Now Streaming: HORROR'S GREATEST on Shudder, Season 2 Smashes Our Nostalgia Button
The second season of Shudder’s survey series, Horror’s Greatest, starts streaming today, a continuation of the series that debuted at the end of Summer on the platform. Once again we head back into the fray, surveying subgenres and themes that have run throughout the horror genre for decades. This season the themes are animal attacks, bad romance, hidden gems, film scores and space horror.
As before, it’s great to see our friends on the inside participate in the series. They’re there alongside other peers, a slew of academics, and our horror paragons and heroes. A noted new face among the mix this time was series composer Ceiri Torjussen, whose own list of musical accomplishments over the last twenty-four years is staggering to behold. Torjussen weighs in on the music episode, Killer Scores, on January 21st.
The series remains multi-generational in content so there is loads of nostalgia going on here. It feels moreso this time aroud. There were lots of references to movies that took this editor down memory lane. Terrible, dark, scary trips down memory lane. We have probably never felt more triggered than when we were watching the final chapter of the season, ‘Space Horror’. Yes, in space no one can hear you scream, but the memory of a Saturday night at 3am in my friend’s living room while on a sleepover when I nearly woke the whole house after Newt scrambled across that gangwalk for the first time in Aliens came flooding back to me. Do not get us started on what seeing clips from Event Horizon did. We suppose that it was inevitable that we would cross paths with that bastard of a film once again. That one left scars that we thought had healed.
Speaking of bastards… Because the series is an exploration of horror’s past and legacy we feel obligated to talk about this one issue that has come up one more time. Apologies that we have to bring this up again but since we mentioned it in our review of the first season some follow up is due. We shared our disappointment that films from three problematic filmmakers were included in the first season, where actions in their personal lives - past and present - have stained their body of work .
The second time around only one such filmmaker’s work is featured in the new season. There is some irony that one of their films is featured in the episode about bad romances. Either by choice or by happenstance there is only this filmmaker mentioned along with their stained works in this second season. An improvement for those whom issues like this matter.
It bears repeating the following sentiments from our season one review.
For the casual horror fan looking to go for a deep dive into the genre as a whole there is no better place to start making your To View List than Horror’s Greatest. It goes to show how deep and vast the genre has been over the years, the decades. We do wonder how many rabbit holes into the horror genre a series like Horror’s Greatest has caused, and to that this is the series greatest accomplishment, providing inroads into horror cinema and its many, many sub-genres.
For the committed horror fan we believe the series will have the same effect on you as it did us, a walk down memory lane. In our review of the first season we admitted that we are not a horror maniac but we have been at this game long enough that we have seen nearly everything that has been cited as an example for any sub genre in this and the first season. There is always room for discovery but this time around we found ourselves with rekindled memories of the first times we saw some of these staples and classics. "We-remember-when..." kind of moments.
We envy the young horror fan who went to see Alien Romulus this past Summer and still has the entire franchise - all its highs and lows - to experience, for the first time. Truly, we envy anyone who gets to see any of these 'greatest' horror films for the first time.
HORROR’S GREATEST SEASON 2 EPISODESEpisode 1 – “Animal Attacks” – Premieres Tuesday, December 31 on SHUDDER and AMC+A great animal attack movie pushes all of our human-against-nature buttons. From demented sharks to unhinged chimps, this episode sorts out the leaders of the cinematic pack. We also shame the worst horror pets (and give treats to the best).Episode 2 – “Killer Dates” – Premieres Tuesday, January 7 on SHUDDER and AMC+Dates in horror are worst-case scenarios that go way past awkward silences. Your lovemate is either a serial killer, a tormented psychic, or comes from a family that wants to hunt you for sport. Looking for love inevitably leads to blood and carnage.Episode 3 – “Hidden Gems” – Premieres Tuesday, January 14 on SHUDDER and AMC+What special film would you recommend to the ghoul who has “seen everything?” In this episode, genre mavens select 13 movies that have been forgotten, overlooked, unfairly maligned, or are hard to find – all bloody gems hidden beneath the floorboards.Episode 4 – “Film Scores” – Premieres Tuesday, January 21 on SHUDDER and AMC+From King Kong’s epic orchestra to the unnerving electronics of Under the Skin to the suspenseful muted strings in Psycho, composers have used every style of music to frighten audiences. Horror scores blaze trails, bringing new instruments and radical musical forms into popular consciousness.Episode 5 – “Space Horror” – Premieres Tuesday, January 28 on SHUDDER and AMC+Alien. 2001. Forbidden Planet. Many of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made are also horror films. The vastness of space, the claustrophobia of space travel, and the inconceivable horrors that might lurk in the void make for spine-tingling filmmaking.
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