Top Ten scariest movies

The following was originally written in July 2003, a version of which is also available here.

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I must confess I don’t like lists, nor trying to pigeon-hole films into particular genres. Here I’m simply identifying movie experiences that, for often unexplained reasons, touched on my unique personal fears, startled me through the brilliance of its technique, or addressed a phenomenon (multiple murderers in particular) that, from where I stand, say a great deal about the darkest elements of human behaviour.

This is by no means a definitive list, nor safe from ridicule (no such lists ever are).

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (U.S., 1974) – I first saw this on late-night tv, expecting it to edited. What I didn’t know about was its absence of on-screen violence. Through relentless pursuit and unnerving sounds — especially from the thoroughly believable screams of pain and fright from the actors — the film generates a terrifying pitch. By the time moments of physical violence happens, the film stops short of depicting gory details, allowing our darkest imaginations to fill in the blanks. Ultimately thought-induced images are far more horrific then any special effect can be, and this movie exploits that to the fullest. In short, it was the most terrifying viewing experience of my life.

2. Spoorloos (The Vanishing – Netherlands/France, 1988) – Professor Elliott Leyton wrote what I consider the definitive study of serial and mass murderers called Hunting Humans. In it he concludes serial killers are not larger-than-life maniacs (e.g. Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal) but “straight arrows”; seemingly harmless people who fool even those closest to them. To look at them you have no idea of their secret life of brutality, torture, rape and murder. This is the closest I’ve seen any film capture that conclusion. For me few things are as scary as the banality of evil, and the menace in this film — not fully realized until the final moments — is the most chilling I’ve ever seen. Perhaps because of this the other films listed here (Targets, The Collector and The Chekist) tend to possess a similar quality.

3. Targets (U.S., 1968) – Because movies are such a voyeuristic experience it’s easy to feel a disconnected thrill when watching bad guys do bad things. It has an unreal quality, like watching a cartoon. But this film’s sense of realism — achieved mostly through the believability of the characters than its visual style — achieves a uncomfortable level of dread for the fate of its victims. Targets also directly addresses the question of “What is horror?” within the context of film, emphasizing that the classic conventions of film horror in the form of monsters and the supernatural is not truly scary; that the real world holds far greater horror. No movie better illustrates that than this one.

4. Miracle Mile (U.S., 1989) – Ever have one of those nightmares when you’re running away from something, and towards safety, but never seem to make any progress in either direction? That’s what this film feels like; a dreamt nightmare in the guise of a possible reality (nuclear holocaust). It’s also a story of incredible romantic love. After all horror works best when the viewer actually cares about the fate of the characters and, in this case, there’s much to care about.

5. The Collector (U.S., 1965) – Terence Stamp plays an obsessive young man who kidnaps a woman and intends to keeps her prisoner until she falls in love with him. Of course, in such circumstances, such a transformation is impossible. But the kidnapper doesn’t fathom that. Nor does the victim realize the impossibility of her situation. When she finally does, the film is at it’s most chilling. Rarely has a film captured such a deep level of bleakness, despair and injustice.

6. Seven (U.S., 1995) – Few films divide viewers as much as this one. What seems to separate them is their particular view of justice. Because narrative films are traditionally morality tales where good wins over evil (usually with “good” blowing away “evil” and walking away free of both guilt and responsibility), this film’s resistance to walk down this path of film fantasy is understandably upsetting. But that’s part of its power of disturb. Ultimately it pleads for a society that embraces passivism for, without it, we are doomed to repeat the cycle of brutality mankind continues to inflict on its own kind.

7. Dressed To Kill (U.S., 1980) – Alfred Hitchcock will forever be acknowledged as the master of suspense, and Brian De Palma as a cheap imitator. But Hitchcock never freaked me out as much as De Palma has, and this is one of the better examples. The scariest moments in this film (and there are more than a few) are consistently preceded by a sense of safety. Thus, when you least expect it, violent action jumps up and makes you gasp — if not scream. Besides, any film that can make a wordless visit to the museum it’s most suspenseful sequence (De Palma would later top this with his Odessa Steps homage in The Untouchables) is worthy of high praise in my opinion.

8. Alien (U.S., 1979) – I was 13 when I first saw the poster for this film and I was hooked. However, being too young to see the film for many years (this was before the advent of home video) I resorted to listening to tales of other people’s viewing experiences, and reading the wealth of books that followed its success. By the time I finally saw the full feature, there was nothing left to surprise me. But it still engrossed me. This is a truly masterful film that takes the haunted house concept and sets it in a plausible space future. It also has the scariest-looking monster ever to appear in cinema. Though we only see glimpses of it throughout, much like the visual style of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the film allows our imaginations to generate the most disturbing images.

9. John Carpenter’s The Thing (U.S., 1982) – John Carpenter’s films always feel like amateur productions to me, full of limp dialogue, stodgy acting, and listless visuals. What saves them is their fantastic stories of alien invasions, apocalyptic worlds and the supernatural. This film is easily his best. It takes an exceptional sci-fi/horror story and dresses it with top-notch character actors, exciting visuals, an unusual setting, great f/x and a mesmerizing score by the legendary Ennio Morricone. Normally gore effects seem out-of-place and, to me, unnecessary in horror films (akin to that pop culture phrase “Too much information”) but, here, it is an intergral part of the story; an alien creature that adapts to its environment and has a different defense mechanism for every circumstance. Make-up artist Rob Bottin created some of the most original, terrifying concepts and, 20 years later, has yet to be outdone.

10. The Chekist (Russia, 1992) – This is the least-known film here, and its not surprising. When this film played the festival circuit it was so revolted viewers many walked out. Of course its premise didn’t fit neatly into most people’s idea of a horror movie either so it’s floated in limbo ever since. The Chekist details the systematic execution of civilians by the Cheka; the Soviet Secret Police that was established after the Bolshevik Revolution. Scene-after-scene we watch as innocent people are hustled into a basement, stripped naked, lined up against a wall, shot, and carted away. The executioners show no emotions as they carry out their tasks. They look like they’re handling widgets on an assembly line. You even see them break for lunch and share a joke or two, while the next batch of victims await their inevitable fate. It’s this cold detachment — and the knowledge that this likely resembles the reality of that time — that chills me more than anything. Man is the only animal on earth capable of such brutality and, as with many of the examples above, it is cinema’s dramatization of these human qualities that makes what I consider true horror.