I only came up with half a dozen of my favourite horror movies but any more than that, and the list would be less meaningful.
Freelance writer extraordinaire, and terrible movie watcher, David Rayfield is a guy that loves video games, and putting himself through some atrocious films. I asked him to make me a list of his favo(u)rite horror movies for the marathon. Here is his list.
“These are the bangers. In no particular order:”
1) The Hitcher (1986)
I watch Rutger Hauer’s tour-de-force as psychotic entity John Ryder at least once a year. He spends the whole move terrorising and systematically destroying the life of C. Thomas Howell. And we never really know why. Just that he tells Howell to ‘stop him’. Maybe he’s tired of killing? Maybe he’s a demon trapped in human form? Who knows?
The mystery and the dread and the music and the desolate landscape = all amazing.
2) Open Water (2003)
A stunningly effective film about two divers lost at sea. Supposedly based on a true story that occured on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, most of the movie is a shaky cam transfixed on the two divers slowly losing their minds in fear. And they’re surrounded by sharks. Hard to watch but worth it.
3) The Exorcist – Special Edition (2000)
Purists will stick with the 1973 version but the restored scenes in the re-release elevate the film to hyper-disturbing. I saw this in a crowded theatre and Regan spider-walking down the stairs was chilling to see for the first time. It’s a subtle film (despite the horrific actions of the thing possessing Regan) and every approach to the bedroom door is the epitome of dread.
4) In The Winter Dark (1998)
A psychological Australian horror film that’s set around three farmlands in the New South Wales bush. Something is hunting the animals in this valley but the film is more about the character’s reactions to it rather than the creature itself. The horror lies in how humans behave. A really unsettling and beautiful movie.
5) Wolf Creek (2005)
Wolf Creek resonates with me because Mick Taylor reminds me of so many blokes I grew up with in Central Queensland. I don’t think any of them were depraved murderers like Taylor but they might have been. John Jarratt’s performance is like the anti-Croc Dundee. So engaging and horrifying at the same time. The film lives and dies on Jarratt’s shoulders and he hits it for six.
6) Fortress (1985)
Not the Christopher Lambert prison movie but a terror-filled film about a teacher and her young class of children kidnapped by a gang. The gang is terrifying as they all wear masks and are only referred to as Father Christmas, Dabby Duck, Pussy Cat. One of them is played by Commando’s Vernon Wells (Bennett!). I saw this as a young kid and it freaked the hell out of me.
Well, I hope this is what you’re after. It’s been fun thinking about these awesome films again. Plenty of Australia in there for ya. 🙂
Cheers
David Rayfield
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