Five(x2) Of The Best - Horror Films
The first in a series of top five lists. Unoriginal? Oh, bite me!
Rosemary's Baby (1968) - Mia Farrow received Frank Sinatra's divorce papers while on set, arch Diabolist Anton LaVey doubled for Satan during the rape scene and producer Robert Evans wanted Jack Nicholson to play John Cassavetes' part. Whether any of this actually true. we'll probably never know. What is certain is that few films have been adapted as faithfully as Rosemary’s Baby - author Ira Levin was full of praise for Roman Polanski. And, likewise, not many endings are as upsetting as the sight of Rosemary silently rocking the crib containing her very special child....
The Thing (1982) - It's ironic that a film that gives remakes a good name should have itself inspired a shocking reimagining. From Rob Bottin's jaw-dropping effects ("You gotta be fucking kidding!") to its very entertaining script ("I dunno what's in there but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is"), there's everything to like about John Carpenter's very different take on the E.T. story, Spielberg's family favourite having been released shortly before. As for what to make of The Thing’s ambiguous ending, it's worth baring in mind the movie's tagline: "Man is the warmest place to hide"
The Omen (1976) - Rosemary's Baby and Richard Donner's The Omen bookend the golden era of demonic possession/son of Satan cinema. Some people - ahoy, Mark Kermode! - might argue that William Friedkin's The Exorcist is the pick of these pictures. It's The Omen, though, that packs the most powerful punch if only because, while you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, little of what we see if overtly supernatural, so making it completely possible that Gregory Peck's US Ambassador is but an insane man bent on murdering his (darkly?) angelic son.
Dead Of Night (1945) - A portmanteau movie is a picture comprising many episodes. Examples include Four Rooms, Asylum, Vault Of Horror, California Suite, Dr Terror’s House Of Horrors and Dead Of Night, an atypical offering from Ealing Studios that features some of the most unsettling horror stories ever to appear on film. The pick of the bunch is the tale of a ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) who falls under the possession of his dummy, but this film will also leave you looking at mirrors, lifts and the games children play in a fresh, sinister fashion.
The Blood On Satan's Claw (1971) - A 'folk horror' tale along similar lines to The Wicker Man, Satan’s Claw was created not by Hammer by its short-lived rivals Tigon Films who also produced Witchfinder General. Great as that movie is, this picture from Piers (father of Daisy) Haggard makes it onto this list thanks to the authentic feel of its 16th century setting, a great turn from Patrick Wymark - whose final film this was - and an impossibly upsetting scene in which a young girl is attacked by Dr Who companion Wendy Padbury and Frank Spencer's missus Michele Dotrice.
Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) - As odd as it is unsettling, perhaps the strangest thing about Bride Of Frankenstein is that its director James Whale hailed from Dudley. Another bizarre element is Ernest Thesiger's performance as Doctor Pretorious,
the real villain of the piece who resembles Kenneth Williams at his campest. Arguably the first movie to prove that horror films could be funny even while they frightened, one of the few movies that's as diverting as Bride Of Frankenstein is Bill Condon's Gods And Monsters which charts the creation of this and other Whale classics together with the director's decline.
Les Diaboliques (1955) - In a run-down French boarding school, the headmaster's wife teams up with his mistress to do-in the man who's made their lives so miserable. No sooner have they drowned the wretch than the pair start to experience events that suggest supernatural forces are at work. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, the master of European suspense cinema, Les Diaboliques (aka The Fiends) so impressed Alfred Hitchcock that he made Psycho in an effort to out-spook it, then hired the screenwriters Thomas Narcejac and Pierre Boileau to pen the script for Vertigo.
Psycho (1960) - Filmed using the crew from his Alfred Hitchcock Presents... TV series, the large man from Leytonstone's tale of a boy who's a bit too close to his mother continues to terrify each new generation that discovers it. From bumping off his leading lady halfway through to creating situations where you're almost rooting for the pathetic Norman Bates, Hitch pulls off one bravura sequence after another. As for *that* scene, Janet Leigh was left so badly scarred she never showered again. Not that that's blood pouring down the plughole - Hitchcock thought chocolate sauce looked much more realistic.
The Wicker Man (1973) - Edward Woodward is the virginal cop sent to a remote Scottish isle to investigate the disappearance of a local girl. Christopher Lee is the eccentric Lord Summerisle who has little time for organised religion but a keen interest in Celtic practices. And Britt Ekland? Why, she's the badly dubbed woman who dances around in the nude so making every British male's teenage years that much more bearable. A horror film unlike any other, you must track down Robin Hardy's masterpiece as energetically as you run away from the truly abominable Nic Cage remake.
Dawn Of The Dead (1978) - "When there's no room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." Having created the modern-day zombie movie with Night Of The Living Dead, George A Romero outdid himself with this epic, corpuscle-packed picture that doubles as a sterling indictment of consumerism - much of the action takes place in a shopping mall. A superb showcase for Tom Savini's gut-churning effects, Romero's masterpiece is best enjoyed on a triple-bill with Zack Snyder's surprisingly efficient remake and Edgar Wright's rom-zom-com Shaun Of The Dead.