October 05, 2015

My top 5 scary Halloween movies

Here's another selection to scare yourself out of your wits for Halloween.
While putting this list together, I realized that what scares me the most are claustrophobic huis-clos...as 4 out of 5 movies fit  in that category ... no, make that 5 out of 5 ...

5. Poltergeist
©MGM
 The 1982 version obviously. Officially directed by Tobe Hooper, many still think that Steven Spielberg (the producer) was at helm. Indeed, other than the final 10 minutes that indeniably have the Hooper gory touch, the rest of the film has the Spielberg's marks all over it.

4. In the mouth of darkness

 © New Line Home Entertainment
A generally underrated masterpiece by John Carpenter. Bizarre, unsettling, incongruous, it is a difficult movie to summarize. What is scarier than  starting to doubt your own sanity?

3.Signs
 © Buena Vista

 I love M. Night Shyamalan's careful and detailed movie making style which reminds me a lot of Hitchcock's. So when he decided to make a movie on a topic I love (ufology), I was thrilled...and not disappointed. Though I have to admit that all the clever references to the ufology field will be lost on anyone not into the topic, the film still works well as a claustrophobic thriller.

2. The Thing
 © Universal Pictures
 Huh, yes, another John Carpenter's film. A remake of a B movie from the 50's, this huis-clos set in an arctic base is...chilling ;)  There are some awesome pre-CGI monsters/creatures too.

1. The Haunting
 © Paramount Pictures

Directed by Robert Wise in 1963, this is probably the best ghost movie ever. It is also a lesson in movie making. With no special effects, no monsters, no blood...it is a film that will haunt you long after you've watched it.


So, what are your favorite scary movies?  I could have added some others to the list like Alien, World War Z, some more Carpenter's films and George Romero's Night of the living dead. I am not much into gory/slasher films, I usually find them gross and not very scary...

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Too scary for me! I'm definitely not made for these movies, too faint hearted! :)

the Blue Rabbit House. said...

I'm soooo bad with horror movies!! I can see war movies (one of my favorite genres), but horror movies are not my thing. Which is a bit weird if I write it down like this.

I do think you put together a very great list!! Horror lovers wil love it!

StaroftheEast said...

I haven't seen a horror movie in ages! Will get a start on that :)

Nyuta said...

Toooooooo scary for me!

Lucie Tales said...

I'll admit I have never seen those movies :-) The movie that most scared me was the Night of the hunter by Charles Laughton wis Robert Mitchum

Tina Lindholm Kanerva said...

Have not watched a scary movie in a long time. I think it is because I have become more scared when getting older. ;-)

Stephanie Kilgast said...

yes! yes! I want to watch those!

Unknown said...

Uuhuuu this is an interesting topic and it's definitely the season for it! The movies that scare me the most are those with ghosts, dead people and vampires. The scariest movies i've seen are "13 ghosts" and "Ghost Ship". For more than half of these movies i must keep my eyes closed. :D