Excerpt: Marilyn Manson Talks About His Favorite Horror Movies

In the new Rock! Shock! and Horror! issue of Revolver, shock-rock king Marilyn Manson talks about his upcoming tour with Rob Zombie, his favorite horror films and much more. In this excerpt, Manson name checks a few of the movies he feels are truly frightening! For the full interview — as well as features on Rob Zombie, Kirk Hammett, Corey Taylor and more — pick up the issue on newsstands now, or in our online store right now.

Since this interview is for our Horror issue, we want to ask you about some of your favorite horror films.

Oh, great — I like whore films! [Laughs] “Horror” is a very troublesome word, especially if you’re not an American. When I was in Japan, it was Halloween time, and I found out that the Japanese have a great fascination with witchcraft. In the Halloween store, the costumes were all like “Golden Witch,” “Fairy Witch,” “Angry Witch”… It was like walking into The Craft, but mixed with Contempo Casuals. And these Japanese girls that were showing me around said, “Are you going to heroin party?” And I said, “I don’t do heroin, but that sounds really great—where’s that at?” It turned out that they meant “Halloween.” I’m not making fun of their accent, but I thought that they said “heroin party.” So, whore films, horror films…

What are some films that you’ve found genuinely frightening?

What scares me? As a kid—and still now to a certain degree, but for different reasons—supernatural horror scared the shit out of me, because I was in Christian school, so I was always afraid of things related to the Devil, to the extent that I was always checking my scalp to see if I had “666” tattooed on my scalp. I didn’t know if that tattoo in The Omen actually appeared, or if they took that kid to a tattoo parlor. [Laughs] I was also afraid of that movie t’s Alive when I was a kid. I don’t know why, but I was always checking under my bed for a stray baby with fangs. Why would that be under my bed?

What kind of horror films do you like these days?

I like horror films where you identify strongly with the person who is in peril. Not in the slasher way, like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. Maybe when I was younger, I liked those, and I still can enjoy them, but I like psychological horror films that are more in a Roman Polanski/Ingmar Bergman sense. When I watch slasher films, nine times out of 10, I’m rooting for the killer. I’m thinking, Yes, get that fucker! Get him! I do! That’s what horror films have transformed into. It’s really difficult, if you think about it, to make a horror film in an era when people have made so many horror films. How do you make a monster that’s scary?

I love zombie films, but not for the reasons people might assume. What I like about them is what happens in the room. For example, if the world starts ending outside and we’re locked in here, it’s not the shit outside that’s scary—it’s what people do in that situation, when their morals and their behavior, their ideals, and everything that you thought they stood for changes. Survival instinct would kick in for some people, but you know at the end of the day that you’re going to make judgment calls. And that’s really what I like about The Walking Dead. I think it’s sophisticated. A lot of people complain, “Aw, there’s not enough zombies.” That’s what’s great about it. You never give away too much of what is precious—and that goes with music, and that goes with everything. That’s the key to what keeps people attached to things. It’s like, “Just the tip, not the shaft.” [Laughs]

For the full story, pick up the Rock! Shock! and Horror! issue of Revolver here.