‘Darker Places’ Blog Tour – Shaun Allan’s Top 10 Horror Films

Welcome to Shaun Allan’s Darker Places tour. Today, Shaun is sharing some of his favorite horror movies!

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So many questions.

To find the answers, you must enter a darker place. Thirteen stories. Thirteen poems. Thirteen more doorways.

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Horror films. Do you watch them? Can you watch them? Do they scare you or turn your stomach or make you look behind the sofa? Or are they simply another form of entertainment, much like science fiction, action or rom-com?

For me, in most cases, they’re the latter. They’re a form of entertainment, one which can set my teeth on edge or make my heart beat a little faster, but doesn’t particularly scare me. But, that’s OK. I like that. There’s a mass of films I’ve enjoyed which have scared the hell out of friends but I’ve just thought well, yeah, I enjoyed that.

I was asked to write a top ten of such films. Being a massive movie fan, that’s not necessarily so easy, but I’ll give it a go. These are in no particular order, as they each have their strong points.

Silence of the Lambs

I’m sure many would say this wasn’t horror. It’s an intense thriller with stunning performances from Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. It’s also tense and gets under your skin. Lecter is one of the most perfectly horrific characters ever written, in my mind, and Hopkins is perfectly cast.

Would You Rather

I had never heard of this film before sitting with my wife one night and looking on Netflix for a film to watch. Would You Rather had a fairly poor rating and that was one of the reasons we decided to watch it – we almost felt sorry for it. But, you know what? We enjoyed it. Would you inflict serious injury on someone else to avoid something happening to you? This film makes you wonder just that.

Saw

This first of many sequels is far superior, for me, to all of them put together. While the rest seem to want to simply show you more inventive ways to kill someone, the first film had originality, tension and plot. I really was on the edge of my seat the whole way through and loved the ride!

Cabin Fever

The premise of this film has been done a MILLION times. I can’t really say why this version has stuck in my mind. Perhaps it was the leg shaving scene? Either way, it’s a decent approach to the much copied formula.

The Thing

Is this horror or science fiction or both? I’m talking the original Kurt Russell movie, here. The remake wasn’t bad and I did like it, but you can’t beat this. It’s claustrophobic, fast moving and has fantastic effects for an aging film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Dreams. Do you remember yours? I usually don’t, but Freddie’s decent into your nightmares is nightmarish in itself. Of course, again, there’s been so many (too many?) sequels, but the first is the best.

Se7en

Along with The Silence of the Lambs, Seven isn’t necessarily horror – it’s more horrific. It’s also a fine example of what suspense, a brilliant story and equally brilliant acting can do. Turn your stomach, for a start!

The Shining

This is one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King book ever. Jack Nicholson is increasingly crazy and menacing as his son anf wife try to make sense of the goings on at the Outlook Hotel (am I remembering the name correctly?). I looked forward to the sequel or the book coming out, and thoroughly enjoyed Doctor Sleep too.

Alien

Film wise, I prefer Aliens, the sequel to this film, but Aliens is more action and science fiction. Alien, the original, is stark, atmospheric and creepy. It also has one of the most widely recognisable scenes of any movie – the chest burst. Iconic.

Poltergeist

I love this film. The Entity is another great poltergeist film, but the young Heather O’Rourke steals the show in Spielberg’s entry into the horror genre. Throw in a creepy medium and you have a film which has been copied and spoofed a million times without coming close to the original.

The thing is, how do you stop there? With any top ten films, how can you actually stop at ten? I have to mention other films I think are great. If I’m happy to revisit a film, then I’ve enjoyed it – hence the number of times I’ve watched Highlander, Aliens, Independence Day, The Lion King and Finding Nemo! So, here are some which could, if I’d thought of them whilst writing the above list, have made it there instead of some of them!

Silent Hill

Eerie, dark and bizarre. What’s not to love?

The Ring

Taken from the original Japanese film, the US remake of The Ring was fab. It was genuinely creepy. I quite liked The Grudge too, but it was let down by the main star, who wasn’t meaty enough for the role, unfortunately. Not so The Ring!

Warm Bodies

This is an odd film. It’s not really horror, but it has zombies, so I’m including it. This is a film which was funny and dark and exciting and I enjoyed it MUCH more than I expected to.

I could go on, so easily. There’s a mass of films I’ve forgotten or not had time ot include. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Friday the Thirteenth, Teletubbies…..

Anywho. Don’t go near the light and watch out for the shadows. In Teletubby land, no-one can hear you scream…

A writer of many prize winning short stories and poems, Shaun Allan has written for more years than he would perhaps care to remember. Having once run an online poetry and prose magazine, he has appeared on Sky television to debate, against a major literary agent, the pros and cons of internet publishing as opposed to the more traditional method. Many of his personal experiences and memories are woven into Sin’s point of view and sense of humour although he can’t, at this point, teleport.

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