The approach of Halloween has made me think about books, movies, etc that just plain give me the chills. Reading "the Tell-Tale Heart," watching Psycho -- definitely the all time scariest film I've ever seen, or reading In cold Blood makes children dressed as princesses or Star Wars characters not-at-all scary by comparison.
What is the scary film of this generation? The Scary novel? Any nominees?
1408, hands down, no question. 1408 is one of those cerebral thrillers that really gets under your skin. Under your skull too.. because it gets to your brain... because it's cerebral... yes. Anyway, it's the thrillers that really scare the crap out of me because gore isn't scary. Unpleasant, perhaps, but not scary. Any director can mix up a couple gallons of red food coloring and Karo vegetable oil and spray it around the set. And I'm sorry, but was it supposed to be as satisfying as it was when Paris Hilton got speared twenty minutes into House of Wax? Probably not. But as I watched 1408, I was chewing on my own arm, eyes blasted open, as I fought to stave off the gnawing sense of dread and threat of despair as the main character fought with ever increasing desperation to escape from his hotel room which was plagued by something much more sinister than a simple haunting. When the little map on the back of his hotel room door had changed to show that his was the only room on the floor- oh god, I almost died. Something about this movie satisfies my morbid desire to be scared, in that I'm-actually-safe-in-my-living-room-clutching-my-favorite-lady-bug-pillow sort of way.
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