With Halloween approaching, it's the best time of year to find some good horror movies on television. Several channels are running great movies, but I highly recommend AMC's lineup for a taste of the "new classics." They started Monsterfest on Oct. 22, actually, but the remaining lineup is promising:
The Howling
Psycho
Magic (with Anthony Hopkins, and so disquieting, I never finished it)
The Fog
The Exorcist and Exorcist II
Violent Midnight
Children of the Corn
And also various chapters in the Halloween series (none of which are worth your time after part II), and Alien, Friday the 13th and Hellraiser titles.
Also, the Fox Movie Channel is running a lot of older black-and-white: The Alligator People, The Undying Monster and more.
I'm going to try to sit through "Magic" this weekend.
4 comments:
Ooh! Thanks for the list, cl. I can't watch scary movies by myself, though!
I think I saw "Magic" a long time ago. Let me know what you think.
What's your opinion of the original "Halloween"?
I rewatched "Halloween" on AMC a few weeks ago, actually. Talked with Jon about it the next day, and we discussed what a well-shot movie it is. The camerawork is quite good. Early on, the camera is set so that you are watching the film through Michael's perspective. Jon explained to me how they did that, but I'll have to see whether I can find a link to it.
Later on, Jamie Lee Curtis is passing by rows of hedges, and you think something's going to jump out at her any moment. It's broad daylight, she has a pal with her, it's a nice neighborhood -- but you have this horrible feeling of dread.
It's still a slasher pic, but everything has a tone of quality to it. Obviously the next big slasher film, "Friday the 13th," became equally famous but lacked the excellent direction.
I don't enjoy scary stuff. For me it's like flying in an airplane or trying to watch an Omnimax movie -- I feel like I'll have a stroke or a heart attack before it's over.
The last time I went to an Omnimax movie, I wanted so much to see it that I tried to pry my eyes open with my fingers, but I had them shut so tightly that my fingers weren't strong enough to do it.
I was in Kansas City last weekend, and I couldn't look at the tall buildings unless I was several blocks away. Is it strange that so many things scare me? Scary movies, heights, tall objects, Omnimax movies, spiders, darkness, and large objects (whenever I have a nightmare, impossibly large objects are involved).
But I hope you have fun watching the movies! When I watch a scary movie, which I do very rarely, I can't stand to enter a dark room for a couple of days. I run into rooms and turn on all the lights and spin around to look at every corner of the room.
I know, I'm silly.
Just talking about this is freaking me out. I should go to bed!
Ben,
I think horror movies are just one of those types of entertainment you like or don't. Because so many of them are poorly made or otherwise lack value, I sometimes wonder why I spend my time on them. (I think most of the movies I mentioned in the post are generally considered to be good stories, save for the Friday the 13th series.)
I looked at my FilmAffinity horror list, and of 80 ranked (that I remembered to put on the list, I noticed I had one 10 (The Shining), two 9s (Dressed to Kill, Carrie) and I think a couple of 8s, including Halloween. So if I only consider 10 percent of what I've seen to be an 8 or better, why spend time watching them? I know when I pick up "Wrong Turn," for example, I'm probably not in for a 9 kind of experience. But the experience can still be thrilling and kind of fun.
Even then, since I don't advocate violence against women (or anyone else), or many of the other values in horror movies, I wonder why I give it a free pass in this one respect.
Anyway, I'm chewing on that, but I need to get my paycheck to the bank before noon. Now that is going to be a nail-biter!
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