Horror’s greatest season 2 brings more genre love to Shudder
It’s baaaack! Horror’s Greatest, which made its debut in August of this year, is back with more clips and a chat about the most popular sub-genres. Season one focused on Stephen King adaptations as well as giant monsters, Japanese Horror, horror comedies and tropes. There was still plenty to explore in season two. It’s all about animal attacks, film score, hidden gems and space horror this time. The group is made up of scholars, authors and critics as well as people who are involved in horror film and media production. The group is clearly united in their love of horror films and media. In the “Animal Attacks,” episode, there are two lists of the best and worst horror movie pets. You can guess which one Cujo is on. Though there is some overlap between episodes–Jaws comes up a lot, for instance–there’s enough to cover that Horror’s Greatest doesn’t feel like it’s repeating itself or stretching itself too thin.
Tananarive Due admits her admiration of Event Horizon in the “Space Horror” episode. Season two has a more bizarre focus, allowing Horror’s greatest to explore less-known territory. Image: Shudder.
. The strongest episodes would be “Animal Attacks,” a look at how Jaws inspired a new wave of “nature strikes back,” and also a film that combines serious environmental concerns with alligators jumping out of sewers or PCP-crazed zoo creatures. “Hidden Gems,” however, might just have been my excitement to see praise heaped on the relatively obscure Let’s Scare Jessica To Death and The Psychic. That episode in particular feels like you’re getting can’t-fail viewing recommendations from a friend who has seen every movie, except that friend is Shudder (and indeed, a lot of the titles are available to stream there after you finish Horror’s Greatest).
“Killer Dates” might be the least successful, just because it has the murkiest through-line. The episode flits between Carrie’s prom night nightmare and Get Out’s meeting-the-parents nightmare, and then there are movies like Terror Train or Jennifer’s Body that have romance and hook-up elements alongside their bodies counts. The episodes are not as coherent as other episodes. This is a problem. Horror’s greatest would like to have you expand your definitions of horror by including the 1985 Martin Scorsese movie After Hours about a man’s horrific night out in New York City. Or you may not, especially when there are so many “I’m horror, and proud of it” types of films left out of the conversation.
Perhaps that’s why we’ve got fingers crossed for a third season? Want more io9 News? Want more io9 news?
