Master of Horror/suspence

I think my favorite Hitchcock movies have to be Rear Window, North by Northwest, and The Birds. I can still recall the ads for The Birds when it first came out and the incorrect sounding, but grammatically correct line from the ads: "The Birds is coming".

I had the honor of meeting Jimmy Stewart, star, along with Perry Mason, of Rear Window, in about 1970 or so when I was working part time in a brokerage office and he was touring the country visiting all of the offices of the company I worked for. He was a large investor in a natural gas drilling company that we were putting together a partnership for. He came into the office and spent the whole day meeting with customers and employees. The great thing about him is that he went around and spent a few minutes speaking to everyone in the office, no matter what the position of the person. I was just about the low man on the totem pole there, being a part time college student at the time, and he took about 5-10 minutes to come and sit at my desk and talk. I was a nervous wreck, never having met a famous person before, but he had a great way of putting everyone there at ease. (By the way, don't tell anyone, but he wore a toupee).

M. Night Shyamalan is the most promising director in years. I was disappointed with Unbreakable, but it still had that same feel as his other movies. I've got great hopes for this guy. The Sixth Sense is probably the only movie in years that actually scared me. Oh sure, I might jump now and then because the thought the slasher was going to come from the left and not the right, but that isn't fear. I'm talking about creepiness that stays with you for days and gives you nightmares!

Shyalaman can do it. So can John Carpenter, Hitchcock of course, George Romero in Night of the Living Dead, but that is his only claim to fame, IMHO.

Kubrick was a master and I would have seen any movie he made. The Shining still scares me. A Clockwork Orange is a fantastic movie, but not scary. I find myself laughing more than anything else. Of course that is after seeing the movie umpteen times.

Friedkin did it in the Exorcist, and the Exorcist III. I still think III is a great movie.

I haven't been a big fan of Stephen King's movies. His novels are good, but the movies never live up to the book. Has he even directed any?

Although not scary, Carpenter's Escape from New York (not LA) is a great flick. Carpenter makes the perfect movie. Good, but simple story, great music, creepiness, and lots of surprises. I wish he would come out of his semi-retirement.

Tod Browning's Dracula with Bela Lugosi is my all-time favorite. You have to realize this was made over 70 years ago. Yes, the middle drags. But there has never been any scene like the one where Bela first appears in his castle, descending the stairs. Things were so much scarier when the blood and gore was left to your imagination. I still get creeped out, with the scene on the boat ride to England. All you see is the shadow of one of the dead crewmen tied to the wheel, guiding the ship. You know what happened to everyone else, and the film didn't show one second of the carnage.