As Halloween is coming up, I thought I’d recommend some of my favorite scary movies — and take recommendations from our viewing audience.
I like scary movies, but I get irritable when the gross-out factor jumps too much — gore is used too often to distract from the lack of plot or decent writing — so all my favorites are from the cobwebby cellars of yesteryear.
The Uninvited - This is one of my favorites. One of those classic 1940s flicks — there’s romance and mystery and a seance. Lots of fun. A brother and sister buy a beautiful old abandoned house on the Cornish coast and pretty soon weird things begin to happen.
The Haunting - The remake is a scream, but for all the wrong reasons. The original 1963 black and white version with Claire Bloom and Julie Harris holds up so well — almost more scary in its lack of any kind of special effects. Psychic researchers set up camp in Hill House, a deserted mansion with a really bad reputation — and with good reason.
The Innocents - Very creepy film adaptation of Henry James’s Turn of the Screw. A young repressed woman moves to an isolated house in the country to take a position as governess to two small children. This is probably the only film I’ve ever seen that conveyed a sense of dread in broad daylight. I don’t know if there are other versions, but the 1961 edition with Deborah Kerr is a corker.
The Changeling - It gets a little illogical towards the end, but…it’s a ghost story! What do you want? George C. Scott is still grieving for his wife and daughter when he takes temporary possession of a historical home in Washington, and begins to suspect that he is not the house’s only resident.
Carnival of Souls - This is a 1962 cult classic, flawed and even silly in parts, but…effective. Memorable. A girl survives an accident that kills her friends, and finds herself stalked by an apparition-like man. She keeps being drawn to a deserted carnival pavillion out in the middle of the salt flats of Salt Lake City…. Yikes!
Okay, anybody got a favorite scary movie or two or three for Halloween?
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Well, since it says “Uncatagorized”, I assume this is Diana. Still haven’t gotten that glitch ironed out.
Some great choices here. Of your picks, I like The Haunting the best. I remember Carnival of Souls, but only barely.
I still like the original House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price. The remake had a good cast, but not done so well.
I also like the Original Nightmare of Elm Street. All the sequels pretty much sucked, but the original and the idea were pretty creepy.
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I saw House on Haunted Hill in a midnight double feature when I was a kid in the 50’s. It cost 35 cents, adult price because, as the ticket taker snapped, kids shouldn’t be out at midnight. The other movie? A sci-fi horror flick about the far distant future, Frankenstein 1970.
This past weekend we watched Michael Clayton, good but not scary except in a giant corporation goes nuts and kills hundreds kind of way, 28 Weeks Later, a good but not great zombie flick, and The Insatiable, a really decent low-budget vampire love story. I recommend it.
And unlike that midnight double feature, I was snug-a-bed by 10.
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I’m not a huge fan of horror flicks (at least not what they make these days). I still love the old scary movies, but more for nostalgia than for frights.
For truly creepy, try Ghost Story (1981). It has some of the great old actors - Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., John Houseman - and is based on a book written by Peter Straub. Of course, the book is way creepier, but the movie’s still fun.
For fun on Halloween, try watching Transylvania 6-5000, Abbott and Costello meet The Mummy, or Hocus Pocus (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessice Parker). =oD
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BTW, to add to BE’s fun list: Shaun of the Dead.
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GOSH DARN IT.
Okay, fixed the thing with my picture, hopefully. I thought I’d got that taken care of.
Hey, but you knew my name in the dark! Spoooooooky.
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Hey, Will, I’ve never been brave enough to watch any of the Nightmare movies. Just that guy’s fingernails creep me out.
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Oh, B.E., yes — good choices. I always like the combo of giggles and chills.
THE GHOSTBREAKERS with Bob Hope is another great one. Even the remake with Dean Martin and what’s his name isn’t bad — if you can take extended periods of that other guy. SCARED STIFF, that’s it.
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The Insatiable. Okay, David. That’s going on the rental list.
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Demon Knight–just enough camp.
by Cynthia
on October 29th, 2007 at 10:04 am
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Demon Knight…vaguely, vaguely familiar. I must check on that one…
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I still say Psycho is pretty durned scary. My dad and mom saw it together when it first came to theaters and my dad wouldn’t take a shower for two weeks. Now that’s scary.
I saw The Birds when I was about eight and it royally freaked me out. Haven’t had the guts to watch it again, but a Hitchcock marathon may be in order for this week.
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I don’t, as a general rule, do scary movies. I don’t mind a good murder, but horror movies creep me out too much. 
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I don’t like being scared, and haven’t since I was a kid. The two movies that convinced me that being scared wasn’t entertaining were, ‘Let’s Kill Uncle’ a semi-obscure film where the young boy is trying to turn the tables on the uncle who’s trying to kill him, and the original “When A Stranger Calls.” They scarred me for life, I tell ya!
by Kate Hathway
on October 29th, 2007 at 11:12 am
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Diana - I got your info, but have been out of commission for a bit. Soon as I can I’ll see what I have in what format and get back with details.
bob
by Bob
on October 29th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
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Hey, Regina, I finally watched THE BIRDS a couple of years ago. Just too freaky. I think I had trouble with it because I love birds — love them in the garden. We’ve got mockingbirds and doves and the occasional red-tailed hawk — and all those wacky little hummingbirds. I’d hate to think if it was me or them!
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If you haven’t already, try THE UNINVITED, Tori. It’s right up your alley. I promise.
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Oh, Kate, those are two movies all my friends saw — and I was too chicken. Well, it wasn’t just chickenness — my parents were pretty strict. But it was a relief to be able to fall back on their strictness. 
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Great! Thanks so much, Bob.
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Sorry I’m late with this, but Time Magazine just came out with the all time top 25 Horror Movies.
Link - http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1676793_1676808,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
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Scary? You’re talking the first two ALIEN movies, especially the first one. don’t think anyone has done that whole “creeping dread” thing better.
When you really think about it, the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE isn’t all that gory in the sense of extreme closeups and anatomy…still it’s highly disturbing.
But THE EXORCIST is, bar none, the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, not just for the “pea soup spewing” but for the voice of the demon…
“YOU’RE GOING TO DIE UP THERE..”
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Hey, Will, great idea!
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ALIEN — the first ALIEN — is one of my all time favorite movies. Not just for the scare factor, which is high, but the acting, the character development — though minimal — is so powerful and vivid. Such a taut, well-written movie.
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