For better or worse I am one of those people that doesn’t scare easily. Sure, any monster jumping out of a closet will make me jump, but it doesn’t really scare me deep down, and torture porn really does nothing for me. I need the monster to never really show itself, it always needs to be around the periphery. I must be allowed to start over thinking everything until I just freak myself out. With this in mind, I decided to list a few of my favorite scary movies, along with some of my favorite Halloween movies.
This is the movie that the ill fated Quarantine was based off of. [Rec] is by far one of the best found footage movies I’ve seen. Everything just fits. The fact that I had to read subtitles due to not speaking Spanish allowed the atmosphere really affect my other senses since I was spending less time looking around the corner for the next scare.
There is not a whole lot to say about this beyond the synopsis. “A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.” Yeah, um, it is as bad/awesome as that sounds.
It would seem I am starting to have a theme of foreign movies for my preferred scares. Ringu was the first movie to introduce me to the amazingly creepy Japanese little girl ghost. Who would have thought a stringy hair girl with one eye peaking out could freak me out so much.
Yet another in the creepy Japanese girl ghost series. While I actually prefer the original Ju-on: The Grudge (Not to be confused with the original Ju-on, or even the second one), Ju-on: The Grudge 2 had one of the best pay offs. When you find out what is making the noise in the apartment, everything just clicks and will make you rethink any strange occurrences in your house.
Finally, an American movie. I wouldn’t really classify Misery as a horror movie like most of the movies I’ve listed, but it is creepy as all hell. I never want to be a successful author that gets in a car crash on a remote Maine road and get nursed back to health by Kathy Bates.
Stand By Me meets the Boogeyman. Tim Curry gives an amazing performance as the clown that would haunt the dreams of an entire generation. I am of the belief that this movie single handedly caused the now common fear of clowns.
Now for some of my favorite Halloween movies.
I wanted to be a goth kid growing up. Sue me.
This is a great fun movie. You can check out my review of it here.
Not really a Halloween movie, but this is a great vampire film. The entire movie just gives you this sense of isolation that works so perfectly with the subject matter.
There are of course many others that I love, and many more amazing movies I have yet to see, but if you haven’t had a chance to check out any of the movies on the list I implores you to get your scare on.
I love me some Rec!
All great choices. I’ve seen them all except Trick r Treat and The Crow… yeah, yeah, I know. The Orphanage is a visually beautiful movie. The image of the boy ghost with the cracked head stuck with me for quite some time.
Nice list! Others to check out:
The Changling (1980)
Black christmas (1974)
The Shining (1980)
The Thing (1982)
Wow… I totally haven’t seen most of these. I really want to see [REC], and I remember the American version of The Ring messed me up for days. Both versions of The Grudge were pretty freaky too!
We apparently have a very similar taste in horror flicks, in fact I surprised someone this weekend when I informed them that both The Ring and The Grudge were Japanese films first.
A few of my favorites that weren’t on this page-
The Descent: British ending of course. I’m mildly claustrophobic so obviously caves are going to bother me but I’m also a fan of how long it takes for the creatures to start being a player in the film. The suspense just builds for what feels like an eternity.
The Amityville Horror: The original. This was back when they had a bit more faith in the American audience. The troubles the family faced weren’t entirely explained. Bad stuff just happened.
The Exorcist: Being from around St. Louis this film really got to me. I mean the house is right downtown, I could drive by it if I wanted to. I’m also a Christian so this type of stuff really gets to me, especially when I start doing research and discover that medical professionals haven’t come up with any medicinal explanation for the phenomenon known as “Possession”. Also, read the book… far more frightening than the movie.
Dog Soldiers: I love werewolves, especially done well.
Signs: Many give me grief for this but I thought the majority of this film was well done. Cut out the last ten mins or so and you have a pretty suspenseful storyline. I am a huge fan of the concept of this small family stuck on their farm dealing with the invasion. Spend a lot of time pondering everything else and the movie sadly falls apart.
Anyway I could do this all day