Psycho
Norman Bates is one of the best creeps, psychos (ha!), oddballs, whatever you want to call him that I have seen in a long time. (I know this movie came out in the 60s, I'm just saying.) I loved to watch his twisted, subtly building creepiness. So, so good. This was a highly entertaining slow burn that I could make a tradition of watching every Halloween. Will I? I don't know, that idea truly just came to me as I'm typing.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
I don't even know where to start with this movie. I freaking LOVE it. It made me laugh out loud due to some cheesiness, but also has some genuinely creepy concepts. Robert Englund is amazing as Freddy. Wes Craven is the king of horror, not John Carpenter. Sorry, not sorry. I've even watched almost all the sequels because I love Freddy that much.
Evil Dead
Ah, the cult classic. I had major gaps in my knowledge. And I have some questions now. Why is Ash's iconic chainsaw hand not present until roughly 3/4 of the way into Evil Dead 2?! And was it intentionally as terrible as it is? Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it. But I somehow had no idea that it was so bad. Also...the laughing deer head in Evil Dead 2?...and people think I'm crazy for my fear of taxidermy. That thing gave me ALL THE NOPES. Also, Norman Bates and his birds? I AM NOT INSANE. TAXIDERMY IS USED IN HORROR BECAUSE IT'S CREEPY AF. Ahem.
The Babadook
This movie...I still don't even totally know what to say about it. It's hard to watch at times because of how the mom treats her son. It isn't as in your face scary as most movies, it's definitely more psychological. Normally I like this, but the ending kind of ruined the movie for me. I won't spoil it, and I'm not angry I watched it, but I feel like it's in a league of its own. If you want to watch it, I definitely think you should, but it's very difficult to describe.
Silence of the Lambs
I love the character Hannibal Lecter. There, I said it. He's deliciously evil. Anthony Hopkins' and Mads Mikkelsen's portrayals really can't be compared. They're both great for their own reasons and I loved seeing this one since I watched the tv show first. I definitely plan to watch the other movies in this series.
Rosemary's Baby
This one made me truly uncomfortable. Maybe it's because what I've been through with pregnancies, but I do not recommend it. It wasn't the fun kind of uncomfortable or scary and I truly felt awful for Rosemary. Honestly, this one gave me worse feelings than The Exorcist.
Child's Play
I didn't think I'd like this movie as much as I did. All the craziness at the end won me over with this one, although I don't plan on watching the sequels. I guess it illustrates how much the ending of a movie really can make it or break it.
Some final thoughts-Hollywood tends to ruin Stephen King's concepts. Carrie was terrible and The Shining could have been much better. I am very grateful that George A. Romero started the zombie craze and I enjoyed seeing where that whole genre started. And The Exorcist...yes, I watched it and didn't feel it was scary. I really felt like a lot of what was done was done for pure shock value and so it fell flat for me. I also didn't realize how much of Dracula was just Bela Lugosi staring at the camera. And he had armadillos! I read somewhere that the reason they used armadillos was because at the time, they weren't a widely known creature so people would think they were more otherworldly. How funny is that?! It's been really fun to see the origins of some things and fill the gaps in my horror knowledge.
