My favorite scary movies
Obviously, Halloween is the theme today in college football. Georgia wore black pants and helmets, Tennessee wore black jerseys, and Oregon is apparently doing something with their jerseys, but I can’t tell what. (With all the kit combinations they have it’s hard to know when they’re doing something special. Though, their old school, “gangrene” uni’s are tight). Scary. Not as scary, though, as the bat flying around the arena at the Kings-Spurs game.
Fright Night (Devil’s Night, if you live in Detroit) means trick-or-treating, jack-o’-lanterns, and people my age getting drunk and acting like they’re 15. It also means scary movies. (I won’t be watching any tonight, though. Well, maybe later — after all the games and “College Football Final,” of course.) So I thought it’d be cool to list my favorite scary movies.
In no particular order, here are my picks.
Alien (1979)
I watched the edited version on AMC with my mom last Friday, so it’s fresh in my mind. Regardless, I’ve always admired this film. Not so much the never ending sequels, but the first in the series is top-notch sci-fi/horror.
Part of my admiration for Alien is because it was made in the ‘70s. Seriously: the ‘70s were superior in every way, and Alien is evidence. The movie was way ahead of its time conceptually, artistically, and graphically; it poured the foundation for sci-fi and horror movies filmed in the coming decades. At the time it was probably the scariest movie ever made. My parents saw it at a test screening before the full release, and my mom said it was like nothing she’d ever seen; people were scared out of their minds. Its pace is perfect; it doesn’t move too fast to seem cheap, but it doesn’t move so slowly that you feel bored. Story-wise I love its realism; it’s not overly fantastic to the point where it’s far-fetched and unbelievable. This clip from Wikipedia says it all for me:
As an artist I have to admire the ingenuity of the filmmakers. I once heard that because the budget was so low, the set designers built some of the Nostromo out of salvaged material from an old bomber.
Plus, Sigourney Weaver’s scantly clad. Sexy.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion is not so scary as it is spooky and surreal. It’s typical, ‘50s sci-fi, and it’s been remade ad nauseum ever since, which is a testament to the film’s concept and originality.
I first saw it in my freshman year English class in high school. I thought it was clever, subtle, and grounded; like Alien, Invasion isn’t so far-fetched and bizarre that it’s unconvincing. (The whole pod thing may be a stretch, but it’s done very well.) The cinematography is perfect, and the black and white heightens the suspense.
Ironically, I think the film presents a classic example of the quintessential ‘50s, Main Street small town. Of course it’s a movie, but the look and feel of Santa Mira (which is in reality Sierra Madre, California) always gives me a nice, warm feeling; I always feel like it would be the perfect place to live — before the body snatcher invasion, of course.
The Thing (1982)
The original, The Thing from Another World (1951), is good, but John Carpenter’s remake is insane.
I love this movie mostly for the spectacular, pre-CGI special effects. It was done the old fashioned way with models and stop-motion photography, which, I think, gives the film an unmatched sense of realism. The gory scenes involving the shape-shifter are incredible, though they can border on gross. That was, unfortunately, one of the criticisms of the remake: the sickening special effects overshadowed the rest of the film, disgusting many viewers.
The Thing, it should be noted, was Keith David’s first movie.
Night of the Living Dead (1968, 1990)
Both the original and remake are great, but I’m more familiar with the 1990 version, directed by Tom Savini, so that’s what I’ll write about.
The ’90 remake is also more aligned with my idea of zombie horror. The zombies are stupid and docile, and the gore is horrific. Savini is a special effects master; his work is heavily influenced by his experience in Vietnam, and it shows in Night. To avoid an “X” rating, Savini had to cut a few scenes from the theatrical release. Those scenes are now resorted in the DVD version.
Patricia Tallman is the new and improved Barbara. She’s feisty, smart, and sexy (I love the short hair).
I saw this movie way back in the day on HBO (before The Doors was shown continuously). I was just a kid, and changed channels each time something scary was about to happen. I’ve since manned up and seen the whole thing.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Return is quintessential ‘80s gore: teenage mischief (at a cemetery, no less) turns into a night of horrors. To me it’s one of those classic, scary, Saturday night date movies. It makes me think of the Saturday nights my family spent at our friends’ farm when I was a kid. There was always some corny, ‘80s horror movie on TV (they had a satellite and got a ton of channels we didn’t), and I think Return was one of them.
The cool thing about this flick is that it’s scary and funny at the same time. It’s a horror-comedy hybrid. Plus, it has a killer deathrock and punk soundtrack, and a graveyard striptease. This movie has everything.
Fright Night (Devil’s Night, if you live in Detroit) means trick-or-treating, jack-o’-lanterns, and people my age getting drunk and acting like they’re 15. It also means scary movies. (I won’t be watching any tonight, though. Well, maybe later — after all the games and “College Football Final,” of course.) So I thought it’d be cool to list my favorite scary movies.
In no particular order, here are my picks.
Alien (1979)
I watched the edited version on AMC with my mom last Friday, so it’s fresh in my mind. Regardless, I’ve always admired this film. Not so much the never ending sequels, but the first in the series is top-notch sci-fi/horror.
Part of my admiration for Alien is because it was made in the ‘70s. Seriously: the ‘70s were superior in every way, and Alien is evidence. The movie was way ahead of its time conceptually, artistically, and graphically; it poured the foundation for sci-fi and horror movies filmed in the coming decades. At the time it was probably the scariest movie ever made. My parents saw it at a test screening before the full release, and my mom said it was like nothing she’d ever seen; people were scared out of their minds. Its pace is perfect; it doesn’t move too fast to seem cheap, but it doesn’t move so slowly that you feel bored. Story-wise I love its realism; it’s not overly fantastic to the point where it’s far-fetched and unbelievable. This clip from Wikipedia says it all for me:
Salon.com critic Andrew O’Hehir notes that Alien “has a profoundly existentialist undertow that makes it feel like a film noir” and praises it over its “increasingly baroque” sequels as “a film about human loneliness amid the emptiness and amorality of creation. It’s a cynical ‘70s-leftist vision of the future in which none of the problems plaguing 20th century Earth—class divisions, capitalist exploitation, the subjugation of humanity to technology—have been improved in the slightest by mankind’s forays into outer space.”
As an artist I have to admire the ingenuity of the filmmakers. I once heard that because the budget was so low, the set designers built some of the Nostromo out of salvaged material from an old bomber.
Plus, Sigourney Weaver’s scantly clad. Sexy.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion is not so scary as it is spooky and surreal. It’s typical, ‘50s sci-fi, and it’s been remade ad nauseum ever since, which is a testament to the film’s concept and originality.
I first saw it in my freshman year English class in high school. I thought it was clever, subtle, and grounded; like Alien, Invasion isn’t so far-fetched and bizarre that it’s unconvincing. (The whole pod thing may be a stretch, but it’s done very well.) The cinematography is perfect, and the black and white heightens the suspense.
Ironically, I think the film presents a classic example of the quintessential ‘50s, Main Street small town. Of course it’s a movie, but the look and feel of Santa Mira (which is in reality Sierra Madre, California) always gives me a nice, warm feeling; I always feel like it would be the perfect place to live — before the body snatcher invasion, of course.
The Thing (1982)
The original, The Thing from Another World (1951), is good, but John Carpenter’s remake is insane.
I love this movie mostly for the spectacular, pre-CGI special effects. It was done the old fashioned way with models and stop-motion photography, which, I think, gives the film an unmatched sense of realism. The gory scenes involving the shape-shifter are incredible, though they can border on gross. That was, unfortunately, one of the criticisms of the remake: the sickening special effects overshadowed the rest of the film, disgusting many viewers.
The Thing, it should be noted, was Keith David’s first movie.
Night of the Living Dead (1968, 1990)
Both the original and remake are great, but I’m more familiar with the 1990 version, directed by Tom Savini, so that’s what I’ll write about.
The ’90 remake is also more aligned with my idea of zombie horror. The zombies are stupid and docile, and the gore is horrific. Savini is a special effects master; his work is heavily influenced by his experience in Vietnam, and it shows in Night. To avoid an “X” rating, Savini had to cut a few scenes from the theatrical release. Those scenes are now resorted in the DVD version.
Patricia Tallman is the new and improved Barbara. She’s feisty, smart, and sexy (I love the short hair).
I saw this movie way back in the day on HBO (before The Doors was shown continuously). I was just a kid, and changed channels each time something scary was about to happen. I’ve since manned up and seen the whole thing.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Return is quintessential ‘80s gore: teenage mischief (at a cemetery, no less) turns into a night of horrors. To me it’s one of those classic, scary, Saturday night date movies. It makes me think of the Saturday nights my family spent at our friends’ farm when I was a kid. There was always some corny, ‘80s horror movie on TV (they had a satellite and got a ton of channels we didn’t), and I think Return was one of them.
The cool thing about this flick is that it’s scary and funny at the same time. It’s a horror-comedy hybrid. Plus, it has a killer deathrock and punk soundtrack, and a graveyard striptease. This movie has everything.
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