Dir. Kurt Sayenga (2024)
Shudder takes a look at five categories in horror to discuss the greatest examples of each: tropes, giant monsters, Japanese horror, horror comedies, and Stephen King adaptations.
I'm a total sucker for Shudder's documentary series, and they usually do a phenomenal job of providing an inside scoop to whatever topic they're discussing in a way that even the most ardent horror fan can find educational and enthralling. Their new series, Horror's Greatest, is no different, and it's a fantastic discussion of some excellent topics, with plenty of room to grow if they decide to make more episodes in the future. Presented as an overall deep dive on each topic, with a couple "Best Of" lists sprinkled throughout, Horror's Greatest is an outstanding watch that is a whole lot of fun for horror fans of every stripe.
The first episode, which talks all about the various tropes that we all know and love, is great, hitting everything from the final girl to the old dark house genre. The second episode focuses on giant monsters, with special attention paid to the old black-and-white "giant insect" genre as well as the Japanese Kaiju film (and many of its derivatives). Episode three deals with Japanese horror, including several that I hadn't even heard of before watching the episode (and which very quickly went on my list of films to watch in the future). The fourth episode was all about horror comedies, one of my favorite genres and one that was fascinating to explore from a historical and wide-ranging perspective. Finally, the last episode covers a ton of the best adaptations of the work of Stephen King, with lots of commentary about the best (as well as the worst) examples of these films.
The best film documentaries make you want to run out and watch the films discussed, and Horror's Greatest absolutely does that. In fact, I immediately went and added some of the films to my watch list, both to explore movies that I haven't seen before and to brush up on those that I realized I desperately need to watch again. While the show isn't comprehensive, and there are dozens (and dozens) of examples of each topic that didn't make the list, it's just about the best you could do with an hour dedicated to each episode, and it's a fantastic and in-depth coverage of each one. The actors, filmmakers, writers, and historians that are interviewed in each episode make me ashamed of my lack of horror knowledge, and it's always amazing to hear what each of them had to say about subjects that are clearly near and dear to their hearts.
This is the type of show that leaves you wanting more, simply because there are just so many different topics that could easily be an episode of the show. It was a great start, though, and it's an interesting choice of topics: if I was going to do five episodes of something, I wouldn't in a million years think to do one on King adaptations. Despite not being at the forefront of my mind, the King episode was outstanding, and perhaps the best supplier of films for my list that I haven't seen in years. Making the argument that King himself is responsible for horror becoming mainstream at all is an interesting take, but I don't know that I can refute it either: almost every film discussed in the episode is an absolute classic of the genre, and some of them are among the best of all time. That's crazy all coming from one man, and the episode does a great job of breaking down why.
There are a ton of stars who stop by to give their views during each episode: The Boulet Brothers are frequent guests, as are genre stars like Joe Hill, Ted Geoghegan, Tom Holland, David Dastmalchian, and Kate Siegel (who I will watch in literally anything). There are also a bunch of industry experts, critics and academics who help to give a deeper understanding of the things we think we already know. It's an incredibly well done series, and it's entertaining from start to finish. You're going to learn a ton, and you're going to come away with a better understanding than you thought possible of some of these topics. Horror's Greatest is another excellent documentary series from Shudder, and it's one you don't want to miss.
Who this show is for: Horror historians, Genre fans, Know-it-alls
Bottom line: Horror's Greatest is excellent, a deep dive on several subjects that are not to be missed. The series is filled with experts and fans, most of whom you'll probably already be familiar with, and is absolutely chock full with tidbits about movies you love and many you've probably never heard of. The first two episodes are streaming now on Shudder (Tropes & Cliches and Giant Monsters), and the network is releasing new episodes every week throughout September. You definitely want to check this one out.
