Robert Eggers is the writer and director of The Witch (or, with all due respect to Black Phillip, The VVitch: A New England Folktale), one of the best horror movies of the 2010s, and The Lighthouse, which is being billed as horror when it’s really more of a “mindf*ck” buddy comedy about isolation. Being trapped in a lighthouse with Willem DaFoe sounds more fun than frightening, but that’s just me. Still, it’s the best horror-adjacent movie out in theaters this Halloween season (it’s doing very well at the box office), although if you’re looking for something spooky to watch at home, Eggers has some suggestions.
When asked on Reddit to name his “personal all-time favorite horror film,” Eggers replied with films, plural, from 1920’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to 2003’s Twentynine Palms. Here’s the complete list, including the director, in the order Eggers wrote them out:
Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau, 1922
The Shining, Stanley Kubrick, 1980
Possession, Andrzej Żuławski, 1981
Alien, Ridley Scott, 1979
Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock, 1960
The Innocents, Jack Clayton, 1961
The Piano Teacher, Michael Haneke, 2001
Cries & Whispers, Ingmar Bergman, 1972
The Tennant, Roman Polanski, 1976
Angst, Gerald Kargl, 1983
Rosemary’s Baby, Roman Polanski, 1968
Onibaba, Kaneto Shindo, 1965
Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Robert Wiene, 1920
The Devil, Andrzej Żuławski, 1972
Hour of the Wolf, Ingmar Bergman, 1968
Blue Velvet, David Lynch, 1986
Lot Highway, David Lynch, 1997
Mulholland Drive, David Lynch, 2001
Twentynine Palms, Bruno Dumont, 2003
The Exorcist, William Friedkin, 1973
Don’t Look Now, Nicolas Roeg, 1973
The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock, 1963
Fall of the House of Usher, Jean Epstein, 1928
Repulsion, Roman Polanski, 1965
The Hunger, Tony Scott, 1983
Häxan, Benjamin Christensen, 1922
Going to a Halloween party thrown by Eggers must be intense. Instead of “Monster Mash,” he plays your inner monologue calling you a failure. It’s not available on Spotify.
For even more horror movie suggestions, we’ve got you covered.
(Via Reddit)
