The BEST HORROR FILMS EVER Are Mostly Unknown.
Jun 18 '00 (Updated Oct 11 '07)
The Bottom Line THE BEST HORROR FILMS EVER suggest the most hideous experiences of all reside in our hearts and minds.
To me, Horror is not a matter of monsters, gore or blood. That's been done, no pun intended, to death. Oh, a little here and there is okay, but to me, real horror is our fear of the unknown, and then our not fully understood capacity for evil. Therefore, you will find few of the old, common classics here because, unlike other classics, they have become icons (the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, The Mummy), comfortable old friends, cartoon figures, who no more frighten us now than when someone we know cries, Boo! Nor will you find the new computer generated horrors (JURASSIC PARK, etc). Unreal creatures, created cybernetically, are doubly unbelievable, and so not very frightening but to a child or an immature mind.
Let me start with a little amusement and move on to soul-chilling films that have the power to really frighten us by forcing us to consider their implications for our humanity.
10. THE GHOST BREAKERS (Marshal, 1940): This amusing sequel to the sound version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY (Leni, 1927), itself just beyond the limits of our list, is a variation on Master Director James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932). In every town, once upon a time, a gloomy Victorian Mansion was set back from the street, usually housing an old woman living out her life. But people talked about the house, gossiped about the owner's past. Children picked it all up and conjured stories of witchs and ghosts. Here, it is played partly for laughs, when Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard investigate a dank Cuban estate. I never cared for the last 50 years of Hope's career, but in 1940, we see him before he convinced himself that everything he said was funny, and Goddard is a wonderful and beautiful foil. Her intelligent comedic talents never got the respect they deserved. Lots of sliding panels and clutching hands.
9. Q (THE WINGED SERPENT) (Larry Cohen, 1982): Now, there was this Aztec Feathered Serpent, see, a kind of Flying Curse on the Gringos. It flew to New York, laid eggs on top of a skyscraper -- and then all Hell swooped down on the poor city dwellers! A feckless con man (Michael Moriarty) came upon it, and immediately recognized the KING KONG implications. Q (The Winged Serpent) is an amusing but blackly magical Urban Legend of a high order.
8. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (Landis, 1981): The humor is still with us (and, yes, the gore has become realistic), but when Griffen Dunne is slain by a werewolf while backpacking in England, his pal (David Naughton) must put up with the frightening results, both subtle and graphic. An early example of Rick Baker special effects makeup, and the "Sex Will Turn You Into a Beast (or Slaughter You) Genre." The film illustrates what the average American abroad imagines will happen to him if he drinks the water, tries a haggis or takes a stroll on a moor at night. It has superb "Full Moon" music. Great frights, great fun! Followed by the less successful AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS (Waller, 1997).
7. THE MONSTER (West, 1925): Presenting the grand daddy of Mad Doctor Movies (including FRANKENSTEIN), with one of Film's greatest monsters, Lon Chaney, Sr, doing the honors! Dr. Chaney presides over an asylum of lunatics, conducts fiendish operations, tries to bring the dead back to life, kidnaps a lovely heroine (Gertrude Olmstead) and holds her in a dungeon. Done with touches of humor, some of which may be unintentional.
6. DEAD OF NIGHT (Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Dearden, Hamer, 1945): Four of the most brilliant post World War II British directors gave us five tales centered on the dreams of people staying at a country estate. One of the dreams may come true. A fine cast brings each story to creepy life: Mervyn Johns, Sally Ann Howes, Basil Radford, Naughton Wayne, Roland Culver, Googie Withers, etc. The story always remarked upon contains an unsettling performance by Michael Redgrave as a ventriloquist sinking into mania -- or is he? This last story has been filmed at greater length since, most notably with Anthony Hopkins in MAGIC (Attenborough, 1978). Redgrave's performance wins easily. (Be sure to get the 102 minute original, not the 77 minute version first released in America.)
5. THE CAT PEOPLE (Tourneur, 1942) We are getting down to ten inch nails. Refugee French Director Jacques Tourneur, working from a script by Val Lewton (under one of his pseudonyms: Carlos Keith), created this first of his three little B-Horror gems (along with THE LEOPARD MAN and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, both 1943). It stars Simone Simon as a direct descendant of the cursed King of Walachia, who turns into a giant black panther at times. Lewton's experience in radio caused him to apply Wellesian lessons in the use of sound. There are no werewolves or huge cats (at least not doing their thing) on camera. Everything is suggested by shadow, cutting and sound effects. If you follow the movie closely, a moment when a young woman walks down a deserted street still causes you to "jump out of your skin," no matter how many times you try to anticipate it.
4. DEAD RINGERS (Cronenberg, 1988): What goes on in the mind of your doctor? Have you ever wondered about that? What if he is a gynecologist? What if he is an identical twin? What if one twin invents strange customized instruments which have a certain sado-masochistic inspiration? What if the other takes drugs? What if the two change places occasionally? Jeremy Irons, in a dual role, makes this a film of true horror. No need for red-eyed werewolves in this one. This one is based on a true story: B-r-r-r. (With Genevieve Bujold as a Marilyn Monroe-like actress, who wants a child the worst way.)
3. PSYCHO (Hitchcock, 1960): Of all the renowned horror films, PSYCHO retains its power to horrify, no matter how well known it is, because Hitchcock picked a beautiful, vulnerable looking reigning star of the time, Janet Leigh, to eviscerate -- suddenly -- half way through the movie, just as we have gotten to know her and her secrets; to sympathize with and share in her guilt. Anthony Perkins, known up to that time as the boy next door, never was able to shake off the career effect of his casting as Norman Bates. Hichcock makes the Old Dark House theme viable anew by resurrecting it on a hill above the kind of motel most of us have slept in. Robert Bloch's novel (also based on a true story), Saul Bass's special effects and Bernard Herrmann's minimalist musical score contribute.
2. *THE BODY SNATCHER (Wise, 1945): After helping edit CITIZEN KANE (1941) and THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942), Robert Wise was given an opportunity to direct by Welles' surrogate, Producer/Writer Val Lewton. THE BODY SNATCHER was the finest product of their association; Wise's finest film, and Lewton's, too. Based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson about the true-life Scottish fiends, Burke and Hare, it shows us a pair of 19th Century Edinburgh Entrepreneurs. They set out to provide cadavers, illegal at the time, to fledgling medical schools. Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi are the pair, in their best straight performances. Henry Daniell is their equal as the epitome of the logical man of science, a legendary doctor who must have an steady supply of actual human subjects by which to pass on his surgical skills. The real horror of the film resides in the idea that good ends can never justify evil means, and that no matter how wise we become, we can never quite strike that spark (the soul) at the heart of life and regeneration -- at least, not yet. It is truly a great film: simple, atmospheric and unforgettable.
1. DON'T LOOK NOW (Roeg, 1973): An architect (Donald Sutherland) living in England has second sight. His wife (Julie Christie) does not -- though she feels she does. In the first few minutes of DON'T LOOK NOW occurs the most horrible event imaginable in life: the accidental loss of a child, in this case their little daughter. In order to take his traumatized wife away from the scene of the accident, the architect accepts a job restoring a medieval church in Venice. There they meet a blind clairvoyant (and her companion) who assures them that the spirit of their daughter is nearby. They begin to catch glimpses of a figure in a red raincoat like the one their daughter wore on the day of her death. The story is laid out, literally, like a Greek tragedy, with a magnificent and stately style. Through much of the movie, there is little blood or gore, but when it comes, it is as shocking as it is gruesome. The City of Venice, long associated with Love and Death, is a character unto itself, like a whole city of Old Dark Houses. I've recommended this one before. If you haven't seen it, get it. It aces out, narrowly, THE BODY SNATCHER, as the greatest horror film I know.
After you have seen Numbers One to Five, you can watch INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or Kenneth Branagh's FRANKENSTEIN for laughs. Good watching!
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UPDATE: October 11, 2007 -- Just in time for Halloween, here is a video of my friend Nellie McKay's new hit, "Zombie":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBM_VkEp-9M
The song may be found on her new CD: OBLIGATORY VILLAGERS.
"Do the Zombie!" for Halloween. Hell, in America, the year around, these days.
Enjoy! Woo-Ha-Ha!!
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Macresarf1's Review of *THE BODY SNATCHER --
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-2175-A44930D-39E130BB-prod1
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If you wish to explore all of Macresarf1's reviews, indexed by title and category, many with URL's, go to the following hyperlink --
http://www.epinions.com/content_2514526340
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macresarf1
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Location: San Francisco, Ca.
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12/21/09: Ten years ago, today, I published my first epinion. Many thanks!
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