I should've probably done a post of the akin on Halloween, but never mind. Here, my personal list of my top 5 favourite psychological horror films, more suited perhaps to a brooding Friday evening than the histrionics of Halloween.
Hon. Mention 1:
The Wicker Man
One of the main reservations I had with putting this excellent 1970s British thriller on the list is that I've grown to appreciate it less as a psychological horror, and more of just an old-fashioned, enjoyably campy detective story. Edward Woodward's terrific lead performance shows DiCaprio a la
Shutter Island how to properly carry this sort of motion picture with the right balance of nerviness and empaty. The direction is certainly very understated but does very well in hitting the right notes of discomfort at the right moments, and the intentionally excruciating soundtrack does equally well in conveying that sense of disorientation to the proceedings.
Hon. Mention 2:
Stoker
Quite possibly one of the most underrated horror films of recent years. It's certainly not subtle by any stretch of the imagination, and yes that ending is a love-or-hate affair, but I personally adored it. It's sort of like a modernized, gorier version of Alfred Hitchcock's
Shadow of a Doubt with more emphasis on the chills than thrills. It's brooding, the colour schemes implanted by director Park Chan-Wook work wonders in showcasing this unconventionally conventional suburbia our characters inhabit, and it's sense of style extending to the excellent trio of performances by Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, and particularly the normally bland Matthew Goode. Well worth a watch.
Hon Mention 3:
Rosemary's Baby
Mia Farrow is probably one of the more underrated 'name' actresses of our times, probably due to the fact that she was on continual occasions miscast against her abilities and talents, for example in the role of Daisy in
The Great Gatsby. In Roman Polanski's terrific 1969 thriller though, her unassuming, naïve style of acting works just as well here as it did in Woody Allen's
The Purple Rose of Cairo, here with more of an edgier, darker bent. One of the best things about
Rosemary's Baby is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's suspenseful but Polanski knows when to have a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun, for example casting noted comedienne Ruth Gordon in one of the most grotesque reimaginings of the kindly old lady stock character, yet at the same time bringing the exact right amount of brooding, ominous chill to every jarring experience Rosemary has, making that infamous ending hit hard with all the power it should.
Others:
The Birds, Peeping Tom,
The Red Shoes,
Psycho
5. The Omen
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| From kimt.com |
There's something oddly compelling about watching Gregory Peck, who as Atticus Finch in
To Kill a Mockingbird represented with every inch and word exuded the embodiment of the perfect father, having a very bad time with the kids in 1976's
The Omen. That fantastic soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith itself is enough to set the viewer off-kilter, and the various shocking horror set-pieces (David Warner having a very bad hair day, Leo McKern's monologue, THAT hospital scene) are very memorable. What's best about it all, however, is how wonderfully restrained it all is. Each bloody moment is counteracted with a quiet drama scene to examine the repercussions of the horror, and Billie Whitelaw's amazing turn as the nanny Mrs Baylock, who is hellbent on gettin Peck's Robert Thorn out of the way to make his son into the next Antichrist, perfectly shows this balance of the quiet and loud moments that make the brooding horror underneath, work all the better.
4. Don't Look Now
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| From bbcamerica.com |
Based on a Daphne du Maurier short story, this tale of a grieving couple who travel to Venice to get over the recent death of her daughter, only to find mystery and paranormal hints of her around every corner. Directed by the incomparable Nicolas Roeg, it's first and foremost an intensely moving domestic drama, with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie doing a fine job in handling the heavier moments, examining the psychological fallout of losing a child on a couple's psyche. Sutherland in particular shows hints of his incredible portrayal of a grieving father in
Ordinary People seven years later with his fantastically understated turn here, and also acts as a terrific stylistic anchor to Roeg's style. We start off with a graphically depicted, unnerving death scene in the English pastoral landscape before moving to the beauty of Venice, where we slowly build up to the film's final horrifying image; but preceding that we get beauty. Beauty in the form of a tastefully exquisite sex scene between Christie and Sutherland, the views of Vienna, Roeg embracing the sublime loveliness of these scenes before, at sporadic and jarring intervals, popping through his own little touches to the film that are all the more immersive for them. You feel as if like you've gone through the whole gamult of horrible things our protagonists' have gone through, strangely carthatic though also incredibly haunting.
3. Misery
My favourite of all the Stephen King horror adaptations (as for overall I'm torn between this and
The Green Mile). First and foremost it's just a very underrated film in just how intelligently it's filmed: the story of a bed-ridden author (played by James Caan) and his biggest fan Annie Wilkes (the marvellous Kathy Bates), and how subtly knowing and witty the dialogue is with regards to the whole discussion of horror-story writing. Beyond that it knows how to balance humour (in the form of Richard Farnsworth's well-meaning but somewhat bumbling sheriff) without making it seem out of place by merging it well with the horrifying bits: Bates' Wilkes is a masterclass in depicting manical obsession but also knows when to tone it down to put the audience and Caan's Paul Sheldon off guard, but Caan is equally good in an almost wholly reactive performance.
2. The Silence of the Lambs
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| From oscarchamps.com |
I suppose there's really not that much I can say about this film is there, besides, well, watch it if you haven't. Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter was my first experience of the actor after I'd watched his excellent routines as the proper English gentleman in the likes of
The Remains of the Day and
The Elephant Man, and it's terrifying to see the actor tear down this convention with the tics and mannerisms of a most cruel, maniacal madman, but retaining that certain air of class. Jodie Foster too is very good in like Caan, a reactive performance to all the grotesque madness around her, and Jonathan Demme shows how it's done by turning the dial of horror and suspense up to 11 when necessary with that booming soundtrack and unforgettable images, and toning it down when focusing on the actors themselves. Watch
The Silence of the Lambs, you won't regret it.
1. The Innocents
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| From classicfilmsreloaded.com |
In my opinion, the finest horror film of all-time, period. Based on Henry James'
The Turn of the Screw, director Jack Clayton takes us into the classic imposing, brooding mansion of the titular 'innocents' children through the point of view of Deborah Kerr's Miss Giddens. I could go on and on about how my favourite actress of all-time excels in this role but that'd be giving a whole lot of the fun away. Yes,
The Innocents is fun to watch in the basest sense, insofar as it's a rollickingly immersive experience where you watch every that can go wrong, firstly exhibit the prospect of going wrong: part of the fun is how Clayton's direction constantly wrong-foots you in and out of suspense, catching you completely unawares with the scares when they do come. Past that it's a fascinating exploration of the whole 'fish-out-of-water' mentality shown but rarely delved into in horror films, where Giddens' relationship to the children is gradually revealed to be more than just a mentor's role. It's the whole ambiguity of this governess' relationship to the mansion and its inahbitants that make
The Innocents such a compelling watch that even having watched it numerous times like myself, it never ceases to thrill.
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