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Most Interesting Horror Movies With a Message to Understand

Interesting Horror Movies

By Ali azamPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Horror movies

There’s definitely something to be said about horror movies that set out to horrify you and do nothing else. Plenty of people love horror movies because they like to be scared. However, there are also horror movies that are trying to send a message. Whether this message is intentional or unintentional, the messages still exists and still has an impact on others. Take a look at this list of horror movies with terrifying basements, then consider the movies that have a decisive message.

A Quiet Place

One of the driving messages behind A Quiet Place is the idea that speech doesn’t have to be verbal. The movie utilizes American Sign Language as a major language throughout, due primarily to the fact that the antagonists are paranormal creatures that hunt by sound. One of the main characters is also deaf and played by a Deaf actress. By showcasing American Sign Language as being on the same playing field as spoken English, A Quiet Place is broadcasting a deliberate message about the language and culture’s validity.

Parasite

Parasite was the first foreign language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and that fact by itself already imbued the movie with a sense of message. However, this isn’t the only message Parasite broadcasts. The movie addresses themes of classism in South Korea; the main family lives in a basement apartment, folding pizza boxes to make ends meet. On the other hand, the family they encounter lives in extravagance, barely ever thinking of people in a lower social strata. This encounter ends in visible terror as an allegory for the class-based terrors many people live through every day.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

If you’re a younger reader, you might not know much about how The Rocky Horror Picture Show directly impacted culture. The Rocky Horror Picture Show had a huge impact on LGBT and punk culture, both together and individually. The movie introduced many styles to punk fashion, and its frivolity in playing with gender norms and androgyny gave some visibility to the LGBT subculture in the 1970s and beyond. The Rocky Horror Picture Show didn’t treat any of its characters with too much reverence, and this lighthearted look into punk and LGBT subcultures softened the blow for many people who had never heard much about them.

Get Out

On top of being a truly terrifying movie, Get Out also offers an important message about racism. In developing, writing, and filming the movie, director Jordan Peele looked for ways to bring the fears of racism to a very real and very tangible stage. The context of the movie turns racism into something very physical, as the supporting characters terrorize the main Black character in a variety of ways. The intention is to showcase how racism often feels to people on the receiving end, even if it doesn’t usually end as brutally as it does in this movie.

The Silence of the Lambs

Although the horrors of Hannibal Lector were the lasting cultural impact of this movie, serial killer Buffalo Bill raised concerns from the LGBT community both at the time and even now. Buffalo Bill, whose real name is Jame Gumb, starves women in the dry well in his basement before skinning them, apparently in an attempt to make a “women suit.” This exceedingly negative portrayal of someone implied to be bisexual and transgender is something that stands out even decades after its initial release.

Conclusion

Horror movies don’t just have to be about horror. They can offer interesting messages that give the audience something to think about. Whether you agree with the message it’s offering or not, the ability for horror to terrorize audiences while still being thought-provoking is something that’s difficult for other genres to pull off, and it’s one of the reasons horror has always been such a popular genre.

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