Fall means going back to school, embracing the cold chill of an approaching winter, and scaring the proverbial shit out of yourself during the month of October. But if you’re a well-seasoned horror aficionado in search of cinema to flesh out your knowledge and expand your killer chops, it might be a good time to go back to school, scary-wise, with some horror documentaries.
Whether you’re looking for a new critical lens to view films through or you’re interested in theories about your favorite flicks, we’ve got plenty of recommendations to make your spooky season scholarly in the best sort of way.
Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror (2022)
A queer reading of seminal horror texts and films? Check. By some of the biggest queer names in horror? Check. Coming to you weekly and minus any intense academic jargon? Check and check.
Shudder’s episodic series directed by Bryan Fuller tackles topics like the queer gothic writers who invented the horror genre, transformations and doubles in horror films (e.g., werewolves, pod people, cat people, etc.) as metaphors for the queer experience, and a look at influential directors’ queer-coded characters. Commentary is provided by the likes of Lea DeLaria, Carmen Maria Machado, Kimberly Peirce, Briana Venskus, and more.
All of this adds up to the simple thesis: If you don’t think horror movies are gay, you haven’t been paying attention.
101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time (2022)
Forget YouTube roundups and subjective bar squabbles among your friends — Shudder gathered some of the best minds in horror to definitively weigh in on which horror scenes did the unthinkable: frightened the frighteners.
From filmmakers like Joe Dante of Gremlins and The Howling, Brea Grant of 12 Hour Shift and Halloween II, and Greg Nicotero of The Walking Dead and Evil Dead II to genre experts and scholars like Tananarive Due, Amanda Reyes, and Etheria Film Festival founder Heidi Honeycutt, this team of heavy hitters are well practiced in making your blood curdle. Now, they return the favor by sharing which moments curdled theirs.
Even if you disagree with the rankings (that’s half the fun of a ranking, anyway), you’ll walk away with a whole list of films to revisit and hidden gems to check out.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)
If folk horror sounds “boring†or “cozy†to you, you’re letting your preconceived notions of “folk†get the better of you. This subgenre isn’t a Joan Baez ballad or Disney-washed fairytale, and Kier-La Janisse proves it in this 2021 documentary by digging into its dark origins — and then some.
The over-three-hour look at folk horror in film delves into the definition of the subgenre (horrors based on folklore or old, passed down cultural stories and traditions) and dissects some of its greatest hits from the 1960s and ’70s, like The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973). Plus, a recent resurgence of folk horror gave us Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015) and Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019).
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)
Based on the 2011 book Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films From the 1890s to Present, by Robin R. Means Coleman, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror follows Black representation and influence on the horror genre from close readings of early Universal monsters to exaltation of Blaxploitation films in the ’70s to present-day depictions and directors, including the marriage of music and mayhem on screen.
Genre greats like Keith David of The Thing and They Live, Tony Todd of Candyman and Final Destination, Rachel True of The Craft, Jordan Peele, director of Get Out and Us, and horror scholar Tananarive Due describe working on films as Black creators and furthering the production of Black-centered horror now and in the future.
Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (2017)
An independent documentary by John Campopiano and Justin White, Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary, records the making of the 1989 Stephen King film adaptation. The doc includes some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with director Mary Lambert, actors, and producers.
Despite the obvious lack of Stephen King commentary, the documentary was nominated for “Best Documentary†at the 2017 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. If you’re a StephenKing–film-adaptation fan with a specific fondness for Pet Sematary and/or film production, this one’s for you.
Room 237Â (2012)
Even the casual movie fan knows director Stanley Kubrick is a bit…particular. And by particular we mean demanding and excruciatingly pious to his vision — at all costs. Pair that with a seemingly cursed production and you have the backstory to the creation of Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining.
But Room 237 decides to focus on a close reading of the film rather than the plagued production, exploring different theories regarding Kubrick’s interpretation of the King novel. In the same vein as Queer for Fear, this is a documentary about subtext and literary analysis without the highfalutin vocabulary. The Shining and Kubrick sycophants shouldn’t miss this one.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth (2000)
For fans of one of the original exploitation horror films of the ’70s or anyone interested in gritty, independent filmmaking at its finest, David Gregory’s 2000 documentary delves deep into the cannibalistic Texas horror based on real-life serial killer Ed Gein and his collection of human body parts, which included lampshades made of skin, skull bowls, and a belt made of nipples.
Outside of the ghoulish inspiration, the on-set conditions of decaying cadavers in the Texas heat provided a ghastly undercurrent to the onscreen horrors. Featuring interviews with director Tobe Hooper, Marilyn Burns who played Sally, Leatherface himself (Gunnar Hansen), and more, Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth details the macabre making of a cult classic.