Halloween. My favorite day of the year. What I love most of all is that all the cable channels continuously show hidden horror gems that you can’t find any other time of the year.I went to see my first horror film when I was 7 years old. Ever since that day, I was hooked. When I catch my 11 yr. old son watching “Paranormal Witness” marathons, I think to myself, he was born with the scary movie gene.
I also collected horror comics for years until I sold them all on eBay about 10 years ago. My favorites were “Unexpected”, “The Vault of Horror”, “Tales from the Crypt", “The Haunt of Fear” and “The Witching Hour”. I can honestly say that I read them over and over again from about ages 9-17. Absolutely loved them. They just don’t make them like they used to! “Tales from the Crypt” comics were also made into an HBO series in the 80’s but they were neither good nor scary. The original comics and film of the same name are very different.
I don’t consider slasher films to be horror films. Horror films, to me, deal with the supernatural and sometimes what you can't see is scarier than what you can see. I am also a huge 1970's horror fan. The best horror films came out of the 70’s, in my opinion.
Here are my 10 favorite horror films of all time (from least to most favorite).
10) The Vault of Horror-(1973) This anthology film was based on the comic book of the same name and contains five different stories. My favorite? The guy who is constantly warned to stay inside after dark because “they come out” who ends up in a restaurant for vampires. After he tries the three course meal and realizes they all involve blood, the other patrons turn him upside down, put a spigot in his neck and start drinking!
9) Tales from the Crypt-(1972) This is also an anthology film (containing several stories) and also based on the comic book of the same name. My favorite? When a murderous, youngish Joan Collins is chased by a homicidal Santa on Christmas Eve.
8) Horror Hotel-(1960) This film stayed in my head for years. I didn’t know the name of it and I had seen it on TV on a Sunday afternoon when I was a child. When I was about 30, I found it somewhere on DVD and realized this was THE movie. On the recommendation of her professor,a young female student travels to the Whitewood, MA to do some research into witchcraft. She finds the town occupied by the reincarnation of an infamous witch burned at the stake in the 17th century; in order to sustain her immortality, virgins must be sacrificed and this year, the student has been the chosen victim.Christopher Lee stars!
7) Insidious (2010)-This is the only new film that really held my attention the way films in the 1970s had. It contains some really scary images. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a coma and becomes a vessel for ghosts in an astral dimension. I thought this story would bore me but there are so many visually scary scenes; I absolutely loved it. There is a whole sub-story with the father also going through something similar when he was a child. And there is a creepy dwarf.
And again, the end scene? Crazy-good.
6) Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)- A recently institutionalized woman has bizarre experiences after moving into a supposedly haunted country farmhouse and fears she may be losing her sanity once again. Truthfully, she isn’t losing her sanity. A very pale, strange redheaded woman shows up one day and it later turns out is a vampire who is living on the townspeople. All of the men in town have these strange bandages on their necks, arms, etc. Extremely creepy movie. The scene at the end where the redhead emerges from the water in a full 1800's wedding dress is crazy-good.
5) Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)- A young couple inherits an old mansion inhabited by small demon-like creatures who are determined to make the wife one of their own. Not the remake with Katie Holmes; no! The original TV movie that was on when I was a child and terrified me. Really hard to find and very, very good!
4) Trilogy of Terror (1975)-This is a Karen Black (I loved her when I was a child) anthology movie that I think everyone in my age group remembers. It was also a TV movie. All three stories were chilling but the scariest one is the one with the Zuni Fetish doll that comes to life and chases her around the apartment with a knife. The end scene? That crazy smile, those long teeth? Nightmares for months!
3) The Sentinel (1977)-The benign description on the back of the DVD goes something like this, “Not ready for marriage, a fashion model moves into an unbelievably nice Brooklyn Heights apartment, where scary occurrences turn into a much more frightening turn of events.” However, it is so much more than that. A creepy, evil Ava Gardner. Burgess Meredith, whom I loved so so much as a kid. Basically, this woman moves in an inexpensive Brooklyn apartment that just also happens to be the gateway to hell.
2) The Stepford Wives/Rosemary’s Baby(1975/1968)-Both based on novels written by Ira Levin and both are tied for the number 2 spot in my horror film heart! The common thread in both of these is a husband’s sacrifice of their wife for their own benefit. Who can forget the quiet paranoia of Joanna in the small town of Stepford? And all the wives who stopped wearing jeans and magically wore dresses and whose boobs increased by 2 sizes seemingly overnight? And Rosemary’s Baby? I love this movie. I can actually recite whole bits of dialogue. Sad, tragic, scary, evil and so very entertaining.
I love that you never see the baby. Imagining it is so much worse!
And the winner is:
1)Burnt Offerings (1976)-BEST.HORROR.FILM.EVER! It is about a family who moves into a summer home that rejuvenates itself with each injury and death that occurs inside of it. It is the most unique, imaginative film/book I have ever read. Vastly underrated. I re-watch it every October. Scenes of a tall, gaunt chaffeur still haunt me. And the end scene? Completely, chillingly unexpected (the first time you see it, of course) and nightmare fodder for years. Karen Black was one scary woman back in the day!
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