Re: The Scariest Movie Ever!
Again, I'm with Steve... Of course, with The Incredible Shrinking Man, that film holds up well because it was well-written, and the awfulness of the film for an older person is Scott Carey's entire situation, to shrink one-seventh of an inch each day, every day, with no out, losing the world bit by bit, losing one's manhood, one's humanity, everything familiar becoming entirely alien, and the inevitability of it all. A very good film from an excellent novel.
The problem with most films, however, is that they do rely on the "shock" rather than anything that genuinely builds up an atmosphere of tension or suspense, or a feeling of the unknown. Yes, psychos in real life can be scary. In films, they are almost mind-numbingly boring to me anymore. They're as interchangeable as the body-parts called for in the scripts. (Se7en being a notable exception ... but that was a puzzle/suspense story as well, and played on several different levels.) It is, however, increasingly difficult to derive a genuine "frisson" from modern films, as so much of this has been done before... however, I did find that Ringu gave me some of that, from little incidentals more than the big things... her movements when she came out of the television, for instance, and began to stand, as if all she herself were liquid and then the bones began to realign and snap into place as she moved, very creepy, that, and something entirely missing from the American remake. I still get some of that from The Haunting, in the scene where Eleanor and Theo are in the room, and Eleanor has heard that awful muttered conversation that one can never quite make out, and has been holding Theo's hand, only to have Theo turn on the light on the other side of the room... and her looking at her hand and simply asking "Whose hand was I holding?" Or the staircase sequence in the library.... The Innocents, where Peter Wyngarde gives such a fine performance as Quint, without a single word of dialogue, yet his evil presence is felt throughout the film, even though he only has about 4 minutes of screen time. Dead of Night has some fine moments, too, and should be mentioned; the story of the ventriloquist may be one of the best of its kind (Michael Redgrave's performance is impeccable). Parts of Mario Bava's Black Sunday and Black Sabbath are also quite good. The tale "The Ring" from Black Sabbath, even with the very odd-looking apparition, can still be genuinely creepy, and parts of "The Vrdulak" also have more than a little power to raise the hackles, while several scenes in Black Sunday remain very powerful because of the fine use of lighting and camerawork.
I suppose it comes down to the same problem there is with written horror so often these days: lack of restraint. To suggest, to provide the hints that will take the reader or viewer into those dark places you want them to go, but which will engage their imagination so that what they picture has so very much more power than anything special effects can put on a screen, or words can put on paper... that's where the fault lies. Like the scene in The Leopard Man, where the little girl is sent out for flour for the tortillas, and on her way home, hears something following her. In the end, she runs to the door and pounds to be let in, crying for her mother that the leopard is after her and, the mother being a harassed mother and tired of stories, won't let her in until she stops telling stories ... and then there is a loud "whumpf", and the door bows inward, and then sounds of something being dragged away, and the tiniest trickle of something from under the door... You never see what it is, you never see the carnage, but IT WORKS! All because Lewton knew NOT to show, but to suggest, and to use the tension, the shadows, and the viewer's own fears and abilities to frighten him- or herself (and, not incidentally, to mix other feelings in as well, which makes it more effective; whether those feelings be awe, wonder, pity, sadness, what-have-you, that complex of emotions makes the moment much more powerful).
