Camiele’s 100 Favorite Frightening Films of All Time: 20-6

10. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

And we bring it back to the film that got me started on this twisted journey in the first place. Yup, dear old Dad plopped me in front of our television, VHS in hand, and told me I needed to watch this to gear myself up for the scariest film of all time. So he began with this hyperviolent, ridiculously frightening look at a child rapist who then mutilates his victims in their dreams. So wholesome, my upbringing. Of course the gore was scary for someone who hadn’t really experienced much horror in her life. But what stuck with me, and still echoes in my dreams, is the twisted nursery rhyme the kids sing, the soft focus and bright lighting that went along with it. That nonsense has never left me, and every time I hear the piano bit that served as the background music for this film, I have to run from the room.

9. A Tale of Two Sisters (장화, 홍련)

And here we have more films that tend to pull more at the soul than you’d think. There was so much more here than a ghost story, so much more to connect to. Family is a hard and oftentimes fragile thing to navigate. The trauma of losing someone you’re not only close to, you’d give anything to protect only to realize accidents happen and sometimes you just can’t stop them from happening is a hard pill to swallow. Being an elder sibling myself, there isn’t a thing in the world I wouldn’t do for my younger half. The fact that I can’t stop the world from intervening is hard for me to reconcile with my overprotective instincts. I can’t (and don’t want to) imagine the pain that causes, the rage that induces. A Tale of Two Sisters actually touched me in such a way that I was kind of emotionally numb for a few hours after I watched it.

8. The Silence of the Lambs

One of the most legendary films with probably the most legendary villain of all time: Hannibal the Cannibal Lector. What’s even more twisted is he isn’t even the main bad guy here. He’s actually helping police catch the Ed Gein-esque murderer. And that may actually be more frightening: owing Hannibal Lector a favor. That being said, the film is sheer perfection. From the story to the execution, the acting, to the direction, this was pretty much a perfect suspense/horror. Though it didn’t quite affect me as the films that follow, it certainly did imprint on my memory as one of the more terrifying movie experiences I’ve ever had.

7. Se7en

Good God if this film wasn’t clever! Yeah, it was grisly, certainly disgusting in many parts, but following the trail of each case to the eventual conclusion left me stunned. And Kevin Spacey…! Can we just acknowledge his status as one of the most brilliant actors to ever do the damn thing? And he’s not even in half of the movie! He’s the classic “final boss,” the character that’s hardest to beat to the point where you have to make choices you may not think yourself capable of. But Se7en proves that if someone is pushed hard enough, they absolutely have the capacity to be the very thing they’re trying to defend the world from. There was a time when I actually watched this film almost every week. I was that in love with it. Not quite sure what that says about me, but there it is.

6. Carrie (1976)

Without question this is the best movie about puberty in existence. There are almost no words to explain how perfectly rendered this film was. An almost scene-by-scene adaptation of the original story by Stephen King, Carrie was as emotional as it was frightening, from having to deal with getting your period for the first time in front of all your peers (a group of the most terrible females I’ve ever seen on screen, most unrepentant and absolutely giddy in their wickedness) to having to suffer the outbursts of a zealot mother, who pushes you into a closet filled with graphic images depicting scenes from the Bible (including a wide-eyed figure of the skewered Saint Sebastian). This was a story exploring the rage and confusion of someone sheltered and abused. When that person finds power within themselves, the need for retribution is mighty, and when it comes it’s brutal. The iconic prom scene and the final jolt had me sleeping with the light on for a couple weeks after watching this.

Cy

As unexpected as my path was to loving all things weird, more unexpected is my ability to get attention for writing about the stuff.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.