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Halloween (1978)

It is the logical place to start, n’est-ce pas?  While it touched off an 80s avalanche of “slasher stalks teenagers” genre flicks, John Carpenter’s film is much moodier and suspenseful than your Friday the 13ths or your Nightmares on Elm Street.

Key Elements:  Jaime Lee Curtis as “The Good Girl” you can identify with; the music… something Carpenter has always been good with; Donald Pleasance as the slightly fried doctor of the fiend (”You don’t understand… he’s not a man!”); the mask, it makes Michael Myers a blank slate, faceless evil… it’s actually a William Shatner mask turned inside out, you know.

Alternate Choice:  Though not as evenly paced, and set at a later seasonal signpost, Black Christmas (1974) is the film that could be said to have inspired Halloween.  The camera p.o.v. of the killer is one element that was credited to Carpenter as an innovation, but it shows up here first.  Plus it’s a Canadian film with early work by both Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin.

The Exorcist (1973)

I recently read a re-examination of this classic that criticized it for its lack of cohesion and causality w/r/t the usual horror movie procedure.  For example, why does the little girl get possessed in the first place?  Poop to that… I think that is one of the features that actually makes it scarier… things just happen, and it they tear a swathe through the lives of both a single parent family and a priest whose personal life has challenged his faith.  Plus… creepy, inappropriate and completely un-remake-able behaviour from  a young Linda Blair.

Key Elements:  Glenda Jackson as the overwhelmed actress mom hits just the right notes between desperation and panic… and never overplays histrionics; the slow and deliberate build up to the actual exorcism; the actual exorcism;

Alternate Choice:  The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) takes the unusual path of combining a horror film and a courtroom procedural.  Tom Wilkinson’s Father Moore is on trial for the death of a young woman whose care had been entrusted to him, and whose unsuccessful exorcism he had conducted.  Jennifer Carpenter succeeds in breaking your heart as a the daughter of a fairly unsophisticated rural family who leaves the nest for College only to be infected by something either demonic, or medically complex depending on which side you believe.

The Shining (1980)

Kubrick + Stephen King classic… what a concept!  King notoriously did not find the film scary enough and helmed an incredibly awful made-for-television version many years later.  Kubrick goes for the paranoia and isolation of the piece, doing a better job with the setting that the actors, in my opinion.  But what a setting.

Key Elements:  Scatman Crothers to the rescue; what has Jack been writing all this time?; Lloyd; the hedge maze;

Alternate Choice: Dark Water (2005).  While Jennifer Connelly’s character isn’t exactly trapped in the mountains, she is overwhelmed by an ugly divorce, custody battle, migranes, memories of a horrible childhood and having to move into a dilapidated apartment on an island in the center of NYC because it’s all she can afford.  So when her daughter’s bedroom starts getting nasty water stains on the ceiling and her imaginary friend may by a little more than imaginary… it’s trouble she doesn’t need.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Another paranoid classic.  Roman Polanski plays things from the central character’s perspective and somehow manages to make us both identify with her terror and yet mistrust its validity.  Is Mia Farrow the target for a plot by a modern coven?  Watch and see.

Key Elements:  Again a nice slow, slow, slow build up to a weird climax; Ruth Gordon as the nosy neighbour; Mia Farrow as the ingénue trying to make everyone happy and not rock the boat.

Alternate Choice:  Flipping genders you could watch Polanksi himself as the possible target for his fellow apartment dwellers’ wrath in The Tenant (1976).  As a nebbish in Paris, Polanksi moves into the apartment of a woman recently hospitalized after a botched suicide attempt.  His life and that of the previous tenant start taking on some uncomfortable similarities.

The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter again.  Here we have the isolation of The Shining (Antarctic science ourpost), the paranoia (who is really human, who isn’t) and it’s an honest to goodness monster movie to boot.  It looks as good today as it did nearly 30 years ago.

Key Elements:  All male cast, no time is wasted on sexual tension or unnecessary backstory complications; Wilford Brimley as the crusty old dude that would normally save the day, but doesn’t; the dog that Norwegians love to hate.

Alternate Choice:  The Last Winter (2006) is another Arctic adventure with Ron Perlman as the oil company roughneck trying to build an ice road into a recently re-zoned drill site and James LeGros as the environmentalist that… well you can guess.  One of the expedition crew starts acting a little wiggy and wanders off… the temperature won’t cooperate… something seems to be stalking the outskirts of the camp site….

Five more classic recommendations and their alternates:

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

or Calvaire (2004)

Alien (1979)

or Session 9 (2001)

Psycho (1960)

or The Vanishing (1988)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

or  They Came Back (2004)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

or The Invasion (2007)