EURINGER’s Jimmy Urine Picks His Top 5 New Zealand Horror Films!

One of the great things about horror is how global it is. People are scared of the dark the world over. Similar kinds of monsters have appeared in cultural folklore tales between peoples that had never interacted with each other. Fear is one of the most basic human traits and it’s made for some of the most fascinating and exciting tales of all time. Furthermore, it gives each culture its own distinct and unique flavor of terror. What may scare Polish people could be drastically different from people in Brazil, for example. It’s what makes seeking out horror from other parts of the world so exciting and enticing.

It’s because of this that we were incredibly excited to offer our good pal Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence our platform to let us know his Top 5 New Zealand Horror Films, what with him having moved there recently and all! Admittedly, Urine is never one to stick to the rules, so while we suggested five films, he went ahead and gave us a few extra picks because why the hell not, right?

Now, why would we do this? Well, Urine has recently released an album under a brand new project called Euringer and we want to make sure that all of you are aware of it because it’s fucking GREAT!

Jimmy tells Dread Central, “Hi, I’m Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence and, now that I am living and working in New Zealand, I figured I would share my Top 5 (with bonuses!) New Zealand Horror Films with you. Gore, comedy, and charm is the Kiwi horror brand of choice! And whatever you do, DON’T get them confused with fucking Australia, goddammit!”

Wanna seduce your ears with Euringer‘s new album? Get yourself a copy on Bandcamp!


1) WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

This is my number one pick for New Zealand horror. Yes its funny, its super fucking funny, but it knows its horror tropes well and pokes fun nailing everything with super straight-faced New Zealand humor from Jemaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords and Taika Waititi of Boy and Thor: Ragnarok fame. I love when movies take the piss out of a genre so well they become beloved by that genre. It is even funnier when you watch it in New Zealand as you get some more of the inside local jokes.

For a bonus, try and get a hold of the New Zealand TV show Wellington Paranormal, produced by the same people with a funny as fuck cast.

2) DEAD ALIVE (aka BRAINDEAD)

The third movie from the now world-famous Peter Jackson, with buckets of blood the gore amps up and up and up until you think it can’t go any further, and then they go further. So many clever practical effects that still hold up because of their outrageous charm. Considered a horror classic, and for good reason, it should be for the lawnmower scene alone. Hope you enjoy blood!

For a bonus watch Jackson’s first movie Bad Taste. Charming and ingenious. Made with no script, so it gives you the nostalgia of playing around with cameras for fun in your youth. But the end result is a funky, lo-fi sci-fi horror movie.

3) BLACK SHEEP

In a land where there are more sheep than people, the idea of all those sheep wanting to kill humans is a very ingenious way of finding horror where you least expect it. Because Kiwis do black comedy so well they practically made taking the piss out of horror a New Zealand thing. Black Sheep plays the ‘animals attack!’ angle super straight, but the attacking sheep are the real stars of this movie, and with nice sheep effects by WETA, this movie is fun as fuck.

4) A tie between I SURVIVED A ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST and DEATHGASM

Both are real clever Kiwi underdog movies that are not very well known in the U.S., but funny and ingenious ideas.

I Survived A Zombie Holocaust is a zombie apocalypse happening during the filming of a zombie movie, so no one knows what’s happening. With great jokes and great timing, especially if, like me, you hate watching The Walking Dead at this point, this movie is needed relief in an unending world of zombie shit.

Deathgasm a high energy splatter film which is a great take on the evil in heavy metal. A lot of great black metal jokes and Evil Dead-style sloppy splatter. Very cool.

5) A three-way tie between DIAGNOSIS: DEATH, STRANGE BEHAVIOR, and HEAVENLY CREATURES

While none are the over-the-top gore-filled comedies that New Zealand is now known for, all three are great horror films for different reasons.

Diagnosis: Death was directed by Jason Stutter and features Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby in supporting roles. While not in the over-the-top gore category of horror, this is more in the mystery, drug-testing hospitals, and ghosts categories, but has enough great straight-man humor from the leads and the cameos to keep it fun.

Strange Behavior (aka Dead Kids) gets an honorable mention as being probably the first big horror movie from New Zealand that also got play internationally. it is your basic 80’s mind control slasher mystery, sleepy town type of horror movie. I remember this film was always on the shelf of my local video store in New York back in the day, and the main selling point that made it stand out was that it was banned in the U.K. as a ‘Video Nasty’. Haha, now that was a great way for New Zealand horror to start.

Heavenly Creatures is technically a psychological murder movie and is Academy Award-nominated. This is the movie that put Kate Winslet on the map and started the career of the absolutely amazing Melanie Lynskey. It’s also the film where director Peter Jackson started to be taken seriously as a filmmaker. Based on a true story that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand, the acting alone is enough to put this movie into a horror category all on its own. 

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