My favorite Scary Movies

There are not to many people I am aware of who don't like scary movies. I think there is a part of the human psyche that just loves a good scare once in awhile. And on top of that scary movies are just plain good ole fashioned fun ! Now I gotta tell ya I find it difficult to get that kind of charge out of very many movies in the horror and scary movie genre. Most of them in that genre have left me pretty underwhelmed quite frankly. I was not particulary impressed with either " The Grudge " or " The Ring " and could not understand why these scared people. Both of them got me sleepy. And in the age of Vampire saturation I seem to be suffering from the same of late. I like to watch monster movies but I am more amused then entertained. But a couple did make my list. But if there is one type of movie that gets me edgy ,it is movies about crazy people. I find crazy people much scarier then monsters. And also these movies for me contain a critical element that seems to me to be missing in most scary movies , SUSPENSE ! I like a movie that makes you sit on the edge of your chair !

And most of those types of movies have dominated my list. This is not what one might call a top ten so to speak , these are just the movies that actually got me on the edge of my chair and put a little bit of a scare in me. And who does not love that ? So here folks are the movies that got your humble correspondent clutching the sides of his armrest on his easy chair. And more or less in order of my level of scare.

#10- Seven - This one came out in 1995 and starred Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. Freeman played William Somerset a detective on the verge of retirement and partnered up with detective David Mills in an unidentified metropolis. And they are tracking down a ritual killer basing his crimes on the seven deadly sins. Kevin Spacey who has never done a bad job in any movie I have seen him in plays the psychopathic killer named John Doe. And Gwyneth Paltrow as Pitts young wife. And for what its worth the movie picked up an MTV movie award. This definitely falls into the nail biter category for your humble correspondent here. And if you have not seen " Seven yet , where have you been man ?

#9- The Exorcist - The Exorcist came out in 1973 and most of you who hang out here at HP probably were not even born yet ! But I had just turned 13 at that time and I was starting to think I was pretty cool. But I remember going to the theater with my Mom and sisters as well as some cousins and Aunts and all of us were cowering in our chairs while we were watching the movie. Let me tell ya " The Exorcist " was mega huge during this time. And it is now agreed by almost every film critic and pretty much any movie fan that this one goes down as one of the top all time horror movies ever made. The movie was adapted to the screen from a novel by William Peter Blatty that was published in 1971 and directed by William Friedkin. And Ellen Burstyn , Max Von Sydow , Lee J Cobb and Jason Miller are no less then fantastic in the execution of the plot. Linda Blair plays Regan the child who is posessed by a demon and was pretty much her only claim to fame. But boy did she do one hell of a job on this one !

#8- The Hitcher- In February of 1986 we were given " The Hitcher ". C Thomas Howell plays Jim Halsy a young kid delivering a car from Chicago to San Diego and in his journey picks up a hitchhiker. The man is soft spoken and goes by the name John Ryder and played spectacularly by Rutger Hauer. Also included in the cast is Jennifer Jason Liegh who plays Nash a waitress at a small coffee shop that Jim Halsy goes to after he assumes that he has gotten rid of John Ryder. I love the suspense and the unfolding twisted relationship that develops between Ryder and Halsy during the course of this movie. In 2007 the idiots in Hollywood as usual out of Ideas did a remake of this movie as they are incapable of doing anything original anymore. And as is predictable the newer remake did not even come close to capturing the edginess that the original movie had. If you have not seen the original Hitcher movie and you like a good scare , this is a must see !

#7- Silence of the Lambs - One of the best written best acted crime suspense thrillers that I have ever had the pleasure of choking on popcorn watching. The cast for starts is exemplary. Jodie Foster in what I consider the top role of her life as a young Clarice Starling , along with Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter the creepiest psycho ever created. And one aspect that really creeps me out about Lecter is you know he is dangerous and you know he is a cold blooded killer but there is actually something about Lecter you kinda like. I always found that aspect so disturbing. And you have to definitely give a major shoutout to Ted Levine in the role of Jamie Gumb but who is known by his alias " Buffalo Bill ". This dude was just about as creepy as it gets. And Levine had me deeply disturbed and creeped out through the whole movie. Scott Glenn also does great support work in this movie as well in the role of FBI agent Jack Crawford the man who pulls Agent Starling into the nightmare of a case. It recieved the Academy Award for best picture in 1991 and is listed highly on the American Film Institutes list # 65 as best movie of all time and #5 as the best thriller movie of all time. This was a masterpiece ! And I have watched it multiple times now.

#6 - The Thing - As I had previously mentioned monster movies do not scare me to much. However when John Carpenter came out with this SciFi/ Monster horror flick in 1982 I was clutching the side of my chair with white knuckles ! Kurt Russell is the main character in the movie helicopter pilot RJ Macready. And even the setting for the movie is creepy. A Antarctic research station where the monster is unearthed buried deeply beneath the ice from a Norwegian research station. And I like it that you do not see much of the monster for most of the movie. The suspense builds and so does your level of fear. And that to me is what makes a good horror flick. Blood and guts are fine , but without a building of suspense you may as well be watching " Meet The Parents ". This movie suceeded in scaring the S**t out of me !

#5- Misery - Rob Reiner directed this film in 1990. And I love a good psychological thriller. James Caan is great as novelist Paul Sheldon whose claim to fame is a series of romance novels based on a character named " Misery Chastain " . And then this is also the first film where I had ever even heard of Kathy Bates who plays the sick and psycho character of Annie Wilkes, Pauls #1 fan. I think most of you here know the plot behind this movie. And if you have not seen this 20 year old movie yet it comes highly recommended from your humble correspondent. There is so much intensity throughout this movie including one scene that I will not mention that just had me to the point that I had to be peeled off the ceiling. But for anyone who enjoys a good psychological thriller this movie is a must !

#4- SAW - The first " Saw " movie premiered at the Sundance film festival in January of 2004 and was recieved favorably. As reviews go it was pretty much equal on people that liked it and the same number of reviewers hated it as well. Many denounced it as nothing more then a gore fest. But I would like to point out that the first "Saw" had a pretty much respectable cast on the first movie, Danny Glover, Cary Elwes , Monica Potter and Tobin Bell as " Jigsaw " one of the creepiest lookin dudes I have ever come across. Now " Saw " has inevitably turned into another one of those cash cow franchises that Hollywood loves to milk to death and as is ever predictable there are now I believe six sequels and all of them are just horribly predictable. I can tell you with the upmost certainty that when " Saw 15 " comes out I will not be running to Redbox to rent it. But this is true, me and some visiting family members were tired from a long day and wanted to rent a movie just to rest at home and enjoy viewing for a lazy evening. None of us were particularly enamored with any of the selections that were available at the video store. So we just took a wild stab and we all decided on " Saw " by default because there was not much else to watch. So we got home without much enthusiasm and then HOLY CRAP ! Every one of us who was not thrilled about the movie were totally on the edge of our seats and I even got a stomach ache from the tension. This is another one of those that while it had some gore it also had some good pacing and good acting and alot of tension. No tension in a horror movie and all you got is a bloodfest that would make me almost want to watch the most horrific human being alive Kathi Griffin ! This is a great must see horror flick

#3- Audition - Now folks I wanna tell you as far as Horror movies and scary movies go if you are a fan of this genre you really have to invest some time into looking at both Japanese and Korean cinema for these types of films. Asian horror cinema is really well done and quite frankly has made my skin crawl sometimes. The Oriental cultures really have produced some fine films like " Oldboy " which was Korean and my particular favorite is " Audition ". This movie made me damn near have to change my shorts ! This 1999 film was completely unknown to me till I saw the Bravo channel do their rankings of the best horror movies of all time. " Audition " was ranked #10 out of all the great horror movies that Bravo highlighted. So I had my curiosity piqued by this and decided to rent the movie and see what all the hoopla was about. And boy did I find out ! The movie starts very slow and I am reluctant to give away the plot as I feel I would be doing you a disservice by not letting you get the film. But I like the fact that the movie starts slow and just gets more intense as the movie continues along. And one factor that really creeps me out is to me is the femme fatalle Asami Yamazaki played by Eihi Shiina never looked more beautiful then at the end of the movie when she started going overtime in doing here creepy work ! The woman is a bonafide psycho ! Folks I still get chills thinking about this movie. And I cannot say this enough if you like horror ya gotta start checking out some Asian cinema. And to me this is the best of that bunch.

#2- Fatal Attraction - Hell hath no fury like the scorn of a woman. And never has this statement been more well presented then in the movie " Fatal Attraction ". Glenn Close knocked this one out of the park in the role of Alex Forrest the career woman who is jilted by Dan Gallagher played by Michael Douglas. The movie came out in 1987 and was among the American Film Institutes 100 thrills coming in at the ranking of # 28. Glenn Close had so many creepy scenes in this movie and how she did not win best actress for this film should be investigated ! Her listening to " Madame Butterfly " and shutting the lights on and off was truly creepy and anyone who ever watched this movie remembers the rabbit ! I remember seeing the movie with my then girlfriend Pamela and her giving me the " Don't you dare think about it ! " look. And believe me I did not even consider looking at another woman for almost a week ! As I have said a couple of times in this hub crazy people scare me more then monsters and Alex Forrest was both and equally scary in both roles !

#1- Alien - Monster movies rarely get me going but " Alien " was without a doubt the scariest Scifi movie I have ever seen. I was just glued to my seat and to stiff to breathe on more then one scene in this movie. This is another movie that has great pacing as well as a superlative cast. Tom Skerritt , Sigourney Weaver as arguably the first woman superhero Ripley , Yaphet Kotto and of course John Hurt who definitely has one of the most memorable scenes in all cinematic history as the Alien pops out of his stomach ! Ridley Scott directed this movie in 1979 and then of course this was followed up by one of the few successful sequels to an original movie " Aliens " which came out in 1986. And of course that not being good enough the Hollywood braintrusts tried to milk the cow some more with " Alien 3 " and " Alien Resurrection " both of which were totally forgettable ! But without a shadow of a doubt " Alien " is one of the best monster movies ever created and I had to be removed from the ceiling on more then one occasion.

The Shining - Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall were great in another of a long line of Stanley Kubrick masterpieces. And for many this stands as one of the premiere horror flicks of all time. And I too really liked the film . Jack Nicholson was just fabulous in his role as Jack Torrance the writer who after a month at a starts losing his mind along with the writers block. The film came out in 1980 and has been recognized as one of the all timers.

Cloverfield - This movie came out in 2008 . And quite frankly I really liked the way they presented this movie in kind of a home movie style and the creepy little monsters are a nice lttle addition to this movie. I know a lot of people who did not like this movie , but I liked the fact that this movie did not have a happy ending and was tied up with a nice little bow.