The Best Southern Gothic Movies Of All-Time
“What are the best Southern Gothic movies?” We looked at 183 of the top Southern Gothic films, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 30 films, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Southern Gothic” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 150+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
For more Gothic entertainment, make sure to check out our sister website, Book Scrolling, for articles on the Best Southern Gothic Literature as well as the Best Gothic Horror Novels!
Happy Scrolling!
Top 30 Southern Gothic Movies
30 .) Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Mubi
Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink in ‘the Bathtub’, a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink’s tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe – for a time when he’s no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack – temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.
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29 .) Down By Law
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.
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28 .) Eve’s Bayou (1997)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
The story is set in 1962 Louisiana. The big Batiste family is headed by charming doctor Louis. Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive women patients. One day Louis is flirting with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that he is observed by his youngest idealistic daughter Eve, who is there by accident. Eve can not forget the incident which is traumatic for her naiveté, and shares a secret with older sister Cisely. Lies start to roll…
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27 .) Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
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26 .) Stoker (2013)
Lists It Appears On:
- ASFF
- Readers Digest
- Wikipedia
After India’s father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
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25 .) Suddenly, Last Summer
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- Wikipedia
- Wikipedia
The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.
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24 .) The Gift (2000)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
When a local woman disappears and the police can’t seem to find any leads, her father turns to a poor young woman with psychic powers. Slowly she starts having visions of the woman chained and in a pond. Her visions lead to the body and the arrest of an abusive husband, but did he really do it?
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23 .) The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- IMDB
- Wikipedia
Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman’s Bend, MS after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Will Varner owns just about everything in Frenchman’s Bend and he hires Ben to work in his store. Will thinks his own son, Jody, who manages the store, lacks ambition and despairs of him getting his wife, Eula, pregnant. Will thinks his daughter, Clara, a schoolteacher, will never get married. He decides that Ben Quick might make a good husband for Clara to bring some new blood into the family
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22 .) The Man in the Moon (1991)
Lists It Appears On:
- Flavorwire
- IMDB
- Mubi
Maureen Trant and her younger sibling Dani share a strong connection, but local boy Court Foster threatens to throw their bond off balance. Dani and Court meet first and have a flirtatious rapport — but when he meets Maureen, he falls hard and they begin a passionate affair. The new couple try to keep their love hidden from Dani, but she soon learns the truth, disavowing her sister. But a heartbreaking accident later reunites the girls.
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21 .) The Skeleton Key (2005)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house’s dark past.
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20 .) The Young One (1960)
Lists It Appears On:
- BFI
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
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19 .) Written on the Wind (1956)
Lists It Appears On:
- Readers Digest
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, Jared, works hard to establish the family business, his irresponsible son, Kyle, is an alcoholic playboy, and his daughter, Marylee, is the town tramp. Mitch harbors a secret love for Kyle’s unsatisfied wife, Lucy — a fact that leaves him exposed when the jealous Marylee accuses him of murder.
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18 .) Mud (2012)
Lists It Appears On:
- ASFF
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and make a pact to help him escape from an island in the Mississippi.
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17 .) Sling Blade (1996)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- IMDB
- The Anadromist
- Wikipedia
Karl Childers is a mentally disabled man who has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, Karl is deemed fit to be released into the outside world.
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16 .) Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- IMDB
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, returns to his home town as the accompaniment of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom ‘Boss’ Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.
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15 .) Angel Heart (1987)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- BFI
- Flavorwire
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
The down-and-out private detective Harry Angel is ordered, by a mysterious man named Louis Cyphre, to go on a mission to find a missing person. His routine failure soon leads to a bloody spar with himself as Harry Angel goes on a supernatural journey into his own soul.
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14 .) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- IMDB
- Mubi
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
Brick, an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie. His reunion with his father, Big Daddy, who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
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13 .) Frailty (2001)
Lists It Appears On:
- Flavorwire
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
A man confesses to an FBI agent his family’s story of how his religious fanatic father’s visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed “demons.”
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12 .) Southern Comfort (1981)
Lists It Appears On:
- BFI
- IMDB
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, their experience begins to mirror the Vietnam experience.
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11 .) Cape Fear (1991)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- BFI
- Flavorwire
- Letterboxd
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? Fourteen years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady’s rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey, bibliophile Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
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10 .) The Beguiled (1971)
Lists It Appears On:
- BFI
- Flavorwire
- IMDB
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
- Wikipedia
Offbeat Civil War drama in which a wounded Yankee soldier, after finding refuge in an isolated girls’ school in the South towards the end of the war, becomes the object of the young women’s sexual fantasies. The soldier manipulates the situation for his own gratification, but when he refuses to completely comply with the girls’ wishes, they make it very difficult for him to leave.
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9 .) The Beguiled (2017)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- ASFF
- IMDB
- Mubi
- Readers Digest
- Wikipedia
During the Civil War, at a Southern girls’ boarding school, young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events.
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8 .) The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- Flavorwire
- Readers Digest
- Taste Of Cinema
- The Anadromist
- Wikipedia
In the Deep South, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
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7 .) Baby Doll (1956)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- Flavorwire
- IMDB
- Mubi
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Based on a play by Tennessee Williams, “Baby Doll” centers on Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden), a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll (Carroll Baker), a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for financial reasons. As Archie awaits the arrival of Baby Doll’s 20th birthday, the day that they are supposed to consummate their marriage, he faces interference from business rival Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach), who plots to seduce Baby Doll away from Meighan.
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6 .) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Taste Of Cinema
- The Anadromist
- Wikipedia
A visiting city reporter’s assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends.
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5 .) Deliverance (1972)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- Den Of Geek
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Readers Digest
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it’s turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they’ll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
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4 .) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Lists It Appears On:
- All Movie
- BFI
- Den Of Geek
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Mubi
- Readers Digest
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
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3 .) To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Lists It Appears On:
- BFI
- Den Of Geek
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Mubi
- Taste Of Cinema
- The Anadromist
- The Culture Trip
- Wikipedia
Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to evils of racism and stereotyping.
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2 .) Winter’s Bone (2010)
Lists It Appears On:
- ASFF
- BFI
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- Readers Digest
- Taste Of Cinema
- The Anadromist
- Wikipedia
17 year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.
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1 .) Wise Blood (1979)
Lists It Appears On:
- BFI
- Den Of Geek
- Flavorwire
- IMDB
- Mubi
- Readers Digest
- Taste Of Cinema
- The Anadromist
- Wikipedia
A Southerner–young, poor, ambitious but uneducated–determines to become something in the world. He decides that the best way to do that is to become a preacher and start up his own church.
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The 150+ Additional Best Southern Gothic Movies
| # | Movie | Lists |
| (Films Appear On 2 List Each) | ||
| 31 | A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 32 | Beautiful Creatures (2013) | All Movie |
| IMDB | ||
| 33 | Big Fish (2003) | IMDB |
|
The Culture Trip
|
||
| 34 | Black Snake Moan | |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 35 | Cookie’s Fortune | |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 36 | Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) | IMDB |
|
The Culture Trip
|
||
| 37 | Driving Miss Daisy (1989) | IMDB |
|
The Culture Trip
|
||
| 38 | Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) | IMDB |
|
The Culture Trip
|
||
| 39 | Gone with the Wind (1939) | IMDB |
|
The Culture Trip
|
||
| 40 | Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 41 | Killer Joe | Flavorwire |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 42 | No Country for Old Men (2007) | ASFF |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 43 | O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) | IMDB |
|
The Anadromist
|
||
| 44 | Reflections in a Golden Eye | Mubi |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 45 | Selma (2014) | IMDB |
| IMDB | ||
| 46 | Steel Magnolias (1989) | IMDB |
|
The Culture Trip
|
||
| 47 | Swamp Water (1941) | BFI |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 48 | The Fugitive Kind | Mubi |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 49 | The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
| Wikipedia | ||
| 50 | The Killer Inside Me | Letterboxd |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 51 | The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008) | IMDB |
| Mubi | ||
| 52 | This Property Is Condemned | Mubi |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 53 | Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964) | IMDB |
| Wikipedia | ||
| 54 | Undertow | All Movie |
| Mubi | ||
| (Films Appear On 1 List Each) | ||
| 55 | 12 Years a Slave (2013) | IMDB |
| 56 | Adaptation |
The Anadromist
|
| 57 | Adventures of Captain Fabian | Wikipedia |
| 58 | All Dogs Go to Heaven | Wikipedia |
| 59 | All the King’s Men (2006) | IMDB |
| 60 | American Horror Story (2011– ) | IMDB |
| 61 | An American Haunting (2005) | IMDB |
| 62 | As I Lay Dying (2013) | IMDB |
| 63 | Beloved (1998) | IMDB |
| 64 | Cabin in the Cotton |
The Anadromist
|
| 65 | Cape Fear (1962 film) | Wikipedia |
| 66 | Child of God (2013) | IMDB |
| 67 | Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) | IMDB |
| 68 | Cold Mountain (2003) | IMDB |
| 69 | Corrina, Corrina (1994) | IMDB |
| 70 | Crazy Heart (2009) | IMDB |
| 71 | Crazy in Alabama (1999) | IMDB |
| 72 | Crimes of the Heart (film) | Wikipedia |
| 73 | Dark Waters (1944 film) | Wikipedia |
| 74 | Deceiver |
The Anadromist
|
| 75 | Django Unchained (2012) | IMDB |
| 76 | Edward Scissorhands | Wikipedia |
| 77 | Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977 TV Movie) | IMDB |
| 78 | Fences (2016) | IMDB |
| 79 | Forrest Gump (1994) | IMDB |
| 80 | Free State of Jones (2016) | IMDB |
| 81 | George Washington (film) | Wikipedia |
| 82 | Get Out (I) (2017) | IMDB |
| 83 | Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) | IMDB |
| 84 | God’s Little Acre (film) | Wikipedia |
| 85 | Great Balls of Fire! (1989) | IMDB |
| 86 | Hart of Dixie (2011–2015) | IMDB |
| 87 | Hatfields & McCoys (2012) | IMDB |
| 88 | Hidden Figures (2016) | IMDB |
| 89 | Hurry Sundown |
Readers Digest
|
| 90 | In the Electric Mist | Wikipedia |
| 91 | Inherit the Wind (1960) | IMDB |
| 92 | Inherit the Wind (1999 TV Movie) | IMDB |
| 93 | Jezebel (1938) | IMDB |
| 94 | King Creole (1958) | IMDB |
| 95 | Lee Daniels’ The Butler (I) (2013) | IMDB |
| 96 | Lil Abner (1959) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 97 | Lone Star | Mubi |
| 98 | Louisiana Story (1948) | IMDB |
| 99 | Loving (2016) | IMDB |
| 100 | Macon County Line (1974) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 101 | Madhouse (1981 film) | Wikipedia |
| 102 | Marnie | Mubi |
| 103 | Mercy Street (2016–2017) | IMDB |
| 104 | Mississippi Burning (1988) | IMDB |
| 105 | Monster |
The Anadromist
|
| 106 | Monster’s Ball | Letterboxd |
| 107 | Mudhoney |
Readers Digest
|
| 108 | Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003) | IMDB |
| 109 | October Sky (1999) | IMDB |
| 110 | Pretty Baby (1978) | IMDB |
| 111 | Pretty Poison | Mubi |
| 112 | Psycho | Mubi |
| 113 | Queen (1993) | IMDB |
| 114 | Rainmaker |
The Anadromist
|
| 115 | Raintree County (film) | Wikipedia |
| 116 | Reflecting Skin (1990) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 117 | Return to Boggy Creek | Wikipedia |
| 118 | Ride with the Devil (I) (1999) | IMDB |
| 119 | Roots (1977) | IMDB |
| 120 | Roots (2016) | IMDB |
| 121 | Ruby Gentry | Wikipedia |
| 122 | Ruby in Paradise | Mubi |
| 123 | Rumble Fish | Wikipedia |
| 124 | Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus | All Movie |
| 125 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 126 | Sheriff | All Movie |
| 127 | Shotgun Stories | Wikipedia |
| 128 | Shy People | Wikipedia |
| 129 | Sister, Sister (1987 film) | Wikipedia |
| 130 | Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade (1994) | IMDB |
| 131 | Songcatcher (2000) | IMDB |
| 132 | Sparrows | Flavorwire |
| 133 | Sweet Dreams (1985) | IMDB |
| 134 | Sweet Home Alabama (2002) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 135 | That Evening Sun (2009) | IMDB |
| 136 | The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) | IMDB |
| 137 | The Adventures of Huck Finn (2012) | IMDB |
| 138 | The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968) | IMDB |
| 139 | The Apostle |
The Anadromist
|
| 140 | The Apostle (1997) | IMDB |
| 141 | The Ballad of the Sad Cafe | Mubi |
| 142 | The Birth of a Nation (2016) | IMDB |
| 143 | The Bleeding House | Wikipedia |
| 144 | The Burning Plain | Mubi |
| 145 | The Color Purple (1985) | IMDB |
| 146 | The Fox and the Hound | Wikipedia |
| 147 | The Glass Menagerie (1950) | IMDB |
| 148 | The Glass Menagerie (1987) | IMDB |
| 149 | The Haunted Mansion (film) | Wikipedia |
| 150 | The Help (2011) | IMDB |
| 151 | The Intruder (1962) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 152 | The Legend of Boggy Creek | Wikipedia |
| 153 | The Long Walk Home (1990) | IMDB |
| 154 | The Muppet Musicians of Bremen | Wikipedia |
| 155 | The Neon Bible (film) | Wikipedia |
| 156 | The Night of the Iguana | Mubi |
| 157 | The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (film) | Wikipedia |
| 158 | The Notebook (2004) | IMDB |
| 159 | The Paperboy (2012 film) | Wikipedia |
| 160 | The Princess and the Frog (2009) | IMDB |
| 161 | The Rosa Parks Story (2002 TV Movie) | IMDB |
| 162 | The Secret Life of Bees (2008) | IMDB |
| 163 | The Sound and the Fury (1959 film) | Wikipedia |
| 164 | The Sound and the Fury (2014 film) | Wikipedia |
| 165 | The Sugarland Express | Wikipedia |
| 166 | The Sunset Limited | Mubi |
| 167 | The Tarnished Angels | Mubi |
| 168 | The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 169 | The Yearling (1946) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 170 | Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005 TV Movie) | IMDB |
| 171 | Tobacco Road (film) | Wikipedia |
| 172 | Toys in the Attic (1963 film) | Wikipedia |
| 173 | Treme (2010–2013) | IMDB |
| 174 | True Blood (2008–2014) | IMDB |
| 175 | True Detective (2014) |
Taste Of Cinema
|
| 176 | Ulee’s Gold | Mubi |
| 177 | Walk the Line (2005) | IMDB |
| 178 | Walking Tall (1973) |
Den Of Geek
|
| 179 | What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? |
The Culture Trip
|
| 180 | Where the Heart Is (2000) | IMDB |
| 181 | Wichita (2014 film) | Wikipedia |
| 182 | Wild at Heart (1990) | IMDB |
| 183 | World Premiere (2003– ) Episode: American Horror Story: Coven (2013) | IMDB |
14 Best Southern Gothic Film Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| All Movie | Theme – Southern Gothic | AllMovie |
| ASFF | ASFF – 5 to See: Southern Gothic – Aesthetica Short Film Festival |
| BFI | 10 great southern gothic films | BFI |
| Den Of Geek | 13 Unintentionally Scary Southern Horror Films | Den of Geek |
| Flavorwire | 10 Evocative Southern Gothic Films – Flavorwire |
| IMDB | southern gothic, movies and tv series that take place in the south, civil … |
| Letterboxd | Best Southern Gothic Movies, a list of films by TheLion1905 … |
| Mubi | Southern Gothic – Movies List on MUBI |
| Readers Digest | 10 Southern Gothic films you need to watch – Reader’s Digest |
| Favorite Southern Gothic style movies? : movies – Reddit | |
| Taste Of Cinema | The 20 Best Southern Gothic Movies « Taste of Cinema – Movie … |
| The Anadromist | American Gothic Films: An Incomplete List | The Anadromous Life |
| The Culture Trip | 10 Movies To Make You Fall In Love With The Southern States |
| Wikipedia | Category:Southern Gothic films – Wikipedia |