Wow! You guys enjoy your horror! Yesterday’s entry generated over 150 comments. So, what scares you? Apparently, a lot. Interestingly enough, over lunch today we were talking about Halloween events and Carl mentioned how a farm near his home used to put on a special Halloween-themed event every year complete with creepy corn mazes and leering scarecrows. According to Carl, one year his daughter was chased through a circus maze by a chainsaw-wielding “little person” in clown make-up. Yup, that would do it for me.
Some movies do it for me too. What follows is a list of my top ten favorite horror movies (in particular order):
1. Audition (2002): On the advice of a friend, a lonely widower holds a fake audition as a way of meeting women. Alas, the one woman who catches his fancy turns out to be a little more than he bargained for.
2. Misery (1990): Author Paul Sheldon is rescued from a car crash by Annie Wilkes, a woman who just so happens to be his Number One Fan! Annie nurses him back to health and all she asks in return is that he complete his next novel while under her care. A bed-ridden Paul complies, but when his work runs contrary to her expectations, Annie takes it upon herself to steer her captive in an alternate creative direction.
3. The Exorcist (1973): Two priests must exorcise the evil spirit that has possessed an innocent little girl.
4. Session 9 (2001): A hazmat team hired to clean out an abandoned mental institution come across the taped psychiatric sessions of an infamous patient.
5. Halloween (1978): A small-town babysitter is stalked by an escaped mental patient – on Halloween night.
6. The Shining (1980): A writer agrees to act as caretaker to a resort hotel in the Colorado Mountains. He moves his wife and son up, prepared to spend the winter working on his new novel – but when a snowstorm strikes, cabin fever sets in.
7. Ringu (1998): A reporter investigates an urban legend about a mysterious, cursed videotape.
8. Don’t Look Now (1974): Following the drowning death of their daughter, a couple head to Venice to oversee the restoration of a church. While they are there, a serial killer stalks the city. Corpses are being dredged out of the canals as the husband catches glimpses of a small figure in a red raincoat he believes could be his recently deceased little girl.
9. The Sixth Sense (1999): A child psychologist makes the acquaintance of a nine-year old boy who claims he sees dead people.
10. The Silence of the Lambs (1991): FBI agent Clarice Starling calls on an incarcerated cannibalistic psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lector, hoping his insight will help her track down a brutal serial killer named Buffalo Bill.
So, what’d I miss.
Today’s pic: Another little something from Whispers.
Eva K. writes: “How long do people have to read the books of the month?”
Answer: About a month. Check the sidebar for next month’s BOTM club selections.
David writes: “Are you guys planning on having Vala make a guest appearance on Atlantis?”
Answer: Sorry. No plans for Vala in Atlantis.
PG15 writes: “Oh, and the time dilation thing happened to the Tria (where is it, by the way? Hehe…), not the Aurora.”
Answer: Oops. Of course.
Shadow Step writes: “Just do what they did in the 30ies, put a fishtank in front of the lens with smoke in it.”
Answer: The 30’s?! They shot through a water-filled aquarium for certain scenes in the episode Watergate.
Dignan50yp writes: “…why the sudden desperate need to pair up our characters in romantic situations?”
Answer: 1. I would hardly call it a romantic situation. 2. I think both “sudden” and “desperate” are the wrong words.
Teslan writes: “As for your theory on what makes something scary, would you agree then that “Alien” is a great deal scarier than “Aliens”?”
Answer: They’re two completely different movies. Aliens is more of a classic scifi monster actioner whereas the original Alien was more of a horror movie told within the framework of a scifi world. And I thought both were excellent.
Charles Schneider writes: “Who do I need to contact in your publicity department to arrange an interview with a member of cast or crew?”
Answer: No one in particular. Just contact the MGM publicity department (or the show’s internal publicity department).
Paloosa writes: ““Dead End” with Rise Wise was a great little film…”
Answer: I own the dvd. I should check it out.
Tango writes: “If sending the messages back creates a new timeline and the existing timeline is left unchanged, how do you explain the safety deposit box?”
Answer: Holy crap, I didn’t even think of that. Excellent point. The message in the safety deposit box would certainly suggest a closed time loop – but the fact that we see future events play out AFTER the past has been changed and the timeline altered suggests an alternate timeline has been created.
Heather writes: “She is the one who watched Event Horizon and pushed furniture up against all the doors and slept with a knife…to me that movie isn’t scary but somewhat gorry (spelling?)”
Answer: There were some scares. One in particular that stuck with me was the quick cut to the grisly fate of the previous crew.
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