Mips: frivolous notes of the Skyylark

10/30/2007

They're All Gonna Laugh at You!

Well, Halloween is tomorrow, and surprisingly, it continues to be one of my favorite holidays. Most of the horror movies made these days don't really scare me all that much; I find myself giggling at most of them. Plus, the majority of them are just bad remakes of previously made or Japanese films. It's the creepy films of the 60's and 70's that get me. Maybe it's because these older movies are more subtle in their scariness. They didn't have the technology to create huge monsters and realistic special effects, so they had to be more creative in their effectiveness. So in the spirit of Scary Day, I've constructed the following list:

Missy's Top 5 Favorite Scary Movies!

1. Carrie
In all honesty, it's not Carrie who frightens me most in this movie. Mainly, it's the crazy mother and the brutality of her peers. Probably because these concepts (an extremely religious parent, getting picked on at school, etc) happen all the time in real life, opposed to a person moving things with their mind. But the part that gets me every time is the dream sequence at the very end. I won't give the ending away, but I think it's the music in this scene that creeps me out to no end!

2. The Shining
This isn't just some dumb, gory, gross-out horror flick. This is a well-constructed, tension-building story with complex characters, an amazing isoundtrack, and creative camera shots. My favorite scenes are when the kid is riding through the empty halls on his big-wheel, and when Jack is hallucinating in the ballroom. Oh, and when Wendy finally reads the novel Jack's been writing.

3. Wait Until Dark
"Wait Until Dark" is wonderfully suspenseful and genuinely scary without showing a drop of blood. Audrey Hepburn plays a blind woman who is home alone as three thugs attempt to trick and threaten her into letting them into her apartment to obtain a doll stuffed with heroin. The tension builds to a huge plateau as Audrey Hepburn knocks out all the lights in her apartment to get the upper-hand on the men who are trying to kill her and take the doll. Alan Arkin scares the shit of of me in this one.

4. Halloween
Did anyone know that the mask worn by the character 'Micheal' was a deformed and worn William Shatner mask? I love that little bit of useless knowledge. The scariest parts for me are when Micheal is stalking the girls throughout the beginning of the movie.

5. The Sixth Sense
I admit it: I didn't predict the ending. M. Night Shyamalan got me: hook, line and sinker. This movie is not only makes you jump out of your seat, but you really learn to feel for the characters throughout the movie, good and bad.

Please feel free to share your own top choices, everyone has different things that scare and intrigue them. Happy Halloween!

6 Comments:

  • At October 31, 2007 at 10:21 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Perhaps the scariest movie for me is Hitchcock's "Psycho". It was made in 1960, and Anthony Perkins plays the neurotic mama's boy. You would never believe that he could be a violent, cold blooded killer. I guess the slice-and-dice shower scene had a minimum of 50 slashes and dashes. I still tremble when I see Anthony Perkins in a movie. It certainly left a lasting impression on me.

    Hey Miss, have you ever seen this movie? Maybe that would explain your fear of knives. It would be understandable!

     
  • At October 31, 2007 at 12:23 PM , Blogger Missy said...

    Actually, Lil Sweetie, I believe I saw Psycho for the first time with you! And I did consider putting that one on my top five. Yeah, I think the scariest thing about Anthony Perkins is that you almost find him cute and sweet in the very beginning. Then very slowly throughout their conversation, his character gets stranger and stranger. Yeah, Psycho is definitely up there.

     
  • At October 31, 2007 at 12:38 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I'm sure that I probably had my eyes shut for most of the movie. That or I probably made many bathroom trips!

     
  • At November 1, 2007 at 3:58 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I think the movie that scared me the most (in my adult life) was "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer." I'm not even sure if this qualifies because it was an HBO movie, I think. There's something just cheap and thoroughly nasty about the movie, but it all seems like stuff that could actually happen too (I can't remember if it was based on a true story or not).

    The original "Night of the Living Dead" is still pretty scary to me, even though I've seen it many times. For me, it's the kind of fear than stems from lonely feelings, which is a bit of a twist on the usual horror fare.

     
  • At November 1, 2007 at 7:34 PM , Blogger Missy said...

    I've never seen "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer". When was it made?

     
  • At November 2, 2007 at 4:31 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I think it was made in 1986, but it might not have been released until a little later. I saw it on video in the late 90's Watch at your own risk, seriously.

     

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