JOHN STANLEY'S LIST
OF THE SEVEN BEST
HORROR MASTERPIECES
EVER RECORDED ON FILM
1. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1936). Directed by James Whale. A bizarre mixture of the macabre, whimsical satire and thunderbolt Gothic horror with Boris Karloff recreating his infamous role as the Frankenstein Monster, first introduced in Universal's 1931 production of FRANKENSTEIN (also directed by Whale). On video and laser from MCA/Universal.
2. THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1953). Directed by Jack Arnold. The Gill-Man, the best and most realistic rubber-suit monster ever designed by Hollywood, stalked through this 3-D thriller that is a nonstop series of man-vs-beast battles, cat-and-mouse underwater excitement and ripping good murders--all accompanied by a wonderfully horrific music score by Henry Mancini and other top Universal-International composers of the 1950s. Julia Adams slips into a virginal white one-piece swimsuit to swim in the lagoon while the Creature swims just beneath her, matching her movement for movement in what is a sexually charged "Beauty and the Beast" ballet. Richard Carlson and Richard Denning are the rather bland heroes who vie for Ms Adams' affections when they aren't trying to speargun the primitive Gill-Man to death. On video from Goodtimes and MCA and laser from MCA.
3. THE INNOCENTS (1961). Directed by Jack Clayton. This adaptation of Henry James' novel "The Turn of the Screw" remains one of the most chilling and literate ghost tales ever
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4. PSYCHO (1960). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Robert Bloch's novel, a psychological study of a sexual pervert-murderer couched in the style of a horror thriller, served as a springboard for this black-and-white classic in which the main heroine Marian Crane (Janet Leigh) is murdered in a motel shower stall early in the film--a complete jolt to audiences of the period. Anthony Perkins' portrayal of Norman Bates remains one of the most frightening of the horror genre. On video and laser from MCA/Universal.
5. THE HAUNTING (1963). Directed by Robert Wise (1963). A psychologically disturbing and atmospheric version of Shirley Jackson's novel "The Haunting of Hill House" in which the ghostly phenomena is only suggested, never blatantly shown, proving that less is more. The miasma of this haunted house masterpiece will have your skin crawling. On video and laser from MGM/UA.
6. THE EXORCIST (1973). Directed by William Friedkin. This is the shocker that established new trends in visual ghastliness but which still maintained an intellectual attitude in studying good vs. evil, Heaven vs. Hell on an earthly level. It stuns you but also carries you away into the depths that good psychological horror plummets to too infrequently in the movies.
7. THE UNINVITED (1944). Directed by Lewis Allen. Those who saw this in the '40s, or discovered it on TV in the '50s, always remember it fondly as one of the few good haunted house movies. However, now that we have been carried to the heights of atmospheric/shock film making, one might accuse Paramount's adaptation of Dorothy Macardle's novel UNEASY FREEHOLD of being slow moving and talky. But anyone searching for old-fashioned story-telling values (such as fascinating characters, strong motivations, scintillating dialogue, a setting that serves as a metaphor for character, etc.) will find this demonstrative of haunted Holllywood at its best. Ray Milland and sister Ruth Hussey buy a mansion, Windward House, on the Cornish coast to be confronted with subtle hints of a haunting: wilted flowers, a weeping voice, a gust of wind on the stairs, a room turned ice cold, the smell of mamosa. Recommended for the fine script by Frank Partos and Dodie Smith, the gentlemanly direction of Allen, and the performances of Milland, Hussey, Gail Russell, Donald Crisp, Cornelia Otis Skinner and Alan Napier, the latter as the village doctor. On video and laser from MCA.
