She Likes to Watch

Just when you thought it was safe to come out …

I recently polled some friends about their favorite scary movies. Not surprisingly, “Halloween,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Night of the Living Dead” were at the top of the list.

Of course, everyone has their own take about what deserves the “Best Horror” label.

Some go for gory humor, such as Edgar Wright’s “Shaun of the Dead” or Peter Jackson’s “Dead Alive.” For others, it’s more about gruesome scenarios — witness the popularity of torture porn titles such as “Saw” and “Hostel” — or psychological thrills, like those depicted in Japanese exports “The Ring” and “The Eye.”

So, what’s on everyone’s lists?

First, it’s the attack of RottenTomatoes.com, as the movie review supersite lists the 50 best horror movies ever made.

Since 50 movies is a bit much to absorb in a sitting, I’ll skip to the good stuff. According to the critics at Rotten Tomatoes, the 10 films you simply must see are:

1. “King Kong” (1933)
2. “Repulsion” (1965)
3. “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935)
4. “Aliens” (1986)
5. “The Evil Dead” (1989)
6. “Frankenstein” (1931)
7. “Jaws” (1975)
8. “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919)
9. “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)
10. “Nosferatu” (1922)

A few of these titles are a bit obscure, but they all garnered high marks from dozens of newspaper, radio and online critics.

For instance, “Repulsion” — which follows a schizophrenic woman’s descent into madness — was hailed by critics as “intense,” “genuinely frightening” and “disturbing.” The 1965 psychological thriller stars Catherine Devenue and is director Roman Polanski’s first English-language film.
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Moviefone.com invites you to view cinema’s “Scariest Movie Moments” — preferably at home with all the doors locked and lights blazing.

The list begins with the moment we see a ghoulish girl under her bed in “The Sixth Sense” (No. 31) and ends with such filmic freakouts as the girl emerging from the television in “The Ring,” Linda Blair’s spinning head in “The Exorcist” and Leatherface’s bloody feast in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

You’ll have to check Friday to see the final gory addition.

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Over at IFC.com, the folks behind some of Hollywood’s most terrifying special effects talk about making scary movie magic. Favorite FX include “The Exorcist,” “Alien,” “The Thing” and, of course, “Frankenstein.”

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Looking for an education in the horror genre? Check out Horror-101, which has trailers, posters and reviews of the latest terrifying flicks, including “Saw V.”

More dark delights are available at Anchorwoman in Peril, YDKS Movies and CinemaFist. (Like myself, all four of these blogs are members of the Large Association of Movie Blogs.)

Read, and watch, if you dare.

“Evil Dead,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” mix with friendlier fare

More cinematic scares are in store for audiences this week, along with a black-and-white classic and a family-friendly science fiction blockbuster.

This week’s movie calendar kicks off tonight with a special screening of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

It’s a fundraiser for the Five Cities Chapter of Quota International, a service organization dedicated to helping deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired people as well as disadvantaged women and children.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, “To Kill A Mockingbird” stars Gregory Peck as a principled small-town lawyer in the Depression-era South. Assigned to defend a black man accused of rape, he fights against prejudice at the risk of harm to himself and his family.

Peck won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his inspiring performance as Atticus Finch.

Admission is $20 and includes the movie, soda, popcorn and a raffle ticket. Generous souls who purchase a $100 “VIP ticket” will receive 20 raffle tickets, chocolate truffles and something called “personal waitperson service.” Sounds ritzy.

According to Quota, proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit “mini home makeovers” for folks in the Five Cities areas.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” will be shown tonight at the Fair Oaks Theatre, 1007 E Grand Ave. in Arroyo Grande. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

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See the movie that launched Sam Raimi’s directing career and made Bruce Campbell a B-movie icon tonight when “The Evil Dead” shows in San Luis Obispo.

In “Evil Dead,” five friends head to an isolated cabin in the Tennessee woods. They find and play a tape containing incantations from an ancient text known as The Book of the Dead, unleashing forces of unspeakable evil.

Big mistake. One by one, the terrified teens turn into bloodthirsty zombies — leaving hapless Ash (Campbell) to fend them off.

The first in Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy, this low-budget horror film earned cult classic status for its graphic gore and off-beat humor. Although it’s arguably inferior to sequel “Evil Dead II,” “The Evil Dead” still packs some pretty effective punches — including an “tree rape” scene that I can’t watch without squirming.

“The Evil Dead” plays at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

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On Thursday, the Young Professionals Networking Group hosts a charity screening of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

When several people encounter strange lights, sounds and other phenomena, they find themselves drawn to a single place: Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

The faithful include two government researchers (Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban), a single mom (Melinda Dillan) and her toddler, and a lineman (Richard Dreyfuss) so obsessed with his UFO encounter that he carves mountains in his mashed potatoes.

Steven Spielberg’s surprisingly warm movie was a smash success back in 1977, raking in $116.4 million in North America alone. Don’t miss the chance to see this sci-fi favorite on the big screen.

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Palm Theatre. Tickets are $10, include a raffle for hotel stays, spa treatments, food and wine, and benefit the Food Bank of San Luis Obispo County.

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Friday turns freaky with a screening of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” at the Palm Theatre.

A terrifying figure is haunting the dreams of the denizens of Elm Street: a ragged, badly scarred man with razor blades for fingers.

Years ago, serial killer Fred Krueger was cornered by an angry mob of parents and burned alive. Now Freddy’s back and looking for revenge on the children whose parents who drove him to his death.

When her friends start dying in their sleep, 15-year-old Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) realizes she must stay awake in order to stay alive.

Like “Friday the 13th,” Wes Craven’s “Nightmare” is considered a slasher classic. Keep your eyes peeled for young Johnny Depp, who appears as Glen Lantz, one of the kids being stalked by the spectral Freddy.

Catch “A Nightmare on Elm Street” at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Palm Theatre. Tickets are $7.50.

It’s a month of screams at one local movie theater

Movies inspire. Movies thrill. And sometimes, movies scare the freakin’ pants off of you.

The Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo celebrates Halloween throughout the month of October with a series of scary, creepy and downright terrifying films. It starts tonight with “The Lost Boys.”

When the Emersons move to the sunny beachside town of Santa Carla, Calif., it looks like a brand-new start for the family.

Michael (Jason Patric) meets a beautiful girl, Star, on the boardwalk and befriends the pack of teens she hangs with. His younger brother, Sam (Corey Haim), meets a couple of juvenile vampire hunters.

Meanwhile, Mom (Dianne Wiest) is falling for her new boss at the local video store.

Everything seems sunny, but this California beach town has a dark secret. Santa Carla is positively crawling with vampires.

“The Lost Boys” features many of the ingredients that made ’80s movies great: bloodsuckers, the Coreys (Haim and Feldman), beautiful misunderstood youth, and, of course,”Cry Little Sister.”

The movie also delivers plenty of thrills and darkly comic moments — doubled with a dose of nostalgia for those of us who grew up in or around the 1980s.

Ignore the straight-to-video sequel, “Lost Boys: The Tribe.” Watch this wickedly good classic instead.

“The Lost Boys” will be screened at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Wednesday at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

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What else is in store for October? I’m so glad you asked.

• “From Dusk Until Dawn” (Oct. 3)
• “Shaun of the Dead” (Oct. 8 )
• “28 Days Later” (Oct. 10)
• “Event Horizon” (Oct. 15)
• “Mars Attacks” (Oct. 17)
• “The Evil Dead” (Oct. 22)
• “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (Oct. 24)
• “Scream” (Oct. 29)
• “The Crow” (Oct. 30)