My Top Ten Horror Movies (PART TWO)

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Dear Friends/Subscribers—-

Wow—we received many comments on PART ONE of this series, I will have to make a PART THREE because there is NO WAY I can narrow down my faves to ten.

There were some comments about some films which I haven’t seen and I look forward to delving into them. It seems like the dudes liked the Monster Movies, but I am more into haunted house films and demonic possession offerings and there are a lot of very, very good ones in both sub-genres. Another thing, although I thought both versions (original and remake) of the two film, The Fly and The Thing were two very good movies, I am not so much into body horror.

Like I said, I found it super-difficult to narrow this down.

These are the horror films that affected me the most:

Back in the day, when cable and paid channels reigned, my ex and I used to love to watch movies after we put our crew to bed for the night. One of the BEST horror films I ever watched which was brilliantly acted, with amazing cinematography, based on a true story was 1980’s The Changeling starred George C. Scott (who starred in another great horror film: The Exorcist III), his partner Trish Van Devere and the venerable Melvyn Douglas, who also appears in another entry on my list. The basic plot is that John Russell, a classical music composer played by Scott loses his wife and daughter in a tragic accident and moves across the country to a huge mansion in Washington State—which just happens to be super haunted. There is an unsolved mystery and rogue wheel chair. MUST SEE!

There is a 21at century film that doesn’t appear on my list called Session 9 (2001) that is also a reccommended movie about an insane asylum that (like The Haunting) blurs the line between mental illness and the supernatural. The reason I bring it up is the connection I made with wheel-chairs in both Session 9 and The Changeling.

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My next entry was adapted from a book I read by one of my favorite horror authors, Peter Straub called Ghost Story. Even though I was an adult mother when I read it, it caused a few sleepless nights, as well. When the movie came out, I was eager to go to the theater to watch it.

This is another story about a generational haunting that has incomparable acting: the above mentioned Melvyn Douglas, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr and John Houseman were the old guys and Craig Wasson, the young guy (playing twins), son of the character played by Fairbanks are embroiled in a scandal involving the ghost of Eva played by the brilliant Alice Krieg. No spoilers here. If you haven’t seen it, DO IT! I have been so often disappointed by film adaptations of my favorite novels, but, not this one—well worth the view.

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Even though The Exorcist is at the top of many favorite horror movie lists, it’s not so much for me. I enjoyed the book by William Peter Blatty, but as a teenager I didn’t understand the hype and everyone fainting/puking in the movie theaters. When I finally did see it as the young mother of baby-Casey, I thought it was well-adapted and very visually striking, but, like I said above, I would eventually enjoy The Exorcist III much better. That all being said, I give one of the offspring of The Exorcist craze, The Omen much higher marks in my scare scoring. For one, the film starred one of my favorite actors of all time: Gregory Peck. Ever since I watched him play Atticus Finch when I was ten, I have been a huge fan. Everybody knows the plot of The Omen and about the little-devil, anti-Christ Damien. I wasn’t very thrilled with the franchise which never lived up to the original in my opinion, but if you haven’t see it, why not? And, do it! I just recently rewatched it and I think it does hold up.

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I am a big Richard Matheson fan and he has written some of my favorite books and film adaptations, or original screenplays,(especially on the original Twilight Zone TV show) so I had to choose one (another of his will be in PART III, I think). I think his most influential, frightening, and super-well acted film adaptation (from his book I Am Legend, which I also recommend) was The Last Man on Earth starring the phenomenal Vincent Price. I usually find voice-overs when the characters are alone and thinking very awkward, but Price carried this film. There have also been two very good remakes: The Omega Man starring Charleton Heston and I am Legend with recently disgraced Will Smith.

Vincent Price and his films were mentioned more than once in the comments from PART ONE, so I am pleased that his work was on this list. Very well-deserved IMHO.

I only viewed the Vincent Price version recently and immediately added it to my favorite’s list. I think everyone knows the story based on the trilogy of adaptations. One thing I found enjoyable about the Price version was that it was set in the area that I grew up in Los Angeles.

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Last, but not least, is the newest movie on my list (2018).

Hereditary

Directed by Ari Aster who also directed the well-received Midsommer, I have to say that the acting in this one is superior. Toni Collette, who is a very underrated actor, in my opinion, plays Annie Graham the mother of a broken family with very, very dark secrets. Her daughter Charlie (Played by Millie Shapiro) is killed in the most original and horrific way I have ever seen in a movie, I think. The father Steve is played in a very understated way until his ending by Gabriel Byrne. Son, Peter (Alex Wolff) is involved in his sister’s death, and I know how families can be torn apart by the death of a child. Hereditary has some very dark twists and turns though and one scene rose above the rest to scare the living-shit out of me. I actually let out a yelp.

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There will be a PART THREE coming up soon. Please tell me what you think about PART TWO:

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