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Scary Movie(s), Part 2: Friends and Family Edition

For the second part of my Scary Movie series, I decided to poll and troll those who are nearest and dearest to me, with the promise that their individual responses would be protected by anonymity.

I posed the very basic question to them:

Select a scary movie that you “love” and describe in a couple of sentences why this is so.

All in all I would say I was quite entertained, even by the scaredy-cats, who for various reasons, do not indulge in such films. If you will notice, I left the question very vague, because scares and frights mean different things, depending on the person. So without further ado, here are the responses I received:

Sinister – I am not expert, but I liked Ethan Hawke in this and the whole trail of killings and how it turned out they connected was well executed in the film. Paranormal Activity (the first one) – this gave me nightmares and the perspective they filmed were very realistic. (These are) Just my top two, but also like (The) Conjuring and am looking forward to seeing Annabel.

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The Shining: Redrum. Redrum. The scene where the costumed partygoers look at the boy in the bedroom still creeps me out to this day. And oh yeah, talking to an evil spirit in the mirror. Not exactly my idea of a festive scene.
Alien: “10 Little Indians” Meets Outer Space. This dark, brooding film was not only depressing visually, but the main antagonist, a 7-foot, reptile-like alien which doesn’t have eyes, is pretty eerie.
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The scene in The Ring when the girl crawls out of the TV is bananas. I have never seen anything like it. it was surreal, the black and white, the color, cinematography magic.
Idk if this is considered scary, but I cannot get enough of Silence of the Lambs. I loved the creepiness of the Anthony Hopkins character, Hannibal Lecter. How he could skin a man alive and not hurt a tiny hair on Clarice. I esp. loved crazy Buffalo Bill telling the governor’s daughter to put the f#$king lotion in the basket. (I love that this person realizes that my blog is PG-13)
Lastly, I think it was Texas Chainsaw Massacre (no I did not see the movie, just a scene). the girl was in the backseat of the car and they just shot a guy and his brains were all over the seat and they made her sit on it- ewwww
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Poltergeist 1.  It was one of the first scary movie I saw as a child. My sister and I forced our parents to lock the closet door for months after watching that movie.
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I don’t really like scary movies so I haven’t watched many of them. If I had to pick one, I would say my favorite scary movie is Aliens. Some people may say it is more suspenseful than scary, but I think all really good scary movies are also really suspenseful. But I love this movie because it has a great opening sequence to set up the movie and then a quiet, slow build up to the aliens.  The movie is tense throughout from the dark, wet setting, the eery music and the almost claustrophobic feeling.
So there you have it ladies and gents. And if truth be told, when I was deciding which images to post according to the responses, I was creeping myself out a bit (luckily I had Outlander: The Wedding playing in the background as a distraction). Especially with that scene from The Shining; but I surmised what better time to face my fears :). Well almost anyways, no way would I replicate The Ring or creepy preacher man from Poltergeist (“You’re gonna die…” or something to that effect).
Lovely readers, now is your turn. Post your favorite scary movies/moments in movies in the comments section below.

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Trick or Treat …

This year let’s go for the TREAT, shall we? In previous posts I have mentioned My Tales of Terror, and recommended Cat People. This year I am in a rather jovial mood, so I have decided to take a look at the “lighter” side of cinematic Halloween fare …

I Married a Witch (1942) Fun Veronica Lake vehicle.

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) – previously mentioned in Cool Off with the Classics meme. If the word ZANY was ever used in the right way, it would have to be to describe this film.

Ghostbusters (1983) Who ya gonna call? I remember seeing this back in the day 1.5 in the theater. This was at a time when you did not get kicked out of the movie theater. I remember so clearly. Halfway through the second showing my brothers, my cousin and I snuck into see the end of Star Trek: The Search for Spock.

The Little Shop of Horrors (both versions!) The 1950’s version is worth seeing merely for the glimpse of a young Jack Nicholson!

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) – another one that has gotten a previous mention on my site.

The Devil and Daniel Webster – part of Double Feature Theatre. Lesson: NEVER make a deal with the devil, especially now that Daniel Webster is around to help argue your case!

The Trouble with Harry – this list would not have been complete without a nod to Alfred Hitchcock! This is one of the lesser-known outings from the Master of Suspense. It is equal parts funny and macabre. As the poster explains, this is quite an unexpected offering from Hitchcock.

 

Then of course there is the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I will not count because … I have not seen it all the way through in one sitting. But I have seen the Glee episode. Same goes for Shaun of the Dead. 

What films for Halloween do you really enjoy (in the fun way)? Please add your comments below.

 

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Fright Fest – my “tales of terror.”

This past Monday night as I prepared myself to watch a replay of the new HBO series True Blood, I was watching the preceding program, Shadow of the Vampire from the year 2000.  It was my first time viewing this film about a fictionalization surrounding the filming of 1922’s Nosferatu.  Overall is made for great viewing but it got me thinking, “In my mind, what qualifies a movie as ‘scary’ or even ‘terrifying’?”  After some thought I concluded that this definition for me is very broad.  That is why I use scary and terrifying interchangeably as you will find throughout the passage.

To me, the goal in creating a good it is not merely about the shock-value – although that can go a long way when executed properly.  What is truly scary or terrifying to me are films which upon their first (and hopefully subsequent) viewings to a “mind mess” with me.  In other words, to truly feel terrified or scared, I want to leave the cinematic experience playing with various scenarios of what I have just experienced in my head, almost to a troubling degree.  My television equivalent of what is most terrifying is what the very best of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone had to offer.

In previous entries I have stated my love of (all) things Alfred Hitchcock. For the purposes of this blog entry I will exclude these titles – although I must admit when I think of scary and terrifying I do not immediately think of Hitchcock for some reason.  I do find them suspenseful and full of dramatic tension but around this time of year I do no feel a special need to place his titles in a heavier DVD rotation.

So as we near All Hallow’s Eve this Friday here is a list of what MAY be playing in my queue.  This is not an all-inclusive list I am sure.  A couple that are not on the list but in my collection is The Orphanage ( il Orfanato) and Hard Candy – we’ll see if they have what it takes to make my list!

Meshes on the Afternoon (1943) – a Maya Deren short which has produced a couple of nightmares in my lifetime
Dead of Night (1945) – I really hope that this film gets a proper digital transfer to DVD – this is one for the collection, a real keeper.
Brazil (1983)
Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
The Shining (1980) – sterility and coldness literally sends shivers up my spine; Kubrick was very effective at capturing that.
The Others (2001) – Who cares if you were able to figure out the plot twist before the big reveal?  My unsettledness had a lot to do with the other-worldly atmosphere.
Heavenly Creatures (1994) – a terrific pre-LOTR adaptation by Peter Jackson.
The Third Man (1949) – part of what makes the visualization and imagery disturbing in this film has to do with its connection to the aforementioned “Heavenly Creatures.”

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