Top Ten Ghostly Movies of all Time

During the writing phase of Enter the Dark, for more than a year I watched tons of haunted house and ghost movies, along with endless episodes of Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, Paranormal State, Destination Truth and countless other copycat paranormal shows on tv.

I was trying to immerse myself into the world of ghosts, demons, EVPs, and apparitions and wanted to precisely examine just how the scariest scenes are set up and how they actually work to elicit the highest levels of terror.  I tracked down every film I hadn't already seen and re-watched those I already loved.

It has always been my belief that preparation and research are essential ingredients to producing successful art.  What comes off as effortless to the viewer inevitably has hours and hours of practice and study behind it. There's no getting around doing the hard work.

Of everything that I've seen, these are my top 10:


The Haunting (the original of course)

The Shining

The Devil's Backbone  El espinazo del diablo

Sixth Sense










The Ring

The Orphanage El orfanato

Poltergeist

Amityville Horror (again, the original, I mean c'mon really...)

The Entity










Paranormal Activity

Honorable mentions:  1408, The Others, The Mothman Prophecies (which I love, but I'm not sure I would categorize as a ghost movie).

Lot's of people loved The Changeling, The Sentinel and Ghost Story but they just didn't do it for me. Also, of the newer indie horror films, Session 9 and Lake Mungo got lots of buzz, but also felt kinda flat.


UPDATE 8_25_10

Ah yes, the beauty of top 10 lists is that everyone has an opinion - as it should be.  My list is just that, my humble opinion, shaped by my own preferences and prejudices.  For instance I'll let you in on a secret - I actually don't find traditional ghost stories to be that scary. 

Movies like The Changeling follow a predictable story arc that is more like a mystery than a horror film.  Something spooky is going on and if the protagonist can just follow the trail of clues and find out what terrible thing previously happened in the house, then the "spirit" can be released and all will be at peace. 

Boring.  And not particularly scary either.

Movies like The Ring (and of course Ringu) interest me because they start off feeling like traditional ghost stories but then twist it at the end to leave you feeling that yes, there is true evil in the world.

Now that's scary.

World Premiere of Enter the Dark

Good News!!

For fans of truly scary movies, you won't want to miss the World Premiere of my first short movie as writer/director, Enter the Dark at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, Sunday nite, Sept 26 at 9:20 pm.

Check it out if you're in the area!

Enter The Dark Trailer

Check it out the all new trailer to Enter The Dark.



Festival submissions are almost completed.  I've entered into Screamfest, Chicago Horror Festival, Terror Film Festival, Slamdance, Sacramento Horror Festival and Shockerfest to name a few.

Fingers crossed...

Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders

Livescience has a nice list of the Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders.
Let's see, of the ten, I've suffered from six of them:

#10 Nightmare Disorder -   yup, all the time 
#8   Night terrors -  sometimes 
#7   Sleepy Hallucinations -  uh, hello Mr. Demon standing over my bed 
#6   Exploding head syndrome -  it sounds worse than it is... sort of 
#5   Sleep paralysis -  ah yes, my favorite Old Hag syndrome 
#1   Insomnia - fortunately not for a while

Gee, ya think this could be why I wake up tired almost every morning?... 

(I wish I had suffered from #2, but alas, such is not to be my fate)

Lovecraft finally done right

Deadline reports that Guillermo Del Torro will finally be able to complete his vision of the H.P. Lovecraft masterpiece, At The Mountains of Madness.  Del Torro has had this on his wish list for quite some time but the effing pussy Hollywood Studios wouldn't touch it because there is no love interest or happy ending.  It's an EFFING HORROR FILM YOU MYOPIC BEAN COUNTERS!!!  GET A FRIGGIN CLUE.

Anywho, it seems like none other than James Cameron stepped up to lend his producing muscle to the project in order to make this happen and appease the risk-averse accountants- er studio heads.  Now I'm no big Cameron fan, but this is easily his single best achievement since...  well, since Terminator.

Del Torro is the perfect creative genius to helm this project - a true Lovecraft devotee and a true visual master.  In his hands, this should finally be the Lovecraft movie done right!  For those who haven't read it (and please go and buy a Lovecraft collection immediately - what's wrong with you?) At The Mountains of Madness is a seminal piece of horror fiction that has spawned such classic movies as The Thing and Alien.  It is one of his finest stories, along with Call of Cthulu, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Shadow Out of Time and The Whisperer in Darkness.

I can't wait to see this tale finally brought to the masses - the Old Ones would be proud.

Enter The Dark

Ok folks, we have a winner...

If you haven't already... check out the opening scene of my new horror short, Enter The Dark. 

Final touches (color correction, sound mixing, end credits) are being made as we speak and festival submissions will start in a couple of weeks. Look for it playing in a festival near you!

Name my Movie!

Ok dear readers... time to get to work.

I've completed principal photography on my horror short movie that up to this point I've been calling Spook Hunt.
After finishing the first rough cut, it has become obvious that the title is not doing the movie justice.

I need another title.

Here is where you come in.

First, read the following synopsis of the movie, watch the new opening scene, and then look over the list of possible names.
Let me know what best matches the feel of the movie and also grabs your attention.

Spook Hunt is a short film that takes you into the dark recesses of a haunted house and the even darker fathoms of the human soul.

Charles has a problem.  There's something in his house scaring his family and it just won't leave them alone.  They've all heard voices, seen dark shapes moving in the shadows, felt that uneasy sensation of being watched.  Finally Charles captures something on his audio recorder that proves they're not all going crazy.  He decides to make a stand, enlisting the help of his long-time buddy, Rob Tupper, to delve into the mystery of his unwanted guest and hopefully send it on its way.  If they can somehow figure out what the entity is and what it wants, maybe they can all finally have some peace.

Rob's worried about his buddy.  He's been acting really strange lately ... well, even stranger than usual.  Rob knows that things have been rough for Charles - struggling to make ends meet in a down economy, dealing with the unexplained disappearance of his brother-in-law, Marcus, and now these claims of some ghost harassing his family.  Rob is skeptical that there's anything paranormal going on, but he agrees to help his friend out if only to find out the real nature of the problem.

With the lights out, they are led on an adventure of paranormal encounters: cold spots, an eerie talking children's book, unexplained apparitions and a final mystery that leads to an unforgettably disturbing ending.

Ok, now to the possible titles:

Elemental Fear
Primal Darkness
Up From the Dark
From the Darkness
Enter the Dark

Turn Out the Lights
Out Go the Lights
The Disembodied
 
Deliver
Deliver the Darkness
Among the Darkness

Among the Shadows

Alone in the Darkness
Don’t Fear the Darkness
Don’t Dread the Night

Dread the Night
Dread of Night
Into the Dead of Night
Into the Dark of Night
Whispers of Dread

Night of the Abyss
Abyss of Night
Into The Abyss
Repossessed
The Inhabitant

Alright, now get to work and VOTE!