A list of top five scary movies from a person who hates horror movies and actively avoids is kind of an oxymoron, but here it goes... These are five movies that freak me out.
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| The only Leatherface I can bear to look at. |
1.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974): Technically I have seen this movie the whole way through, but it was such a traumatic experience for me, I blocked it out and can only remember the vaguest of details. No matter, I will not be watching this one again for this post!
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a typical horror film in its plot: a bunch of young people go into the country (one reason I don't live in the country) and despite all the warning signs (freaky people who work at a slaughterhouse telling you scary things, an abandoned house, etc.) they keep going and end up at one of the helpless youths old family home. I think you know what happens next. Everything about Leatherface is freaking terrifying: from his mask to his slaughterhouse apron to his aforementioned chainsaw (seriously, I made K put that picture up because there was no way I was google imaging this movie). Leatherface, unlike a Freddy or Jason, seems more human - you see him stumbling about, lumbering, and that makes him even more unhinged and nightmarish. At times he seems frustrated, or sad, or upset and you can feel that energy. Additionally, unlike so many slasher films, there is artistry in the horror and although the story is over the top, Hooper uses gritty and grimy colors and atmosphere to keep a level of realism that only enhances the terror. A sense of dread pervades the film from the very first shot, when a terrifying voice tells you that this macabre tale is true. I was on edge from that moment and could barely watch even through my fingers covering my face. Highlighting the terror of isolation in the country, where no one can help you and you don't know who you can trust,
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is truly one of the most intense movies every made. Plus, the final shot is one of the best ever.
2.
Black Christmas (Bob Clarke, 1974) : Bob Clarke directed
A Christmas Story, one of the sweetest movies of all time. He also directed B
lack Christmas, one of the scariest movies I have ever seen (I only agreed to watch it because K told me it wasn't that scary. I think he regrets that now when I force him to wake up in the middle of the night because I am freaked out). The film takes place at a sorority house at Christmas time; the girls start getting heavy breathing phone calls from a mysterious caller, and soon one of them goes missing. The voice on the other end of the phone starts off as a pervert moaning, but what really unnerved me was when the moaning turned to screaming and high pitched voices. This is a more traditional slasher film, a "the calls are coming from inside the house" kind of story. But even though you know from the very first call that the calls must be coming from inside the house, the movie is still able to build an incredible amount of suspense. What I liked so much about this movie was the sense of dread and the fear of not being safe in your own home that the movie capitalizes on. Just because the viewer knows the call is coming from upstairs doesn't mean the girls do, and Clarke uses the set to great advtange, setting it in an old Victorian home that at once seems cozy and creepy. I also like the touches of the Christmas season, the supposedly happiest time of the year, which is also the darkest and can be the most lonely.
Black Christmas is a creepy little movie, that gets under your skin when you least expect it.
3.
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008): K and I saw this movie at the Seattle Film Festival, one warm June day. Everything about the movie is creepy: the story, the characters and the setting. Telling the story of a sad (and maybe a little creepy, he cuts out stories in the paper about grisly murders), bullied little boy Oskar growing up with a single mother in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden, who meets a new neighhbor, Elie, a little girl who isn't all that she seems,
Let the Right One In puts a new spin on the vampire genre. Oskar and Elie start a tentative friendship (she is only out at night, of course) while her mysterious guardian, Hakan, goes about trying to procure her some food. The scene in which Hakan drains the blood of a victim is chilling and striking and while this movie doesn't have a lot of traditional scares, it has a lot of shocking and unsettling moments.
Let the Right One In is both a sweet love story between two misunderstood love story and the tale of a monster, who do anything she can to survive. I think that Tomas Alfredson uses the darkness of the night and brightness of the ever present snow to great advantage, it is beautifully shot but incredibly isolating and creepy. I am a sucker for subtle performances by children and Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson both do some amazing work. Plus, that ending. It's a shocker.
4.
Dogville (Lars Von Trier, 2003): Ok this is a weird one, I know, and an esoteric and art house choice (not unexpected by me, at all, right?) but it is the only movie on this list that I watched and literally woke up later that night screaming. Something in this movie touched a very deep nerve and I can't write a list of scary movies without including it. I suppose this movie is about the fear of humanity, of what the base nature of people really is. Like so many horror films, the story is simple: Grace (Nicole Kidman) is on the run from the mob and ends up in the small town of Dogville. The townspeople, at first, agree to help her in return for her helping out around the town. Eventually she becomes a slave to everyone in the town, in every sense of the word. Not one of the residents has any sympathy for her and when her father eventually tracks her down, the decision she makes will shock the viewer. Director Lars Von Trier has never had a particularly rosy view of humanity (chaos reigns, anyone?) but
Dogville is downright horrifying in its view of the world. Von Trier also sets the film as a stage play, with the buildings of Dogville represented by chalk outlines on the ground. Apparently, Von Trier had Kidman in tears nearly every day on set, but the raw vulnerability, anger, and fear she gives is overwhelmingly powerful.
Dogville may very well be the hardest movie to watch on this whole list, and perhaps even the scariest.
5.
The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976): The Omen may not have jump scares, but it remains one of the creepiest movies I have ever seen. Starring Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn, a man who realizes his son may be the spawn of the devil, The Omen is a story of biblical proportions about the lengths a father will go to defeat evil. Despite not being religious at all, of all villains, the devil has always scared me the most. The idea of an omnipotent evil presence that cannot be stopped is terrifying. Thorn, a powerful diplomat, secretly arranges for the adoption of an orphan when his child dies at birth. Once the adopted son Damien gets older, strange things start to happen, including his nanny hanging herself at his birthday party before ominously saying "It's all for you, Damien", which is possibly the most terrifying moment for me in the whole movie. Thorn becomes more and more convinced his son is evil and he is powerless to stop him. The movie may be a little campy and very much of its age, but it also builds dread and menace expertly.
Let the Right One In also happens to be on Netflix Streaming, so if you are looking for something scary to watch tonight, check it out!
Julie
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