Andrew Rodriguez: My List

Listen folks, I scare easy, yet I loved every one of these incredible films. With the exception of a few, I wouldn’t recommend watching these when you’re alone. I omitted The Exorcist, which could be quite possibly the scariest movie of all time, simply because I can’t even bear to see it again! Curl up with someone this Halloween and enjoy one of these classic movies.

#1 Don’t Look Now

An occult thriller directed by Nicolas Roeg and released in 1973. It is based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier. It has that great 70’s natural-light style, and Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in the lead roles.

#2 Stepford Wives

The original 1975 version is the one I’m recommending, the 2005 remake was absolute garbage and should be avoided at all costs. The original is fantastic and a very suspenseful film. A great story based on the book by Ira Levin (In Cold Blood). I tell all my friends to see this one. You’ll love it, I promise.

#3 With a Friend like Larry

is a French Hitchcockian thriller that came out in 2001. Enjoyably creepy with lots of suspense. Highly recommended!

#4 Suspiria

might be Dario Argento’s most well known film. Great lighting and camerawork in this terrifying movie about an American student who attends a European ballet school that isn’t what it seems. Intense atmosphere, amplified by a great score with performances by Argento and the group Goblin.

#5 The Shining

is Stanley Kubrick’s well done and very scary interpretation of Stephen King’s book starring Jack Nicholson. For the few that haven’t seen this absolutely horrifying film, it makes a perfect Halloween frightfest. Prepare yourselves!

#6 The Omen

from 1976 starring Gregory Peck, is another classic chiller. Very effective, very scary. It won an Oscar too! The remake in 2006 wasn’t bad either, though it was very similar.

#7 The Vanishing

The Vanishing could have one of the most horrifying endings ever, in my humble opinion. This disturbing Dutch film from 1988 (remade in 1993 with Jeff Bridges) is a gritty, realistic, extremely tense affair. People with acute claustrophobia might want to avoid this one.

#8 The Haunting

is a clever, classic horror film from 1963, which demonstrates with aplomb the power of suggestion. What you don’t see is often more frightening than what you do, and this is what you get with The Haunting. The use of sound is very effective, and this film manages to scare the viewer without the use of gore.

#9 The Eyes of Laura MarWives

The original 1975 version is the one I’m recommending, the 2005 remake was absolute garbage and should be avoided at all costs. The original is fantastic and a very suspenseful film. A great story based on the book by Ira Levin (In Cold Blood). I tell all my friends to see this one. You’ll love it, I promise.

#10 Rosemary’s Baby

is truly great, and truly scary. Directed by Roman Polanski in 1968, and starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavettes, this movie holds up incredibly well. This movie really scared the sh– out of me when I first saw it. It works on so many levels, even using humor to chilling effect. I loved Polanski’s The Tenant also, but Rosemary’s Baby is a horror masterstroke. That it is based on another Ira Levin novel is no surprise. Superbly directed, with an even pace and mounting dread, I consider this my favorite horror film. Although I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s pregnant.

#11 Night of the Hunter

is a black and white film from 1955, but doesn’t feel dated. Robert Mitchum stars in this frightening story, (the only film ever directed by Charles Laughton) as the creepy Reverend, who has the letters L-O-V-E tattooed on one hand and the letters H-A-T-E on the other. Not only for film buffs!

#12 The Bad Seed

is a great film from 1956. I first saw this because I read somewhere that it was John Water’s favorite movie. I loved it. A slower-paced type of horror film than what today’s audiences might be used to. Like The Haunting, The Bad Seed is a great example of how scary something implied can be. Understated, with a crazy ending. Good times!

#13 Psycho

is the master Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film from 1960, and had to be on this list. When I was at school, we dissected this movie in film class scene by scene. Why? Because it is genius, that’s why. Another great score by Hitchcock buddy Bernard Herrmann, with those famous “stabbing” chords in the film’s most famous scene. My mother told me she couldn’t shower for a year after seeing it. I guess almost everyone knows this movie, but if you still haven’t seen it, need I say more? A great place to start a horror education.

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