(Credit: MonkeyPaw Productions)
Sat 9 August 2025 21:45, UK
There are two types of horror movies, really, when it comes down to it.
There are horror movies that everyone knows and either enjoys or doesn’t enjoy. And then there are the other kinds, the more underground ones, which not everybody knows about, but those who have seen them still inwardly shudder at the very mention of them.
It’s the latter kind of horror movie that Get Out director Jordan Peele enjoys most.
Let’s start off by reassuring you we are still talking about proper cinema releases and nothing dodgy, but these are films that can really leave an indelible imprint on the mind. They can push the boundaries of taste on occasion, but mostly they are incredibly effective, atmospheric thrill-rides, often using experimental techniques and special effects, or just accurately representing the darkest elements of human nature.
For example, here are some of the films we’re talking about that you absolutely should not watch, whatever you do (disclaimer: don’t blame us if you do), despite the fact that they are amazing. When Evil Lurks, the Argentinian film with the most shocking moment involving a dog that you’ll see. There’s the French movie, Red Rooms, from 2023, a modern classic that deserves more views. The brilliant Eden Lake from 2008, and The Coffee Table, which, quite frankly, is so bleak that it should be sealed in concrete and dumped in the North Sea.
Peele meanwhile has become a filmmaker who is uniquely adept at taking the spirit of these kinds of movies and making them mainstream. Get Out was a masterpiece, a twisting, slow-reveal packed full of mirrored prejudice and terrifying moments that smashed the box office, making $255million from a $4.5m budget, and featuring fantastic central performances from Allison Williams and Daniel Kaluuya.
Scooping four Oscar nominations, it resulted in Peele landing an Academy Award for ‘Best Screenplay’. His script for the movie is so good that it is already being used by film schools around the world as a perfect example of how to set out a story and ramp up tension.
He followed it up with Us in 2019, which was an even more inventive and genuinely scary film that deserves repeated viewings. For one thing, Peele packed it full of easter eggs. A brilliantly upsetting tale of a doppelgänger gone rogue, it’s the kind of movie that makes you double-check every time you look in a mirror for about a month after watching it.
Peele himself is definitely something of a fan of the more disturbed examples of the genre, and when asked by Time Out to name a few horror favourites, he said, “Probably the most harrowing two that I could name off the top of my head are Martyrs and Funny Games. Those are both exercises in making you feel miserable. If you’re a real sick puppy like me, you take a little bit of glee in the artistry behind the vision.”
He added as a poignant explanation, “Horror gives us a more powerful emotional response than just about anything else”.
And it looks like there are plenty more worrying ideas to come from the director who has a new, as of yet untitled movie, coming out in 2026, and has lent his writing prowess to an upcoming video game called OD, directed by Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima.
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