6 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
HALLOWEEN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2002
Horror flicks offer haunting Halloween
Editor's note: Halloween offers many entertainment options, ranging from trick-or-treating to pulling pranks to partying. But if you opt to stay in this holiday, a good horror movie and a bowl of popcorn may be the best form of entertainment. Here are the best horror films as selected by journalism students in an opinion and commentary class.
The Shining By Leah Shaffer
Viewers may only remember The Shining from the foaming-at-the-mouth, "Here's Johnny!" scene with Jack Nicholson. That's a shame, because the movie is so much more than just hammy performances and ax swinging. The true creepiness of The Shining is felt during the early quiet scenes when director Stanley Kubrick sets up the Torrance family in the Overlook Hotel.
Jack Torrance.
Jack Torrance, played by Nicholson, brings his family along for a winter caretaker job at an emptied Colorado hotel. Viewers soon see that some very malignant ghosts haunt Overlook. Jack's son Danny, played by Danny Lloyd, has menacing visions of
STANLEY KUBRICK'S THE SHINING
the ghosts using his "shining," or psychic power. It doesn't really help the situation that Jack, as a recovering alcoholic, seems about ready to jump off the deep end from the beginning. In the original novel written by Stephen King, Jack's character is supposed to be a loving, sane father who falls victim to the evils of the hotel. Characteristically, Kubrick tinkers with the plot and, this time around, Jack's character seems to seethe with rage from the first scene.
Just as Nicholson seems on the verge of going ballistic because of the eerie setting, his wife, Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall who always seems on the verge of hysteria becomes a pushover. While those two characters are over-the-top, Lloyd plays Danny son like a walking zombie. It's all one big, happy, dysfunctional, psychotic family. An actor does not play the best character in the film; the Overlook itself is the true star of the show. And, for all its quirks, The Shining is still the definitive horror film about good people going bad in evil places.
— Shaffer is a Kansan campus editor
The Exorcist
By Meghan Bainum
Now that the old gateway to hell in Stull has been razed, University of Kansas students looking to add a little demonic overtone to their Halloween days need only head to the nearest video rental store to pick up a copy of The Exorcist.
Although the film is almost 30 years old, the freaky body-bending, head-twisting, crucifix-abusing action keeps this movie at the forefront of the horror genre.
The Exorcist gruesomely portrays the demonic possession of a little girl named Regan, played by Linda Blair, and the battle between the forces of good and evil for ownership of the girl's soul. Blair, who has forever remained linked with her pea soup-
vomiting character, does a horrifying job of making the demon's possession seem vivid and realistic, and her descent into madness is both shocking and graphic.
Though many who saw The Exorcist left the theater sick to their stomachs or unconscious because of the gore, today's viewer should be more comfortable with the graphic violence and deviant sexual undertones. Still, The Exorcist is a sure scare for Halloween-time movie nights, and only the truly brave could watch the movie alone and at night without feeling more than a little bit disturbed.
— Bainum is the Kansan sex columnist
The Blair Witch Project By Lucas Wetzel
"In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found."
So began the The Blair Witch Project, the low-fidelity flick that first spooked audiences in July 1999. Since then, the "project" has been uncovered as a hoax, a War of the Worlds-type documentary designed to titillate audiences and bring in a few bucks.
But even in October of 2002 — eight years after the filmmakers' disappearance — original viewers of the film still whisper, "It's like the Blair Witch Project," every time they walk past a group of more than three trees after sundown. Even for those who
guff at such remarks, the words "Blair Witch" have become synonymous with losing your way after dark, with all kinds of things bumping and screaming in the night.
The film follows the documentary project of film student Heather Donahue, her camera man Joshua Leonard and sound operator Michael Williams, which are all the real names of the actors. The three aim to chronicle the legend of the Blair Witch - a
mythical figure who has supposedly haunted Maryland's Black hills since the late 18th century and is responsible for grisly murders of numerous people. While Josh uses 16 millimeter black-and-white film, Heather captures the action on High-8 video for a behind the scenes look at how their movie was made. What the viewer sees, of course, is the actual footage taken by the actors — an unprecedented camera view for audiences at the time. The characters are real people, college students who just want to scare up some interesting footage for their project. But when noises and strange omens begin appearing in the woods, the film gets scary and the camera work gets shaky. Several times the screen is enveloped in darkness and all the viewer hears are the screams and pleas of the actors as horror sets in on the project.
Will The Blair Witch Project continue to scare future audiences? There are no big actors here, no visual beauty to return to. Without all the hype that surrounded its initial release, the film will most likely fade into obscurity. Until it is dusted off by an ambitious film student or director, at which point we'll learn if the legend of the fictional Blair Witch will ever die.
Carrie
By Kristi Henderson
Carrie is the ultimate revenge movie for anyone who didn't fit in during high school.
In director Brian DePalma's 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel, Carrie, played by Sissy Spacek, is a social misfit with a telekinesis gift. Carrie is constantly taunted by girls in her high school. Add to that Carrie's religious-zealot mother, Margaret, played by Piper Laurie, who tells Carrie "pimples are the Lord's way of chastising," and Carrie is a seriously troubled teen.
Carrie is socially inept. She's clueless in
gym class and rarely talks to anyone. She has yet to meet her monthly friend, so when she starts menstruating in the shower, Carrie panics and acts as if she's dying.
Instead of receiving sympathy from her classmates, she's bombarded with tampons. Amid her mania, her telekinetic powers make their debut, breaking a light bulb.
The girls who taunted Carrie are punished by either serving detention with the gym teacher for a week or having their prom tickets refused. All of the girls except one are upset about this and direct their anger toward Carrie.
Sue, played by Stephen Spielberg's ex
wife Amy Irving, is the girl who has a change of heart toward Carrie. She persuades her boyfriend — also Carrie's crush — Tommy Ross, played by William Katt, to be Carrie's prom date.
As Sue's benevolent plan unfolds, Carrie's most
vengeful taunter, Chris, played by Nancy Allen, through the persuasive power of a blow job, convinces her boyfriend Billy, played by a post-Welcome Back Kotter John Travolta, to help her bring a prom prank to fruition.
When prom night arrives, Carrie is wearing makeup and a dress that reveals what her mother calls her "dirty pillows." But the prom is like a dream come true for Carrie. Nobody laughs at her, and she gets her first kiss.
Until she and Tommy win prom king and queen, Carrie realizes she should have listened to her mother and stayed home. Chris and Billy dump a bucket of pig blood on Carrie as she stands on stage, receiving her royal title.
Carrie busts out the telekinetic terror, willing the gym doors shut and drenching terrified prom-goers with a fire hose. The glares she directs from her sunken eyes are intense, making the skinny Spacek look like a psycho skeleton. After she's satisfied, with her revenge, Carrie placidly emerges from the prom-night chaos and never looks back.
This movie is a classic not only because of the creepy, troubled mother-daughter team of Laurie and Spacek, but also because those outed by the in-crowd can identify with her rage.
— Henderson is the Kansan Jayplay editor
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