“Now I know my ABCs. Next time won’t you sing with me?”
Scary movies of the kind that emerge or revive in late October are usually for older kids.
Their alphabet song might end this way:
“Now I know my ABCs. Time for me to get up and flee.”
Anyone left at the end of the following Alphabet of Things Having to Do With Horror Movies might be a sole survivor.
Only someone who would walk through a graveyard alone on an autumn night while clouds scud across the moon would have the nerve to claim that this list is definitive.
Horror film buffs have strong opinions, personal favorites and, sometimes, a collection of manual and power saws.
For their sake, this is just a list of scary, horrific and sometimes horrible movies, not THE list.
A is for “Alien” (1979) and those face-sucking, sharp-toothed spaceship invaders that only Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) can stand down.
B is for baked goods, both the people pies in “Sweeney Todd” (2007) and the folks Farmer Vincent fries up in fritters in “Motel Hell.” (1980). “There’s too many people in the world and not enough food,” he says. “This takes care of both problems.”
C is for crop circles, in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs” (2002), the crop duster that buzzes Cary Grant in “North by Northwest” (1959) and crops, “Children of the Corn” (1984).
D is for dreams. Simply having them can harm you in “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984).
E is for eyes. As sociopathic Alex, Malcolm McDowell’s are pried wide open and forced to watch in “A Clockwork Orange” (1971).
F is for “Friday the 13th” (1980 and 2009). Also for forehead. Specifically the peck wound Tippi Hedren receives there as Melanie Daniels in “The Birds” (1963).
G is for Glenn Close (Alex Forrest in “Fatal Attraction,” 1987) and for glasses. Thick ones. Think of Stephen King.
H is for hockey masks, “Halloween” (1978 and ’07) and Hannibal Lecter (“Silence of the Lambs,” 1991).
I is for Igor, the name of many a mad scientist’s misshapen assistant.
J is Jason Voorhees of “Friday the 13th.”
K is for kill, as in “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” (1965), added here for exploitative relief.
L is for Lorre as in little big hall of famer Peter.
M is for Michael Meyers (“Halloween”) and for Man, the unseen killer of Bambi’s mom in “Bambi.” (1942).
N is for “Nosferatu” (1922).
O is for organs, as in vital internal ones. Better make the payments or they’ll get taken back in “Repo! The Genetic Opera” (2008)
P is for pea soup, which Linda Blair projects with distinction in “The Exorcist” (1973) and for Pluto in “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006).
Q is for the low-budget “Queen of Blood” (1966), mainly because we couldn’t think of anything else while R’s candidates were threatening to shred each other’s flesh.
R is for “Ravenous” (1998), “Re-Animator” (1985) and Rutger Hauer, a repeat blond offender.
S is for the Sno Cat driven through the blizzard by Scatman Crothers (as rescuer Dick Hallorann) in “The Shining” (1980).
T is for Tony Todd as “Candyman” (1992), taunts of the kind that inflame “Carrie” (1976 and the TV version in ‘02) and for Transylvania (not the one in Kentucky).
U is for the undead, the underground and for any scary release that travels under the radar.
V is for Vincent Price, who was one suave villain, and for vindictiveness. Think of the released rapist Max Cady in “Cape Fear” (Robert Mitchum in 1962; Robert De Niro in 1991).
W is for director Wes Craven and actor William Marshall (“Blacula,” 1972).
X is for Planet X, where the rival creature is found in the oldie and baddie “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero” (1965).
Y is for Yul Brynner as a robot in “Westworld” (1973), which may not have been his best role, but ranks among the most memorable.
Z is for zombies, the living dead no one has figured out how to stop for long. They’re back this season in “Zombieland.” They’ll be back again.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2377 or tmorris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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