My Massive Movie Blog

A Film by Christopher Nolan

INCEPTION

[Summer 2010]

BUT (And with me, there's always a 'but'), how is it necessary to remind the viewers again and again that the movie comes from the director of THE DARK KNIGHT (brightly embossed under the title). It was an exceptional movie and everything, but Nolan has become a brand unto himself to be burdened with the quality (and hangover) of his previous acts!

In any case, the movie IS shaping up to be the most anticipated one next summer, even with stalwarts like Iron Man 2 on the checklist as well. And with an intriguing enough tagline 'Your mind is the scene of the crime' and a killer teaser trailer, Inception is probably on its way to becoming the best of 2010!

The movie also stars Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, apart from Leonardo di Caprio in the lead. The film has been written by Mr. Nolan himself.

Signing off,

-Jagannath (Jesse)

A Tasty Little Cocktail!

Movie: Jennifer's Body

Directed by: Karyn Kusama

Written by: Diablo Cody

Cast: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody

Objectively speaking, Megan Fox has the capacity to do a lot of things to a lot of men; and that happens to include me as well. But I never imagined how one fine night, she would go on to scare the living daylights out of me!

Jennifer's Body, the much-hyped non-Transformers appearance of the Transformers-star, is essentially a high school horror flick based on a fictional little town called the Devil's Kettle. Also the fact that its written by Diablo Cody, the Academy-Award winner writer of Juno, added that something extra to the prevalent hype surrounding the film. Megan plays Jennifer Check, a 'hot' cheerleader of questionable morals ("You sure wish your school had one of those" my co-watcher grins. "Well, don't you?" and the grin vanishes) It all starts one night when Jennifer takes her friend Anita "Needy" Lesnicki (portrayed commendably by Amanda Seyfried) to see an upcoming punk-psychadelic-emo rock band called Low Shoulder (featuring Adam Brody as a lead singer Nikolai Wolf) perform. Well, perform they do until the venue, a bar, catches fire and crumbles to the ground within a matter of minutes, killing several people and high school students in the process. After a series of bizarre events during the night that includes murders, sacrifices and even Satan, it is seen that Megan Fox.. I mean, Jennifer, has been turned into a flesh-eating (still hot) high school huntress of sorts.

It is quite unfair to critically comment upon a movie essentially made for light entertainment and cheap scares, but Jennifer's Body somehow transcends its genre-afflicted prejudice and turns out to be a fairly interesting, and scary horror flick. Megan Fox (And I solemnly swear I'm NOT being partial just because she's Megan Fox) is perfect as a cheerleader gone 'too' bad. Her blood-splattered appearance during the night of the fire at her friend's place is as scary as a high school movie can get, and Fox does manage to give the viewers the creeps.

Also impressive is Amanda Seyfried as Jennifer's dorky, subdued pal Needy, who is the real protagonist to Fox's antagonistic act. The underlying homoerotic attraction towards Jennifer is portrayed by Amanda with an impressive amount of subtlety. Diablo Cody definitely won't get any Oscars for this one, but it has to be a better screenplay when compared to the other high school flicks of late. It was interesting to notice the visibly darker shades of Cody's comic sense. The direction of Karyn Kusama is rather impressive, with her clever balance of horror, humor, a lesbian make-out and a certain entity called Megan Fox, all mashed together to form a rather tasty little teen-horror cocktail!

Signing Off,

Jagannath (Jesse)

Related:

My review of Paranormal Activity

My Top-13 Horror Flicks of All Time

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Jack is a figure of rigorous determination, cunning... and courage. And as my faithful co-watcher put it, "Heroes can't get better than him!" He is left with a single shot in a lonely island where he is stranded by his rebel crew. Yet, he manages to get out of that island (with a little bit of luck) with that single shot intact, which he is saving for his rebellious first mate Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush).

"Jack likes to be mysterious" my enthusiastic co-watcher points out, "A trait men must have to woo women" (Mental note, guys!) He prefers a little drama before he spills the beans to shock 'em all! Sometimes, it arises out of a necessity… as in the first movie where he couldn’t divulge to anyone that he too, had been affected by the curse that lingered over the fabled Aztec gold! But what could’ve been the reason for not telling his fellow sufferers that he was on the same page? "It was ego… pure male ego, really!" My co-watcher explains. "He just wanted to make it look like he was far better off than the 'almost' zombies of the Black Pearl!"

Jack’s a woman's treaure chest when it comes to keeping secrets… from his magical compass, love (Which is still a secret, really... but I guess we know him to be a Womanizer!)… to his family… everything is shrouded in mystery! He’s almost like a modern day enigmatic Hollywood star! We are introduced to his dad in the third movie (played by Keith Richards, the original inspiration behind Jack’s character), but that is about the only thing we know about his family. I guess some characters are better off being a mystery, an enigma… that’s how the Hollywood 'Franchise' charm works, doesn’t it?

As my co-watcher forces me back into the topic of 'Love', I don’t think abyone can call Jack a bloody misogynist (And my co-watcher finally agrees with me), coz he has 'lots and lots' of girl-friends in Tortuga (if you know what I mean). And it is pretty evident that Jack knows how to respect women as well… the manner in which he interacted with the well-bred British lady of the Indies Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). His tete-a-tetes with the most important female character in this series, Elizabeth, actually makes for a very interesting viewing! He is a flirty kind of guy ("No question about that," my co-watcher says)… and in the 2nd movie… and Elizabeth seemingly falls for him, wrongfully assuming that Jack had actually returned to rescue her out of the crumbling Black Pearl.

But as is the trend with heroes irrespective of time and place, the lack of a genuine love didn’t stop Sparrow from being a good person! When his quest to kill Davy Jones (played by Bill Nighy) to become immortal and possess “The Flying Dutchman” came knocking at his door, he (in true 'Bollywood' Hero fashion) decided to save the fatally wounded Will (Orlando Bloom) in the end, ending up sacrificing his quest for the 'Greater Good'! And with it, fans across the globe heaved a sigh of massive relief, along with my co-watcher, "Alright, the man we loved so much isn’t simply a bloody pirate after all… I told you he was a good pirate!"

Walt Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer films have declared a fourth Pirates movie (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), in which Johnny would reprise his role as 'Captain Jack Sparrow'. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom will be the absentees while Geoffrey Rush would be back as well. Thanks to the fact that the second and the third instalments of the franchise were solely watchable because of Jack Sparrow, "it would be interesting to see how the Hollywood moneymongers destroy yet another series" (Not my words!) Well, pathetic or not, us fans would probably still flock for the premiere-show tickets when the next feature hits theatres... and hopefully, Johnny as Jack would be as good as he has ever been.

That's the least we can hope for!

Signing Off,

Jesse (Jagannath)

P.S. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles won the Oscar in 2004 for Best Actor. Well, he was truly extraordinary in the movie but... there's always a but!

Nevertheless, this year has seen Johnny's 'Public Enemies' avatar and Foxx's sterling performance in 'The Soloist'. So Oscars or not, it's good to see both stars still going strong after all these years. And in case both get nominated again... GO JOHNNY, GO GO GO!

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]

Those who still need an excuse to go and watch this movie: This is Cameron's 1st full-length feature film after Titanic. Not exactly '12 years in the making', but effectively so. So see you at the theaters!

Released (1st screening): Oct 14, 2007

(Theatrical): Oct 16, 2009

Language: English

Direction and Screenplay: Oran Peli

Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat

To put myself on an objective plane before writing this review, I should admit that I consider 2007 Spanish zombie thriller [Rec] to be THE scariest movie I have ever seen. Now, contrary to whatever my co-watcher says, (who reportedly still has nightmares about a teenage Linda Blair scaring the whole world in 'The Exorcist') [Rec] scored over all other films thanks to its pseudo-original footage format, where a camera crew gets stuck in a zombie-infested Barcelona apartment building.
Oran Peli's Paranormal activity, however, has a different premise; but here again, the camera is operated by a protagonist: an over-enthusiastic man (Micah Sloat) who is interested to find out the truth after a host of spooky occurences in his house, that are somehow connected with his girlfriend's (Katie Featherston) past.

Screened for the first time in late-2007 during the Screamfest Horror Film Festival, it took two years for the film to find a proper distributor. After a slew of incidents that included proposals to re-shoot and even a hassled Steven Spielberg claiming that the DVD of the movie was 'haunted' (but he ended up liking the movie too), DreamWorks and Paramount finally released the film, 11 years after the first horror pseudo-documentary film of its kind, 'The Blair Witch Project' hit screens.

Even though my co-watcher decides to go to sleep each time I begin one of my history lessons, cinema-goers have been tastefully acquainted with this 'style' of film-making in 1998, thanks to 'The Blair Witch Project'; the success of which, however, did not generate a string of below-average films of the type (Thank heavens!). [Rec] came in 2007, its not-so-good Hollywood remake 'Quarantine' came a year later and in 2008 itself, a similarly shot 'Eco-terror' film ("What's that?" my co-watcher asks. "Films like Godzilla", I reply) 'Cloverfield' took home a fair amount of moolah.