Paul Solet’s Halloween Watch List

If I had to name the biggest up and coming name in horror right now, it would definitely be Paul Solet (read our interview with the man himself here). This hardworking writer/director made grown men faint at festival screenings when he unleashed baby Grace (read our review here) to the horror community earlier this year.

He is also one the collaborators on the recent and hilarious Ariescope short, “Jack Chop” that has taken over all means of social networking in hours.

Please read Paul’s kick-ass Halloween list and make sure to send this awesome man some love in the comment section below!

VIDEODROME

- I saw VIDEODROME as a kid and couldn’t believe my eyes. I felt like this guy totally understood what was going on in my head creatively. Which was some pretty strange shit. Body horror, the idea of losing control over your own facilities, is one of the final frontiers of fear, for me. Not much gets under my skin anymore, but the stuff that already lives under the skin still does the trick to this day. “Long live the new flesh!”

DEATHDREAM

- Anyone looking to make a smart genre film on a budget needs to study what Bob Clark did with DEATHDREAM. He shot this one in 1974 for a quarter million bucks in Florida, but still created one of the most emotionally effective films of the time. I absolutely love this movie. I have a signed copy sitting proudly on my mantle and a second one available to loan out to anyone I care about on hand at all times.

DEAD AND BURIED

- One of the most under appreciated pieces of horror brilliance around. Aesthetically and atmospherically, this is just an extremely mature, ambitious film. If you’re looking for a genuinely chilling movie, this one is for you. On a craftsmanship level, the effects here are pretty damn stunning, too. A great film to point to when arguing for the merits of practical effects.

THE TENANT

- The word I hear most when people talk about this one is flawed, but it’s one of Polanski’s greatest successes visually and tonally. It brilliantly twists a contained environment over time to reflect its protagonist’s state of mind in a way that few other than Polanski have achieved. Just a gorgeous film in so many ways.

JACOB’S LADDER

- This film may have scared me more than any other. You really care about this character, and you don’t want him to have to suffer. He doesn’t deserve to suffer. He’s kind, and compassionate and so fragile and human, and yet we are forced to literally go to hell with him in one of the most inspired depictions of damnation I’ve ever encountered. This movie is fucking genius.