Channel 5's "Greatest Ever Scary Movies"

[sherbetbizarre]

I think this is new... Channel 4 did "100 scary moments". Now comes...

Greatest Ever Scary Movies (Entertainment)

Time - 21:00 - 23:45 (2 hours and 45 minutes long)

When - Sunday 29th October on five

Greatest Ever Scary Movies brings you 40 of the most macabre tales ever to hit our cinema screens, as voted for in an exclusive poll of Five's viewers and readers of The Times. Host Giles Coren takes us on a terrifying trip to the number one spot and along the way is joined by many famous faces who have been exclusively interviewed for the programme, including Kathy Bates, Robert Englund, Linda Blair, Tony Todd, Tippi Hedren, Matthew Lillard and James Brolin.
(Stereo, Subtitles)

 

[Elliesquire]

I was quite surprised when Alien was number 1. For some reason I hadn't even classed it as a 'scary movie' in my mind. I was expecting it to be The Silence of the Lambs/ The Shining/ Cape Fear, something more like that. (Aren't those countdown programs annoying? You just flick channels and catch a little bit of it and then you can't stop watching. And they always seem to last for hours and hours.)

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

I was quite surprised when Alien was number 1. For some reason I hadn't even classed it as a 'scary movie' in my mind. I was expecting it to be The Silence of the Lambs/ The Shining/ Cape Fear, something more like that. (Aren't those countdown programs annoying? You just flick channels and catch a little bit of it and then you can't stop watching. And they always seem to last for hours and hours.)

How many Channel 4 sponsored films made the Top Twenty, this time, I wonder?

 

[Peripart]

I was quite surprised when Alien was number 1... (Aren't those countdown programs annoying? You just flick channels and catch a little bit of it and then you can't stop watching. And they always seem to last for hours and hours.)

You're right, Elliesquire - it's easy to get dragged into the whole "I wonder what's up next?" thing, and then find that 3 hours have passed. I actually guessed (or at least hoped) that Alien might be near the top, but I managed to tear myself away at about number 9, so thanks for the heads-up on the winner. The Alien films (even the third one - watch the extended version, it's better) are among my favourites, and are often underrated as shockers by those who don't "do" Sci-Fi.

One thing I did notice, though, was the presence (in rather fetching headgear!) on the show of a gentleman representing a diocese in the West Country whom we are advised not to mention by name on this board. So I won't. But it was quite a hat.

 

[samchn07]

yes, Alien (1979) is number one without any doubt, which is the most horror movie either can scary anyone !
some of the best:
Alien (1979)
The Shining (1980)
Diabolique (1955)
The Thing (1982)
Nosferatu (1922)
Faust (1926)

 

[stu neville]

which is the most horror movie either can scary anyone !

Couldn't put it better myself .

My all-time fave remains The Haunting (1963), for sheer sublety and pervasive frighteningness, which can easily either scary anyone too. Directed by Robert Wise, who also made The Day the Earth Stood Still, and went on to make Sound of Music, which is of course equally horrifying in its own way.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Nosferatu (1922), should be in everybody's collection, somewhere.

My son's going through a The Thing (1982), phase at the moment, for some reason.

I'm not a big fan of scary films, but I will suggest, Dead and Buried (1981), as on of the strangest films I've ever seen. It does have a few shocks, some very unpleasant imagery and a strange, dreamlike, horror, that leads to a very unpleasant revelation for the main protagonist, come the end.

The DVD was advertised quite regularly in the pages of the FT, at one time, as having once been banned as a, 'video nasty'. It may even have been given away as a special gift. I caught it on TV, late night, once and found it fairly disturbing. Like a nasty nightmare.

 

[Moooksta]

Shameless self promotion

I was very fortunate to "re-edit" Nosferatu for a music video last year.

I've always though how amazing it would have been to have never seen a projected film before, never encountered this new invention called "cinema" and to experience it for the first time back in 1922. Must have been a terrifying experience.

 

[Bigphoot2]

These sort of programmes just make me angry as they always get it wrong

And they always have the same people on them - comedians, DJs and "social commentators" whose only media exposure seems to be on these 100 Top/Best/Worst etc programmes.

 

[OneWingedBird]

Did Hellraiser make it in there? or April Fool's Day?

 

[GNC]

Did Hellraiser make it in there? or April Fool's Day?

Was April Fool's Day scary? Apart from the implication that the lovely Deborah Foreman was barking mad?

 

[Timble2]

Call me cynical, but wouldn't be surprised if this is really the "100 Most Scary Movies that Dirty Desmond's Channel 5 has the Rights to Show". i.e. a cheap bit of programming to give Channel 5 an excuse to repeat the stuff for the 15th time when they're not rerunning CSI....

 

[oldrover]

yes, Alien (1979) is number one without any doubt, which is the most horror movie either can scary anyone !

I agree not only the best horror film of all time, the best sci fi film as well also one of the best films full stop in my book too. Hate the sequels and would like to them all burned, I admit though I do have a certain liking for the third especially as has been said in the extended version. But it has to go.

I'm not a big fan of scary films, but I will suggest, Dead and Buried (1981), as on of the strangest films I've ever seen.

It was written by Dan O'Bannon who wrote the original versions of Alien, it was banned as a video nasty for some reason. I remember seeing the advert for this at my local Odeon, and I had to wait nearly thirty years before I saw it. God was I disappointed.

 

[Bigphoot2]

Call me cynical, but wouldn't be surprised if this is really the "100 Most Scary Movies that Dirty Desmond's Channel 5 has the Rights to Show". i.e. a cheap bit of programming to give Channel 5 an excuse to repeat the stuff for the 15th time when they're not rerunning CSI....

That reminds of one of those programmes a few years back - Greatest War Movies or something like that. As I was watching it something suddenly struck me - a lot of classics war movies were missing and the "greatest" films all had one thing in common: they were all made by 20th Century Fox

 

[Monstrosa]

Call me cynical, but wouldn't be surprised if this is really the "100 Most Scary Movies that Dirty Desmond's Channel 5 has the Rights to Show". i.e. a cheap bit of programming to give Channel 5 an excuse to repeat the stuff for the 15th time when they're not rerunning CSI....

As this thread was started in 2006 that predates The Pornographer in Chief's acquisition by sometime.

 

[Spookdaddy]

...My all-time fave remains The Haunting (1963), for sheer sublety and pervasive frighteningness, which can easily either scary anyone too...

Agreed.

I always thought that the first three movies in the Alien franchise fit into three separate categories: Alien was a haunted house move; Aliens, an all-action shoot em up; Alien³, a piece of violent art house.

I loved Alien, but never much cared for any of the follow ups.

I'm glad samchn07 mentioned Diabolique - a hugely overlooked shityerpants classic. (Edit: Actually, I'm referring to Les Diaboliques - the original. Diabolique is the 90's remake, which I haven't seen.)

 

[rambof07]

yes, Alien (1979) is number one without any doubt, which is the most horror movie either can scary anyone !
some of the best:
Alien (1979)
The Shining (1980)
Diabolique (1955)
The Thing (1982)
Nosferatu (1922)
Faust (1926)

Why don'y you list up Psycho-1960 i think which is the most scariest movie ever!

 

[uair01]

I quite like the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It is camp but that only makes it better.

 

[Cultjunky]

Maybe not one of the scariest filums of all time, but one whose ripples I still feel to this day.

My first scary movie was JAWS. I was quite young, certainly under 10. I still can't bring myself to wade into the sea past knee depth.

 

[oldrover]

My first scary movie was JAWS. I was quite young, certainly under 10. I still can't bring myself to wade into the sea past knee depth.

You and me both.

 

[Analogue Boy]

I still maintain Pinocchio is the scariest film of all time.
It starts with a 'child' abduction - especially laying all the guilt on the naive victim (thanks for that Jiminy) goes through mutation of young boys into animals and ends up with a Monstro whale swallowing scene which is at least 6 times scarier than Jaws eaing Robert Shaw.

it's truly spooky and not right.

 

[Sergeant_Pluck]

When I was a kid I used to stay with my grandparents at the weekend. One Friday night, my grandfather fell asleep in his chair and the American Werewolf in London came on TV. As kids do I barely breathed for fear of waking up Gramps and being sent to bed. After about half an hour, I got up and went to bed, absolutely petrified. My folks lived in a big old 17th Century country house that was suppsosed have a spirit in anyway. I slept with the light on for about 6 months in that house, and I was wary about horror movies until I was in my mid-20s.

As an adult, I don't think I've ever seen a really 'scary' movie. Apart from the occasional 'jump', I think to frighten an adult, you have to get into their psychology - something like The Exorcist, maybe. In this respect, it's why I liek the Blair Witch Project, as it proved something fundamental about horror movies - it's not what you see that scares you, it's what you think you see.

I've never seen The Haunting (1963), but I have a copy on my computer. I'll hook it up tonight and watch it.

 

[stu neville]

... it proved something fundamental about horror movies - it's not what you see that scares you, it's what you think you see...

..which is why...

..I've never seen The Haunting (1963), but I have a copy on my computer. I'll hook it up tonight and watch it.

...you're in for a treat. Let us know what you think .

 

[Sergeant_Pluck]

Will do!

I should have said the BWP reminded us what was scary about horror. I recognise that older movies did this de facto, but I think throughtout the 70s and 80s, horror was largely b-movie blood-fests or simply more straighthforward visceral fare. The BWP, in my opinon, took us back to an earlier age...as well as being pretty ground-breaking for the time too in terms of its low budget, hand-held style.

 

[Cultjunky]

I've never seen The Haunting (1963), but I have a copy on my computer. I'll hook it up tonight and watch it.

This is THE spooky filum! All other 'Haunting Horrors' are pale imitations.

8)

 

[Cultjunky]

I think from the late fifties onwards, in the world of scary movies, was a turn towards non supernatural fears. Hammer brought out a fair few, ‘Don’t take sweets from a stranger’ – no bonus points for guessing that this plays on the worst fears of any parent; ‘Paranoic’ that plays on the fears of a generation coming out rationing and into increasing consumptive society; The Damned’ as a reflection on the rise of the teenager; they even dipped a toe into the world of mind control in ‘Hysteria’.