75 Best Horror Movies of All Time - Rotten Tomatoes

[metternich1815]

Originally Posted by Aylmer23

The Blair Witch Project is in there? WHY????

Because it was an absolutely brilliant film and, more importantly, one of the most impactful films in the genre after such films as The Exorcist and Jaws. I have never understood all the hate for Blair Witch. Of course, the list is entirely based on ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by metternich1815

Because it was an absolutely brilliant film and, more importantly, one of the most impactful films in the genre after such films as The Exorcist and Jaws. I have never understood all the hate for Blair Witch. Of course, the list is entirely based on ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

You're not the only one, Mett. I saw Blair Witch in the theatre and was along for the ride. I really enjoyed the story and film, er I mean movie, experience. I liked it up to the very last scene, which, as I recall, the heroine goes down into the basement and finds one of the main male figures facing the wall, mumbling, and then the camera turns away, the end. I thought that was an extraordinarily poor ending. I didn't think it was interesting, creative, scary, shocking, exciting, cathartic nor complete; and was very anticlimactic to me. That's why I'd never consider it one of the best ever.

I think they could have had a fantastic ending. For instance, when she gets down into the basement, she could have found the guy slightly hovering. Then he turns to her, with an evil 'witch possessed' face, looking ultra excited to attack her. He pulls out a large serrated hunting knife, and gives her an evil smile, and slowly moves toward her. We then see him tense up and shake with a bellowing "No!" scream, as he wrestles control over himself from the witch, and then flies backward, while appearing to go translucent, and enters into the solid basement wall, with a cool wall swallowing sound, with his clothes and knife pressing flat against the basement wall, and slowly the knife releases and falls to the ground. For me, that would be an interesting, and cathartic ending.

[metternich1815]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

You're not the only one, Mett. I saw Blair Witch in the theatre and was along for the ride. I really enjoyed the story and film, er I mean movie, experience. I liked it up to the very last scene, which, as I recall, the heroine goes down into the basement and finds one of the main male figures facing the wall, mumbling, and then the camera turns away, the end. I thought that was an extraordinarily poor ending. I didn't think it was interesting, creative, scary, shocking, exciting, cathartic nor complete; and was very anticlimactic to me. That's why I'd never consider it one of the best ever.

I think they could have had a fantastic ending. For instance, when she gets down into the basement, she could have found the guy slightly hovering. Then he turns to her, with an evil 'witch possessed' face, looking ultra excited to attack her. He pulls out a large serrated hunting knife, and gives her an evil smile, and slowly moves toward her. We then see him tense up and shake with a bellowing "No!" scream, as he wrestles control over himself from the witch, and then flies backward, while appearing to go translucent, and enters into the solid basement wall, with a cool wall swallowing sound, with his clothes and knife pressing flat against the basement wall, and slowly the knife releases and falls to the ground. For me, that would be an interesting, and cathartic ending.

It appears you have given this some thought. Personally, I do not think that that ending would match the rest of the film. The brilliance of this film was what it did not show. In my opinion, the ending was perfect. It would definitely make my top 75, more likely my top 20.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by metternich1815

It appears you have given this some thought. Personally, I do not think that that ending would match the rest of the film. The brilliance of this film was what it did not show. In my opinion, the ending was perfect. It would definitely make my top 75, more likely my top 20.

Oh, sure, I get the value of what's not shown. That can be done effectively, as long as the director remembers it's a movie, not a book. If you go with the 'what's not seen', I would have preferred the movie did not show the guy facing the wall.

How about this... we pick it up where she's shooting the video as she's walking down the basement steps, and then it appears as though the camera is pulled away from her, points back at her, and while pointing at her the camera appears to be swirling around in a bigger and bigger circle, going back and back, we see her shocked face, and then the shot spins out into blackness. How about that ending?

Or is it, in the whole of time and the multiverse, there could never be a better ending than the current ending? = )

[Giganticface]

Originally Posted by metternich1815

It appears you have given this some thought. Personally, I do not think that that ending would match the rest of the film. The brilliance of this film was what it did not show. In my opinion, the ending was perfect. It would definitely make my top 75, more likely my top 20.

I agree. The ending was the scariest part of the film for me. It literally gave me goosebumps in the theater, and the image of the guy standing in the corner is etched in my mind forever. Subsequent viewings didn't have the same effect, but that first time.... *shiver*

[metternich1815]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

Oh, sure, I get the value of what's not shown. That can be done effectively, as long as the director remembers it's a movie, not a book. If you go with the 'what's not seen', I would have preferred the movie did not show the guy facing the wall.

How about this... we pick it up where she's shooting the video as she's walking down the basement steps, and then it appears as though the camera is pulled away from her, points back at her, and while pointing at her the camera appears to be swirling around in a bigger and bigger circle, going back and back, we see her shocked face, and then the shot spins out into blackness. How about that ending?

Or is it, in the whole of time and the multiverse, there could never be a better ending than the current ending? = )

That is a pretty good ending, but, to be honest, I really enjoy the current ending. It still creeps me out. Actually, this film, despite having seen it 15 times still terrifies me.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by metternich1815

That is a pretty good ending, but, to be honest, I really enjoy the current ending. It still creeps me out. Actually, this film, despite having seen it 15 times still terrifies me.

You're a gentleman, Mett. = )

I did a little digging, and found this explanation of why the Blair Witch Project was highly appreciated. It makes good sense to me. Is this basically what you and Gigan thought as well?

Source
The Blair Witch Project, the Mindjob, and the Ending Explained



***This write-up contains spoilers.*** If you haven’t seen this movie yet, do NOT read any further. I am TOTALLY not kidding about this.


The last scene of The Blair Witch Project is, in my opinion, the most ingeniously terrifying and psychologically traumatic scene in the history of cinema, and possibly won’t ever be, and in fact probably cannot be, equaled. The last minute of the film consists of Heather running through the witch’s house and down into the basement, where she sees either 1) the witch, 2) her friend Mike standing in the corner with his face to the wall, or 3) probably both (what she sees is never confirmed, but the camera catches a view for several seconds of Mike in the corner, so we could assume that she atleast saw this). Her screams are quickly silenced, and the camera she’s carrying drops immediately to the floor and records for several more seconds before stopping.


Now, the last ten seconds are something that I will hereafter refer politely to as the cinematic mindjob, if you prefer. The last scene is the culmination and meaning of the entire movie. Nothing that occurs prior to the ending is particularly important (or scary, for that matter, in my opinion), save for one scene at the beginning of the movie that is required for the mindjob to work properly. While it’s interesting to watch the mental deterioration of the characters for the other ninety minutes, the point of this film is ultimately the proverbial kick in the head it gives the viewer at the end. Here’s how it works:


The last scene reveals Mike standing in the corner of the basement with his face to the wall. Why was he standing there? The answer is: because the Blair Witch told him to. No, he wasn’t under her spell. Nor was he stunned, dead, or hanging from the ceiling. He stood in the corner because he was told to by the Blair Witch. Any other explanation causes the failure of the mindjob to occur and, thus, destroys the entire meaning of the film, making the ending about as scary as a doorknob.


Understanding Mike’s behaviour is the key to the mindjob working. At the beginning of the movie, the characters are told a story about a serial killer named Rustin Parr who, decades ago, presumably under the influence of the Blair Witch, murdered a number of children. Parr would bring the children into his basement in groups of two to kill them. According to the story, he could not bear to have the children’s eyes on him while he killed, so he would tell one child to stand in the corner while he killed the first; he would then kill the child he made stand in the corner.


A young child would likely be very easy to order to stand in a corner by a knife-wielding, witch-possessed madman. A grown man, especially one who had heard the Rustin Parr story, would be nigh-impossible to convince. And yet, there Mike stands in the corner.


Enter the mindjob: what could *possibly* be so horrifying that it would cause a grown man to obediently stand in a corner and wait for his turn to be killed? When the viewer sees Mike doing this very thing and pieces this together with the Rustin Parr story from the beginning, the film forces the viewer to ask themselves this question. The viewer’s mind searches frantically for an answer to fill in this missing piece of information, but is unable to find a satisfactory answer. There IS nothing that is so horrifying that Mike would obey its command to stand and wait for death. And yet, there Mike stands; we can see him there waiting to die. The Blair Witch, who, naturally, cannot be displayed on screen, is something so horrible that it defies any sort of description, or even definition. That is the mindjob, the paradox: seeing Mike in the corner, instantly understanding the reason he’s doing so, and then being forced by the film to, in order to make sense of the scene, imagine something that ultimately the mind is incapable of defining.

Because of the nature of this event, it can only work once, and it must work on the viewer’s initial viewing. Comprehension of the meaning of the scene and all its implications must be done within a period of seconds.

[neverending]

I disagree with this scenario in only one respect- I don't think the only reason someone would stand in the corner is because the witch told him to. If I was suddenly trapped in an abandoned basement by some huge freak with a big fucking machette or a gun, or even as Monty Python might put it "a big pointy stick," I'm standing facing the wall. I'm already half out of my mind, it's not going to take much to make me comply.

I'll admit to being confused by the ending when I saw the film, but I still found it scary.

[metternich1815]

@ Sculpt That pretty much sums up why it's scary. Of course, neverending makes a good point too.

[Giganticface]

That explanation is pretty good, and I think it explains why a viewer's first thought when seeing the image of Mike in the corner is that the event is supernatural in nature (or maybe I should just say witch-caused). The fact that he's a grown man doing that contributes to that notion and makes it all the more chilling. However, as neverending pointed out, the logic is flawed, and it doesn't prove that it's supernatural. That's one of the things that makes the ending scary though. You don't actually know what happened. The first thought might be supernatural, but then you start to wonder about other options. Is it actually a serial killer? If so, is he under the influence of the witch, our just using the story of the witch as inspiration to fuel his madness? Or is it really the Blair Witch, and if so what form does she take? The confusion and vagueness is why the ending works so well.