My daughter Alexis moved to Gotham in August and started a blog called “Brand New Yorker.” Her last post is called “Pumpkin Spice and Horror (The Most Wonderful Time of the Year).” She begins with two photos comparing the changing leaves in Central Park to the U of A at Fayetteville, her alma mater. Both are well represented.
But the main theme of this rant is horror films, or rather the lack of them since she moved. Alexis reminisces of piling onto a large couch with college buddies during October to watch a fright fest marathon. Then she says that when her friends fell through, she always had “dear old dad” to fall back on. That’s me, an old second fiddle, but I’ll take what I can get.
Alexis is right: she got her love for the macabre genre from me. But I don’t believe I let her watch “The Omen” when she was five, as she claims. What she is right about is that the scarier the scene, the more I laugh - a defense mechanism no doubt.
Anyway, here is Alexis’ list of favorite horror movies, in no particular order:
“The Bad Seed is one of our family favorites. What could be more monstrous than a 10-year old psycho killer? OK, a teenage psycho killer, but little Rhoda never gets that far. Sorry, should have given you a spoiler alert. I couldn’t feel too sorry for Rhoda’s parents, though. What did they expect, naming her Rhoda?
“The Ring” is probably the first time Alexis noticed I laughed during the scary parts. I must have been hysterical during that last scene when the little girl with the bad hair came out of that TV. And what’s up with all little girls as terrifying monsters? Alexis said she considered dressing up like Samara (bad hair-doo girl who lives in the TV but won’t stay there) one Halloween but was worried she would keep running into walls.
“The Exorcist” Alexis’ list. How could it not? (“Mother? What’s wrong with me?”) It changed the game for horror. Crowds walked out of theaters in 1974 stunned beyond words.
“Paranormal Activity” was another that made me laugh a lot, meaning I was terrified. No creepy little girls in this one, just a 500-pound invisible demon that moves things around when you sleep. And the wife standing by the bed, staring at her husband while he snoozed, I put up there with Janet Leigh in the shower for chills.
I love “The Birds,” too. (“Have you ever seen so many gulls? What do you suppose it is?”) There was a hilarious photo Alexis posted of one of her friends at Halloween dressed up like Tippi Hedren, with blood running down her head and a stuffed crow on her shoulder, biting her cheek.
Others on the list:
“The Descent” – Girlfriends out for a relaxing day of spelunking stumble upon a village of mutant cave monsters, who aren’t excited about having houseguests.
“Carrie” – Should have named her Rhoda, perhaps, but you had to kind of be pulling for Sissy Spacek’s character. High school girls can be so kind.
“Let the Right One In” – No list is complete without vampires, and what could be worse when it’s another little girl! Every bullied kid should have a friend like Eli for a few days,. This is a really good movie.
“The Sixth Sense” – Someone finally figured out little boys can act, too. This is another classic with a great twist.
“I Am Legend” – Think of Usain Bolt as a zombie.
Thanks Alexis – Happy Halloween.