Spooooooky!!

Okay, time for a quick post.

As you all might have guessed, it's HALLOWEEN!! Time to wear a witch's hat! Put a sheet over your head with two holes for eyes! Or don a Freddie Krueger/Michael Myers mask!! Actually the prospect of the latter is kind of horrid. Well, whatever takes your fancy...Actually I'm dreading the sound of my door bell tonight with lots of kids coming to bother me with "Trick or Treat"ing. Nooooo!!

And to celebrate the spooky season, I thought I'd post up some of my Favourite Scary Movies, in no particular order...



1. The Stepford Wives (the original)
Some might call it camp, some might call it kitsch and some may even claim it's not frightening, but it IS (frightening that is - okay so it's camp and kitsch too but that ain't no bad thing...) A female artist and her family move to the seemingly idyllic rural town of Stepford to find that all the wives are behaving very strangely, exhibiting a drone-like devotion to their husbands. Only recent arrivals seem "normal", then after a few months they "change" too. What's going on?


2. Rosemary's Baby
Another great psycho-drama with the elfin-featured Mia Farrow and smarmy John Cassavetes, playing a young couple who move into a New York apartment. She gets preggers but then starts imagining bad stuff about her neighbours, not to mention her husband. Or is she? A brilliant exercise in paranoia that keeps you guessing right up until the end.


3. Scream
I loved this when it came out. Ironic, satirical take on the teenage slasher flick with lots of great in-jokes and references to other movies. Very knowing. Plus Courtney Cox as a bitchy journalist and Neve Campbell as a sympathetic lead. And a particularly scary opening sequence with a cameo from Drew Barrymore getting harassed by a nasty voice on the phone...


4. The Haunting
NOT the tacky 1990s re-make with Catherine Zeta Jones. No, I'm talking about the 1960s original with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. A group of paranormal investigators spend the night into a supposedly haunted house. If this sounds totally naff and unoriginal, it isn't. The film manages to terrify through the power of suggestion and the unseen e.g. one scene where the two women investigators hear loud banging on their bedroom door and strange voices...


5. Carrie.
Perhaps most "frightening" in terms of the damage someone can do if pushed too far by others. Sissy Spacek plays the lead of the title, a shy, introverted, naive schoolgirl with a religious nut of a mother (great performance from Piper Laurie) whose backward values are imposed upon her daughter. Then some of the bitchier girls in Carrie's class decide to play a cruel prank. The scene when Carrie and her partner at the Prom walk up to the stage in slow-motion, whilst the trap is sprung, is a truly nail-biting piece of suspense and brilliantly directed. And the violence that follows is completely horrid!


6. The Others.
Once you've seen this it's kind of pointless seeing it again, owing to the big twist at the end. But it's still a well-played, impeccable drama, again playing on the viewer's mind to clever effect. An icily prim Nicole Kidman plays Grace, mother of two children who suffer from extreme photo sensitivity, which means they must remain inside darkened rooms in their house, cut off from exposure to daylight. Then as the movie continues, it seems that the house is occupied by unseen and possibly natural "intruders". One of the children, Anne, says that she's being visited by a child called Victor...And what's with the servants?

7. Dressed to Kill
Very Hitchcockian and very bloodthirsty. Angie Dickinson plays a bored housewife who takes her knickers of in a taxi with a complete stranger, goes back to his hotel for a shag and then promptly gets knifed in a lift by a "female" in a flasher mac. Like you do. However tart with a heart Nancy Allen has witnessed the crime and is on the case...Also includes Michael Caine as a psychiatrist. There's some great suspense bits when the killer is on the loose.


8. Halloween.
Naturally. Subsequent sequels got silly but this is how it should be done - and set the precedent for a million other stalk-and-slash movies. Jamie Lee Curtis is endearing as the young girl who gets followed a by a sinister masked guy who is none other than...her brother! Great use of suspense, tracking camera shots and who can forget that eerie piano score?

I actually wanted to list 10 films but my brain has kind of dried up...Anyway, Happy Halloween to y'all. And having just tagged a lot of people on the last post, I will spare you all this time round, however I would still love to know what your favourite horror flicks are, should you be so inclined to reply...

(Oh and if you want to see an example of a very good spookily-styled blog, try Mr Newplanet! Although I suspect after today, he will turn into a pumpkin...)