My favorite pastime of all (Sorry wasnt blessed with the patience for the No. 1--Baseball.) is to read the occaisional classic and this case---The Scariest.
If you live a lifetime barring speed readers, you may never achieve every book you desire or attempt to read. All that said its a great challenge to read as many enjoyable classics as you can get your hands on in any genre. Scary seems to be one of the top best. People love to be scared and I think its one of the ultimate adrenaline rushes next to dangerous sports and sports period.
My second passion is to watch the classics if they become DVD or just the plain old movie channels. Limited commercials or none--thank God! This is ok to. There is nothing better though than sinking your greedy readership and grabbing a tub of popcorn and sprawled out on the couch for the night on the best literature that writing has to offer. The screen versions on a Saturday night with the loved one are probably even better. Especially if they jive with your likes and dislikes. Oh! Compatibility--Sweet!
Back to basics sometimes I will read a book and get the movies later if of course its been put to "celluloid". Im not sure if the "celluloid" term even exists anymore. Please educate me Im old--40's but mature I think.
Well here are some of my favorites in the top ten to. My personal favorite is Pennywise the Clown. Scarrrrry! When I saw this movie and read the book my heart was in my mouth and I never wanted to spot a clown at a friends house again. I find Stephen's books better than the movies every time I think, its exciting still to see the characters performing the diabolical deeds from his mind for imaginitive purposes only of course.
I have not read the Hannibal book but I find the character in the movie up there with the elusive Jack the Ripper with sophisticated connotations. In other words, Hannibal is more imaginative and comprehensive than the Jack. The surgery of the most incredible scare in history by the end of the triple movie series.
Speaking of series, the Exorcist was to scary, expecially for a 16 year old babysitter watching it at midnight in the middle of nowhere with a big picture window behind you. I got over it but have no idea how. The kids I babysat for were safe but I wondered about my sanity when I got home--just a little horror amusement.
Moving into the character of Oliver Twist is a beautiful period piece, not so much for gore as for Victorian times and historical value. Bill Sykes was the man and he reminds you of a psychotic thief, which is what he is and was for the times. He has no scruples and would probably fit in with the real crime of modern times. Sorry, no apologies, what real crime stories you see on the tube tell you everything you need to know here as we can all attest to. Real crime is everywhere on television, cant escape it.
The Count Drakula, either book or movie is a good one on a moonlit Halloween night with a "bite" for Romance. He has been the butt of so many movies, books and different spins on his character Ive lost track of keeping tabs. When it comes down to the next character, Harry Potter, it speaks for itself--pure imagination. Dark tales of a warlock.
Misery was good, but I found Delores Claiborne more to my palatte and better in literary scale, more sophisticated and deeper in character of the two. The nurse of course is the scarier of the two. The books according to a friend of mine who read them some years ago attests to the fact they are just as good as the movies--more in details as you well know.
Speaking of nurses, Nurse Ratchett was not really scary unless your afraid of needles, mental hospitals and going to the doctors. When it comes to dimented the demon in the Exorcist spawned too many sequels but this original out of the three is by far superior in story line. I havent read the book but Ive seen Blatty interviewed on TV and he strikes me as an excellent storyteller. He said that Stephen King told Blatty he was inspired to write his novels because of the Exorcist.
American Psycho I found not so interesting so it depends on your likes. I found in the research here that out of all these superb storylines Big Brother is by far the scariest taken in the polls and why not? It comes closer to reality than all the top 10 here. I shall give it another read when Im not writing and too busy. You all might want to give it a try--your call folks?
So if you like the feeling of the adrenaline scare go for some of these on DVD or old fashioned hard copy print. Let your imaginations sore.
Happy Exploration!
According to Abebooks.com here they are for your entertainment pleasure:
1. Big Brother 1984 by George Orwell
2. Hannibal Lector by Thomas Harris
3. Pennywise the Clown from It by Stephen King
4. Nurse Ratchett from One Flew Over the Cuchoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
5. Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Novel
6. Annie Wilkes from Misery by Stephen King
7. The demon from the Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
8. Patrick Bateman from American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
9. Bell Sykes from Olvier
10. Voldemont from Harry Potter by JK Rowlings
FINIS.
I like this article, I have some of my own favourites, Voldemort is on that list, along with Emperor Jagang from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, and Raj Ahten from David Farland's Runelords series. Thanks for sharing.