Jay here.
Man, I love a good horror flick. It's one of my favorite genres of film and with Halloween fast approaching there are so many to pick from when creating the ultimate list of scariest movies. But, Matt and I are up to the challenge. So here they are:
Jay's Picks
The Thing
Directed by John Carpenter
Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur, and Donald Moffat
Neither a box office smash or a hit with critics, John Carpenter's masterpiece of alien terror was never considered such until it recently became universally acclaimed over twenty years later. Most folks will point to the original Halloween as his crowning achievement as a filmmaker, but. for me, The Thing is Carpenter at his finest. Taking paranoia and isolation to the highest extremes, an American research team in Antarctica encounters an alien with the ability to mimic any living organism it encounters after killing and assimilating its cellular structure. It's an effective plot device that allows for some seriously suspenseful moments as each member of this team begins to distrust the others, not knowing if the man standing beside him might be the creature waiting to strike. Also, the creature effects were astounding for their time and even today, that scene in the dog kennels is still jaw dropping. When you stop and think about it, The Thing is a movie about one monster's desperate attempt to survive after being trapped for hundreds of thousands of years in a block of ice it didn't ask for. Shit, he was just trying to build a ship to get off this fucking freezing rock, then Jack Burton and the Pork Chop Express had to screw it all up. Oh, wait, wrong Kurt Russell movie! They're all so good!
The Shining
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers
Kubrick's grand, gothic ghost story has the distinction of being the first horror movie I remember seeing. I had to be four- or five-years-old when it was on HBO. The babysitter plopped us kids in front of the TV while she gossiped on the phone. Of course, I had no idea what the story was about or really anything that was going on in the film but that image of the river of blood exploding from behind the elevator doors was burned into my subconscious so strongly that I had nightmares about it for years without knowing where it came from. That's the power of an image. Now I both respect and blame Kubrick for its creation and the subtle childhood trauma it caused me. Now, when I watch The Shining, I see that goddamn window in Stuart Ullman's office and wrack my brain to try and figure how Kubrick could have made such a mistake in continuity to place it there and I realize . . . . he didn't make a mistake. He put that window there on purpose. Why? To mess with our minds, that's why. Go back and watch it - trust me - the window in Ullman's office. Anyway, The Shining is cinema's most artful ghost story. From the legendary steadycam work to the unhinged performance by Nicholson, it's a movie, for me, that succeeds on every level. The director smartly saw the family dysfunction as the real horror in this story. The Overlook Hotel was merely the push Jack Torrance needed to go over the edge. Nothing is as frightening to a small child as the father who should love him most that now wants to kill him.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, John Dugan and Gunnar Hansen
Now, this one I didn't see until I was in college. It hit me about as hard as that hammer hits that poor bastard that first wanders into Leatherface's hallway looking for his girlfriend. This is a brutal movie that is unsympathetic and violent beyond anything else of the era. Hooper gave the movie a rough, documentary-like feel. The style makes it feel like something you shouldn't be watching -- like a snuff film born from the Manson Family and Ed Gein murders. Five teenagers on a road trip in the early 70's pick up a disturbed hitchhiker in the summer heat of rural Texas. After kicking him out of their van when he cuts one of them, they finally make it to the house where they planned to vacation. It's unfortunate they didn't have Trip Advisor back then. The rating would have had to have been no more than 1 1/2 to 2 circles and at least one of the reviews would have warned them about the family of cannibals living next door. But, alas, this group of hippies has to be nosey. I mean, seriously, who enters a strange house full of animal/human bones, cages and feathers? Of course, they all fall one by one to Leatherface until only one girl, Sally, remains. Her night of terror with this demented family is really harrowing stuff and disturbing to say the least. A remake in 2003 starring Jessica Biel and R. Lee Ermey tried to recreate the visceral shocks of the original, but, while entertaining, fell short for me. The original felt much more gritty and real . . . like it really happened.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Directed by George A. Romero
Starring David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Gaylen Ross
We are currently living in what I would call a zombie renaissance. For the last ten years or so the zombie genre has exploded in pop culture mostly due to the popularity of movies like 28 Days Later and World War Z and TV shows like The Walking Dead. Well, they all owe a debt of gratitude to Romero, who is the granddaddy of the zombie flick -- going back to his legendary classic, Night of the Living Dead in 1968. Ten years later, he would finally make his sequel and it would join that rarefied company of films that builds upon -- and surpasses -- its predecessor. Dawn of the Dead is so good at what it does -- putting 2 hours and 7 minutes of badass apocalyptic, flesh-eating zombie goodness in your face. Are the make-up and gore effects dated now? Most definitely. But you know, I'm sorry you live in the 21st century and need your zombies to bleed CGI blood. I do not, and I can appreciate a classic when I see it. Of course, it wouldn't be Romero if he didn't mix in a little social commentary as well. Trapping our survivors in a shopping mall, where they are provided all the comforts to live their lives safe from being eaten, Dawn of the Dead is a commentary on our innate materialism and self-absorption which was prevalent in the 1970's. Tom Savini deserves serious props too for his groundbreaking make-up effects which were inspired by his time fighting in the Vietnam War. Check out the 2004 Zack Snyder-directed remake starring Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames, which did a great job of capturing the themes of the original while also adding its own flair to the story.
The Exorcist
Directed by William Friedkin
Starring Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb, Max Von Sydow and Linda Blair
When a lot of people watch The Exorcist, most of them get bogged down in the profanity and projectile vomit. They fail to really look beyond the spinning heads and genital-mutilation-with-a-crucifix, and see the dynamic drama being played out on the screen. Ok, I give up, yes, it is the shocking moments of Regan MacNeil's possession that made this 1973 film a pop culture phenomenon. Every time someone enters this little girl's bedroom, you are left wondering what seriously messed-up shit is going to go down now. It is the performances that really elevate this movie, though. Ellen Burstyn is desperation incarnate as she tries to understand what is happening to her daughter. Jason Miller gives one of the best portrayals in any horror film as Father Karras, a psychologist and Catholic priest in the middle of a crisis of faith, who must confront the demon inside Regan. The Exorcist, taken as a whole, is really a parable concerning faith and could also be interpreted as the church's repression of a girl's budding femininity. There is just a lot going on here and today there have been countless movies that have emulated the possession plot line (The Possession, The Possession of Emily Rose, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah). None come close to the genius that is on display here. I don't know why they did scary movies so much better in the 70's. I just realized that the most recent movie on my list was made in 1982. Maybe it's because so many horror movies today are just trying to recreate the brilliance of what has come before and struggle to show anything truly original. There's a reason these pictures I've selected are revered to this day.
Matt's Picks
I would also add Jay's picks of The Thing, The Shining, Dawn of the Dead, and The Exorcist to my list, and I completely agree with everything he said about those films, but I'd like to add some picks that were not previously mentioned. So, here are my picks (in no particular order):
Halloween (1978)
Directed by John Carpenter
Starring Donald Pleasure, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, and Nancy Loomis
Forget the remake! While Rob Zombie's 2007 Halloween was nicely done, it still was not as visceral nor as scary as John Carpenter's original. One of the main problems with Zombie's was that it explored Michael Myers' backstory and how he came to be the way he was. That aspect takes away the fright. In the original, there is no explanation for Myers' thirst for killing. He's simply an unstoppable machine who keeps coming back until you're dead. Unrelenting and scary -- just like the infamous theme, also penned by Carpenter. This film also paved the way for Jamie Lee Curtis to take her place in the halls of scream queen fame. The best thing about this film -- for a slasher film -- is that the film's antagonist Myers was merely a ruthless, psychopathic killer on the loose. Pretty chilling when you think about it ... and before the movie studio transformed him into some immortal boogeyman (a la Freddy Krueger and Jason Voohees).
30 Days of Night
Directed by David Slade
Starring Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, and Mark Boone Junior
Based on the comic series by Steve Niles, this is not the vampire lore that classic horror fans are used to. When I was a kid, I would always want to be a vampire for Halloween because I thought there was nothing creepier than a monster who looked like a person and could suck out your blood until you died. Unfortunately, with the introduction of Anne Rice's famous "Vampire Chronicles,"
Poltergeist
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Beatrice Straight, James Karen, and Zelda Rubinstein
For any kid growing up in the 1980s, I think this film needs no explanation or justification as to why I chose it. The clown alone is probably responsible for all the "clown fear" spread throughout the country nowadays! But, what I most remember about this film is that when I first watched it (when I was about 10-years-old), I was scared shitless of the idea of some spirits coming and trying to take me away just because I was a kid. I grew up going to church every Sunday and so the thought of supernatural hauntings and possession scared the shit out of me. It's hard to imagine that such a story was written by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The moments of innocence mixed with the horrific moments are balanced just right. But when those dreadful, horrific moments come, they come out fast and hit hard. When the youngest daughter (O'Rourke) first goes missing, the parents frantically search all around the house, first thinking the entire thing is a game, before panic sets in. Then, that scene where JoBeth Williams masterfully builds her terrifying shout to a screaming crescendo, repeating, "The swimming pool! The swimming pool! The swimming pool!" That is such a powerful scene that works on so many levels of terror -- not just the horror aspect of the daughter being abducted (by a vengeful spirit) -- but mostly the mundane, routine stomach-dropping concerning nightmare of a young child drowning. With all of this, plus so many wonderful scenes full of spooky, eerie moments, the film is great and unlike any film made since.
Silent Hill
Directed by Christophe Gans
Starring Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Bean, Kim Coates, and Jodelle Ferland
I don't know if I was scared so much as I was freaked out by this film. It's a mental mindf@&* of a movie! Based on Konami's 1999 video game, and written by Roger Avary (The Rules of Attraction; Killing Zoe; co-writer of Pulp Fiction), Silent Hill is one seriously messed-up place. For those who don't know the story, it begins well enough: a nice couple, Rose and Christopher (Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean) and their innocent daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) have their nice lives interrupted by Sharon's extreme sleepwalking and shouting out of the town Silent Hill. To try and cure the girl (and satiate their curiosity), Rose and Sharon set out for Silent Hill. Once arriving in town, creepiness ensues before all hell breaks loose. One of the best -- and creepiest -- parts of the film is when the haunting fire siren sounds and Rose (as well as the audience) know that she is in a shitload of trouble. Tortured souls, immolation, sheer terror -- it's all in here!
Evil Dead (2013)
Directed by Fede Alvarez
Starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, and Elizabeth Blackmore
When I heard about this remake coming out, I was skeptical more than overjoyed. To me, horror films are already a difficult film to make really well ... let alone a remake of a horror film. But this remake of the 1981 Sam Raimi film does not disappoint. The original was considered a bit of a joke; however, it was also a trailblazer in that two stereotypes of the horror genre were dashed: first, it is not the female virgin who survives the evil; and, second, the group of teens do not stupidly awaken the evil by reading from a book (unfortunately, like in this version) -- they play a recording in which a doctor reads the text (veeerrry clever, Mr. Raimi). Unfortunately, this remake does not carry on those traditions. But the film does not suffer for it either. When I saw the trailer for this film, it was one of the most disturbing I'd seen in I-don't-know-how-long. So I had to check it out. And I'm happy I did. It's got all the gore, blood and violence that should be in a horror film -- but it also has a story. Unlike the original (in which the five friends are merely going to the cabin for a getaway), this one has the friends assembling for good reason: Mia (Jane Levy) is attempting to quit heroin cold turkey. I'm not sure I like how the writers remade the ending, but I can see why they did it ... when in relation to the "addiction" side plotline.
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