Why these horror movies work

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13 SEMINAL HORROR MOVIES ... and 3 CONCRETE REASONS WHY

February 13th 2008 23:45

Any published list of what are supposedly the “best” or “most influential” or “essential viewing” movies is always going to be open to conjecture, likely to cause argument, or be challenged by someone else’s opinion. But that’s what makes it interesting.

I’m currently reading a brilliant book called Ten Bad Dates With De Niro – A Book of Alternative Movie Lists. With the book in mind I decided to compile yet another list of my own, a variation on an often repeated theme; horror movies that I keep coming back to, because they’re so damn effective for one reason or another.

Many of them are flawed, but then most movies are in some way or another. When I say flawed, I mean that they exceed in several key areas, but another part of the movie might not be so great. I don’t really believe there are “perfect” movies. There are definitely some that come close though.

I admire and respect directors like, for example, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, who champion movies that might only have one scene that is brilliant, whilst the rest of the flick is dodgy and forgettable. Sometimes that’s all a movie needs to inspire you or make you realise that the cinematic experience can work on so many levels, from the blindingly obvious to the oh-so-subtle.

My list below is a selection of what many would refer to as modern classics or cult favourites. It’s hard not to return to these movies time and time again, simply because they’re so rich in technique, content, mood, and execution. Of course there are numerous others I could have included, but for this blog I try to stick to my rule of “13”.

No doubt I’ll make an “alternative” list as well, but for now, here’s the “semi-obvious” list and three short reasons each as to why I feel these movies are so effective and memorable.

Nosferatu (1922)
1. German Expressionism
2. Max Schrek as Graf Orlock
3. Based on the novel Dracula

Psycho (1960)
1. The Bates motel & house
2. The shower scene
3. Joseph Stefano’s screenplay

The Exorcist (1973)
1. The title & poster
2. Linda Blair spouting “Your mother sucks cocks in Hell, Karras, you faithless slime!”
3. Dick Smith’s special effects make-up

Suspiria (1977)
1. Dario Argento’s nightmare logic
2. The Goblin soundtrack
3. The primary colour cinematography

Suspiria Luciano Tovoli's cinematography

Halloween (1978)
1. John Carpenter’s electronic score
2. Dean Semler’s Panavision panaglide camerawork
3. Jamie Lee Curtis in foreground, in shock, as The Shape, supposedly dead, sits up in the background

Alien (1979)
1. H. R. Giger’s alien & alien spacecraft design
2. The chest-bursting scene
3. The cast, their characters, and how they relate to each other

The Shining (1980)
1. Based on a Stephen King masterpiece
2. Directed by Stanley Kubrick
3. Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence

An American Werewolf in London (1981)
1. Rick Baker’s transformation sequence
2. Griffin Dunne as undead Jack Goodman
3. The Slaughtered Lamb and the subsequent sequence on the moors

The Evil Dead (1982)
1. The use of the shoe-string budget (ie special effects)
2. Sam Raimi’s kinetic mise-en-scene
3. Total bodily dismemberment

Poltergeist (1982)
1. PG-rated movie that’s more effective than many R-rated movies
2. Tobe Hooper vs. Stephen Spielberg (the nasty vs. the nice)
3. “They’re heeeeere!”

Videodrome (1982)
1. David Cronenberg’s prophetic screenplay
2. James Woods as Max Renn
3. Rick Baker’s special effects make-up

Day of the Dead (1985)
1. Tom Savini’s special effects make-up
2. George Romero’s tone and atmosphere
3. Still the zombie movie to end all zombie movies

Braindead (1991)
1. Peter Jackson’s relentless mise-en-scene
2. No holds barred, bad taste, gross-out, splatstick humour
3. The 20-minute lawnmower-zombie wipe-out

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: lists

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Comments

9 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Sylvie

February 14th 2008 00:02

Glad to see Videodrome on your list. But The Shining never turned me on. Visually stunning, but unconvincing as far as Jack going mad. I'm not actually a big fan of horror movies, since so many of them are little more than deliberate gross-outs. And I love the Nosferatu spinoffs --Herzog's version, and Shadow of the Vampire.

Comment by Damo

February 14th 2008 00:56

Nosferatu rocks.
I just love the gothic look of the whole thing.

Only Metropolis is something that like more from the era.

I remember that Poltergeist was rated M when it first came out in OZ. Scared me of television and raw steak for a week. Talk about picking your nose. Saw it again recently and.... good story still but it looks so 'groovy' now.

Alien has held up well and I still love it.

Psycho is another perfect piece of villainy by Hitchcock. "I would not even hurt a fly"

Good choices.

Comment by Cibbuano

February 14th 2008 02:04

Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

aww yeah! This is an excellent way to do a top 10 list. I'll try to compile my own...

Comment by KylieW

February 14th 2008 02:17

Celebrity Obsession

The Shining never did it for me either. I found it amazingly dull until the last 20 mins-half an hour. Then, oh my god, tension and scariness. But until then, it just didn't do it for me - even though Jack Nicholson was wonderful.

Alien - I couldn't agree more.

There's a lot of movies I still need to see!!!

Comment by Bryn

February 14th 2008 02:55

Horrorphile

Sylvie, welcome to the Pleasure of Nightmares ... you should delve a little deeper, you'd surprised how many good horror movies there actually are ... However the visceral is just as important as the psychological ie David Cronenberg

Herzog's Nosferatu is hauntingly beautiful and Shadow of the Vampire was a hoot, yes.

Damo, I knew you'd appreciate the selection

Cibby, bring it on!

Kylie, I've warmed (or should I say chilled) to The Shining over the years. When I was younger I didn't really appreciate it, but more recently I've embraced its trappings, and have come to think of it as the black sambuca of horror movies ...
Curiously it was the last 20 minutes for me that were always the problem, but that might have something to do with how different it was from the novel, which scared the bejesus out of me when I first read it ... It's definitely a flawed film, and I'd love to know what it would've been like had Kubrick actually filmed the screenplay King first delivered (instead he rejected it and wrote his own) ... Stay tuned for my review in the coming weeks.

Comment by Bryn

February 14th 2008 02:58

Horrorphile

btw Kylie, what haven't you seen that's in this list ...??

Comment by Lourensh

February 14th 2008 06:07

If you read the book on The Shining before you watched the movie, You'd be piss'n your pants. I had nightmares for years after reading the book.... But when the movie came out. Like you say. It didn't do it for me either.

Comment by JohnDoe

February 14th 2008 23:05

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Bryn,

Great list as always, actually agree with all included.

I'm a big fan of the Shining there is an atmosphere of fear that works subconsciously via the obtuse camera angles, use of colour and clever editing of sound.

Stephen King's screenplay for the Shining was shot by Mick Garris for a TV miniseries and it was nothing short of dull.