I posted a rave review of the new Sam Raimi film, Send Help, the other day and triggered a debate I didn't expect: is it OK for Christians to watch horror films? Send Help a gore-laced plane-crash survival face-off, according to the Guardian review (which was less kind than mine) is more comedy-horror than horror, or maybe horror/thriller. But there's definitely horror there you get the point.
Nick Digilio has been a movie critic for 40 years, for many of those years on WGN radio, now with a popular podcast and hosting screenings in Chicago. And I've been talking to him about movies for 25 of those years. I still remember our first conversation, which included a discussion of "Donnie Darko" and the mid-century Hollywood director Douglas Sirk. He usually interviews me, but in honor of his new book, 40 Years, 40 Films, we switched, and I got to interview him.
Ransone appeared in several prominent horror films. He portrayed Max in "The Black Phone," a film about a teen boy who is abducted by a serial killer. The movie was based on a short story written by Joe Hill - Stephen King's son - and starred Ethan Hawke. Ransone reprised his role in the sequel, "Black Phone II." Ransone appeared in another horror film with Hawke, taking on the role of Deputy in "Sinister."
My parents took me to see it in the theatre, under the impression that it would be appropriate for a seven-year-old. Princess Mombi's macabre wardrobe of disembodied heads; the psychopathic laughter of the wheelers, with all four limbs ending in squeaky wheels; Nicol Williamson's sinister, vicious Nome King all are permanent fixtures in my unconscious hall of famous terrors. And Fairuza Balk's Dorothy is eerie to match, a perfect uncanny heroine for a truly twisted children's film.
Part of the fun of asking someone what movies scare them is that the answers tend to be unpredictable. Fear is individual, specific, and deeply felt: A person made anxious by the ocean may not be able to bear watching but be totally fine with the monsters-loose-on-an-island premise of Jurassic Park. Sometimes, a frightened reaction is inexplicable. But the most terrifying films are the ones that force us to question why we're so afraid at all-and what makes the image or moment on-screen so effective.
She could have told me the truth, that the paint was graffiti. Instead, she told me the rocks were a species of monster called bloodsuckers, and that at night they came alive to eat children who were foolish enough to stray outside after dark. I believed her with all my heart. Why wouldn't I? She was my nan!
Murnau came up with a new way to depict fear and a sense of being threatened, laying the foundation for the modern horror film. The genre has many fans worldwide, and people often watch horror films on or around Halloween to get in the spooky spirit. But why are they so riveting? Horror films: Psychological 'boot camps'? Horror films can be compared to roller coasters:
I mean, Texas Chainsaw, the shining yeah, it's boring, but yeah. No, it works every time. Oh a third. Well, I'm going to do mine. I'm going to think of my third. You can think of a third. Demon lover diary. Oh, Wow. From 1980, 1981. Like, truly one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. Because we and the audience are led to believe this is a found footage horror movie.
Dee Wallace began her acting career on television appearing in episodes of The Streets of San Francisco, Starsky & Hutch, and Police Woman, before appearing in the box-office horror hit film The Hills Have Eyes (1977). In 1981, she played a leading role in the horror film The Howling opposite her husband Christopher Stone. They later starred together in Cujo (1983) based on Stephen Kings 1981 novel of the same name.
