Almost a Top Ten: My Pick of Six Scary Flicks

Yeah, the underground creatures in this flick are fantastic, but the moment when Sarah believes she is stuck in that long narrow shaft made me breath harder, you begin to feel the air get sucked out of the room and it is one of the most intense moments I can remember in any kind of a horror film. Then you add the underground creepy dudes and this is a horror flick I will never forget. I actually need to get off my ass and buy the Blu-ray.

We all have a film from our childhood that we can remember scaring us the most. For me that film is Jaws, and just as in The Descent the creatures weren’t the scariest moment for me, in Jaws the shark wasn’t the scariest moment. When Brody (Roy Scheider) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) are investigating a boat they find in the middle of the ocean and the dead body of Ben Gardner floats into view from a hole in the bottom of the vessel still gets me to this day.

The moment is a jump moment, but I think it elevates itself above being described as a cheap moment because it isn’t a black cat scare tactic because it fits within the situation. I also love how they get two scares out of it after the first reveal and then Hooper’s realization of what he is looking at. Fantastic moment. Oh, and the shark scared me too way back when.

I know the argument against the crab walk scene in the extended cut of The Exorcist is that it doesn’t really fit into the movie. I agree it’s just a tactic to scare folks, but the fact that it adds one more new scare to this already supremely scary flick is not a complaint I am ready to make. Especially since it is now the creepiest moment of the lot in my estimation. While I don’t think The Exorcist is the scariest movie all time in terms of my own fright level I wouldn’t be surprised if it registers up there with a lot of other folks. This film has a lot going for it in terms of scares and I wouldn’t be surprised if a remake is just around the corner. Then again, is this one of those films that is too iconic to attempt a duplication?

So there it is, a list of six films that genuinely gave me the creeps, willies and a couple of scares and, more importantly, a list of six films I wouldn’t mind watching again. Maybe next year my horror filmography will be large enough to be a bonafide top ten, but for now I would love to hear yours. Go ahead and let it be known. If you have to register, don’t worry, it takes only a couple of seconds and you only have to do it once. Let your voices be heard!