The Coziest Horror Movies of All Time, From Halloween to Psycho II

This October, Variety has enlisted some our favorite spooky content creators to share their scary movie essentials. Matt Gourley and Paul Rust, whose podcast With Gourley and Rust analyzes horror franchises film by film since 2018, shared their picks for Coziest Horror Movies of All Time.

This October, Variety has enlisted some our favorite spooky content creators to share their scary movie essentials. Matt Gourley and Paul Rust, whose podcast “With Gourley and Rust” analyzes horror franchises film by film since 2018, shared their picks for Coziest Horror Movies of All Time.

Although slashers are traditionally known for getting heart rates racing, the co-hosts of “With Gourley and Rust” find plenty of nostalgia in the period aesthetics, locations and fashions of ’70s and ’80s horror. That’s why their self-proclaimed “easy-listening cozy-cast” luxuriates in unhurried discussions, which mostly eclipse the runtimes of the films themselves, and focus on the warm, fuzzy elements of slasher icons like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers. Of course, there was no better duo to share their selections for the Coziest Horror Movies of All Time.

“A lot of people might think it’s counter-intuitive for a horror movie to be cozy, but part of the reason that I think people watch these movies is the catharsis of getting frightened, but also realizing that it’s not real, so you go on a thrill ride. The same thing can be true for coziness,” Gourley said. “You can be afraid and realize you’re safe at the same time, and sometimes the extreme fear makes you realize how safe and cozy your actual life can be. Then add on top of that certain horror movies whose settings, characters, and, frankly, powder blue sweaters (in the case of Jason Voorhees’ mother) makes them the coziest things in the world.”

“Even people who don’t like horror movies will usually like the first 20 minutes because it’s just establishing all the things that are nice, aka cozy, about life,” Rust said. “Some people can make an argument, like stand-up comics in the ’80s who are like, ‘Why can’t they make a whole plane out of the black box?’ You could be like, ‘Why can’t they make a whole movie out of the cozy?’ I’m waiting for that day! But until then, we get the first 20 minutes of just getting to see people in cozy situations. And then, like Gourley said, by the end people are running around all scraped, in the rain and dark. And I’m like, ‘That’s not me. I’m on a couch right now.'”

Check out the duo’s picks — with commentary — below.

  • Halloween (1978)

    Gourley: It’s the best of both worlds. It’s got the fall leaves coziness of where it’s set — Haddonfield, Illinois — but it’s shot in South Pasadena, California, so you get that Craftsman bungalow, California sunset. It’s something that doesn’t exist in real life, it’s beautiful. Plus it’s Halloween and fall.

    Rust: Matt and I visited the “Halloween” shrub filming location and when we were there we looked over like, “Oh my gosh — it’s next to the ‘Mama’s Family’ house!”

    Gourley: Literally next door, right?

    Rust: Yeah. And just getting to watch three people walk back from school just having a nice conversation, or smoking a j as the sun goes down while you go to babysit somebody’s kids.

    Gourley: And one of them is wearing a very cozy sweater vest: Annie.

    Rust: Annie! It’s really a battle to the death of cozy sweaters in these movies.

  • Misery (1990)

    Gourley: Number two, even though “Halloween” by its essence maybe beats it out by a hair, is “Misery.” Just because it’s set in a snowy cabin, Annie Wilkes is wearing flannels and sweaters. There’s a man laid up in bed, he has no choice but to convalesce under handmade quilts and blankets.

    Rust: “Enforced R&R :The Motion Picture” is is what “Misery” should have been called.

    Gourley: Do you know I often think about that when I go to bed, like “I’ve broken a leg” or “I’m trapped under a heavy, house-height of blankets and I can’t move” or “I’ve been kidnapped and been forced to be cozy.” It’s the only way I can go to bed. What does that say about me?

    Rust: You love life.

    Gourley: I know how to live.

  • The Dead Zone (1983)

    Rust: Another one that goes also in the the snowy territory category, along with “Misery” and Stephen King, is “The Dead Zone.” I would say a thing that can really just rocket a horror movie up into coziness is if you can see real breath coming out of peoples’ mouths. I go, “Hey, that’s them. They’re breathing cold breath while I’m on a couch.”

    Gourley: You know why? It’s because if you’re breathing cold breath, there’s a 80% chance you’re wearing a sweater. Also, “Dead Zone” has a cinematography that we love in the cozy factor, and that’s kind of that gauzy, filtered, diffuse light. It looks like it’s shot through a threadbare sweater. I’m sorry to keep harping on sweaters, but still!

    Rust: And Christopher Walken has, maybe for menswear, the coziest outfit: That big heavy jacket with the collar up.

    Gourley: Yeah, right. The honorable mention for that would be Richard Harris in “Orca” because he’s got a seaman’s sweater, a fisherman’s sweater, cable knit.

  • Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

    Rust: The first two “Friday the 13th”s definitely went all out because it’s on the East Coast in a real, live, wet forest. And a lot of the hangouts where people go, there’s a little outdoor kind of club that the campers go into town for. We found out, Matt and I, then it burnt down in real life two years later. It looks like a complete fire hazard, but looks like a cool place with a jukebox though too.

    Gourley: Yeah, and “Part 2” is a great choice because in part one you could make a real case for coziness, because that’s when Jason Voorhees’ mom is mostly in it and you’re getting that powder blue cable knit sweater. But “Part 2,” you get the longest flashback in cinema history, probably. And that’s full of Pamela Voorhees and her sweater. Plus you get a better movie that’s closer on its way to part 4, which is pretty cozy. So “Part 2” is the perfect choice.

  • Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

    Gourley: It’s really the first “Halloween” movie that is not shot in California. It’s shot in Utah, and so the whole movie feels brisk and you know they’re real leaves, and it just opens with scenes of autumn and Halloween tableau that are so great. And the actress Danielle Harris is so good. I love this movie, and I think it’s just got a cozy essence that you almost can’t quantify.

    Rust: I do believe that when the autumnal season begins, there is no better way to kick it off than those first five minutes of “Halloween 4,” the opening credits.

    Gourley: Yeah, and this is where Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis really starts to go off the grid and he’s getting his power from some other sun and it’s amazing.

    Rust: Somebody’s like, “Wait a minute, I saw ‘Halloween’ 1 and 2 — Donald Pleasence goes more off the rails?”

    Gourley: Oh, friend. Wait till you see part 6.

  • Fatal Attraction (1987)

    Rust: This is more a horror movie for the grown-ups. It’s a such an autumnal movie, and I would love to live in that little out-of-the-city cottage that Michael Douglas has fashioned for himself and his wife and child. Even if that rabbit doesn’t end up with the happiest ending — 

    Gourley: — it’s still a rabbit in a movie! Come on!

    Rust: It’s a cozy animal beforehand, right? And Glenn Close’s death is in a hot bath…sounds relaxing. People pay for that!

  • Jaws (1975)

    Gourley: It might seem counter-intuitive, because a lot of people don’t think of summer as cozy because it’s often hot, but this is East Coast summer with cool nights. It starts with a campfire scene, plus just the look and feel of your three main characters are kind of like the three food groups of cozy, in a way.

    Rust: Roy Scheider is Dad Cozy.

    Gourley: And Richard Dreyfuss is kind of Nerd Cozy.

    Rust: Nerd Cozy, Beard Cozy. Quint is, what, Macho Cozy? It all matters where the hair falls. Scheider on the top of his head, Dreyfuss on his face, Quint on his chest. That’s the map of cozy.

    Gourley: This cozy strata, the cozy human follicle strata.

    Rust: Yuck, that’s gross, now that I’m thinking about a strata of beard hair and fur.

  • Krull (1983)

    Gourley: I have a real wild card suggestion: The fantasy film “Krull.”

    Rust: Yeah, it has some chills and thrills, so I think horror fans would like it. Matt, you opened my eyes to it. I had never seen it.

    Gourley: Well, it was just a matter of time. We voted the Glaive, which is the five pointed Frisbee knife, the Cosiest Weapon at our last Cozy Awards

    Rust: Might seem oxymoronic, but there can be cozy weapons.

    Gourley: Now, the early- to mid-80s were the height of quicksand in cinema and we have never seen its match since or before. And I will say that this, hands down for me, is the coziest quicksand, because I happen to know for a fact that it was made of tiny little bits of painted styrofoam, which means, yes, there’s a liquid in there, and there’s water, but it’s like sinking into a waterbed that looks like breakfast cereal. It’s just so cozy.

    Rust: Oh yeah, getting to sink into the nice bowl of oatmeal.

    Gourley: Yeah, who doesn’t want to do?

    Rust: I want a “Krull” oatmeal bath.

  • Sleepaway Camp (1983)

    Rust: If some people are like, “‘Friday the 13th Part 2’ is way too mainstream, I want something a little left of center,” “Sleepaway Camp” is your answer.

    Gourley: Yeah, “Friday the 13th Part 2” doesn’t skeeve me out nearly as much. And we’re not talking about the content in principle, but by the delivery system through which the director has given it. This is a film that starts out with a title card that says, what are the exact words, Paul?

    Rust: “For Mom, a doer.”

    Gourley: Now dedicating a movie to your mom…it’s a cozy victory, just from the jump.

    Rust: One of our most cold-hearted and cerebral directors, Stanley Kubrick never opened one of his movies with the dedication to his mother. And that’s why Robert Hiltzik is the superior filmmaker!

    Gourley: Although “Eyes Wide Shut” is fairly cozy, because of the warm lights. Honorable mention.

  • Psycho II (1983)

    Rust: I love it because they talk about grilled cheese sandwiches a lot. It’s a really fun movie, I think because it’s all filmed on the the backlot of Universal, it has a real homey quality. Like when they walk into a diner, you don’t see anything outside the door of the diner, or you’re like, ‘Hey, there’s a diner…that’s cozy.’ I wish I could just hang out with Dennis Franz between takes.

    Gourley: Every New York Street has a dead end, and it’s cozy because you never feel like you’re gonna go anywhere far. You don’t have to walk anywhere.

    You know what I will say about Meg Tilly in this movie? Some actors have it. They say Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie have that “x factor” that makes them a star. Some people have cozy it and you can’t explain it, but I think Meg Tilly has that. Some of these people have come up in our films, like Craig Wasson, does not go down in history as one of America’s foremost actors. But cozy-wise, he’s got a cozy “x factor.”

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