With the disappointing remake of Evil Dead, stay home, roll back the clock to the Golden Era of horror films, forget that these films spawned any sequels and stream one of the originals.
It is easy to forget that The Exorcist (1973) isn’t actually just about heads twisting 360 degrees and vomit splatter, but actually a slow-psychological burner. As much about actual demonic possessions, the story is a fable about every parent’s secret suspicion—that their teenage daughter is possessed by the Devil.
The original summer blockbuster, Jaws (1975) works so well because we rarely see the monster, and even more because director Steven Spielberg (in his first real break-out film) weaves his quirky humor and deep-seated sense of humanity throughout the film.
Critics fall over themselves to analyze the empathic fear and loathing when mama boy Norman Bates stabs a helpless woman through a shower curtain in Psycho (1960), but Halloween (1978) intensified that point-of-view like no prior (or subsequent?) film as a heavy-breathing mental health hospital escapee stalks and chases a jittery Jamie Lee Curtis, and the camera watches through the slits of his hockey mask. Creepy and clever. It is understandable why the film inspired eight sequels, but sad that none measured up to the original.
This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2013.
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