Edgar Wright has just revealed his favorite horror movies of all time – and no surprise, it’s a pretty big list. Of course, the director is no stranger to the horror genre. Despite being seen mainly as a comedy, Shaun Of The Dead owes a huge debt to the genre; namely, the zombie movies of George Romero. Even though it’s a lot of fun, the movie actually takes the horror elements seriously, with likeable characters dying in gory ways. Wright and Pegg later earned cameos as zombies in Romero’s Land Of The Dead as a result of the film.
The first half of Hot Fuzz has a heavy slasher element, where a hooded killer runs around a village dispatching victims in gruesome ways. Wright also directed the trailer for a fake movie called Don’t for Grindhouse; this preview is an extended homage to the Hammer horror movies of the 1970s.
Wright is also an encyclopedic fan of cinema, and this year he’s decided to put together a list of his personal favorite horror movies on Mubi. In his introduction, he states “It’s not in any way an official best of list and merely represents my tastes at the moment. So if you feel something is missing – MAKE YOUR OWN LIST." Naturally not everyone will agree with Wright’s choices, and he admits the list was hard to narrow down, before jokingly stating the missing entries will be found “…on my 1000 (!) fav movies list.”
It turns out Wright is a huge fan of the classic Universal Monsters, with Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and Bride Of Frankenstein all appearing; maybe the studio should get in touch with Wright about their Dark Universe plans. His love for George Romero shouldn’t be a surprise – the original Dead trilogy appears, as does his vampire movie Martin and Creepshow. Other acclaimed horror directors appear, from Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Blood And Black Lace) to Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm St, The People Under The Stairs).
In addition to his love for classic horror, Wright also has time for more recent gems like It Follows, The Descent, Let The Right One In and The Cabin In The Woods. A number of great foreign movies made the cut too, from Onibaba to The Ring and Guillermo Del Toro’s debut Cronos. Wright’s selections – just like fellow genre fan James Gunn’s recent horror list – show a deep love and wide knowledge of all subgenres, so if horror fans out there need solid recommendations to work from this Halloween, Wright’s is a good place to begin.
Next: James Gunn Reveals His Top 50 Horror Movies For Halloween
Source: Mubi
