Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments

A Gateway Horror Masterclass

The early years of the twenty-first century were obsessed with clip shows. With the massive success of VH1’s I Love the ‘80s, cable networks went bananas with cheap documentaries where comedians and other public figures crack jokes about certain topics. They were kind of the variety show of their day. As far as I’m concerned, the absolute best of the bunch was Bravo’s countdown of cinema’s greatest scares — The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

Let’s say it’s around 2003 and you’re a young horror fan who doesn’t have a lot of money or internet access. You can’t run to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video to rent whatever you want and Fangoria was a little out of your price range. How do you find out about the movies that are too intense and extreme to be shown regularly on television?

Your entire experience with horror has revolved around Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the titans of ‘80s horror like Jason, Freddy, Chucky, and Pinhead. You had no idea that Italian filmmakers had directed movies so bloody and horrific that just thinking about it makes you sick. The Wicker Man was just a great song from Iron Maiden. The original The Evil Dead was one of the funniest and scariest things you’ve ever seen and you are oblivious to the fact that there are other movies like that out there.

Basically, what if you were me?

What this almost four-hour television special does is gather together an insane lineup of filmmakers, writers, actors, critics, and comedians, to run down the history of terror in film. From the silent era and right up to the modern day, no stone is left unturned. They don’t limit themselves to horror, and they don’t discriminate between classy movies and trash. All of it is fair game. It is the perfect intro to the larger world of cinema that a starving fanatic, like myself, could have possibly asked for.

This was my introduction to Mark Kermode (my favorite film critic). It was the first time I’d heard about Guillermo del Toro’s work prior to Blade II. I had never heard of Dario Argento before this. I didn’t fully understand the historical impact of the Universal Horror movies until watching this. It blew my mind to see clips from 1970s shockers like The Sentinel, When A Stranger Calls, Black Christmas (a genuinely scary and marvelous proto-slasher), Alice, Sweet Alice, The Brood, and Don’t Look Now.

To have such a wide array of people speaking so eloquently about a shockingly diverse collection of films (Mario Bava movies, Spielberg, The Wizard of Oz, thrillers from other countries, Peeping Tom) made me respect the genre even more. All of it was valid, all of it had worth.

Not only that, but it didn’t hold back on the more inappropriate elements. While I’m not a big gore fan, I can appreciate it when used subversively. Seeing clips from Re-Animator (you know the one) and The Beyond (although censored) showed me that these movies were not messing around. They intended to get under your skin in a way that is unique to horror.

The breadth of titles discussed is staggering. These movies are stylized, gorgeous, depraved, thought-provoking, titillating, nauseating, hilarious, complex, and silly. Yet all of them are linked by moments of fear that grab onto you and force you to confront what scares you the most.

What makes this such perfect Halloween viewing (besides the fact that it used to air around Halloween) is that this is a celebration of terror. Just like the holiday itself.

For a music recommendation, I’m going with the perfect Halloween party song. No, not Monster Mash. It’s Oingo Boingo’s Dead Man’s Party. If that doesn’t get you into the Samhain spirit, I can’t help you.

If you dig scary nostalgia, I have written a novel about that very thing. Nostalgiamares: Phantom Delivery is a story about what happens when your wish to live in your favorite fictional world comes true and nostalgia takes control. It’s an ebook now. The paperback is coming soon…