Over time, I’ve become fascinated with scary movies. I love the heart-pounding tension; I love when a scene jolts you upright; I love the agony of watching some poor protagonist creep down a dark hallway as both they and you dread whatever’s around that corner. I love committing to the fright and turning the lights off and watching in complete silence. Full disclosure: I am no hero about these scares and the lights will often come back on, sometimes all of them. I may have been known to move a cat onto the couch next to me as some sort of meager (and disinterested) security blanket.
The list below is a collection of 8 films I recall having a strong reaction to, and they range from intensely unsettling to truly terrifying. I didn’t include classics like The Exorcist, The Shining, Psycho, etc. because while those are great movies, they just didn’t scare me that much. Also ignored are Hostel, Saw 2 - infinity, and other gore-fests of that ilk that rely on gross-out shock-value. If you’ve never made a foray into the horror genre before, I recommend you give it a shot this year. If you’re an old hat at this sort of thing, maybe explore some new titles this spooky season.
It Follows (2014)
Not only is It Follows
one of the scarier things I’ve come across, it’s also one of the best
all-around films I’ve seen in recent memory. It takes such traditional horror
tropes as “the unstoppable stalker” and the “have-sex-and-you-die rule” and
spins them into something new and fantastic. The whole film overflows with nostalgia;
paying homage to the idyllic suburbs of John Carpenter’s 80’s where Michael
Myers and Freddie Kruger stalked. The steady, trudging presence of It Follows does not reach a clawed hand
out from a wall or sneakily pick off your friends, it only does one thing:
follows. Every day and every night the pressure and paranoia slowly build,
fraying the nerves of the characters and of the audience. I promise you that
you will never have been so terrified of an average Joe, walking at an average
pace, in the distant background of a shot. I can’t recommend this movie enough.
Alien (1979)
This is sort of a no-brainer, but should also serve as a wakeup call to change your life if you haven’t seen it. Alien was the first truly scary movie I ever saw and I immediately fell in love with the film. Going in I knew it was a sci-fi movie but my well-worn library of Star Wars books did little to prepare me for something so fantastically terrifying. Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, Alien is an exercise in cinematic atmosphere and everything from the silently sweating eggs to the dripping, cave-like bays of the Nostromo fits into a world that feels as real as Sigourney Weaver’s distaste for sequels. Of all the movies I’m writing about today, this is the number one must-see-if-you-haven’t.
The Invitation (2015)
For those less interested in the frights of a true horror
flick, I highly recommend this creepy thriller. The entire film takes place at
a dinner party, a reunion for a group of friends who were fractured years
before by the death of a child. If social awkwardness makes you squirm, prepare
to be tied in knots. We, as a trained, suspicious audience, not only cringe at
each outburst or overfamiliarity, but also seek to find the nefarious in each
tense exchange or behind an innocuous locked door. The Invitation preys on this feeling that “something isn’t quite
right” as well as any movie I can think of. At every crescendo of suspicion we
expect a vindicating shoe to drop but the doubt is patiently explained away,
and we’re left twisting in the wind. The ending is a bit disappointing but the
magnificent slow burn of the first 95 minutes makes it well worth your while.
You’re Next (2011)
I remember seeing trailers for You’re Next and dismissing it as another crummy, violent,
home-invasion thriller (which is apparently a distinct genre now?). I was dead
wrong. Zing! You’re Next is no
Oscar-winner but it takes the home-invasion trope and adds a couple twists and
surprising character depth, providing the audience with plenty of scares and
plenty of unpleasant deaths. The protagonist Erin is played by Sharni Vinson,
of Step Up 3D and Blue Crush 2 fame, and she gives a awesome performance as a quiet girl who turns out to be a kickass heroine. It’s definitely one of
the bloodier items on this list, but You’re
Next is self-aware and creative enough to keep the vengeance interesting, and it's a personal
guilty pleasure.
Halloween (1978)
Halloween is one of my favorite older movies and it scared the absolute shit out of me when I saw it for the first time. Now almost 40 years old, on repeat viewings Halloween’s bits of first-person camerawork and sound effects can feel a bit hokey but it’s a classic for a reason. In 1978 Michael Myers set the standard for horror as a sociopath who escapes from a mental institution to lurk in his old hometown. His silent, determined stalking is riveting and his seemingly inescapable suburban reign of terror will have your adrenaline pumping. Despite having a murderous villain, there’s actually very little bloodshed, so this is a good place to start if you’re squeamish but still looking for a scare. One viewing and that simple piano theme will give you chills for the rest of your life.
The Babadook (2014)
Some movies just make the viewer feel the anxiety of their
characters more than others and the TheBabadook excels in this regard. The film centers on a young widow who is
constantly at her wits end trying to raise her troubled child. The obvious
strain this puts on her is leveled up into a full-blown mania when she reads a
mysterious bedtime story about “Mister Babadook” and the creature manifests to haunt
their lives. The monster is freakishly horrifying. Its shadowy movements and
guttural croaks come in a jerky, unnatural fashion that evokes some sort of
primal dread. For poor mom, the unrelenting suspense turns every daylight hour
of childcare or housework into a nightmare and every night into an exercise in
terror. This was a turn-the-lights-back-on movie for me. “You can’t get rid of
the Babadook.”
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)/ 1 (2007)
I don’t think there’s a person alive who isn’t tired of the
“found-footage” films by now. Believe me, I felt the same way, but Paranormal Activity One and Two are the best iterations of the genre
and legitimately great scary movies. Filmed for practically no money, they rely
on astonishingly-effective claustrophobic voyeurism and small-scale special
effects to make you jump at the slamming of a door or a ruffling bed sheet. The
house is haunted – that’s the plot. Sure they provide more backstory or
“narrative” in later sequels but that fluff honestly doesn’t factor into why the
series is damn frightening. I watched these two back-to-back and while I can’t
tell you what happened in one versus the other, I know they both scared the
crap out of me. The stunt they borrowed from Poltergeist where a character turns around in the kitchen and all
the cabinets are suddenly open remains one of my favorite scary effects.
The Descent (2005)
A quick Googling of The Descent turns up both a 4-out-of-4-star review from Roger Ebert and a review
from someone less renowned that describes it as “pants-shittingly scary.” I
have to say that I agree with both assessments. I first watched this as a
freshman in college, by myself, in a dark dorm room. Our awful, blaring,
flashing fire alarm went off about 30 minutes in and I came as close to a heart
attack as I have ever come. Wikipedia provides this excellent summary: “The film follows six women who, having entered an
unmapped cave system, become trapped and are hunted by troglofaunal
flesh-eating humanoids.” (Troglofaunal is Nate’s word of the day!) Cramped and
poorly lit by shaking flashlights and flares, the subterranean world is a
claustrophobic’s nightmare and when you add subhuman monsters, well, it becomes
everyone’s nightmare. Make sure you watch the unrated version with the original ending not initially aired in America. The
Descent is absolutely merciless and probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. Approach with caution.