KM and I were on the Gulf Coast last week for our annual trip with her side of the family to Blue Mountain Beach. While there, I asked all what their pick for scariest movie was.
KM’s brother Bill, from Dallas, began with “Alien” because he said the alien looked like his older brother Dennis.
Bill also said something a bit off color about Sigourney Weaver I won’t repeat. Bill is given a pass for his crudeness because he lives way over in Texas, and probably doesn’t know the Hamilton County Herald is a family newspaper. And I can’t agree the alien looked like Dennis, although Dennis can be very scary, especially on the links when he’s pounding the rest of us unmercifully.
KM echoed Bill with another vote for “Alien.” But I have to disqualify her because when we saw it at the Cinema 150 back in 1979, she bailed after “little Dennis” popped out of John Hurt’s chest. She told me then, “Enough of this; I’m going shopping.” She was kind enough to come back and get me after the movie ended, though.
The only others from the beach trip who gave me an answer were Andrea and Josh (who should have been scared because they were leaving the beach the day after the rest of us arrived). Andrea went with “Children of the Corn,” while Josh picked “Evil Dead 2.” Still needing a few more entries, I asked the folks at work, and got the following:
From Bobby: “Easy. ‘Friday the 13th’ – all of them, because they seemed realistic. The people died painful deaths, and I was too young to know better. My dad didn’t know I was watching them. I was at my grandmother’s house once, and I got scared overnight while trying to go to sleep. So I slept under the bed on the floor.”
Melissa: “‘The Descent.’ I’m convinced the cave dwelling people eaters exist! The sequel was also pretty terrifying.”
Lisa: “‘The Exorcist.’ Not the head spinning or bed spinning stuff, but the demonic voice that comes out of her. GAH! That’s just too creepy for me. I do not like movies about the devil.” (I agree with Lisa; it’s still my first choice.)
Karen: “None are favorites – hate them all. Stopped watching them after going to the drive-in in the early ’70s to see ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ ‘The Last House of the Left’ and ‘The Exorcist.’ Swore I would never subject myself to that kind of terror again - and I haven’t.”
Becca: “Werner Herzog’s ‘Nosferatu.’ There are moments in that movie when the music and the slow movement of the camera are enough to make you scream. Plus, whilst watching it in the dark in October of last year, my watching buddy grabbed my foot and scared the living daylight out of me. Now I have to watch scary movies with my feet off the floor.”
Amy: “The earliest movie that I remember watching that scared me was… LOL… ‘True Grit.’ Gimme a break. I was only five and a half years old, and that drive-in screen was ginormous, and those fingers getting lopped off was rather traumatic for me.”
Another of KM’s brothers, Bob, didn’t give a movie but had this Halloween memory he shared: “I remember vividly the year John (the oldest brother) made me be his dog for Halloween. He attached a hanger to my rear end and wrapped cloth around it for my tail. At every door, I had to get on all fours and bark my head off!!! It worked. I got a ton of candy!!!”
Thanks to all, and Happy Halloween.
Jay Edwards is editor-in-chief of the Hamilton County Herald and an award-winning columnist. Contact him at jedwards@dailydata.com.