Open Thread Update: A Senior Planet Spooky Film Festival

Last time we asked for your biggest cinema scarefests, and the results are a Senior Planet-curated watchlist for Halloween.

The winner and still champion is….The Exorcist, picked by Denise (who had to leave the theater!), Deb, Cleta and others, followed by Play Misty for Me.

Reader Karen brought up another chill fest, albeit on the small screen….The Twilight Zone. (I only watched “It’s a Good Life” once. I can’t see it again, and even the story it’s based on gives me the creeps.) Here’s her take:

Well, the Twilight Zone episode with the toy doll that came to life and did evil things…but the movie that I still think about today, and I still get goosebumps, was watching the original The Thing from my childhood. My bedroom was next to our back porch and I had a hard time sleeping with the thought that ‘the Thing’ would come through my bedroom door! Also from the 50s was the TV series called Inner Sanctum–lots of scary episodes with that one!

Dr. Zan Clare adds one I’ve never heard of but will check out.

But my all time favorites are ghost stories with 1944’s “The Uninvited” with Ray Milland, Donald Crisp and Ruth Hussey at NUMBER ONE. Not all blood and gore, which isn’t really my thing, but suspenseful and interesting. Actual plots. 

When I was six years old (1951), I begged my older brother to take me to see “The Thing From Another World.” No sooner than the movie started, I screamed “take me home!” I was horrified, scared out of my wits. I cried so much we had to leave the theater. It was simply the acting and the unknown that was so frightening. I was probably 13 years old when I felt brave enough to watch the movie on TV and hid behind a living room chair just to be safe!

Another unusual pick comes from Reader Leigh.

I love scary movies that are too bad to be true like aliens, ghosts, haunted houses,
Frankenstein, etc. However, I watched “Thirteen Ghosts” once and I’d say that is the scariest movie I have ever seen because it was like you were trapped in a glass house with a maze and all these ghosts were trying to get you. Very good scary story if you like horror!!

About The Exorcist, Reader Virginia begs to disagree…

I was weaned on scary movies and TV shows. My family sat around on Saturday nights to watch Chiller. I thought The Exorcist was silly. For that reason I never watched it again. I would say Jaws was more scary for me because it was more feasible than zombies or devil possession. I don’t know if this is more about Jaws or the fact that I never learned to swim; but I can’t look down into deep water (not even computer generated water) without feeling queasy.

OTHER HALLOWEEN FILM PICKS

Other readers mentioned IT (“Will never look at clowns the same way’ says Reader Loretta), Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, Psycho, Wait Until Dark, and Night of the Hunter (“Robert Mitchum will haunt your dreams for a long time” predicts Reader Ellen.) Reader and scary story writer Cleta offers Train to Busan, which I saw on her recommendation and which absolutely rocks.

I’m surprised no one mentioned Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it’s an individual thing. My late husband’s best friend saw it on his recommendation and when it was over, stopped by…and his face was white. OTOH, my brother walked out humming the theme music….but almost fainted when he watched his wife give birth to their daughter, because “that was real!”

Keep ’em coming, and Happy Halloween!

ORIGINAL POST

Halloween, as an adult, is my least favorite time of year for cinema. Studios save their scariest, most graphic gorefests for October…

…and I can’t stand any of them. As I get older I’ve come to respect the real estate in my brain (and peace of mind) and I now curate what I see and hear more carefully…so I’ve had to write off almost an entire genre.

Years ago, a scary movie could raise goosebumps with suspense and the suggestion of violence.  Think I’m wrong? The Exorcist (1974) regularly tops the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) list of scary movies and there isn’t an arterial spray to be seen. Sadly, many modern scary movies don’t take that to heart – unless some zombie is pulling it out of some hapless victim.

The scariest movies I’ve ever seen don’t have a lot of gore, but they still manage to keep me awake at night. The Exorcist is still top of the list but at least I’m able to see it more than once – ditto The Thing, and the Alien movies and Event Horizon…and I”ll watch Cabin in the Woods again, despite the gore, for its sheer cleverness and originality.

Once is Enough

The others on my hit parade were so disturbing that once was enough: The Blair Witch Project.  Hereditary. The number one pick: The Ring. It was so scary I slept in another room for weeks because my bedroom had a TV in it.

Now that’s scary.

YOUR TURN

But that’s me – what movies were so scary that once was enough for you?  Or so scary you didn’t bother to watch it at all? (I’ll never watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre). Share your raves and rants in the comments!

Virge Randall is Senior Planet’s Managing Editor. She is also a freelance culture reporter who seeks out hidden gems and unsung (or undersung) treasures for Straus Newspapers; she writes frequently on Old School New York City and performs at open mic readings throughout New York City.  Send  Open Thread suggestions to editor@seniorplanet.org.