Horror’s Greatest, on Shudder

Simple genres like horror and science fiction are not good enough for real genre fans. We’re all about sub-genres and sub-sub-genres. For instance, who amongst us is not a huge fan of science fiction time travel anime or folk-body-horror? Fans prone to classifying and categorizing will be particularly drawn to Shudder’s latest series repackaging classic horror clips. They brought back a lot of the usual suspects, but at least they freshened up the mix a little bit in the first four episodes of Horror’s Greatest, which starts streaming today on Shudder.

Frankly, the first episode is the weakest and most annoying, “Tropes and Cliches.” Anyone who ever uses the junky term “tropey” deserves a good slap. At least the talking heads recognize most horror fans enjoy their tropes—and without them, a lot of films would be over before they start.

The second episode, “Giant Monsters” celebrates kaiju, which are always fun. It is cool to see Beast from 20,000 Fathoms get its due as one of the kaiju sub-genre’s influential god-fathers. Of course, Godzilla and King Kong tower above all others. However, the kneejerk praise for Bong Joon-ho’s didactic anti-American The Host quickly grows tiresome. It is also disappointing they overlook the Daimajin franchise, which are like folk kaiju movies, driven by the literal wrath of a god.

However, the third episode, “Japanese Horror” consciously avoids the mistakes of Blumhouse Compendium of Horror, which never really ranged too far from the most obvious choices. Instead, this installment of Greatest takes a legit deep dive into classic Japanese cinema, including Kwaidan, Kuroneko, Ugetsu, and Onibaba. On the other hand, it classifies Battle Royale as horror, which seems debatable, despite its graphic dystopian violence.

Frankly, horror comedies get a bad rap, so it is refreshing to see Greatest champion the genre. Yet, after watching their analysis, you could argue this is one of the most commercial sub-genres if you agree with their reasonable cataloguing of such hits like Ghostbusters, Gremlins, An American Werewolf in London, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Fright Night, and The Adams Family, as well as cult favorites like Re-Animator and Evil Dead 2.

This is the only segment that offers anything remotely sounding like dissenting voice, when Dana Gould admits he considers he largely considers the Adams Family one one-gag franchise. Yet, he immediately follows-up by pointing out ways Adams Family Values transcends the formula.

There should be more debate throughout series like Greatest, with commentators arguing for and against the merits of the films under discussion. There is always nostalgia revisiting these films, but the uniformity of opinion gets to be a bore. To liven things up, Shudder needs to widen the pool of their go-to critics and filmmakers. They could skip a few of the perennial talking heads, to make space for some more original and contrarian voices. That said, it is nice to see filmmaker Ted Geoghegan and actor David Dastmalchian join the battery of regulars.

Based on four episodes, Horror’s Greatest is more interesting than genre survey packages like the In Search of Darkness documentaries, because it has a much broader perspective, both in terms of country of origin and era of production. That is why “Japanese Horror” is the best of the first four (out of five) episodes. Recommended as low-stress streaming for genre fans, Horror’s Greatest premieres today (8/27) on Shudder.