48th: SI ARNAB GEMOK RECOMMENDS: TOP 5 DEEP, DARK HORROR MOVIES

Assalamualaikum

Yasss, the weekend is here!!!

How has the week been so far for you guys??

Hope you guys have had a wonderful week. Mine has been tough and confusing. But I guess I'll tell you guys more on that in another entry.

Because this entry is gonna be all about movie yaww. And not only just any kinds of movies but deep, dark horrifying ones. *insert ghost emoticon*

Since it's off-day's night and we all know what we enjoy doing the most, that is unwinding after 5 straight days of working or simply just being busy and hectic with life.

So why not grab some popcorn and sprawl yourself in front of the tv / laptop because I'm gonna give some ideas of what movies to be watched. Some of these movies I have watched em last year, some of em last 2 years and some of em I have just watched recently.

One thing they have in common is that they are worth every minute of teeth-clenching, blankie hugging and saliva gulping they may cause. 

Ooh, and also for some of the movies, you might need subtitles. :)

Lets dig in.

1. The Babadook (Australia)

Source: Google Image

For this movie, I have to give credit to one of my friends, Faisal, who is a junkie for weird, twisted movies. Whenever he suggested me to watch anything, it is either gory, confusing or simply, mindfuck. So when he asked me to watch this movie, I expected nothing less and I am not disappointed.

The Babadook revolves around the life of a single mother, Amelia, who is still grieving from the abrupt passing of her late husband. Since then, she has to raise her imaginative son, Samuel, alone. And by "imaginative", I mean VERY imaginative. Her son always feels the need to create his own weapons in order to fight monsters and only-God-knows what other creatures he has in mind.

Being depressed and lonely, Amelia is sick of handling her son's antics until one day they found a book and Amelia read it to Samuel as a bedtime story. That's when strange, scary things start to happen and let me warn you guys beforehand, control your shrilly screaming voice, ok?

The director does not let viewers chill (geeeeezzz *roll eyes*) by giving us a real twist at the end as to whether whatever Amelia and Samuel faced throughout the entire movie is an actual (horridly scary) monster or just built ups of their own haywire emotions and problems.

IMDb: 6.8 / 10

Metacritic: 86%

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Si Arnab Gemok: 8.3 / 10

2. Goodnight Mommy (Austria)

Source: Google Image

Have you guys ever heard of Capgras delusion?? Never? Well, so did I before watching this movie (and googling about it. Well yeah, I'm obsessed liddat). 

Basically this movie captures the life of ten-year-old twin brothers, Elias and Lukas, who are very close to one another. They do everything together and just like any other children their age, they seem harmless.

Well, until the return of their mother from the hospital due to some cosmetic facial surgery (still in facial bandages and all). Since then their mother has been acting weirdly (not only to the twins' view, but also us as the viewers) by only acknowledging Elias in her conversations and actions. 

Their mother also isolates herself in her bedroom and stresses the strict rule of silence inside the house. After a while, the "harmless" twins are no longer that harmless. They started to think that under all the bandages, their mother is someone else. 

That's when all the tortures to the "impostor" begin and I can tell you more but it will only kill the suspense. You guys have to watch this movie till the end and decide for yourself whether the twins are right from the start or are just having Capgras delusion.

IMDb: 6.7 / 10

Metacritic: 81%

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

Si Arnab Gemok: 8.5 / 10

3. Dabbe The Curse Of The Jinn (Turkey)

Source: Google Image

Do not be fooled by the cheap-looking, super creepy poster. Trust me, it is a movie worth watching. 

There's no icky, gooey, slimy spewing typical scenes in like many other ghost and demon possessed kinda movies. Only by looking at the actress's facial expression is more than enough to make us viewers wet our pants (which luckily I didn't).

I heard that this movie is also known as Dabbe 4, meaning there are Dabbe 1, 2 and 3. But better than that, while googling about this movie, I also stumbled upon Dabbe 6 which means there's also Dabbe 5. I just haven't watched any of the other Dabbe's because lets just face it, Dabbe 4 is still haunting me (plus from the review, it stated that Dabbe 4 is the MOST watched Dabbe from all the other Dabbe's).

This movie is based on the belief of jinn's existence and black magic. As we all know, there are good jinns and also evil jinns. Obviously the girl possessed in this movie is caused by the evil jinn. If you enjoy the partake of watching The Exorcist, Poltergeist (the old one because lets just be honest, the new one sucks big time) and also The Conjuring, well this movie is a must watch (and it is wayyy more horrifying).

IMDb: 7.1 / 10

Si Arnab Gemok: 8.8 / 10

Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes have no idea what they are missing out on.

4. Under The Shadow (Iran)

Source: Google Image

This movie sets in wayyyy back during the year I was born, 1988, in Tehran whereby wars are everywhere ("war of the cities" between Iran and Iraq phase). Therefore, while watching, I am always either sitting at the edge of my seat or cursing due to the sudden blaring sirens of bombing warnings. Shockingly enough, it's not when the it's loud that it is scary. But the real haunting comes out when it is dead silent (spoiler alert).

Poor mother, Shideh, and daughter, Dorsa, have to live on their own after the husband / father had to leave for the war. Shideh, who is already emotionally chaotic because she got expelled from her medical school for being politically active during the Revolution, becomes more stressful when she has to take care of her child on her own in the uproar times.

In the movie, it is said that jinns are most active where there is fear and anxiety which means Shideh and Dorsa are both very vulnerable to the evil's disturbances.

If you think ghosts portrayed as having long nails and hair are scary. Well think again. Because sometimes the scariest thing in life is not always as what it seems or what we may think. It is beyond that.

IMDb: 7 / 10

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Si Arnab Gemok: 8.8 / 10

Metacritic, come on. Watch this movie yaww!!!

5. Pan's Labyrinth (Spain)

Source: Google Image

I just recently watched this movie (yesterday to be exact) and I have to say that I am still not over it. 

At first, I thought this is a typical dark fairy tales movie, like Tim Burton's movies, where the atmosphere or ambiance of the movie is set in a dark colored, not-so-cheerful looking environment and the ending will be twisted.

But I was so so so very wrong. The movie is INDEED twisted but it is MORE than just that. 

Pan's Labyrinth is one of the greatest fairy tales movies I have ever watched. The movie left me speechless at the end. And I ended up googling about the movie's meaning (for every plot) and ending for hours after that. 

Ofelia, the girl as the main character of this movie, is a normal girl who enjoys reading fairy tales books and wishes her life to be one as well. But a girl can only wish so much during the Spanish Civil War. To add to that, her mother is remarried to a heartless Captain after the death of her real father.

Her fantasies begin to come to life when she meets a faun who told her that she is actually a long-lost princess from the Underworld and that her real father is waiting for her return. But in order for her to return, she needs to complete 3 tests. 

I love how the director intertwined both real world and Ofelia's fantasy into one without making the movie awkward or cringy or confusing. 

This is HIGHLY recommended by yours truly here and I promise you won't regret watching it. I just couldn't promise that you guys won't feel depressed after watching it. :P

IMDb: 8.2 / 10

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Si Arnab Gemok: 9.2 / 10

Metacritic, once again, please watch this movie!!!

So there they are. My top 5 deep, dark horror movies for now (I'm sure there'll be more as I am a real movie junkie). 

I hope you guys will enjoy these movies as much I do and please, you are more than welcomed to share with me on your opinions and thoughts about these masterpieces in the comment section below.

Till then, enjoy your weekend. 

Salam menggemok and Toodles~

Assalamualaikum and Have a great day!!!