With the release of the director's cut of "Alien" and the stylish remake of Tobe Hooper's classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," fans of frightful cinema should feel right in their element. But many don't.
Part of this group only see the lack of originality and overall blandness that has taken over the genre. Today's horror lacks the social commentary available in films like "Dawn of the Dead," which is, incidentally, also being remade. Horror lacks the rich performances and lush sets of the British studio Hammer Films of the 1950s. It lacks the black humor and psychological suspense that has spiced up such recent pictures as "From Dusk Till Dawn" and "An American Werewolf in London."
Horror films have changed. Many do not even want to be suspenseful. We have witnessed horror films that want to mimic action movies, teen comedies and video games. Hollywood, in short, wants horror to be safe and less cerebral so it can be marketed more effectively.
Occasionally, a picture like "Session 9," "The Blair Witch Project" or "The Ring" is produced, where the directors understand that the buildup and the pay-off make a movie truly terrifying. In many ways, society is lucky to still have Halloween. It gives people a chance to be scared in a fun, good-natured way again. Even if their peace of mind is shaken briefly, they emerge from the experience having appreciated the exhilaration of the ride.
When talking about a scene that truly got inside his head, freshman Mark Stern mentioned David Lynch's suspenseful thriller "Lost Highway."
"When a character in the film received a videotape of someone looking through their belongings while they are not in the house, it unnerved me and tapped into my fear of invasion of privacy," Stern said.
Embarking on a late-night frightfest during Halloween can be exhilarating beyond measure if the right films are chosen. Don't let the Hollywood machine determine what is scary. Listen to history and even other classmates on campus who love to be scared and challenged every time they rent a DVD or go out to see a movie. Here are films a few such fright fanatics might suggest:
"Nosferatu" (1922): Director F.W. Murneau's silent masterpiece, loosely based on the Bram Stoker novel "Dracula," features the most inhuman vampire ever captured on film in the form of Max Schreck's fearsome Count Orlock.
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978): Probably one of the best remakes ever made. A paranoid movie in every sense. Director Philip Kaufman inserts sly social commentary while trying to drive the viewer mad at the same time.
"The Evil Dead" (1981): While its sequels remain horror and black comedy classics, the original "Evil Dead" is intensely gory beyond almost all comparison. Shot on a shoestring budget, and guaranteed to make viewers avoid all cabins in the woods.
"Night of the Living Dead" (1968): This is the movie that brought the term "realism" into the lexicon of horror. It is an intense tale of a few humans trying to stave off the flesh-eating masses, which blends allegory of '60s turmoil with unbearable suspense.
"Revenge of Frankenstein" (1958): No one knew horror in the 1950s like the British studio Hammer Films. This is among the best of its series of remakes of classic Universal Studios monster movies. The legendary Peter Cushing plays a scorned Dr. Frankenstein living in seclusion while continuing his experiments.
"The Raven" (1963): A fun, goofy supernatural tale that can ease the tension after a long night of blood and guts. The highlight of the film comes in the form of a sorcerer's duel between cinema icons Boris Karloff and Vincent Price.
"Freaks" (1933): Todd Browning, director of the original "Dracula," was blacklisted from Hollywood for making this bizarre tale of love and murder within a circus' sideshow act. This film has been deemed disturbing by many critics in the 1930s and today for using actual sideshow people and exploiting their bizarre appearances for
cinematic purposes. While not politically correct by any means, it certainly offers something new.
Also worth the couple bucks for an adrenaline rush: "The Thing From Another World" "The Bride of Frankenstein" "Suspiria" "The Wicker Man" "The Exorcis"
