Subtitles. This one word strikes more fear into the heart of some than the very worst that the horror genre has to offer, but this aversion is completely unjustified. Those who complain that reading subtitles is distracting or hard work either havent given world cinema a chance yet or have been unlucky with their film choices. Horror requires total immersion in order to be effective and subtitles don't detract from this. If anything, watching a scary movie in a language you don't understand can be even more eerie as the cultural differences make everything less familiar for the audience, taking you out of your comfort zone. Still not convinced? While Hollywood continues to churn out the same old boring remakes and sequels, countries as diverse as Spain, Japan and Sweden are reinventing the genre, one movie at a time. Fear is a universal experience that transcends language, which is why some of the most successful foreign language movies of all time are horrors. If youre fed up of watching the same old classics every year or even if youre just struggling to find a film that still scares you, here are 10 foreign horror movies you must watch for Halloween.
Honorable Mention Mama (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRqS6pBC42w Most would agree that the recent Hollywood version of Mama had potential, but was ultimately disappointing due to some bad CGI and a bizarre lead character played by Jessica Chastain. However, the original Spanish language short was directed by the same person, Andres Muschietti, who somehow managed to pack more scares into these three minutes than he did for the entire US remake. With no time to establish a back story, all you need to know in this short is that two girls are being chased in their home by an evil entity. You may doubt that anything which lasts for only three minutes would hold the power to scare you, but Mama is genuinely terrifying, which makes the feature length remake even more disappointing. Watch the whole thing here and then read onif you dare! MUHAHAHAHA!
David is a primary school teacher who tries his best to turn every math lesson into a discussion on the latest Pixar film. Passions include superheroes, zombies and Studio Ghibli. In between going to the cinema, moving to South Korea and eating his body weight in KFC, David writes for a number of movie sites, http://becarefulyourhand.blogspot.co.uk/
