The Bad Vibes Movie List Vol. 2
Let's have a bad time (again).
Each year as we head into October and the Halloween season, I like to whet my appetite for the upcoming gauntlet of horror films and shows that I’m going to spend the entire month watching by sitting down with some films that have absolutely rancid vibes. Movies that can only be described as “day ruining” and that make you feel like real dog shit once the credits roll.
I don’t mainline these movies night after night or anything. I’m not THAT much of a sicko. But as the weather gets cooler and the sun starts going down earlier, I do like to delve into the movies that make me feel the need to watch a couple of episodes of Community right afterwards to get the taste out of my mouth.
I walked through some of my favorite bad vibes movies last year in Volume 1 of this list and I’m back again to really sour your mood. I’ll say again this year as I said last year: I always want to treat the people that I’m writing for like the adults they are who can make their own decisions, but I will note that all of these movies contain sequences that are very upsetting or are just upsetting throughout. Use your discretion when watching but don’t be afraid to challenge yourself a bit with these.
Let’s freak it.
Movie: Man Bites Dog
Where To Watch: MAX
Vibe Check: This one has been recommended to me a few times by other fellow sickos who love to watch things that require a walk afterwards and I finally got around to it this year. Hoo baby does it deliver (derogatory). It’s a pretty simple, but very clever setup. A film crew follows around a serial killer documenting his violent delusions and murders, becoming more and more involved as they spend time with him until they are essentially his accomplices.
Filmed in the mockumentary style, this movie is brutal and nihilistic as hell. It got an NC-17 rating when it was released in America and that is in 1990s America Standards so you know what you’re getting here. It’s the perfect movie to start off this exercise and it might be the most bad vibes movie on the whole list.
Movie: Longlegs
Where To Watch: wherever you rent
Vibe Check: I think this movie was done a bit of a disservice by its (very effective and well done) marketing and pitching it as “one of the scariest movies ever.” Don’t get me wrong - it IS scary and there are a couple of terrifying moments but its also a movie with atrocious vibes.
I debated on whether or not to put it on this list or the upcoming horror movie recommendation list that we do each year. I decided to put it here because while I do find LONGLEGS to be scary in stretches, I find it more so to be an absolute dread machine that is deeply, deeply unsettling for its entire runtime. Oz Perkins and his cinematographer Andres Arochi do some incredible work with the camera that left me squirming even when nothing was happening. There is a scene that is just the camera pushing through the open door of a barn that is maybe the most unnerving thing I’ve seen this year. Each shot of Maika Monroe is framed in such a way that you are expecting something, anything to fill the blank space behind her. I can't honestly tell you which is scarier: when something does or when nothing does.
Movie: Prisoners
Where To Watch: MAX
Vibe Check: This year after going Dune 2 Mode™️ (that’s where you see DUNE 2 in the theater 4 times) for a few weeks, I decided it was a good time to revisit Denis Villeneuve’s filmography. He’s got several films that could easily go on this list but PRISONERS is the one that had me gritting my teeth the most so it gets the nod (with a huge shoutout to SICARIO, maybe my favorite Villeneuve film).
Everything about this movie is an exercise in grim and grime. It’s palette is nothing but muted grays and blues and there’s not really a moment of joy to be found. It features a terrific Hugh Jackson performance and some great work from Paul Dano channeling some of the stuff he put into his recent turn as The Riddler. There’s a sequence in a basement that keeps going for much longer than it has any right to that makes me squirm every time. Atrocious vibes on this one, check it out.
Movie: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Where To Watch: MAX / Criterion Collection Blu-Ray
Vibe Check: The barrier for entry might be a little a little smaller on this one because I do think it’s nice to have at least a little knowledge of the television series Twin Peaks before watching this movie. You can watch it without any knowledge and get the gist, but you’ll miss some pretty important context and character backstories, IMO. It follows Laura Palmer (spoiler for a 34 year old TV show: the girl who’s found murdered in the pilot episode) during the last week of her life leading up to the events of the show.
David Lynch is a Bad Vibes King, but this one really takes the cake for me. The TV version of Twin Peaks often mixes in offbeat humor and melodrama but this movie is a straight up horror and dread fest. There’s nothing funny about it and there are some really stomach churning moments here.
Movie: The Northman
Where To Watch: Starz / Amazon Prime
Vibe Check: I am fully in the bag for Robert Eggers (shoutout to my fellow EggHeads) and his upcoming film NOSFERATU is on our most anticipated movies of the year list for good reason. Eggers’ films lend themselves to this time of year as he’s no stranger to horror (THE VVITCH) and horror adjacent (THE LIGHTHOUSE) films.
I revisited THE NORTHMAN this year because it’s the film of his I’ve spent the least amount of time with, although I definitely fired it up a couple of times during the lockdown.
This thing is an absolute bruiser. Everything and everyone is covered in a layer of dirt, the violence is urgent and direct, and ultimately (and not to sound cliche here) the quest for vengeance leads to the destruction of everything held dear in the sacrifice of that pursuit. Some really great set pieces here but there are no punches pulled and there are no happy endings.
Movie: Oldboy (2003)
Where To Watch: Netflix
Vibe Check: I had the pleasure(?) of catching this in a movie theater for it’s 20th Anniversary and it was one of the coolest screening experiences of my life. It’s cool to see a movie you’ve only seen via Blu-Ray or streaming projected in 4k on a big ass screen, even if some of what you’re seeing is some real depraved shit.
This movie is old and got an American re-make(bad) so I don’t want to spoil it too much, but it is yet another tale of revenge wreaking havoc on the life of everyone it touches. It features one of (imo) the best fight sequences in movie history involving a one-take shot of a man fighting of a legion with simply a hammer and two absolutely devastating twists, one being an ending that still makes me grimace even when I know what’s coming. Terrific!
Movie: The Mist
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime
Vibe Check: You might know about this movie simply because of how bleak it’s ending is. It gets passed around on Twitter or IG or Reddit from time to time, especially around this time of year. I think that reputation is well earned, the ending to this thing is truly one of the most miserable around but I think just watching the ending without the context of the rest of the movie is doing it a disservice.
This is one of the better Stephen King adaptations and it truly feels like the world is ending. The titular mist is everywhere and it suffocates everything and unleashes hell to a miserable degree. The ending is earned but the journey there is just as grim.
Movie: Audition
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime
Vibe Check: This movie is another one that has a somewhat famous scene that’s overtaken the sum of it’s parts, but man is it harrowing once you get there. It’s a bit of a slower burn, with the first half resembling something more akin to a romantic comedy in tone and pacing, but once the turn happens its on fire for the rest of its duration. I’ve never been more scared of a burlap sack or a house phone and you’ll never look at dating the same way again.
There you are, 8 movies to really fuck up your day. We’ll be back next with our annual scary movie recommendations list, one of my favorites to do ever year.
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I'll read more later, but I'll just say here that Man Bites Dog was an EXCRUCIATING watch. Yikes.