Podcast: Top monster, alien and maniac movie picks from Athens hip-hop promoter Sam Lipkin

Andrew Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald
·2 min read

Sam Lipkin is a horror movie fan's horror movie fan, so much so that her media and event promotion company, Volumes Hip Hop, grew out of an Athens artist residence she nicknamed "Murder House" after her favorite season of the "American Horror Story" television series.

Volumes Hip-Hop founder Sam Lipkin's self-created Halloween costume from Oct. 2021. Lipkin began experimenting with cosplay during COVID-19 and is an avid horror movie fan.
Volumes Hip-Hop founder Sam Lipkin's self-created Halloween costume from Oct. 2021. Lipkin began experimenting with cosplay during COVID-19 and is an avid horror movie fan.

Volumes' next show, Fall Fright Fest, is scheduled to take place at Hendershot's 8-11 p.m. Friday. Fittingly, the event is a costume party featuring local vendors and visual artists with live performances by Eliy Orcko, Trvy & The Enemy, Ancient Infant, Good Grief and Floco Torres.

More on Sam Lipkin: Volumes Hip Hop celebrates 5th anniversary with four-day music and comedy festival

Hendershot's: Coffeeshop's no-phone parties 'force you to live in the real world'

In a recent podcast recording, Lipkin listed five horror movies that she felt best represented individual sub-categories such as monsters, aliens and foreign films. Lipkin told the Banner-Herald that her taste in movies tends toward the bleak and violent.

"I have to be selective about who I talk (about horror movies) to," said Lipkin. "Because by the end of the conversation they're like, 'Sam, are you okay?' But I love this stuff."

Sam Lipkin's Horror Movie Picks

  • BEST ALIEN: "Dark Skies" (2013): "I feel like there are very few alien horror movies that are done well," said Lipkin. "'Dark Skies' was genuinely creepy because it didn't try to force you to believe anything. Actually seeing the aliens wasn't the scary part, it was the suspense that they held throughout the movie."

  • BEST MONSTER: "The Descent" (2005): "The creatures in ('The Descent') are pretty scary and disgusting," said Lipkin. "Because it's about women who explore an uncharted cave, it's such a claustrophobic movie even without the creatures. It almost feels hard to breathe while you're watching it."

  • BEST FOREIGN HORROR: "High Tension" (2003): "It's quiet and still suspenseful, which is a hard thing to do and still be entertaining," said Lipkin. "And it's definitely gory, but not necessarily for the sake of being gory. It's psychological horror that's thrilling to the max, a very sensory experience."

  • BEST REMAKE: "Evil Dead" (2013): "There are a lot of things in horror movies that I laugh at because I'm extremely desensitized to them, but I didn't feel like anything in this movie warranted laughing at," said Lipkin. "You don't have to have seen the other 'Evil Dead' movies to enjoy it. It's just a solid horror movie."

  • BEST OVERALL: "Sinister" (2012): "This is my favorite horror movie because it's a very Sam movie," said Lipkin. "The main character is a writer, which immediately appeals to me. It also touches on the dark side of the supernatural, which is something I'm fascinated with, and it has your fill of gore."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens hip-hop promoter lists best horror movies in podcast