The spookiest season of the year is upon us, and there’s nothing better than cozying up on the couch and settling in for the night with a bowl of popcorn and a good scary movie. Few people appreciate that better than Rev. Ryan Duns, S.J., associate professor and chair of theology in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. His love for hair-raising tales goes back to his childhood.
“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love scary movies,” Father Duns says. “One of my early memories is watching the movie ‘Don’t Look Down in the Basement’ with my aunt. Even from a young age, I appreciated the way horror movies explored the darkness of the human condition. As a kid who was interested in life’s big questions, these movies fed into my imagination and gave me opportunities to think about the relationship between good and evil in pretty vivid ways.”
It’s true that not everyone agrees on what makes a scary movie truly scary. Father Duns is not impressed by the cheap chills and thrills— he follows his own criteria when judging a terrifying tale.
“You can’t kill children, the elderly, people with special needs or pets,” Father Duns explains. “As for what makes a good scary movie, the film needs to synthesize terror and horror. Terror involves atmosphere — the ambience, the music, the way the film builds-and-releases tension. Horror has a target: something lurches from the shadows, emerges from beneath the bed or suddenly ‘breaks into’ the scene. There should be a moment of shock that catches you off-guard, even though you know it’s coming.”
But there’s one thing that should be clear: the Jesuit in Father Duns always leads the way when analyzing chilling storylines — even the really bad ones.
“I’m so much of a Jesuit that I’m attuned to trying to find God in all things — even B-grade horror movies,” Father Duns reveals. “To be honest, I probably turn off more movies than I watch because there’s little that redeems them. If a film has to resort to cheap tricks, if its horror involves inflicting gratuitous suffering, maiming, or mauling, if it relishes in torture or silly gimmicks, I’ll simply go and read a book.”
So, don’t waste any more time searching for the next best horror movie on multiple streaming services. Check out Father Duns’ top five movies to watch this Halloween, in his words:
1. Hereditary
This movie is excellent in building an atmosphere of terror. We are often grateful for what we inherit from our ancestors, but this film questions whether this inheritance is a gift or a curse.
2. Oddity
It’s a fascinating reworking of the Golem legend that depicts the Hubris/Nemesis dynamic.
3. The Black Phone
The horror in this film works on two levels. There is the evil of the Grabber who terrorizes the town. Yet there is the horror of neglect, abuse and a refusal to confront reality on its own terms. It’s my favorite film to illustrate the adage that “God writes straight with crooked lines.”
4. The Thing
This movie probes brilliantly the way distrust can fracture and — literally — fragment a group. How do we respond when we don’t know who we can trust? How can we confront a malevolent force who has no discernible motive other than to conquer?
5. The Witch
For many of us, Christianity powerfully resists the works and wiles of the Evil One. Yet in this film, a father’s religious extremism makes his family vulnerable to paranoia and puts them increasingly under the sway of the devil. Give me a talking goat who asks, “Wouldst thou like to live deliciously,” and I’m yours.
Read more about Father Duns recent book “Theology of Horror: The Hidden Depths of Popular Film,” online.
