Since first emerging in 2016 with her first single 'Here', the last couple of years has seen Melbourne pop, indietronica singer-songwriter and producer Eilish Gilligan release a couple of beautiful EPs.
2020's 'Hospital' and 2021's 'First One To Leave The Party' highlight an artist with the ability to craft catchy yet poignant ballads rich in production and sonic tones.It's little wonder Eilish has been asked to showcase at 2022 BIGSOUND where she plans to tease her debut album.
Before she does, Eilish wanted to share her love of horror movies with her five favourite all-time classics. "I absolutely love horror. I have to watch scary films alone because my partner doesn't like them at all, but honestly that makes it even scarier and that suits me just fine!
"I don't really know why I like being so spooked – my mum introduced me to Stephen King from a very young age so that probably had something to do with it.
"There's something weirdly comforting about scary films; I'm quite an anxious person so maybe it's my brain trying to work through something.
"Anyway, this is a very short wrap up of some of my favourite horror movies – if you're into horror hopefully you find something new to enjoy here!"
'Midsommar'
I'm a little prone to hyperbole but when I say this movie changed my life I'm really not kidding. To be honest I really believe that every piece of art we consume changes our lives in some way – the effect is sometimes miniscule and sometimes monumental, but it's always there.Anyway I digress! Florence Pugh is so unbelievably talented and particularly phenomenal in this movie. I loved the way the film interrogated her relationship to the men around her, encouraging the audience to question who exactly posed the biggest threat.
'Vivarium'
I decided to watch this movie during lockdown after googling something like 'scariest movies??' and it absolutely did not disappoint. 'Vivarium' tells the story of a young couple trapped in a 'perfect' neighbourhood and forced to raise a 'child'. . . but it's not really a child. . . but it kind of is. Can you tell I'm trying not to spoil it?This movie really, genuinely frightened me, not in a jump-scare kind of way, but more in a dawning, psychological sense of doom kind of way. Probably not one to watch if you're in a good mood because you'll be having an existential crisis by the end of it.
'Signs'
Ah 'Signs' – I think this was the first scary movie I ever watched and I was definitely too young for it at the time (an experience that either forms a lifelong love of horror or a lifelong aversion to horror – for me it was the former!).I will NEVER forget that scene where the main guy is watching the news and there's footage of the alien showing up at the kid's birthday party – literal nightmare fuel.
'Signs' is still a great film too – my personal taste when it comes to horror is slow suspense/ thriller (I really don't like gore or violence for the sake of violence) and 'Signs' does this so well, waiting until just the right moment to give the audience a glimpse of the alien.
'The Cabin In The Woods'
This one is a bit of an outlier because it's kind of like a parody of a horror film inside a horror film, but it's absolutely worth a watch. It's weird and funny, but also genuinely disturbing and engaging – and offers an interesting kind of critique on 'torture porn' style horror.Fans of horror will enjoy the meta explorations of horror movie character tropes – i.e. The Virgin, The Athlete, The Fool. This movie is bizarre and a lot lighter than the others on this list – my partner and I even watched this one together.
'The Haunting Of Hill House'
Ok, I'm cheating a bit here because this one isn't a movie, it's a TV series – but OMG it's so good and scary but also extremely moving.Something I have always enjoyed about Stephen King novels is his ability to write beautiful, complex characters, and even though this series is obviously not based on a Stephen King book (it's based on the famous Shirley Jackson novel) I feel a similar connection to these characters.
The series explores family relationships and the experiences in our youth that help make us who we become as adults. The scary parts are VERY scary and disturbing, but I was crying by the end not because I was scared but because I really felt connected to the characters and felt for them as they grew through the series.
A must watch, in my opinion.
Eilish Gilligan showcases at 2022 BIGSOUND (Brisbane) which takes places 6-9 September.
