What makes a good scary movie⢠Is it the villain, lurking in the shadows, disfigured in soul or body and intent on revenge⢠Maybe the setting, from the world of Stephen King's New England in the dead of winter to the dark shadows of the castles of Europe and back to the isolation of a camp in the middle of the woods. Perhaps it's the mysteries of space, where no one can hear you scream in terror from the creatures that come from the unknown.
Be it setting, storytelling, or just the director popping a knife or an alien right in your face, everybody has their criteria for what scares the living daylights out of him or her. So we took an informal survey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's film critics - and a few special guests - to see what their favorite movies for the Halloween season are. Hold on to your seat, grab your boyfriend's arm - and prepare to meet our list.
| Films That Frighten: Ed Blank, film critic |
The 10 scariest horror and science-fiction movies for Halloween⢠You betcha. But drawing up the initial list of 35 contenders was the easiest part. Eliminating favorites on technicalities was the hardest.
E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Day the Earth Stood Still, for example, are superb science fiction films, but they aren't designed as creepy thrillers. Instead, they're about loving creatures attempting positive communication with us.
Psycho, The Shining, Dead of Night, Carrie and Magic are excellent thrillers, but they dramatize the peculiar behavior of human beings who have jumped the track in some psychological sense. They exhibit the properties of horror and/or science fiction films without truly being blood brethren.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Scared Stiff, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Abominable Dr. Phibes have amusingly chilling moments, but they're designed primarily as comedies.
Ed Wood's unintentionally awful Plan Nine From Outer Space is the most entertaining bad movie of all time, but what it generates is laughter, not terror.
I admire and continue to enjoy such landmark early efforts as Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong and the silent Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but at the risk of being blasphemous, these are primitive early efforts that, while extremely evocative, now seem creaky in ways that relegate them to also-ran status.
The Innocents, The Haunting and Rosemary's Baby need no defense as outstanding atmospheric thrillers involving counter-spiritual menaces that prey on our imagination. Wonderful movies, but exempted from the final 10.
A case can be made for many others, but after awarding honorable mention to such runners-up as The Thing (From Another Planet) (1951 version), The Fly (1958 version), Halloween (1978 original only), Dracula (1979 version) and Night of the Living Dead (1968 version), we'll move onto the 10 most worth owning or renting. All available on video, they're listed here in the sequence in which they were made, with directors and release dates:
Lights out, everyone, and don't trust the pod sitting next to you.
| The Top 13: Anthony Timpone, FANGORIA Magazine |
Anthony Timpone knows horror movies. He has been the editor of monster mag FANGORIA for 17 years, and is also the editor of Fangoria.com . You can check out his bio on the magazine's Web site, and get information on his book, "Men, Makeup and Monsters: Hollywood's Masters of Illusion and Fx," as well as several others that he has edited. He sends us a baker's dozen of his favorite scary movies:
1. The Exorcist (1973) : Hands-down, the scariest movie ever. It sent everyone back to church, even non-Catholics.
2. Halloween (1978) : The slasher film that started it all, John Carpenter's best film ever made no holiday safe when this indie sensation was followed by countless ripoffs and sequels.
3. Horror of Dracula (1958) : Britain's Hammer Films gave new blood to the Bram Stoker perennial in this rousing adaptation.
4. Night of the Living Dead (1968) : George Romero's landmark zombie film operates on several allegorical levels (Vietnam, the '60s race riots, etc.), but is also just plain scary in its B&W simplicity.
5. Hellraiser (1987) : British writer Cliver Barker created a new horror mythos that was both unique and unsettling.
6. Psycho (1960) : Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece is still the best horror film ever, scary and blackly humorous at the same time.
7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) : Unrelenting and grim, director Tobe Hooper's unforgettable film combined cannibals and powertools to create unforgettable cinema.
8. Jaws (1975) : Horror as "blockbuster mainstream event movie" never got better than this Steven Spielberg breakthrough.
9. Suspiria (1997) : Dario Argento's best film is filmed with dream logic, haunting imagery and a memorable score by Goblin. Datsa Italian!
10. Alien (1979) : Basically a haunted house movie in space (with a voracious E.T. subbing for a ghost), Ridley Scott's horror sci-fier remains unequaled for interstellar thrills.
11. Phantasm (1979) : Nightmares and reality collide in this story of a mysterious mortuary.
12. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) : Hannibal Lecter became a household name in this prestige horror picture that swept the Oscars.
13. The Blair Witch Project (1999) : The little movie that could—and did—startle audiences with no-frills chills.
| With a Touch of Humor: Jolie Williamson, film critic |
Some scary movies are so well known and so talked-about they've almost become clichés. But they're staples on the Halloween screening schedules for a reason: They're still scary – even after dozens of dark, stormy nights alone with the VCR or an all-nighter on cable.
None of the rest of my list is actually scary, but they're still some of my favorite films to pop in at Halloween:
| Classics and Innovations: Michael Machosky, film critic |
1. Night of the Living Dead : It broke so many barriers - for do-it-yourself, low-budget, independent cinema, for Pittsburgh filmmaking, for black leading actors - and still remains as scary as anything since.
2. Nosferatu : The single most terrifying image in the history of cinema is Nosferatu rising from his coffin. The story seems kind of silly, now, since it's been told so often. But the images speak for themselves.
3. The Shining : It's not suspenseful at all, but the imagery, the performances and Kubrick's crisp, technical mastery of visual storytelling elevate this film far above its source material.
4. The Exorcist : Plays on the darkest fears of Christians more intelligently than any movie since.
5. The Sixth Sense : Single-handedly brought psychological horror movies and suspense out of the Dark Ages of the '80s and '90s. Tense and intelligent.
6. Carnival of Souls : A brilliant, black & white 1962 indie-horror anomaly, by a cast and crew of total unknowns. Bad luck is the only thing that kept it from being a phenomenon on the level of Night of the Living Dead.
7. Videodrome : David Cronenberg's films are all vivid explorations of intellectual S&M; this one throws snuff films, mind control and Blondie singer Debbie Harry into the fray.
8. Night of the Hunter : My only scary movie that has nothing supernatural about it. Actually, Robert Mitchum's demonic, murderous preacher is maybe the scariest monster of all.
9. The Wicker Man : There' so much great English horror; it's a shame to choose just one. But this one is fun, mysterious, puzzling and totally original. And that last scene - whoah. Gets me every time.
10. Evil Dead 2/Gremlins 2 : For a laugh or two. Or two hundred.
| Behind the Mask: Dick Warlock, actor |
You may not recognize by name or if you passed him on the street, but you've almost certainly seen Dick Warlock . In 1981, Warlock stepped behind the mask to play one of the modern icons of horror, Michael Myers, in Halloween II. He doubled as stunt co-ordinator on the film, and served in the same capacity for horror classics such as John Carpenter's The Thing, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Child's Play 2, and The Dead Zone. Warlock was also Richard Dreyfuss' diving double in the terror that was Jaws, and most recently performed stunts in the summer blockbuster Spider-Man. You can catch his resume on his official web site . Warlock sounds off with his Halloween favorites:
1. The Creature from the Black Lagoon : It wasn't the most scary movie but I think that it was so well done and unusual that it has always been my favorite.
2. Frankenstein : This is the all time classic horror film.
3. Any of the "Frankenstein meets" films : Wolfman, Dracula ... even Abbott and Costello.
4. Halloween : The return of scare. Carpenter's best.
5. The Exorcist : Speaks for itself. Direction, acting, effects ...
6. Child's Play : Another well done and original idea.
7. The Eyes of Laura Mars
| My Picks: Adam T. Music |
In no particular order, here are ten movies that might not be the best of all time, but still are perfect for Halloween viewing:
Feardotcom : OK, really, just kidding on that one.
The Thing : John Carpenter's remake of the 1951 classic, "The Thing From Another World," turned the jump-in-your-seat factor way up. The original is still a great film, be it for the veiled anti-Communism angle ("Watch the skies!") or for the woman who saves the day and manages to make coffee the entire movie. The body-snatching creature effects on this are outstanding, and builds well on the isolated Antarctic weather station as the battleground for the future of the human race.
Ghost Story : What's Halloween without a good ghost story⢠This one comes off with the help of four classic actors: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Melvyn Douglas, the eternally-dour John Houseman, and dance king Fred Astaire. They make up the gray-haired members of the Chowder Society, and their cost for joining is a terrifying tale. The men, however, have their own true story in their distant past that haunts them to this day. A vengeful spirit, hauntingly and icily played by Alice Krige, returns from the grave to take its toll on the quartet and their families. Some great lines ("... and I will see the life run out of you") and New England in the dead of winter help to make this a creepy, tension-filled alternative.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes/Theatre of Blood : These two Vincent Price films, along with a Phibes sequel in-between, very closely resemble each other. Price's character takes fiendishly delicious revenge on those who did him wrong. The films are played with a wink and a nod to the audience: You know what's going to happen, but the fun part will be getting through the twists and turns.
Alien : How many pale imitations have there been since this movie came out in the 23 years since this came out⢠It's been re-set in space ("Pitch Black" or "Event Horizon") or underwater ("Leviathan" or "Deep Star Six"). And nobody has ever come close. It's got a great creature, envisioned by artist H.R. Giger, a wayward ship's cat that helps deflect the suspense to the real terror lurking on the spaceship, and the moment where the alien jumps from John Hurt's chest.
Jaws : Everybody's shark should break down. Steven Spielberg's killer fish wouldn't cooperate, so he had to resort to other methods. And the unseen terror beneath the waves created a phenomenal atmosphere of suspense that gripped a summer viewing public, prompting them to think twice before that dip in the sea. With a very richly told storyline and the dramatic tension of its stellar cast, it's a flick that never gets old - and makes you forget Jaws 2, Jaws 3D ...
The Sixth Sense : Twenty years from now, no one will remember Michael Caine's performance in "The Cider House Rules." How Haley Joel Osment lost the Oscar is beyond me. He absolutely makes the movie what it is. It's a horror movie with a great mind working its magic behind it, and it has an ending you positively couldn't tell to anybody who hadn't seen it yet. And on second viewings ... still just as creepy.
The Silence of the Lambs : Though not your traditional scary movie, it has a great villain in Hannibal Lecter, a super-creepy villain in Buffalo Bob, the dark underground lair where the climax is set, and good graphic shockers throughout. Its tension winds you up, then smacks you in the face.
An American Werewolf in London : There's a certain charm knowing there's a human being under all that fur. That's why the CGI sorta-sequel set in Paris was a dismal movie. For that matter, most computer-generated monster flicks don't truly capture the imagination like the classics such as Frankenstein or Dracula because it removes the humanity that a Karloff or Lugosi was able to instill to the role. In typical John Landis style, there's a lot of very dark humor in this 1981 offering. It's a fun, if not classic, monster romp.
Halloween : Yep, it's a second John Carpenter offering. The best of the prolific sequel-spawning slasher pics was the one that came first - (and we won't count Halloween III: Season of the Witch here, and if you've seen it you'll know why). Jason wasn't even the big factor of Friday the 13th until the second film, and Freddy Krueger's reign on Elm Street was five years away. And it's still the original formula on which many modern fright-flicks are based. Teens, peril, blood, triumph, and a door to the next variation on the franchise.
The cult classics : Fans of the sub-genre flicks hold these close to their heart, and don't ever try to tell them they're nuts. Do it and you guarantee hearing this phrase: "How can you NOT like that movie?" Each of them have their great twist. The killer flying spheres of "Phantasm." Pinhead and company in the "Hellraiser" cycle. The comic terror of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" and "Army of Darkness" offerings. The bizarre qualities of "Re-Animator" and "Bride of Re-Animator."
