Horror Movies to Watch, Part 1 of 4

Ladies and gentlemen, it is October, and that means that 1) Halloween is just around the corner, and 2) 'tis the season for some great horror movies. I must say that I have been a little out of touch with the horror genre as of late, as it largely has been a lot of slasher movies and gross-out movies, neither of which is exactly my cup of tea. There have been some highly-praised horror movies lately though, so who knows - maybe the genre is making a comeback and I should go to the theaters more!

Anyway, over the course of these next four posts, I'll be writing a little something about 20 of my favorite horror films - all of which I highly recommend you see. I would have loved to rank them, but it is already hard enough to rank all the movies I watch - and it's especially difficult with the horror genre, which is so diverse. So instead, I'll be splitting up these 20 movies into groups of five, which I have roughly classified into four categories: The Paranormal, The Chilling, The Psychological, and The Excessive. Let's get right down to business with...

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Horror Movies to Watch

Part I: The Paranormal

The horror genre was, of course, something that was around far before film was. With famous literary works like Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula, there was a large emphasis on the paranormal and the supernatural in defining the genre. It is no surprise, then, that many of the early horror films, such as Nosferatu, Frankenstein, Dracula, and Freaks placed this same emphasis on the paranormal, and so it seems like a good place to start for this movie list.

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Dir. Robert Wiene (1920)

Before the legendary horror movies of the 1930's (Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong), and even before movies had sound in them was Dr. Caligari. This work blends horror with German Expressionist elements (look at the set in the picture!) to create a fantastic movie about a sleepwalking killer. The film does indeed have a nightmarish, hallucinatory feel to it, which is greatly due to and enhanced by the unique sets and eerie pacing.

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The Phantom of the Opera

Dir. Rupert Julian (1925)

Far before Andrew Lloyd Weber was this silent masterpiece, which in turn was adapted from a novel by Gaston Leroux. Lon Chaney plays the Phantom, who is as expressive as a monster can be (though certainly he is a villain), and who is actually easier to sympathize with than his counterpart in the musical. While the songs in Weber's musical are quite good, talk about a complete bastardization of such a great movie...

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Rosemary's Baby

Dir. Roman Polanski (1968)

We now jump decades ahead to a seminal work by one of the strangest people to ever make truly great movies. This film, along with his earlier psychological thriller Repulsion, capture his emotion quite well. The premise is unique - a man lets the devil impregnate his wife in exchange for success in his career. Add several ladles of Polanski and you get this total mind trip into the realm of the demonic, paranormal, and plain crazy.

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Eraserhead

Dir. David Lynch (1977)

Oh, David Lynch, you are so great at making your movies so hard to even talk about. What even goes on in Eraserhead? Well the answer to that may not even be relevant, because this movie is just plain creepy, regardless. Whether it's the girl with puffy cheeks, the premature alien-like baby, the bleeding roasted chicken, or even just the way the characters pause for a few seconds in between their lines, the movie for the whole way through is outright weird and creepy.

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The Shining

Dir. Stanley Kubrick (1980)

It was tempting to classify this movie under next post's category, "The Chilling," because The Shining certainly is one of the most chilling movies out there. It also does have it's fair share of the paranormal, though, in its iconic, hallucinatory (or are they?) images. Kubrick is a master at manipulating us through horror. One of the scariest moments in the movie is a simple cut to a black screen. This movie gets better every time I re-watch it, and it is definitely one of the greatest movies - of any genre - ever made.

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Next edition, Part II: The Chilling