Three Intense Northern European Horror Films: Tailgate, The Ring Master, and Raw
Back in Episode 145, The Scariest Things Podcast had an internal competition called the Trope Town Speed Round, in which we went around and named a film that represented a trope with the goal of picking a great movie that exemplifies the trope but was different than what our colleagues picked. The winner of the competition would be named Mayor of Trope Town, and with it came the honor of getting to pick a group of movies for the other panelists to watch and review.
The winner was Eric (ME!) and as mayor, I decided that I wanted to concentrate on some European horror films that I thought needed some attention. I had originally thought about calling this Low Country Horror but then realized that Denmark is NOT part of the Low Countries, and is actually part of Scandinavia. Whoops. So, we’ll call it Northern Euro Horror, but the nomenclature is incidental. What matters is that I think these movies matter.
The three films, that I Highly recommend are:
- Raw: A newly enrolled vegan veterinary student, falls into cravings for flesh after suffering from a series of pranks. It’s a coming-of-age story and a story of rival sisters that will make you squirm. It is a famously tough watch, less for the absolute gore, and more for the intensity of the scenes.
- The Ringmaster (AKA Finale): A combination of two of my favorite themes, Circus Horror and Gas Station Horror. Two women are working in a gas station on the night of the European Cup when they find themselves being stalked by a series of sketchy customers, and the menace they feel amplifies with horrifying consequences.
- Tailgate (AKA Bumperkleef): The moral of this story: Be nice. Bad road manners could cost you your life and that of everyone you love. This is an INTENSE thriller and is 100% relatable. There, but by the grace of God goes our road trip. Scary in a totally understandable way.
So, three awesome movies, right? Well, Liz and Mike will have their say, and let’s just say they have some divergent opinions. Which of the three movies will stand up to the scrutiny of the whole TST team? you gotta listen in to know!
Also, we do a full breakdown of the movies we saw for the Portland Horror Film Festival, which gave us their largest slate of feature films to date. The good news there? Not a bad film in the bunch! Listen in to what our favorites were coming out of that festival for your next movie watch.
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