The Walking Dead, Stranger Things and even Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all getting into the Halloween spirit, but if you’re searching far and wide for a spooky movie marathon, Tobin Bell has now chimed in with his recommendations. Yes, the Tobin Bell, perhaps better known to you as Jigsaw, the twisted old serial killer who’s got a thing for playing games.
While speaking with Rotten Tomatoes to promote his latest film, which just so happens to be the Saw franchise’s newest installment, Jigsaw (our review here), the actor touched on his favorite horror movies, choosing such classics as Psycho and The Exorcist as some of the ones he really digs.
Here’s his full rundown on why he loves these flicks:
DIABOLIQUE (LES DIABOLIQUES)
An old French film with Simone Signoret, and I think Paul Meurisse is in it. It’s the film that terrified me as child, with this very simple scene where she pulls a curtain back in an upstairs window, and he’s watching from the yard. That was actually probably the first horror film I ever saw. It was a very scary. I was a small child. I just remember the simplicity of that moment when she pulled that curtain back. So there’s that, and they did the remake with Sharon Stone that was not very successful and wasn’t very well made.
PSYCHO
Psycho, the Alfred Hitchcock film, the film with Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. I thought that film was groundbreaking at its time, and I think everyone else did, too. The shower scene in Psycho, I likened it to people being afraid to go in the ocean because of Jaws. People were afraid after that film to take a shower. I remember distinctly so many people talking about that because of that shower scene with Janet Leigh.
THE EXORCIST
The William Friedkin film. I thought that was very smart. I thought the priests were as terrifying in that, and all the religious symbolism, and all of the dogma of the Catholic Church that was involved in that. It’s pretty rich stuff. The performances were very, very powerful in that film. Some of the special effects also that they did with the child in the bed were just so freaky.
THE DESCENT
The Descent, which was the film about the women spelunkers who go down into a cave. What I liked about that was the fact that you spent the first half hour of the film developing the characters. You cared about the people. By the time they went into the cave, you were involved. I thought that was very smart, and I loved that a horror film didn’t go right to the scares but made you care about the characters and their relationships with one another. The Descent was very well made, I thought, on a relatively low budget.
WOLF CREEK
Wolf Creek, the Australian independent film that has such great locations and great music. A very simple premise, and it’s surprising. It starts out in this sort of idyllic setting and situation, and it just falls like dominoes into this horrific situation. Your hopes for the characters are dashed, one by one. I just love when I see a little independent film that’s got all the elements of good filmmaking done on a small budget with extremely powerful performances by the two lead characters in it.
So, there you have it; Tobin Bell has compiled a Halloween-themed watchlist so you don’t have to. Admittedly, it’s not the most original or inspired group of films, given that these are all fairly popular choices when it comes to top horror movies, but it’s nice to hear the actor’s opinion regardless. Plus, it’s great to see The Descent popping up here, as that’s a personal favorite of mine.
Tell us, what do you make of Tobin Bell’s choices? Are you a fan of these movies as well? You can, as always, drop your thoughts and comments via the usual place.