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EEEK! Mwahahahahaha!Oct 11 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line The bottom line is hiding under the bed Horror Films; perhaps my favorite genre in the entire movie industry other than a good screwball comedy. The screams, the monsters, the gore, the sudden jumps, the suspense, the flying body parts; they all give me such an adrenalin burst, plus help me attain a feeling of such accomplishment whenever I drop my rubber fake spider on the head of someone watching one of these movies at my house. So then, in honor of spooky plans for Halloween everywhere, Submitted For Your Approval; my own choices for Top Ten Horror Films. 10)Psycho: I'm referring here to the 1960 original film produced by Alfred Hitchcock and starring the incomparable Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Although tame by today's standards, it is still a giant within the genre, with the oft-mentioned "shower scene" where Janet Leigh's character is stabbed to death perhaps its finest moment, and truly one of the great ground-breakers of its time. The chilling interaction of Norman and "Mother", the superb use of light and shadow to set the tone, and the superb music set the standard for many to follow. "You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch."-Norman Bates 9)Nightmare On Elm Street: Released in 1984; this film is a particular hilight in the films of Wes Craven with the first appearance of maniacal, gleeful, sinister Freddy Krueger, supernatural serial killer of children who murders his victims in their dreams. Robert Englund would develop the character very well throughout the series of sequel that followed, but never did quite duplicate his original Freddy's darkness and eerie aspect, except for, perhaps,in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. The other Nightmare films are far from bad, but this one laid the groundwork for them all to stand upon. "One, two, Freddy's coming for you. / Three, four, better lock your door. / Five, six, grab your crucifix. / Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. / Nine, ten, never sleep again."-The Children 8)Wes Craven's New Nightmare: In 1994, ten years after the first Nightmare film, Wes Craven picked up the reins and restored a much darker side and intensity to Freddy Krueger, which, while not lost entirely during each of the films, had been watered down somewhat. Freddy is trying to burst out from movies into the "real world" and Wes Craven (playing himself) has realized the only way to defeat him is to "put him to sleep" by making another "Freddy Film" with the original cast. Robert Englund stars as both himself and Freddy Krueger, Heather Langencamp stars as both herself and the first movie's "Nancy Thompson" and John Saxon plays both himself and Lt. Thompson, and they each do a fine job of portraying this example of the blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality in this "what if"-style film. "Hey, Dillon... Ever play skin the cat?"-Freddy Krueger 7)Poltergeist: 1982 saw this delicious addition to the standard "haunted house" fare. The Freeling family finds their tract house turned upside down with an invasion of hauntings that suck little Carol Anne(Heather O'Rourke) through the television set into "the other side", and enlist the help of a college paraspychology team and psychic Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein) to get her back. This is a truly eerie film with nice "jump moments" and gory effects. Heather O'Rourke was a"natural" in the role of Carol Anne in the this film and the first of the two sequels, and it is a true shame she became too ill to complete the third in the series (her final scenes in #3 are done with a body double) and died shortly after it was finished. The fierce storm that attacks the Freeling house and the Freeling family's struggles are all well done. There is a great sense of utter fear and eerieness in this film, and great suspenseful moments. "They're here"-Carol Anne 6)Poltergeist II: 1986 brought the Freeling Family back for a second time. Steve (Craig T.Nelson) is on a path of drunken downward mobility and the family is staying with Diane's (JoBeth Williams) grandmother, and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) seems to be developing moderate psychic abilities. A new addition is the absolutely chilling Kane (Julian Beck), a spectral preacher who is actively pursuing Carol Anne to drag her back to "the other side." Zelda Rubstein also stars as psychic Tangina Barrons and Will Sampson arrives in the role of Taylor, Indian shaman who assists Tangina in the attempts to rescue Carol Anne.This is without a doubt the spookiest of the three Poltergeist films. Julian Beck's Kane....it just grabs you...with icy fingers. "God is in His Holy Temple! Earthly thoughts be silent now!"-Kane 5)Jeepers Creepers: Released in 2001, this film brought us a new monster for the 21st Century. "Every 23 years it wakes up, and for 23 days it gets to eat." The Creeper, as it was called, was actually played by two people; for most of the movie it is played by Jonathan Breck, and in the final scenes, it is played by Justin Long, who also starred as Darius "Derry" Jenner, who along with his sister Patricia "Trish" (Gina Philips)is chased by the Creeper and discovers his lair and cache of preserved corpses. There are some great chills here, from the sinister truck pursuing Derry and Trish along country roads, the dire predictions of psychic Jezelle Gay Hartman,(Patricia Belcher) The spooky Cat Lady, the Creeper's ghastly home beneath an abandoned church, and the eerie repetitions of the "Jeepers Creepers" song itself. "You've got something it likes... one of you."-Jezelle Gay Hartman 4)Ghost Ship: In 2002 a salvage crew discovers a long-lost luxury cruise liner adrift in the Bering Sea. As they explore, they discover a shipment of gold and gruesome clues leading inexorably to the fact that something is on the ship with them; and that the cruise liner's crew and passengers did not exactly meet the most peaceful of ends. Something or someone is on the ship, collecting souls to deliver to the Underworld, and this creature is more than willing to add them to the collection. The opening itself is brilliant, as we see the original crew and passengers dancing in the evening, and suddenly and brutally sliced,dismembered or decapitated by a loose guy wire, except for a young girl whom we will see again, many decades later. It's a "sudden jump" scene which works extremely well. The salvage crew is marooned on the ship when the evil presence destroys their tugboat, and they must survive the evil lurking aboard while trying to repair the ship well enough to get it home. Ghostly apparitions lurk in cabins, dance with a crewmember, and talk with the captain, and one by one, the salvage crew are dying. A stellar cast includes Gabriel Burn as the seasoned Captain Murphy, Julianna Margulies in an outstanding role as 1st Mate Maureen Epps, Desmond Harrington as the creepy Jack Ferriman, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades and Karl Urban in the salvage crew, and Emily Browning in the role of ghostly Katie Hargrove. This movie doesn't shrink away from the use of gore; dead bodies are everywhere, and piles on the suspense and a fine edge of psychological tension. "Wanna hear something funnier? We just found a bunch of dead guys floating in the laundry room" -Epps 3)Stephen King's Rose Red A shining Stephen King miniseries originally, Rose Red was released in 2002 and is based loosely upon the unusual history of Sarah Winchester and her mansion in the Santa Clara Valley.University professor Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis)is nearly obsessively interested in the haunted mansion Rose Red; home of the late heiress Ellen Rimbauer; who decreed that construction on the mansion must never stop. She recruits a team of psychics to see if they can stir up any phenomena in the mansion, which has long been considered a "dry cell" devoid of energy. The team includes a hodgepodge of precognitives, remote viewers, a man who can view the past, and a telepath of sorts, but the shining light is Annie Wheaton, (Kimberley J. Brown) an autistic girl with astonishing telekinetic and telepathic abilities. Along with Steve Rimbauer (Matt Keesler)the mansion's current owner, and Annie's sister Rachel,(Melanie Lynskey)they enter the mansion and wake it up. It appears the Red Rose itself has a grip upon Professor Reardon; and a dark, sinister interest in Annie. Fine eerie moments are sprinkled throughout this film with renewed construction and bizarre camera angles and supernatural phenomena. This one is a real chiller. "Rose Red won't let you have what you want, Joyce. It won't let anyone have what they want. Ellen Rimbauer designed it to break hearts as hers was broken, to hurt as she was hurt."-Nick 2)Gothika: Released in 2003, film defies easy description. It is well within the horror genre, yet with elements of mystery as well. Halle Berry stars as Dr. Miranda Grey, psychologist on staff at an institution for the criminally insane run by her husband, Dr. Douglas Grey. (Charles S. Dutton) One patient in particular, "Chloe",(Penelope Cruz) presents a particular challange; insisting that she is being repeatedly raped by the devil. After a traumatic event wherein a ghostly woman undergoes spontaneous human combustion in front of her on a deserted road, Miranda awakens to find herself a patient in the institution she had previously been on the staff of, with three days missing from her memory and accused of murdering her husband with an ax. She is repeatedly terrorized and attacked in her cell by the ghost woman she has seen earlier, and witnesses a brutal attack on Chloe in her cell by a large man with a mask and a sinister tattoo of a woman in flames on his chest. Miranda escapes to find the truth behind the accusations of murder, and guided by the ghost who both torments and leads her, uncovers a terrible secret from her husband's life. This movie is excellent at bizarre camera angles, surreal images, and sudden "jumps". Chilling moments leap out at you and back off, only to leap out again. It grips the whole way through. "He came back again last night and tore me like paper. He opened me like a flower of pain, and it felt good. He sank into me and set me on fire, like he always does. Made me burn from the inside out."-Chloe 1)Stephen King's "The Stand": This six-hour miniseries based on the superb novel by Stephen King was released in 1994, and it hits all the right marks. A "superflu" epidemic has accidently been released from a US military installation, and with a 99% communicability rate and a 100% fatality rate, nearly all of the population of the country is wiped out. The remaining survivors find themselves drawn in two directions; the forces of "good" are led by 106-year-old "Mother Abigail",(Ruby Dee) a woman who appears to have a direct line to God and calls her people to her in their dreams, and the "dark" forces are led by demonic "Randall Flagg", (Jamey Sheridan) a creature from outside this world, who seeks to destroy what he cannot conquer. The miniseries begins with the release of the superflu, and takes its time introducing us to the central characters including Stu Redman,(Gary Sinise), Fran Goldsmith, (Molly Ringwald) Larry Underwood, (Adam Storke)Glen Bateman, (Ray Walston) Harold Lauder, (Corin Nemec) Nick Andros (Rob Lowe) and Nadine Cross, (Laura San Giacomo) among others, and fleshes them out almost as thoroughly as the book itself. Mother Abigail's people are of course chosen to take a final stand against the forces of evil personified by Randall Flagg, and the rest of the miniseries is devoted to their re-establishing a civilization from the ruins, so to speak, and to face Randall Flagg and make their final stand in front of him. It's a slow-moving story in the beginning, but as the people overcome the consequences of the superflu, rebuild, and go to face Flagg there are moments of pure artistry and brilliance, and plenty of chills and suspense along the way, and the actors, particularly Dee and Sheridan, fit their roles so well it's almost uncanny. Without question this is my number one choice, and well worth the six hours it takes to get through it all. "He's coming for YOU, Larry! The man with no face!"-The "monster shouter". So there it is....my personal favorites in my collection of movies guaranteed to make your spine tingle. Enjoy them, and be careful...who knows what might be behind you as you sit down to watch one...it might just be me with my fake spider, but then again, it might not.... Yours until someone releases a film titled "The secret genius of Ed Wood" Hugh U. Kidden  |
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