October 2022: Camp Horror

Hello boils and ghouls! Here are our favorite campy horror classics!

Chris’ Rec

Death Spa (1989)

The trick to campy horror is simplicity and commitment; the audience will buy in if a film fully sells its premise. Take, for instance, the movie Death Spa, which is about a spa that becomes possessed and kills the clients. No need to explain it, no need to layer it with deeper meaning (ugh, trauma), no need for lore or exposition. It’s a spa and it will kill people - got it, I’m in. The ‘80s aerobics aesthetic is icing on the campy cake.

Stephanie’s Rec

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

High school proms are a classic setting for horror. Teenage angst, peer pressure, and bullies culminate into the perfect storm - then throw in a ghost of a prom queen killed 30 years ago possessing a current day high schooler, and you have Prom Night II. Beware of haunted tiaras and chalkboards that turn into underworld vortexes! 

Dylan’s Rec

The Skeleton Key (2005)

With movies like Malignant, Barbarian, and Smile, It’s clear that the early 2000s are the new nostalgia well from which modern horror is drawn. Hopefully there’s at least one gay in Hollywood who’s also obsessed with Kate Hudson’s The Skeleton Key. The coolest movie to take place in New Orleans since The Pelican Brief, The Skeleton Key is schlocky, corny, and secretly the main inspiration behind a certain critically acclaimed ‘10s horror movie. You’ll know it when you see it. 

Kirk’s Rec

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

One of the OG camp kings, Roger Corman, satirizes modern art with the delightfully twisted A Bucket of Blood. After an aspiring artist/beatnik accidentally kills someone and makes a sculpture around their corpse, he becomes the talk of the town! Will his collection of artistically-posed dead bodies do the trick? Watch this silly camp classic to find out!