It’s that time of the year again which gives us the excuse to turn up on the doorsteps of our neighbours houses covered in blood and force them to give us all the sweets in their possession, then egg them if all they gave you was twiglet with suspect hairs on it. If you do this kind of thing all year round then you would have a criminal record the length of the Magna Carta but on the night of October 31st it gives us the chance to dress up like a mass murderer or a ghostly ghoul and dig out the scary films to chill our friends and loved ones to the bone.
Now me, I love Halloween. It comes at a perfect time of the year. The nights have drawn in, Guy Fawlkes and fireworks are only six days away and with it being All Hallow’s Eve, the perfect opportunity to dress up, give people a fright and get covered in pumpkin juice while making Jack O’Lanterns. In previous years I have visited supposedly terrifying sights, such as haunted woods or graveyards with friends and genuinely got chills. I do suppose that the goose bumps and jitters only came on because I have ventured into such locations on the night when ghosts come alive, and also because of the amount of horror films that I have seen which have burrowed into my subconscious like an alien into a mans face and I remember certain scenes which were memorable for their frights.
My passion for horror films originates from my love of Sci-Fi since I was a boy. Yet it was truly sparked by studying horror films in Year 10 media studies classes. At the age of 14 the class I was in were asked to watch films such as A Nightmare In Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Rosemary’s Baby and analyze them after. While a majority of the class was watching through the cracks in between their fingers, my best friend and I loved it. The thrill of what we were watching led to sleepovers and movie marathons, most often that not the marathons were horror films. It even led to us discovering the brilliant The League of Gentleman, which is the perfect marriage of horror and comedy so it was ideal for our slightly warped pubescent minds.
Now I genuinely don’t find horror films scary. Oh sure, anything can make us jump, yet that is a natural reaction to something that has surprised us and it is a technique which is used over and over again in the horror genre. Anyone can be disgusted by an obscene amount of blood and guts flying everywhere yet the true triumphant moments in horror are those that we don’t see. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho we never see the knife pierce Janet Leigh’s skin. We never see Edward Woodward’s horrible death in The Wicker Man, yet the screams we hear are blood curdling. It is the psychological elements of horror films that are the most frightening, not all out gore fests like the Saw films.
Even the shocking scene in Reservoir Dogs when Mr. Blonde cuts off the bound Cops ear is a parody of the horror genre. As he jumps on his victims lap, the camera looks away like the audience does and we do not see the action. It lingers more than a man sawing his foot off since we did not actually see it, and our imaginations can create images far more terrifying than what is put on celluloid. Having said that the films, which deal with possession and everyday scenarios becoming polluted by terrible people or things, are the most terrifying. Seeing London deserted in 28 Days Later was very unsettling because none of us have ever seen it so dead. Those that are filmed like documentaries, such as video nasty Cannibal Holocaust are deeply horrific since the cinematography has been deliberately manipulated to make us think that what we are seeing is authentic.
A child being possessed by the devil deeply disturbing and one of the reasons why The Exorcist is so good because it plays with a sickening idea. Suburban settings and the everyday are far more terrifying. Having said that rather more fantastical movies, such as Night Of The Living Dead and The Thing work because they are set in modern day settings, well, modern for when they were made. The idea of zombies coming to life or a space creature from another world mutating the bodies of arctic scientists might not seem so far fetched because there is an element of familiarity in what we recognise as being apart of our 'normal' world so we are frightened by what we see.
Even films that are not really defined as horror, like Alien and Jaws have many moments that make us drop our popcorn. The claustrophobic setting and keeping the full reveal of the alien hidden in the shadows, makes for far more of a white-knuckle ride. The scene when the alien is ‘born’ out of John Hurt’s chest (look at the shock on his co-stars faces, they were not told what was about to happen so that their reactions were more genuine) although parodied mercilessly since, plays upon everyman’s fear of child birth, in almost the same way that the transformation scene in Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs plays upon every woman’s fear of ageing. After the release of Jaws many a child refused to go in the sea, even their baths, just incase a hungry Great White Shark gobbled them up. These films make us face our insecurities and the result is fear.
Of course, you can’t write an article on horror without mentioning the classics. Nosferatu, the 1922 silent film that was the first cinematic take on the Dracula tale, is so eerie because of the age of the film itself. The scene when the shadow of the evil demon climbs up the stairs is the greatest moment of the Silent era and is the stuff of nightmares.
Bram Stoker’s widow nearly had the film destroyed when it infringed on copyright, so the film only exists in negatives and this makes it look even more frightening since it is so jarring. What came next were Dracula and Frankenstein, which made stars out of Bele Lugosi (who was buried in full costume and make-up as Dracula, the only time in cinematic history that an actor has requested to be buried in the guise of a part he once played) and Boris Karloff and created the most iconic of movie monsters. Without these three gems there would have been no British Hammer Horror films or any of what I just mentioned.
So, you haven’t got anything to do on October 31st? Take a look at what I recommend.
My Guide To All Things Scary
My Top Ten Horror Films For Halloween
The Omen
The Exorcist
The Evil Dead
The Wicker Man
Halloween
The Thing (1982)
Alien
Hellraiser
The Ring (Original Japanese Version)
Nosferatu
Scary Clips To Look Up On Youtube
Judderman Commercial
Nosferatu Stair climbing scene
Mary Poppins scary movie trailer
Other Media I recommend for Halloween
Batman; Arkham Asylum
My top spot for the vivid illustration and the terrifying realization of The Joker. Also, watch out for the horrifying sub plot of what caused the madness of Dr Arkham.
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
The book that started the horror genre and even with the best efforts of the iconic Boris Karloff movie it is still more frightening in its original print form. If you can bypass the overuse of the word ‘melancholy’ then you’ll be shivering in your sleep.
German ‘Silent Night’ Commercial
Darth Vader skipping in the forest? Freddie Krueger trimming hedgerows and Hannibal Lector preparing a Sunday Roast? This genius German advert for satellite television is as funny as it is chilling. Taking a popular Christmas carol and putting it to the imagery of well known scary characters doing everyday chores makes it more sinister.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76j6NfFsPaQ
Doctor Who
It is hard to pick just one episode from a near 50-year-old programme but it has sent generations of kids to shudder from behind the sofa, it even invented that cliché. Daleks, Gas Mask Zombies, the Flesh, Weeping Angels. Take your pick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tR0ok-BCKU
Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Hush
We have all had a nightmare when we cannot escape our predicament and even screaming is paralyzed by our fear. So when this notorious episode of Buffy was made, when people in Sunnydale have their voices stolen by a group of terrifying ghouls names the Gentlemen who cut our their hearts, we could all identify with that sense of no control and isolation. So scary, the uncut version was shown at midnight when first shown in the UK.
Orson Welles Reads The War of the Worlds
This is the audio take on the HG Wells classic, which on its transmission was so convincing; some members of the American audience fled their homes. It led to Welles himself having to apologize for what is, a breathtaking well acted and incredibly thought out adaptation of one of the best novels ever written.
Whistle and I Will Come To You
This 1968 BBC mini series about a man who finds a whistle in an East Anglian cemetery and when he blows it he is haunted in terribly sinister an affective ways. One of the only programmes or films that had left me feel chilled to the bone.
Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
The scariest thing about Orwell’s vision of the future is that the world in which he predicted has come true. CCTV? Big Brother? Technological repression. If you have read the novel, seen the film or TV adaptation then you know what I am talking about.
Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy
Without a doubt the most unsettling music video ever made. Children running around a rundown council estate all with the same sinister face, a gruesome looking man being born within himself then screaming in the face of an elderly woman. A suitable image for a song which hounds like it was forged in the depths of hell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Az_7U0-cK0
Lonely Water – Public Information Film – 1973
This dark advert of children getting themselves into dangerous situations whilst being stalked by the figure of death is unsettling. Donald Pleasance’s narration is haunting and the echoing whispered outro of “I’ll be BACK BACK BACK” last long after the advert is over. For anyone who saw it as a child in the seventies it is still memorable even to this day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZWD2sDRESk
Michael Jackson – Thriller Video- 1983
Inspired by An American Werewolf In London, this mini movie was so popular it had the power to make people stop dancing in clubs and watch it. It scared the willies out of me as a kid and the make up and sight of a dozen zombies dancing in perfect timing is impressive and scary. One of the greatest music videos ever it is a shame Jackson’s transformation became almost a metaphor for what lay ahead for him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG6oy46qKE4
So there you have it. If you are staying in on Monday night why not take a dive into the bloody waters and divulge into one of these. Remember this though – Don’t have nightmares…
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