Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Others:
The Eternal Daughter
I truly wanted to like The Eternal Daughter for its precise attention to atmosphere and its gothic tone, but the story is stripped back to a fault. There’s a full coarse meal of thematic ideas and questions, but it’s delivered in a lean narrative that doesn’t offer enough reflection points.
Presence
Presence is another fascinating experiment from Steven Soderbergh, a filmmaker who has spent the last decade pushing his own creative boundaries. With films like Kimi and Magic Mike’s Last Dance, he’s proven he can reinvent genres with an auteur’s touch, and Presence continues that trend—this time through a unique first-person POV horror/thriller. While the movie doesn’t entirely stick the landing, its technical craftsmanship and conceptual ambition make it an intriguing entry in Soderbergh’s ever-evolving filmography.
Handling the Undead
Handling the Undead is Thea Hvistendahl’s debut directorial feature, and while there are aspects of the movie that are fascinating (and even quite profound), the story is drawn out for far too long. The emotional bite is there in doses, but there’s a general feeling of malaise that washes over you and drowns you out.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
A sinister, slow-burning delight, The Blackcoat’s Daughter solidifies Oz Perkins as a director capable of true psychological horror—one who, despite some missteps in recent efforts, continues to intrigue me.
Nanny
While it doesn’t quite come together in a package that is particularly neat and digestible, Nanny is certainly a commendable effort for its successful portrayal of emotional innerworkings for those immigrating to the United States – all played to the backdrop of American carelessness and cynicism acted out by two unpleasant and snide parents. Nanny is a lot, especially for a film barely scratching over 90 minutes, but it rewards the time and patience you give it.
Pulse
Kiyoshi Kurosawa‘s Pulse feels as though its the little brother to Cure, his cult hit now hailed as a classic decades later. Pulse carries with it that same eerie, atmospheric energy that serves to envelop you and disturb you. There isn’t much to Pulse that is out and out terrifying as it moves at its own mundane pace and rarely relies in sonic cues to make its impact. Instead, Pulse works almost entirely because of Kurosawa’s offbeat pacing and intricate combination of editing and shot selection.
Oddity
Oddity is a rather succinct and well-paced Shudder movie, making it a surprisingly refreshing picture given the current state of independent horror and Shudder‘s most recent original movies to debut on the platform. Perhaps they saved the best for a loaded October because Oddity kicks it off in strong fashion, using jarring framing and bloodstained gore to effective results.
The Shrouds
David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds isn’t a genre masterpiece like The Fly or Dead Ringers, and it’s less refined than Eastern Promises. But it’s haunting in a different way. It’s the kind of film you think about more after it ends. And that might be the point. It’s a slow-burning elegy from a filmmaker who’s spent decades exploring transformation, now confronting the one transformation that awaits us all.
Ju-on: The Grudge
I get why Ju-on: The Grudge has such a dedicated following. It’s one of the freakiest movies I’ve ever seen. While not overly reliant of the classic jump scare technique with jolting editing and sharp sonic cues, The Grudge still packs a hefty amount of scares because of the vivid imagery and haunting supernatural forces at the center of the story.
Onibaba
For a Japanese horror movie from 1965, it is remarkable how modern and ahead of its time Onibaba feels in terms of content and structure. A film that serves as a pillar for close-quartered, tense powder kegs is among the best old school horror movies ever made, as well as a worthy introduction to Japanese horror movies.
READ MORE: The Others (2001)
