IN SEARCH OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS III - The Films That Frightened Me

Being a horror fan often raises many questions; for example why is it that the majority of us are actually perfectly nice people and not the blood-thirsty raving psychopaths that the tabloid media insists watching this stuff will turn you into. However flippancy aside, there is still the question of why we embrace this genre with such delight, especially as many horror films frankly aren’t actually very good.

Well, firstly we must acknowledge the truth embodied in Sturgeon’s Law – that 90% of anything is crap. Yes, there is a lot of old tat lurking in the horror canon but the genre can and does produce bona fide classics, and in precisely the same proportions as any other form of cinema. Now as I have remarked before, non horror fans can be roughly divided into two camps – the first is the group that simply can’t bear horror movies; they never watch them in case they get frightened, and are amazed anyone would pursue being scared as a leisure activity. Now the second group are somewhat better informed – this is the gang who don’t bother with horror because ‘they just aren’t scary’.

But as I have discussed in the previous two articles in this series, horror offers a variety of different movie experiences. But it’s fair to say that discovering the particular films that really terrify you; the films that haunt you long after the film’s close, and in Macbeth’s memorable phrase ‘murder sleep’, is part of the fun of being a horror fan. Maybe it is related to the obsessive collector gene that fans of any stripe possess; a modern manifestation of our primal hunter gatherer instincts, or perhaps it’s a home brew form of psychological exploration, but the questing through hours of footage to find a flick that delivers the fear,is, in some regards, as satisfying as watching the films themselves. It may be years in between finding a movie that freezes your blood and has you praying for the dawn, but when you do it’s like finding a personal Holy Grail.

Now with Hallowe’en approaching, that haunted time of the year when everyone’s looking for a good scare, I thought I’d share my personal gallery of terrors, the films that frightened me. Now before we begin, I must stress that this is a list of the movies that most gave me the fear rather than a countdown of the best horror films ever made. Rather the movies discussed below are the cream of Pure Terrors (see Part I for a definition) and therefore many great films I love and admire in the genre have not made it onto the list.

Now there are many movies that have given me the chills over the years, and an ‘honourable mentions’ section would include many of the expected classic names. However we aren’t just looking at the films that frightened while onscreen, but the crème de la crème, movies that after the credits rolled honestly had me too on edge to sleep and running up the old electrickery bill by having every light in the house on for most of the night.

Also I should point out that I’m not touting these films as the scariest movies of all time – fear is a subjective thing and therefore your mileage may vary... But as some of you may decide to give some of these titles a whirl this Hallowe’en, I’ll be keeping my remarks spoiler free.

Now from a quick glance down the featured films, you’ll note that most are ghost stories of one variety of another. Yes, it’s hauntings that get me most often, probably because of all the horror staples ghosts seem the most likely to actually exist. Non-supernatural menaces such as serial killers, psychopaths and cannibals I tend to find belong more to the realm of Disturbing Visions than Pure Terror, and evidence for vampires, werewolves, demons and the walking dead existing in the real world is thin on the ground, plus the silver screen has often radically altered these horrors from how they appear in folklore and legend.

Ghosts however seem to be a lot more commonly encountered. Now we could argue the toss over the evidence all night, but everybody, regardless of whether they believe or not, knows at least one spooky story, and we’ve all at some point or another visited a place that for no readily apparent reason gave us bad vibes.

Anyhow without further ado, here are the flicks that frightened me…

Poltergeist (1982)

To begin with, let’s journey back to the golden age of ye olde Video Shoppe. The rise of the home VCR back in the ‘80s was a revolution for movie fans both young and old, with thousands of old movies suddenly available to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home. However for the budding horror fan, still too young to see fright flicks at the cinema, the unregulated video rental market meant you could now see modern horror films with ease.

And one of the first titles I rented was the then just released Poltergeist. Now looking at this unlikely team-up of Stephen Spielberg and Tobe Hooper, it seems more of an over the top special effects whirlwind that an exercise in inducing dread. And these days you can play the film buff game of trying to work out who actually directed what in the movie. Rumours abound to this day over the tussles for the directorial reins on this picture, but no one so far has come out with the truth. And when Poltergeist was released as a two disc special edition on DVD, a making of feature was suspiciously absent. But regardless of who actually was behind the camera, the collision of the minds produced a memorable haunted house movie.

It’s easily the mildest film on the list. But the kind of wall to wall visual wizardry that Poltergeist abounds with, and now comes fitted as standard for any blockbuster, back then was new and startling. More to the point though, Poltergeist well and truly got me by hitting several personal fear buttons with pinpoint accuracy – namely clowns, evil trees and looking the bathroom mirror at night. So if you are looking for a good solid Ghost Train that might rattle your cage a bit this Hallowe’en, give Poltergeist a spin.

[REC] (2007)

The most recent film on the list and something of a surprise as I don’t generally find zombies frightening - horrific yes, but scary no. However this little Spanish movie well and truly gave me the creeps. The premise is simplicity itself – a TV crew are filming a documentary following the local fire brigade as they go about their usual night shift when a call comes in which will bring them to an apartment building where all hell is going to break loose. It’s a found footage/faux documentary affair but unlike so many other low budget zombie shockers that use the same schtick, [REC] uses the shaky cam to impressive effect. It’s suspenseful and intense, often brutal but building up to a climax reeking in dread. And indeed it’s the last act which features some truly nightmarish images that ensured I stayed up very late reading that night until the shivers subsided.

Probably the best zombie flick in recent years and the sequel, produced by the same team, upholds the high standards set by the first for a change. [REC 2] picks up right from where the first film ends, making ideal for a double feature. Fair warning though, the sequel introduces some plot twists that may not sit well with everyone. However on the flipside, the direction this second film takes may make it a more frightening experience than the first for some of you...

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Although it’s become somewhat fashionable in some quarters to look back and sneer at this one and mutter about hype over content, I still highly rate this little picture. And though some decry the movie for not showing you anything, personally I feel this was the right decision, as the story build ups the mythology surrounding the strange phenomena in the woods to such a degree that any shots of the eponymous witch would have been redundant, if not an outright let-down.

It’s a film that generates a remarkable atmosphere but to get the full effect, I think you really need to watch the short promo film Curse of the Blair Witch first. This faux TV special fleshes out the folklore and history of the movie and actually adds to the film’s fear factor. Indeed having watched this semi prequel before giving the movie a second watch when it appeared on DVD, I discovered that in one scene you’re actually seeing a lot more than you realise, which gave me a terrific jolt of fear that I didn’t get on the initial viewing in the theatre.

Although many of the iconic scenes have been parodied to death, I do think the film still holds up, and indeed now all the hype and the send-ups are fading from public memory, I suspect its critical star will rise once more and The Blair Witch Project will be delivering terror for a good while yet.

But not only does it grasp the nettle many found footage films avoid - i.e. why the hell are you still filming instead of legging it - all the dread and scares aside, the movie is actually an interesting essay on the process of film making itself.

Finally if you really want to scare some one with this movie, lash up one of those cross-meets-stickman arrangements of twigs seen in the film and leave it outside their door or on their bed! However I strongly advise not venturing into the local woods after dark in order to gather materials for this practical joke. I did and realised to the cost of my sanity how much the movie had really got to me… And the ear splitting shriek that ripped through the silence when my flatmate ventured out for a trip to loo in the wee small hours nearly scared me to death.

Dead of Night (1977)

Not the classic Ealing film that launched a thousand portmanteau pictures, nor the late Bob Clark’s 1974 Vietnam themed chiller of the same name. No, the Dead of Night to which I refer is a TV movie created by small screen genre favourite Dan Curtis. As well bringing the world the gothic soap Dark Shadows and the horror investigator Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Curtis also produced several anthology films, the first of which Trilogy of Terror (1975) is fondly remembered by horror buffs. However less well known is his second outing into the realm of portmanteau horror Dead of Night.

Like Trilogy of Terror, this little film consists of three tales all penned by genre maestro Richard Matheson. The first story ‘Second Chance’ is a quaint ghostly tale of a haunted car, which I’m willing to bet Robert Zemeckis has seen as it appears to share some common narrative DNA with Back To The Future. It’s reminiscent of the gentler Twilight Zone episodes, very pleasant but nothing too terrifying here.

The second story, ‘No Such Thing As A Vampire’ is your more usual twist in the tail affair. More solidly in horror territory than the whimsical opener, and featuring an entertaining performance from Patrick Macnee, this is a fun little tale. However the highlight of Dead of Night and the story that spooked me good and proper is the final offering ‘Bobby’.

This final tale really goes for the jugular. The premise may well just another spin on the old classic The Monkey’s Paw with a young mother turning to the black arts in order to bring back her dead child. However unlike WW Jacobs’ tale, the return of the deceased son is just the beginning. I can’t really say anymore but ‘Bobby’ plays out with heightening tension and suspense, and the final twist is a killer and what kept me from sleep the night I watched it!

The Haunting (1963)

Veteran director Robert Wise had a long and distinguished career, crafting cinema classics as diverse as The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Sound of Music. However a year before Wise unleashed the problem that was Maria on the world, he helmed this impressive screen version of the Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House.

The Haunting is one of the greatest haunted house movies, with Nelson Giddings turning out a very faithful adaptation of Jackson’s classic book. Throw in a strong cast, truly gorgeous cinematography and inspired sound design and you have a very frightening film with a solid dramatic core. Rather than the usual transparent dead people walking through walls, you never actually see a ghost in the The Haunting but you will feel their presence. Instead of wheeling out folks in shrouds, Wise makes Hill House a character in itself and leaves us in no doubt that this benighted dwelling is a very bad place indeed, not just deleterious for the nerves but your sanity and soul too.

Although it’s fair to say that the film is somewhat dated now, and for some viewers it may seem overly melodramatic in places and too talky for it’s own good. And another potential problem is that this movie has been so influential, indeed it has become something of a template for a whole slew of haunted house pictures, that many of the ghoulish tricks Wise springs on the audience, you will have seen done many times before. But if you can embrace the period stylings, The Haunting can still deliver the chills.

The Innocents (1961)

Often found fighting it out for best ghost story ever filmed is Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. Adapted from the Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw, it tells the tale of a governess, Miss Giddens, tasked with the care and education of two children in a crumbling manor house. However the children are being stalked by the revenants of two former staff.

With a screenplay by William Archibald and Truman Capote, with stunning cinematography from the legendary Freddie Francis, and featuring a stellar performance from Deborah Kerr, The Innocents is truly a quality production. And for my money it does top The Haunting.

Certainly for those of you who like to see their horrors, Clayton does not hold back from showing us the restless dead – we have several long shot of the malevolent revenants as well as the usual fleeting glimpses. But even more impressive is that some of these manifestations occur during bright daylight, and are actually all the more eerie for it.

But the clincher for me, apart from delivering some very haunting spectral imagery that stayed in my mind’s eye far longer than was welcome, is the masterful way we are never sure whether the ghosts are actually real or just the product of Miss Giddens’ mind. However Jack Clayton has masterfully weighted the film so that one can read it both ways, and whichever interpretation you favour, it is equally chilling. Rather than the possible explanation for the hauntings diminishing the terror, if you take the psychological route you have a frightening journey into creeping insanity that is just as unsettling as taking the ghost story route.

The Woman In Black (1989)

In 1983, Susan Hill penned The Woman in Black, a novel inspired by the great English ghost stories of yesteryear. A few years later, her tale of a malevolent spectre was adapted for the stage, initially opening in Scarborough before moving to the West End where it still runs to this day.

Given the play’s meteoric rise from a provincial opening to the prestigious heart of English theatre and numerous tours of the country to boot, it’s perhaps no surprise that a film version was to follow. Produced for ITV, this television movie was quality through and through. Not only did it air on Christmas Eve, a traditional time for ghostly tales, but the screenplay was written by the great Nigel Kneale, creator of the Quatermass quartet and a host of other genre favourites.

Beautifully shot in wintery colours by Herbert Wise, like its parent novel The Woman In Black is very much a modern day return to the classic ghost story, and with it’s period setting, East coast location and malevolent revenant there’s a definite echo of the works of M.R. James. And much like the work of the good doctor, The Woman In Black is gently paced, almost quaint but with the gloves coming off to deliver scenes of spectral terror. In Kneale’s capable hands, the story gradually builds up to delivering one of the great fright scenes of all time, one that will come back to haunt you once you turn out the light.

The Others (2001)

Now while I really enjoy a good period ghost story, it seems the general public do not share my tastes; for while The Sixth Sense cleaned up at the box office, a couple of years later a far superior tale of spooks and spectres failed to set the world alight in the same way. The Others is a quintessentially English tale of a haunting. Set in a fog bound Jersey just after the close of the Second World War, The Others tells the tale of Grace (Nicole Kidman) and her two children who gradually come to realise that they are sharing their home with some unquiet spirits.

Featuring some excellent performances all round, and beautifully shot and staged by Spanish director, Alejandro Amenábar, The Others is a quintessential English ghost story, and not only a fine addition to the canon of spectral fiction but a true modern classic. Like The Haunting and The Innocents there is a solid drama underpinning the ghostly action, but that’s not to sell the haunting depicted short, for Amenábar crafts some absolutely terrifying scenes. And we aren’t talking easy jump scares either; he carefully builds up the atmosphere and tension, and with some very elegant cinematography and evocative sound design really brings home the terror you would experience if you were to begin to suspect that invisible incorporeal beings have invaded your home.

Ghostwatch (1992)

Right then, this is the big one – the film that scared me most! This little made-for-TV feature is the stuff of legend. Now you’ve probably heard about the War of the Worlds radio adaption by Orson Welles which had many listeners at the time believing it was true and inspired outbreaks of panic. Now although scholars and historians have debated how much of the panics reported in the press actually occurred, a young writer called Stephen Volk, remembered Welles’ Martian wheeze and set about creating his own piece of hoax fiction.

Now around this time, the venerable BBC had been producing a series of live programmes with the ‘watch’ tag, the most popular being Foxwatch in which viewers were treated to an intimate portrait of vulpine life thanks to then the still new and shiny technologies of night vision cameras and live feeds. So then for Hallowe’en night ’92, Volk cooked up Ghostwatch, a faux ‘live’ broadcast from an allegedly real haunted house. The studio side was anchored by legendary chat show host Michael Parkinson, and with then prominent presenter Mike Smith manning the calls. Out in the field, at the troubled Foxhill Drive residence, was Smith’s wife and famous TV host Sarah Greene, veteran of Blue Peter and numerous other shows, and Craig Charles, best known for playing Lister in Red Dwarf.

Now although the programme began with the ident for Screen One, the BBC’s TV film strand at the time and there were full credits available in the Radio Times that revealed this production was a film and not a proper programme, many viewers it seemed were unaware that the events on screen weren’t real. And as the story unfolded, BBC phone lines went ballistic and Ghostwatch garnered a flood for complaints, and to this day holds the record for the most complained about programme ever screened on UK television. Thousands rang in or wrote angry letters and not because the show was bad, but simply because it had terrified the living daylights out of them. Part of the anger was undoubtedly due to the fact that viewers blamed the BBC for not making it clearer that the show was fiction, but largely it seemed many felt that old Auntie Beeb had gone too far in screening a programme that scared them out of their wits and in an early evening slot too.

The BBC were somewhat shocked by the response and Ghostwatch was never repeated. And it’s a measure of the unease the reaction to the show generated among the mandarins at Broadcasting House that they wouldn’t even release it on video. Eventually the show did surface on DVD a couple of years ago, but tellingly it was not released by BBC Enterprises but put out by the BFI.

Now sadly I missed the original broadcast, with Hallowe’en that year falling on a Saturday night and being a young man whose liver hadn’t yet filed for divorce, I was down the pub. Now back then the track record for TV producing anything remotely scary or horrific was very poor instead – although the ‘70s had seen a slew of frightening shows, in the ‘80s TV had become very sanitised and safe. So then when the furore blew up in the following days, I deeply regretted missing what sounded like a genuinely terrifying piece of TV.

And it wasn’t until many years later that I finally got a chance to see it, courtesy of the BFI release. Being a fine midsummer evening, I had to wait until quite late before wrapping the case and slipping the disc in the player – after all you couldn’t watch Ghostwatch in daylight could you now? But on the upside, my housemates were away for the weekend so I had the place to myself and guaranteed no chatter or interruptions…

Obviously I knew going in that this was a fake broadcast, and that there had been much debate over the years as to how many times the ghost actually appeared - Ghostwatch you see, had been very cunning with its haunting, having the restless spirit of Foxhill Drive, the wonderfully named Mr Pipes appearing in the background of scenes and in reflections and the like. So when the last glow of sunset had been swallowed by inky black, I sharpened my eyes and hit play…

Now my initial impressions were that this was a very well done mockumentary, the famous faces from the gogglebox were all putting in great performances and I began to understand how if you missed the ident at the beginning you could easily believe that this was a real live broadcast. And for any viewers from outside these shores watching it these days, I can confirm that this was indeed exactly how such shows were done back in the early ‘90s on UK TV.

But as the show progresses, slowly unwrapping layer after layer of the history of the haunting and weird events in the house being to accumulate, my admiration was gradually replaced with a growing sense of dread. Volk and director Leslie Mann had captured the authentic chill you get from hearing real life accounts of hauntings, and their fiendishly clever approach to Pipes’ manifestations were really getting to me.

Now at this point, I should point out that we had only recently moved into this house, an old Victorian terrace, and at that time I wasn’t familiar with the quirks of this old pile. And being a venerable property it had quite a repertoire; the water system was somewhat eccentric and prone to making odd noises every now and then, there was a free standing wooden staircase that creaked in the night when the timbers cooled, and odd muffled bangs and crashes would emanate as bits of old mortar came loose and fell down in the wall cavities. And oh boy, the old place was in fine voice that night which only added to the creeping fear that was sweeping over me.

By just over the halfway mark, I don’t mind admitting I was bloody petrified. And hearing strange sounds coming from upstairs wasn’t helping either. However about over an hour in, when the haunting in the house is really coming to the boil and all hell is breaking loose, I did something I’ve never done before and the reason why Ghostwatch is my Number One Frightening Film – I had to turn the bastard off!

Now what precipitated this momentous event was that when the supernatural events at Foxhill Drive really kick off, you start to hear the sound of cats crying. Just after the yowling began, one of the neighbour moggies decided to hop up to the window sill a few feet from my sofa and join it. The sudden additional caterwauling coupled the noise of something at the window needless to say nearly had me on the ceiling. However then catching a glimpse of weird human shaped shadow flitting across the room seconds later sent me over the edge. The remote was scrambled for, the DVD turned off and every goddamn light in the house was turned on, and would remain on until morning!

Of course eventually the disc went back on and I watched the remaining twenty or so minutes. But man, was that a long night, jumping at every subsequent creak and crack! Yes, Ghostwatch got me good and proper and I can only imagine what it would have been like if you were watching this back in 1992 and thought it was real… And I totally understand why the BBC switchboard went into meltdown with viewers ringing in to echo that famous line from An American Werewolf in London - “you really scared me you shithead!”.

And I imagine I am not only the viewer who was catching glimpses of strange shapes afterwards. The genius of Ghostwatch is it’s unique approach to showing us its ghost; once you catch on to the fact that you need to be watching very closely – something the film sets up for the viewer early on with a review of some camera footage from the house – you actually end up essentially programming yourself to see things, which is why until the advent of the DVD release fans of the show were so uncertain as to how many times Pipes actually appears. And Volk did want to go further, he had wanted to include a tone at key points of the broadcast, which although would be undetectable by human ears, would have sent pets crazy.

All in all Ghostwatch is an excellent movie, and thoroughly deserving of its fearsome reputation. But not only was it a wonderfully realised ghost story, with the terror mounting as the many layers of the story are revealed, it was also a very prescient piece of television. As Mr Volk explains in this article on its origins, Ghostwatch is also a commentary on the nature of TV reportage; it’s a highly insightful piece that remarkably largely predates the rise of reality television.

Although the BFI DVD is now out of print, as well as taking a flight to the past courtesy of Bit Torrent Airways, you can watch Ghostwatch online here. There's also a retrospective documentary being made slated for release in 2012 to mark the twentieth anniversary of this uniquely terrifying piece of television history. So if you’re looking for a good scare this Hallowe’en night, dim the lights and give Ghostwatch a spin. Happy hauntings!

IN SEARCH OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS Part II - The Art of Watching Horror

Back in the Swinging Sixties, when hallucinogenic drugs were transforming respectable professors into counter culture gurus, Dr Timothy Leary published The Psychedelic Experience a sort of field guide for taking mind altering compounds. And in this tome, extracts of which formed the lyrics for the Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows incidentally, Leary stressed the importance of what he referred to as ‘set’ and ‘setting’ upon the experience generated by drugs such as mescaline and LSD. The ‘set’ was the frame of mind the user began the session with and the ‘setting’ the specifics of the physical location and environment where it would take place. Basically a negative attitude and/or an unpleasant or anxious environment would result in a bad trip, whereas going into the psychedelic otherworld with a positive mindset and in a comfortable and safe location, surrounded by meaningful sounds and images, would allow the user to shape the hallucinogenic journey to a degree and hopefully be able to use the drug as a key to unlock mystical states of higher consciousness.

But the rights and wrongs of taking chemical shortcuts to enlightenment aside, there’s a lot to be said for applying Leary’s set and setting concepts to movie watching. After all the circumstances of how you first see a film can greatly sway your judgement – I’m sure you can all name a couple of films that now you rate highly but on the first viewing failed to make an impact, or had an initial impression of a movie ruined by being surrounded by terrible goblins who insist on flapping their idiot lips throughout the entire running time.

Now, all films deserve attention and silence, and I know I am not alone in my despair that so often these days, cinema going can highlight the fact that certain sections of society are completely ignorance to the etiquette of movie watching. And as I get older, the more annoyed I become that we ever accepted commercial breaks in television screenings. However the golden rules of film viewing are even more important for films that are striving to build atmosphere or absorb you into their world – nothing will negate a carefully crafted sense of building dread than some automotive porn that assures you that it is necessary to buy a car that costs more than your house, or assorted lizards and meerkats pimping insurance quotes.

However in order to properly appreciate a movie that is aiming for the lofty halls of Pure Terror (see Part I for details of this and other definitions I'll be using), there are some additional caveats. Firstly a home viewing of a horror movie really should be conducted in the dark, preferably in the dead the night. Now obviously the sunless hours are horror’s natural domain, and viewing between the hours of dawn and dusk undoubtedly instantly adds to the mood and watching without any lights on – although candles are permissible – only enhances this. However there is an additional benefit to this practice: during the dim watches of the night you are less likely to be taken out of the film by the local kids downing alcopops outside your window or suffer the unwelcome noises of your car obsessed neighbour molesting his vehicle.

And the second unofficial rule for watching scary films should be ‘Choose your company carefully’. Now while Ghoulish Delights and Ghost Trains play well in a packed living room where the beer is flowing freely and snack food shrapnel is being ground into the carpet, this is not the ideal scenario for cultivating a case of the chills. Aside from the possible distractions of a large group of people refilling glasses and emptying bladders, psychologically speaking the old rule of safety in numbers may well lessen the impact of what is unfolding on screen. Fear is a very intimate emotion and no matter how appreciative your viewing companions may be, there’s nothing to equal the experience of being mesmerised into a state of sheer fright by the flickering screen in the dead of night.

So as I think we have ‘setting’ covered, the remainder of these additional unofficial rules for horror watching should address ‘set’. Now whether as a reaction to hype or just plain natural temperament, you may find yourself settling down to watch a scary movie with a somewhat partisan attitude; saying to yourself ‘Go on then, but you won’t frighten me!’ and generally taking the film as a personal challenge to your valour. Now, although it’s sometimes hard to not to slip into this mental mode, particularly if the film in question is swathed in hyperbole of the ‘most underwear staining film ever!’, I’d argue that this combative attitude is not the right frame of mind.

Whereas excessive hype and buzz about most films set up expectations that a movie will find hard to satisfy, in the realm of the horror film, such pre-viewing baggage usually will have the inverse effect, particularly for the seasoned fright film aficionado. The more frightening a film is alleged to be, the more we tend think it will turn out to be the same old clichéd claptrap.

However the merits of the film in question aside, going into a flick with the emotional hatches battened and the shutters locked down will make it exceptionally difficult for a movie to do its job. Due to the nature of cinematic artifice, it’s very easy to pick apart any movie, even a gold plated classic, with logical quibbles. No matter how realistic it is shot, or how convincing the performances are, you can always shoot down almost any film with the twin complaints of ‘that wouldn’t happen in real life’ and ‘real people don’t talk like that’.

Now I am not making a case for special treatment for horror films here, but as the genre seems to be somewhat unusual in the fact that it can often precipitate donning emotional armouring, I would suggest taking extra care and doing a spot of mental housecleaning before sitting down to take in a frightening flick. After all, we don’t go into thrillers resolute on being bored or into a comedy determined not to laugh. So be open minded and relaxed when checking out a scary movie, willing to suspend your disbelief rather than shouting ‘Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!” as soon as the credits roll.

And sometimes if you feel a film is getting overly hyped up as ‘the most terrifying thing since last week!’, then it can pay to put off seeing it until all the fuss has died down and you can appreciate the movie on its own merits rather than measuring it against all the hyperbolic baggage.

I think watching a scary movie should savoured like a fine wine or listening to classical music. And like these two other aesthetic pleasures, subtlety is a key feature for the most frightening films. Therefore so you shouldn’t be expecting buckets of blood and a lightning storm of special effects. I’ve lost count of the number of times I heard the complaint “but you didn’t see anything” levelled at some frightening flicks but this is, I feel, missing the point; it’s like expecting power metal from a Debussy recital.

If you are looking long lingering shots of hideous monsters or stomach churning grue then generally you are better off delving into Ghost Trains or Disturbing Visions which will deliver the graphic imagery you are expecting. Now I have nothing against the genre being explicit, but there is a difference between being horrified and terrified. While such hardcore fare like Cannibal Holocaust may have you wincing in your seat, and polished Ghost Trains like Drag Me To Hell leaping right out of it, they are both different breeds of horror than the dread induced by a Pure Terror film, the haunting fear that has you glancing nervously behind you and scared to put out the lights afterwards.

The crucial thing here is the role of imagination. Often the most frightening things are those which you don’t clearly see, the terrors that are suggested rather then being explicitly shown. Now in a graphic film, the director aims to shock with his use of visuals and if he is doing his job correctly you may find that images and scenes are burned into your mind for days afterwards.

If we are in Ghost Train territory, then it could be a spectacular creature that takes the breath away, an elaborate kill like the classic decapitation from The Omen, or just an iconic villain like Pinhead, Jason or Freddy. And if we are in the grimy dungeons of the Disturbing Visions, what will linger in the mind is probably going to be searing scenes of violence and depravity, the kind of things you really wish you were able to unsee.

However when the terrors are generated by suggestion and fleeting glimpses, the director is trying to get your own imagination involved. And if a film can do this successfully, the imagination carries on playing the movie’s game long after the screen has gone dark, and this is when the sleepless nights comes and we find ourselves afraid of the dark once more.

Now I should make it clear here that I am not suggesting that Pure Terror films are a nobler breed than Disturbing Visions or Ghost Trains. Indeed among horror fans throughout the ages, there has been a long standing debate on which approach is superior - suggestion or explicitness. Now although most of the films that frightened me tend to suggest and hint rather than show and tell, I don’t think the two approaches are mutually exclusive and skilled film-makers can induce the fear and reveal all the horrors in their full glory. For example, The Exorcist is very graphic but has had generations of movie-goers sleeping with the lights on afterwards.

And neither am I claiming that a failure to grasp the subtleties of scary movies implies a dearth of imagination. Horror is a very broad church, and really it’s a case of different strokes for different strokes. However judging from the reactions to a pair of recent flicks that I rank high on the fear scale, Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project I rather suspect that often when this two films fail to impress a viewer the problem is not a lack of imagination on their part but a more basic structural fact. Neither of these flicks are constructed with the typical tropes and props of a horror movie, the kind of things you normally get delivered by a typical Ghost Train. And the absence of thunderstorms, obviously spooky mood music, jump scares and the like throws some viewers as the films are not giving out the expected cultural cues that they are trying to be frightening.

And indeed perhaps we can conclude that the biggest obstacle any frightening film has to conquer is the audience’s own expectations. A common feature of all good horrors is that they deliver the unexpected – whether it’s a decent jump scare in a Ghost Train, breaking the rules of what is acceptable in a Disturbing Vision or the “Holy Hell, what is that!” moments in a Pure Terror. And the mark of a poor horror outing is that everything that happens has already been predicted by the audience.

All which neatly brings us back to where we began - set and setting. And like a psychedelic odyssey, when you discover a film that truly gives the fear, it is a transcendent experience. By some strange alchemy, the correct combinations of shots, performances, music and effects can make us forget that what we are watching is only a movie. As James Marriot notes in his introduction to his book Horror Films (Virgin Books 2004) “the genre throws up a kind of wild creativity that just isn’t seen anywhere else”. And indeed what other genre of film besides horror can absorb us so deeply that we forget, temporarily at least, where the boundaries of reality and artifice lie?

Coming in the next IN SEARCH OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS – The Films That Frightened Me…

And you can find Part I of this series and other tomfoolery here

IN SEARCH OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS Part I - The Varieties of Horror

The shadows are lengthening, and as another year begins to draw to a close, the nights come to call increasingly early. Yes, Autumn has come, shaking leaves from her golden crown, and green gives way to ochre and red. Mists haunt the skies and there always seems to be a hint of smoke in the air, the ghosts of lost bonfires and split candle wax. The season’s wheel is slowly turning and the veil between worlds grows thin…

And for the fans of horror and scholars of the weird, other strange metaphysical barriers are weakening also; with Halloween promising that for a brief time the rest of the populace will seem to share our love for the eerie and strange. This is the time of the year when for once our outré interests do not look out of place with the accepted standards of normality and the usual question of “why do you watch this stuff?” is replaced with another, more welcome enquiry – “So what’s a really good horror movie to watch?”

Now this is a somewhat dicey question as the label ‘horror’ covers a multitude of sins, and in order to give a useful answer you have to be able to identify what kind of horror the questioner is seeking. A common complaint/dismissal of horror films is the old chestnut “well they just are'nt scary” – and in all fairness many aren’t. However there is a reason for this other than just shoddy film making, for as paradoxical as it may seem, a great proportion of horror movies aren’t actually aiming to push the fear button and give you sleepless nights.

Now having been immersed in the genre all my life, it strikes me that all horror flicks could be classified into four different categories. And rather grouping films by common tropes and subgenres, this system concentrates on intent and effect. For example Lesbian Vampire Killers and Let The Right One In are both vampire movies but are so radically different it makes little sense to lump them together.

So then, first up is the Ghoulish Delights where comedy meets horror, and where action takes a macabre turn: these are films that may be filled with monsters, murder and mayhem but the focus is on plain old having fun. In this category you may find horror comedies, like Shaun of the Dead and American Werewolf in London, and so-bad-it’s-good schlock fests. But you’ll find also gothic adventures and spooky swashbucklers like Hammer’s Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter and Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy. Also in this territory you’ll find thrillers and romance with a touch of the macabre or supernatural. There may be moments of suspense, splashes of gross-out gore and the odd frisson of fear but in the main flicks in this parish are seeking just to entertain us.

My second category would be the Ghost Train movie – films that are out to inspire fear but only the kind of cartoonish funhouse variety. These movies operate on the same level as a fairground ride in that you willingly go along with the clichés in order to experience the fun of being afraid. Here every castle is old and crumbling, every crypt swathed in cobwebs, thunder storms abound and the score shrieks with strings, groans with organs and generally screams like an uprooted mandrake “this is a horror film! Boo!”. It is the land of jump scares and gore that either inspires laughter or amazes with its invention and over the top execution. Here we happily go along for the ride; these films do not try to engender the willing suspension of disbelief, but more rely on the audience willingly suspending their valour just for the fun of seeing the vampire rise from the grave, the monster wreck the metropolis or the slasher lunge from the shadows.

Furthermore I’d say that the large majority of horror films fit into this category – they wheel out all the props and trimmings that scream horror and ask us to buy into the experience just for fun. They are happy to give a shock or two, show you scenes of splatter and even creep you out a bit – but they are doing it with your permission. Now this is not to say that Ghost Train movies may not be very effective; if they are particularly well crafted or are tapping into some of your own personal fears then they may indeed be terrifying. However like the childhood game of Murder in the Dark, they are a way to enjoy being afraid within agreed boundaries. However it is only in the last two of my proposed categories that the gloves come off…

Now our third category doesn’t inspire absolute fear necessarily either, but does pack a powerful emotional wallop, for this is the home of the Disturbing Visions. Here you will find material that may shock, stun and even sicken you with an all out visceral blitzkrieg. They may inspire terror and dread but their defining feature is that they disturb; forcible smashing the viewers’ preconceptions, shattering their peace of mind, and generally razing the boundaries of what is acceptable into the dust.

Here’s where the horror movie meets extreme cinema, and while films in this category may sink into bad taste and pure gore, they also can merge into art house cinema. This is the realm where films as diverse as Martyrs, Salo, Eraserhead and Cannibal Holocaust dwell – films that challenge the viewer on a variety of different levels. But also here’s where you find horror classics like Freaks, Night of the Living Dead, and Hellraiser; films that pushed the boundaries of the genre by tearing up the Ghost Train rulebook of the day.

Now if the Disturbing Visions are looking to smack you over the head and punch you right in the guts, my fourth and final group are aiming to seize your very soul, for this is the category is Pure Terrors. Here we have movies that are seeking to have you jumping at every creak and every looming shadow long after the film has finished and murder any hope of sleep. Now these are the films that really are scary, movies that aim to reduce you to a gibbering wreck. These films aren’t looking to deliver the fleeting thrills of jump scares but to elicit a phobic reaction to what’s occurring on screen, seeking to drench you in dread and inspire the purest fear.

Naturally as fear is such an individual thing, this last category is the most sparsely populated as its membership much more determined by personal taste than the other three – after all what frightens me is not necessarily the same as what frightens you. For example, The Exorcist is certainly still a Disturbing Vision even today, but for those of you for whom the satanic is particularly terrifying, it could well be in your own catalogue of Pure Terror films.

Study the tropes of horror closely enough and you can craft a Ghost Train or a Ghoulish Delight without too much trouble, throw enough blood, offal and depravity at the screen and you can easily waltz into the land of Disturbing Visions, but crafting a Pure Terror film takes a degree of skill, talent and flair that many directors just cannot muster. And indeed there’s many a Ghost Train that was aiming to join the hallowed ranks of Pure Terrors but failed to carefully build the creeping atmosphere of dread effectively enough. In the world of horror, there are always a few people who even the most ham fisted director can really frighten if they are hitting the common phobic buttons such as spiders, snakes or creepy dolls. But orchestrating your movie so it will absolutely frighten the pants off the majority of movie-goers is a rare achievement.

Now obviously all the categories are somewhat fluid; any given horror movie may step over the dividing lines in certain scenes. The better Ghost Trains may achieve scenes that reach Pure Terror, while the worst ones descend into the kind of silliness that is more in keeping with the spoofs in the kingdom of Ghoulish Delights. However a really gifted director may deliberately slide his movie through the different categories - for example, the original Dawn of the Dead artfully presents Disturbing Visions alongside more typical Ghost Train action sequences and even has moments of Ghoulish Delight with an outbreak of custard pies. And if the walking dead and/or cannibalism automatically raise the hairs on the back of your neck then Dawn of the Dead may qualify for Pure Terror too.

Equally as the years go by and cinematic tastes evolve, films that were down with the hardcore in Pure Terrors and Disturbing Visions will mellow into Ghost Trains and even end up as harmless Ghoulish Delights that you wouldn’t mind your kids watching in the slightest. For example, the classic Hammer versions of Dracula and Frankenstein, that originally were quite shocking with their pioneering use of gore, now seem well mannered, cosy and quaint today.

But as a working taxonomy for the horror film, these categories work well enough. Certainly it’s a good deal less messy than opening the Pandora’s box of subgenres to classify any given movie. And with regards to that common Halloween query to recommend a horror film for the uninitiated, I hope this quartet of classifications will help you narrow down the field in order to find something suitable…

COMING SOON - In SLEEPLESS NIGHTS Part II – we’ll have a look at the art of watching horror movies and take a tour through the movies that really scared me.