It takes more than just cheap theatrics and cheesy cinematic scare tactics to frighten Andrea Beesley-Brown, co-owner of The Royale in Mesa.
4. Grave Encounters
Twin Engine Films/95 minutes
The plot: The crew of a Ghost Hunters-style reality show investigates an abandoned asylum, only to have the spirits inside start killing them off one by one.
Andrea's take: "Its kinda like a mockumentary, except really freaky. This one is funny in the beginning, because it totally spoofs those Ghost Hunters programs. It does a really good job of making fun of those kinda people, because those guys are total tools with fauxhawks and Affliction t-shirts. Then they actually get stuck in a real haunted house/asylum. People were really freaked out when they saw it. It does a good job of scaring people with the whole 'found footage' trend."
3. The Silent House (La Casa Muda)
Tokio Films/86 minutes
The plot: In this Spanish-language horror film based on a true story, a father and daughter travel to the country to fix up an old house inhabited by spirits that don't want to be disturbed.
Andrea's take: "It's pretty creepy and has a nice reveal at the end. The whole gimmick is that it's supposedly done in one shot, so there's no cuts in-between scenes. It has a really creepy soundtrack and was really good at pacing and building tension."
2. The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)
IFC Midnight/87 minutes
The plot: The sequel to the original horror film features a deranged loner who's inspired by the first film to create his own personal version of the Human Centipede.
Andrea's take: "As far as gross movies, Human Centipede 2 is pretty damn disgusting. I'm sure a lot of people would also find it pretty scary. It's really grim, shot in black and white. It has teeth-smashing, knee-tendon-ripping, it's pretty graphic and gory. So I'm sure a lot of people would find that terrifying. The first one's quite restrained, like it doesn't show a lot of stuff. And then this one doesn't really hold back anything. They're not releasing the unedited one theatrically, I think they'll save that for the DVD release."
1. Insidious
Film District/102 minutes
The plot: A family realizes their new home is haunted by demonic and supernatural forces when their youngest son slips into a coma and is later possessed by a murderous spirit.
Andrea's take: "It's definitely a really scary movie. It was kinda low budget but had a good, good story. It had a lot of jump scares but they were really well-done. The camera would be on one person and then it would pan back to another person and there's something scary there. It was really good at building tension and the frights are really great. We watched it after-hours one night at The Royale and we screamed almost the whole time. It was so freaky it was funny."
