5 Most Unhinged Psychological Horror Movies for Everyone Who Liked The Substance
They provoke and frighten.
One of the most powerful weapons of the horror genre is to shock the viewer by touching on the most uncomfortable topics.
In honor of the cinematic procession of the body horror The Substance, we remembered horror films that surprised and provoked the audience.
1. Possession, 1981
Can a family crisis become the base of a horror movie? It can, as Andrzej Zulawski showed in his wildest movie. The duo of Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani quarrel and move smoothly towards divorce, and the relationship between the spouses develops into a series of terrible psychosexual intrigues.
Possession was banned, but decades later, Zulawski's horror drama entered the pantheon of the most shocking films about the relationship between a man and a woman, where barriers and taboos are simply erased – only the bare wire of desire, jealousy and violence remains.
2. The Love Witch, 2016
Charming Elaine will do anything to be loved. She is a modern witch who uses spells and magic to make men fall in love with her, with disastrous consequences for them.
Wrongly overlooked, Anna Biller's The Love Witch is mostly known to die-hard retro horror fans. In fact, the movie clearly deserves more: the mystical film recreates the aesthetics of '60s horror, from the occult topic to the authentic design. No less important, The Love Witch does not shy away from self-irony, which makes it incredibly fun to watch.
3. Thirst, 2009
A Catholic priest travels to Africa and contracts a deadly virus. He is given a vampire blood transfusion and survives, but at the cost of a constant thirst for flesh. Now the man is forced to renounce his priesthood and completely give in to his unhealthy instincts.
Park Chan-wook once directed Oldboy and then decided to destroy the usual vampire mythology: Thirst looks like one of the most curious and honest movies in the genre.
4. Audition, 1999
Shigeharu Aoyama has been single for seven years, so a friend suggests that Aoyama organize a fake audition for the lead role in a non-existent movie so that he can choose a wife from among the candidates. Aoyama finds a woman who resembles his ex-wife – he will regret this decision, but it will be too late.
Takashi Miike's Audition is a Japanese horror movie without brakes, in which the drama of the search for love suddenly gives way to violence. Miike uses all the bloody extremes to remind us what a cruel joke our obsession with images we find attractive can play.
5. Cat People, 1982
Young Irena visits her brother Paul in New Orleans. The woman learns a dark secret – it turns out that the human world lives in the power of cat instincts, and people themselves sometimes turn into aggressive cats.
A fairly free remake of the 1942 film, made by Paul Schrader with the energy of the 80s: with eroticism, rhythmic electronic music, and an attempt to penetrate the depths of human instincts hidden behind a layer of ostentatious civilization. It is a magnetic and simply strange horror that leaves an extraordinary impression.