It’s a love-hate relationship kind of thing. Everything begins wonderfully, all smiles and happiness. Out of nowhere, BAM, everyone dies a horrible death and you’re left sitting in bed crying all night and jumping at otherwise perfectly normal sounds for the next three months.
Yep, it’s scary movie season once more.
So, without further ado, here are five of the greatest run-screaming-out-of-the-theater-and-piss-your-pants-before-you-even-get-to-the-car films.
**”The Shining”**
Where to begin with this movie? Everything, absolutely everything, is perfect in it. The cinematography, setting, music, dialogue (“HEEEERE’S JOHNNY!”), all of them are magnificently done. Even if you haven’t seen this movie, you know the legacy. “Redrum” is practically in the dictionary, and the dead twins in the hallway are huge pop culture references found in a ton of other flicks.
**”Insidious”**
Despite being super recent, “Insidious” is one of the few movies that has nonstop scare factor from beginning to end. What’s more, it has a little of all the big fears. Stalkers? Check. Ghosts? Check. Demons? Check. Murderers? Check. Yep, this movie has it all. The large slew of monsters has your head spinning and your heart pounding as well, and by the time you’re done watching it you’ll constantly be checking your Facebook photos to see if you too have a creepy ghost bride following you since childhood. Or insomnia will plague you for the rest of your life.
**”Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)**
Alright, yeah. It’s not the bloody remake, and by today’s standards it’s pretty tame, but let’s face it, that scene where the girl is chained to the chair made out of human body pieces and is forced to sit through dinner with those horrible, deformed people is pretty creepy. And also, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has created for our culture the legendary character Leatherface, and is the first really gory movie. Without this
film, other movies like the “Saw” series, “Hostel,” and “The Hills Have Eyes” might not be in existence. What a sad place the world would be for all our gore-loving friends.
**”The Strangers”**
Perhaps this film hasn’t yet earned “best horror movie” status in many minds, but it should, because it’s anything but a “Halloween” knock-off. And while there are a lot of Michael Meyers-esque situations, one man in a creepy white mask is significantly less scary than an entire family in creepy white masks.
Synopsis: a newly married couple comes home one night. Throughout the movie, three masked people in their home terrorize them. Now, typically, spoilers are frowned upon, but here one is necessary to explain why this movie is just so darn scary. Why was the couple tortured? The one antagonist beautifully answers with “Because you were home,” leaving you with that horrific thought of, “But I’m home sometimes!”
**”The Sixth Sense”**
“You ever feel the prickly things on the back of your neck? And the tiny hairs on your arm, you know when they stand up? That’s them.” This line still gives me chills every time I hear it. No, it’s not the traditional “I see dead people” line associated with “The Sixth Sense,” but it’s still such a good one. The entire movie itself is excellent and is notorious for keeping people up late into the night, sometimes for months at a time, wishing that they weren’t alone so much and wondering if something else is with them. Yeah, it’s that good. M. Night Shyamalan was clearly on his A-game when writing and directing this movie. Too bad he couldn’t continue the streak. But then again, maybe the world can’t handle horror movies of “The Sixth Sense” caliber.
