I had to divide my final “Scary Movies” viewing breakdown into two parts! Today, a strong finish.
Over the course of October, I watched 31 scary movies. I took my list from the film anthology “1001 Movies to See Before You Die.” Throughout the month, I saw scary movies, thrilling movies, thought-provoking movies, and sometimes a mix of all three and then some! With the finish line in sight, it’s time to finish strong.
Scary Movies: Hey, I’ve Done this Before!
The Haunting (1963): In the past year, I’ve read “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson and watched “The Haunting of Hill House” on Netflix. So imagine my surprise when I turn on “The Haunting” and realize it’s a film adaptation of the same story! Eleanor Lance accepts a mysterious offer to spend a week in Hill House, an allegedly haunted estate. While there, she encounters strangers of both the real and the paranormal. With the terrors that lurk in the dark, Eleanor must embrace her destiny. But what, exactly, is that destiny?
The film opens with an introduction by the film’s paranormal doctor, John Markaway. He provides the horrible backstory of Hill House and how the builders and subsequent occupants vanished. This prologue hit me right in my “old movie appreciation” bone! Having listened to the Audible version of the book, I couldn’t help but notice that the voice of the actress playing Eleanor (“Nell” for short) sounded like the Audible narrator! This was the first of my scary movies that made me truly notice the cinematography. Throughout the film, the cinematographer used dramatic POVs, distortions, odd perspectives, and more to add a strong sense of dread. Another thing to appreciate on my end! I won’t fully spoil the ending… I’ll only say that I would have called it after hearing the sounds of an old man muttering and groaning WITHIN THE WALLS. I’ll see myself out, thank you!
Aliens (1986): The first Friday of this month, I watched the first movie, “Alien.” On the final Friday of the month, I watched the second film in the series! Hi, Sigourney Weaver! Ellen Ripley wakes up from a 56 year long sleep. Her rescuers require her assistance in investigating a colony of terraformers on the same planet from the first film. Against her better judgement, she and a crew of marines look for survivors. No sooner do they arrive that they grimly realize that Ripley’s nightmares hold nothing to the reality of the rapidly reproducing aliens.
I think, what is most astounding to me, is that Ripley recorded the horrors of the first movie by way of Captain’s Logs. Despite this, Ripley goes in front of a small committee who seems to not believe her warnings. My little brain felt so infuriated. Did the other members of her team just VANISH? Apparate into a pile of smoke? Or, perhaps, is it slightly more conceivable that when Ripley stated on record “an alien made its way onto the ship and destroyed my coworkers and the ship,” she wasn’t pulling a prank? Such nonsense!
Nevertheless, seeing Ripley gain the trust of the marines (though, again, why was it not immediately granted in the first place?) and emerging for the final showdown against the alien filled me with such pride. In addition, after some 29 days of scary movies, I came to the realization that about 98 percent of horror movie villains can probably be taken care of with a flamethrower. No one should go anywhere without a flamethrower.
The Thing (1982): Speaking of an alien monster that killed everyone, behold “The Thing,” a movie where a scary alien monster kills everyone. An American research facility finds itself in a waking nightmare when a sheltered Husky begins to kill and absorb all it encounters. R.J. MacReady, the de facto leader, must face off against the mysterious creature while simultaneously keeping the peace of his teammates. Morale falls quickly when it becomes apparent that the creature can shapeshift, and can pretend to be anything until ready to attack. Yes, this creature can morph into anything… even a convincing human.
Did I expect this movie to open with someone shooting a wolf from a helicopter? No, no I did not. I also did not expect for this movie to go even further off the rails from there! If I could describe this movie with three words, I would pick “Too much viscera.” Honestly, so much of the movie features blood and guts spewing everywhere. EVERYWHERE. It all looked very disturbing. However, the grossness finds a balance in a very handsome 80s Kurt Russell. Those eyes. Wow.
Scary Movies: Teens in Trouble
Halloween (1978): Did I really have a choice for my Halloween night viewing? I don’t know how I went so long without seeing this essential slasher classic! Laurie Strode, a fun but nerdy bookworm, spends her Halloween night fielding calls from her friends and babysitting Tommy Doyle, a young kid from her neighborhood. However, local killer Michael Meyers has escaped from the criminal asylum, and makes his way back to his hometown to recreate the night he murdered his sister! Upon his return, he spots Laurie in front of the home that served as the scene of his crime. Thus, Laurie, her friends, and Tommy, all find themselves in the fight of their lives against this madman.
This movie has everything: big knives, tiny needles, horny teenagers. And if that doesn’t grab your attention, you can spend the whole time asking yourself questions that defy a willing suspension of disbelief, like “Why is Judith Meyer’s grave only a foot long?” or “Why did Laurie not completely slash Michael Meyers to bits when she had the chance?” I know that this film is essential in the hall of scary movies, so I won’t say these are concrete issues. They are simply questions I have and wonder why no one considered. I believe that “Zombieland”‘s ‘double tap’ and ‘check the backseat’ rules could have saved a lot of grief! Knowing that Michael Meyers would continue to haunt Haddonfield for decades to come, it’s incredible to see how this film has truly stood the test of time!
The Evil Dead (1981): I believe that a poor workman blames his tools. To put a positive spin on that concept, you can make something truly brilliant even without a million dollar budget. Movies like The Blair Witch Project and The Evil Dead prove my point! Ash Williams takes his sister, friends, and girlfriend to a rented cabin in the woods for an idyllic weekend in nature. Things quickly turn violent as the group uncovers a Book of the Dead and eventually summons dark spirits from the underworld. Then it gets worse.
This movie was made in 1981, but still has twinges of the seventies stuck to it! Firstly, as someone who watched Burn Notice, I loved seeing Bruce Campbell as a handsome young guy. Secondly, it was fun to see this group of teenagers not even blink at passing by what appear to be two hitchhikers. THEY SAW “TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE” AND WERE NOT CONFUSED BY IT. Thirdly, this movie wasted no time getting into the spooks. Within minutes of the group arriving at the house, Ash’s sister briefly gets possessed. The night progresses, and suffice it to say, not everyone makes it to sunrise. Having seen “The Cabin in the Woods,” I couldn’t help but notice the many ingredients found in The Evil Dead: group of teenagers, one douchebag jock, a quiet bookworm, underage drinking, and a cabin in the woods. Oh yeah, ’twas a cocktail for disaster.
Both Ash Williams and Laurie Strode made the same deadly mistake: not completely obliterating the bodies when they had the chance. Maybe it’s the “Supernatural” fan in me, but if I’ve just killed a possessed body, I won’t leave it there. I grab the big axe, chop the corpse into pieces, and then burn the pieces. That’s a surefire way to sleep peacefully at some point. This movie and “The Thing” both just languished in exploding guts and viscera. It looked gruesome and bloody! The ending surprised me a lot, which makes me happy. Then I read what happens in the sequels. Man, things go off the rails in part two. Maybe it makes more sense when you’ve read the books?
Scary Movies: My Favorites
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987): I had tried desperately at the beginning of the month to find this on a streaming platform, to no avail. However, in the wake of the crazy popular Netflix show “Squid Game,” many flocked to Twitter to discuss other non-Western scary movies and tv series in the horror/thriller persuasion. A certain tweet indicating A Chinese Ghost Story‘s presence on Youtube had me zipping to my “Recommended” feed! Ning Choi-San, a debt collector, seeks shelter one night in an abandoned temple. He is haunted by evil spirits, but he somehow falls in love with one of them! Nip Siu-Sin, who operates by way of luring weak men to their death, matches Ning’s affections, and the two find themselves as skull-crossed lovers. But, with one mortal and one on the other side, how can they ever be together?
After spending an entire month looking at violence, gore, and trauma, I was happy to discover that while this film fell under the “scary movies” category, it had bites of comedy! At one point, when Ning Choi-San inquires for shelter, the entire town leans in to listen. They all pretend to ignore him when he notices everyone staring! This feels like typical sitcom fodder, but it happens multiple times throughout the movie! In addition, every time someone runs or shouts after someone, policemen follow, assuming it’s a robbery. Literally, it happens every time! I found myself laughing more than trembling. I’ve often enjoyed comedy with my horror, and between the humor, the costumes, and the quintessential 80s music, this was one of the scary movies I enjoyed the most!
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): This was the last film on my scary movies list! I turned this one on immediately after finishing Halloween. I ended up enjoying this one more! Nancy Thompson and her friends find themselves having similar nightmares in which they are chased by the same villain. Nancy and her boyfriend Glen realize that if this killer, Freddy Krueger, murders them in their dreams, they die in reality! Armed with not much more than adrenaline, Nancy and Glen search for the truth behind Freddy Krueger in a quest to put him to sleep… permanently!
First of all, I really loved the plot of this movie. I’m kidding! Not really. I found more nightmare fodder here than in Halloween. Dreams can get really trippy, even if there’s no murderer! With the rushing blood, the transportation of Freddy Krueger, and the, uh, centipede moment, it certainly sends shivers down the spine! Much like my appreciation for A Chinese Ghost Story, I love that the music dates the film. You can tell that Halloween was made in the seventies, based on the electric rock theme. The synths in the opening titles of Nightmare on Elm Street make for a dead giveaway (pardon the pun) that we’ve entered the eighties!
Lastly, the dark ending, albeit with dated CGI, was what sold it for me the most. I actually really loved the false sense of hope I had only moments before the final sequence. I thought it made the film a great metaphor for conquering fears, and giving power to things that don’t deserve your energy. Then all Nancy’s efforts proved fruitless and everyone died anyway. It was still fun!
I don’t know how I managed to do a different movie almost each night! Hopefully, this endeavor has bumped up my completion percentage of the anthology. I would love to make it to twenty percent completed in the next year! My next coding project involves a way to calculate how many films on the list into a percentage. No matter what, I could always do this again next year with other scary movies on the list. Who knows? A new favorite might still live among them!