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My Top 13: Horror Movies List!!!

6:31 PM Jagannath Chakravarti 4 Comments



My Top 10... oops.. Top 13 Horror Movie List

13

Film: Friday the 13th (Part III) (1982)
Directed by: Steve Miner
Screenplay: Martin Kitrosser, Carol Watson
Cast: Richard Brooker

Okay, so the list starts off with a slasher film. Truth is, although I like watching slasher flicks, it certainly is not my favourite Horror sub-genre. I haven't gotten into the habit of watching every 'Saw' movie that comes around sawing its way into the theaters every year or so. But when it comes to the Friday the 13th franchise, exception does occur. For some reason, I still find the figure of a hockey-mask clad, nearly 7-foot burly man with an axe a pretty scary sight. I may not get goosebumps any more, but Jason Voorhees has to be my 'favorite' mass murderer. The latest re-booting of the franchise turned out to be a very interesting watch as well.
Among the nearly uncountable list of Friday the 13th movies and crossovers, the third instalment, where incidentally, the Hockey mask appears for the very first time, happens to be my favorite. No reason to blab on the plot, really, but I feel this to be the first movie where Jason is in full control of his targets (Isn't that supposed to be a bad thing?). The (sick) effective use of spearguns, machete and even electricity would probably appear as high 'shock-points' in the film. It's enough to scare the living daylights out of any uninitiated Jason watchers.
Unfortunately, Jason Voorhees dies at the end of this one... but not to worry, he would be resurrected somehow for Part IV. And the list goes on and on...


12

Film: Kuheli [The Fog] (1970)
Language: Bangla
Written and Directed by: Abhimanyu
Cast: Biswajit Chattopadhyay, Sandhya Roy, Sumita Sanyal

Now, Bangla is my other tongue and despite the fact that the Bangla movie industry has churned out movies of different genres down the ages, horror has been a rather sacrilegous affair in their great scheme of things. Even the late-great Satyajit Ray, who had written a host of 'horror stories', never attempted to make a pure Horror movie. But inspite of that, a great movie I remember from my childhood giving me creeps even in daytime was called 'Kuheli'. And the reason why it's still in the list? Well, I watched it a month ago or so, and I still felt a chill down my spine the moment the hauntingly beautiful tracks 'Esho, Kache Esho' (Come near, dear) 'Ashche, se asche!' ('Hark, she's coming!) starts playing.
The movie is placed in a secluded town in the hills called 'Nijhumgarh' (Literal translation: 'Silent Fort'). A newly-employed governess arrives at the dead of night and is left by the mysterious driver at a mansion (Gothic, did you say; maybe not... but its surrounded by a forest) where the lady is supposed to start work. She finds the house to be dead-empty, only to be greeted by gusts of winds, banging windows, the haunting song (Esho, Kache Esho) playing out of nowhere... and it reaches a peak with the dramatic unveiling of a garland-adoring photo (That means she's dead!) of a beautiful woman... and even with the cliched horror motifs and the not-so-terrifying photograph in which the lady is simply smiling, the music, build-up and the portrayal of the dead person's photograph packs a chilly punch in the mighty guts of first-time viewers.
The story is about the governess trying to get to the source of a strange mystery of the death of this woman, the death of whom is often attributed to her husband. Her death, and the subsequent hauntings, has evidently left the husband shaken, who has been reduced to being a shadow of the man he was before. But the strange part of the story is the little girl the dead lady has left behind. She isn't scared of the ghost... In fact, whenever she listens to her music at the dead of the night, she wakes up as if on cue and sneaks out of her bed to meet her dead mother...


11

Film: The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Screenplay: Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson
Cast: Tom Wilkinson, Launa Linney.

I'm an avid fan of courtroom dramas/thrillers. But that is not even remotely the reason why this film is included in my list. Sure it has very 'few' real horror sequences and even though they are scary as hell, this film will probably not feature in any blogger's top 10 (or even top 13) lists. The reason why I find this film so 'scary' is because of the underlying scare palpable throughout the entire runtime.
The fact that it's based on (somewhat) real events and that its narration begins midway, between the actual scary part (The Exorcism) and the aftermath, is what makes it all so 'interesting' to me. The movie does not go on a mindless joy-ride (or rather, creep-ride) and actually looks at a very real and believable world (The 'Real' world) or sequence where exorcists are not as 'cool' as Constantine or as 'efficient' as Father Merrin. Here, Father Moore has flaws. He is probably not the best exorcist around and the film includes its viewers' in the confusion and debate within the members of the jury on whether Father Moore was right or careless in taking such a hasty decision of performing an exorcism over Emily Rose after asking her to stop her medications.
The creepy 3 AM sequences involving defence lawyer Erin Bruner work on a profound level, lending the entire movie a very ghostly feel where even the scariest make-ups and ghastly sound-effects fail. The creep factor of this film, for me, was simply off-the-charts!


10

Film: Evil Dead (1981)
Language: English
Written and Directed by: Sam Raimi
Cast: Bruce Campbell

I saw this movie when I was five. And thank god my parents broke the 'laws' to allow me to watch this thing on VHS because this is the movie that drew me towards Hollywood horror films. Sure the critics they tell you that Evil Dead II is the best one of the series but what we often forget is how neat the story of the first film was. After all, Sam never had thoughts for a sequel in mind. And when I began watching Evil Dead II, in spite of all its scares, I was inwardly questioning the 'need' for that film (Like a true blue intellectual 'film critic'. Well, I was smart even then! Thank God my co-watcher isn't here to snigger at that sentence)
For those who still aren't initiated into the cult, Evil Dead is the classic story of two guys and three girls visiting a lonesome (of course, haunted) cabin in the woods. They chance upon a book and a tape recorder and inadvertently raise the unknown 'spirit' of the woods and thus begins the unforgettable roller-coaster ride. Alive, luscious tree branches (nearly) raping a girl, women being possessed by evil spirits and creating a screamfest in the theaters (The first appearance was the scariest), limbs and heads being hacked off by chainsaws... this movie has got everything!
And it's funny, too. Remember that girl-ghost's sickly evil, childish laugh? You will smile at it, but it will certainly force a chill down your spine!
A B-Movie or not, Evil Dead will certainly be a cult classic, and for once, it's host of undesirable elements actually work for this film! Go see it if you still haven't!


09

(A Tie)
Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters) (2003) / The Uninvited (2009)
Language: Korean / English
Directed by: Ji-woon Kim / Charles Guard & Thomas Guard
Screenplay: Ji-woon Kim / Craig Rosenberg & Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard
Cast: Geun-Young Moon, Su-jeong Lim / Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel

Now there's a reason why even the lesser-known American remake finds a place alongside the original in this list. A tale of two sisters, the original masterpiece, is nearly a piece of art. And it has the same fundamental hindrance that we associate all modern pieces of art with. It is a tad subtle for the average Horror audience. I Thought I "got" it the first time, but had to watch it again just to make sure anyways (My co-watcher would've said, "Hmph! You got nothing the first time!") The Uninvited, on the other hand, is a suspense caper, with a clear but very well-executed plot. Whereas Geun-Young Moon is excellent in the original, The Uninvited's Emily Browning is impressive as well.
The story is about a teenage girl who is released from a mental institution a few months after her mother's untimely accidental demise caused her a trauma bad enough to land her in a mental institute. She is wary of her mother's former governess, who incidentally went on to become her father's mistress. Some strange (spooky) occurences convince her that her mother's death was not an accident at all but a planned murder, committed by the governess herself. And the girl, along with her sister, embarks upon finding out the truth.
The movies spread out in two different directions from this point. One becomes a subtle (and horrific) Art film while the other goes on to become a typically American Horror flick. But the ending does converge the two, and I daresay both endings are equally riverting.
Although one a remake of the other, both movies work on different levels with altered plots and partially altered endings. Be sure to check out both!


08

Ringu (The Ring) (1998)
Language: Japanese
Directed by: Hideo Nakata
Screenplay:Hiroshi Takahashi, Kôji Suzuki (Novel)
Cast: Reiko Asakawa, Mai Takano

Although my favorite Japanese horror flick has to be Ju-On (Remade as 'The Grudge'), Ringu no doubt comes very close. Inevitably, Ringu got an American remake as well. The remake was no doubt good, but the very tone of the original sets it a class apart from 'The Ring'.
The story, of course, is about a killer videotape which kills anyone who sees it within seven days. After a little girl watches it almost by accident, her panicked aunt, a news reporter, makes it a mission to find out more about the tape and stop the killing rampage (while she is aided by her psychic ex-husband) This results in a massive uncovering of buried truths and forgotten sins and the climax, of course, is when the source of the image of the 'ring' in the videotape is discovered.
Packed with chilling sequences and haunting images of a dripping wet young girl in white, with her distorted face hidden by a shroud of wet black hair, the movie has very good potential of haunting even the bravest of men and women in their dreams. Samara haunts the viewers' minds long after the movie draws to a close. It neatly defines the J-Horror genre with its subtantial use of psychological horror and use of shock images. And as is the trend with our very own Asian horror flicks (the good ones, of course), the ending is a one to die for... literally!


07

Raat (Night) (1992)
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Ram Gopal Varma
Screenplay: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Revathy, Om Puri, Rohini Hattangadi

Unlike the Bangla film industry, the Hindi film industry has a very rich history of churning out both the 'thinking person's' horror movies and the proverbial B-ones. From the Black and White ages with movies such as 'Bees Saal Baad' and 'Madhumati' which have a lot of scary innuendos thrown into its primarily romantic plot-settings, to the 80s when the Ramsay brothers achieved a lot with their garish make-up, sensual B-grade (What! Those films were awesome!) horror films!
Raat, however came in the early 90s. And Ram Gopal Varma (whose film-making has degraded so much down the years) set out to make (what I consider to be) the mother of all horror flicks.
Raat's story is simple enough. A family of four moves into a new house and ominous things begin happening instantly. A cat is killed, which is considered a serious ill omen, and the child of the house begins 'seeing' things too... like the cat coming back to life, for instant! Meanwhile, the big sister (Revathy), who's a college student, is slowly possessed by the spirit of the house... and things take a turn when she (the spirit, actually) ends up murdering her best friend.
Raat has some awfully scary moments, including an unforgettable scene where two arms tear out of the walls and strangles the protagonist (Elm Street, anyone? I personally find this one even scarier) And Revathy with her glassy eyes has to be the scariest Indian women in movies. Great acting, good plot and a thrilling end makes this one a treat.
(P.S. Ram Gopal Varma still churns out two or three movies a year on average. At least one of which turns out to be a Horror flick. But recently, his horror flicks have been more drones and less screams. Buckle up, please, Mr. Varma!)


06

Film: El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007)
Language: Spanish
Directed by: J.M. Bayona
Screenplay: Sergio G. Sánchez
Cast: Belen Rueda, Roger Príncep

El Orfanato could easily have topped my list of Horror flicks. But the only factor which works against the film is that it doesn't have what I like to call 'Multiple-watch scare value!' After you watch it the first time around (whether or not you 'get' it at one go!), you would certainly want to watch it a few more times but it really won't scare you "SO" much anymore (that is if you DO 'get' it).
But what about the first time you see the film? Well, you might as well consider branding it the 'Scariest movie of all time'.
Produced by famed Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, El Orfanato is the story of Laura who returns with her husband Carlos to re-start a derelict orphanage she used to be a part of when she was a child. The couple has an adopted child Simón with a life-shortening disease who starts entertaining a host of imaginary friends as soon as he comes to the renovated orphanage. And finally, on the day when the orphanage is ready to welcome its new residents, Simón goes missing...
The scary sequences are Really scary. And it can very well get under your skin the first time around. The Orphanage is primarily the story of a mother looking for her child. The film, as in all good films, has a riveting climax. That being said, it is finally upto the viewers to interpret the ending (As in Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth) For example, I ended up interpreting it all in a way that makes the movie seem much less 'spooky' (That may have diminished the multiple-scare value but didn't affect the Multiple-watch value at all). But it may well happen that you would interpret the film in a completely different manner altogether, and find it scarier everytime you watch it.
Anyway you look at it, readers, a classic's always a classic!


05

Veerana (The Wilderness) (1985)
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Shyam Ramsay and Tulsi Ramsay
Screenplay: Shyam Ramsay, J.K.Ahuja (Story)
Cast: Jasmin, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Satish Shah, Gulshan Grover, Rajesh Vivek

As I was saying about the Ramsay brothers during the Raat post, the two were the uncrowned kings of Hindi B-movie horror in the 80s and no doubt accumulated a fair amount of dough by churning out one blockbuster after another like Purana Mandir, Dak Bangla and of course, their best one 'The Wilderness'. Extensive use of the mother of all scary grotesque face make-ups, cliched (and bone-chilling) sound effects and a haunting image of a black-cloaked dead witch murdering people 'in the winderness' make the scare-factor in this film off the charts!
Again, I remember watching this at a very early age and as strange as it sounds, the movie is still as scary to me as it was fifteen years ago. And now that I've 'grown up', the scares aren't the only thing I notice about the movie.
The story starts with the brother of a Thakur (landlord) capturing an evil witch (after seducing her) from a bungalow in the wilderness. Soon after, the witch is killed by hanging in public. To salvage the horror flick, a dark magician (NOT the Harrry Potter-type, but scarier!) steals and preserves her body to give her soul a new habitat someday. Eventually after several horror-friendly bizarre (and rather complicated) turn of events, the evil spirit possesses the body of the Thakur's little niece and she ends up murdering her aunt. Well, things seem to rest for a bit and several years pass (in true blue Bollywood fashion). Jasmin, the niece, is now a fully grown (and smokin' hot) woman who is re-possessed by the spirit and the femme fatale soon embarks upon a (no points for guessing) fatal rampage. It seems she has just three passions in life: Seduce men, kill them and in the process, show as much skin (or, in some cases, that grotesque face which has been the stuff of my childhood nightmares) as possible! Don't get me wrong... I'm not complaining!
A perfect cocktail of sex and scares, Veerana is a classic, scary even after nearly 25 years!


04

Film: El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) (2001)
Language: Spanish
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Written by: Guillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras, David Muñoz
Cast: Fernando Tielve, Íñigo Garcés, Federico Luppi, Eduardo Noriega

Guillermo del Toro happens to be one of my favorite directors. But that tidbit of 'partial' info aside, The Devil's Backbone makes such a high-cut in this list thanks to the fact that it is an excellent film, besides being a very scary one.
This is perhaps the only film in my Top-5 without a considerable scare-factor. This film chills you to the bone in some places, but you wouldn't want to scream. You would prefer to remain quiet and enjoy the 'chill' while it lasts. Viewers can actually enjoy the terror in this film.
Set during the Spanish Civil war, the story begins with the arrival of Carlos (Fernando Tielve) at an orphanage where he assumes he would stay only as long as his father is busy at war. There is a defused bomb obstinately stuck at the center of the ophanage compound. Soon after, Carlos begins to see the ghost of a boy in the kitchen corridors and even near the dorm. Carlos' investigation begins to unearth a host of buried facts.
But this movie is not just from the perspective of Carlos, the kid. It has a myriad of well-defined, multi-faceted characters including the determined Dr. Cesares, the confused Carmen, the opportunist Jacinto, the troubled Jaime, the dead Santi... and of course, the country at war. It isn't merely a horror flick but a reflection into the minds of people (The director admitted its interpretations from Freudianism) and above all, a political allegory.
This masterpiece has a haunting score which creates a fairly lasting effect on its listeners. Del Toro combines it all to make this movie a classic, a piece of art. One which isn't meant to be simply respected from a distance. This particular piece of art is meant to be enjoyed... Welcome to the world of Guillermo del Toro!



03

The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by: William Friedkin
Book and Screenplay: William Peter Blatty
Cast: Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Ellen Burstyn

I could sum this one up in one line: Girl possessed, Exorcism done, Film scared the shit out of me, Period.
I could say Linda Blair was excellent, but we all know that, don't we?
I could write a thesis on this film, but is it really needed?
The story (as if someone needs to know this) is of a nice and friendly teenaged girl who is possessed by a demon. But does that explain why this is considered (by a majority of the world) to be the scariest movie ever?
It was 1973, and the viewers had actually never seen something so grotesque, evil being presented to the masses in such a classy manner. It wasn't a B-movie to be sniggered upon since it was a film that was made from a book that actually dealt with a real case of exorcism. People were horrified to witness, first-hand, the real picture of possession and a resultant exorcism. Our over-exposure to the concept may have blunted us a bit when we see this movie sitting in our homes or a theater in 2009, but what Friedkin achieved in this epic will be a benchmark in horror for years to come.
After all, reports of several faintings at the theaters, news of people being institutionalized and even one miscarriage isn't something worth a laugh, like some reactions of theater-goers when the film re-released a few years ago. Why is it that the influence of Saws and Evil Deads and Hostels are blunting our sense of the 'real horror'?
As far as I am concerned, I still tend to shield my eyes momentarily everytime Linda Blair's head starts its famous 360 degree motion.



02

Ju-On (The Grudge) (2002)
Language: Japanese
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Screenplay: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Megumi Okina, Yukako Kukuri

Ju-On has actually been a series with two direct-to-video films occuring before this particular one. This one was simply called Ju-On, one which us Americanized audiences better recognize as The Grudge. The film was remade by Shimizu himself as 'The Grudge' starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Ju-On is considered in many circles as the scariest movie ever. Its use of the J-Horror psychological motifs and the perpetually scary scene of the 'housewife in a white dress' somehow make a lasting impression on the minds of Horror-lovers.
The story is about a house (which doesn't look very haunted initially) where the brutal murder of a wife (Kayako) and her child (Toshio) took place years ago. The thirst for revenge that raged within the two departed(?) souls causes a curse to perpetually linger over the house and it attaches to anyone who visits the place. Thus affected is volunteer social worker Rika Nishina and several others who desperately try to escape this little 'jinx'.
Ju-On has some of my favorite scary scenes! One of them being the sight of Kayako's surveillance camera footage, where she is drifting out of a keyhole and materialising in the corridor and finally haunting the CC-camera itself.
That, ladies and gentlemen, could well be the spookiest scene ever seen on screen!


01

[Rec] (2007)
Language: Spanish
Directed by: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Screenplay: Jaume Balagueró, Luis Berdejo, Paco Plaza
Cast: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge Serrano

I'll keep this short and sweet. Like the movie itself.
This is a film about a Television camera crew of two getting stuck in a quarantined Barcelona apartment building with its residents, two cops and two firemen. There's a virus on the loose which spreads itself through saliva and each infected person is eventually converted into a flesh-eating, fast-traveling (Zombies are known to be slow, but here...) zombie.
So how did a movie, with such a cliched storyline in the 21st century (Seven years into it) succeed in scaling my high expectations and rose to the top of this (Well, this is called self-marketing) prestigious list?
The film is shot in a pseudo-documentary sort of way, sort of like The Blair Witch Project (1998), where the camera operator Pablo is a TV cameraman and is very much a part of the film. Pablo's associate, hot young anchor Angela Vidal, is the central protagonist of the film. The shock-factor of this movie is, simply put, insane. After a slow pick-up, the movie picks up pace at nearly the speed of a good action movie and by the time the climax comes, the viewers are bursting for some fresh air. But fresh air in this Barcelona apartment is hard to find, since our little camera crew is stuck at the top floor (attic) of the apartment, while zombies roam the rest of the quarantined building. But poor Angela and Pablo, little do they know about the secrets the derelict attic hides...
This is something to be seen. Writing even a million pages about this picture will fail to do justice to its merit.


FINAL WORDS

Well, I had to exclude a few films which would easily make it to any other list. After all, 13 is a pretty paltry number.
To start off, I loved the first instalment of 'The Nightmare on Elm Street', but maybe because I saw this movie in my late-teen years for the first time, it failed to 'scare' me much. I don't find the 'Saw' series scary. Thrilling, yes. When it comes to Hostel and all, sick -yes! But never scary! There has to be a fair distinction between scary and sick! Aliens was great, so was Swedish modern classic Let the Right One In. Also close were non-American classics Eyes without a face (French), Hanabari (Bangla), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (German), M (German) and Nosferatu (German). Also, I don't find The Shining very scary, although it is one of my favorite films with some tremendous acting by Jack Nicholson. Carrie and The Others nearly made it to the list. So did The Dark Knight, with its scary 'Joker' rendition... but you see, I wanted my list to be taken 'seriously' by people. R.I.P. Mr. Ledger! Happy Halloween, everyone... Go Trick or Treating... and check out for any vampire-suiters with real teeth... you never know who's coming to town from Transylvania.

[Movies are in English unless specified otherwise]

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