Spooky Sleepers
©
These oughta scare, or at least, spook, the pants off you. Have a Halloween
or Day of the Dead party to watch these forgotten flicks, and you and your friends
will be appropriately chilled. Put on It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
afterwards, just to calm yourself down. And now, I give you... [insert sound
of creaky door opening] Spooky [sound of thunder clap] Sleepers! [maniacal laughter].
Dead of Night
The recent spate of remakes of haunted house movies -- The Haunting, House
on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts -- proves that sometimes they really don't
make 'em like the used to, particularly when it comes to ghost stories. Now
I'm fearful someone will fruitlessly try to remake this 1945 British classic
with yet more cutesy stars from the WB. But in the meantime, we have the original
chiller to enjoy, five separate ghostly tales connected by guests at a country
house party. You can almost feel the cold in the air and the wind blowing through
your drapes. Have someone nearby to grab on to!
Repulsion
Roman Polanski's truly frightening psychological horror film is highly intelligent
and about as eerie as any film I've ever seen. Catherine Deneuve is a shy Belgian
girl living in London who, when left alone by her sister, becomes a recluse
who retreats into a terrifying world of nightmares. Her rational world slips
away even further when men enter the picture. As a depiction of sexuality gone
askew, it's frightening enough -- but it works perfectly well even when you
don't try to analyze it too much. Polanski brilliantly used sound (the neighbor
constantly practicing piano scales adds to the tension) and expressionistic
visuals (hands groping from walls, shadows lurking). If you were really trying
to give yourself insomnia for a week, you'd watch this and Rosemary's Baby,
with which it shares many similarities, together.... But, you better not.
Arachnophobia
And now for something completely different and, some would say, lighter, Frank
Marshall's spideriffic Hollywood horror film is certainly fun but still provides
its share of squirmy scares. The cast includes the always reliable Jeff Daniels
and Harley Jane Kozak, but it's the spiders, and John Goodman as a take-no-prisoners
exterminator, who steal the show. The small town atmosphere is also nicely recreated
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