A-List: Great Horror Movies
By Kim Hollis
October 21, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This year, we’re doing things straight. Now, keep one thing in mind: the five movies on this list aren’t just great horror movies, they’re all pretty close to genuinely great movies - some more than others. Also, keep in mind that I am not a horror-movie buff. Frankly, horror movies aren’t usually my kind of thing. Part of the problem is that most horror movies these days are all pretty much the same: insanely gory deaths, inane characters, and so on. Part of the problem is that I am incredibly squeamish; yeah, based on the early reviews, this means I’ll be looking away or closing my eyes a lot during The Walking Dead, but it’s Frank Darabont, writer/director of The Shawshank Redemption! This list isn’t without its gore or gross-out factor, but some of the great horror movies know how to freak you out without dumping blood all over the screen. Let’s get on with the list.
Psycho
The slasher movie, these days, is the bane of filmdom. There are all types of horror movies, granted, and two of the most popular genres - torture porn and found-footage - are being represented at the multiplex this month, not slashers. But the slasher film has been the genre of horror that remains the standby, the one that can’t ever truly go away. There have been plenty of disgusting slasher films, plenty of gross slasher films, and even more terrible ones. But the slasher film, for all intents and purposes, began in 1960 with the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. The movie, of course, is called Psycho. Psycho goes alongside older films such as Citizen Kane as a movie known for its moments while still being regarded a classic. And, like Citizen Kane, Psycho deserves its status, as it’s one of the great American films. It’s also damned scary.
In a bait-and-switch that hasn’t ever been topped, Psycho starts out as the story of Marion Crane, a pretty blonde in Phoenix, Arizona who needs money if she can ever run away with her lover, Sam Loomis. She ends up stealing a lot of money from a wealthy Texan and is on her way to Sam when she’s forced to stop at a small motel in California: the Bates Motel. Of course, Marion won’t be making her way out of the motel anytime soon, as the proprietor’s mother stabs her in the shower, in one of the greatest, most memorable sequences in film history. It shouldn’t spoil too much more to reveal a bit more: that Marion is really killed by Norman Bates, the motel owner, not his mother. If you haven’t seen Psycho, you’re in luck: a brand-new Blu-ray edition of the film is available in time for Halloween.
Alien
One of the most popular things to do around the Halloween season is to go to a haunted house and get the living crap scared out of you. It’s this haunted-house mentality that makes Alien such a great horror film, while also being a great science-fiction film. Alien’s a great hybrid of the genres, and has been the template for many horror films since its 1979 release. The premise, as you know, is pretty damn simple: seven people are on a spaceship heading for Earth. Their ship is detoured to a mysterious planet that’s sending out strange signals. When they investigate, they find evidence of alien life that sneaks its way back onto the ship. From that point on, it’s just a matter of seeing who gets killed first, and who makes it out of the film alive.
Of course, thanks to the film spawning a lengthy franchise, there’s no use in me worrying that I’ll ruin the film for you. Only one person makes it out alive in Alien, Ellen Ripley, played masterfully by Sigourney Weaver. Weaver was a relatively unknown actress at the time of the film, though none of the actors in Alien have ever been wildly famous. Maybe it’s because of that that there’s genuine fear in the film: Alien is not anchored by a big-name actor, so anyone could get offed by the monstrous title creature at any time. The sequels have had diminishing returns, though the second film, Aliens, is one of the best action films of all time. Alien made a name of a lot of people including Weaver, the film’s director, Ridley Scott, and it also changed the way we saw horror films.
The Shining
Jack Nicholson straddles the line between being an over-the-top nutjob and being a nuanced actor in the 1980 classic The Shining. Since this film, Nicholson’s too often leaned on being a crazy son of a gun in his major performances. Before the film, he could play nutty but also bring humanity and soul to his every role. Of course, like the other films on this list, The Shining is filled with iconic moments. If The Simpsons is making fun of you, you know you’re a classic (see the great Treehouse of Horror story called The Shinning). Directed by Stanley Kubrick, The Shining is a very unique horror film. Unlike most, it has barely any blood - though a single shot of two elevators pouring blood out of their vehicles helps balance the gore out. What’s more, from the beginning, you’re pretty sure you know who the violent party in the film will be.
What the film may lack in surprise, it makes up for in suspense. On the one hand, it’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Nicholson’s character, Jack Torrance, is going to become the most insane man to ever be the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. On the other hand, with the film being so long (nearly 150 minutes), the tension lies in exactly when Torrance will go over the top. The film’s most memorable image is of Nicholson, leering through a door, holding an axe. When will this moment come and what will drive him to it? Kubrick’s direction is, as always, amazing and the Steadicam cinematography is worth the watch even if you’re squeamish. What’s more, as I mentioned above, this is easily one of the least gory horror films, with barely any blood spilled. Stephen King, the author of the book on which the film is based, may not like this movie, but The Shining is a great horror film.
Poltergeist
I am squeamish, as I said above. With this in mind, you may genuinely wonder why I’ve put Poltergeist on the list. I’m certainly squeamish enough to find various scenes in this film, directed by Tobe Hooper, worth turning away from. However, so much about the film is seriously creepy, and stays with me that I can’t help but acknowledge its power. The story is, as it goes with most horror movies, simple: an everyday, happy family moves into a new home that happens to be haunted by evil spirits. They must fight the spirits or be destroyed by them. Poltergeist is as well-known for being a great horror movie as it is for the so-called curse surrounding the film and for the argument over who the real director of the film is.
The curse is easy enough to explain; tragic circumstances befell some people working on the film, most notably Heather O’Rourke, the little girl who, in the first film, says the famous line, “They’re here.” I’m not really a believer in any curses, so this one, I just chalk up to bad and truly unfortunate luck. The more interesting debate is over who directed the film. I mentioned Tobe Hooper as the film’s sole, credited director. However, the film’s producer, Steven Spielberg, has often been said to have really directed a lot of the film. There are certainly plenty of Spielbergian touches, but Hooper was a more-than-capable director, having helmed the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Whatever the case is, Poltergeist is an extremely creepy film, with plenty of icky moments even with older special effects. If you want a real, hide-under-the-covers scary movie this Halloween, try this one.
Halloween
If Psycho originated the slasher film, Halloween perfected it down to a science. This 1978 horror movie is well known and widely accepted as one of the greatest horror movies ever, if not the best one. Halloween launched the career of the young actress Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Janet Leigh (herself an iconic scream queen, all the way from the original Psycho), and the film’s director, John Carpenter. Curtis plays Laurie Strode, a young woman beset upon by the mysterious, masked psycho named Michael Myers. Myers wears a white mask of William Shatner in his Star Trek days and has an unquenchable lust for blood. He attacks Strode and the town she lives in on the night of Halloween. Myers is the consummate bogeyman: unable to be killed, unflinching, and emotionlessly scary.
Even in the myriad sequels to this great film, Myers remains scary because he’s unbeatable. In the first film, of course, the fear is most real, because we’re just like Laurie, unsure of why this should be happening and why Myers just won’t leave us alone. The sequels to Halloween have never managed to top the original, nor come even close. Why? Well, there’s always the lack of surprise; in the many follow-ups, we all know that Myers is coming, that he’ll kill plenty of nubile young women, and that no one will really be able to stop him, not even old Dr. Loomis. Where’s the suspense when you know exactly what’s going to happen? Of course, that hasn’t stopped plenty of teenagers to flock to the films, or those of any long-running franchise that plays the exact same notes, without ever changing. The originals are often best, and it goes the same for Halloween.