The Party Sorcerer Guide To Horror: For The Beginners, The Veterans, and The Curious

  In 2013 James Wan, who gained massive popularity for his 'Saw' franchise, took on a new challenge, breathing new life into the supernatural horror genre. With this, he created a practical effects-driven film rooted in real stories of a married couple helping those in spiritual trouble. The gamble Wan took paid off and created a paranormal story rivalled only to me by The Excorcist, the film is The Conjuring.  Centred around a large family who purchases a New England farmhouse in the late 1960s, The Conjuring slowly reveals that the history of the house is more menacing than anyone could have imagined, and it wants the children who now live there. The parts of this film that make it so great are its use of practical effects versus CGI, its truly terrifying villain, and the true human story, both from the family and those sent to protect them.  I cannot state enough how effective the scares are in this film are and this is due to the use of practical effects. The makeup, ...

In 1984 the slasher genre of horror reached a fever pitch. New blood (pun intended) needed to be infused into the films and a man named Wes Craven was the perfect person for the job. Set in a California town, and revolving around teenagers being stalked by a burnt man in a Christmas sweater in their dreams, A Nightmare on Elm street was determined to ensure that going to sleep was never going to be the same again.  Nightmare was such a huge moment in horror history because it took its scares from something we all do not unlike Jaws. These moments of safety and calm being destroyed by a largely unseen force are extremely strong elements of true horror, and this is why this film is as successful as it has been. This film created a strong empowered woman as its lead character who balances the ups and downs with becoming an adult being contorted in a twisted fashion by the villain, you truly care for what happens to her in her terrifying journey.  Of course, like the shark in Jaws...

When interviewed about his 1978 masterpiece 'Halloween', John Carpenter remarked that he asked director Bob Clark how he would create a sequel to his smash hit about a psychopath who is left to run amuck during a much-beloved holiday.  Clark responded, "I simply told him if I wanted to do the sequel, which I wouldn't, I would have had the psychopath get caught and then escape on Halloween". The film that Carpenter was referencing was the Canadian cult classic, Black Christmas.  Shot in Toronto in the winter of 1974, Black Christmas tells the story of a psychotic killer who stalks a group of sorority girls with obscene phone calls. The film is shrouded in a cold yet cozy atmosphere, where mystery abounds long after the credits roll. Though it is speculated, I consider this film to be the true birth of the slasher genre, and I feel it is vastly underrated largely because Canadian content is not taken as seriously  as our American counterparts.  This film is extremel...