OUR TOP 10 LISTS

10. THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT

Because so many great possession movies came out years ago (supposedly this was a trend in the 70s and 80s), it seems unnatural to put the 2009 HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT on this list. For a great while, possession and paranormal seemingly died off, only to be revived by movies like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, THE RING, and THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE. The triumphant return of grotesque, horror film possession came with THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT.

This movie has an insane cult following, and rightfully so—it is terrifying. The idea that there is an element of menace in supposed pleasantness is why we’re drawn to films like this. Connecticut could not have been a better location for this movie: Victorian houses and green lawns—what could be sinister about that? Well, maybe if you move into a refurbished funeral parlor, you’ll see how sinister suburban peacefulness can really be. I’ll never be able to get some of these images out of my head, and I can guarantee that I’ll never buy a house in Connecticut. (Though I’m sure it’s lovely—really.)

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

9. MEN IN BLACK

Vincent D’Onofrio is recognizable mostly due to his role on Law and Order and roles in FULL METAL JACKET and ED WOOD. But I will never be able to think of him as anything other than Edgar the cockroach guy in MEN IN BLACK.

Though I hope I never have to encounter a talking cockroach, I can guarantee that that voice is exactly what it would sound like. Horrifying, slimy, and baritone, this voice is something that sticks in your head long after having seen MIB for the first time. Is it creepier to hear Edgar speak, or is it watching his skin literally fall of his bones while cockroaches emerge from his sleeves?

When I saw this movie, I was nine, and because of Edgar’s terrifying presence and slimy skin, I truly thought my mom had taken me to see a horror film. The ending scene when he rips off his skin to reveal an eighteen-foot tall cockroach creature is unparalleled in its grotesqueness. Who thinks of these things, anyway?

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

8. GHOST

GHOST has taught us many things that we were blind to before. First of all, we learn that pottery wheels can actually be—beyond all disbelief—sexy. I’m not sure if in order for that to be true, you have to have a body like Patrick Swayze did or a gorgeous face like Demi Moore, but I’d say for you to keep that information in your back pocket. Another thing that we garnered from watching GHOST is that perhaps we should be a little more trusting of hack psychics because they may actually help us get in touch with our dead husbands.

Whoopi Goldberg is outstanding in this movie—she won an Academy award for it, after all—and it’s at once soothing and strange to see her act in a movie with Demi Moore. They make an interesting pair. But no one can truly forget when Oda Mae allows Sam to possess her body so that Molly can be with him one last time. Weird? Uh, no, not at all.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

7. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH

When we think about paranormal possession, our imaginations immediately turn to the creepy and scary. Yes, ghosts as an entire concept are frightening, and when a ghost/being/force enters your body, that takes it to next-level terror. However, there are a few movies that exist that take the word “possession” and run with it in a different direction.

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, in all of its weirdness and humor, is really a film about possession in a pretty literal sense. When John Cusack finds a portal into Malkovich’s mind, we realize that the movie title wasn’t joking; this is actually a movie about being in Malkovich’s body. Thankfully, we can use this whole concept as an escape from our fears and indulgence over possession and can see that there are few things funnier than the idea of John Malkovich as a world-famous puppeteer. I’d get behind that any day.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

6. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

The title says it all, no? Back when THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was released, we thought we’d reached the pinnacle of fear as seen through a janky home camera with shaky hands and weird angles. We were wrong. It is understood that the idea of “found footage” is by far one of the best ways to scare a movie-going audience; PARANORMAL ACTIVITY uses this technique so well that it nearly kills us with fright. Over the course of 21 nights, we witness Katie’s slow descent into possession by paranormal forces, which at the end leads to her killing her husband and disappearing. Initially, we feel something for Katie and her insistence that something is haunting her, but by the end, when she presents her maniacal, demonic face to the screen, fear and repulsion take on a new meaning.

The idea that this was filmed on a home camera by a real couple never leaves us, despite the fact that this just simply isn’t true. The buildup of suspense in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is so real and visceral that we want it to be true. Our obsession with the paranormal is manifested so accurately in this film that we start to freak ourselves out—why are we so convinced that this could actually happen?

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

5. ALL OF ME

I’d always considered myself to be a well-versed Steve Martin fan—a soft spot for the early movies and an embarrassing admiration for his take on Inspector Clouseau. But it was after watching his possessed performance in ALL OF ME that made me second guess my commitment: How had I not seen this movie until recently? How had I never even heard of it? It was a crisis of conscience and I felt immensely out of the loop. Perhaps it’s the ridiculous choice of having Lily Tomlin possessing the right side of Martin’s body while he maintains control of the left—slapstick humor ensues!—or maybe it’s just the bizarro combination of Tomlin and Martin themselves.

The thought that they could actually be successful in film together is absurd, but it’s true . . . their chemistry is hilarious. Though there is nothing remotely frightening or horrific about this version of possession, it certainly is nice every so often to see that there can at least be physical humor in our weird paranormal obsession with mind swapping—it’s not all ghosts and zombies after all.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

4. GHOSTBUSTERS

Though the scene is only a few minutes long, Sigourney Weaver’s possession by demigod Zuul will go down in history as one of the best examples of why we love the idea of the paranormal so much. There is something simultaneously creepy and sultry about Weaver gyrating about in her orangey-red shimmering kimono, and even Bill Murray, queen of the ladies, almost falls for it. The idea that someone—or something—can take over our body and mind as a tricky way of getting what they want is weirdly admirable. It just simply defies all logic to the point of being insanely cool. Admittedly, I’m not sure how fond I would be of having an evil demigod like Zuul take over my mind, but if it brought me a little closer to Bill Murray, I might not complain.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

3. SLITHER

I don’t generally feel bad for many actors with the things they have to do onscreen because they get paid enough to suck it up, but poor, poor Elizabeth Banks. Having to kiss, touch, or go anywhere near Grant Grant, the character of her husband in SLITHER, is unthinkable. Grant has been infected by an alien parasite worm and rapidly transitions into the slimiest, sluggiest, many-toothed creature you’ve ever seen.

In terms of our obsession with possession, this creature was made for those who love the grotesque and unfortunate. It’s like THE EXORCIST’s Regan, but on steroids and funnier and for that, in the history of B-movie campiness, SLITHER is up there as one of the greatest. The performance that Michael Rooker delivers as the disgusting slug-being and Brenda James gives as a giant pregnant mass have me convinced that cheating on your wife (or spending any time in the woods) is always a bad idea.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

2. THE EXORCIST

Ah, the classic. It would be a gross oversight if this top ten list existed without including THE EXORCIST. I remember my mom telling me that when this movie came out, she and her best friend happened to actually be in Georgetown and saw the film at a midnight showing after school was finished for the year. Imagine walking out of a movie theater at two a.m. in the town where this movie was filmed. I can think of absolutely nothing more frightening.

Demonic possession is a cultural obsession of ours, and nobody has been able to capture it better than William Friedkin, director of THE EXORCIST. I don’t care how advanced CGI technology has become or how much better our special effects artists are, there is legitimately nothing creepier than Regan’s spinning head and green eyes. If you’re not still having nightmares about this, then you’re a strong-willed human and for that, I commend you.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans

1. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Whether you’re a fan of the 1957 release or the later 1978 remake, INVASION is a classic film of what happens when aliens take over our friends and family. Sincerely, both movies are frightening, though the original is so dramatic and full of male bravado that it always has the upper hand. Over time, the unforgettable plot line of the pod people replacing our loved ones with carbon copies of themselves, except with a lack of empathy or emotion, has become one giant metaphor that gets used everywhere.

I can’t get enough of the kitschy quality of the original and all the theories over its either anti-communist or anti-McCarthyism stance. What good is a movie from the 1950s without a little politics and a lot side-mouth talking? Not to mention, the awesome image of what these pods actually look like—they’re about as creepy as Audrey from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which is to say . . . not at all.

Tune in as we undress pop culture's most beloved obsessions. Don't miss LOVE LUST | THE PARANORMAL and more, Tuesdays at 10p.

Author: Dayna Evans