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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
1:00 pm
84 Comments
Tagged: event horizon, halloween, Horrorgasm, hypnotoad, poltergeist, psycho, recap, rosemary's baby, scary movies, session 9, suspiria, the haunting, the others, the ring, tvgasm, what lies beneath
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Recaps
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I’d like to preface this list by stating the obvious: These films are my own personal favorite scary movies. I’m sure you’ll cry foul at some of them, and insist that I left the “scariest” films off the list. But there are some things that don’t really scare me.
The Exorcism, for instance. I just don’t find a girl strapped to her bed shouting obscenities and barfing up Nickelodeon slime very terrifying. And Jaws. A shark? Yawn. The Shining? Yes, it has it’s creepy moments, but can’t we have one scary movie list that doesn’t include The Shining? Yes, we can: Mine. Also, I’ll add that I don’t generally find gore to be scary. Are we really supposed to be horrified when we see a steel rod jammed through Paris Hilton’s head? Because that’s not scary, it’s just hiLARious.
It’s what I can’t see or understand that’s much more terrifying to me. Basically, I’m saying Eli Roth — and anyone and everyone involved in the vapid Saw movies — can suck it. And my list — with a few exceptions — consists of movies that are extremely light on the gore. Let’s get started (in no particular order):
Session 9 (2001)
Let me just say a few words: Huge, abandoned mental institution. Admit it — just those words alone are enough to scare the bejesus out of you. Let me throw in some creepy audio tapes of psychiatric sessions with a child killer — that is to say, a child who has killed people, not someone who has killed children. How does that make you feel? Still not sufficiently creeped out? Let me throw in a couple mysterious disappearances, and a disembodied voice. How’s that? The plot’s simple enough — a team of men is hired to remove asbestos from the Danvers State Hospital (a real hospital that has since, sadly, been mostly demolished and renovated in apartment buildings, a.k.a. the fucking scariest place to live ever), but things turn eerie early on. If you like a little psychological thrown into your horror film, you could do much worse than this pot-boiler.
Poltergeist (1982)
I’ll be the first to admit that there are few special effects from this film that, when viewed from a 2010 standpoint, aren’t really that special anymore. I cringe, and not from fear, when the paranormal team member scratches his face off in the bathroom. But awkward effects aside, Poltergeist is one hell of a ride from beginning to end. It’s also — coupled with Stephen King’s “It” — responsible for your fear of clowns. So you should thank producer Steven Spielberg and director Tobe Hooper for that.
By now we all know the plot — cute li’l blonde girl gets sucked into another scary dimension, and it’s up to her family and a paranormal team to get her back. This family dynamic infuses the film with some great tension throughout, and when this is coupled with terrifying moments — a horde of skeletons in the swimming pool, a tree that comes to life, that clown I mentioned, just to name a few — the tension explodes into a whole lot of scary. A cautious parable of suburbia as much as it is a horror film, full of tender moments as well as scary crap that will make you poop your pants, Poltergeist is one of the best — and well-crafted — horror movies ever made.
The Haunting (1963)
Speaking of well-crafted, here’s Richard Wise’s 1963 classic. It’s (rightly) considered to be one of the best ghost films in cinematic history. Again, the plot is basic: A man takes a small group of people (two of whom have a history of somewhat paranormal powers) to an allegedly haunted house. There is an extremely limited amount of visual special effects in the film, proving that it’s what we cannot see — and what we imagine we can see — that terrifies us the most. Faces appear out of designs on a wall. doorknobs turn on their own, and doors appear to bend and stretch. Robert Wise uses a stunning combination of sound effects and camera work to convey an atmosphere of tension and slowly creeping terror that really gets under your skin, and leaves you wondering if all that’s happening is real . . . or just psychological hysteria . . .
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
. . . Which is something you’ll definitely question while watching Polanski’s classic Rosemary’s Baby. Many people used to the fast pace slash-and-dash of today’s “horror” films will cry, “Ugh, this movie is so boring!” To which I reply: “Go pop your copy of Saw VXXII into your DVD player and shut the hell up.” Rosemary’s Baby requires your concentration. It requires your intelligence. It requires you to follow along and put the pieces of the puzzle together as they’re slowly revealed. A fascinating look into urban domesticity, as well as the changing, evolutionary roles of women, Rosemary’s Baby slowly unfolds itself like a dark, evil rose. Rosemary Woodhouse (an excellent Mia Farrow) and her husband settle into early wedded bliss in an apartment in a huge, imposing, Gothic NYC building (the actual Dakota, where dozens of celebrities have lived in coked-out bliss). And for awhile, all seems well. Even as strange things happen, such as the apparent suicide of a neighbor. Things soon change when Rosemary becomes pregnant (the night the child is conceived — and the morning after — are particularly chilling and confusing). The pregnancy takes it’s toll on Rosemary, physically and emotionally, until she becomes convinced that her child is part of a vast, evil conspiracy of Satanic proportions, one that may or may not include her friends and family. I have an issue or two with the way the film ends, but on the whole, Rosemary’s Baby is a film that gets inside your head and stays there for a long while.
The Others (2001)
Another slow-burning ghost story, with great performances. I think I love The Others so much because it reminds of the truly great black and white ghost films, like The Haunting and The Innocents (which is very similar to The Others in many ways, and almost made the list). In an old British manor house surrounded by fog, a widow lives with her two young children, who are allergic to sunlight. (It’s true. It really happens. I know cuz there’s a special about it on the DVD, okay?) Three servants show up inexplicably to help the woman out, and that’s when things start to get creepy. Like once-thought-dead husbands returning from the war, only acting very strange. Doors opening. Pianos playing themselves. Children becoming possessed. The usual stuff. Like The Haunting and The Innocents, the viewers go back and forth between thinking the paranormal is occurring, and thinking that the female protagonist is just a freaking whackadoo. The Others is atmospheric and moody, a very quiet storm that brews until the ending.
Event Horizon (1997)
This is pretty much the only film on this list that I haven’t seen in a very long time. However, because it’s stayed on my mind throughout the years, and since it was the only film I’ve seen in a theater that totally scared the shit out of me, it needs to be included. Now, I’m not a fan of sci-fi. Show me any of the Terminator movies and I fall asleep before the opening credits start. Show me any of the Matrix movies and I punch you in the face. Because they suck. And I hate them. However, I do love me some sci-fi horror. I don’t know why, but I do. It’s safe to say that this movie probably wouldn’t have existed without Alien, which, I will admit, is one of the best horror films of all time. But I’m not putting it on my list. Instead, I’ll include Event Horizon. I do believe it got some pretty bad reviews, most of which said it was confusing, and it kind of was, but dude — this movie almost made me mess myself. Event Horizon of course takes place in the future, and of course a team of astronaut-scientists fly to an empty spaceship that disappeared and then suddenly reappeared again. Which is always a really great idea, by the way. There’s some science-y stuff about dimensions and black holes, and it turns out, the ship had previously been sucked into a dimension that was . . . kind of evil. To put it mildly. And of course, that evil-ness has kind of stuck around to, you know, make people hallucinate about fire and people with scabby legs, and pluck their own eyes out, and become possessed. As one does in these types of films. I’m actually afraid to watch this one again — I’ve seen it exactly once since I saw it in the theater, and that was a year after it’s release — not because of how scary it actually was, but because of how scary I remember it being. I just don’t want to ruin the almost pants-poopingly fearful experience that I had.
The Ring (2002)
Yes, the remake. Oh, but all you purists are like, “What about the original Japanese ‘Ringu?’ It was so superior!” To which I reply: “Yawn.” That movie was bor-to-the-ing. Just because something is foreign, doesn’t mean it’s superior. Vegemite, for instance. I mean, yeast paste? Seriously? I thought the Japanese version — which I fully admit I saw after the American remake — was kind of inferior. But here’s the main thing that scares me about The Ring: It has horses that go ape-shit. And I have an irrational fear of horses. Now, nothing bad ever happened to me with horese. I never fell off a horse, or got kicked in the nads by one; I never stabbed a horse in the eye like Daniel Radcliffe did in that nude-y play he was in. I even rode a horse as a child, and nothing even remotely bad happened. But still. Horses are huge. And they smell fear. Like dogs. Like giant dogs that can kick you in the head and make you a husk for the rest of your life. Okay, so it’s not just the horses. It’s also the dark, depressing green hues that Gore Verbinski hangs all over the film. It’s also the disturbing art-school video that forwards the plot. It’s the way poor Amber Tamblyn’s face looks in the closet when her mom opens the door. It’s the way you think the plot’s been solved and then — even though you’re completely expecting a twist — it gets so much more terrifying. The sequel was abysmal (deer? Who the eff is scared of deer?), but The Ring remains on this list because it’s chock full of suspense and scary-crap-that-jumps-out-at-you moments. Also, the horses . . . the horrible, horrible horses . . .
What Lies Beneath (2000)
This film probably has the least amount of gore of all the films on this list. Which is a good thing. If Hitchcock had directed a movie about the supernatural — which he wouldn’t have, because he kind of hated the supernatural and thought it was a bunch of crap — it would have turned out like What Lies Beneath. I won’t mince words here: This movie is pretty slow. But it’s very effective. Michelle Pfeiffer gives a great performance, and pretty much reacts the way I would in the same situation: Given that there may be a ghost (due to doors opening on their own, photos falling, strange apparitions appearing in the bathtub water), and given that this ghost could possibly be someone she might have known who may have disappeared, she grabs her closest friend and goes to K-Mart for a Ouija board and has a seance. I would totally do the same thing. Like Rosemary’s Baby, this movie requires your attention to piece together the puzzle and follow along. Chock full of possible possessions, scenes that do for bathtubs what Psycho did for showers, red herrings, and a tension-filled climax, What Lies Beneath is a nice little ghost story for adults. Note: I’m not posting the trailer because the trailer totally gives away some of the plot. If you haven’t seen this film, rent it and do it (now!), but I beg of you do NOT watch the trailer beforehand. Trust me.
Suspiria (1977)
I really envy people who are watching Suspiria for the first time. This movie is so simply fascinating that it transcends horror and becomes something else — a fantasy, an experience, an orgasm for the eyes. Eye-gasm, if you will. I know that sounds pretentious, and I’d probably want to punch myself for saying it too, if it weren’t so true. Dario Argento, the director, undisputedly puts the “gore” in “gore-geous.” Filmed with a dream/nightmare-like quality, Argento beautifully assaults the eyes with bright technicolors, flowing fabrics, and set pieces/locations that seem to have floated right out of an old Disney animated classic — which makes the film seem like a horrific fairy tale. Which is the whole idea. There’s a basic plot — Suzy travels to Germany to attend a prestigious dance academy, but it turns out there are witchy, evil things afoul at the academy. Argento grabs you by the throat right from the start, with the chilling music by Goblin, the foreboding narration . . . The first 15 or so minutes are so brilliantly intense that you’ll most likely be on the edge of your seat during the rest of the movie. Suspiria is, I should add, the most overtly gory film on this list. There’s plenty of stuff to satisfy splatter lovers. Yet the gore is filmed in such a hyper-reality, over-the-top sort of way that it almost becomes a necessary part of the story. You don’t watch Suspiria for plot, or dialogue — in fact, this Italian movie has been dubbed into English (even the American star, the lovely Jessica Harper, dubbed over her lines, which was the way Italian films were made back in ’77). So just get over those issues before you fire up your DVD player. Instead, you watch this Argento masterpiece for the technicolor, dream-like, evil-fairy-tale environment he created — it’s Hitchcock meets Dali meets the Brothers Grimm. Watch this one with the lights off. And if any film on this list deserves . . . an herbal treatment . . . it’s this one.
Psycho (1960)
Please. Like I’d leave Psycho off this list. Family lore has it that my dad saw this in the theater before a night of camping, and subsequently spent the night in the car because he was so terrified. I honestly can’t blame him. Serial killers of filmdom have come and gone, but they all owe a thing or two to Norman Bates, he of the cross-dressing Oedipal complex. It’s hard to imagine now how much of an impact Psycho had on cinema, and not just from a gore perspective — the censors objected to the film showing a toilet being flushed and two lovers sharing the same bed, for pete’s sakes. If you haven’t seen Psycho, and shame on you if you haven’t, Janet Leigh (who is luminous in this film) is on the lam with some stolen money. She’s sleepy, and when she sees the Bates Motel, well, it seems like the perfect place to hole up for a while. From there, the film takes a sharp turn from suspense to full-blown horror, and Norman Bates goes from being a creepy weirdo to a knife-wielding, well . . . psycho. Gus Van Sant’s abortion of an “equal” notwithstanding, Psycho holds up extremely well. Splatter fans may balk at it’s pace and lack of gore by today’s standards, but hey, kiddies: Without Psycho, Hostel II may not have existed, which would be . . . um . . . Ugh, damn you, Hitchcock!
Honorable Mentions: Alien, The Birds, Don’t Look Now, Silence of the Lambs, 28 Days Later, The Innocents, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (which almost made a spot on the list), The Evil Dead, Scream, Misery, and probably a dozen more that you guys will list. Happy Halloween!
TV Social
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84 Comments
I’ve never seen some of these movies you mentioned but I definitely want to check them out because I love horror movies. I saw a movie called “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” the other day and let me tell you that is definitely in my top 10 for scariest movies ever. It may not be in same genre as horror since it is not very gory and it about a serial killer, but it was truly one of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen and kept me thinking about it for a long time to come. I don’t wanna give any spoilers but the family massacre scene was so unbelievably real looking that I still get chills thinking about it.
I’ve only gotten to the first movie on your list and I had to comment. I loved ‘Session 9′….it’s very much a psychological thriller, as you said. Can’t wait to see the rest of the list.
Thank you for posting a list of movies that actually scared me! I’m so sick of scary movie lists that are all slasher gorefests. Either they’re boring (Exorcist) or unintentionally hilarious (Halloween). I’ve seen all but two of these, and all of them had me freaking out. I still can’t be in the room when people are watching Event Horizon. Nightmares for a week. I’ll definitely be checking out Suspiria and Session 9.
It seems we have the same taste in scary movies because I loved your list. I still can’t sleep with one hand off the side of the bed thanks to ‘The Haunting’. I’ve never seen ‘Suspira’ or ‘The Innocents’ but I will definitely be looking for them on Netflix.
@Hypnotoad, thanks for this! Really great list; I have Session 9 and Suspira in my Netflix queue but haven’t watched them yet. I also much prefer tension and atmospere to blood and gore.
Some other films I have in my queue:
Let the Right One In (original)
Funny Games (original)
Girly
The Orphanage
The Innocents
Others that I have seen and loved:
The Omen
The Descent
Otis (!!)
I can’t really argue with any of the entries on your list, except maybe for Event Horizon.
If you like the whole brooding/unknown/subtle genre, then give Asian horror another try. Yes, ‘Ringu’ was boring. But it’s the exception, not the rule. In particular, try ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’, or the original Thai version of ‘Shutter’. Both are really good at building suspense and turning your expectations on your head.
Man I love this time of year! Suspiria is always on the top 10 lists, so I’ve always been curious. Now besides that one I’ll need to check out Session 9 & Event Horizon. I won’t add too much cuz I could go on & on-but for me: ‘Frailty,’ & ‘Identity’ are right up there.
I thought I was the only one who hated clowns right after seeing Poltergeist! I wouldn’t admit it when I was older & read ‘IT,’ I made fun of a guy who wouldn’t read the book cuz of Pennywise, while I was pooping myself on the inside.
Great list! I would add “The stepford wives” – not that hot mess with Nicole Kidman, but the original. Creepy and makes me nervous about Connecticut…
I remember the TV ad for Suspira back in the day – jaysus, I couldn’t sleep at night…
sarcasatire – I’ve been dying to see Funny Games, so I’m totes adding that to my viewing list.
Thanks for the compliments, guys! I was a bit worried – I know a lot of people like slasher/gore films, and while I think they (probably) have their place in filmdom, they just don’t scare me.
I really hope some of you see these for the first time this year, and then post about your reactions!
And HUGE shout-out to Flipit who worked his website mojo to get the clips posted (I can never seem to do that). I would be nothing without Flipit.
And, uh, clearly I meant “The Exorcist” instead of “The Exorcism” in the first paragraph. Good lord, I proofread this thing at least 3 times, but clearly it needed another glance.
Yay! A horror movie list consisting of intelligent films! I’m the same as you with gore – really, it’s just gross. If I’m going to be scared, I need to be given some material to dwell on in the theater and well after.
@ sarcasatire: I promise you will not be disappointed with either Let the Right One In or The Orphanage. Let the Right One In gets creepier and more sinister when you chew on it for awhile. The Orphanage is just heartbreaking. Have you seen Pan’s Labrynth, from the same director?
GREAT LIST, Hypnotoad! I first watched “The Ring” late at night while my hubby was at work. I had to turn it off and resume it the next day, I was so freaked out.
TVaholic, I also love “Frailty!” And, believe it or not, “The Blair Witch Project” and “Paranormal Activity” are two that are high on my list. It’s definitely the idea of the unknown and unseen that terrifies me! I am much, MUCH more frightened by a good psychological thriller/suspense/horror movie than the crap they come out with these days. I particularly think that people who like “Saw” have no idea what it means to be scared, but that’s just me. Although, I am very partial to campy, old-school horror movies — “Children of the Corn” and the original “Nightmare on Elm Street,” ” The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “Friday the 13th,” anyone?
Now I usually am no fan of horror movies as I am extremely squeamish, and I completely freak out at the slightest gore or graphic violence. However, I LOVE me some suspense and can watch suspense movies all day, so I very much appreciate your list being about suspense as opposed to gore. I also have to agree that Jaws isn’t scary nor suspenseful in the slightest. Haven’t seen The Exorcist yet, so I can’t comment on it.
The only one on the list I’ve seen is Psycho (I agree, “bitch please” to anyone who doesn’t like Psycho being on the list), but you’ve got me very interested in What Lies Beneath.
And I’m glad you gave Misery an honorable mention. That’s one of the only true horror movies I actually really like. Not very gory, but so suspenseful that all sides of your pants are soiled by the end of it.
Hypnotoad,
LOVE this list! Suspiria is one of my all time favorite movies, so I’m excited to see it show up here. I think what made Poltergeist so great for me is that it did a really great job of playing into those childhood fears. You know, the creepy clown toy watching you, the branches scratching against the window, creepy closet….honestly cheesy special effects aside, it sort of still gives me the willies.
I think you’ll really like Funny Games, and Let The Right One In is FANTASTIC. They’re remaking it here in the US, but you should definitely try to see the original. Thirst is one in the Asian genre I’d recommend; it’s a great twist on the vampire story and not as gory as a lot of other Asian horror.
Anyway, like everyone else I could go on and on! Thanks for sharing your list with us! Now I want to go re watch some of these!
SWAK, PottyMouth
Thanks again, peeps! I thought I’d piss so many people off with my list, but I’m glad to see that (so far) it’s almost the opposite!
AntSuck – Go rent and watch What Lies Beneath! It’s completely devoid of gore and it’s just . . . it’s just so great. Like I said, it’s a really well done adult ghost story (not THAT kind of “adult,” mind you) full of really suspenseful moments.
PottyMouth – I really need to see Funny Games. That makes 2 suggestions, so it must be done. And I’ll see what I can do about Let the Right One In — it got a lot of buzz when it came out (the original), so I’m intrigued. And Poltergeist TOTALLY captured almost every childhood fear.
I haven’t seen ‘Let the Right One In’ yet but my daughter has and she says it’s excellent. I have got to update my Netflix queue, you’ve all given me some great suggestions.
The Innocents – that’s why we’re friends! I love that film and own the dvd, but I thought I was practically the only person who’s ever heard of it.
Event Horizon also scared the crap out of me, another favorite. What Lies Beneath, Haunting, the Others … all agreed. I also found House on Haunted Hill (remake) to be scary, but I have a low threshold for scary.
Awesome list overall.
1. Rosemary’s Baby is such a good, good movie. One of my all time favorites. Though Mia Farrow constantly babbling about her devil husband starring in Luther and Nobody Loves an Albatross makes me want to tell her to shut the hell up.
2. Session 9 is a good flick but David “Where are my sunglasses?” Caruso ruined it for me because…well it’s David Caruso.
3. Craig T. Nelson is all kinds of hot in Poltergeist.
That is all.
love, P-Baby
You had me at Session 9. I love that movie and tell all my friends to watch it. We definitely have similar taste in horror movies. What Lies Beneath scared the crap out of me, so did Event Horizon. True story: a friend of mine went to see Event Horizon while on a mind-bending influence and ended up under the chair in the theater….
This is a pretty good list. One of my favorites that is in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby is The Changeling (not the Clint Eastwood/Jolie flick), but George C. Scott and a big old house. Also I second the mention of Frailty.
What a great list. I loved seeing The Haunting on there, on of the best arguements for less is more in movies ever. I’d also like to give a big hell yes to sarcasatire for mentioning The Descent. That one stayed with me for days.
Hells to the yeah on Event Horizon. I don’t care what anyone says. That movie still scares the shit outta me. Hated Session 9, but only because of terrible acting and dialogue. The Others was a mixed bag for me. Incredibly well done, but the ending was so lame and predictable. Rosemary’s Baby was amazing, and I’m terrified of the fact that Michael Bay is currently busy taking a dump all over it. I agree that the American version of The Ring was much better, but if you can get your hands on a translated version of the book the whole series was based on, prepare to have your mind blown. So effing brilliant! Poltergeist didn’t make me scared of clowns, but it did make me scared of trees for a while. What Lies Beneath was amazing. For the first 45 minutes I was kinda bored, but once it got going it got under my skin.
Additions from me:
Cube — Proving to all of us that gory ass movie with brilliantly creative deaths can also be brilliant psychological thrillers.
Slither — Sure, it’s more funny than scary, but if Evil Dead gets an honorable mention then Slither should too. Same sort of movie, but grossly underrated.
Silent Hill — Overall, the plot is a bit lame, but holy crap the creatures in this movie are the same ones that gave me nightmares when I played the game and they are really effective.
Requiem for a Dream — No, it’s not a horror movie or even a thriller, but holy god did it get under my skin. I’ve never felt quite so uncomfortable after watching a movie.
A Tale of Two Sisters — If you wanna see a great Asian horror flick, just watch this one. It was remade into the terrible American film The Uninvited, but don’t watch that. That sucked. Same goes for The Eye. Avoid the remake, but try and find the original because it’s gloriously creepy.
@waffleboy..yes, that was the one film where I was cringing and hiding in the theater.
Some other films that creeped me out: (read the books at 13. eek!)
Pet Semetary
IT
In my nextlix queue (cont’d): anyone see these and can recommend/dismiss them? (no spoilers, please!)
[Rec]
Videodrome
The Audition
Black Christmas
Eraserhead
The Eye
ITA with The Changeling/George C. Scott version – I was going to rec that if no one else did! I saw that so many times growing up – my father forced horror movies on us as young kids… Fucked with my head every time.
What lies beneath is super creepy for sure, but nothing freaks me out like The Ring. Usually I can talk myself out of being scared of a movie but The Ring, dear lord no. I couldn’t even look at the picture you posted and the trailer – forget it. I would have nightmares.
That shit is brilliant and literally makes me crap my pants, when usually horror movies either make me bored or laugh.
Funny story, I watched the Ring for the 2nd time with a girl I know who is obsessed with horses. During the horse scene she got freaked and said “I hope nothing happens to the horses!” She flipped out when she saw what did happen. haha.
themiki – Michael Bay and Rosemary’s Baby? That makes me want to vomit in terror. Not in the good way. Like when I heard Eli Roth was remaking “The Bad Seed” (good flick – not really scary but suspenseful). Luckily, that went nowhere. Hopefully Rosemary’s Baby does too. And I loved Requiem For a Dream, but I have no desire to see it again, which is a testament to how effing horrifying it is (horrifying in a dramatic effed up way, not in a true horror movie way).
sarcasatire: I’ve seen the original Black Christmas and loved it. Haven’t seen the new one, probably won’t. I’m a sucker for those late 70s/early 80s slasher flicks. They don’t scare me at all, but they’re hella entertaining. I love me some “Happy Birthday to Me.”
I should add “Changeling” to my list. I hate George C. Scott but I’ll suck it up.
@ElmStreet, I loved Pan’s Labrynth! I wasn’t scared so much as a little creeped out yet amazed by the visuals. Is he the same director that did Cronos? (not scary, btw)
@Hypnotoad: yes, I’m all for the originals, as well. There has to be a reason why they’ve inspired remakes/copycats. Because they’re damn good!
I’m going to add The Changeling, as well. I thought it had the same storyline as Jolie’s flick but it seems it doesn’t which is why it interests me. And I love a creepy house in a film.
Creepy house, seance, psychological horror… What’s not to love?
I haven’t seen it in years, but all these scenes are flooding back. Out of the all the horror movies I’ve seen (and I’ve seen quite a few), although to be fair, I stopped watching them a decade ago because I just can’t handle them, that one is still the one that creeped me out the most.
Okay, I added ‘Funny Games’ to my netflix queue but I’m too afraid to watch it tonight…alone….in the dark. *shivers* But, I will watch it tomorrow!
Oh, and ‘Requiem for a Dream’? That movie was so disturbing. It was very well made and acted but I’ve never been able to watch it again.
@sarcasatire – I’ve seen the crappy American remake of Rec and it was unwatchable. I’ve heard the original is great though. Videodrone is a classic. The Audition will bore you for about an hour, but after that prepare to be disturbed in ways you never thought possible. Black Christmas is cheesy fun. Eraserhead is another classic. And The Eye is great, but make sure you get the original. Cause Jessica Alba, while fun to look at, cannot carry a movie to save her life.
Just finished watching The Orphanage…wow. All I can say is wow.
*tear*
OMFG!! Happy Birthday to Me! Hypnotoad, I love that freaking movie so much. Death by Shish Kabob has to be one of the most inventive things I have ever seen. Super cheesey, but in the best possible way.
Sarcasatire, I agree with what TheMiki said about your list. The original REC is worth checking out, but the remake is to be avoided.
I’ve got to also add to the classic horror list The Omen trilogy. The middle one is the weakest of the bunch, but I love the original (Damian, I love you Damian), and Sam Neill is awesome in the Final Conflict. I always give points for great and unusual deaths. Not gorey make me wanna puke deaths, but ones I’m horrified by and yet part of my brain goes “Fuuuuuuck, that is so cool.” Yes, I’m a strange one.
@TheMiki, @Pottymouth..I added the originals to my Netflix queue. I’m not really one for remakes..or rather, not for first time viewing. Since watching the Orphanage and reading a few reviews, I was suggested a few other movies:
The Devil’s Backbone
Don’t Look Now
The Virgin Spring (not really horror but kinda creepy, it appears)
The Dark
The first three seem really good and I plan to watch them soon.
Which made me remember another great film to recommend:
I’m Not Scared
And for a mix of horror and black comedy (by Shaun of the Dead creators)
Otis ..an ultra black comedy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe.
Great list! Like you, I find the psycological far more scary than gore. Gore is a bore! I’m definitely going to check out Session 9. I *think* I saw Event Horizon, but hearing you guys talk about it is not ringing a bell, so maybe I didn’t. Will check it out. The only one on your list that I sort of don’t agree with is What Lies Beneath. I thought it was a great 3/4 of a movie. But at a certain point, it gets extremely cliche and predictable. But everything up to that point was awesome. And I will also jump on the bandwagon for recommending The Changeling. Great movie!
@Pottymouth, is it really your birthday? Happy Birthday!!!!
Scorpios rule!
Hahahaha! No, sarcasatire, it’s not really my birthday. That’s the name of a fantasticly fun 80′s horror movie. But thanks for the wishes anyway!
Okay, this has gotten out of hand! I’m having to hunt through the comments for these movies to add to my queue. So, here’s my list so far:
Black Christmas, Otis (love black comedies), The Orphanage, The Innocents, The Changeling, Event Horizon (saw it at the movies but havent seen it since), The Dark, I’m not Scared. I had a question about one of the movies and now can’t remember what it was. Oh yeah! The Orphanage – is that gonna make me cry?
@sarcasatire; Videodrome – freaky movie…there are parts of that movie I couldn’t burn out of my brain if I wanted to.
The Audition – really slow start, but I don’t want to say more for fear I might spoil something
Eraserhead – David Lynch is a man that takes his nightmares and makes them literal in film. He can truly create some disturbing visuals…and this movie is no exception.
The Devil’s Backbone – Love it!
Don’t Look Now – was going to mention that one with The Changeling, another classic.
Funny Games – I will bandwagon vote this one as well, I think both the original and the remake are good.
Slither – while campy, this deserves a second mention.
Some Additional Favorites
May
Oldboy
High Tension
Hypo you are awesome for doing this list. I love this time of year and scary movies, but like and most the commenters, I am more into the psychological aspect than the gory. You took me back. I saw What Lies Beneath in the theater, we were late and it was practically sold out, and we ended sitting in the very front row. Made for a much creepier experience. Poltergeist is one of my all time fave movies.
@ themiki LOVED Slither! When Requiem came out on video I would have viewings at my house because I felt everyone I knew MUST see that movie.
@ Sarcas, definitely Pet Cemetery was creepy, but great movie to me.
Another movie that still creeps me out to this day is Silence of the Lambs. Love all the suggestions!
HYPNO I meant :/
@Potty-Mouth, the Happy Birthday movie you speak of… I have this vague recollection of a death-by-shish-kabob movie I saw when I was seven or eight years old. Did your movie have Pee Wee Herman in it, and a killer that turned his victims into furniture? I just remember a line where Pee Wee was examining a victim and said, “I was trying to get into her drawers!” Please tell me that’s the same movie so I don’t have to go imdb Pee Wee Herman.
pixi-stix:
“True story: a friend of mine went to see Event Horizon while on a mind-bending influence and ended up under the chair in the theater….”
Now ending up UNDER A CHAIR IN A THEATER is truly scary! UGH!
I have to say that Session 9 was doing alright in my book until the ultimate Caruso moment WITH the zoom in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CudA99mUoz0
The giggles never really went away after that.
pixi-stix:
That happened to a friend of mine while watching Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell seems to have a flair for that sort of thing). I watched Event Horizon a couple of months ago on Netflix Instant while on some heavy-duty pain killers for a procedure that I’d just had. I really wished I hadn’t once my hallucination-state dreams kicked in. That was a bad 48 hours.
@themiki, no, PeeWee was not in Happy Birthday to Me but I know what movie you’re talking about! It’s Pandemonium about a killer offing people at a cheerleading camp that has an awesomely hilarious death by toothbrush scene! Happy Birthday to Me featured Melissa Sue Anderson and that chick that played Lauren on Y&R. No, I’m not a soap fan, but my mom was hooked on Y&R back in the day!
Here are some oldies but goodies that managed to freak me out completely back when I could still watch horror movies, LOL.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) Jupiter is the creepiest character ever. EVER. Early Wes Craven.
Freaks (1932) Politically Incorrect to the maximum level, but very creepy and weird. Nightmarish in fact.
The Legend of Hell House (1973) High creep factor…
The Hitcher (1986) Relentless and there’s one scene that will stay with you for a while, it’s gruesomely awful.
Pumpkinhead (1988) This looks like a typically cheesy horror film, but it’s surprisingly complex and has good cinemetography. The monster actually has a personality and intellectual appreciation for what he does – so it enhances the creep factor ten-fold.
Parents (1989) Campy but still horrifying – Randy Quaid is super-creepy, and probably even more so now that we know he’s lost his mind for real, LOL.
I can’t believe you chose american Ring over japanese Ringu out of the same reason as me. horses are awful. that’s why death is riding on them! (“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” Revelation 6:8)
Zombie Cheez: Yes, Freaks! “We accept her! We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!” that is alredy reason enough to love it. and the ending. hehe.
@Mila Superstar – LOL! Eeeeek!! Haha!
Wow, this is a great list! You managed to include the classics as well as some lesser known choices, while avoiding the cliches (and I never got the hype about the Exorcist OR the Shining.)
I agree about Event Horizon…I saw that as a young teenager and had to sleep in my mom’s room for a few weeks. I saw it again as an adult and it wasn’t as scary on second viewing, but it did ruin my childhood. The movie that ENDED my childhood was the Talented Mr. Ripley, which isn’t technically a horror movie but had some really distressing murder scenes along with Matt Damon(!) in a skin-crawling performance.
Also on my list:
[REC]
Hellraiser
Dawn of the Dead
The Devil’s Backbone
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Last House on the Left (scariest movie I’ve ever seen)
Martyrs
Salo
Profondo Rosso (another freaky one by Argento)
I LOVE Halloween!
“The Shining” I watched that when I was a freshman in an old house when it was storming outside. I am squeemish and hate gore (unless it’s campy!) so I was on edge the whole time until Scatman Crothers got an ax to the chest then I screamed like the little bitch I am.
“It” turned that shit off when Tim Curry (god I love him) looked at me and said “I’m gonna kill you, kill you all”
“The Exorcist” gave me nightmares, real waking up gasping for breath nightmares!
“Hotel Hell” The only role I associate Nancy parsons with even when she was Beulah Brikhouse. In my brain she will always be Ida.
The Birds, is the reason why I am scared of birds to this day.
Seven, because there are people that are really that crazy
Resurrection (circa 1999), reason see Seven
Deepstar Six, I will never understand why people want to go in submarines.
A few years ago we didn’t have cable. as a result we probably weren’t as vigilant as we should have been about what our kids would watch during the day. They knew they could watch the Maine and NH pbs channel as well as abcfamily (the one ‘cable’ station that came in) I was working on Halloween weekend and came home around 4 and walked in to find my 2 older kids (then 5 and 3) watching It. Apparently abcfamily was running a halloween special event of all scary movies all day and night. My kids to this day still have nightmares about pennywise the clown. It reminds me of my youth when I saw Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark on tv one rainy Saturday afternoon. That movie terrified me. I had heard they are remaking it with Katie Holmes as the unfortunate housewife that chooses to open the bricked up fireplace a/k/a gates to mini egg headed demon hell in her dark unused part of the house.
I remember refusing to watch The Exorcist when I was younger, then I watched as an adult & thought holy shit, this is boring. The problem I have with The Shining-minus Jack Nicholson’s awesome performance-is that I read the book before I ever saw the movie & the book is just a zillion times better. ‘Pet Semetary’ did a pretty good job with the book-the kid was pretty freaky.
I liked ‘Quarantine,’ but I haven’t seen the original REC yet. Although I love all things zombie-related, so there you go. I also liked ‘Paranormal Activity’ & plan on seeing the sequel this weekend.
Oh-I finally saw ‘The Strangers’ not too long ago & I have to say it freaked me out a little. Nothing is more scarier than something that could actually happen. No vampires, zombies, supernatural entities or killers who cannot be killed-just psychopaths who decide they want to f**k with someone!!
@spinal11 – The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Last House on the Left! AWESOME!! Last House on the Left (another Wes Craven masterpiece)was such a mindfuck, especially when you liked going to concerts and scoring some dope along the way, LOL!!
@sheesh – “Motel Hell” was awful and scary!!! The garden of slurping human heads… AGHAGAHGAHGAAH!!!
@Classy I never saw Deepstar Six, but the other three are definitely in my top all-time faves. I can still do psychological thrillers, but the real horror stuff is too much for me these days. LOL!
@chem – your poor kids!!! LOL.
Did anyone ever catch the Saturday afternoon/Saturday night show “Chiller Theater” with the big claymation hand that would rise from the murk and a someone would scream “CHIIILLLERRR!” on the voice over? GREAT old horror flicks on that channel!
@spinal11 – I LOVE The Talented Mr. Ripley! It’s literally one of my most favorite movies ever. In my opinion, it’s the most Hitchcockian movie made since the death of Hitchcock. (I said “What Lies Beneath” is like a Hitchcock movie, and it is, but since it’s about the supernatural, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” comes closer.) I would have included it on the list, but it’s much more of a suspense drama than horror. I don’t find it scary per se, but it is definitely menacing and filled with tension. And phenomenal performances.
Your list is identical to mine except instead of Poltergeist I would pick High Tension. My friends tease me for liking the “odd” movies. Anyway, back to High Tension, if you haven’t seen it you must. Super scary french movie the completely fucked with my head. Watchers beware though, there are a couple of semi-graphic sex scenes so don’t let the kiddies/tweens sit in on the watching.
Sarcasatire, if memory serves me correctly, “IT” was the first horror movie I ever saw. I was very young, and I LOVED it! That movie alone led to a lifelong obsession with horror movies and Stephen King. However, I’ve found that I just CANNOT watch (nor read) “Pet Semetary” now that I’ve had children. The scene with Gage’s death just tears me to pieces, and not in a “Hey, isn’t it fun to be scared?!!?” kind of way. Although, I guess what King intended; I’ve read several interviews in which he states that the scariest thing in the book is the highway. I used to think he was just trying to sound really deep, but…I get it now, Stephen. I get it.
Oh, and Classy Drunk — I first watched “Seven” at a sleepover. I checked out halfway through the movie, right around the time they interviewed the poor guy who had to sleep with the prostitute — with a knife attached to his nether regions — in order to fulfill “lust.” Crap, it freaks me out just writing about it. I refused to watch that movie again for years. To this day, I will leave the room when that scene comes on.
@KittKatt, totally agree about High Tension. My fiancé and I hate how predictable movies have become and throughout movies we try and predict and it has become a competition as to who is right. Admittedly he is much better, but this movie took us totally by surprise. Great suggestion, it is a must see.
@Cheez, in Deepstar six the people are stuck in a submarine looking for an alien being and then cannot bring the submarine to the surface because they cannot repressurize (not sure that’s a word) the cabin. Grossest part of this one is that a guy flips out and takes one of the smaller vessels and tries to get to the surface, but the vessel cannot repressurize fast enough and he explodes. YUCK!!!
It’s kind of crappy with the aliens, but the sunken submarine was scary enough for me.
I see AMC is playing ‘Funny Games’(USA) this weekend. I IMDB’d it-Micheal Pitt is pretty much the go-to guy for creepy, baby-faced psychopaths, isn’t he? I’ll have to check it out.
Nice list Hypno! Man, I remember the first time I saw Poltergeist. HBO was running a deal where they were trying to get more people to buy HBO. Back then, you had to have some kind of box that sat on your TV if you wanted HBO. I was about 12 and my parents couldn’t be bothered with the whole box-on-the-tv thing. So we didn’t have HBO. Which means, when HBO offered up a 3-day weekend of free HBO, I watched about 72 straight hours of it. I saw some shit I wasn’t supposed to ever see. My parent’s kept saying, “don’t watch that trash on HBO….” Idiots. I watched it all. Poltergeist scared the crap out of me. That chair in the kitchen that would haul ass across the room for no reason??? Then she slid the kid across the floor??? That tree? I made my feelings about the woods (aka lots of trees) very clear in P-baby’s Blair Witch recap comments. I was a mess after Poltergeist. Here’s the thing though: I watched it recently and was disappointed that I wasn’t thoroughly freaked again. I thought for sure that I would be terrified after seeing it 20 years later. I wasn’t. I mean I get that it’s a cool movie with a cool concept, but I was sad that it didn’t scare me. Maybe it was the special effects – or lack of modern special effects. Maybe it was because Craig T looked an awful lot like Coach. I don’t know…it was a let-down for me.
The Ring on the other hand… Ha, an unintentional pun… The Ring scared the crap out of me. That video tape is so messed up and confusing and, well, perfect. When they made that movie, they had to have said, “we need some really weird and confusing old-looking shit that in-fact might be just freaky enough to induce death to viewers…blah blah..” So they had to go about figuring out what would be down right eerie. They did it. You’re right, the horsies were freakish. That well in the ground was f’d up too. The Ring 2 licked. Deer? What are they going to use in The Ring 3? Bunnies? Chipmunks? But really, I liked the Ring, a lot.
Sixth Sense didn’t make your cerebral thriller list? I thought it was cool the first time I saw it. Trouble is, you can really only see it once before it starts losing it’s zing. I even got jipped on that cuz some ass-wipe told me as I was going into the 9 o’clock movie and he was coming out of the 7 o’clock movie that Bruce Willis is dead. What a douche.
I’ll check out some of the others.
Blue
OMG, Hypno, I love love LOVE this list, especially since you have included “The Others” which has long been one of my most favorite films ever! That scene in the ballroom with the piano and the shotgun and the slamming door (oh, and the creepy post-mortem photography) still makes me shiver to this day!
I am totally with you in that I am far more entertained by slowly mounting tension and things I CAN’T see, than having someone’s head getting lopped off right in front of me in digital colorization. Things that go bump in the night without showing themselves have long been a delicious (if sometimes far too unsettling) thrill.
A couple of films I also find fascinating: the original version of “The Fog”… I know a lot of people think that movie is just plain silly, but there’s something about the inherent loneliness and isolation of a clifftop lighthouse, coupled with the sensory deprivation caused by heavy fog that just makes me shiver. Plus, being stuck in fog on the sea at night would be creepy. Oh, and lonely churches off in the woods are always scary as hell. Plus, did I mention that John Carpenter also scored this film? While the result isn’t as memorable as the one from “Halloween”, it is certainly effective. And for you trivia buffs, we get to see Janet Leigh from “Psycho” in a film with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis!
Also found the first “Grudge” to be unsettling, I think partially because I can empathize with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s sense of displacement (being an outsider in the dominant culture) and partially because big office buildings at night are frightening places. Another huge bonus??? If you can make that slow croaking sound, you can scare the shit out of people on the phone just like that stringy-haired bloody girl in the movie!
Lastly, even though it bogs down in the middle, the first 20 minutes of the original “When A Stranger Calls” with Carol Kane is enough to send me running to turn on all the lights… if you’ve ever babysat in your life you know how those late nights feel in a strange house…
Awesome list, Hypnotoad! Thanks for sharing!
love, J-Mo
The original Funny Games is Swedish.
For those with a Netflix account or Showtime, may I recommend a great series called Masters of Horror, where revered directors create hour long films for our creepy enjoyment. @J-mo..John Carpenter has one called Cigarette Burns. And John Landis directed a few, as well..my favorite, a black comedy called Family, staring Norm from Cheers.
There may be dvds avaible but I use my $9/month netflix account where they are all available in the streem function.
@Jessimae: Gage is the stuff nightmares are made of. I didn’t go anywhere in my house where I thought he could pop out and get me..especially near the basement foyer. I just knew he was lurking in the darkness with designs on bringing harm to my achilles tendons. For goodness sake, I was a cheerleader!
I wasn’t a mom when I saw it so it didn’t affect me in the capacity you meantioned. However, as a new mom, as of this year..The Orphanage was my worst nightmare. My heart broke, I cried, and then wrestled with the idea of waking my youngin’ for a mini cuddle session. In the end, I resisted, but it was tough!
Oh, J-Mo. I heart you ever so much. I haven’t seen The Grudge! What’s wrong with me?!
Great Article and nice conversation starter. Thanks Hypnotoad
I was petrified of The Exorcist before I ever saw the movie. I read the book first. I was 10 yrs old.
I was a big reader as a kid and I went to visit with my grandparents for a month. One of my Aunts must have had the book, cant remember how I got ahold of it. Anyway, as I skimmed through it I noticed it had lots of bad words so I figured I would enjoy staying with my grandparents alot more if I had a book with bad words in it to read.
Well that book scared the hell out of me. After all, the possesed girl’s name was Regan and my name was Robin! We both had R’s in our name! My Grandparents lived in MD and DC was where Regan lived! We were practically neighbors! She liked horses and so did I!! I just knew that I had to get back to Fl before the devil got through with Regan!
I quit reading it. But then..The commercials would come on at night about it. And all they did was play that music. Remember the Exorcist theme song? It was eery.. I still don’t like that song!
)
I did see the movie eventually and it was kinda creepy.
TC, Robin
The first half of IT is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen, but I was disappointed by the second half. I guess there was no living up to Pennywise.
“The Sixth Sense” is a good film, but not scary.
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” was great. I remember the original, TV movie with Kim Darby.
One movie that made me jump out of my seat was “Wait Until Dark” with Audrey Hepburn. Overall, it is a good suspense film, but the ending, when she has broken all the lightbulbs except the light in the refrigerator and the psycho (Alan Arkin) comes after her is terrifying. Did I mention that she’s blind?
The first time I saw “Psycho” I had heard about the shower scene, but that scene with Martin Balsam on the stairs made me jump!
When “The Exorcist” first came out, it actually made people sick. SNL even did a sketch with “Exorcist Barf Bags.” Those were innocent times when you think of what people will pay to watch now. I think if I ever went to see a torture porn movie, I’d be more worried about the other people in the audience than what was going on in the movie!
Psycho is my all-time favorite horror movie EVER. I’m sorry, but Norman Bates at the end of that film creeps me the eff out. I haven’t seen it in years and to this day, I still occasionally get scared to shower if I’m alone in the house.
I watched The Ring for the first and only time on my 19th birthday with my ex. We started it around 11 PM and the lights were all off and by the time the movie was over, I was rocking back and forth on the couch begging my ex to turn on the lights (which he thought was hilarious). The girl in the closet? Fricking creepy. The horses? Scary. But what really got me? That crazy little psycho crawling OUT OF THE TV!!!
Look, I watch a LOT of TV. The idea that some psychopathic serial killer could just crawl out of it like that any time she felt antsy? Terrifying. I never watched the movie again. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it scared the bejeesus out of me.
From the Thai version of ‘Shutter’. Watch the first 30 seconds of this clip and tell me you’re not creeped the hell out:
Oh my gosh, I got scared just reading this list! Which proves two things: 1) I scare way too easily; and 2) you picked some Great movies! I’m so glad Scream got an honorable mention, because that shit scared me so bad when I saw it I was convinced a friend of mine was going to kill me on the way home from the theater. Also – you totally managed to crack me up while scaring me, if that isn’t an amazing combo of writing skill I don’t know what is!
Picnic at Hanging Rock, good for its time, 1975. Very mystical and ethereal, supposed to be based on a true story.
Phantasm: very scary. Also to Fnord: If you like Asian flix like I do try “Old Boy”. Let me know what you think. Also Asian for laughs “The Happiness of the Katachuris”
Wowsa, Hypnotoad. As usual, you blow me away. This is very well written. Reading this list makes me wish I liked scary movies!
As soon as I saw Session 9 as the first movie you wrote up I said “YES! This is the list for me!” So underrated, and only people who like a true horror movie can appreciate it!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, for putting the Ring on the list!!! That movie is scary as shit!!! And horses scare the hell outta me too. Not long after I saw it in the theater (and didn’t sleep for the next 2 or 3 nights), I had dyed my hair from blonde to jet black.Well, I had gotten out of the shower one day, had flipped my head over, and caught a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror with my black, wet hair hanging over my face, and I literally almost had a fucking heart attack before I realized it was me. LOL. Good call on “what Lies Beneath”,too. You ever seen the old version of “When A Stranger Calls”? It’s soooo creepy/scary! You have to see it.
Pixeilated- GOOD CALL on “wait unti dark”! I forgot all about that movie, but it is scary as hell. Just the thought of being in such a helpless, fucked up situation is scary all on its own. Ugh. It gives me chills thinking about it.
Tamitha – THAT would creep me out. I mean, I wake up and freak out about the light above my bed constantly . . . and it’s the smoke alarm.
True story: When I was in undergrad, I was in my college’s production of “Wait Until Dark” as Mike Talman (the Richard Crenna character). It was a play before it was a film, and it was still quite creepy on the stage. I don’t think the movie is all that terrifying until the last 20 minutes or so, but it does build suspense, and those last 20 minutes? Awesome.
Hypnotoad-LOL. That play of “Wait Until Dark” sounds like an amwesome idea.
I realize it’s been months since I originally posted about my desire to see “What Lies Beneath”, but I finally saw it. And thought it was awesome.
I’d say I agree with all of your points Hypnotoad, that it is slow, but extremely tense and once it draws you in, you’re hooked for good. I didn’t know they could make suspense movies like that anymore.
Psst! Hypnotoad! Are you doing a scary movie list for Halloween this year? My show ends this week so I’ll be bored with nothing to recap, I was gonna throw a list together if you’re not already planning one.
Ah. I just now saw this, themiki. I was going to do a “Top 10 Scary TV Episodes List,” but “Pretty Little Liars” had a Halloween episode and I’m doing “Desperate Housewives” as well, and since doing 2 recaps in one week is a ton of suckage, I didn’t have time to do anything.
Thanks for doing yours!