From classic horror to modern scary tales: seven fightening films you need to watch
Are you in the mood to be scared out of your wits? The YP staff are, and have come up with a bunch of scary films to watch in the dark of the night
This time of year a little coolness creeps into the air, days get shorter, and night seems too eager to get here. We’re right between Halloween and Hungry Ghost Festival – mu ha ha haaaaaa. So if you haven’t prepared your All Soul’s thrills, Young Post team has harvested the best of the scariest movies out there.
Here’s Johnny! There’s a reason Stephen King is called the king of horror, and one of my favourite masterpieces is The Shining. A down-on-their-luck family move in to a hotel to take care of it over winter. The father, an author, sees it as a chance to finish his book. But the son is psychic and he knows they’re not alone. Not for the faint hearted.
Susan Ramsay, Editor
The Orphanage is one of my favourites (if a film that stops you from sleeping at night can be called a favourite). It’s scary in an edge-of-your-seat kind of way. But the thing that makes this movie stand out is that it also has a great plot that will keep you guessing right up until the very end. It features an orphanage in the middle of nowhere, a young boy, and his mysterious new “friend”, who creepily has a sack over his face. If that wasn’t scary enough, the orphanage also has a dark past. Throw in some ghosts, door-slamming and voices from behind the wall, and you have the recipe for a perfect horror.
Lucy Christie, copy editor
Slasher movies and zombie flicks are too fake to be scary, but Misery is terrifying. It’s about an author who goes for a drive in the mountains to celebrate finishing his latest manuscript, and gets into a terrible car accident. Fortunately he is rescued by a kindly, small town nurse. Wait – did I say kindly? I meant dangerously disturbed. It turns out she is the author’s number one fan, and when she finds the finished manuscript in his trunk, and discovers that the author has killed off her favourite character, she goes crazy. She keeps the injured author hostage in her lonely mountain home, forcing him to rewrite the book … or suffer the consequences.
Sam Gusway, copy editor
The Birds is not a normal “horror” movie, especially when you compare its film-making skills to what is possible today with CGI, and how you can make the literally impossible seem perfectly possible. But the tension builds and builds, as you see more examples of birds attacking people. The music in the final scene, and the thousands of birds, leaves you feeling that anything could happen and the people have no power. Terrifying.
Karly Cox, deputy editor
I still love The Exorcist, I just think it’s a very well-made film. But my favourite horror movie is probably The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It’s a familiar story told from a different angle – a court case against the priest involved for allowing Emily Rose to die through neglect – and the way that the film is shot is chilling and thrilling.
Heidi Yeung, web copy editor
Zombeavers. A fun weekend turns gory for a bunch of teens staying at a log cabin in the middle of a beaver-infested swamp. This critically-acclaimed cult film uses incredible special effects and scary jump-scenes to create a movie that will have you chewing your knuckles in fright.
Lauren James, reporter
I don’t watch horror movies, because I’m the wussiest wuss that has ever wussed. Having said that, I once caught a late night showing of Asylum, a really old British horror film that was made in 1972. It follows a doctor as he interviews four inmates in a mental asylum in order to solve a mystery – which one of the inmates is the former head of the asylum who went through a mental breakdown? I didn’t sleep well for weeks after watching this film all the way to the end.
Ginny Wong, copy editor