Stylish Horror Revived in House of the Devil

Selected by a man who knows what's scary

(NEWSER) - Need some suggestions for a scary movie to watch this weekend? None other than the horror master himself, Wes Craven, offers up his 10 favorites in the Daily Beast :

1. Don't Look Now (1973): A "pretty moving work of art as well" as a horror film, this movie is a great example "of being able to scare without showing blood."
2. Psycho (1960): In the most frightening scene, "Hitchcock did a very surreal thing where he put his actor on a lift so he could be flying backwards in midair in slow-motion in a very surreal, dreamlike way. It was utterly terrifying."

Alien-abduction mock-doc delivers lame premise with laughable framing device

(NEWSER) - The Fourth Kind attempts to combine dramatization of true events and fake-documentary alien abductions in Alaska, and falls horribly flat. Here's what critics are saying:

• The ludicrousness of the grainy archival footage, presented as "real," and a lousy performance by Milla Jovovich, whose "notion of serious acting seems to be speaking very slowly in a halting monotone," make it hard to suspend your disbelief, writes Stephen Holden for the New York Times.

Critics agree: Whatever you think of the first film, it was better

(NEWSER) - Most critics find themselves in the tough spot of praising the original Saw to put down the sixth installment. They don't make 'em like they used to. Some opinions:

• "The film goes all trendy in its selection of victims," opting for the likes of insurance adjusters and bypassing the "classicism" of those who squander the gift of life, Mike Hale writes for the New York Times. And "one test involves dodging hot steam. That’s quite a comedown from the good old days of being drowned in liquefied hog carcasses."

Lauren Bittner, Katie Featherson star in horror flick

(NEWSER) - Reviewers are divided over the third Paranormal Activity installment, which once again aims to frighten with low-budget footage.

• In the newest film, “the sense of dread that permeated the first Paranormal Activity is gone,” writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News . We’re seeing the series “succumb to self-parody, though it wasn't a far fall.”

Actress survived Nazis to become 'first lady of horror'

(NEWSER) - One of the most seductive vampires in movie history has died. Ingrid Pitt, best-known for starring in Hammer horror films of the '70s like Countess Dracula and The Vampire Lovers, passed away in London at the age of 73. The Polish-born star spent years in a Nazi concentration camp as a child. She survived the war but was forced to flee East Berlin the night of her planned stage debut. She dove into the River Spree and was saved by an American GI whom she later married. More»