Although it might not be reflected in box office numbers, amazing horror movies are
being made all around the world year after year.
There’s something about American film’s profitability that seems to drown out other
voices in the market at large. This means that a lot of phenomenal flicks
go unnoticed until years later, maybe when some Hollywood studio decides it's time to
produce an Americanized remake. Or maybe the visionary, visceral videos never
get the praise they so truly deserve. Such is like while Hollywood reigns supreme.
This could be changing over the next little while, with many international flicks making
bigger bucks than ever before. Whether it’s a sign of changing tastes,
or simply other countries coming up with the capital to produce and promote their own national
cinema, we might not know until we look back years from now.
Still, most horror aficionados have known for ages the value of foreign film gems, and
have been keeping their eyes wide open for entries from voices new and old around the
world. Less beholden to the North American idea of
what makes things scary, these films bring new perspectives and breathe fresh new life
(and death) into creepy and carnage-filled cinema.
Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the scariest channel on YouTube: Top5ScaryVideos.
I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and today we’re gonna be counting down the Top
5 Scariest Horror Movies Not Made in America. I did my best to make the list as geographically
diverse as possible, but there are way more than five countries making horror movies out
there. If you think anything is missing and should
be covered in a Part Two, make sure to let me know down in the comments!
Before we get into the thick of it, give this video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more
international incantations! Outstanding, let’s get going.
NUMBER FIVE: AUDITION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef5kXIBg630
1:24 - 1:32 Takashi Miike is a revelatory filmmaker.
Basically setting the standards for modern J-horror as we know them, he also basically
invented the torture-porn genre with Audition. Eli Roth and the Soska Sisters cite it as
a massive influence on them, and it shows. I dare you to watch Hostel and try to argue
that it wasn’t inspired by the torture scene at the end of Audition. Just try.
This 1999 cult classic is about a widower named Aoyama encouraged by his son to find
a new wife. Instead of going on dates and meeting people
without pretense like a normal person, he enlists his film producer friend to set up
some “auditions” for supporting roles in a made-up flick.
This way he can make sure he’s got all sorts of info on them, and they won’t be the divas
typically associated with leading roles. After a few interviews, he becomes infatuated
with a woman of questionable backgound named Asami.
It doesn’t take long for her dark past to start leaking into the relationship.
Most of the movie consists of a detective-style tale, with new details about Asami cropping
up at every turn. Her references are dead ends, her places of
work destitute, her apartment is barren, she waits alone for days waiting for the call
back. Although, the movie itself starts out slow,
almost like a romantic drama. However, plenty is revealed using dramatic
irony, with the audience privy to a whole lot more information than Aoyama is.
This allows a lot of tension to grow without the main character catching on to much; he’s
simply too impressed by this woman to care for the warning signs and red flags.
It ends on a crazy strong note, and poses plenty of questions to the audience.
Does Aoyama deserve what he gets, like he so deeply believes?
How much was a dream? How much was reality? Who is the story sympathetic to?
How were you able to sit through that insane torture gauntlet?
Chilling to its core, Audition plays with audience expectations at the perfect speed,
and leaves certain sounds and images burned into brains forever.
Kirikirikirikiri. NUMBER FOUR: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BalaIqNrsTw 2:47 - 2:57
Hailing from Sweden, this vampire flick is so much more than bloodsucking and stalking
the night. Although there’s plenty of both, for good
measure. Directed by Tomas Alfredson, this is the story
of a bullied, violent-minded 12-year-old who befriends a vampire child.
It focuses more on the relationship between the kids, while also taking a peek at the
darker side of humanity. All of this paired with some wicked bloodletting
sequences makes for a horrifying and heartbreaking good time.
Even without the vampire stuff, it would be a remarkable grim and upsetting movie about
two down-on-their-luck kids tip-toeing on the edge of puberty.
Imagine being pre-pubescent forever, now that’s a scary thought.
Oskar, our protagonist, is obsessed with violence, keeping awful news clippings on his wall,
and staying strapped with a knife. Ellie, the vampire, is constantly on the move
with a strange older man, forced to live life by night as he does a poor job providing for
her. Let The Right One In manages to offer up plenty
of violence and terror outside of the supernatural. Incessant bullying by Oskar’s classmates
leads to some gut-wrenching sequences, and Ellie’s guardian tossing acid on his face
to avoid recognition is enough to make anyone wince.
And, of course, the vampire bits themselves are wicked, blood-soaked, and wonderful.
All of the failed attempts to get a body for Ellie are gruesome and panic-inducing, which
of course leads to the sun-stoked fire in the hospital room.
One scene that stands out to be as being particularly terrifying is the viscera-filled underwater
pool fight near the end. Beautiful and brutal, as all good horror should
aspire to be. NUMBER THREE: THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3irb-6jzdUE 0:30 - 0:42
GUILLERMO! This 2001 Spanish-Mexican co-production is
an example of gothic, ghostly horror as only Del Toro can do.
Set near the end of the Spanish Civil War, we are introduced to an orphanage in a remote
part of the country. Carlos, our protagonist and embodiment of
innocence, enters the orphanage. Soon, he’ll discover many of the secrets
hiding within, and he’ll only half-understand what any of it means.
We also meet the terrible Jacinto, a janitor who was once an orphan himself, aligning himself
with whoever he can profit most from. There’s also Conchita, a one-legged teacher
with gold bars hidden away, and Dr. Casaras, the superstition quashing doctor.
Their stories provide a backdrop for the resident ghost, Santi, to moan and groan against.
All of this going on, while an undetonated bomb sits in the middle of the yard, looming
over the lives of everyone at the orphanage. Much like the war, this cannot be entirely
ignored, no matter how badly people might want to.
The whole story is an allegory for the war itself, along with the different people and
political parties involved. Del Toro does an incredible job making sure
that each story exists in harmony, never detracting from the other.
The tragic ghost story is made more horrifying by the war, while the damage done by the war
is personified by the ghost. Plus the ghost sequences are absolutely jaw-droppingly
spooky. NUMBER TWO: REC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjH0EALBkyU 0:39 - 0:50
Now this is a flick that knows how to do found footage right.
So many other movies use found footage as an excuse to shoot everything cheaper.
Yes, it is cheaper, but they always half-ass the reason that characters are using a camera
in the first place. REC knows how to use its camera.
Co-directors and writers Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza provide compelling motives for
keeping the camera rolling as reporter Angela and her cameraman make their way into a soon-to-be-quarantined
apartment building. They keep the audience invested by ensuring
suspension of disbelief is never broken; a problem often faced in found-footage outings.
I can boil it down to three big reasons: 1 The camera is used for a TV show
2 once they realize that a cover-up is being put in place by those quarantining them, they
want to ensure that everything is documented 3 the camera is a useful tool at many points,
being used to look around corners and as a flashlight of sorts via night vision.
I don’t think that found footage has been used this effectively ever since, maybe with
the exception of The Dirties by Matt Johnson. Go watch that too. Just do it.
The result of the camera being used effectively results in an extremely tense, fast-paced
ride to the finish. REC does not let up at any point, ending as
abruptly as the first incident in the building. No soundtrack, no score, no extraneous noises,
the tension is never “inserted.” It’s pure, unadulterated, raw-footage adrenaline.
NUMBER ONE: RAW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzM35ZL76og
2:33 - 2:43 I wrote this one while eating part of my lunch.
Bad idea. Raw is a 2016 French-Belgian horror triumph,
directed by Julia Ducournau. We follow a young vegetarian as she begins
her first year at veterinary school, following in the footsteps of her parents and older
sister. During a frosh event, she is forced to eat
meat for the first time, and soon develops an all-encompassing craving for flesh.
Hazing is bad, mmkay? People could become flesh-eating monsters, alright?
The terror in this flick is twofold; first and foremost it’s about cannibalism.
Some of Raw’s most terrifying moments are directly related to this consumption of forbidden
meat. The bikini waxing scene comes to mind, but
I won’t reveal exactly what happens. What I will reveal is that my entire body
recoiled at the result of this scene. We also have lots of other terrifying body
horror bits, including the insane minute-long ordeal of vomiting knotted hair, and the morally
reprehensible act of causing car accidents to gain access to fresh human corpses.
Anteiku ghouls, these are not. The real horror doesn’t come from the awful
acts themselves though, but instead from the social sanction-breaking mania that they induce.
You get pulled into the story of Justine and her sister, and must watch helplessly as they
make abhorrent decision after abhorrent decision, leading to worse and worse situations.
It's a story of human desire; of what fixations can be inherited; of how to get your hands
on what you want, even if it’s socially and morally wrong.
Sexual awakenings can be scary as well, as demonstrated by stories like Carrie, with
hunger, desire, and the demands of fitting in woven in as well.
In Raw, once the binge-drinking so often associated with post-secondary education starts, you
sit there, white-knuckled, waiting for the next terrible decision to be made.
And when it ultimately is, your heart sinks, but you still look on, hoping that the consequences
won’t be as bad as you imagined. But they are. And they will be.
This is a movie scary way beyond the gory body horror bits: it’s scarier in its implications.
Go watch it.
Now that you have five fantastic foreign flicks to go and watch, I would assume you’ll be
busy for the next few hours. But if you’ve already seen some of these,
or can’t stand subtitles, then I implore you to answer some questions.
What did you think of the list? What is the scariest non-American movie you’ve
ever watched? Make sure you fire your answers down in the
comments. Speaking of comments, let’s have a look
at some of your more misunderstood ones from THE TOP 5 SCARY SCP-001 THEORIES THAT WILL
HAUNT YOU: The Horned King says ‘A big question about
SCP-184; If it doesn’t expand the exterior, only the interior, and it expands the universe,
then what is the exterior of the universe?” See, now you’re asking questions that you
really don’t want the answers to. Those are the kind of questions that get people
disappeared, if you know what I mean. Azri Azhar27 asks “Are you just gonna stay
quiet while SCP foundation is under attack by a Russian?”
Of course not! For folks a little confused by this comment, currently a man by the name
Andrey Duskin is attempting to illegally copyright all sorts of SCP content and leverage for
his own personal gain! The SCP Wiki is running a crowdfunding campaign to cover the legal
costs of fighting this. Markiplier did a great video on it, I’ll link the video and the
crowdfunding campaign in the description! Lessa M. says “The tomato prince. I’ve
been laughing for two minutes straight.” Hey! The strawberry supremacy is no laughing
matter! Stop chuckling at the cherry-cheeked eminence!
Dennis Bunik says “Here’s some great new ideas: 5 SCPs you could actually date, or
5 that could hold real jobs, or 5 you could have a beer with, or 5 with actual progressive
policies, or 5... “
Keep going! I think this has some real potential, and it would make the writing process a lot
more hilarious! All in favour say AYE Ryan Mulligan says “You can have a little
people jelly, as a treat” What do I look like to you, a cat?
That’s all the time we have for today! Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time!