This is a series you watch not to be scared, but to be informed. Sure, you might well get a quick chill flashing back to your first memory of a film (like I did when they showed 1980’s ‘Friday the 13th.’ I was a teenager that night at the movies…who slept on the floor at the foot of his parent’s bed that night.)
The producers have assembled a group of scholars, filmmakers, special effects artists, and writers, all of whom are total fan boys and girls and all of them with encyclopedic knowledge of why any given moment is so scary. They’re also able to provide some historical context – how practical effects were created back in the days when fake blood wasn’t as sophisticated and digital stuff didn’t exist.
The first three episodes, which were made available for review so far, take us from #101 down to #63. One expects that the closer we get to the Top 20, the more commonly known the titles will be.
What’s cool is seeing the analyses of films you’ve never even heard of, much less seen.
Part of the fun is not knowing which title is coming next on the countdown, so I’m reluctant to start listing them off, but Kurt Sayenga, the Executive Producer, has noted the difficulty of culling the list, and also the ambitious way in which he and the other filmmakers strove to be as inclusive as possible; they’ve mixed in international titles, filmmakers of color, and women creative.
Because this list is specifically about scenes and not whole films, I have a feeling we might see some of the titles returning along the countdown. There was also an effort to update this list from previous ones that have aired in different places. That’s only fair – Rolling Stone magazine updates the top albums and songs lists occasionally. After all, great films like Us and Get Out wouldn’t have been on any list before 2017, but one can bet that they’ll both be on lists for many years to come.
A new episode streams on Shudder every Wednesday until we get to #1. What will it be? The word is that it’s not necessarily one that people will agree on.
