Written by Chaz Elmore
Finally! Leaves are turning shades of brown, amber and yellow. The temperature is rapidly dropping.
Fall, I welcome you with open arms!!!
Something else is upon us as well. Halloween!
As is tradition for this time of year, people will be either going door to door, holding out bags for oodles of candy and thus keeping the dental industry in business or they'll be rushing to blockbuster or Hollywood video or whatever thier favorite rental stop is and grabbing handfuls of DVDs that will send chills up their spines and give reason to leave the hallway light on through the night.
So it is in honor of that joyous occasion where, for one day, we seek out that nail-biting, afraid of the dark experience that I gather my own favorite scary movies that have scared the bejeezes out of me over the years. Whether it was the first scary movie I ever saw (at the tender age of 5) or something that I've experienced recently, what follows will be my five favorite, most scary movies. Granted, I haven't seen every scary movie out there. There will be some on this list that will make people scoff or be up in arms about my selection- and please by all means if you have some really cool, creepy, truly terrifying horror movie to suggest, please do so. I'm always searching out that one horror film that will give me the same sense of unease that I felt the first time I was truly scared in the dark, sitting in front of an illuminated screen.
Before I go further I do want to state an opinion of my own.
That is that the horror film as a genre is in a truly depressing state these days. The films that I have in my top five are there because they didn't just gross me out, they terrified me to my very core. Left me wide awake all night. These films had me hearing non-existent thumps throughout the night and checking the locks on my door. Horror films of today don't do that anymore. For those of you who think that horror films are gross or disgusting or vile forms of entertainment, so be it. To that I say, Don't go see them. You'll save me a headache and yourself eight bucks. I don't like going to see Rom-Coms or period pieces and I keep my mouth shut around those that do.
So moving on. Modern horror is at a point where I leave each one more disappointed than the previous. Sure they make me squeamish, such as films like Hostel 1 and 2- the latter being an utter waste of film and not much of an elaboration on the original. These films eschew the timeless cut-away technique in favor of beating the viewer over the head with its gore and violence. The Saw series panders to this style as well as the run of the mill horror film like the recent horror remakes Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the Amityville Horror, two films whose original were far more terrifying and far less gory than their retreads. It seems as though horror films of today have been declawed and then replaced with a disgusting layer of grime and grease that makes the audience feel like taking a bath more than being scared. What's worse is that producers and more importantly Movie Studios see the first week box-office success of these films and then order a string of remakes and sequels that don't add anything new, other than another layer of disgusting - no doubt trying to top the previous films gross out moments.
It disappoints me because I have great faith in horror movies. This may sound macabre but seeing a horror film is the one experience where you can feel truly terrified in the safe confines of a movie theater. If you see one on a busy night, you get to share that experience with a hundred or more other people seeking out that very same experience. The genre wouldn't be the success it is if people didn't enjoy this experience. And so I go to see most new horror film, being enticed by the money-shot packed trailers, only to be disappointed by the punches pulled or the false scares and cheap shots of gore. I'm no longer terrified at the movies. And I want to be. Which is why, I still go back to these following five films to feel terrified, to be truly scared, while still being in the comfort of my own home. If you'd like a very articulate and informative exploration of effective genre-conventions, there's a good article up at www.cinematical.com, the article can be found here:
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/10/15/cinematical-seven-horror-movie-gimmicks-that-always-work/
5- The Exorcist - Written by William Peter Blatty (based on his novel), Directed by William Friedken.
William Friedken says, in the intro of the DVD, that he doesn't think of The Exorcist as a horror film. That's cute and all but I'm sure there are millions of movie-goers who think otherwise. And I'm one of 'em. Now I didn't see The Exorcist until well into my adult life. Probably in my early 20's, so the impact wasn't as blunt as say, the person who saw it in the theater back in 1973. However, being of non-denominational Christian background, the film's religious and spiritual resonance was what scared me. Having heard tales of the glory days of charismatic evangelists on the mission field, confronting demon possessed humans and then seeing little Regan MacNeil in the throes of her possessor and the horrifying things it made her do, scared the snot out of me. Still to this day, I give the ole Exorcist platter a spin when I want a good, unsettling scare.
4- Audition - Written by Daisuke Tengen (from the novel written by Ryu Murakami) and Directed by Takashi Miike.
This film was wicked! I'd heard of this film through a magazine and since it was made in Japan, it wasn't released theatrically in the US. Which is a bummer. Because I would've felt a lot safer seeing it with other people than the night I saw it all alone, at night in my unfurnished apartment when I was 23. Though I was vaguely familiar with Miike's work, and his subsequent bending of genre conventions, I was wholly unprepared for the experience of seeing Audition. This a film that starts as a bold-faced drama. A wealthy, recently widowed businessman longs for love, his movie producer friend offers to stage auditions for a non-existent film, with the businessman as a "producer" so he can choose his future love. He finds her in a quiet and amiable girl whose soft-spoken demeanor is all a calculated front for what becomes a truly magnificent and horrifying u-turn into a terrifying third act. Now anyone who understands the psychological association the human brain and emotion has in relation to the specific expectations of a given film and the genre it purports itself to be, we go into these films with said expectations. In a drama we expect, well drama. A Comedy laughs, a horror well scares. But, when a film superficially sells itself as one thing then, against the viewers expectations, skews from it's genre conventions, it forces the viewer to partake in the most unexpected of outcomes and thus making the viewer vulnerable and at their most raw in processing of images, actions and, in the case of Audition, atrocities forced upon its characters.
Okay that was a little too psyche-major for ya, but you get what I'm saying. It's nothing new. Hitchcock did it with Psycho, Ridley Scott did it with Alien. This is one of the most effective scare tactics a film can wield and it isn't wielded enough. With Audition, Miike wields it with a craftsmanship that has won thousands of adoring fans and imitators one of which is the questionable filmmaker Eli Roth, whose been on record as being influenced by Miike. Hostel is an outright rip-off of Audition. Audition is one of the few modern films that have shaken me and left me dwelling on its payoff days after.
3- The Descent - Written and Directed by Neil Marshall
Another modern horror film that had a great scare for me. Although it takes place in the Appalachian mountains of America it was actually made in the UK. Sadly, yet another film that makes American horror films pale in comparison, this film does for caves what Psycho did for Showers. Take some of the things we subconsciously fear the most: betrayal, abandonment, claustrophobia. Roll them up into one and you got The Descent. The plot's pretty average, a woman loses her family in a horrible accident, a year later her friends try to distract her by taking her on a hiking/spelunking expedition. When a thrill-seeking member decided to veer off course, things go horribly awry and soon, one by one, each of the hikers is plucked off, whether by fear of each other, panic or a hidden and terrifying force. This film externalized the personal quest that only until you're at absolute rock bottom (in this case the bowels of hell?) can you truly overcome your fears, anxieties and self-doubt. Even if it means coming out a little battered.
2- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Written by Tobe hooper and Kim Henkel and Directed by Tobe Hooper
What started out as a bunch of UT students making a film over four weeks of a Texas summer in 1973 turned into one of the grittiest and stark horror films in cinema. The simplicity in its execution (no pun intended), the sheer horror of its plot- a hidden, cannibalistic family stalking a group of wandering friends, a six foot seven chainsaw wielding maniac killing without emotion- these elements still make TCM still scary to this day. From the opening narration to the first, shocking reveal of Leatherface (that metal door, sliding open, the abrupt attack on the young visitor!) still make me jump, even after multiple viewings. This is a film that is often imitated and hardly ever matched. Even it's subsequent remakes and re-imaginings have failed to capture the horror and spirit of the original. Even worse was the attempt to humanize the cannibal family and Leatherface as depicted in the recent pointless sequel.
1- A Nightmare on Elm Street - Written and Directed by Wes Craven
I know what your saying. This is your number one!? After all those other, scarier films this is your number one? To you I say, YES! You see here's the deal. I saw this for the very first time, and my mother can attest, when I was five years old. I remember it as plain as day. My Mother took me along to one of her friends, there were either a group of teenagers or other adults and they were all sitting down to watch this scary movie they just rented on VHS (or was it BETA?) Me being the curious child, I sat down with those other adventurous teens and watched the horror and violence unfold before me. From the haunting opening dream sequence in the boiler room to the surreal bedroom massacre of Tina, all the way to the hypnotic and unsettling denouement, Elm Street had it all. And it stuck with me well into my youth. This is the film to blame for me needing a nightlight till I was 14, this is the film that, even to this day, I tell myself that it's not real before falling into my dreams. Maybe that's what scared me the most about Elm Street. The fact that in the film, there is a evil so terrifying that it can pierce your dreams, a place that some hold sacred as a window to their subconscious, and in these dreams this interloper can strike you down without any defense is what scared me the most. I like dreaming. I love the escape it has as well as the joy of waking up having experienced a world that I don't have access to on a daily basis. And it makes me a little unsettled to see a movie where someone can come in and disrupt that so violently. But of course it's just a movie and I have too vivid an imagination, as my father use to tell me.
Which is why no child should ever see a movie like this at such a ripe young age. (thanks Mom!)
Well, there you have it. Those are my top 5. For Now. I hope that is will someday evolve, maybe you can suggest some of your favorite scary movies. I'm always game. But please, don't suggest any M. Night Shyamalan film as a horror, those, by structure alone, are not.
Some other notables however are The Shining, Psycho, Suspiria, The Hills Have Eyes (original), Something Wicked This Way Comes, Rosemary's Baby, Last House On The Left (another film that faces a remake), Irreversible and the list of honorable mentions goes on, too many to list here.
Anyway, If scary movies aren't your thing, there are plenty of other things to do this Halloween. Whether it's a trip to the nightmare, a haunted trail or a Fall Festival. Whatever you do, I hope you have a fun and safe Halloween and enjoy being scared in the comforts of your home.
Enjoy
Chaz