Top 10 Times Horror Movies Tackled Serious Issues
#10: “The Crazies” (1973)
Top 10 Times DreamWorks Movies Tackled Serious Issues
Bio Warfare This George A. Romero film opens with a startling scene that sets an unnerving tone. It is discovered that a military plane containing a bioweapon that makes people murderously insane crash-landed near the town days earlier. The town is forced into quarantine and the military takes all control of civilian functions. In their efforts to contain the virus, however, they overreach their powers and execute citizens who disobey. Given recent events, most of us know of quarantine measures firsthand, but this film presents a nightmare scenario by which the security measures turn as deadly as the sickness.
#9: “Videodrome” (1983)
Adult Entertainment & Violence In this classic of Canadian horror cinema, the CEO of a small TV station discovers a secret channel that broadcasts violence and sex. As he searches for the source, he becomes increasingly disconnected from reality in bizarre and terrifying ways. By use of body horror and surreal storytelling, “Videodrome” touches on fears that were growing in the 80s and still exist today. The intoxicating pull of technology, our fascination with violence, erotic fixations, and how far is too far when it comes to the ways we interact with media are as timely now as they were for the VHS generation.
#8: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956; 1978)
Top 10 Home Invasion Movies
Red Scare / Paranoia What if your all-American neighbor isn’t quite what they seem to be? Losing one’s identity to a soulless collective remains a key scare tactic/talking point when it comes to anti-communism/socialism rhetoric. This hivemind is taken to extremes in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” In the 1970s remake, the paranoid idea that a greater power wants to strip you of your individuality returns. Similar to themes in John Carpenter’s XREF “The Thing,” the idea that a person's very humanity - and then that of an entire society - can be taken away practically overnight, hasn’t lost relevance in today’s world.
#7: “They Live” (1988)
Top 10 Times Studio Ghibli Movies Tackled Serious Issues
Capitalism A drifter becomes embroiled in a rebel operation to save humanity when it is discovered that people across the globe are being directed into rampant consumerism and obedience via secret signals. In the 80s, a decade defined by excess and consumption, the film’s anti-capitalist message was loud and clear: Marketing is brainwashing you; those in power are exploiting you. The director, John Carpenter, was becoming increasingly repulsed by Reaganomics and the unrestrained consumerism and greed of the 80s. Everything was (and still is) for sale. The film remains relevant, through-provoking, and thoroughly enjoyable.
#6: “Carrie” (1976)
Carrie Fisher’s Death, the New Alien: Covenant Trailer & Dunkirk’s New Star – The CineFiles Ep. 1
Tormenting Others Despite the explosive ending of “Carrie,” folks who call the titular telepath a villain are few and far between. In the lead up to the infamous prom, we follow Carrie White from school (where she is tormented by schoolmates) to home (where she is repeatedly traumatized by her religious fanatic mother). Sweet and shy, she is a target because of her innocence and low self-esteem - an easy mark. That she is secretly powerful is poetic revenge. But most victims don’t have superpowers in their back pocket. Mistreating others in school and the workplace can lead to years of PTSD, or worse. While this behavior is taken more seriously now than in the 70s, it is still a huge problem.
#5: “The People Under the Stairs” (1991)
Top 10 Times Disney Channel Movies Tackled Serious Issues
Income Inequality Upstairs and down have been used in more than one property to denote a separation of wealth - from “Downton Abbey” to “Parasite” to … um, “Upstairs, Downstairs.” As horrifying as it may seem, the plot of this cult classic from horror master Wes Craven was in part taken from real life - when burglars in LA made a disturbing discovery in the house they were attempting to rob. The Robesons (seen by many as sly stand-ins for the Reagans) are a gross depiction of the ideal suburban couple when behind the white picket fence that separates them from the hoi polloi, a darker, more insidious barrier is kept.
#4: “Candyman” (1992)
Horror Villain Origins: The Candyman
Intergenerational Racism The vengeful ghost, Candyman, was once the artist Daniel Robitaille, who was born of a slave in the 1800s. After falling in love with a white woman and fathering her child, he was disfigured and then murdered by an angry mob. His soul lived on while his body was burned on the future site of the Cabrini-Green housing project. The separation of privilege is stark. To this day, people of color fight for equality and respect under the law, with too many horrendous recent examples of modern lynchings. Candyman is a reminder that if we don’t own up to the violent past, there can be no peaceful future.
#3: “The Babadook” (2014)
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Mental Illness As a widow struggles to take care of her son, her grief begins to manifest into a dark and dangerous creature: The Babadook. Exhausted and isolated, the Babadook slowly takes over her life. It is a powerful film, showing how various forms of mental illness, when unaddressed, can leave the sufferer feeling helpless and at the mercy of a monster. The powerful ending, which embraces the courage it takes to face your monsters and manage them without shame in the best way you can, offers hope rather than a cheap or simple solution.
#2: “The Stepford Wives” (1975)
Top 10 Times Rom-Coms Tackled Serious Issues
Women’s Rights A woman’s right to her body and agency in her daily affairs are cornerstone principles when it comes to women’s rights. In this cult horror satire based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin - author of “Rosemary’s Baby,” which deals with similar themes - a woman’s right to her body and mind are at the forefront. In the town of Stepford, the wives are perfect … too perfect, cookie-cutter fantasies for the men of the town. The film shows that an individual forced into an idealized/fantasy role is robbed of the very things that make them human - in this case, literally. The name “Stepford” has become synonymous with automaton, robotic behaviors straight from the uncanny valley. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. “Society” (1989) Class “Dawn of the Dead” (1978) Consumerism “Scream 4” (2011) Internet Fame “It Follows” (2014) Sex
#1: “Get Out” (2017)
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Racism Jordan Peele’s directorial debut was a sensation. Released amid continued protests for the rights of Black people and the problems daily faced by people of color, few horror films have been as timely as they are poignant. The “sunken place,” where the abducted victims of the Armitage family find themselves prisoner, brought Peele to tears as he wrote the scenes upon realizing what it represented for African-Americans trapped by apparatus of white supremacy and the prison industrial system in the United States. In strokes both broad and subtle, “Get Out” is as evocative as it is terrifying.
