THE BEST SUSPENSE FILMS

INTRODUCTION

Closely allied with the horror film, in that it seeks foremost to evoke an emotional response of gradually building unease and fear to the ultimate climax of terror, the suspense or thriller film is distinct in my mind chiefly in two respects. Firstly, the element of the supernatural is never more than superficial, spice in the pudding, and thoroughly debunked in the end; these films are solidly mundane. Secondly, the effect desired is the more refined and skillfully evoked sensation of terror, not horror. There is a profound difference. Terror is a sense heightening state of mind, horror one of numbness and paralysing shock. Partly because the effect desired is more subtle and difficult to achieve, these films are generally all superior to the typical horror film. Many are regarded as "classics of horror", rather carelessly, because they are among the most truly frightening films ever made. An aspect of these films which is not unique to the suspense film, but an ubiquitous distinguishing feature nonetheless, is that the audience knows more than the characters, and it is this knowledge which is worked so masterfully in the best films to produce the pitch of terror we enjoy so much.

THE DAGGER IN THE DARK RATING SYSTEM

Only the better films are represented here, so there are no degrees of bad ratings. In the future I may add a list of fair and bad movies, but why bother to review the junk?

	A True Classic! de Rigeur for any Aficionado
	Well Worth the Trouble of Finding and Watching
	Better Than Bad, Its Good!
	Properly Misspent Time

THE BAD SEED

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1956
Produced by:	Warner Bros.
Directed by:	Mervyn LeRoy
Other:	Based on the stage play by Maxwell Anderson

Cast of Characters

Patricia McCormack	Rhoda Penmark
Nancy Kelly	Christine Penmark
Henry Jones	LeRoy
Eileen Heckart	Mrs. Daigle
William Hopper	Col. Kenneth Penmark
Evelyn Varden	Monica
Gage Clark	Reginald Tasker

Synopsis and Commentary

The mother of a seemingly innocent little girl develops a suspicion that her daughter may have caused the death of a classmate. In these days of school massacres, The Bad Seed doesn't have the shock effect it once held over the American imagination. At the time it was so appalling a notion that it seemed impossible, almost obscene. The film is still chilling, and perhaps never more timely for its exploration of the possibility of murderous malice in a child. Of course the essence of evil in her case is ascribed to nature instead of nurture. Like Anthony Perkins' portrayal of Norman Bates and Steve Railsback's depiction of Charles Manson, the outstanding performance by Patricia McCormack ruined her career; these actors so assumed the persona of their characters that audiences (and filmakers) felt repelled from them. The ending of this film is singular and perfect, ironically an insistence of the MPPC. The Bad Seed received nominations for Best Actress (Nancy Kelly), Best Supporting Actress (Eileen Heckart and Patricia McCormack) and Best B&W Cinematography (Harold Rosson).

BASIC INSTINCT

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1992
Produced by:	Carolco Pictures
Directed by:	Paul Verhoeven
Other:	Written by Joe Eszterhas

Cast of Characters

Sharon Stone	Catherine Tramell
Michael Douglas	Detective Nick Curran
Jeanne Tripplehorne	Dr. Beth Garner
John Dzundza	Gus

Synopsis and Commentary

An unstable detective becomes drawn into a dangerous relationship with the principal suspect in a murder investigation, a brilliant author whose suspense novels seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to her life. Panned by some critics as an empty paeon to sex exploitation, this film is actually a very stylish and well-constructed homage to the best traditions of the suspense film, in the manner of the master, Hitchcock. I think he would have approved. The setting in San Francisco is a deliberate tribute to such films of dark romance as The Maltese Falcon and Vertigo. Part of its success is the ambivalence that viewers have to its protagonist; I find differing opinions as to whether Catherine is indeed a murderess. The director, Dr. Paul Verhoeven, has a PhD in mathematics and made highly acclaimed and controversial films in the Netherlands before coming to Hollywood and making the science fiction films he is most known for: Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers. Recognition should be given to the haunting musical score composed by Jerry Goldsmith, which hearkens to the film noir classics. Dorothy Malone makes a cameo as convicted murderess Hazel Dobkins.

DEAD AGAIN

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1991
Produced by:	Paramount Pictures
Directed by:	Kenneth Branagh
Other:

Cast of Characters

Kenneth Branagh	Mike Church
Emma Thompson	Amanda Sharp (Grace)
Derek Jacobi	Franklyn Madison
Robin Williams	Dr. Cozy Carlisle
Andy Garcia	Gray Baker

Synopsis and Commentary

A private investigator finds himself and an amnesiac young woman mysteriously linked with the past lives of a composer and his wife and the tragedy that destroyed them. On the heels of his masterful effort in filming Henry V, Branagh undertook an equally masterful turn at reviving a dead sub-genre, the hard-boiled, film noir detective thriller, and managed to make it live again through careful pacing, excellent performances and the subtle introduction of a supernatural element. I won't spoil the fun by revealing anything more. This is one that should be watched without interruption; its definitely better the first time. Trivia: the ID number on the prison uniform of Roman Strauss, 25101415, refers to the date of the Battle of Agincourt, the most important victory of Henry V.

DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1954
Produced by:	Warner Bros. (Alfred Hitchcock)
Directed by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Other:	Written by Frederick Knott (from his play) Music by Dmitri Tiomkin

Cast of Characters

Ray Milland	Tony Wendice
Grace Kelly	Margot Wendice
Robert Cummings	Mark Halliday
John Williams	Inspector Hubbard
Anthony Dawson	Capt. Swan Lesgate

Synopsis and Commentary

A wealthy man of middle years devises an elaborate scheme to murder his young wife, whom he suspects of having an affair. One of Hitchcock's finest films, Dial 'M' for Murder demonstrates the craft of suspense in the structure of plot, though it was filmed in 3-D essentially for the sake of a single moment in the film: the murder scene. Ray Milland is perfect as the coldly calculating murderer by proxy and Grace Kelly is one of the finest actresses with whom Hitchcock ever worked. This is also a great film of clever detection as the worthy inspector from Scotland Yard endeavors to prove his suspicions correct. Remade recently as A Perfect Murder with Michael Douglas (who has made a career in suspense films) and Gwyneth Paltrow.

EYES OF LAURA MARS

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1978
Produced by:	Columbia Pictures
Directed by:	Irvin Kershner
Other:	Co-written by John Carpenter

Cast of Characters

Faye Dunaway	Laura Mars
Tommy Lee Jones	Detective John Neville
Brad Dourif	Tommy Ludlow
Rene Auberjonois	Donald Phelps

Synopsis and Commentary

A photographer whose subjects are beautiful models in the aftermath of violent death, is stalked by a killer whose crimes, at the moment of their commission, she beholds through her own eyes. One of the most original concepts in the genre, this plot device of psychic vision becomes ultimately the mechanism for one of the most frightening moments in suspense film (I reveal nothing more!). I really love this movie and I think it deserves more recognition.

PSYCHO

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1960
Produced by:	Paramount Pictures (Alfred Hitchcock)
Directed by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Other:	Music by Bernard Herrmann

Cast of Characters

Anthony Perkins	Norman Bates
Janet Leigh	Marion Crane
Vera Miles	Lila Crane
John Gavin	Sam Loomis
Martin Balsam	Milton Arbogast
John McIntire	Sherriff Chambers
Simon Oakland	Dr. Richmond

Synopsis and Commentary

A young woman, feeling trapped by her life, steals $ 40,000 and escapes to California, where she checks into an isolated roadside motel, operated by a lonely young man berated by his termagant invalid mother. Based on Robert Bloch's novel, this film is the master of suspense's most famous opus, considered by most authorities to be his finest effort. Filmed in black and white in 1961, it was a daring move but is for that reason the more effective, relying on cinematography and superb acting for its shock. The shower scene has become one of the icons of American cinema and Janet Leigh's performance is astonishing, filmed in one long take. Likewise the score for this film by Bernard Herrmann is among the most famous, if not the most famous of all musical scores. This film shares un unusual association with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs, all being inspired by the actual circumstances of the life of Ed Gein, perhaps the one psychopath other than Jack the Ripper most imitated in film. By all accounts, none of these films approaches the full horror of what he did.

REAR WINDOW

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1954
Produced by:	Paramount Pictures (Alfred Hitchcock)
Directed by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Other:	Music by Franz Waxman

Cast of Characters

James Stewart	L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries
Grace Kelly	Lisa Carol Fremont
Wendell Corey	Thomas J. Doyle
Thelma Ritter	Stella
Raymond Burr	Lars Thorwald

Synopsis and Commentary

An action photographer confined to his apartment for months with a broken leg becomes a voyeur into the private lives of the apartment dwellers around him (giving them names such as Miss Torso and Miss Lonely Hearts), and discovers what appears to be a heinous crime. Its hard to pick my favorite Hitchcock film, but for sheer seat climbing suspense this one has got to be about the best. Few directors could make a compelling film with such a confining set of circumstances (almost the entire film is seen from Jeff's apartment window), but the master illustrates how the essence of fear is conjured when all the usual dramatic trappings are stripped away. This film, along with Rope and Vertigo, was among the "lost Hitchcock's", unseen for over twenty years because the distribution rights were held by the director's daughter.

REBECCA

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1940
Produced by:	David O. Selznick
Directed by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Other:	Music by Franz Waxman

Cast of Characters

Lord Laurence Olivier	Maxim de Winter
Joan Fontaine	The Second Mrs. de Winter
Dame Judith Andersen	Mrs. Danvers
George Sanders	Jack Flavell
Gladys Cooper	Beatrice Lacy
Nigel Bruce	Maj. Giles Lacy

Synopsis and Commentary

An artless young paid companion of an heiress falls in love with a dashing English lord and returns to his ancestral home as his bride, but finds her happiness overshadowed by the haunting memories of his dead first wife. Winner of the 1940 Academy Award for Best Picture, Alfred Hitchcock's interpretation of the novel by Daphne DuMaurier is a masterpiece of brooding Gothic mystery and unspoken evil. Dame Judith Andersen delivers one of the most chillingly malevolent portrayals on film as the chambermaid to the young bride of Maxim. This is a tale of complex psychological development and unexpected revelations. For the best effect, it must be watched without interruption, preferably on a dreary afternoon or evening.

ROPE

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1948
Produced by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Directed by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Other:

Cast of Characters

James Stewart	Rupert Cadell
John Dall	Shaw Brandon
Farley Granger	Philip
Joan Chandler	Janet Walker
Sir Cedric Hardwicke	Mr. Kentley

Synopsis and Commentary

The students of a philosophy professor with outrageous beliefs about morality plot to consummate their assent with his vision by murdering a classmate. Loosely based on the true circumstances of the Leopold-Loeb murder, this film has the feel of a stage production partly because it is adapted from the stage play by Patrick Hamilton and also because it was filmed in a series of continuous 8 minute takes (all the film the camera could hold) on a single set. Hitchcock was an experimental filmmaker and innovator, Rope being one of his most challenging projects. It is also perhaps his most disturbing film. The hallmark black humor and the natural human sympathy common to most of his characters is nearly absent here, at least in the soul of the protagonist, Shaw. He is chillingly sociopathic, the perfect embodiment of his professor's elitist views. Not merely the murder, but the celebratory dinner held about the body contained in an altar-like sideboard mark the principal killer to be something utterly inhuman. But is he really? I think that is what makes this film truly disturbing on reflection.

SEVEN

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1995
Produced by:	New Line Cinema
Directed by:	David Fincher
Other:

Cast of Characters

Morgan Freeman	Lt. William Somerset
Brad Pitt	Det. David Mills
Kevin Spacey	"John Doe"
Gwyneth Paltrow	Tracy Mills

Synopsis and Commentary

A homicide detective on the verge of retirement must initiate a rookie in a search for a serial killer who chooses to depict the seven deadly sins by horrible tableau created by his victims' deaths. Capitalizing on the success of The Silence of the Lambs, this film is unusually well written and acted, no mere copy of its predecessor. Morgan Freeman, certainly one of the most popular actors working today, has the kind of quiet, steady and venerable presence necessary for his role, combining at once the undimmed light of goodness with the weariness of a cop who's seen too much in his time. Brad Pitt turns in a fine performance as the rookie homicide detective. This one is extremely intense and gruesome.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1991
Produced by:	Orion Pictures
Directed by:	Jonathan Demme
Other:	Music by Howard Shore

Cast of Characters

Jodie Foster	Clarice Starling
Anthony Hopkins	Dr. Hannibal Lechter
Scott Glenn	Jack Crawford
Kasi Lemmons	Ardelia Mapp
Anthony Heald	Dr. Frederick Chilton
Ted Levine	Jame Gumb

Synopsis and Commentary

Baffled by a series of gruesome mutilation murders an FBI investigator and his aspiring special agent cadet must enlist the cooperation of a brilliant and cunning psychiatrist, himself imprisoned for murder and cannibalism. Undeniably one of the finest motion pictures ever produced, the winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Jonathan Demme's brilliant translation of Thomas Harris's superlative novel of detection and suspense may be the finest genre film of all. Even the grand master Hitchcock at his best doesn't surpass the depth, the humanity and the riveting suspense of this film. The relationship between Hannibal Lechter and Clarice Starling has all the fear and fascination of Eve for the Serpent. Watch for the cameo appearances by horror auteurs Roger Corman as the Director of the FBI and George A. Romero as an FBI agent in Memphis.

VERTIGO

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1958
Produced by:	Paramount Pictures (Alfred Hitchcock)
Directed by:	Alfred Hitchcock
Other:	Music by Bernard Herrmann

Cast of Characters

James Stewart	John "Scottie" Ferguson
Kim Novak	Madeleine Elster / Judy Barton
Tom Helmore	Gavin Elster
Barbara Bel Geddes	Marjorie "Midge" Wood

Synopsis and Commentary

A retired police officer is hired as a sort of detective cum bodyguard by a friend who believes his wife is obsessed with suicidal delusions. This is probably my favorite of Hitchcock's films. It haunted me for years. Kim Novak is absolutely magnificent and Stewart, always superlative, renders a breadth of characterization rarely seen. San Francisco, and the surrounding Bay area, is as much a character in this story as the actors and this film was the first thing that caused my love affair with the region. The film is really concerned with psychological vertigo, although Stewart's character suffers from a fear of heights and this plays a central role in the action; it is his psychological imbalance and loss of proportion which drives the story, and his fight to overcome this disability. The element of the supernatural is subtle here (though undeniably present), nevertheless my best friend and I managed to scare ourselves (and everyone near us in the theater) quite silly by the end of the film. Hitchcock, always innovative in his cinematography, developed the technique of forward zoom coupled with reverse tracking to create the special visual effects for this film. The staircase scene alone reportedly cost $19,000. Loosely based upon the novel D'Entre les Morts (From Among the Dead), written especially for the director. Vertigo was one of the famous five "lost Hitchcocks", out of circulation for over twenty years because the distribution rights were held by Hitchcock's daughter.

WAIT UNTIL DARK

Rating

Film Production Credits

Release Date:	1967
Produced by:	Warner Bros.
Directed by:	Terence Young
Other:

Cast of Characters

Audrey Hepburn	Susie Hendrix
Alan Arkin	Harry Roat, Jr.
Richard Crenna	Mike Talman
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.	Sam Hendrix
Jack Weston	Carlino

Synopsis and Commentary

A missing doll stuffed with heroin leads a murderous criminal to play a deadly game of deception with a blind woman. The renowned and impressive talents of Audrey Hepburn bring the audience into the world of a woman surrounded by darkness and the growing realization that she is being stalked by a killer. Comedian Alan Arkin is absolutely convincing as the utterly ruthless killer, most ably substantiating my belief that the best villains are portrayed by comic actors. For those familiar with my horror film pages, this is yet another film recommended to me by my mother as being wonderfully frightening (I refuse to believe that she doesn't enjoy being scared since she made it seem so appealing!). She is absolutely right. One of the most terrifying scenarios ever conceived, it is regarded by the cognoscenti of suspense as among the very best. This stage play by Frederick Knott (who also wrote Dial 'M' for Murder) was recently revived on Broadway with Quentin Tarentino and Marisa Tomei in the lead roles.

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