Shudder Invites You to a Karyn Kusama-Curated Collection of Horror
Debi Moore
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Karyn Kusama’s breakout film was 2000’s award-winning Girlfight, and since then she’s gone on to direct Aeon Flux, Jennifer’s Body, and, most recently, The Invitation (review), which opened this weekend.
If you’re curious what movies Kusama herself might watch in her down time, then check out her curated collection of her top five favorite horror films for streaming service Shudder.
From the Press Release:
Shudder, the popular horror streaming service backed by AMC Networks, continues to add to its offerings for die-hard horror fans. This month’s guest curator, director Karyn Kusama, is the third in Shudder’s program, which kicked off in February with collections by director/writer Robert Eggers (The Witch) and Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes). Each guest curator carefully selects their top five horror films based on personal taste and impact on the genre. Shudder plans to continue the program on a monthly basis with collections from more guest curators.
The full collection by Karyn Kusama, now available on Shudder, is detailed below (with comments from the filmmaker).
Ganja & Hess
“This early ’70’s film about black identity, class politics, and vampirism plays across my memory like a beautiful hallucination. Bill Gunn made a stylish, kaleidoscopically ambitious film about lovers with a thirst for blood. It’s hard to find — so watch it pronto!”
Habit
“I remember seeing this film when it first came out in the mid-90’s and being struck by its twin narrative threads: the story of a man possibly entangled in a romance with a vampire and, more profoundly, the story of a man spiraling into catastrophic alcoholism. The film is an incredible thematic companion piece to Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction and is a grimy, vivid portrayal of a life getting very out of control.”
Let the Right One In
“One of the world’s rare perfect films, centering on a brilliantly realized main character, whose pre-teen loneliness and alienation help fuel a lifelong romance that’s doomed from the start. Utterly sublime filmmaking.”
Nosferatu, the Vampyre
“Four words: Herzog. Kinski. Adjani. Ganz. I don’t really think I need to say any more, but if you like vampire films (and judging from this list, I obviously do), this beautiful film is a must. In more traditional treatments of this story, The Count is a dashing seducer. I love that Herzog and Kinski allowed this Count to be monstrous from the start — there’s no Frank Langella suaveness in sight. AND THOSE RATS!”
The House of the Devil
“I love the simplicity and purity of this movie. Ti West’s film stuck with me in an unexpected way, probably because I spent so much time hanging out with the main character waiting for something momentous to happen. Once it does, you can’t really ‘erase the icky’ from your mind.”
Shudder houses a variety of films that span all decades and sub-genres of horror in detailed collections created by lead curators Colin Geddes, a prominent film aficionado and historian, and Sam Zimmerman, writer and expert on anything horror. Shudder’s growing library of curated horror is available ad-free and for unlimited viewing on Shudder’s website, mobile apps for iOS and Android, Chromecast, Apple TV, and the Roku platform with a free 14-day trial or $4.99 monthly/$49.99 yearly membership. To sign up or learn more, visit shudder.com.
About The Invitation:
In this taut psychological thriller by Karyn Kusama, the tension is palpable when Will (Logan Marshall-Green, Prometheus) and his girlfriend, Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi, Miles Ahead), show up to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife Eden, (Tammy Blanchard, Into the Woods), and her new husband, David (Michiel Huisman, “Game of Thrones”). The estranged divorcees’ tragic past haunts an equally eerie present; amid Eden’s suspicious behavior and her mysterious house guests, Will becomes convinced that his invitation was extended with a hidden agenda.
Unfolding over one dark evening in the Hollywood Hills, The Invitation blurs layers of mounting paranoia, mystery, and horror until both Will—and the audience—are unsure what threats are real or imagined.
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