Midnight Movies

This is a great article by Racer Django of Examiner.com 

You don’t have to be a horror fan to know what the classics are of the genre - it’s a part of pop culture. Unless you unknowingly vacationed somewhere inside the Bermuda Triangle and got transported to Dimension X, you must know that Psycho, The Exorcist and Jaws are three of the most celebrated horror films of all time. But if you aren’t a devotee to this sometimes sanguinary genre, then you might not have heard of films like Suspiria, Eyes Without a Face or I Spit On Your Grave. To the people within it, however, will be able to tell you who the star was, who directed the film, offer you recommendations to similar movies, and bestow insight on who died the best death. There is third category of films, to which I have yet to come with a name for (perhaps “Hidden Treasures” best suits the list), that never, ever get discussed in forums, magazines, on television or pop up in everyday conversation. And I haven’t quite figured out why.

Every year, around Halloween, the media will always summon up lists of the “10 Greatest Horror Movies of All Time” or the “20 Scariest Movies Ever”, and the same stuff always pops up. Night of the Living Dead. Halloween. The Omen. And rightly so. However, as much as I may agree with them that these movies are some of the greatest, I feel as though there are others that have been left out, and, on some occasions, may even take the place of some choice picks (*cough* Nightmare on Elm Street *cough*). Bravo even did a special on the “100 Scariest Movie Moments” and, much to my dismay, not one of these films appeared on that list

This is when I decided to make my own list of horror movies that A) people don’t know about, B) should be talked about more often, C) are as good as the known classics, and D) need to be seen, for Heaven’s sake!

So without further adieu, I present to you, “The Top Ten Greatest Horror Movies You Don’t Know About, But Should”

10. And Soon the Darkness… (1970)

Two twenty-something British girls go on a biking escapade in the flat wide open of France until one of them turns up missing. What makes this movie so scary is the fact that no one speaks their language, and there’s hardly anyone available to ask for help in this lonely, rural town. The only locals who appear to the girl looking for her friend are a man who sits behind sunglasses, a grimy farmer who never speaks and a husband and wife who argue in French. As the movie progresses further, we begin to realize the girl cannot trust anyone, and looking for her friend becomes futile as saving her own life becomes the priority.

9. The Exorcist III (1990)

Sure, you’ve probably seen The Exorcist, but you probably never bothered to see the sequels (this franchise spawned four of them). Sequels are generally made because a particular movie did well at the box office and studios want to cash-in on the name, hopefully harnessing the same success as its predecessor. However, this third installment was actually the real sequel to The Exorcist, not The Heretic. William Peter Blatty, who wrote the original Exorcist novel, directed this film, which was based on his written sequel to the first book, Legion. The pacing is very slow, allowing scenes to soak into the viewer and give them reason to be on edge. Two of the best things about the film are Brad Dourif’s harrowing performance as a psychiatric ward inmate, and an unforgettable scene that will hit you like a brick.

8. Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)

I may be stretching this one a bit since Bunny Lake isn’t really a horror movie, but the reason I put it on here is due to its ability to gather everything you thought you believed and trusted in, and kick it out the door, leaving you severely unnerved. In the story, a woman’s daughter ends up missing, yet there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed. The nightmarish setting is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland where no one seems to believe you, even though you know everyone else are the crazy ones.

7. Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Ingmar Bergman made a horror movie?? Yes, that is exactly what I shouted when I found out one faithful day that one of cinema’s greatest auteurs actually delved into the genre. In typical Bergman fashion, we get a film that is surreal and engaging. Atypically, it scares the pants off you. Max von Syndow plays a man who is haunted by demons during the “hour of the wolf” (the time between night and dawn where man is most apt to die). Unfortunately, he is not able discern between the real world and the one his insanity may be creating. As we watch him struggle, we struggle, too. And that’s what a good horror movie does: it makes us claw to get out.

6. Long Weekend (1978)

In this Australian flick, two lovers go on vacation to fix their brittle relationship, but while concentrating on themselves, they become careless to the world around them. Nature seeks revenge on them by using trees, bugs and weather conditions as its minions. Verging more on art than exploitation and the fact that it hails all the way from the Outback, Long Weekend’s hermitic manner becomes understandable, but not tolerable. It has phenomenal cinematography and great character development, making it a movie that needs to be sought out to appreciated.

5. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

It comes as a major surprise to me that this film isn’t talked about more. Both Martin Sheen and a pubescent Jodie Foster star in this Hitchockian thriller about a girl who seems to have more secrets than she can hold. Sheen plays one of the greatest villains (and slimy, too) I have ever seen, creating a tension between he and Foster unbridled.

4. Who Can Kill A Child? (1976)

There are no boundaries in this Spanish flick. No one is safe, not even the viewer. A young couple find themselves on a small island while vacationing. At first glance, the island seems to be deserted. Upon further inspection, the couple notices several children unattended and parentless. They realize these children have an animosity towards older figures, and enact displays of violence on them. The couple has to take it upon themselves to stop the madness by reciprocating the brutality.

3. Just Before Dawn (1981)

Taking the torch from the raw grittiness of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jeff Lieberman’s Just Before Dawn creates an astoundingly eerie atmosphere by shooting in the woods of Sublimity, Oregon. While being marketed as a slasher film, it differs from others of its time, like Friday the 13th and My Bloody Valentine, by being the only one to be sincerely terrifying. Almost thirty years later, and it still holds up today. Even through two slasher booms we’ve had since the eighties, Just Before Dawn still remains unheard of, and untouched by studios looking for films to be remade. Let us pray it stays that way.

2. Magic (1978)

Before Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins played another maniac named Corky Withers. Corky is a ventriloquist who suffers from a multiple personality disorder. He becomes infatuated with an old high school crush, played by Anne-Margret, whom he stumbles upon at a club where he was performing. The two eventually engage in a heat of passion, which triggers Corky’s dummy, Fats, to start talking to him. Fats becomes jealous of Corky’s sudden happiness, and suggests he start killing the people that do wrong to him. Hopkins’ performance is beyond perfection, and dare I say it’s better than that cannibal from Silence of the Lambs?

1. The Innocents (1961)

Let me first start off by saying this is probably the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. Hands down. It has all the great elements of a classic horror film, on par with Psycho and the original The Haunting. Yet, for some odd reason, people neglect to acknowledge this movie when talking about horror movies. To me, this emits the very definition of one. Based on the novella, The Turn on the Screw, this film has everything from psychological terrors to macabre children to inner dementia to stirring ghosts. I think about this movie during the day, in public, around lots of people, and it still gives me shivers down my spine.

Source -  http://www.examiner.com

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