American Cheerleader

To get into the spooky spirit of things, I’m doing a countdown of my favorite scary movies of all time. Now, these flicks may not be the freakiest or even the most popular or acclaimed of the genre, but they’re MY faves.

Tune in every weekday for another movie, until we get to my favorite scary movie of all time! Now, a recap of my faves so far:

#20: Jaws

#19: The Last House on the Left

#18: The Faculty

#17: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

#16: The Exorcist

#15: The Blair Witch Project

#14: Resident Evil

#13: Poltergeist

#12: Lady In White

#11: Friday the 13th

#10: April Fools Day

#9: Pet Sematary & It

And coming in at number…

#8

In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

directed by John Carpenter; starring Sam Neill & Charlton Heston; Rated R

*This movie may not be suitable for kids under the age of 17

This movie is sure to drive you crazy! An insurance investigator is sent to the small town of Hobb’s End to investigate the recent disappearance of an uber-successful horror author. The investigator arrives believing that the mystery is simply a publicity stunt, but once he’s spent a little time in the east-coast town, he starts to see that things are actually much more perilous than that. It seems like life is beginning to imitate art…

WHY IT’S SCARY: It feeds off of your fear of those small towns that nobody’s ever heard of…and the creepy people who live there.

SCARIEST SCENE: When the main character realizes that he can’t leave and when the crazy guy appears outside the diner.

SCARY STORY: This movie made me start to think of the power that books actually have to impact people’s lives.

All he wanted was a cup of coffee...

FUN & FREAKY FACTS:

* The character of the horror author who’s gone missing is said to be based on Stephen King, a friend of director John Carpenter’s. Ironically, in the movie there’s a line that describes the author as being “more popular than Stephen King.”

* The car keys that Julie Carmen swallows when Sam Neill’s character is trying to escape town, were made out of pasta.

* Hobb is an old word which was used to refer to the Devil.

Never read scary books before bedtime...