The worlds of fantasy and horror share some very blurry lines. When it comes to overlaps between the genre, it can be hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins – isn’t all supernatural horror, for example, some kind of fantasy? Do the strange worlds of certain horror classics fall under the fantasy banner by design?
You could certainly make a case for it, but there are, undoubtedly, a few films that strike a balance between the two genres in a way that really works – I mean, take a look at the entire back catalogue of Guillermo Del Toro, if you don’t believe me. And it’s those movies that we’re going to take a look at today, with a dive into some of our favourite fantasy-horror titles. Feel free to drop a few of your favourites in the comments below!
The Hallow
As a Scot, I get very jealous when I see films like Corin Hardy’s The Hallow. This creature feature follows a husband and wife, along with their newborn baby, as they move from London to a small Irish village. The place is beautiful and quaint until a bunch of psychotic fairy creature decide that their baby looks just a little too tempting, and set about putting their mean-spirited trickery to good use to get their hands on it. Hardy crafts a suspenseful and exceptionally mean tale of the anxieties of parenthood, using the fantasy creatures of childhood legend and tearing away anything that could soften them up to expose the horrors that lay beneath. The Hallow makes me wish there were more Scottish films of its kind since we also have a rich history of fantastic tales and creatures not to be trusted. Even aside from our cats.
Lord of Illusions
You may know him as Enterprise’s Captain Archer, but Scott Bakula plays against type in Lord of Illusions as a detective thrust into the world of magic and mayhem. Written and directed by Clive Barker (all of his films, honestly, could be on this list but Illusions is a personal favourite) from his own short story, Lord of Illusions can best be described as a fantasy-horror-noir film that takes great pleasure in mixing up iconography of each genre (femme fatales, dark wizards, and gore, gore, gore) in Barker’s distinctively sensual and unsettling style. And confirms that I only want to be inside Clive’s mind for two hours, then I’m running for it.
Onibaba
The fantasy and horror elements of Onibaba are as sly and conniving as its characters. This is a film more of atmosphere than outright scares, with a darkly fantastic vibe saturating the movie until the final act when things take a turn for the distinctly dark. Director Kaneto Shindo expertly creates the dread that causes a mother and her daughter in law to turn against each other when their men have gone to war – he smothers the film in warmth and sweat, subtle creating thin places for the horror to come through and punish his petty characters. It is a masterpiece of mood and deserves to be remembered for more than just the awesome mask.
Are there any horror films in your best-ofs that pair well with fantasy? Let us know your picks in the comments below, and check out our other horror recommendations here!
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By Kevin Boyle and Lou MacGregor
(header image via Mubi)
No But Listen 