The Horror of it All
Thursday, March 26th, 2009(best when said with any kind of accent)
I should be running lines for rehearsal tonight, but I have no attention span, so I’ve been thinking about scary movies instead, pondering which ones I like best. These are not necessarily slasher films (my gag reflex acts up when there’s too much blood) or scary apocalyptic films, but films that tap into human fear in an effective way. I’m not sure why I’m not always bugged by scary movies–maybe it’s an after-effect of the horror-movie nightmares during the Year From Hell (I don’t like talking about it) or maybe it’s because I have a pretty good grasp on the reality of evil, but it does take a lot to freak me out. There are films I love watching because 1. they’re so GOOD and 2. they do get to me, but I know what’s real and what isn’t.
Shall I limit it to five? Methinks I shall! In no particular order!
Five Scary Movies I Really Like
- Gin Gwai (The Eye)–the original Chinese Pang Brothers film. I saw this the first time at Showgren’s house and loved it. Oh my! It’s a really frightening concept that I’ve wondered about for a long time and it doesn’t necessarily rely on “jump scenes” or loud music to get its point across. In fact, you don’t really catch on to what’s happening for a little while, but when you DO, it’s pretty freaky. The cinematography and acting are great (even the scary child who eats candles) and it has the single most frightening elevator scene (filmed in near silence!) I’ve ever witnessed or even thought about. The elevator scene in “Silence of the Lambs” is gross and disturbing, but this one is plain edge-of-your-seat frightening. In fact, every time I see it, I end up curled in the corner of the couch, clutching a pillow, and saying “ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh” to myself.
- Psycho–the original. The filming is gorgeous. Janet Leigh is gorgeous. The pan away from her still eye is gorgeous. It’s just marvelously creepy and I love every minute of it. The final shot ALWAYS gets me! The shot when Norman Bates has the “I won’t hurt this fly” voice-over and then suddenly looks up at the camera gives me chills every time.
- Rear Window–while we’re thinking about Hitchcock. I’m in love with Jimmy Stewart and I want to look and dress like Grace Kelly, so what’s not to like? And I really really love how it’s nearly completely filmed from that tiny back apartment. The sense of confinement and helplessness taps into one of my more primal irrational fears and I still almost cry when Lisa is in Thorwald’s apartment and Jeff is watching it and frantic to save her but can’t.
- Halloween–the first one. There are so many scenes I love that I can’t write about all of them. I got to see this in hi-def at Showgren’s one night and was blown away by just how good it is. It’s not so much the violence, but the suspense, that is so well timed. I know the film is almost a cliche by this point, but John Carpenter knew exactly what he was doing and pioneered a new genre and I love almost every frightening minute of this one.
- Dracula–1931. The lighting, the set, the fog, the castle, Bela Lugosi. If you allow yourself to push your modern sensibilities aside, it’s quite a frightening film. And I do allow myself to do that, and I do love it. “Children of the night–what music they make!” eeee!
I could have made all of these Hitchcock films, but I’ll save that for another list. 