October, in All of its Gory Glory: Halloween Movies to Watch and Enjoy

It's October. And as all cinephiles know, this month is one of the most anticipated times of the year, for just one simple reason: horror movies. We finally have an excuse to watch hour after hour of frightening footage, all in the name of celebrating a fantastically terrifying holiday. Film nerds, rejoice.

In honor of this month and all of its gory glory, here are a few horror essentials to make October infinitely more chilling. 

The Exorcist (1973)

This film features a scene that is forever etched into the memory of all who have viewed it: Linda Blair, possessed by a demon, vomiting pea soup into the face of Father Damien Karras. Not to mention countless other terrifying scenes featuring Blair's character, including one in which she masturbates with a crucifix. The fact that this film still manages to resonate with audiences almost forty years later is as impressive as the movie is petrifying.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The grandfather of found footage films, The Blair Witch Project is terrifying because of its incomparable realism. Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez actually tormented their actors, stalking them and throwing rocks to frighten them, which accurately explains why their distress is so affecting. The movie's dialogue was also largely improvised, adding even further to its authenticity. Far superior to found footage franchises like Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project makes certain that any one who sees it will never want to go near the woods again.

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott's Alien presents the perfect mix of horror and science fiction, and with the release of its prequel Prometheus this summer, it is especially relevant this Halloween. Featuring a notable performance by Sigourney Weaver and an adorable orange tabby cat, this movie has remarkably timeless effects and set design. The Alien itself is simply horrific, and stands the test of the time as one of the most interesting and frightening extraterrestrials to be featured in cinema.

The Shining (1980)

The Shining claims the well-deserved status of a horror movie which is able to transcend the confines of its genre and hold its own as a truly great film. This is due in part to Stephen King's excellent brand of psychological horror, but largely we can attribute The Shining's terror to an incredibly psychotic performance from Jack Nicholson and the impeccability of Stanley Kubrick's directing. The tracking shot following Danny riding his tricycle through the Overlook is ominously terrifying and absolutely brilliant. Kubrick's decisions, and Nicholson's acting, manage to pull the audience into a downward spiral of psychological terror along with Jack Torrance.

For additional knowledge, view the 'Making of' documentary filmed by Kubrick's daughter, Vivian (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkq12a_the-making-of-the-shining_shortfilms). Also, it may be worthwhile to watch Room 237, the recently released documentary which speculates about the multiple   hidden meanings of The Shining.

Let the Right One In (2008)

Not only does this movie contain enough blood and violence to satisfy even the most discriminating horror fan, it also manages to feature one of the most beautiful and touching stories of young love in recent memory. It calls to mind the star-crossed lovers featured in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, except that Oskar and Eli aren't simply a Montague and a Capulet; they are human and vampire. Extremely touching and overwhelmingly terrifying, this film deserves to be viewed.

Note: Make sure to watch the Swedish film. The American remake, re-titled Let Me In, is a poor imitation of the original, with wholly inferior acting and cinematography.

Persona (1966)

Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's film currently ranks at number 17 in the British Film Institute's Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time, and for good reason. This is a cinematic masterpiece, with incredibly beautiful cinematography and richly developed, character-driven drama. Persona belongs firmly in the category of psychological horror; it does not have the qualities of a traditional horror film. Rather, it creates a subversively disturbing tale of confusion of identity and existential torment. Pay special attention to the interaction between the two female lead characters, Alma and Elisabet; this relationship inspired David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

Antichrist (2009)

Antichrist, like Persona, is a firmly psychological horror movie. There is, however, plenty of gore and graphic violence to accompany the cerebral terror in Lars Von Trier's most well-known film. Some of the most frightening include genital mutilation, torture, and a talking dead fox. Yes, a dead fox. That speaks. Antichrist focuses on the decaying relationship between a couple after the tragic death of their son, especially the wife's psychosis (stunningly portrayed by Charlotte Gainsbourg). This film is both darkly terrifying and visually stunning; the acting is marvelous and Von Trier's vision manifests itself perfectly on screen.

Hostel (2005)

Hostel is by no means an accomplishment of modern cinema. There is little character development, the dialogue is severely lacking, and the film mostly does not concern itself with a wider theme. Fortunately, what this movie lacks in substance, it makes up for in pure violence, gore, and bloodshed. It recounts the story of three young men backpacking across Europe, who find themselves kidnapped, bound to be victims for an international business in which rich men pay for the ability to torture and kill. Hostel has been criticized for functioning as "torture porn," and in a way, it is decidedly that. In the name of Halloween, though, a viewing is justifiable.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

This classic slasher movie, directed by Tobe Hooper, is one of the cornerstones of American horror cinema. It details the fate of five friends who, while searching for an old house, are terrorized by a family of cannibals which includes the notorious Leatherface. As hilariously campy as the first few minutes of the film are, what follows is terrifying. The cannibal family is devious, maniacal, and overwhelmingly disturbing.

Note: Avoid the remake at all costs. Nothing compares to the original.
 

Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant interpretation of the horror genre. If you haven't seen this classic by now, shame on you. Anthony Perkins's portrayal of Norman Bates is the standard against which modern horror fans judge all other onscreen psychopaths.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The most well-known stop-motion brainchild of Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a sweetly imaginative tale of a skeleton lost in existential crisis. The brilliance of this film is its ability to bring together the creepiness of Halloween, the unbridled joy of Christmas, and the darkly quirky world of Tim Burton. Everything about Nightmare is childishly exuberant and beautifully crafted, and is an excellent way to lighten the cinematic mood after viewing something as terrifying as Antichrist or The Blair Witch Project.

Martin McDonagh and the Creative Process

Martin McDonagh is the Irish playwright, writer/director, and all around bad ass responsible for the oft-quoted cult favorite In Bruges (2008). His most recent endeavor, released 12 October 2012, is entitled Seven Psychopaths. It focuses on the attempted authorship of a screenplay, to be called Seven Psychopaths. The catch: the screenwriter, Marty, only has one psychopath to write about. He needs to find six more. And find them he does, as the darkly hilarious and highly entertaining film details.

New York University was privileged enough to welcome McDonagh to a Q&A session following an early screening of Seven Psychopaths. Both the film itself and the interview with McDonagh gave some fascinating insight into the processes and problems associated with the act of writing.

McDonagh, unlike Seven Psychopaths' protagonist with which he shares a first name, denied having run-ins with the monster known as 'writer's block.' He said he oftentimes works quickly and efficiently, explaining that he wrote the initial draft of the Seven Psychopaths script in five weeks. McDonagh also explained that the version that appears on the screen and the prototype, which he wrote shortly after the release of In Bruges, are almost identical. 

McDonagh readily admitted that writing quality material did not always come so easily, however.  He revealed that he didn't begin to produce work that he considered to be "decent" until he was twenty-three or twenty-four, only a few years before he was awarded The Critics' Circle for Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright (1996).

He advised other aspiring writers in the Cantor Center's auditorium to develop their craft by writing constantly, and recommended that, in order to objectively judge the quality of their work, they compare it to movies and plays that they admire. 

Martin McDonagh (right) speaks about Seven Psychopaths at NYU's Cantor Film Center on 11 October 2012

When we strip away the fast-paced, darkly funny dialogue, the stylized violence, and the intimidating insanity of the plot, we find a movie that concerns itself at some level with the frustration that is inseparable with the attempt to fully realize an artistic idea. In the world that McDonagh creates, writing a script becomes much more than just a process. It becomes dangerous. Very dangerous. The featured psychopaths, initially existing solely in Marty's fictionalized world, manifest themselves as physical presences. They are real psychopaths. With real guns. Marty's creative process suddenly spirals out of control and a terrifying reality suddenly invades the fantasy world of his script. The frustration that inevitably walks hand-in-hand with writer's block becomes destructive.

This says something notable about the spontaneous, dangerous, and erratic nature of creativity. Indeed, one might, in fact, describe the creative process as inherently psychopathic.

Ultimately, though, something good does come out of all of the bloodshed and torment (besides a copious amount of black humor). Marty writes his script, distilling artistic inspiration from the chaos that exploded around him. Essentially, Seven Pyschopaths seems to be saying that although the creative process is violent and unstable, it is necessary to suffer in order to create meaningful work.

It is then very plausible to suggest that Seven Psychopaths exists on some level as Martin McDonagh's speculation about what might happen if he himself were to suddenly suffer from writer's block. He has managed to avoid it thus far; hopefully, this trend will continue far into the future.

Intellectual Cinema: An Introduction

I absolutely love movies. I love watching them; I love talking about them; I love thinking about them; I love writing about them. From repeated viewings of The Fox and the Hound on the couch with my father at the tender age of three to two a.m. screenings of Antichrist on my laptop in my 10th Street dorm room, I have always harbored a not-so-secret obsession with the medium of film.
However, as a history major at NYU, my opportunities to express my cinematic passion have thus far been limited to the occasional nerdy conversation about neorealism with Tisch film students.

To combat this chronic suppression of my inner cinephile, I am creating this blog to share my thoughts on film. Hopefully, this will serve not only as a public outlet for a discussion and dialogue related to film, but also as a means of expanding perspectives and allowing others to experience movies as I do.