1. Night of the Demon (1957)
Objectivity is a tough thing. You naturally want to recommend Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolfman as essential halloween viewing. They are great films that have aged but are nevertheless milestones, without which the horror genre simply would not exist. The problem I find is that if you want to recommend a scary one, I tend not to go to these films. Don't get me wrong, there is no hate here or a desperate viewer trying to take the classics down a notch. The Universal Studios monster pictures are wonderful gothic works, but are rather of their time. The music gets a bit overwrought and declamatory, and supporting players tend to disappear in the face of the iconic central performances. Instead, if I want to point people toward a genuinely unnerving horror film from the era of black and white, I mention the 1950s effort 'Night of the Demon' from auteur filmmaker Jaques Tourneur. Tourneur was a master of using zero budgets to make successful horror pictures, as seen with his 1941 film 'Cat People', and he brought these sensibilities to this adaptation of short story 'The Casting of the Runes' by M.R James. The story is quite simple; a scientist from America, John Holden, has flown to London to debunk a cult led by one Dr. Karswell, and his stubborness to accept the possibility of supernatural activity of any kind gets him cursed by Karswell. In three days, the demon will come for him. His refusal to accept this and his coming to terms with being stuck in a noose that is gradually tightening around him provide a fantastically desperate atmosphere to the film. And yes, it is basically the same plot as Drag Me To Hell – but with fewer exploding heads.
This aside, it is a superb example of horror done right. There are too many moments in the film I could mention. From the explosive opening encounter with the demon, to a journey through a wood that shows Holden being followed by a malevolent entity that only a few hours before he did not believe even existed. The film is patient, masterfully so, and perfectly happy giving the viewer only tidbits of the horror that Holden is facing until it winds to an almost unbearable climax. Now if you have seen Drag Me To Hell, you will know the main get-out clause that needs to be fulfilled to avoid being festroyed by the demon, and Holden's race to do this makes for a thrilling climax. The film's fascinating debate on when one starts to believe and what one chooses is real makes for a very real and unsettling atmosphere and forms the crux of the story: specifically, can Holden believe in time?
The film's demon does appear (unfortunately) and is a rather lame special effect, but everything else is perfect. Stark shadows, sinister performances and a sense of palpable fear of something coming make this a masterpiece of black and white horror cinema. I cannot recommend this beauty highly enough.
- The Fog (1980)
Beloved UK critic Mark Kermode described the Fog as 'really boring'. Then again, he thinks Twilight is better than Star Wars so to be honest, I take what he says with a pinch of salt. The reason I feel the need to contradict him here is because it is simply not true. A rather unusual entry in John Carpenter's repertoire because he is not really known for his ghost stories. I could have picked The Thing here, but everyone's seen The Thing. Less have seen The Fog. It is a lovingly told ghost story, about a town called San Antonio Bay which is struck by a – surprise - fog, bringing with it some unwanted guests. It even begins around a campfire, giving a terrific atmosphere of a bedtime story with some nicely gory hooks to give it some spice. The portents of something wicked this way coming are done with aplomb, such as a washed up ship sign and some rather strange happenings in the coroner's office, and one of my favourite sequences from any film in which a hapless sailor is trying to find his colleagues in the pulsing glare of a ships foglight, with something not entirely human approaching him...
The cast are regulars of John Carpenter, with the ever reliable Jamie Lee Curtis and Adrienne Barbeau taking on prominent roles in the ensemble. There are not any stand out performances per se, but the cast does sterling work, and they respond to the events befalling their little seaside town in a believable and sympathetic way, unlike a lot of films that seem to have their casts running the gamut from complete moron to horror encyclopedia. Top that up with a pulsing score by John Carpenter himself and a deftly done ambiguous ending, and you have a great way to spend a Halloween Night.
- The Changeling (1981)
Now for something rather more obscure. It does share its name with the Angelina Jolie movie of the same name, but is not remotely the same thing. This is a haunted house film, and one of the better ones of its kind. These types of films vary enormously. They can be character studies of fragile minds (The Haunting, The Innocents), fascinating atmosphere pieces with stupid endings (The Burning), b-movie nonsense (13 Ghosts) or sometimes just plain crap (The Haunting's remake). One way or the other, you are never guaranteed what you are going to get. The Changeling is in the first category, with a wonderfully vulnerable George C. Scott as composer John Russell, a man who after experiencing a heartbreaking bereavement, moves into a historical mansion to get some composition done and finds he is not alone. His grief and pain create a very real sadness that pervades the film from beginning to end, and it is refreshing to see a husband and family man who isn't just a closet drunkard – see The Burning and The Shining. There is a ghost, of course.
The ghost story here is rather unlike any you will have seen, and the kind that absolutely stays with you mainly because it is unafraid to take the haunted house trope and completely turn it on its head. The twist is actually one of the best horror twists I have ever seen, and actually manages to be both moving and cathartic when the 'mystery' is unmasked. The film is a moody piece to be sure, but has its fair share of frights and set pieces. A rather creepy moment with a bouncing red ball provides perhaps one of the best moments in the film, and captures grief and loss just as well as Don't Look Now can.
- The House of the Devil (2009)
Director Ti West is certainly one to watch. A friend of Eli Roth but considerably more talented, West directed The Inkeepers a couple of years back. It was an uneven film, but very creepy nevertheless. More consistent is this earlier effort, an homage to seventies films like the Exorcist and Halloween but with an atmosphere from both. The film was inspired by a surprising statistic about the number of Americans in the seventies and eighties who believed that devil cults existed, and claimed to have known somebody who had been affected by them. Like all the best horror films, it keeps the set up seemingly quite simple. A girl needs a job to pay for her new apartment, and sees a cryptic babysitting request on her University noticeboard. The job is not quite as it appears of course, and she soon finds herself in very real danger. Now, you do need to be patient with the film. It is a very sinister film for forty-five minutes, but also quite slow. This all changes for the final half hour, where the build up turns into some of the most frightening cinema in quite some time. All of it takes place in the one house, and it is a beautifully tense cat and mouse game.
The devil, if you'll excuse the pun, is in the detail. A suspicious but relatively harmless set-up develops teeth and claws quickly, and it is surprising how much you can actually miss watching the first half of the film. Something Ti West understands clearly is not peaking too early. Too many films are so excited to reveal their twists that they give them away far too soon, but in House of the Devil, the sheer patience exuded by the film becomes all the more surprising given the power of its second half. The fact I only found out about it by picking it up in an HMV bargain surprises me; I would have thought more people would have heard about an actually scary horror film, but I hope that maybe a few more will consider this films ability to chill and wrench genuine fear out of what is generally considered to be a well worn subject.
- Re-Animator (1985)
Now for something completely different. This film is often cruelly overlooked in the genre on account of people who dismiss gory films out of hand because 'that's the sort of thing SAW would do'. I shall ignore the fact the original Saw is a really good film, because that is not the point here. You may have heard of this film from American Beauty as the film where the head gives head, and yes, it is every bit as infamous as you have heard. Based on a short story by H.P Lovecraft, you will come across few films that are as blackly funny and gruesome as Reanimator. The story essentially concerns a young medical orderly, Dan, who is reluctantly (and slightly possessively) befriended by Herbert West, a brilliant young scientist who has invented a serum that brings the dead back to life. Naturally he needs something with which to try it. From that, I think you can imagine where things go. There is something of Laurel and Hardy about the antics of the two men desperately trying to control the army of corpses they have brought back through their experiments, director Stuart Gordon easily blending slapstick outrageousness with the macabre nature of their activities. I nearly put Braindead in this slot, but as much as I love Peter Jackson's ultimate splatterfest, Reanimator balances the horror and the comedy rather more evenly. The central performance is Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, and utterly inhabits the skin of the fastidious, unhinged and remorseless student doctor who drags the very likeable Dan, played by Bruce Abbott with great warmth, into his awful and unethical experiments. The irony being that Herbert West is not a villain in this piece. Yeah, the scientist who resurrects the dead with mixed results is not in fact the bad guy.
It is gory, gross and utterly hilarious. The comedic moments are perfectly judged and somehow manage to be juxtaposed with the more gruesome moments – upon discovering his dead cat in the refrigerator, Dan demands to know why Herbert West didn't tell him or leave a note. 'I was busy pushing bodies around as you well know' West replies irritably 'And what would a note say, Dan? "Cat dead, details later'? The infamous scene I mentioned earlier in which the villain makes use of his decapitated head to rather lascivious purposes is every bit as grim and funny as people make it out to be, but it is also worth mentioning it is only one of many scenes. ReAnimator is more than just the sum of its parts, demonstrated amply by its sequel, which while being good, was made up of individual scenes rather than being one of the finest horror films in history. What the original film did was tell a story, splash it liberally with gory scares and make us chuckle along with every outrageous moment. Not one for the squeamish, but hey, I doubt you'd be reading this if you were.
- Candyman (1992)
You know the dare. Everyone who was at school in the nineties was made to do it. Say 'Candyman' in front of a mirror five times, and Candyman himself will appear behind you, and gut you with his hook. The story that Candyman was based on, 'The Forbidden', by Clive Barker posits the very unpleasant idea that belief in an urban legend can bring it to life. In this case, it's imposing actor Tony Todd – the guy with the scariest voice ever – as the titular hook handed ex-slave brutally murdered and brought back to awful life by the terrified inhabitants of a Chicago project. The original story was set in Liverpool, but Liverpool has no location that projects as much misery, poverty and violence as the project of Cabrini Green, a very real place in Chicago. Virginia Madsen plays a University professor named Helen, who investigates the legend of the Candyman, finding his roots in the project of Cabrini Green. Her investigation brings her into contact with the horror and suffering that brings him into existence, as nightmares and reality blend in stomach-wrenching fashion. The film does feel like a nightmare; one of the reasons it still scares me. Bernard Rose's film is stark, unforgiving and unflinching. The fact that Candyman is rooted in such a real world, and his unwillingness to compromise ('They will say I have shed innocent blood.' he chillingly intones 'What is blood for if not for shedding?') make him a terrifying bad guy.
Candyman is never shy in reminding Helen that his presence there is her fault, and torments her mercilessly. 'You did not believe the stories' he says, 'So I was obliged to come.' The film is beautifully shot, the rot and filth of the projects contrasting with the chic apartment complex in which Helen herself resides. Candyman it seems is a 'man of the people', a boogeyman that Helen comes to believe in utterly, at the cost of everything she holds dear. The savage bleakness of Candyman, assisted by Philip Glass's sinister score, is what makes the film so outright frightening – and an essential Halloween watch.
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