Spooky binges: Six films to keep you up at night
With Halloween just around the corner, it is the perfect time to turn out the lights, curl up with a blanket and watch a good scary movie. Here are six of my favorite classic horror movies filled with psychopaths, spirits and satanists to binge-watch this Hallow’s Eve.
Psycho (1960): They say that some things — including scary things — are best experienced in black in white. With Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror film Psycho, it’s true. The story begins with young secretary Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh), who is on the run from the law and stops at the Bates Motel for the night. But her trip is cut short when she meets the motel’s owner, Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins), and discovers that his mother might be or not be a psychopath. While it may seem extremely outdated, the classic black-andwhite theme serves as a fun backdrop for the creepy mystery. And with all of the horrors surrounding the Bates Motel, the constant plot twists will keep you on your toes … and hiding under the covers.
The Haunting (1963): Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson), an anthropologist studying psychic phenomena, takes an interest in an old — and supposedly haunted — manor. He invites three assistants to help him investigate — Theodora (Claire Bloom), a woman with ESP; Eleanor (Julie Harris), a woman with a supernatural past; and the mansion’s cynical heir, Luke (Russ Tamblyn). But Hill House’s twisted past begins to catch up with them, as they become surrounded by strange events and unexplained noises. And
Eleanor thinks that the house is speaking to her.
The Haunting — based on Shirley Jackson’s equally eerie novel — is an often-tense and fun-to-watch black-and-white horror film that follows the psychological aspects of fear, as the character’s minds play more tricks on them than the house itself.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968): In Rosemary’s Baby, less is more when it comes to horror, because while it may not have on-screen murders or monsters, the games it plays on your psyche will chill you. Rosemary’s Baby is the story of a young couple who move into an old apartment, where they want to raise a family. But when Rosemary Woodhouse (played by Mia Farrow) becomes pregnant, she starts to discover what her neighbors are up to and who her husband really is. Rosemary’s Baby unearths the dark secrets of satanic worship, and Rosemary’s slow realization of the events transpiring in her building makes for a well-thought-out — and freaky — storyline.
The Exorcist (1973): When her daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), begins acting strangely, a successful young actress (Ellen Burstyn) turns to doctors and psychologists for help. But when no one can figure out the problem, she discovers that her last hope may be convincing two priests — an authoritative expert and a man of wavering faith — to perform an exorcism on her daughter, who she fears is possessed by the devil. The Exorcist is director William Friedkin’s award-winning thriller that analyzes the consequences of belief and presents an insight into the fears that people associate with religion.
The Shining (1980): Have you ever been alone
and started to become slightly paranoid? Struggling writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) can relate. When he gets a job as the caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, he moves his wife (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son (Danny Lloyd) to the Colorado mountain site for the winter. But with all of the visitors gone for the season, the silence — and the spirits haunting the hotel — start to drive him insane. Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Shining takes “creepy” to a new level. And while I watched it in the dark, seeing Torrance slowly go insane and turn on his family may just make you want to keep the lights on.
Silence of the Lambs (1991): People are far scarier than ghosts or monsters, and in Silence of
the Lambs, this reality is presented in a way that is simultaneously disgusting and disturbing. Jodie Foster plays a young FBI cadet who is sent to get information from Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant and renowned psychiatrist serving a life sentence in prison for acts of murder and cannibalism. Can Starling get him to give her enough information before a senator’s innocent daughter becomes the victim of a similar human monster? Silence of the Lambs’ intense, award-winning plot shows the psychological aspects of committing a gruesome murder, as it follows two violent serial-killers and a young FBI agent’s attempts at catching one, and controlling the other.