Tuesday, May 08, 2007

British Horror

Village of the Damned

Like the way the Brits do scares? I like almost all movies that take place in England, but the British creepfest one of the best around. Something as simple as the English accent makes what would otherwise be hokey a lot more upright. And when it's good the accent just makes it better.

The two British movies that affected me the most are Alfred Hitchcock's 'Frenzy' and 'The Day of the Triffids' directed by Steve Sekely. I also liked Vincent Price in the Dr. Phibes series -- those scared the hell out of me. I can't help but think that if the Phibes movies had been done with American actors they would have come off pretty schlocky. I'm not arguing they weren't schlock, but those British accents made you (as a kid at least) take it way more seriously.

I was reading through The Guardian's comparison of '28 Weeks Later' to the British horror that preceded it, and it got me to thinking of how much I loved those movies. I'll have to get them together and write something up one of these days.

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