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THE
TOP 5
PROJECT

WEEK NO. 24
Main Page (including links to all past Top 5 weeks)

THE TOP 5 HORROR FILMS:

view full results       see how points are awarded
Rank Film Points L #1
#1 The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) 43 13 2
#2 Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) 39 10 6
#3 Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors (F.W. Murnau, 1922) 35 8 6
#4 Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) 25 9 -
#5 The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) 20 7 2
L=How many lists each film appears on             #1=How many number one votes each film recieves

The results of this week's Top 5 actually surprised me a bit. I expected Nosferatu or The Exorcist to take the top spot, but instead it went to Stanley Kubrick's stylish danse macabre, The Shining. Not that this is an unwelcomed surprise considering I placed it on my list as well. In a real battle for the number two spot, Psycho took it by four points over Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors. In another battle for the other two spots, Night of the Living Dead beat out The Exorcist by just five points.

Other votes went to Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, Rosemary's Baby, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria, Eyes Without a Face, The Thing, Cat People and Dracula.

There were some surprising votes as well (at least I thought so). Contributors voted for films such as Funny Games, Jaws, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and The Terminator. I suppose several of these are rather terrifying (in different ways). My personal favourite was the single vote for Young Frankenstein - I love that movie.

There are also several films for which I have never had the pleasure to have seen, such as I Walked With a Zombie, Black Sunday and Don't Look Now - all of which I have added to my Netflix and/or Green Cine queues.

Individual lists:

Michael Wilmington
Film Critic, Chicago Tribune
Professor & Film Scholar, University of Chicago

  1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) - The quintessence of shock from the Master of Suspense.

  2. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) - What do you mean, it’s not a horror movie?

  3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Peter Jackson, 2001-2002-2003) - The ultimate Tolkien fantasy adventure, steeped in terror.

  4. M (Fritz Lang, 1931) - Psycho’s German grandfather

  5. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) - This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a chirp.



Kent Jones
Editor-at-Large, Film Comment

  1. Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

  2. The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

  3. Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)

  4. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1982)

  5. The Thing (John Carpenter, 1984)

My criteria are movies that scare the shit out of me, and that burrow deeper and deeper under my skin as they go. THE LEOPARD MAN may not be the greatest of the Lewtons, but it is the most terrifying. It's been a while since I looked at the Bavas and KILL BABY KILL might be the better movie, but BLACK SUNDAY's scarier, I think. I could have picked many other Carpenter films - HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS - but THE THING is the most unnerving.

The first two DEAD movies and MARTIN by Romero are very good, and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is quite an experience (the first movie I saw in film school, in Noel Carroll's class).

I like KWAIDAN very much, although the degree to which it's horror is debatable. If I could put one more movie on the list, it would be PULSE by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.


David Sterritt
Chairman, National Society of Film Critics

  1. Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

  2. The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934)

  3. I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

  4. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

  5. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)



David Ehrenstein
Film Critic & Entertainment Writer
Author, Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998

  1. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)

  2. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

  3. Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)

  4. Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1933)

  5. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)



Jeffrey M. Anderson
Film Critic & Freelance Entertainment Writer
Las Vegas Weekly, Oakland Tribune

  1. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

  2. Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932)

  3. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

  4. The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932)

  5. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

Runners Up:
The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927), The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934), Dead of Night (Cavalcanti/Crichton/Dearden/Hamer, 1945), Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962), The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963), Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1963), The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973), The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973), Black Christmas (Bob Clark1974), Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980), The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986), Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987), Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1987), Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) and Uzumaki (Higichinsky, 2000)
... and that's limited to one film per director.


Christopher Null
Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Filmcritic.com

  1. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

  2. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

  3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  4. Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)

  5. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)



Rick Curnutte
Film Critic & Editor, The Film Journal

  1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, 1979)

  4. I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

  5. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)



Dennis Schwartz
Film Critic Ozu's World Movie Reviews

  1. Eyes Without A Face (Georges Franju, 1960)

  2. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)

  3. The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934)

  4. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

  5. I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)



J.E. Snavely
Home Theatre Cinephile

I'm not sure how to define the horror genre so this list is difficult. Does horror involve a supernatural element or the shock of blood & gore? Or is it defined by spine tingling tension as we creep slowly towards certain doom? If Psycho is a horror film, why not the myriad other thrillers with highwire tension such as The Manchurian Candidate and Deliverance? Is Saving Private Ryan a horror film because of the shock and gore? I don't know but I'm going to limit my definition of horror to include a supernatural component to the story.

  1. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  2. The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)

  3. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) and The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)

  4. Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998)

  5. The Legend Of Hell House (John Hough, 1973)



Peter Sobczynski
Film Critic, eFilmCritic.com

  1. Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

  4. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

  5. The Tragedy of Macbeth (Roman Polanski, 1971)



Film Prophet
Film Critic, FilmProphet.com

  1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

  4. The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)

  5. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

Favorite Halloween Treats: The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933), Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994), The Monster Squad (Fred Dekker, 1987), The Lost Boys (Joel Schumacher, 1987)


Michael Parent
Film Student

  1. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

  4. Night Of The Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

  5. Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton, 1999)

Runners up: Dr. Caligari (R. Wiene), Suspiria (D. Argento), Inferno (D. Argento), Deep Red (D. Argento), Horror Of Dracula (T. Fisher), Dracula (F.F. Coppola), Kwaidan (M. Kobayashi), Shaun Of The Dead (E. Wright), Repulsion (R. Polanski), Rosemary's Baby (R. Polanski), Possession (A. ), Evil Dead II (S. Raimi), The Haunting (R. Wise), Jaws (S. Spielberg), Angel Heart (A. Parker), From Dusk Til Dawn (R. Rodriguez), Carrie (B. DePalma), Fall Of The House Of Usher (R. Corman), La Belle et La Bete (J. Cocteau), Black Sabbath (M. Bava), Eraserhead (D. Lynch), Young Frankenstein (M. Brooks), Nosferatu (W. Herzog), Psycho (A. Hitchcock).


Adam Trovillion
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  2. Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932)

  3. Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

  4. I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)

  5. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)



Jeff Cardarelli
Film Enthusiast

  1. Don't Look Now (Nicholas Roeg, 1973)

  2. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)

  3. The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

  4. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

  5. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)



Matt Severson
Film Enthusiast

  1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

  2. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

  3. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

  4. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

  5. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)

    and, as a necessary cheat:

  6. The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)

  7. The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)

  8. Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)

  9. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)

  10. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)



Andrew Horbal
Film Enthusiast

  1. Bloodlust (Thorsten Fleisch, 1999) - All horror films try to scare us, but the best horror films explore our fear. I'm a partisan of gore in the horror genre because we live in a time where the ultimate unknown, the ultimate horror lies within us: AIDs, anthrax, and cancer have made us afraid of our own bodies. A good Gore film is engaged in taking the human body apart to see how it works. Bloodlust, an experimental short, is the pure version of this: it consists of blood applied to a film strip and run through a projector. It's beauty lies in its simplicity.

  2. Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932) - Many good horror films explore the humanity of the monster, but only in Freaks are the monsters actually people. Browning's good, hard look at revulsion is more difficult and more brilliant than ever in this PC age because we might find that the real monster is the part of us that wants to look away...

  3. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) - One of the great Indie films of all time and a very close approximation of my own personal vision of hell. This isn't helped by the fact that I live in Pittsburgh: every rainy night when I hear something outside the window I wonder if that terrible day has finally come...

  4. Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962) - I don't know if Harvey quite achieves his goal of combing the "look of a Bergman" with "feel of a Cocteau," but he has constructed a haunting film--Carnival of Souls has been floating about in my subconcious since I saw it. It gets bonus points for inspiring my number three choice.

  5. The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973) - So who is the monster in The Wicker Man? This horror film, more than most others I know, really blurs the line between hero and villain and deconstructs our old ideas of Good and Evil.

Honorable mention: Carrie (1976, Brian De Palma)

Kevin Cassidy
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Kingdom (Lars von Trier, 1994)

  2. The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)

  3. I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneaur, 1943)

  4. Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)

  5. Kwaidan (Masaki Kobyashi, 1964)



Billy Wilson
Film Enthusiast

  1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

  2. Saw II (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005)

  3. Saw (James Wan, 2004)

  4. Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980)

  5. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)



Mathew Viola
Film Fanatic

  1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) - While discussing Psycho with Truffaut, Hitchcock famously commented how he was playing the audience like an organ. The comment is entirely justified, as the whole plot leading up to Marion Crane’s arrival at the Bates motel is just one long red herring, which keeps us distracted in order to make the brutality of the impending shower scene, and of star Janet Leigh’s quick and early demise, all the more shocking. It worked like a charm and Hitchcock derived enormous pleasure from manipulating the audience so successfully. I can see him chuckling to himself thinking about all the people he had jumping out of their seats. But there’s something far more disturbing about the shower scene than its simple shock value. Marion Crane’s ultimate fate was dictated by sheer, random chance; it was, after all, by pure bad luck that she accidentally turned off the wrong road during that fateful blinding rainstorm and ended up at the Bates motel instead of at more hospitable lodgings. But in Hitchcock’s world, that’s life – and death. So, Marion, along with her little knot of worries and dreams, is snuffed out in an instant, cast into nothingness at the whim of a madman. And therein lies the deeper point: that our own lives are governed as much by chance as Marion’s, and that we too, along with our own little knot of worries and dreams, could be cast into nothingness at any moment. This is the shower scene’s disturbing subtext, which is sure to keep you shuddering long after the initial shock has worn away. While Psycho is primarily Hitchcock’s achievement, others make significant contributions, particularly Bernard Hermann and Anthony Perkins. Hermann’s ominous score is the first thing we hear and it sets the dark mood. As Miss Crane drives toward her doom, the thrusting, staccato intensity of the stark, strings-only score strikes a menacing mood of foreboding that almost anticipates her otherwise unexpected demise. Wasn’t Hermann’s score preparing us for the shower scene all along? Aren’t those shrieking violins, which pierce our brains just as Norman’s knife pierces Marion’s supple flesh, really the score’s coup de grace? In any case, Psycho would be far less effective without Hermann’s classic score. Finally, there’s Anthony Perkins in the role of Norman Bates, stuttering and stabbing his way to a legendary performance.

  2. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) - One of the remarkable things about Bride of Frankenstein is how it manages to be both comic and tragic at the same time. Think of the Monster finding refuge at the blind hermit’s abode, where he drinks wine, smokes a cigar, and sheds a tear with his only friend. Or when the Bride, that funky corpse with the lightning-streaked hair, breaks the Monster’s decomposed heart with her repulsed “Eeeek!” The effect is, at once, terribly funny and deeply moving. Achieving this kind of delicate balancing act isn’t easy, yet Whale pulls it off effortlessly. Even more remarkable is how many memorable characters and unforgettable scenes are packed into its short 75-minute running time! Virtually every character, from Thesiger’s sinister Dr. Pretorius to Lanchester’s outrageous Bride, is a remarkably vivid creation; and virtually every scene, from the clever prologue with Mary Shelley to the deliriously Grand Guignol climax, is a highly inventive gem. Add the gothic sets, expressionistic lighting, stylish direction, and Franz Waxman’s glorious score into the mix, and you have one of the all-time great entertainments.

  3. Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968) - The impression one gets from watching Night of the Living Dead is of the world ripping itself to pieces and consuming itself. In this world, there is no safe place to run or hide. Nor is there any safety to be found with family. Quite the opposite actually. Forget mere Darwinian dog-eat-dog, Romero’s world is one of brother-eat-sister, daughter-eat-mommy-and-daddy. And there’s no hope for the future, let alone a happy ending - not even for our “hero.” Simply put, it’s an apocalyptic vision of uncompromising bleakness.

  4. The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945) - Of all the wonderful horror films Val Lewton produced, this one is my favorite. Not only do the foggy nights of old cobbled Edinburgh provide wonderful atmosphere for this macabre tale, but Lewton’s literate script features fascinating interplay between Daniell’s Dr. MacFarlane, the outwardly respectable physician with a shady past, and Karloff ‘s Mr. Gray, the creepy “body snatcher” who won’t let Daniell forget that past. Though seemingly opposites, they are in fact “of the same skin,” and as the story plays out, their antagonistic, yet oddly symbiotic relationship develops into one of the most psychologically compelling in cinema.

  5. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1921) - Though creaky in parts, this seminal horror film remains visually impressive. I particularly like how the vampire is shot from extreme low angles to emphasize his supernatural power, and how his distorted shadow, the distillation of pure evil, is menacingly cast on walls. Plus, Max Schreck’s verminous Count Orlok remains, some eight decades later, the creepiest vampire incarnation ever.

Honorable mentions: Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931), Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932), White Zombie (Victor Halperin, 1932), Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1933), The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934), I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943), The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson, 1943), Curse of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1958), Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1959), Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960), Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1961), The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961), The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963), Devil Doll (Lindsay Shonteff, 1964), Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964), Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965), Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968), Don’t Look Now (Nicholas Roeg, 1973), The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974), Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974), Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975), Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), Martin (George Romero, 1978), Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1987).


Doug Pratt
DVD Critic, DVDLaser.com

  1. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992)

  2. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)

  3. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

  4. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  5. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)



Rod Armstrong
Film Critic, Reel.com

  1. Don’t Look Now (Nicholas Roeg, 1973)

  2. Phenomena (Dario Argento, 1985)

  3. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)

  4. Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)

  5. Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)



Jay Antani
Film Critic

  1. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922) - The blocky old-school staging and in-camera tricks combined with Max Schreck's fantastically creepy presence--not to mention his grotesque physique--all make Murnau's Nosferatu a nightmarish fever-dream bar none. Horror doesn't pounce at you, it lurks in the shadows of your consciousness. Murnau spins a slow-burn dread out of this vampire fable. I think the fact that Nosferatu's silent and has that grainy, gritty visual quality makes me feel like I'm watching a figment of my nightmares projected on the screen.

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) - Kubrick got maximum mileage from our collective dread-o-meter through every minute of this one. The gothic locale with its ominous bathroom and corridors, Nicholson's madman antics, and Kubrick's brilliant conjuring of a cold, unconsoling atmosphere--it all makes your skin crawl just thinking about it.

  3. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) - I glimpsed scenes of it when I was eleven and it played on HBO. The moment the little girl with the bloodied face and the nightmare-clown voice turned her head a 180 degrees and grinned demonically, I bolted out of the room. I've never been the same since. To reap prime horror wattage from his demon-possession tale, William Friedkin infuses it with an off-hand naturalism, from the unstylized performances to a visual look that seems lifted from a TV melodrama. So when things get truly bizarro, we get that much more caught off-guard and creeped out. Nice trick, Friedkin.

  4. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) - This one's so heavily analyzed and admired that there's nothing to say that dozens of books and articles haven't already. But, goddamn, every time Marion pulls off the highway towards the Bates Motel on that stormy night, I still want to reach in and turn her car around. As the movies' archetypal serial killer, Anthony Perkins' mesmerizing turn still rules the roost. Eat your heart out, Hannibal Lecter.

  5. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick/Eduardo Sanchez, 1999) - This so-called "Method Filmmaking" exercise almost falls apart because their trio of actors, limited by Myrick and Sanchez's barebones directing style, pound the same beat over and over again, i.e. shrill, discombobulated panic. Their fright grows tedious. Ours, though, is very genuine. What's unseen is scary, especially when it's a hoary witch with a knack for mind games. Moreover, the crudeness of the technique operates along the same lines as "Nosferatu," and gives the impression that "Blair's" witchey menace might encroach the protective but rickety barriers of the medium and make victims of us too. Quick! Hide!



Susan Norris
Film Buff

  1. Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)

  2. Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)

  3. Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)

  4. The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian, 1925)

  5. Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)



Ricardo Luis Alvarez
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980)

  4. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

  5. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)



Kevyn Knox
Film Critic, Essayist + Historian

So many contributors placed Psycho upon their lists this week and even though it is one of my all-time favourite films, I would place it in the category of thriller over horror - which is why it is not here on my list. What I was looking for were films that did what a horror film should do and that is scare the bejeezuz out of me, and that is exactly what the following films have done (and continue to do). With that said, here is my list:

  1. Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors (F.W. Murnau, 1922) - If memory serves, this was both the first silent film I had seen (with the exception of some Laurel & Hardy and early Our Gang shorts) and the first foreign film. I was probably twelve or so and I remember being scared witless by it. After seeing it as an adult, the scare factor may have gone down but my amazement factor went up - way up. Murnau, a poet on the screen (and that is a term I know gets tossed about willy-nilly, so I take care to really mean it before saying it), gives us a masterful expressionistic nightmare movie; and even scarier than that was Max Schreck as Count Orlof the vampire. This man was completely insane when Murnau cast him and may have very well thought he was an actual vampire - and who's to say he wasn't.

  2. Night of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead/Day of the Dead/Land of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1968/1979/1985/2005) - Zombies just scare the shit out of me. More than any other movie monster, the zombie is the one that keeps me awake at night - days, even weeks after seeing one of these films. I still do not like going into my basement to do laundry because it looks a lot like that damned basement from Night of the Living Dead. While we are at it, let's add the remakes of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead (and the upcoming Day of the Dead) as well as 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead (a funny look but still damn creepy at times).

  3. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) - By far the most stylized film on this list, Argento's super-savvy Suspiria is a head trip horror film full of the most gloriously schlocky blood-and-gore scenery. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test as horror/slasher/ghost movie.

  4. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) - Even now, at the tender age of 39, I cannot watch this film without being scared witless by every shadow that catches my eye throughout the darkened room I happen to be watching it in. Perhaps not a great film, but with the horror genre I suppose we expect schlock in a way, and it still manages to scare the Hell out of me.

  5. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) - With Kubrick's straight-forward shooting technique, we watch Jack go from mild-mannered novelist to stark-raving lunatic and we love every second of it. Nicholson (with the exception of a few films in the early seventies and a surprisingly nebbishy turn in About Schmidt) has always had quite the flair for "over-selling" his characters (or better yet, caricaturization) and a lot of times it ends up annoyingly so, but here Jack can let his freak flag fly and scare the shit out of anyone in the room.

Other horrors worth a look (even if some may be silly and trite):
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980), Alien and/or Aliens (Ridley Scott/James Cameron, 1979/86), Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931) and Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)

And I hate to say that I have never seen the following:
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968), The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) and Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)

*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created


The Next Topic is:
Name The Top 5 Films of the 21st Century

e-mail me at kevynknox@thecinematheque.com with your picks for week #25,
no later than 6pm on Sunday, Nov 5, 2006.

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