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Oklahoma Film Critics Circle member and Opinion Editor James Cooper has written film reviews for several years. He has constructed a list of the five scariest films in the past decade. Read at your own risk.
1. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2001)
Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream” should be required viewing for high school freshmen. An unapologetic and devastating look at the world of addiction, the film always looks deeper into the abyss, into the darkness until we realize that, just like the characters on screen, we have no idea how we got there. We do, however, know that we will never look at a refrigerator the same way again.
2. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002)
A gorgeous piece of digital cinema, Danny Boyle’s horror masterpiece is a nightmarish journey into the abyss that can barely bring itself to offer something resembling hope for the future in its final moments. It doesn’t matter. The images here will haunt you for days.
3. Open Water (Chris Kentis, 2003)
It’s based on a true story but not one of those “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or “Paranormal Activity” true stories. Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) know they are stranded, floating in the middle of the ocean. They also know some sharks haunt the waters beneath them. Late in the film, the camera looks down from on high. Lightning flashes, revealing what Susan and Daniel do not know — dozens of sharks wait just below them.
4. Inside (Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, 2007)
Speaking of the Europeans, damn them to hell for letting Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury make this unremitting film about a pregnant woman under siege by a scissor-wielding psychopath. For nearly an hour and a half, Sarah (Alysson Paradis) battles La femme (Beatrice Dalle) — as nameless as she is persistent — in a bloody mortal combat till the end. Bring sedatives.
5. Halloween/Halloween 2 remakes (Rob Zombie, 2007 and 2009)
Gone are the moralism and conservatism of John Carpenter’s original “Halloween,” and in their place are some of the most brutal and relentless moments in American horror of the last decade. “Halloween 2,” as flawed as it is devastating and scary, is Rob Zombie’s European art horror film.
6. Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)
Take puberty, the horrors of adolescence, suburban blandness, goth and throw in a dash of werewolf and you have what is easily one of the most frightening and underrated films of the decade. Think “Carrie” but with more werewolf attacks and tail-growing.
7. Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi, 2009)
Mr. Raimi took a break from the “Spiderman” series long enough to remind us of his “Evil Dead” trilogy bona fides. His wicked tale, an audio/visual assault on the nerves and senses, is relentless and terrifying. PG-13 horror has rarely scared so swell.
8. Haute Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2005)
We should all be so lucky to have a friend like Alexia (Maiwenn Le Besco), something Marie (Cecile De France) learns when a sadistic killer breaks into Alexia’s secluded family home. Or, should we? “High Tension” is just that: a relentless film as high on tension as it is bloodletting and psychosexual drama.
9. Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2009)
“The Blair Witch Project” was so ten years ago. “Paranormal Activity,” a film made on a shoestring of a shoestring’s budget — $15,000 — reminds audiences just how terrifying their bedrooms are: a la “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Exorcist.” Every time the film returns to a shot of haunted couple Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) as they prepare once more for bed and demon visits, you almost scream at the screen, “Enough already, I kissed my nerves goodbye the first time a possessed Katie stood silently over her sleeping boyfriend for more than an hour!”
10. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
Cold, tense and beautifully shot, the Sweedish vampire tale “Let the Right One In” is perhaps the most haunting and most beautiful vampire tale to come along since “Nosferatu.” The film takes the anxieties of growing up and lets loose on where the wild things really are. “Young” vampire Eli (Lina Leandersoon) shows her new awkward friend, Oskar (Kare Hedebrant), just how much their friendship means to her when she exacts a horrifying revenge on some school bullies in the film’s terrifying final moments.
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David Christopher, owner of Vault Video, knows film. When asked to compile a list of this decade’s top five horror films, Christopher, in true Vault form, turned to his customers to find which films stayed with audiences long after they left theaters.
From the Vault — Top five horror films of the decade:
1 - Jesus Camp (U.S.)
2 - Marytrs (France)
3 - The Descent (U.S.)
4 - Let the Right One In (France)
5 - Ringu (Japan)
Spooky remakes:
Friday the 13th
The Omen
Last House on the Left
Halloween
The Fog
Shutter
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Ring
Funny Games
My Bloody Valentine
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