Holy Crap!
I don't watch many horror films, because they tend not to scare me. This is mostly due to the fact that usually what currently passes for "horror" is merely "torture porn." I'm not sure where the confusion hit, but the last time I checked, "I am nauseated," is not synonymous with, "I am terrified." Until yesterday, there had only been a couple films that actually frightened me. When it was first in the theatres, The Ring had me rather creeped out. Now I could probably watch it without flinching, but it had its moment. For me, the coup de grâce of the horror genre was the classic: Psycho. The funny thing is, while watching it I did not believe myself to be particularly unnerved. It was a well done film, doubtless, but I wasn't screaming in terror.
And yet to this day, many years since I've seen it, I STILL check behind the shower curtain...every time. I know it's irrational and I hardly expect to see a crazed killer wielding a butcher knife and garbed in his mother's floral print dress, but I can't help it.
Anywho, as of last night, I add a new film to my short list, and it, too, is not a recent one. It is from 1967, and, very surprisingly, stars Miss Audrey Hepburn. Audrey isn't typically known for her scary movies--unless you're frightened by holidays in Rome and a cat named Cat (well, Fred Astaire playing her love interest in Funny Face was pretty horrifying, but that was more due to the marked thirty plus year age difference). However, this was an exception to the rule. The picture is called Wait Until Dark, and in it, Audrey plays a blind woman trapped in her apartment and tormented by a group of men who want a china doll packed with heroin that is supposedly somewhere in said apartment (long story). Though a little unsettling, most of the film is more intrigue and pity for the blind protagonist who doesn't realize what's going on. But the last fifteen minutes--that was amazing. It has been a very long time since a movie prompted me to leap out of my chair and scream. Holy crap, Alan Arkin.
So I advise you, if you are bored and have a few dollars lying around, please head to the nearest purveyor of films for rent (being that it was made before 2000, I unfortunately cannot guarantee it will be in your local video store), and borrow it. Watch it at night with all the lights out. When it originally played in the theatres, during the last fifteen minutes, they would dim all the lights (even the exit signs and the little lights that line the aisles) to provide the ultimate viewing experience. Try it yourself.
That's about the most exciting thing on the docket at the moment.
And yet to this day, many years since I've seen it, I STILL check behind the shower curtain...every time. I know it's irrational and I hardly expect to see a crazed killer wielding a butcher knife and garbed in his mother's floral print dress, but I can't help it.
Anywho, as of last night, I add a new film to my short list, and it, too, is not a recent one. It is from 1967, and, very surprisingly, stars Miss Audrey Hepburn. Audrey isn't typically known for her scary movies--unless you're frightened by holidays in Rome and a cat named Cat (well, Fred Astaire playing her love interest in Funny Face was pretty horrifying, but that was more due to the marked thirty plus year age difference). However, this was an exception to the rule. The picture is called Wait Until Dark, and in it, Audrey plays a blind woman trapped in her apartment and tormented by a group of men who want a china doll packed with heroin that is supposedly somewhere in said apartment (long story). Though a little unsettling, most of the film is more intrigue and pity for the blind protagonist who doesn't realize what's going on. But the last fifteen minutes--that was amazing. It has been a very long time since a movie prompted me to leap out of my chair and scream. Holy crap, Alan Arkin.
So I advise you, if you are bored and have a few dollars lying around, please head to the nearest purveyor of films for rent (being that it was made before 2000, I unfortunately cannot guarantee it will be in your local video store), and borrow it. Watch it at night with all the lights out. When it originally played in the theatres, during the last fifteen minutes, they would dim all the lights (even the exit signs and the little lights that line the aisles) to provide the ultimate viewing experience. Try it yourself.
That's about the most exciting thing on the docket at the moment.