Few critics are more closely tied to the horror community than Chicago legend Nick Digilio. An award-winning critic and broadcaster, he’s closely associated with Flashback Weekend, an annual Chicago event for genre nuts. He’s also seen the genre shift over the last 40 years and used that knowledge to write 40 Years, 40 Horror Films, a love letter to monsters that’s now available in stores or online. For each year of his career, he highlights his favorite horror flick, plus a top-ten horror list for that year. That makes for 400 recommendations. Try and watch ‘em all.
Nick called into RogerEbert.com headquarters to talk about the horror-built tribe, how he got involved, how the genre has changed, and to drop a few recommendations.
This interview has been condensed for clarity.
In your intro, you talk about “The Tribe,” or the community around horror. Why does horror specifically create these communities more than other genres?
It’s specifically stuff that people just fall in love with. Comic book nerds and animation fans do it too. If people don’t know horror fans, they tend to judge them. They think they’re weirdos and sick, but they’re the nicest people in the world. All the years I’ve spent at Flashback confirm that. A lot of people who have come to Flashback Weekend or who’ve gone to horror movies and met horror people have come away thinking, “Wow, everybody’s really sweet.”
So I think horror is one of those places where it’s welcoming. If you’re a horror fan, you know, it’s like, “Come on in, join us.” And whenever we disagree about horror, it’s usually like, “Okay, cool. I can see that.” There’s not a lot of animosity. There’s not a lot of anger. It’s always like, well, that’s cool. “Maybe you don’t understand Dario Argento, but you like Bava, so you’re okay.” It’s that kind of thing.
Sometimes you had to sneak away to watch it. Like you’d have to go to the video store and take the stuff home, or you’d have to sneak into the movies. Horror already has this forbidden, underdog element. And so there is that sort of underdog element to it already. So that’s why I think when you become part of the tribe, you’re welcomed. That has to do with horror as a genre.
How did you find your way into that community, and what has it meant to you?
I started watching horror movies when I was way too young. My earliest memories are of watching an old black-and-white TV at a very young age, and the old Universals running Creature Features very late at night, the original Svengoolie, Jerry G. Bishop. And I immediately became fixated on horror. I got into it simply because I was watching TV. When I started watching the Universal stuff, it just captured my mind, and I became addicted to horror. And then I discovered Hammer, and everything opened up. It was the genre that spoke to me the most. I loved movies, every kind of movie, and I still do. I love every genre of movies. I love movies in general.
So, out of the gate, as a young kid, I was fascinated by the characters and the monsters themselves. And I always identified with them because they were kind of victims. I just found that compelling. While a lot of kids collected baseball cards, I was hanging monster posters on my wall. Again, I’m an only child. So that whole weird thing, discovering things on my own, was essential to why I love horror so much. I discovered it on my own because I was an only child. And I think a lot of horror fans- I’m not going to speak for everybody, but a lot of people that I know that I’ve talked to over the years are outsiders. They’re a little weird, and you are welcome into this community of weirdos. That’s why I kind of like everybody.
How has that community changed over the last 40 years from black-and-white TVs to Shudder to hit fests like Flashback, Fantastic Fest and Fantasia?
It’s fascinating. As the genre itself changed, attitudes about it changed, because there are people within the horror community, within the tribe… by the way, I want to mention that phrase was coined by Lance Henriksen. The first time I ever heard it, I was on stage with Lance, and we were talking about fandom. We were talking about what makes horror fans special. And he’s like, yeah, it’s because we’re a tribe. I call you guys the tribe. I stole it from Lance. But it’s interesting because even within the tribe, there have been things that have changed that have made people a little bit more protective of the genre, and also prouder. When something like “Sinners” does all those things. And when “Weapons” makes money. And this “Obsession” movie. A lot of horror fans are really happy. The tribe is like, wow, okay, finally this is happening.
And then there are other people who are like grumpy about it. I remember when the whole “elevated horror” thing happened, like when “The Witch” came out and all those, and then the Ari Aster movies and all that stuff, A24 essentially, when they started all of that little run in the mid-‘10s. I remember people going, “Oh, elevated horror sucks.” I remember that at Flashback and people were like, “Rob Zombie rules”. There’s contention within [the tribe]. But it’s interesting to see how technology has changed everything, and how more accessible it is. I think younger people are getting into horror earlier now simply because it’s everywhere.
The book is about favorites, so give me the most underrated horror film of the ‘80s.
I don’t know if it’s underrated now, but it certainly was when it came out. It certainly bombed when it came out. The first one that pops into my brain is “Near Dark,” which is now considered a classic, but when it came out, it tanked. Nobody knew who Kathryn Bigelow was. The people who saw it were like, “Weren’t a couple of these people in “Aliens”?” And they didn’t know what it was. It had the unfortunate luck of coming out a couple of months after “The Lost Boys,” which dominated the box office and was about vampires. When “Near Dark” came out, only one critic gave it a great review: Dave Kerr. He gave it a fantastic review. And everybody else was kind of mixed on it.
So then what’s the “Near Dark” of today? The movie that no one got and will be loved 40 years from now?
In 2020 and 2021, “The Lodge” and “The Night House.” I think those are extraordinary movies. “The Lodge” is about gaslighting and suicide and also about isolation. And it came out during COVID. And it’s also like a Christmas movie. It’s a dark, twisted movie. And “Night House” is an extraordinarily scary movie. David Bruckner’s gone on to do stuff that, you know, people recognize now. But when that movie came out, again, people were starting to come back to the theaters after COVID. But that also has, I think, one of the greatest female performances in horror in the past 20 years. Rebecca Hall is unbelievable in that movie.
As we mentioned, horror has been getting more credit and more attention. How do you think the critical response to horror has shifted in the last 40 years, other than just positively? I guess the bigger question is, why are people seeing more in it now than they did back then? I would argue there were horror movies in the ‘80s and ‘90s that were just as good as “Weapons”. Why is it finally getting more attention?
I think it might be because of technology. There’s so much of it. It has to do with the amount that we’re seeing and accessibility. If it costs a buck, there’s an outlet for it, whether it’s on YouTube or whether it’s streaming or whether it somehow gets some sort of deal at a festival. A lot of movies changed that and brought horror into the regular world. “The Blair Witch Project” was a huge game changer that opened the door for more independent movies. The way that movie was promoted, and how it used the internet before anybody else did, was groundbreaking. And that opened up the door for more material. It’s kind of cyclical. There is kind of a “Blair Witch” every 5 to 10 years. Curry Barker has got a three-picture deal already.
Roger had an interesting relationship with horror. He regularly was opposed to anything he thought was mean, like “Blue Velvet,” the slasher genre, and “I Spit on Your Grave.” Do you ever remember discussing horror with Roger or arguing about any films about horror?
Roger and I talked after George Romero’s “Land of the Dead.” Only two people in that room liked it: Peter [Sobczynski] and me. And we were talking about it. Roger was sitting in the back. And then he kind of piped in a little bit and said that he was disappointed about it and so on and so forth.
The most memorable conversation I ever had with Roger wasn’t about a horror movie: it was “Freddy Got Fingered.” I was the only one in the screening room laughing my ass off the entire movie and applauding at the end. I walk out to the elevator, and Roger comes out. The elevator doors open, and we both get on at the same time. And he says to me, “Am I to understand that you actually liked what we just watched?” And I was like, “Yeah, I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s like really subversive and fantastic. I loved it, Roger. I loved it.” Long pause, and he goes, “Jesus, Nick, I thought I knew you.” My favorite exchange with Roger was over the Tom Green movie. He never thought he knew me when we disagreed on a horror movie.
People are reading this on Halloween. What movie do they watch tonight?
“The Exorcist III.” A lot of people dismiss it because it’s a sequel to “The Exorcist,” and not as many people have seen it as they should. It’s a great movie. It also has the greatest single jump scare in film history. Every time I watch, I still jump during that moment. Beyond being a really scary movie and a worthy sequel to the original, prepare yourself for the greatest jump scare in film history.
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