Anyway, I was looking for something to watch during that initial marathon session. The "Top Picks" section of Netflix is always one of my first stops, and The Shining was one of the featured movies. It's been something like three years since I've taken that flick in, so I push that virtual play button and get ready for some good creepy. And that lasted roughly five minutes, as that soul-destroying musical score begins that opens the movie, bringing back all those painful childhood memories when this movie freakin' TRAUMATIZED me. The epic conclusion to the story is that I shut the movie off because, yes, 32-year-old curmudgeonly single guy Jon Lickness was getting scared. But only because it was dark out - I swear. (/false machismo)
I've spoken before about how people watch horror movies for different reasons. Mine has been the same since I was a kid - being scared is fun. Especially in the dark. Nothing in the world ever sounded more fun than telling scary storeis in the dark, and that's the reason why the kids on Are You Afraid of the Dark? seemed like the coolest kids on Earth. It's why I continue to take in as many of these movies as I can. That feeling is one of a kind, and it's something that can't be manufactured with anything else. Being scared is fun. It makes you feel alive.
While there are a good many horror movies that legit frightened me on the first watch, there is a very select few movies out there that, to this day, I won't watch by myself at night. Even though I know every beat, every plot twist, and every kill scene. The reasons are different for each of these, but...they exist. So get prepared to read all about how much of a wuss I am as we explore these flicks in no particular order.
First and foremost is the aforementioned The Shining. In my estimation, this is the single scariest movie of all time. If you ask a hundred horror fans what the scariest movie they've ever seen is, a lot of them will tell you this or The Exorcist, but I think this blows Linda Blair out of the water. Stanley Kubrick was a director who just know how to go balls-to-the-wall with what he wanted to accomplish here, and...Jesus. The music, the atmosphere, Nicholson's performance, the epic weirdness, the woman in room 217, Shelley Duvall's amazing pained facial expressions, the slightly ambiguous ending. It's also yet more proof that "closer to the book" does not equal "better."
From Stephen King we go to the other guy that I consider to be the absolute master of horror - Italian giallo maestro Dario Argento. I've reviewed quite a few of his films here on the blog, but Suspiria is, was and will forever be his masterpiece. Leaving gory murder mysteries behind and instead focusing on supernatural terror, this is Mario Bava on steroids in all of the best ways. What gets most people about this flick is the brutal opening murder scene that lingers on and on and on during the victim's torment, but the reason I won't pop this bad boy in past 7:00 p.m. is the music and the color. Lots of reds, greens and blues fuck with your retinas here...and that ending. Yikes.
I've watched Lucio Fulci's House by the Cemetery three times now, and there's also no way that I'd ever brave watching this thing in the dark. Weirdly enough, this isn't even the movie that most Fulci fans would rank as his best; most of them prefer City of the Living Dead or The Beyond, and while I highly enjoyed those, they can't hold a candle to the creep factor that this one boasts. If I saw this movie as a KID, I can't imagine what this would have done to me. This movie proudly features a child in mortal danger and facing a truly nightmarish situation - the monster in the basement, and it's done repeatedly. And this kid isn't even annoying.
Most critics out there don't consider to be the first film version of Dean Koontz' Watchers to be anything special...but I dunno, I really like it. This was one of my favorite movies when I was in grade school for a lot of different reasons, and as goofy as it is, it's still one that I don't like to think about after dark. The concept of the Oxcom is something straight out of Rod Serling's imagination brought to life. A violent beast follows a nonviolent one in an attempt to kill it, thus damning pretty much everyone that the virtuous creature meets to a violent death. Combined with what this thing LOOKS like, even cool Corey Haim can't save it.
Which brings me to the only American slasher film on this list. Now, slasher films are my comfort food - they're fun, but almost none of them frighten me. I rented Sleepaway Camp back in 2006 due to the promise of getting some fun slasher action. Amazingly, I knew NOTHING about the legendary ending that this flick has when I watched it that first time, sympathizing with the character of Angela like no other and laughing along at the movie's many corny jokes and moments. And then that ending hits.
Anyway...those are the movies that actually make me feel trepidation when popping them in the ol' DVD player. Anyone reading this care to share some of yours?
No comments:
Post a Comment