You know you’ve seen a truly great horror film when it starts living rent-free in your brain from the moment the credits roll – when it burrows into your mind, comes back in your dreams, and even makes you too scared to turn off the lights. There’s something perversely fun about a movie that really gets under your skin, and in our opinion, there’s no kind of horror flick that’s quite as unsettling as one with a terrifying curse. Inspired by the forthcoming home release of Paramount’s exquisitely creepy film SMILE, here are five of our favourites.
(Trigger warning: the following article contains mentions of self-harm and suicide)
SMILE
How would you cope if you learned you’d die before the end of the week? Probably about as well as Dr. Rose Cotter does in Parker Finn’s deliciously chilling feature film debut, SMILE. After a distressed patient in her care carves a smile into their own face and throat with a sickening grin, Rose begins to suspect that by witnessing the young woman’s suicide, she has been cursed to imminently meet the same fate. Haunted by visions and experiencing episodes that alienate her from her loved ones, Rose embarks on an investigation to determine whether what she’s experiencing is all in her head, or the work of a malevolent supernatural entity. Expect to be kept up at night by the answers she finds!
The Ring
Based on a Japanese cult classic, The Ring is a horror story perfectly suited for the screen, as this film’s curse is held in a videotape. When four teenagers die in mysterious circumstances shortly after viewing the same tape, reporter Rachel Keller seeks to uncover what led to their deaths. After watching the tape herself, her investigation becomes a race against time, as she has only seven days to get to the bottom of the mystery. Will watching this film pass the curse on to you? There’s only one way to find out.
It Follows
As thrilling as it is subversive, It Follows is a film that never lets you settle down. Set in the outskirts of Detroit, the film follows (ha!) Jay, a young girl daydreaming about spending the last days of summer with her new boyfriend. But those dreams turn into nightmares, when after their first hook-up, he explains that he’s passed a curse onto her – and that a supernatural entity will follow her wherever she goes. Unyielding and unslowing, this entity stalks Jay as she scrambles to discover how the curse works, and how to break it for good. Maybe once this film ends, you’ll even start looking over your shoulder!
The Grudge
Another American remake of a famed Japanese horror film, this film focuses on a series of people who enter a house in Tokyo afflicted by a curse known as The Grudge: a curse created when someone dies while experiencing extreme pain, rage, or sorrow. Produced by horror icon Sam Raimi, this film is sure to have you squirming in your seat.
The Fear Street Trilogy
It could be cheating to count these three films together as our final pick, but you certainly won’t be cheated out of a good time if you choose to watch director Leigh Janiak’s trilogy of films, inspired by the books of the same name from acclaimed horror novelist R.L. Stine. A sprawling supernatural slasher story told across three different time periods, the Fear Street trilogy follows a group of teenagers as they try to uncover the origin of a curse that has plagued their town for centuries, turning it into the murder capital of America. Inspired by a bevy of horror classics, such as Scream and Friday the 13th, these films offer a potent dose of spooky, brutal thrills.
SMILE is available to Download & Keep from December 14 and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, and DVD December 26.
