10 horror directors reveal the scariest movies they ever saw
One of the thrills of the annual Fantastic Fest movie festival in Austin, Texas, is the chance to see back-to-back new and upcoming horror films, with the directors usually on site for Q&As and interviews after screenings. At this year’s Fantastic Fest in September, Polygon spoke to a number of directors whose movies are out now, coming soon, or on the far horizon for release next year. And we asked all of them the same question: “What’s the scariest horror movie you’ve ever seen?” Here’s a roundup of their responses.
Demián Rugna is the director of the terrifying new possession movie When Evil Lurks, currently in theaters and coming to Shudder on Oct. 27. He’s also known for previous horror movies, including Terrifiedand You Don’t Know Who You’re Talking To.
The Exorcist. I was in the bedroom with my mother with a blanket. [gestures as if pulling a blanket up to his eyes] She’d say, Yeah, it’s OK, you can see this, you can see this. [gestures at lowering the blanket, then pulling it up over his eyes again] I remember that my mother [talked me through it], but it was horrible. Horrible! I saw it twice the same way, with a blanket over the head. I think I was just 8 or 9.
I don’t know how much that movie influenced my work, but the realism of that horror movie — [I’ve been] trying to reach the realism of the drama. When you see The Exorcist, it’s a drama. If you see Terrified, it’s a drama. I think the way to make an audience say This could happen to me is with drama. I love a horror-comedy. I even made a horror-comedy. But if I want to really scare you, I need to go with drama, like The Exorcist.
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David Bruckner is the director of The Night House, The Ritual, and the 2022 Hellraiserremake. He produced V/H/S/94,
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