is like watching a painting of pure terror. It has no purpose, sexuality or function other than to completely terrorise you.”
His list also includes the seminal horror classic Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which introduced him to film as an art form. Since his parents loved the French New Wave, Refn found another way to rebel against the previous generation – consuming copious amounts of American horror films.
Refn once explained: “When I saw Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I realised: I don’t want to be a director, I don’t want to be a writer, I don’t want to be a producer, I don’t want to be a photographer, I don’t want to be an editor, I don’t want to be a sound man. I want to be all of them at once. And that film proved that you can do it because that movie is not a normal movie.”
Check out the full list below.
Nicolas Winding Refn’s favourite horror films:
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
- Night Tide (Curtis Harrington, 1961)
- Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
- Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
- Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
- Flesh for Frankenstein (Paul Morrissey, 1973)
- Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
- Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1965)
- Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Refn also considers David Cronenberg’s Videodrome to be “pure poetry”, insisting that the film’s apocalyptic vision of the transition to digital is still relevant. Alongside Cronenberg, he also mentions pioneers such as Dario Argento (an obvious influence on Refn’s style) and George A. Romero.
The most interesting addition to the list is Charles Laughton’s 1955 Night of the Hunter, one of the most Disturbing Christmas films ever made. Refn added: “For me, Night of the Hunter has always been one of the greatest horror film titles. It is truly a very frightening fairy tale.”
