Express Yourself Post Two

Hi there. This is my second post in the weekly meme Express Yourself hosted by Dani of Entertaining Interests and Jackie of Bouquet of Books.

This weeks question is: List five movies or books that cause the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Juicy I thought. Here goes...

The Hitcher - 1986

I first saw this film when I was about 16. Mam and Dad had just got satellite TV and I couldn't sleep one night and started watching it on my own at about 2 in the morning with the lights off. Not sensible at all. Now, I know there has been a remake of this movie, but I'm of the opinion that the original is the best. Rutger Hauer is quite frankly terrifying in it. Just as soon as you think he might be dead after being thrown out of the car by C. Thomas Howell, he turns up in a families car that passes with kids in the back and soon after the car is seen with blood oozing out of the door. Nasty. 

As the film goes on, Hauer's character piles on the terror and tension and Thomas Howell is exellent as the victim terrified out of his wits. I'll also add that I'm nearly forty now and I have only watched this film twice. That's how much it scares me. 

The Road - 2006

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Cormac McCarthy won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for it in 2006 and The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007. For those of you that haven't read this wonderful, beautiful heart wrenching book yet, I'll do my best with blunt words to give you a brief summary. It tells the tale of a father and his son walking across a post apocalyptic America in search of a safe place. The survivors on the road are slavers and cannibals and the father is doing all he can in the barren wasteland to find food, shelter and not get killed on the way to their destination. 

It's a story of great love, tragic misfortune and bittersweet redemption. I can't recommend it enough. It's also a must read for all fathers and sons. I know that there is a film of the book that is supposed to be very good, but I have chosen not to watch it as the author did such an amazing job with the book, I don't want to be disappointed with the film spoiling the image in my head. 

The Entity - 1982

If you are looking for classic horror, I don't think that you can overlook The Entity. I personally think it knocks The Exorcist into a cocked hat.  It is based on an alleged true story about Carla Moran (played by Barbara Hershey) who is violently raped in her home by an unseen force that she originally thinks is a vivid nightmare. As the film continues, more frequent and dangerous poltergeist activity causes her to flee her home and live with a friend. Unfortunately for her, the "entity" follows her there. The attacks continue, one nearly killing her as her car mysteriously loses control in traffic. Her friend urges her to see a therapist and we learn that Carla has had a very traumatic childhood that includes sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and also the her first husband had died violently. 

The attacks continue and her friend witnesses one. Now convinced of the supernatural, parapsychologists are called in and a dangerous experiment is undertaken to trap the entity. As with all classic horror movies, there are some believe it or not tales that go with the film. David Labiosa, the actor that payed Hershey's son in the film was shooting a scene taken from the true account of the story where the real son was thrown and broke his arm during an attack. Labiosa also broke his arm during the shooting of that same scene. I know I am using the word terrifying a lot, but I'm not joking here...

IT - 1990

Once again I am citing a horror movie. Stephen King's IT is an absolute classic. The book is great, but the performance of Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown in the film adaptation is fantastic as it is fear inducing. The key part of IT's narrative is that an evil life form can manifest itself into the greatest fears of it's victims and thereby luring them to their doom. the "Lucky Seven" or "The Losers Club" have all been in school together back in the sixties and in one way or another they have had a traumatic time with Pennywise. Luckily they managed to subdue him (or so they think) and grow older, moving away and seeking their fame and fortune somewhere else than Derry, the small town where the events took place.

Fast forward to 1990 and Mike, the only one that has stayed in the groups home town finds out that a child has been murdered in a way that makes him think that Pennywise is back. Mike is panic stricken and gathers the group together to do battle with Pennywise again. "They all float down here..."

Last Man Standing - 2001

For the last one, I'll cite a book. I bought David Baldacci's Last Man Standing on a whim for a holiday read some years ago. What a treat I was in for. Baldacci does action and atmosphere like no other author I have ever read. Web London (which I still think is a bit of a crap name for a lead character) is on the elite Hostage Rescue Team for the FBI. He's absolutely nails and top of his game. Web and his team hammer into an alley to bust a drug dealers lair and within seconds all his colleagues are killed in a professional, custom designed ambush leaving him maimed and unconscious.

When he wakes up he finds himself in a man alone, colleagues suspicious of him, widows screaming at him and trying to work out why he was the only one left alive. Also, the only other person to get out of the alley alive was a ten year old boy who he thinks has important information for him. Web though, can't find him. It's an exercise in masterful suspense, conspiracy and breathtaking action. Hairs on the back of the neck indeed.

I hope you liked my list as much as I enjoyed making it. See you next week.

Rock on,

W.