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I Don't Really Like Blood, But I DO Like Being Scared...May 30 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Scary ghosts, axe-wielding psychos, and psychos who dress up like Mom and watch Janet Leigh take a shower. Maybe it's my latent belief in ghosts. Or maybe it's the time that a plastic grocery sack levitated up ten stories while I was telling a ghost story, and then wrapped itself around my face in an attempt to suffocate me and I screamed like a very little girl. Or maybe I just like being scared. I've never seen any of the franchises of the genre, like Friday the Thirteenth, Nightmare on Elm Street, Puppetmaster, or Halloween; my suspicion is that even if I HAD seen them, my list wouldn't include them. I'm not the biggest fan of gore or satanicnessosity, but I do like ghost stories and insanity. Hunh. So, in no particular order, here are my Top Ten Horror Movies: 1. Alien (1979) The sequels had more adrenaline and more octane, but this one has it all over the sequels in the suspense department. An alien is birthed on a spaceship that they've picked up from a ghosttown colony, and the alien proceeds to pick off the crew one by one. Great suspense from beginning to end, when it's just Ripley and that stupid cat against the Lovecraftian horror that we're only now seeing in full view. Awesome. 2. JAWS (1975) I only saw this for the first time a few months ago, but there were several points where I jumped up on the couch (I guess so the Great White wouldn't chomp off my feet?). When you take an unstoppable force of nature and turn it loose on an island of women and children, you get a great horror flick, and Williams' score and Spielberg's direction make it a beauty. 3. Psycho (1960) One of Hitchcock's best, this movie made things like schizophrenia, crossdressing, and voyeurism seem like BAD things. And then there's the shower scene. Filled with unsympathetic, yet sad characters, this is really a pretty slow film that has an amazing payoff at the end, like the best suspense/horror movies should. 4. The Shining (1980) Lock up a borderline crazy family in a haunted hotel for a winter, and see what happens. A co-worker actually gave me an axe for a wedding present last September, "just in case you need to have a 'heeeeere's Johnny' moment." What a kind friend. Jack Nicholson is great at devolving into madness, and Shelly Duvall is almost as scary looking as those creepy twin girls at the end of the hall. 5. The Changeling (1974) Another older film, another ghost story--when I saw this one, I started out thinking, "this is too slow--this is too boring..." by the end of the flick, I was huddled on the couch with five friends, and all six of us were too scared to turn the lights on after it was over. It IS a slower movie than most, but like the other great horror movies, the payoff is worth the wait. 6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Based on a true story of murder and cannibalism, this movie is reason Number One to avoid hitchhikers and abandoned houses. Many of the images coined in this film have become staples of later horror films, from the chainsaw to the mask to the splitting up and killing off of the entire group of teenagers. The amateurish qualities of the flick make it seem more real, and this movie scared the hoo-hoo right out of me. 7. The Blair Witch Project (1999) A lot of people hated this movie--I liked it. A novel idea, well executed by the woefully (and accurately) immature doomed college trio, this combination of urban legend and "things that go bump in the dark" fears put an end to my solo camping and hiking trips. It was a few months before I could comfortably go down into my basement after seeing the end of the movie, and even though I'll never see it again, I enjoyed it immensely. 8. Scream (1996) Made the horror genre cool and fun again for about 15 minutes; played with our stereotypes and expectations, and then reinforced them. Very self-aware, very violent, very silly, but ultimately the pinnacle of the 90's teen horror craze. The sequels were vastly inferior, but the original is worth viewing and repeat viewings. 9. Carrie (1976) Sissy Spacek coming of age is triggering more than your usual teenage angst, and her captivity by an insane mother and her torture by her highschool peers combine in her to form unfathomable rage and a lust for revenge. Like an After School Special, but with Pig's Blood at the Prom. 10. Misery (1990) Kathy Bates is even more obsessive compulsive than I am, and the horrible love/obsession she has for writer James Caan is terrifying to watch--she's happy, she's crazy, she's wickedly violent, and eventually must be destroyed to free the demon within her. A lesson to us all. Well, me. The runners-up: The Excorcist and Rosemary's Baby: I've never really been down with the Satanic possession thing, but this is a pair of very well done movies. They just didn't really SCARE me. The Omen: Ditto. Damien, Schmamien. Flatliners: I really liked this one in highschool, but I think I've watched it too many times now. Poltergeist: I'm still scared of it, and I'm afraid that if I watched it now I wouldn't be. "Go for the light, Carol Ann!" Remember, this is my list--you no like it? You make your own!  |
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by lindaohio
by cripper
