Larry Fessenden recommends 5 horror movies for Shudder

Who knows horror films? Larry Fessenden knows horror films.

The lifelong monster fan has directed a number of terror tales — including the hugely influential Habit — and appeared in many more, from Ti West’s Trigger Man, to Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, to Joe Begos’ out-this-week telekinesis horror-thriller The Mind’s Eye. Fessenden is also one of the folks responsible for the spine-tingling Tales From Beyond the Pale audio series, and he cowrote the survival video game, Until Dawn.

All of which explains why the AMC Networks-backed horror streaming service Shudder not only asked Fessenden to be one of the masters-in-residence at the inaugural Shudder Labs retreat for emerging horror filmmakers earlier this summer, but has now recruited the director as its latest guest curator, following fellow filmmakers Robert Eggers (The Witch) and Karyn Kusama (The Invitation), among others.

Fessenden’s picks — which include F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic Nosferatu and 1978’s Anthony Hopkins-starring Magic — are now available to watch on the streaming service. See him talk about his choices with Shudder curator (and The Mind’s Eye costar) Sam Zimmerman in the exclusive video above.