20. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Dir: Tobe Hooper
Running Time: 84 min.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most unnerving films ever made; it is completely unrelenting in its horror and never allows the audience a moment to breathe. You never feel comfortable around the main characters, because they are often at each other’s throats. Franklin, despite being in a wheel chair, is completely unsympathetic and is often a huge burden on Sally and her friends. Despite it’s rather gruesome title, the film is fairly tame in its use of gore; most of the horror is implied, rather than shown in full detail. The 2003 remake with Jessica Biel tried to replicate the look of the original film, but failed in that in tried too hard in making Leatherface a sympathetic character by giving him a painful back story. In the original, it is implied that the family turned to cannibalism largely due to economic factors (the closing down of the slaughter house, the scarcity of gas). It was a nice, subtle touch that was completely lacking from the remake, which went for the whole, “Leatherface was picked on when he was a kid, which is why he hacks up people.”
19. Horror of Dracula (1958)
Dir. Terence Fisher
Running Time: 80 min.
Horror of Dracula is far and away my favorite Dracula film, largely because it moves at a very swift pace. The 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi has a great opening in Transylvania, but comes to a complete halt once it switches locations to London. The actors just stand around, read their lines, and wait for their cue to exit the scene; it’s like watching a stage play. Christopher Lee as Dracula is a commanding presence, while Peter Cushing is wonderful as Van Helsing. Cushing’s no nonsense approach to the role really sells the threat of Dracula, while Lee is menacing regardless of what he is doing, be it baring his fangs at his potential victims or just walking into the frame.
18. Black Christmas (1974)
Dir: Bob Clark
Running Time: 98 min.
Black Christmas has one of the most interesting gimmicks in history; a horror film in which you never actually see the killer. It’s this very ambiguity that makes it such a creepy film, the audience is never given a back story on who the killer is and why he is stalking a house of sorority girls, so they have to rely on their imaginations to fill in the blanks. However, despite never seeing the killer, the audience is still never given a chance to fully relax, because they are forced to listen to the killer; he calls up the sorority and makes obscene phone calls; after he kills a victim he laughs for what seems to be an eternity. The film was remade in 2006 and (as is the case for most horror remakes) the body count increased while the very little was left to the imagination; in this case the killer was given an elaborate back story and looked like a cast off from The Hills Have Eyes.
Dir: Bob Clark
Running Time: 98 min.
Black Christmas has one of the most interesting gimmicks in history; a horror film in which you never actually see the killer. It’s this very ambiguity that makes it such a creepy film, the audience is never given a back story on who the killer is and why he is stalking a house of sorority girls, so they have to rely on their imaginations to fill in the blanks. However, despite never seeing the killer, the audience is still never given a chance to fully relax, because they are forced to listen to the killer; he calls up the sorority and makes obscene phone calls; after he kills a victim he laughs for what seems to be an eternity. The film was remade in 2006 and (as is the case for most horror remakes) the body count increased while the very little was left to the imagination; in this case the killer was given an elaborate back story and looked like a cast off from The Hills Have Eyes.
17. Poltergeist (1982)
Dir: Tobe Hooper
Running Time: 112 min.
Poltergeist has two scenes that still creep me out:
1) The opening shot, which begins on a close up a television signing off and then follows the family dogs as it walks room to room. Nothing happens onscreen, but it is completely unnerving, mainly due to the fact that it shot from the point of view of a child. This scene establishes that the family is being watched by an unseen force and that it’s only a matter of time before it reveals itself to the Freelings.
Dir: Tobe Hooper
Running Time: 112 min.
Poltergeist has two scenes that still creep me out:
1) The opening shot, which begins on a close up a television signing off and then follows the family dogs as it walks room to room. Nothing happens onscreen, but it is completely unnerving, mainly due to the fact that it shot from the point of view of a child. This scene establishes that the family is being watched by an unseen force and that it’s only a matter of time before it reveals itself to the Freelings.
2) The attack on Robbie by the freaky clown doll. This scene is set up beautifully; first there is a shot of the clown doll sitting on a chair facing Robbie while he’s in bed. Then it cuts to Robbie as he hides his head beneath his blanket. Then he pulls down the blanket to see if the clown is still there, only to find to his horror that it has disappeared. He then checks to see if it is hiding under the bed and when he gets back up, the clown doll is standing right behind him and proceeds to attack him. I've seen this scene numerous times and it gets me every time.
16. House of Wax (1953)
Dir: Andre de Toth
Running Time: 88 min.
House of Wax is a remake of the 1933 Warner Brothers film Mystery of the Wax Museum and is a vast improvement. The original film is laden with comedy relief; the main protagonist is a wisecracking blonde reporter (Glenda Farrell) who is trying to solve the mystery of all the disappearing corpses from the city morgue and her research leads her to a Wax Museum in New York, where her roommate is the mad sculptor’s next target. The remake does away with this character and focuses more on the mad sculptor’s (Vincent Price) attempt to recreate his old Wax Museum (that was burned down by his greedy partner, hoping to cash in on the insurance) in London by using the cadavers of murder victims. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it was shot in 3-D and, having seen it in 3-D, it’s one of the few films that actually works, largely because the director Andre de Toth fully embraces the gimmick, whether it’s relevant to the story or not. The most famous 3-D scene is the paddle ball man, who for no reason other than to show off the effect, continuously hits rubber balls at the screen, while telling the audience all about the wonders of the wax museum. It’s hokey, but it is a lot of fun and Vincent Price is in top form as the mad sculptor Jarrod.
Dir: Andre de Toth
Running Time: 88 min.
House of Wax is a remake of the 1933 Warner Brothers film Mystery of the Wax Museum and is a vast improvement. The original film is laden with comedy relief; the main protagonist is a wisecracking blonde reporter (Glenda Farrell) who is trying to solve the mystery of all the disappearing corpses from the city morgue and her research leads her to a Wax Museum in New York, where her roommate is the mad sculptor’s next target. The remake does away with this character and focuses more on the mad sculptor’s (Vincent Price) attempt to recreate his old Wax Museum (that was burned down by his greedy partner, hoping to cash in on the insurance) in London by using the cadavers of murder victims. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it was shot in 3-D and, having seen it in 3-D, it’s one of the few films that actually works, largely because the director Andre de Toth fully embraces the gimmick, whether it’s relevant to the story or not. The most famous 3-D scene is the paddle ball man, who for no reason other than to show off the effect, continuously hits rubber balls at the screen, while telling the audience all about the wonders of the wax museum. It’s hokey, but it is a lot of fun and Vincent Price is in top form as the mad sculptor Jarrod.
15. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Dir: George A. Romero
Running Time: 96 min.
Night of the Living Dead is almost relentless in its horror, because you never get the feeling that the characters are safe from the terror lurking outside. They don’t board themselves inside a house, because they are trying to find a solution, but rather out of a fear. Even when the zombies are off screen, you get the feeling that it’s all going to come crashing down sooner rather than later. This is largely due to the fact that when the characters aren’t fighting the zombies they are at odds with one another. Harry Cooper thinks its best that they all go into the cellar and try to wait out the night, while Ben (the character the audience roots for) is adamant they remain in the living room, where they at least have a fighting chance if the zombies should break in. However, the irony of the film is that Ben survives the night by locking himself in the cellar, after the shit has hit the fan. It’s a film that plays with the audience’s expectations, where we think one thing is going to happen, only to get blindsided by something else; the two romantic leads are killed in explosions and their remains gets gobbled up by the zombies, Helen is viciously murdered by her daughter, and Ben shoots an unarmed Harry. It’s a disturbing film and is hard to shake off after having seen it.
Dir: George A. Romero
Running Time: 96 min.
Night of the Living Dead is almost relentless in its horror, because you never get the feeling that the characters are safe from the terror lurking outside. They don’t board themselves inside a house, because they are trying to find a solution, but rather out of a fear. Even when the zombies are off screen, you get the feeling that it’s all going to come crashing down sooner rather than later. This is largely due to the fact that when the characters aren’t fighting the zombies they are at odds with one another. Harry Cooper thinks its best that they all go into the cellar and try to wait out the night, while Ben (the character the audience roots for) is adamant they remain in the living room, where they at least have a fighting chance if the zombies should break in. However, the irony of the film is that Ben survives the night by locking himself in the cellar, after the shit has hit the fan. It’s a film that plays with the audience’s expectations, where we think one thing is going to happen, only to get blindsided by something else; the two romantic leads are killed in explosions and their remains gets gobbled up by the zombies, Helen is viciously murdered by her daughter, and Ben shoots an unarmed Harry. It’s a disturbing film and is hard to shake off after having seen it.
14. The Mummy (1959)
Dir: Terence Fisher
Running Time: 88 min.
Christopher Lee is my favorite Mummy actor of all time, with apologies to the great Boris Karloff. What I like about Lee’s mummy is that he is nothing but sheer, brute strength...a force of a nature to be reckoned with. Boris Karloff’s Mummy (Ardeth Bay) used black magic to strike terror into the hearts of his enemies, but was physically weak. When Universal revived the series in the 1940s, starting with The Mummy’s Hand, the character of Kharis plodded through the scenery and never seemed a believable threat, despite the look of horror on the actor’s faces. The problem was that Kharis only had one good leg and one good arm; his victims could have easily gotten out of harm’s way had they just walked at a brisk pace, instead of just gawking at him like complete morons. Lee’s Mummy is a sight to behold; he smashes through doors, bends prison bars, and in one case gets impaled by a poker and still keeps on coming.
13. Halloween (1978)
Dir: John Carpenter
Running Time: 90 min.
The creepiest aspect of Halloween is the idea that a seemingly normal kid for a normal family could just one day flip out and murder his teenage sister. The film never explains why this happened, but the implication is terrifying. The horrible Rob Zombie remake tries to fill in the blanks by giving Michael Myers an over the top back story; he comes from a dysfunctional family, his mother is a stripper and his dad is an abusive redneck that is stuck in a wheel chair. It’s a pretty needless opening and really doesn't give you much insight into the character of Michael Myers. The original film left things to the imagination, while Zombie’s version does a full assault on the viewer’s senses, there’s nothing ambiguous about his film. There’s really nothing more I can say about Carpenter’s film that hasn't been said before, so I will use the awful pun from the 2003 making of documentary, it’s a “cut above the rest.”
Dir: John Carpenter
Running Time: 90 min.
The creepiest aspect of Halloween is the idea that a seemingly normal kid for a normal family could just one day flip out and murder his teenage sister. The film never explains why this happened, but the implication is terrifying. The horrible Rob Zombie remake tries to fill in the blanks by giving Michael Myers an over the top back story; he comes from a dysfunctional family, his mother is a stripper and his dad is an abusive redneck that is stuck in a wheel chair. It’s a pretty needless opening and really doesn't give you much insight into the character of Michael Myers. The original film left things to the imagination, while Zombie’s version does a full assault on the viewer’s senses, there’s nothing ambiguous about his film. There’s really nothing more I can say about Carpenter’s film that hasn't been said before, so I will use the awful pun from the 2003 making of documentary, it’s a “cut above the rest.”
12. Carnival of Souls (1962)
Dir: Herk Harvey
Running Time: 84 min.
Carnival of Souls was the only full length commercial film Herk Harvey ever did and it’s a good one. An emotionally aloof woman finds herself drawn to a crumbling lake side a pavilion, while being stalked by a pale faced man. The film is amazingly effective in its simplicity; in one scene the heroine finds herself wandering the streets of Salt Lake City while citizen’s fail to acknowledge her existence, she literally becomes a lost soul. In another jarring sequence, the heroine is driving at night, only to find a face staring at her through the passenger window. It’s these little moments that make the film so eerie. If they film were remade now a days, they would probably be CG ghoulies run amok, mutilating the people closest to the heroine as she decides what her next course of action should be.
Dir: Herk Harvey
Running Time: 84 min.
Carnival of Souls was the only full length commercial film Herk Harvey ever did and it’s a good one. An emotionally aloof woman finds herself drawn to a crumbling lake side a pavilion, while being stalked by a pale faced man. The film is amazingly effective in its simplicity; in one scene the heroine finds herself wandering the streets of Salt Lake City while citizen’s fail to acknowledge her existence, she literally becomes a lost soul. In another jarring sequence, the heroine is driving at night, only to find a face staring at her through the passenger window. It’s these little moments that make the film so eerie. If they film were remade now a days, they would probably be CG ghoulies run amok, mutilating the people closest to the heroine as she decides what her next course of action should be.
11. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Running Time: 96 min.
There have been many adaptations of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Rouben Mamoulian’s is by far the best. This is largely due to Mamoulian’s imaginative direction; the first transformation is done in a long continuous take, the camera never leaves Jekyll as he slowly begins to change. This simple effect baffled film historians for years, it was until the 1990s (and after Mamoulian’s death) that it was figured out how it was done, let’s just say it involved lighting and filters. Fredric March is terrific as the suffering Dr. Jekyll and the feral Mr.Hyde. As the film progresses Mr. Hyde becomes increasingly more and more terrifying, at first his antics are slightly comical as he is more a prankster than a monster, but with each successive transformation he turns a tad bit darker until he’s a fully fledged homicidal maniac.
Dir: Rouben Mamoulian
Running Time: 96 min.
There have been many adaptations of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Rouben Mamoulian’s is by far the best. This is largely due to Mamoulian’s imaginative direction; the first transformation is done in a long continuous take, the camera never leaves Jekyll as he slowly begins to change. This simple effect baffled film historians for years, it was until the 1990s (and after Mamoulian’s death) that it was figured out how it was done, let’s just say it involved lighting and filters. Fredric March is terrific as the suffering Dr. Jekyll and the feral Mr.Hyde. As the film progresses Mr. Hyde becomes increasingly more and more terrifying, at first his antics are slightly comical as he is more a prankster than a monster, but with each successive transformation he turns a tad bit darker until he’s a fully fledged homicidal maniac.
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