"The Exorcist" director William Friedkin's 13 Must-See Horror Movies

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 10:43 AM

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/1,,2008...155567,00.html

William Friedkin on 13 Must-See Horror Movies

Here's a scary thought: The following movies give William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist (pictured), nightmares. ''They're usually pursuit dreams. Somebody is after me to kill me,'' explains the Oscar winner and man behind 2007's Bug— now available on an EW Must List-approved special edition DVD — and the Dec. 6 episode of CSI (which he directed for friend William Petersen). ''I dread having these nightmares because they are so real to me that it takes me maybe hours after I wake up to convince myself that I'm not in that world,'' Friedkin says. ''These films produce that same effect every time I watch them.'' With that sobering endorsement, on to Friedkin's annotated list. Rent at your own risk.

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 10:43 AM

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,2008...153543,00.html

A Q&A with John Carpenter: The Sultan of Scare

The original ''Halloween'' director examines the enduring appeal of vampires, the new wave of torture horror, and why ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' is hi-lar-ious.

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 10:47 AM

Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

WILLIAM FRIEDKIN SAYS: ''Psycho was the first film that really scared me, that made me think, Oh my God, this is possible. Hitchcock based it on a novel by Robert Bloch, which was based on actual murders committed by a guy living in a shack in Wisconsin named Ed Gein. I grew up and lived in Chicago, a stone's throw away....When I made The Exorcist, I understood what Hitchcock had done with Psycho. The build-up to those horrific scenes was more terrifying than the scenes themselves, as unforgettably disturbing as they were. Any work of art that can produce an emotional response is powerful. Hitchcock is able to scare you, almost any time he cares to.''

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 10:48 AM

and the rest...Friedkin commentary on each at the ew.com link.
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/1,,2008...155567,00.html

Alien (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott

Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Directed by Roman Polanski

Diabolique (1955)
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

Onibaba (1964)
Directed by Kaneto Shindô

Suspiria (1977) / Deep Red (1975)
Directed by Dario Argento

Le Boucher (The Butcher) (1970)
Directed by Claude Chabrol

Funny Games (1997)
Directed by Michael Haneke

Them (2006)
Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud

The Lodger (1944)
Directed by John Brahm

The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Directed by Robert Siodmak

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Directed by Tobe Hooper

Rob Instigator · 10.31.2007, 11:03 AM

cool list to read. thanks!
I think tonite I will rent a few horror movies and get high with my lady and get scared

nicfit · 10.31.2007, 11:16 AM

"Them (2006)
Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN SAYS: ''If you'll notice, most of the films on my list are from many, many years ago. For the most part, I'm not interested in horror films that I see today. But Them is an exception. It's based on a true story, and similar to Funny Games, it's about some young people who go around a small vacation town and kidnap various visitors, take them to a house, torture them, and kill them. For the entire length of the picture, you have no idea who's doing this or why, and then the final scene kind of explains it. Those sequences of hunting, capturing, and torturing are really among the most brilliant that I've ever seen.''

Well, that is not what happens in the movie, actually

....

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 11:24 AM

pwned...Billy Friedkin got busted!

I haven't seen it.

seen this Them, of course

nicfit · 10.31.2007, 11:29 AM

Guess those "articles" get some heavy editing before publishing... maybe they messed up something. The story is a bit more "twisted" than that, the "elements" are all there ( a house and some people, mainly, that's all there's in the movie ha ha ) but the events are kinda different. and the best thing about that movie imo is the amazing audio, it's really scary with headphones on..go rent it, it's just over 70 mins long and well worth watching

atsonicpark · 10.31.2007, 01:43 PM

and now, atsonicpark's 13 favorite horror movies!

1. dead alive
2. MANIAC (1980)
3. street trash
4. brain damage
5. deadtime stories
6. gore gore girls
7. night train to terror
8. dawn of the dead (original; the remake was TERRIBLE)
9. bloodsucking freaks
10. body melt
11. the gates of hell/city of the living dead
12. the beyond
13. basket case

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 03:43 PM

Thanks for your list, atsonicpark; that's the ghoulish spirit.

my 13 favorite horror/monster/suspense thriller movies:

1. Psycho (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock (my #3 all-time)
2. Targets (1968) by Peter Bogdanovich
3. Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott
4. The Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick
5. Rosemary's Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski
6. Jaws (1975) by Steven Spielberg
7. The Thing (1982) by John Carpenter
8. Spoorloos [The Vanishing] (1988) by George Sluizer
9. Videodrome (1983) by David Cronenberg
10. Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott
11. Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter
12. Eraserhead (1977) by David Lynch
13. Sin City (2005) by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Blue Velvet (1986) by David Lynch is more of a suspense/mystery to me, thus it's not topping this list.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) by John McNaughton just might be the scariest for its grisly sense of realism, although it's not a typical horror movie.
There's no The Exorcist (1973) by William Friedkin on my list; it's okay, it's just that it didn't make the top thirteen.

Tokolosh · 10.31.2007, 03:57 PM

That's not a bad list at all, but he obviously hasn't seen Fred Vogel's August Underground.
I consider it to be one of the sickest serial killer movies of all time.

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tokolosh

That's not a bad list at all, but he obviously hasn't seen Fred Vogel's August Underground.
I consider it to be one of the sickest serial killer movies of all time.

I would operate under the assumption that he has seen it before; he's William Friedkin, after all.

Then again, one can never be certain. I certainly haven't seen said movie.

How is it that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is on his list, but no Halloween? There's no The Shining either. Friedkin obviously doesn't have the greatest taste if these aren't in his top thirteen. Then again, it seems part of his list is used to highlight older ones that he feels a lot of people may not have seen.

Tokolosh · 10.31.2007, 04:09 PM

Yeah. He probably has.
Here's a site with more extreme horror.

http://www.toetagpictures.com/

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 04:13 PM

Hmm, I suppose Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott has a dark, suspenseful sci-fi horror-vibe. I should probably kick out Grindhouse.

The original The Hitcher (1986) by Robert Harmon was pretty scary, and not a bad movie.

I liked Peter Jackson's Kong, (Dino's wasn't too bad), but the original is quite the cinema classic.

Tokolosh · 10.31.2007, 04:16 PM

I enjoyed The Hitcher. I also shat myself in John Carpenter's The Thing.

atari 2600 · 10.31.2007, 04:18 PM

Love Carpenter's The Thing. Had to rank it fairly highly.

Carpenter's Escape from New York with Kurt Russell is fun, but not as good of a movie, and more of a sci-fi adventure. I'll go ahead and write that The Thing is a bit more horror than sci-fi.

So, in lieu of The Hitcher, Blade Runner will provide the Rutger Hauer baddie mention, and score a deuce for director Ridley Scott. And Kurt Russell gets demoted because Grindhouse (Death Proof) is gone now from the thirteenth slot.

Yes, I'm taking my list way too seriously.

Tokolosh · 10.31.2007, 04:22 PM

It's gross, and the scene where they test their blood is nail biting.

nicfit · 10.31.2007, 04:22 PM

I've only seen "the thing" awfully dubbed in italian till now

Rob Instigator · 10.31.2007, 04:25 PM

things can be both horror and sci-fi. they are not mutually exclusive.

Tokolosh · 10.31.2007, 04:25 PM

Horror has many faces. One of them being Salo. The horror. The horror.
The Burning was fun.

10.31.2007, 10:43 AM	#1
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/1,,2008...155567,00.html William Friedkin on 13 Must-See Horror Movies Here's a scary thought: The following movies give William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist (pictured), nightmares. ''They're usually pursuit dreams. Somebody is after me to kill me,'' explains the Oscar winner and man behind 2007's *Bug— now available on an EW Must List-approved special edition DVD — and the Dec. 6 episode of CSI* (which he directed for friend William Petersen). ''I dread having these nightmares because they are so real to me that it takes me maybe hours after I wake up to convince myself that I'm not in that world,'' Friedkin says. ''These films produce that same effect every time I watch them.'' With that sobering endorsement, on to Friedkin's annotated list. Rent at your own risk.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 10:43 AM	#2
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,2008...153543,00.html A Q&A with John Carpenter: The Sultan of Scare The original ''Halloween'' director examines the enduring appeal of vampires, the new wave of torture horror, and why ''Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' is hi-lar-ious.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 10:48 AM	#4
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	and the rest...Friedkin commentary on each at the ew.com link. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/1,,2008...155567,00.html Alien (1979) Directed by Ridley Scott Rosemary's Baby (1968) Directed by Roman Polanski Diabolique (1955) Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot Onibaba (1964) Directed by Kaneto Shindô Suspiria (1977) / Deep Red (1975) Directed by Dario Argento Le Boucher (The Butcher) (1970) Directed by Claude Chabrol Funny Games (1997) Directed by Michael Haneke Them (2006) Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud The Lodger (1944) Directed by John Brahm The Spiral Staircase (1946) Directed by Robert Siodmak The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Directed by Tobe Hooper
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 11:03 AM	#5
Rob Instigator invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In the land of the Instigator Posts: 27,991	cool list to read. thanks! I think tonite I will rent a few horror movies and get high with my lady and get scared __________________ RXTT's Intellectual Journey - my new blog where I talk about all the books I read.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 11:16 AM	#6
nicfit invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: banana boat Posts: 15,570	"Them (2006) Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud WILLIAM FRIEDKIN SAYS: ''If you'll notice, most of the films on my list are from many, many years ago. For the most part, I'm not interested in horror films that I see today. But Them is an exception. It's based on a true story, and similar to Funny Games, it's about some young people who go around a small vacation town and kidnap various visitors, take them to a house, torture them, and kill them. For the entire length of the picture, you have no idea who's doing this or why, and then the final scene kind of explains it. Those sequences of hunting, capturing, and torturing are really among the most brilliant that I've ever seen.'' Well, that is not what happens in the movie, actually .... __________________ 11:11 11-11-11 I Ascended.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 10:47 AM	#3
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	Psycho (1960) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock WILLIAM FRIEDKIN SAYS: ''Psycho was the first film that really scared me, that made me think, Oh my God, this is possible. Hitchcock based it on a novel by Robert Bloch, which was based on actual murders committed by a guy living in a shack in Wisconsin named Ed Gein. I grew up and lived in Chicago, a stone's throw away....When I made The Exorcist, I understood what Hitchcock had done with Psycho. The build-up to those horrific scenes was more terrifying than the scenes themselves, as unforgettably disturbing as they were. Any work of art that can produce an emotional response is powerful. Hitchcock is able to scare you, almost any time he cares to.''
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 11:24 AM	#7
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	pwned...Billy Friedkin got busted! I haven't seen it. seen this Them, of course
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 11:29 AM	#8
nicfit invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: banana boat Posts: 15,570	Guess those "articles" get some heavy editing before publishing... maybe they messed up something. The story is a bit more "twisted" than that, the "elements" are all there ( a house and some people, mainly, that's all there's in the movie ha ha ) but the events are kinda different. and the best thing about that movie imo is the amazing audio, it's really scary with headphones on..go rent it, it's just over 70 mins long and well worth watching __________________ 11:11 11-11-11 I Ascended.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 01:43 PM	#9
atsonicpark invito al cielo Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 28,843	and now, atsonicpark's 13 favorite horror movies! 1. dead alive 2. MANIAC (1980) 3. street trash 4. brain damage 5. deadtime stories 6. gore gore girls 7. night train to terror 8. dawn of the dead (original; the remake was TERRIBLE) 9. bloodsucking freaks 10. body melt 11. the gates of hell/city of the living dead 12. the beyond 13. basket case __________________
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 03:43 PM	#10
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	Thanks for your list, atsonicpark; that's the ghoulish spirit. my 13 favorite horror/monster/suspense thriller movies: 1. Psycho (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock (my #3 all-time) 2. Targets (1968) by Peter Bogdanovich 3. Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott 4. The Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick 5. Rosemary's Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski 6. Jaws (1975) by Steven Spielberg 7. The Thing (1982) by John Carpenter 8. Spoorloos [The Vanishing] (1988) by George Sluizer 9. Videodrome (1983) by David Cronenberg 10. Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott 11. Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter 12. Eraserhead (1977) by David Lynch 13. Sin City (2005) by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez Blue Velvet (1986) by David Lynch is more of a suspense/mystery to me, thus it's not topping this list. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) by John McNaughton just might be the scariest for its grisly sense of realism, although it's not a typical horror movie. There's no The Exorcist (1973) by William Friedkin on my list; it's okay, it's just that it didn't make the top thirteen.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 03:57 PM	#11
Tokolosh invito al cielo Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Plaza de Toros Posts: 6,731	That's not a bad list at all, but he obviously hasn't seen Fred Vogel's August Underground. I consider it to be one of the sickest serial killer movies of all time.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 04:09 PM	#13
Tokolosh invito al cielo Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Plaza de Toros Posts: 6,731	Yeah. He probably has. Here's a site with more extreme horror. http://www.toetagpictures.com/
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 04:13 PM	#14
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	Hmm, I suppose Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott has a dark, suspenseful sci-fi horror-vibe. I should probably kick out Grindhouse. The original The Hitcher (1986) by Robert Harmon was pretty scary, and not a bad movie. I liked Peter Jackson's Kong, (Dino's wasn't too bad), but the original is quite the cinema classic.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 04:16 PM	#15
Tokolosh invito al cielo Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Plaza de Toros Posts: 6,731	I enjoyed The Hitcher. I also shat myself in John Carpenter's The Thing.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 04:18 PM	#16
atari 2600 invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 8,213	Love Carpenter's The Thing. Had to rank it fairly highly. Carpenter's Escape from New York with Kurt Russell is fun, but not as good of a movie, and more of a sci-fi adventure. I'll go ahead and write that The Thing is a bit more horror than sci-fi. So, in lieu of The Hitcher, Blade Runner will provide the Rutger Hauer baddie mention, and score a deuce for director Ridley Scott. And Kurt Russell gets demoted because Grindhouse (Death Proof) is gone now from the thirteenth slot. Yes, I'm taking my list way too seriously.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 04:22 PM	#17
Tokolosh invito al cielo Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Plaza de Toros Posts: 6,731	It's gross, and the scene where they test their blood is nail biting.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.31.2007, 04:25 PM	#19
Rob Instigator invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In the land of the Instigator Posts: 27,991	things can be both horror and sci-fi. they are not mutually exclusive. __________________ RXTT's Intellectual Journey - my new blog where I talk about all the books I read.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|