06) “The Amityville Horror” (2005), “The Shining” (1980)
I know what you’re saying, “ENOUGH WITH THE TIES ALREADY!”
In response I say, “PLEASE LEAVE YOUR TOP TEN LIST BELOW!”
I don’t like to judge because it’s very tough. You might be wondering why I chose “The Amityville Horror” and “The Shining”. Well, it’s because they have the same concept but take place in two different locations. One is a house and one is a hotel.
“The Amityville Horror” (2005)
Yes, yet another remake, however, “The Amityville Horror” needed this facelift. The first time around, it didn’t scare me that much. With new technology and a bigger budget, it had me shaking in my boots.
“The Amityville Horror” is about a family who moves into a house in Long Island, N. Y., that is possessed by demonic spirits after a horrific murder in 1973. The storyline revolves around the Lutz family: George, Kathy, Billy, Michael and Chloe.
The Lutz family notices that George is acting different as the storyline unfolds. George and Kathy ask questions and find out that one year before the family moved in, a murder occurred in the very house they currently reside. George couldn’t believe it.
George and Kathy find out that the family before them, The DeFeo family, was murdered in their beds after 28 days of residing at the home. The eldest son, Ronald, Jr., said he heard voices in his head that ordered him to kill his family members, all six of them.
The final seconds were quite a surprise. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t ruin it for you. All I have to say is that it made me jump.
The Shining (1980)
“The Shining” is quite the masterpiece by a master of horror: none other than Stephen King.
“The Shining” is about the Torrance family, Jack, Wendy and Danny. Jack becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado for the winter.
Danny has a gift known as “the shining” which causes him to see the horrific past of the hotel. The visions include gallons of blood flowing through hallways and creepy twins. One of the employees, Dick Hallorann, notices that Danny has this gift and tries to help Danny deal with it throughout the movie.
The father, Jack, comes down with cabin fever and starts to see the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel and believes that they are real. Jack slowly goes crazy and turns on his family.
A visually-stunning scene that I will remember to this day is the scene where the snow globe and the labyrinth in the front appeared as one. That’s what I call great editing and cinematography. And who can forget the quotes, “HEEEEEEEEEERE’S JOHNNY!” and “Redrum, redrum, redrum.”
There was a remake of The Shining, a mini-series on the SciFi channel. I must say that this movie did not need a facelift. The Shining, the original, will always make any list. The visuals are absolutely amazing.
05) “Nosferatu” (1922) and “It” (1990)
Talk about two villains who are in desperate need of an extreme makeover. Nosferatu and Pennywise are probably the scariest and ugliest looking villains in a horror movie. They both have really big hands, really big teeth, really long faces and really big foreheads. Could these two be the big bad wolves of horror?
“Nosferatu” (1922)
There was a lot of controversy behind this movie. The main two are quite interesting. First, Bram Stoker’s widow refused to sell the rights to the director so he used a different name for his vampire, Count Orlok. The second controversy, contrary to popular belief, is that the person who played the role of Count Orlok was an actual vampire.
The little things do add up in this movie like the doors closing on their own, the shadow figure of Count Orlok on the wall, Nosferatu rising from the ground up with the mystery of how he did it, and the shadow of the hand on the woman’s heart and him grabbing it. The rats in the movie played a huge role too.
There were hardly any women in this movie. You can tell that those who played the roles of women were men.
“Nosferatu” is a silent film starring Max Shreck as a vampire who goes by the name of Count Orlock. Count Orlock is persuaded by a real estate agent to purchase an abandoned mansion in front of the real estate agent’s home. What the real estate agent fails to realize is that the being that he had asked to move in is a real vampire.
Soon, people begin to fear a plague because of the rats that were found in coffins Nosferatu had brought with him.
The editing was not up to par. Then again, “Nosferatu” is well over 80 years old and you can’t expect much.
To see a behind-the-scenes look of the making of the original Nosferatu, I highly recommend watching, “Shadow of the Vampire” with Willem Dafoe.
“It” (1990)
At first, I thought “It” started off as a movie in theaters and would have done a killing in theaters (no pun intended). Like most Stephen King movies, “It” made its way to television first.
I remember watching this as a kid and the fear I had when Pennywise came through the shower drain. I couldn’t take a shower at home unless someone was in the house with me. Pennywise scared me that badly. I’m sure Pennywise is one of the main reasons why people are afraid of clowns. I’m over my fear of clowns now and, I must say, I’ve never felt cleaner.
“It” has an amazing cast from an amazing mind. The cast includes Tim Reid, John Ritter, Tim Curry and a young Seth Green.
“It” is about a clown that terrorizes and kills young children. Mike Hanlon notices occurrences in which children are being murdered and knew right away who was behind these murders.
Hanlon calls his friends that had fought the clown, known as Pennywise, in the past. Hanlon and his friends, who call themselves the Lucky Seven, made a pact that, if Pennywise came back, they would unite again and fight the evil presence known as Pennywise.
Pennywise is not your average clown. He can change himself into different forms and he also has supernatural powers. He has terrorized the little city of Derry, Maine, for far too long. Thirty years to be exact.
I must say that this made for T.V. movie is not your mother’s idea of a T.V. movie; it’s her worst nightmare.
Until next time, good fright, good night!
