So obviously one difference between Spanish horror and mainstream horror is the subtitles, but there are other hints here and there that it is something different altogether. Horror movies don’t really need to belong to one sub-genre or another in order be terrifying, but separating them is necessary it seems. These films listed below though are some of the most spine-tingling films that you’ll likely ever see and more than that only a couple of them have ever seemed to see the light of day when it comes to going mainstream. All of them however are terrifying enough just watching the trailer to think that they’d be hard to watch on a dark night all by yourself. A good horror film will leave you unable to stop squirming in your seat, no matter if you’re able to watch horror or not. Of course if you’re not a horror buff and are scared by something like Jurassic Park then these films will absolutely terrorize you and cause nightmares for the next week or so. The essence of a good horror movie is that it doesn’t matter if it has subtitles or not, it only matters if it can make the hairs on your arm rise and the dread start to build in the back of your mind. That’s when you know it’s good.
Just take a look at some of these clips and try to say that they wouldn’t make you jump.
5. Julia’s Eyes
When Julia’s twin sister Sara apparently commits suicide Julia isn’t convinced, though everyone else thinks she’s overreacting. As her sight begins to fail due to a progressive degeneration that she can’t control she continues to hallucinate about a man that continually hides in the shadows. She’s almost certain that he’s real, but no one else seems able to see him. When her husband, and then another man, and then another go missing however things begin to get a little creepy. When Julia undergoes a surgery to restore her sight she’s forced to wear bandages over her eyes for a period of several weeks. When the man in the shadows returns she does her best to fight back, but there’s little you can do against someone you can’t see.
4. The Devil’s Backbone
Set during the time of the Spanish Civil War, or near its ending at least, a young boy is taken in at a local orphanage when his father is killed during the fighting. Once he makes friends with one of the more troublesome boys in the orphanage however strange things start to happen that no one can explain. This film is a bit odd largely because of the time period in which is set and because unlike the other films on this list it is far more cerebral and not as prone to the outright terror-filled moments that some of the others are bound to produce. That still makes for a great story however as the implied idea of horror is even worse sometimes.
3. The Orphanage
When Laura returns to the same orphanage that she was adopted from she begins to understand that strange things are happening, things that she can’t fully understand. When her son Simon disappears however she begins to uncover secrets that might lead to his disappearance, and to the unknown fact of what happened in the orphanage so very long ago, after she was adopted. Following such a trail however begins to prove dangerous when she starts to find out just what happened and why the specter of Tomas seems to be so ill at rest.
2. Veronica
It seems that in any movie dealing with Ouija boards things are bound to happen that aren’t too nice. When Veronica and her friends try to contact the spirits of their loved ones during the solar eclipse it becomes evident that Veronica has inadvertently summoned a demon that has attached itself to her and won’t let go. As the demon grows stronger Veronica starts to notice signs of harm on her own body and on her siblings. The demon continues to harass and torment her with dreams and signs of impending doom as she begins to grow desperate. Eventually she tries to undo what she initially did, but once again the demon outsmarts her and eventually she passes, having lost the battle with the unseen creature.
1. REC
As implausible as this story kind of is it’s still uniquely terrifying. A first-person account of what’s happening in the film only makes it worse as you’re subjected to a horror story unlike many others as one after another people are bitten and then turned into crazed, deranged maniacs that continue to infect others and eat them as well. This film hit the US and became something of a cult classic and has spawned at least a few sequels as well. Watch it and you’ll understand why.
Horror is horror, but the horror you don’t know about is sometimes even more enticing.
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