The NYT is running a meaty list of the horror movies that scared the bejeezus out such tough-guy thrill-meisters as Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead). While the list of their go-to fright picks is not unexpected, their descriptions of the films are worth exploring.
The same titles keep cropping up: it seems that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining will never loose its power to terrify. The movie “proves that great horror can be both shocking and a highly artistic endeavor,” says Del Toro, while indie director Ti West (The House of the Devil) admits that it was the “first film to actually make me uncomfortable with the idea of ever watching it again.” Come to think of it, West was perhaps inspired by Kubrick’s infamous abandoned hotel with his sixth film, SXSW entry The Innkeepers, a wittily atmospheric haunted inn flick starring Last House on the Left‘s Sara Paxton.
What are your scariest memories? The ones that keep you up at night? Mine is the ultimate haunted house movie, Robert Wise’s The Haunting.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
