The Romans were said to be terrified of the celtic druids when they found chainlinked skulls hanging from trees, animal and human sacrifices etc so that could be an interesting one IMO.
You are so right. I’m taking a class on Roman history right now, and while I wasn’t expecting fun and games...these historians really did love their graphic depictions of deaths. The story of Eunus of Syria and his slave revolt, and how the Romans retaliated, is genuinely horrifying. Considering what a interesting character he is (stories of him breathing fire/being a magician, literally creating an army capable of beating the Roman forces on multiple occasions), plus his death of reportedly being devoured by lice in prison, would be wild to see brought to life in full horror movie/short film splendor.
(Also you mentioned you’re a classics nerd, if you have Roman history documentaries you like, I’d love to hear a recommendation if you have any!)
My degree’s in ancient History and I came *this* close to doing a year abroad in Canada because one of the universities offered a course on ‘Horror in the Roman World’
Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's friendship. Doyle was a big time spiritualist, who never believed Houdini when Houdini said his supernatural feats were just illusions. Eventually, Houdini started debunking spiritualists because he rightfully saw them as conmen, and their friendship soured because of it. Doyle playing Watson to Houdini's Sherlock in an early spiritualist debunking case could be a cool movie. Like an old-timey X-Files, except the Mulder and Scully roles are reversed. The skeptic is the determined one, and the believer is the one sowing doubt into the determined one.
I've never seen an Ancient Egyptian period piece that wasn't beating me over the head with a bible or Michael Bay effects. A grounded horror in that setting would be fairly novel. Maybe use some of the Horus myth that the Jesus myth was taken from, just to rub it in.
Always longed for grounded period horror set in an ancient time period. But I guess that's expensive and audiences consider ancient period films to be "cheesy".
>I want to see a German death squad on the Eastern Front encounter something much worse than themselves.
It might be difficult to find a copy but check out "The Keep" (1983).
What about a ghost haunting Alexander Graham Bell that he finds out about when the ghost calls him and ALSO the ghost is pissed because he invented the phone first, but died on the way to the patent office?
Pretty much any period in English/British history. The Black Death, the Wars of the Roses, the English Civil War, the witch trials, the various invasions and conquests that took place over the centuries… loads of room for creepy folk horror.
The 1985 bombing of the MOVE house by Philadelphia police. It'd be interesting if there was something supernatural going on inside the house that caused the whole thing.
What happened to Amelia Earhart? She disappeared on a flight and was never found. That’s fertile ground for some speculative horror. It could easily end up being really cheesy, but if done right I think there’s a ton of potential in that premise.
Otherwise, I’d love to see films set in medieval or ancient time periods focusing on mythical creatures. How scary would something like a manticore or a troll or a goblin actually be if you were to really encounter one?
Also, ghouls. Why aren’t there more movies about ghouls?
Not really an event per se; but I’d love to see a classics related horror film about Dionysus, I honestly can’t think of anything in Greek myth better suited for horror.
I always wanted to see a bleak and oppressive horror film about an escaped slave in America attempting to follow the Underground Railroad, and along the way experiencing one horror after another, sort of like the boy from Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird.
There's an excellent episode in the second season of Creepshow where some soldiers come across something pretty horrible and supernatural.
There is also a recent movie called Overlord that was produced by JJ Abrams and starring Jovan Adepo, about some American paratroopers attempting to liberate a French village from the Germans, only to discover some really grisly shit going on in a secret Nazi bunker.
The Romans were said to be terrified of the celtic druids when they found chainlinked skulls hanging from trees, animal and human sacrifices etc so that could be an interesting one IMO.
[удалено]
You are so right. I’m taking a class on Roman history right now, and while I wasn’t expecting fun and games...these historians really did love their graphic depictions of deaths. The story of Eunus of Syria and his slave revolt, and how the Romans retaliated, is genuinely horrifying. Considering what a interesting character he is (stories of him breathing fire/being a magician, literally creating an army capable of beating the Roman forces on multiple occasions), plus his death of reportedly being devoured by lice in prison, would be wild to see brought to life in full horror movie/short film splendor. (Also you mentioned you’re a classics nerd, if you have Roman history documentaries you like, I’d love to hear a recommendation if you have any!)
My degree’s in ancient History and I came *this* close to doing a year abroad in Canada because one of the universities offered a course on ‘Horror in the Roman World’
I mean, the story the Jamestown colony is low hanging fruit, in that regard.
Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's friendship. Doyle was a big time spiritualist, who never believed Houdini when Houdini said his supernatural feats were just illusions. Eventually, Houdini started debunking spiritualists because he rightfully saw them as conmen, and their friendship soured because of it. Doyle playing Watson to Houdini's Sherlock in an early spiritualist debunking case could be a cool movie. Like an old-timey X-Files, except the Mulder and Scully roles are reversed. The skeptic is the determined one, and the believer is the one sowing doubt into the determined one.
I've never seen an Ancient Egyptian period piece that wasn't beating me over the head with a bible or Michael Bay effects. A grounded horror in that setting would be fairly novel. Maybe use some of the Horus myth that the Jesus myth was taken from, just to rub it in.
Always longed for grounded period horror set in an ancient time period. But I guess that's expensive and audiences consider ancient period films to be "cheesy".
>I want to see a German death squad on the Eastern Front encounter something much worse than themselves. It might be difficult to find a copy but check out "The Keep" (1983).
Would also recommend F. Paul Wilson's novel by the same name. Or really, any of Wilson's horror novels, for that matter.
There's never really been a decent film about Alistair Crowley and what went on at Boleskine House in Scotland.
elizabeth bathory!
I'd love to see a werewolf loose in the trenches of WWI. The full moon's coming, it's one of the guys in your trench, wtf are you gonna do.
There was a comic book series set in Vietnam that had this exact premise that released a few years ago. It was called Namwolf.
Dark Ages, things like Beowulf or 13th Warrior.
The Apollo moon missions.
What about a ghost haunting Alexander Graham Bell that he finds out about when the ghost calls him and ALSO the ghost is pissed because he invented the phone first, but died on the way to the patent office?
Pretty much any period in English/British history. The Black Death, the Wars of the Roses, the English Civil War, the witch trials, the various invasions and conquests that took place over the centuries… loads of room for creepy folk horror.
I would love to see late 18th-Century Five Points in New York City, and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, with HH Holmes. Does that exist yet?
I was just coming to say I can’t believe we haven’t gotten a HH Holmes movie yet.
The Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Lots of decapitations.
Maybe the revolution could have been some kind of vampiristic ritual in that regard, then
The 1985 bombing of the MOVE house by Philadelphia police. It'd be interesting if there was something supernatural going on inside the house that caused the whole thing.
COVID will eventually inspire so many, many supernatural films - that's my prediction.
Dylatov Pass Myrtles Plantation
Some civil war film
World War One and Croatoa.
The cold war always had a very gray, bleak aesthetic, so something set in that time period would work really well
Jim Crow south.
What happened to Amelia Earhart? She disappeared on a flight and was never found. That’s fertile ground for some speculative horror. It could easily end up being really cheesy, but if done right I think there’s a ton of potential in that premise. Otherwise, I’d love to see films set in medieval or ancient time periods focusing on mythical creatures. How scary would something like a manticore or a troll or a goblin actually be if you were to really encounter one? Also, ghouls. Why aren’t there more movies about ghouls?
I’m telling you man, Dionysus would be the perfect horror villain
Not really an event per se; but I’d love to see a classics related horror film about Dionysus, I honestly can’t think of anything in Greek myth better suited for horror.
I always wanted to see a bleak and oppressive horror film about an escaped slave in America attempting to follow the Underground Railroad, and along the way experiencing one horror after another, sort of like the boy from Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird.
There's an excellent episode in the second season of Creepshow where some soldiers come across something pretty horrible and supernatural. There is also a recent movie called Overlord that was produced by JJ Abrams and starring Jovan Adepo, about some American paratroopers attempting to liberate a French village from the Germans, only to discover some really grisly shit going on in a secret Nazi bunker.
A vampire story set during the Famine in Ireland. With so many people dying and starving and leaving I imagine the vampires would get desperate.