Another late start, my friends… I apologize, but real life has a way of sometimes screwing up my virtual world here. So, let’s do our annual October survey of favorite — and scariest — horror films. What do you say? I can do that one quickly, and you guys can take up my slack, again. You know, if you wanna.
Here is a fresh list of the Greatest Horror Films of All-Time, as chosen by “leading directors and stars,” whatever that means. It’s not a bad list, but I don’t consider Jaws to be a horror film, and the same goes for Dawn of the Dead. Those are action movies, right? I’m not sure they fit the category.
And maybe I’m admitting too much about myself, but I’m unfamiliar with Suspiria. Never heard of it. Gasp in shock and sadness, if you must.
I like The Shining, Halloween, Psycho, and (if we’re including zombie films) Dawn of the Dead. In fact, Dawn of the Dead is one of my favorite movies, period. I’ve probably watched it ten or twelve times, and it’s a masterpiece of cartoonish gore and mayhem. Incredibly entertaining.
My other favorite zombie flick is 28 Days Later. I recommend it without hesitation.
But the movie that scared me the most doesn’t appear on the list. And I admit… it’s not as scary now as it was when I was twelve. But it’s still pretty creepy, and a really good flick. And that’s Black Christmas — the original, from the 1970s. I know there’s a remake, but I’ve never seen it. I’m talking about the one with Margot Kidder, from 1974.
That movie used to be in heavy rotation during the early days of HBO, and was always broadcast as Stranger in the House, for some reason. The first time I watched it, I nearly soiled my Towncrafts. Heh.
There’s a twist in the tale, as they say, near the end of the movie, and it messed me up — for a good long time. The “prank” phone calls are scary, too. Weird shit, man. I lost actual sleep as a result of that movie, and I can’t think of any others I can say that about.
To tell you the truth, I don’t really like movies like The Omen. That’s not my kind of horror film. All the chanting and candles and creepy children and religious overtones… It goes over the line with the freakiness, to the point where it’s no longer fun. Does that make any sense?
I apologize for this quickie update, written like an email, but it’s better than nothing. Maybe. And I’m going to turn it over to you guys now.
In the comments section please tell us your favorite horror films, and also the one that scared you the most. And if you have any opinions about the Top 10 list linked above, we’d like to hear about that as well.
And I’ll be back tomorrow, and will try it again.
See ya then!
Got my wvsr shirts & love ’em! Thanks! P.S. Dead Again with Emma Thompson has a great ending. I love it when I don’t figure it out before the end. But it’s probably more suspense than horror.
-Amityville Horror – my buddy and I (17 yrs old?) had to leave.
-IT – clowns in general but when he climbed out of the picture a turd climbed out of my ass (I’m so classy sometimes).
-The Shinning – Simpson’s version….:)
-Ring and Grudge – I may never sleep again.
-Quatermass and the Pit/Five Million Years to Earth freaked me out as a kid – I saw it when I was 5 or 7 or something. Bad idea for a kid to see that kind of a movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_and_the_Pit_%28film%29
-the theme from the Exorcist is enough to give me goosebumps
-The Reply Feature – really horrific
I can no longer think/write/say “The Shining” without also hearing Groundskeeper Willie say “The Shinning!” Oh, how I miss the brilliance of those early Simpson’s Halloween specials. “Just don’t look, just don’t look!”
IT – the book was scary !
Are you Hot Fuzz cause you like the movie ? Or are you a cop ? You have talked about Tim Hortons a lot !….The movie is one of my favorites , Run fat boy run is great too but not quite as good as HF
Yeah! Followed IT! for 3 nights when they first aired the miniseries, then it all broke down for me the final night – by the time it had turned into that silly scorpion creature! Normally I really enjoy “silly scorpion creatures” (especially the stop-motion variety), but that completely took it out of the carefully crafted Pennywise realm! I was so pissed off! Even Johnboy couldn’t save it for me. I don’t know Stephen King from shinola, but he seems to be really unlucky when it comes to made for TV adaptations of his stuff…
I agree his books are amazing and his tv movies are crap. In my opinion they are down right embarrassing. It’s like when Tiffany cover the Beatles “I saw her standing there”. Its the Beatles for God’s sake and YOU suck.
I remember watching “IT” on the TV mini-series. Pennywise the Clown was a good creepy scare. But when I put in 3 full nights of this movie and it comes down to a gigantic spider (or whatever) beneath the street…I was jacked. A SPIDER?? Are you fucking KIDDING me? Thanks Stevie-boy. Up until that point I thought it was really good.
Here’s where I make an embarrassing admission – I’ve never read a Stephen King book! I made it through the first two chapters of Pet Semetery, but that’s it. Thus, I have no point of reference as to how the film adaptations stack up to the books. But it seems that for every great Carrie or Misery there are 3 Maximum Overdrives or Monkeyshines. The batting average is terrible…
Don’t know if you will ever see this reply as I’m a day late but if you do give the books another try ! I promise they won’t disappoint. Start with his short stories if you don’t have much time. Some of the movies are great but none can compare to the books.
The Audition and Oldboy, both left me ill. Truly twisted and scary.
Oh, man – that freakin’ squid scene when he finally got free…
I’ve got a lot of Takeshi Miike’s stuff. It’s amazing that he can turn out really twisted, perverse stuff like Audition, and then make family-friendly films like Zebraman and The Great Yokai Wars. If you want to see a truly twisted Miike Film, check out Visitor Q. It’s beyond words.
Out of loyalty, I should also have said Shawn of the dead….
Has anyone ever seen “Panic at year zero?” It was an old Ray Millan b&w with Bobby Darrin. Not Really horror but just curious.
In college I lived in a house with 4 other guys and we rented horror / gory movies every single day. I am not kidding, after watching hundreds of these movies they just have no effect on me at all. In a way that’s bad because I just can’t appreciate any scary movies anymore – they just don’t scare me.
I can remember eating stuffed peppers while offhandedly watching some teenagers get slashed in horrific death scenes and thinking I needed some ketchup for my peppers to make them look more like bloody heads.
Havinf said that, I really did like the original Alien – lots of suspense and I like how you never really saw what the Alien looked like. Also, Phantasm scared the crap out of me when I first saw it when I was about 10.
This doesn’t count as a horror movie, but “A Nightmare Before Christmas” is a Halloween staple for me.
The House on Haunted Hill, the original with Vincent Price scared the craplet out of me as a kid. Saw it again a few years ago and couldn’t believe what a cheesy P.O.S. movie it really was. Also, The Blair Witch Project, last scene. I still can’t go down in my basement at night without someone to hold my hand.