31 Films That Give Me the Willies

On his website http://ShootTheProjectionist.blogspot.com, Ed Hardy Jr is compiling a list called 31 Films That Give You the Willies. Readers were asked to e-mail a list of 31 films (There's 31 days in October) that scared them, arranged in decending order. Films receiving 3 votes or more were added to the final voting list, which now totals 181 movies! Now... from that list of 181, readers are again asked to select, in decending order, the 31 films that scared them the most. The results will be posted on Halloween.

The current list of 181 movies is nicely varied with some relatively obscure horror movie choices. Compiling my own selections was difficult, though it was interesting to take a look at those flicks which I found personally most effective. To be sure, there were a lot of different reasons why certain movies worked for me --- the age at which I'd seen a film, personal experience, etc.

Here's the list that I sent to Ed:

1. The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974; Tobe Hooper)
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999; Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez)
4. Black Christmas (1974: Bob Clark)
5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991; Jonathon Demme)
6. Don't Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg)
7. Halloween (1978; John Carpenter)
8. The Fog (1980; John Carpenter)
9. Deep Red (1975; Dario Argento)
10. Session 9 (2001; Brad Anderson)
11. The Tenant (1976; Roman Polanski)
12. Seven (1995; David Fincher)
13. The Thing (1982; John Carpenter)
14. Jaws (1976; Steven Spielberg)
15. Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)
16. Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)
17. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; Don Siegel)
18. Night of the Living Dead (1968; George Romero)
19. The Wicker Man (1973; Robin Hardy)
20. The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1988; George Sluizer)
21. Les Diaboliques (1955; Henri-Georges Clouzot)
22. The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick)
23. Onibaba (1964; Kaneto Shindo)
24. Lost Highway (1997; David Lynch)
25. In the Mouth of Madness (1995; John Carpenter)
26. Prince of Darkness (1987; John Carpenter)
27. Alice Sweet Alice (1976; Alfred Sole)
28. The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
29. Eraserhead (1977; David Lynch)
30. Ringu (1998; Hideo Nakata)
31. The Devils (1971; Ken Russell)



Ed has also posted a bonus list, asking for your 5 Favourite Horror Comedies, which, of course, I was happy to provide. Mine are:

1. Evil Dead 2
2. Lair of the White Worm
3. Planet Terror
4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2
5. Theatre of Blood

Though I would've loved to also include The Abominable Dr. Phibes, An American Werewolf..., Basket Case, A Bucket of Blood, Creepshow, Dead Alive, From Beyond, The Howling, The Little Shop of Horrors (original), Night of the Comet, Night of the Creeps, Piranha, Re-Animator, Shaun of the Dead, Squirm, and Spider Baby..., I didn't.