Our Favorite Scary Movies

Since Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, it's very possible you'll be staying in-- all tuckered out from costume parties over the weekend. To prepare for this, we here at Alicia & Layla have compiled a list of our favorite scary movies.  These movies range from legitimately scary to hilariously campy. There are thrillers and horror movies, old and new. Let it be noted that I'm not too keen on slasher gorefests, so if you're looking for that, my apologies! I'm a wimp, I know.

Dawn of the Dead

I haven't see the original, and I probably should. But I love this movie. It's set in Milwaukee, Mekhi Pfeiffer is in it and it's a zombie movie. I feel like a zombie apocalypse would be pretty cathartic.

Scream

I think this movie was the perfect modern day scary movie for a teenage me to watch. It's funny and meta and Neve Campbell is fab as Sidney. 

Psycho

You should watch any and all Alfred Hitchcock movies. I almost suggested Rear Window instead. Anthony Perkins is perfect in this. 

The Shining

I actually caught this on TV the other day for the first time in a while and it's such a great film! Stanley Kubrick did a beautiful job adapting this from the Stephen King novel. Aesthetically, I mean. The movie isn't terribly faithful to the book, but it's still subtly and overtly terrifying.

Drag Me to Hell

This is my super campy pick. This movie is about a scary old lady cursing and terrorizing a young bank employee after denying her a loan. Warning-- it's kind of gross, but whatever, it's fun and scary. Nothing beats Alison Lohman's screaming "I got you, you old bitch!"

Funny Games

I made the mistake of watching this movie on a weekend when my roommate was out of town, and I spent three days freaking out about every noise I'd hear. It's more of a psychological thriller than a horror movie, but it's fucking terrifying, I promise. I've only seen the original Austrian version, but there's also a shot-for-shot remake that came out in 2007 and stars Naomi Watts.

                                                                      Repulsion
This movie is so fucking intense, oh my God. The fact that it has so many scenes that are shot from the perspective of the main character makes it almost too suspenseful to handle. And Catherine Deneuve is the apotheosis of flawlessness.

The Exorcist

Let me tell you exactly what's going to happen when you watch the Exorcist. You'll rent it for laughs with some friends and expect it to be full of 60s-era special effects and not even remotely scary. You'll start to get a little scared as it goes on, but you'll play it off so your friends won't make fun of you. Finally, you won't be able to suppress a scream at a particularly scary scene, and your friends WILL make fun of you, all the while totally freaking out themselves.

Carrie

Here's my pick for super campy but still totally awesome scary movie. Carrie has so many unintentionally funny moments, like the one pictured above, where our teenage protagonist gets her period for the first time and proceeds to freak the fuck out. 

Didn't we all go together to see Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

My boyfriend was really hesitant to watch The Landlord with me, his half-black, half-white girlfriend, because it's so probable that a movie about a 1970s WASP-y white kid becoming a landlord in the ghetto would be offensive. What we wound up watching was a hilarious and sweet film that handled the subject of race relations beautifully.

The film begins with a talking head starring Beau Bridges playing Elgar Enders, a 30-year-old who is still living in his (wealthy) parents' home. He shows himself to be very naive and arrogant, but he's still Beau Bridges, so he's adorable. He might actually be my favorite Bridges, but that's like trying to choose between a puppy and a (really adorable) baby. Anyway, to escape, Elgar buys a tenement house to manage in ~dark and dangerous~ Park Slope, Brooklyn. These houses are so cheap, they are "given as Bar Mitzvah presents." His parents object, Elgar calls them out as racists, and the rest follows.

Can we stop pretending?

I moved recently, so this isn't as timely as I wanted it to be.

If you're a socially aware person, you know that Chris Brown performed at the Grammy Awards. If you're a celebrity gossip lover, like myself, you know that three years ago Brown had to cancel his performance as well as his then-girlfriend's, Queen Rihanna, because he beat the shit out of her in the car on the way over. So he performed, twice, and people cheered and gave him standing ovations and everyone was so happy to finally have a golden talent in their midst again. And I am furious. Thank you, Chris Brown, for inspiring me to make this list of verbally and physically violent people who I am sick of seeing people fawn over. I don't know about you, but I hold a grudge and never forget that someone did shit. You shouldn't either. (Check out this stunning piece on HelloGiggles for more insight into why.)

So here is my list of horrible men praised in Hollywood. Enjoy.

In Honor of Mob Week

I stayed home today sick from work and luckily for me, it happens to be Mob Week. Since I'm not into pretending I actually like Shark Week, I enjoyed the Godfather and the Untouchables. Did you know there were so many attractive men in these movies? Let's review:

Robert De Niro

I love Robert De Niro because he is total man candy and he would love me. Seriously, big ups to being married to the same black woman for a very long time! Holla at me if it doesn't work out, even at his age. Ignore Al Pacino,  please.

Andy Garcia

I never used to be that attracted to Andy Garcia, but seeing the younger version of him in the Untouchables was eye-opening, fosho. Not sure if he's hot enough to make me watch the Godfather III, though.

James Caan

Oh my God, I love him. Sonny Corleone is probably my favorite character in the Godfather. Seriously, he devastates me. 

Marlon Brando

Okay, okay, I know it's not the same looking Marlon Brando in the Godfather, but so what? He's gorgeous. I love Marlon Brando and his avant-garde and weird ass. 

"If Patton were alive, he would slap your face!"

Private Benjamin is my GIRL. Seriously, if you haven't seen this movie, it's so necessary. I mean, we all knew Goldie Hawn was ~flawless~, but this really proves it.

Okay, so, the backstory: I remember watching this with my mother when I was pretty young.. like, 8-10 years old. At the time, my mother was in the Army and she had blonde, curly hair. To me, Private Benjamin was totally my mom (my mom hated this comparison, by the way).

Goldie Hawn plays preppy Judy Benjamin, a woman widowed after her husband has a heart attack during sex on their wedding night. She then calls into a radio show, crying about how she's never been single before (womp womp, Goldie!) and how she can't be alone. So this man calls in and tells her about this fabulous deal called the US Army where she can join and live in a condo and hang out. Swayed by the traumatizing death of her husband, she gives up her kind of amazing 80s wardrobe to become Private Benjamin. 

You can guess what happens next, but I'll tell you anyway. Boot camp is boot camp and Benjamin is confused, insisting, "I think they sent me to the wrong place... See, I did join the army, but I joined a different army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms."

This movie is amazing! There are so many classic scenes, like the one pictured above. Escaping over a fence, her commanding officer (Eileen Brennan) yells "You're not fit to wear that uniform!" to which Private Benjamin replies, "No shit."

photo

Funny Girl: One of my favorite musicals of all time.

In case you were in need of a fabulous 1960s musical, starring the sassiest of the sassy with a gorgeous exotic man in it, FUNNY GIRL IS FO' YOU. I really cannot stress how much I love this movie. Barbra Streisand stars as Fanny Brice, a real-life comedienne during the 1920s. It begins with Barbra in the theater seats, looking moody as jaded divas are wont to do. Then it gets all Tarantino'd and goes back to her beginnings as a skinny-legged, funny (looking) Jewish girl who just wanted to be on stage. Then she gets famous, meets and marries the gorgeous Omar Sharif (Aries, mmm. Teeth now, questionable) who plays a gambler.

Anyway, I love this movie because of Barbra's gorgeous voice, makeup, hair and hands/nails. And Sharif's handsome face. Again, mmm. The last song, "My Man" (below) makes me sing along EVERY TIME. I can't stop myself!! It's pretty awesome though, because it's half live and half lip-synched and you can totally tell when it switches over (~1:30). Babs isn't the best lip-syncher as you can see.

She won an Oscar for this, which my mom hates because she says she was just acting like herself the whole time. Hater. So, please watch. Please love. That way we can all really be besties.