Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site teklds.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!teklds!hankb From: hankb@teklds.UUCP (Hank Buurman) Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: Scariest Movies Message-ID: <1214@teklds.UUCP> Date: Thu, 31-Oct-85 21:17:11 EST Article-I.D.: teklds.1214 Posted: Thu Oct 31 21:17:11 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 06:25:29 EST Reply-To: hankb@teklds.UUCP (Hank Buurman) Distribution: na Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR Lines: 160 Keywords: Halloween The following are excerpts, rewritten without permission from the October 30th edition of the Portland Oregonian, Robert Lindstrom, author: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What follows is a list of 13 of the spookiest movies available on videocassette. After the candy bowl is empty on Halloween, try one. With the lights off. With the doors locked. BEST STALK-AND-SLASH-FILM Don't people turn on lights when they enter a dark room? Won't people lock their doors anymore? Why do teenage girls go for midnight strolls in their underwear? These were the questions we never bothered to ask while caught up in the fears of director John Carpenters `HALLOWEEN'. ....hundreds of movies tried to cash in on the idea of a brutal killer stalking teenagers on the make. Forget them. The first is still the best. BEST BIG SCARE You've decided the movie is just about over. The popcorn box is empty and on the floor. You've put on your coat. Just then, director Brian de Palma slugs you across the room with one of the biggest shocks in horror films. ...`CARRIE' is a slick, exciting picture from beginning to end. But watch out for that last drop. BEST BIG-BUDGET GROSS-OUT Stay away from those big macs before watching John Carpenter's 1982 remake of `THE THING' or the only attack you'll have will be in- digestion. ...this thing can turn itself into any shape, sometimes in full, fascinating and disgusting view of the camera. This remake doesn't have the surprises of the 1951 Christian Nyby original, but when the husky dog's head splits apart to reveal it's drooling contents, you'll know you're not in the '50's anymore. MOST OUTRAGEOUS USE OF GORE The performances are crude, and it looks as if the entire budget was around $793.38. But rest assured most of that money was spent on stage blood to make `THE EVIL DEAD' the ultimate in stomach-churning, blood-letting, horrific nonsense. Every human body part that can possibly be punched, bruised, cut, slashed, chopped or shattered gets a workout... ...Both a shocker and a satire, `THE EVIL DEAD' takes the gore film to amusing but gross limits. SCARIEST CREATURE `The Thing' was obnoxious, but the `ALIEN' is obnoxious and indestructible. With incredible visuals designed by H.R. Giger and Ridley Scott's TV-commercial slick direction, `ALIEN' is one of the most frightening horror films of all time. Yes, it does have the look of science fiction, but `ALIEN' is horror all the way. A spaceship crew unknowingly allows aboard an alien being with a genius for survival. ...At any minute this constantly changing being can leap out of the shadows to claim it's victim.... Scriptwriter Dan O'Bannon and pals borrowed heavily from "The Thing' and `It! The Terror From Beyond Space.' Still, though it has been seen before, the formula has never been done with more style or more eye-popping scares. BEST REAL-LIFE HORRORS Man's inhumanity to man is part and parcel of horror cinema, and that inhumanity has seldom seemed more cruel or disturbing than in `THE HONEYMOON KILLERS.' Shot in newsreellike black and white, the film is based on the true crime story of a couple who romantically involve `lonly- hearts' women and kill them for their money. The semi-documentary style and low budget give `THE HONEYMOON KILLERS' a sweaty authenticity that only adds to the outrage of the story. As the killers, Tony Lo Bianco and the incredible Shirley Stoler couldn't be better. Their performances drip sleaze. BEST PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER A young woman, alone in an apartment for a weekend, gradually comes to grips with her sexual terrors and disintegrating sanity. It's mind against man in `REPULSION,' director Roman Polanski's first english language film. ...The beautiful Catherine Deneuve endures the wolf whistles of construction workers. She is repelled by her sister's promiscuity. But social tension turns to abberation and Deneuve can no longer distinguish between real and imagined terrors. ...This is one of the few involving, thought-provoking horror films and was made with a first rate cast and director. Use this to scare the wits out of your intellectual friends. BEST SHOWER SCENE ...-`PSYCHO' has it all. If you haven't seen it recently, you owe yourself another chance to be scared. Just be sure you clean up before you turn on the VCR. You won't want to shower later. WIERDEST IMAGERY Is it a horror film or just a friendly warning how not to live life? `ERASERHEAD' will have viewers shifting and shuddering without being quite sure why. ...bizarre visuals...unsettling situations...A cult film... `ERASERHEAD' may be artsy and incomprehensible, but it also clings to the mind like mold. BEST ZOMBIE CANNIBALS The competition is fierce here. Films such as `I Dismember Mama' and `Please Don't Eat My Mother' are fierce contenders, but George Romero's influential `THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD' takes the award. Corpses are rising from the grave to attack and consume the living. A troop of innocents are trapped in an old house that is surrounded by the shuffling, munching dead ones. In the tradition of great horror, Romero went one step beyond 1960's good taste and made movie history. He also opened a Pandora's Box of terrible gore films. WITTIEST HORROR FILM Vincent Price has devoted a lifetime of broad acting to the horror genre but never more effectivly than in `THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES.' The film tells of a crazed entertainer who returns from near death to murder the doctors who lost his wife on the operating table. And just to show he's a guy with style, he models his revenge on the biblical plagues of Egypt. Set in London during the early 30's, `Dr. Phibes' never stops laughing up it's sleeve, beginning with the gaudy art deco sets and continuing to the incredibly invoved murder scenes. Vincent and a steller cast of british character actors are, well, priceless. GOTHIC HORROR CLASSIC Universal Studio's original `Dracula' and `Frankenstein' have their charm, but `THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN' is a gothic phantasmagoria. Director James Whale packed this masterpiece with sly chuckles and breathtaking expressionistic sets. The creation of the bride remains the best mad laboratory scene ever filmed. Whale combined the towering proportions of the set, eccentricly flashing lab equipment, Boris Karloff's and Colin Clive's compelling performances and composer Franz Waxman's eerie music, into a poetry of horror. See it, cherish it, enjoy it. BEST HORROR FILM Some people have refused to see `THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' on the basis of the title alone. Yet, Tobe Hooper's first and best movie has relatively little gore. What it does have is incredibly visceral violence, mind-warping situations and a pace that makes roller coasters feel like a rest cure. A visit to grandpa's old house descends into total, illogical horror as a group of young people encounter a family of sickies on the Texas plains. Hooper creates a world where all the pieces are familiar and nothing seems to fit. One nightmare follows another until the viewer loses all contact with rational reality. Whether straight shocker or black comedy, `THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' steps solidly past the bounds of reason and straight to the scare centers." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy Halloween net.people. Hank