My Decades of Dread series has only a few more decades left to cover! This time we’re going forth into the 1990s! The 1990s is a decade I’m pretty familiar with in terms of horror. I don’t believe it gets enough love. I tried to pick some lesser-known titles as usual. Hopefully, this will give you some new ideas for the #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days Challenge which is wrapping up soon!
- In the Mouth of Madness (1994)- “With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose…literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane’s mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb’s End.” Hot take: this is my all-time favorite John Carpenter film. I won’t be taking questions at this time.
- Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies (1992)- “A devil-worshiping woman sends out her four beautiful nieces to lure men back to her place so they can be killed, ground up, and sold as meat pies.” This movie is a totally fun and wild ride! Karen Black steals every scene she’s in. I’d argue that Rob Zombie got more of his ideas for House of 1000 Corpses from this movie than the ones that are usually credited.
- Clearcut (1991)- “When a lawyer loses an appeal to stop a logging company from clear-cutting Native American land, Arthur, an Indian militant drags him and the kidnapped logging mill manager into the forest. The lawyer’s empty talk about how the company’s greed should be punished is put into brutal action by Arthur, who tortures the manager in allegorical ways mimicking what loggers do to the forest.” Clearcut has a ton of great tension. It’s definitely a must-watch and I’m thrilled that Severin included it on their All the Haunts Be Ours boxset.
- Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)- “Two college students driving coast to coast are lured off the main highway and onto a deserted Texas road. Here they are stalked by the menacing Leatherface and his demented family…a bizarre cannibalistic clan with blood on their hands and a feast on their minds. The students’ only chance for escape is a survivalist with enough firepower to blast Leatherface and the rest of the grisly predators to hell. A depraved shocker of intense terror from the gruesome beginning to the bloody finish.” I really love this entry into the TCM franchise. I am in the minority in that I don’t love Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. I like the vibe of this film better and feel that it returns to the grittiness of the original.
- Ringu (1998)- “A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.” I couldn’t not add the J-horror film responsible for the American remake craze of the early aughts. Ringu is a really fantastic film and definitely worth seeing if you’re into J-horror.
Are you looking for other movies from the 1990s? Check out Letterboxd’s list! As with the other Decades of Dread posts, I have also put together a Letterboxd List of 1990s horror. What are some of your favorites from the 1990s? Let me know in the comments below! In the next week or so I’m hoping to wrap up this series! There are only 3 decades left to cover! In the meantime, feel free to check out some of my other horror movie lists or reviews!