After wrapping up an IT contract at the end of August, I took a month-long vacation, backpacking through Amsterdam, Belgium and France. I planned the trip all summer, receiving plenty of helpful advice from friends who backpacked across Europe in recent years. Was able to put my French Immersion to use, staying in cities all around France.
Kept a detailed journal and took many, many pictures. I'll post an illustrated account of my journey in the coming weeks under Journals.
A shorter version of the following article appeared in the Halloween issue of the Martlet
Monster Chiller Horror Theatre
Michael Myers, Halloween (1978)
by Matt Grady
It's Tuesday, Halloween. Still nursing a hangover from the weekend, you confine your celebrations to a scary movie screening. Cable's best offering is Addams Family Values, and you're fed up with The Grudge-style cheap scares passing for horror cinema these days. Time to raid the video store of the following frightful classics, recommended for lights-out viewing.
The Haunting (1963)
Based on the Shirley Jackson novel, The Haunting of Hill House, and directed by Robert Wise, who would next helm The Sounds of Music. Clever lighting and camera angles imbue the imposing, neo-Gothic mansion with a sinister presence. Unease sets in as day turns to night: the house fills with sonorous footfalls, characters are awoken by the cries of children and doors creak open of their own accord. Beware the computer graphics cartoon that is the remake.
Halloween (1978)
Tranquil suburbia becomes a shadowy, spectral nightmare in the John Carpenter classic. The chilling piano score, the wraithlike Michael Myers and an emphasis on scares over blood resulted in the highest-grossing independent movie of its day. Jamie Lee Curtis's debut film, then 19. Major studios were quick churn out bloodier, inferior clones. Forget the Halloween sequels and their attempts to explain Michael's mentality. As Chris Rock said, "What ever happened to crazy? What, you can't be crazy no more?"
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Shot in black and white, Dead's low budget, natural settings (Pennsylvania) and unknown actors actually benefit the film, giving it a documentary feel. George Romero's first feature revolutionized horror cinema, with its unrelenting dread and scenes of flesh-eating zombies. Holed up in a farmhouse, while the undead amass outside, the main characters struggle between surviving the night and maintaining their sanity.
The Exorcist (1973)
A harrowing, unsettling film, as potent today as it was 30 years ago. Director William Friedkin pulls no punches in depicting a foul-mouthed, pea-soup-spewing, head-spinning demon's possession of a 12-year-old girl. Fourteen-year-old Linda Blair was nominated for an Academy Award, but likely lost out when it was discovered another actress dubbed the demon's voice. Avoid the overblown, laughable Exorcist II at all costs.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
"There's a bad moon on the rise." The English countryside is best enjoyed during the day, as a pair of American backpackers learn in John Landis's black-humour-laced lupine thriller. Ghoulish hallucinations and the main character's guilty conscious collide in a porno theatre. Rick Baker, who designed the werewolf-transformation effect, won the first ever Academy Award for Makeup.
Alien (1979)
H.R. Giger's brooding, biomechanical imagery comes to life in Ridley Scott's lavish production — a horror spin on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. A taut thriller, with strong performances and several bloody, slimy surprises. "In space, no one can hear you scream."
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Despite its reputation, the original Chainsaw is relatively gore free. Instead, it's a disturbing, claustrophobic affair that will leave you fearing hitchhikers, highway truck stops and family dinners at isolated countryside houses. Oh, and meat. Like Psycho, aspects of the story were inspired by real-life murderer Ed Gein.
Se7en (1995)
Depositing the viewer into morbid crime-scene photos, David Fincher's follow-up to Alien³ is memorable for its seedy, grimy production design, literate script (Dante's The Divine Comedy) and deranged villain. Featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt before they became tabloid mainstays. The twist ending will stay with you for days after the credits roll.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Behind the piercing eyes of renowned psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter lies a vicious cannibal. Locked behind a transparent cell, he must settle for preying on the mind — opposed to the liver — of the rare visitor. It's the brutal hints of his potential which make him so terrifying. To date, the only thriller movie to sweep the Academy Awards — and deservedly so.
Also recommended: Psycho, The Shining, Black Christmas, The Vanishing (1988) and Ravenous.