awake* Enough people think the Prodigy's video for 'Breathe' is scary that it got voted in at number 96. I'd have gone for 'Voodoo People' myself.
*More people are scared of a League Of Gentlemen character with an unconvincing catchphrase and who looks like the bastard offspring of Slash and Gene Simmons than are scared of The Silence Of The Lambs, the Protect And Survive information films, and Night of the Living Dead.
* Apparently, Darth Vader was meant to be scary. (Sorry
rathenar.) Oh, and the daleks. Davros I can sort of see, but the daleks are, have always been, and will forever be nothing but cheesegraters on wheels and I have never understood why people were scared of them. Oh, and the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.* Captain Scarlet is more frightening than 'Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You My Lad'. So is Alice Cooper. (I mean, what?)
* I am sick and twisted. (Trevor from Eastenders came in at number 57.)
* What
katyha meant about Blue Velvet; what adjectivemarcus was on about with all that Childcatcher business at Hallowe'en.* I am very glad I never unexpectedly saw those Metz adverts.
* Chris Morris is one very clever, very creepy fucker. I think the clips of 'Jam' scared me more than anything else in this countdown.
* David Quantick, who was involved in the making of said Jam, is cute in a kind of "Do me with your long hard irony" kind of way.
* Wes Craven is entertainingly sadistic. Apparently, while talking to Drew Barrymore prior to filming Scream, he listened to her talking about a kid who tortured a dog and then set light to it, and noticed that it made her cry, so asked if he could use that. So whenever he wanted her to cry, he would, to quote the man himself, say "the boy has the lighter now", or similar, and she would indeed cry. This possibly scared me more than *most* of the things on this countdown. Impressed me more, too.
* Some of the 'things' in The Thing were also seriously impressive. I think that might be something I could watch where I would only be moved to remark on the quality of the animatronics, rather than being scared out of my seat. I actually applauded some of the clips from it.
* No, werewolves are still not scary, no matter how much of the transformation you show.
* Oh, damn and blast. Robert Englund is...quite something. I had a horrible feeling that under all that makeup there'd be someone I'd quite like, and I do. I still don't find Freddy frightening - I must write a
lyrical_glitter thing about this at some point - but the man who played him is a charmer with glittering eyes, and I think I want one.No surprises in the top ten, of course, although it always surprises me that Jaws is in there - I guess there's some truth to what one of the women interviewed said, that it's frightening because it infused an entire *element* with fear. I like the concept, I like the theory of that, but I can't ever quite see it with Jaws.
So, yeah. The great British public is kind of strange, and I am sick and twisted. Not news as such, but entertaining to be reminded of nonetheless.
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