I am totally stealing my cousin's (and fellow blogger) idea to list his favorite spooky movies. Since it is Halloween and a good idea is a good idea, I am going to list my 5 Favorite Horror Movies. I am not a huge fan of the slasher pics and I am definitely not into the torture stuff (Hostel, Saw) but I do like to be creeped out.
5) The Omen (1976)
Oh man. Kids can sure be creepy and this kid takes the cake. I would probably walk across the street if I saw this kid walking towards me. Why is this kid so creepy? Because he is the son of the devil, Damian. Gregory Peck was fantastic in this film as a desperate dad trying to figure out if his adoptive son is really the Antichrist. My favorite scene is when his dad takes a close look at his son's scalp (while Damian is sleeping) and finds a 666 birthmark. But that scene was trumped by the creepy smile we get at the end of the film.
Stephen King can sure write some creepy books but unfortunately the movies that are made from the books fall a bit short. Sure we have Carrie, but that means we also get Thinner. But the Shining really is the best of the bunch. Of course Jack Nicholson is already a little creepy in his own right but make him trot around the empty halls sporting an ax and a demented look in his eyes and you have one of the creepiest dude ever. My favorite scene has to be when his wife (whom I could not stand!) discovers his novel and finds that it is just the same line repeated over and over again. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". And then he sneaks up on her. Even the poster for the film leaves me a weird feeling.
Science Fiction has given us some of the scariest films around. From the Alien series to the Fly but John Carpenter's remake of The Thing was on an entirely different level. I loved the original movie and I loved the idea of a monster that can shape change. But this movie took a more realistic view of what would happen if there was a shape changer among us. The paranoia is ramped up to ten and I could actually feel the dread and anxiety of not knowing who to trust. My favorite scene is where they test each others blood to see if they are the creature or not. They put some blood in a small container and put a flame to it. That scene felt like hours. And the ending was perfect.
I do love my zombies and this classic is what started it all. I remember watching this movie on TV with my dad on Halloween and we were both drawn in. What made this movie great was not the zombies themselves (even though the little girl in the cellar was certainly creepy and I will never look at a cement trowel the same way) but it was how the survivors dealt with each other. Human nature is much more scarier than any monster. Now I don't want to ruin the ending because I highly recommend watching this movie, even if you are not a horror buff, you need to see this movie! The ending was so surprising, I totally didn't see it.coming and was shocking! And then just like that, it ended. My favorite scene was the last 20 minutes.
Like I said before I am not a big fan of the slasher films but yet the grandaddy of them all is my favorite horror film. Jason and Freddy don't freak me out because I know they cannot exist. Michael on the other hand could certainly exist. And that is what makes him more scary than the rest of the films. Michael was not a monster but just a crazy person. I remember when this movie came out. I was only four years old and I was watching Siskel and Ebert at the Movies and they showed a clip from this film. It was when she was hiding the kids from Michael and they said that the bogeyman was coming to get them. I ran upstairs to my mom it scared me so much. Just a small clip scared me! Flash forward to my college days and I saw this movie for the first time. And then I saw that scene again and I remembered that horrible creepy feeling. My favorite scene in the movie is when Dr. Loomis goes to the Mental Hospital and they find that the power is knocked out (and it is night time). They see these strange ghosts in the field when the lightning flashes and they realize it is the inmates of the hospital. And then they know Michael is on the loose!
I might have to watch a few of these here in the next couple of weeks. There are other Halloween films that I love too that are a little safer to watch and are not truly horror films. Maybe I will share those next week.
