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We Recommend
Brenda McNeilly, Horror Fan and Creative Director (with quotes from George Romero)
Brenda McNeilly is an advertising copywriter, freelance article writer and Vice President, Creative Director for FUSE Marketing Group. In her spare time, Brenda is a voracious collector of vintage Halloween, vintage beaded and mesh purses and art deco jewellery. She is also active in animal protection and has three fat and healthy FIV-positive rescue cats who have adopted her and husband Robert. Halloween being her favourite time of year, Brenda offers us her top 20 picks for the scary season. She's also included the top three picks as selected by her friend, George Romero, famed director of Night of the Living Dead. Romero describes his philosophy as "more of a storyteller than an image maker." His top three are stories that haunt, disturb, shock and push our boundaries.
If you think the movie is scary, wait till you see 'The Fear of God' in the Extras. George Romero: "I was raised Catholic, so this film really hit me. I heard stories of what Billy Friedkin was like on the set, from people working on the movie. Whatever the case, it is a really great film. The way it ends is interesting. The priest gets the demon to leave the girl and come into him, and hurls himself to his death. But, evil continues to exist, good continues to exist. I mean the devil still goes on his way, he's out there..."
"They're coming to get you, Barbara". So starts NOTLD with a bang, in the now iconic cemetery scene. As visceral and archetypal a nightmare as has ever been captured on film. NOTLD and its director George Romero reinvented horror and created the zombie sub-genre in one fell swoop. The granddaddy of them all and a cult classic. I'm not worthy!
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George Romero: "I was old enough when I saw this that it shouldn't have scared me like it did. I was in college! There are scenes in it that are so memorable, once you've seen them, you never forget them, like the ghost in the lake, and Deborah Kerr in the classroom. It's an incredibly made, scary film."
This once-forgotten and now well-respected movie features one of the most eerie and haunting locations ever filmed, an abandoned salt-water pavilion in Utah. Unforgettable performance by actor/director Herk Harvey.
The skilfully made movie The Innocents (above) was based on Henry James' classic novella, The Turn of the Screw. Originally written in 1898, this early ghost story is so successful in part because it only hints at the true evil below the surface.
For me, no other vampire can hold a candle to Max Schreck in this seminal silent film classic. Schreck's spidery, insidious portrayal of the undead and F. W. Murnau's stark, unnerving cinematography make this an important film.
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From George: "I was 12 at the time I saw it, a very vulnerable age. I was completely knocked out by it. Howard Hawks was genius, he used fast, overlapping dialogue, rapid fire. And the movie's all about doors. Every time a door opens, The Thing appears or something shocking happens. The pace is like an attack. For me, this was the first movie that seriously asked 'What if science isn't the answer? What if aliens really are evil'? Stephen Hawking believes they are."
A team of psychics and researchers descend upon Hill House to determine if things really do go bump in the night. Trust me, they do. Famous "breathing door" scene scared me out of my skin.
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You won't know whether to laugh or scream. A group of murder-worthy teens rent a cabin in the woods and unleash demonic forces. Favourite line: "My wife has become host to a Kandarian demon. I fear the only way to stop her is through the act of ... bodily dismemberment". Would you believe the first movie Sam Raimi made after graduating from film school?
I think Salem's Lot and The Shining are two of Stephen King's best novels; some horror fans feel Mr. Barlow is the scariest vampire ever.
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BWP was to horror what punk rock was to music. The young amateur creators of the film hid in the woods and played wilderness games with the actors, allowing them to run out of food and dry clothes, leaving them script directions, for improvising. Original, important, it changed everything that came after it.
The Japanese horror aesthetic is eerie, searing, primal. This WILL scare you.
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Directed by Takashi Shimizu and produced with due reverence for Japanese horror by Sam Raimi, of Evil Dead fame. I get goose bumps just writing about it.
Christopher Lee felt so strongly about this film that when funding ran out, he did it for free. Incorporates historically accurate pagan rituals. Highly acclaimed and considered by some to be one of the best films ever made -- in any genre.
As breathtakingly beautiful a horror/tragedy as has ever graced the screen. The ethereal physicality and emotional power of the great Lon Chaney is at its peak in this silent masterpiece. His performance is like watching horror ballet. Phantom proves that horror can be beautiful.
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Chilling, visceral, shocking to this day, Psycho stars Anthony Perkins in the performance of his life. Directed by the master, Alfred Hitchcock. Ahead of its time, believable, this movie gets right under your skin. Shower anyone?
Its everytown feel and unpolished acting make this film work. Its famous soundtrack, written by Director John Carpenter, sounds like demented 'chopsticks'.
Mia Farrow stars in this tale of witch's covens and the occult, filmed on location in The Dakota, NYC, where Lennon was shot.
Boris Karloff creates the ultimate monster, which he makes both frightening and deserving of our sympathy at the same time. On the set, in order not to frighten the little girl actor, Karloff would wiggle his pinky finger as a sign that there was no need to be afraid, in spite of his frightening visage.
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Take Blair Witch and bring it indoors, set it in a house that's just like your friends'. Start subtle, build the tension slowly, and end massively, and you have Paranormal Activity. Your house will never sound the same.
OK so technically it's not scary - unless you're morbidly homophobic. In which case, you're the scary one. Boom!
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