| It's not easy to create a horror movie that | | | | Halloween Town (known as Jack Skellington, the |
| doesn't rely solely on sudden loud noises or gore | | | | "king of the pumpkin patch") conspires to breathe |
| to shock viewers - which is perhaps why so few | | | | new life into the repetitive celebration of |
| films in the horror genre rise above mediocre. A | | | | Halloween by kidnapping Santa Claus and imposing |
| movie like Carrie has some wonderful scenes, but | | | | his own dark spin on Christmas. The visuals are |
| the overall mood is ruined by shifts in tone as if it | | | | engaging, and the ghoulish music by Danny Elfman |
| can't make up its mind what kind of movie to be. | | | | brings just the right balance of humor and |
| Hellraiser has its share of frightening scenes, but | | | | good-natured fright. |
| the overabundance of gore makes it difficult to | | | | 7. Onibaba - 1964, dir. Kaneto Shindo. This |
| watch. And movies like Portergeist suffer from | | | | black-and-white Japanese horror movie takes |
| being too absurd, concocting elaborate | | | | place during the 14th century civil wars that |
| explanations for the supernatural. What I admire | | | | rocked the country and resulted in mass |
| are movies that create a sense of horror with | | | | starvation. A woman and her daughter-in-law |
| more subtlety and artistry. While the following | | | | survive by selling the armor of wayward warriors |
| movies are not all completely in the "horror" | | | | that the two women lure to their death. The |
| genre, they all thematically deal with horror. In | | | | element of the supernatural is subtle, and the |
| alphabetical order, here are my top 13 picks to | | | | minimalist use of images such as wind-blown |
| put you in the Halloween spirit. | | | | pampas grass beneath a dark sky or the Noh |
| 1. The Blair Witch Project - 1999, dir. Daniel | | | | demon mask is masterly. |
| Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez. This modest, low-budget | | | | 8. The Others - 2001, dir. Alejandro Amenabar. |
| film proved that you don't need flashy special | | | | Nicole Kidman plays a nervous woman who |
| effects to successfully create a mood of terror. | | | | escapes to the English countryside with her two |
| The story is presented as a documentary of | | | | photophobic children during World War II, waiting |
| actual amateur footage found in the woods after | | | | for her husband to return from the front. This |
| three students vanish while researching a local | | | | twist on the classic haunted house theme is done |
| legend known as the Blair Witch. We become the | | | | with just the right touch of pathos and |
| characters, watching the footage from their | | | | supernatural dread. |
| perspective in the viewfinder as they filmed it, | | | | 9. The Phantom of the Opera (original version) - |
| which draws us in and heightens the chilling climax. | | | | 1925, dir. Rupert Julian. Lon Chaney appeared in |
| 2. Carnival of Souls - 1962, dir. Herk Harvey. While | | | | the title role in this silent film about a masked, |
| on her way to take a job as a church organist, a | | | | disfigured musician who haunts the Paris Opera |
| woman is haunted by a bizarre apparition. It | | | | House and falls in love with one of the Opera's |
| compels her to an abandoned lakeside pavilion, | | | | singers. It is famous for Chaney's intentionally |
| beginning an eerie chain of events. Harvey's | | | | horrific, self-applied make-up. Later remakes, |
| macabre, low-budget masterpiece, with its | | | | including the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, are |
| appropriately eerie organ score, has become a | | | | rather lame in comparison to the power and |
| cult classic. | | | | horror of the original. |
| 3. Donnie Darko - 2001, dir. Richard Kelly. Time | | | | 10. Pitch Black - 2000, dir. David Twohy. It may |
| travel, an improbably terrifying man in a rabbit | | | | have the facade of a sci-fi movie, but the story is |
| costume and a protagonist who may or may not | | | | really about one of our primal fears: the dark. A |
| be slipping into mental illness form the mystery at | | | | merchant ship crashes on a desolate planet where |
| the core of this cult film that straddles sci-fi and | | | | two suns keep the planet in seemingly perpetual |
| horror, yet is much more than either genre. Jake | | | | daylight. The survivors discover a mysteriously |
| Gyllenhaal plays Donnie Darko, a troubled teenager | | | | abandoned outpost and slowly come to realize |
| in suburban Virginia who tries to make sense of | | | | that something horrific waits to be released when |
| seemingly disconnected, baffling threads and | | | | the planet is subject to the darkness of a total |
| hallucinations. Everything finally comes together on | | | | eclipse. Vin Diesel plays the convict with special |
| the night before Halloween, when Donnie is forced | | | | vision who they must learn to trust in order to |
| to confront a decision that will change his future, | | | | survive the night. This movie scared the pants off |
| and his past. | | | | me. |
| 4. The Exorcist - 1973, dir. William Friedkin. Even | | | | 11. Scary Movie 3 - 2003, dir. David Zucker. The |
| putting aside the hype, this remains one of the | | | | horror genre is ripe for parody, and the third |
| all-time best horror films. Ellen Burstyn plays a | | | | installment of the Scary Movie franchise skewers |
| mother who becomes distraught over the | | | | not only flicks like The Ring and The Others but |
| increasingly bizarre behavior of her daughter | | | | everything from American Idol to Michael Jackson. |
| (played by Linda Blair). Not wanting to admit the | | | | The scene at the wake had me laughing so hard |
| possibility that her daughter has become | | | | it hurt. |
| possessed by the devil, she nevertheless agrees | | | | 12. Shutter (original version) - 2004, dir. Banjong |
| at last to bring in an exorcist. The minimalist music | | | | Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom. A |
| from Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield, which builds | | | | photographer and his girlfriend accidentally run |
| slowly and inevitably like the movie, was not | | | | over a young woman who appears out of |
| originally composed with horror in mind, but just a | | | | nowhere on a dark highway, then guiltily flee the |
| few bars of the theme can raise the hairs on the | | | | scene. The dead woman begins to intrude into |
| back of your neck. | | | | their lives, appearing first in photographs and |
| 5. The Haunting (original version) - 1963, dir. | | | | gradually taking on a more corporeal presence. |
| Robert Wise. This is the original film version of | | | | The final scene is a disturbing image that will haunt |
| Shirley Jackson's novel about a paranormal | | | | you long after the movie ends. Be sure to watch |
| investigator and his three companions who gather | | | | the original Thai version, not the American |
| in an old house known for its terrible past. Claire | | | | remake. |
| Bloom plays the psychologically fragile Nell who | | | | 13. The Silence of the Lambs - 1991, dir. Jonathan |
| slowly falls under the maleficent spell of the house. | | | | Demme. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins star in |
| Despite a few campy moments that don't date | | | | this thriller about an FBI agent who seeks the help |
| well, the movie still manages to retain its power. | | | | of a convicted homicidal psychiatrist to track |
| Wise understood that terror often lies in what is | | | | down a serial killer. Rather than the supernatural, |
| not revealed. | | | | it's reality that makes this film so frightening, |
| 6. The Nightmare Before Christmas - 1993, dir. | | | | eliciting our fear of the real-life monsters in our |
| Henry Selick (written by Tim Burton). In this | | | | midst. |
| inventive stop-action fantasy, the leader of | | | | |