A while ago, my good friend and fellow blogger Kelly had the idea that we (the collective we of her, me and Jen — as well as anyone else that would like to join in) should do a scary-movie marathon in October, heretofore known as “A Nightmare On Kel’s Street”, or ANOKS. One scary movie-a-day, culminating naturally (or perhaps supernaturally) on Halloween.
That led to a perhaps obvious problem — how do you choose just 31 scary movies? There were way too many good choices. Therefore, we’re going to start thinking and watching scary films a good six weeks in front of Halloween (and even a few weeks after, I mean, because really, you can’t have too many scary movies, can you?) – which I still say is way better than those damned “pre-Christmas” promos that I’ve begun to see in stores.
You can see the sub-genres chosen and the final movie schedule here.
This is going to require some major Netflix contortions – especially when living in a home where love of scary movies is, let’s just say, not completely universal.
First up: The Strangers
Synopsis: A couple (Liv Tyler and some other guy) go to an out of the way getaway house after going to a friend’s wedding. They begin to get harassed by three people in masks, who continually up the intensity of their presence, ultimately perpetrating Very Bad Things to the nice, good-looking couple.
The Strangers
There’s not much new here from a storytelling perspective – isolated locale, plenty of dead phones, for example – but the sparse less-is-more filming (not many effects, gratuitous gore or escalating body count) keep this movie pretty taut and claustrophobic. And if you don’t like being the only one in an empty house, this movie will probably push some buttons. The couple didn’t do anything to deserve or invoke the attention of these psychos, which I suppose is the point – that random evil can happen to you and really ruin your day. As such, that lack-of-plot is where “The Strangers” falls short for me. So, while it’s creepy and atmospheric, it left me wanting a little more.
6 out of 10.
I hope that many of you will join in for ANOKS when you can and offer up your own thoughts on horror-movies!
Stevil 
I am totally OK not participating in this little challenge. I’m going to stick to my RomComs and reruns of Arrested Development. ;) But I will enjoy all your posts!
Hah! What about scary books? :)
No No NO to scary movie marathon or accompanying books. I have a feeling Penny is going to be hiding under the piano while I’m back east….
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I totally admire your 6/10 because I think it’s the scariest movie of the bunch. (Also scary for me: Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.) I’m very interested in seeing what you find scary. :)
I should say the “6” is for the overall movie — not just its scare-factor. It was actually very creepy.
No scary movies for me. I’ll just read about them here instead.
Hmm, I’m quite sure I couldn’t hack (hah – hack! get it? As in axe murderer? Never mind….)
Anyway, I don’t think I could do one movie per day. Although, maybe I could do a few off that list. I have seen very few horror movies so the pickin’s are wide open for me.
I don’t really have a chance in watching them all, either — but it’s fun to compile the list and see how many you can get. Maybe pick a few favorites — either ones you’ve seen or ones you want to see — and give it a shot! :)
Oh, come on! not one Vincent Price movie on the list? How can you leave out classics such as The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Phibes Rises Again, not to mention Madhouse (his parody of the Phibes movies), Witchfinder General, or House of Usher ? And of course, there is always Killer Clowns From Outer Space – not a Vincent Price movie, but an homage/parody of darn near every other Halloween film ever made.
Sounds like you need to start your own list for October!!
Uh… I barely do movies, let alone scary movies. So this actually sounds a bit like torture to me. I hope you enjoy it, though!
Apparently, from your time-tracker, you should be reading more anyway… :)
Been there. Done that. Want a t-shirt
I watched half of Final Destination and didn’t sleep for days after that.
I’ll pass the offer (as if I could take it up across continents anyway !). Enjoy yourself with all the adrenalin rush.
I liked Final Destination a lot — even though some of the rube-goldbergian ways people bit it were pretty contrived.
Dang, I am super jealous of this event!! Thanks for the movie review, and I assume these are movies none of you have already seen? Cujo, Blair Witch, Grudge, Ring and the Amityville remake are all scary, if not a bit cheesy. I won’t even mention the Tom Six movie since I assume there must be some element of fun in each movie…..I liked Saw, and The Cell was good (Vincent D’Onofrio is a scary bastard, funny too). I must have a more clever list somewhere….I’ll get back to you. ;)
Emmi — definitely chime in and do your own (especially as October looms!) — there are some that I’ve seen and some that I haven’t. I’m going to try and do as many as I can.
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