Top Ten Right Fielders Right Now/Ten Scariest Movies

Top Ten Right Fielders
1. Giancarlo Stanton, MIA--Godzilla is the most feared hitter in MLB, solid RF as well.
2. Justin Upton, SD--5-tool talent is still very young and has more power to come. Only in SD for one year.
3. Yasiel Puig, LAD--Athletic monster will be a monstrous player if he ever smartens up his game.
4. Jose Bautista, TOR--Beastly power would garner more acclaim if he played in U.S.
5. Hunter Pence, SF--Speedy power hitter is the ebullient counter to the austere Posey.
6. Jayson Werth, WAS--Old goat is on the decline, but is still a highly skilled RF
7. George Springer, HOU--Wicked combo of speed, power, and athleticism in RF. Future Star.
8. Jason Heyward, STL--Excellent defender needs to work on hitting and getting on base.
9. Jorge Soler, CHC--Extremely talented Cuban has talent to rise to the #1 spot.
10. J.D. Martinez, DET--Has to prove last year's surprising, remarkable year was no fluke.

Top Ten Scariest Movies
1. The Exorcist--A terrifying visual and thematic assault on the viewer's senses and sensibilities.
2. Alien--Terrifying and spooky haunted house film in space with a particulalry malicious monster.
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre--Shockingly realistic and relentless precursor to Slasher flicks.
4. A Nightmare on Elm St.--Freddy Kreuger, Johnny Depp eaten by a waterbed, and more frights.
5. Psycho--Horrifically deconstructed the 50's and the most memorable death scene ever.
6. The Thing--Carpenter's remake re-set Alien in isolated Antarctica with same claustrophobia.
7. Session 9--Haunting film about 4 men in an insane asylum...and maybe the Devil.
8. Invasion of the Body Snatchers--Greatest paranoia film ever skewers McCarthyism and conformity.
9. Night of the Living Dead--German Expressionism meets Zombies in Romero's classic.
10. Ringu--Much scarier than remake, The Ring, spliced old-fashioned Ghost story with modern technology.

Top Ten Right Fielders
1. Giancarlo Stanton, MIA--Godzilla is the most feared hitter in MLB, solid RF as well.
2. Justin Upton, SD--5-tool talent is still very young and has more power to come. Only in SD for one year.
3. Yasiel Puig, LAD--Athletic monster will be a monstrous player if he ever smartens up his game.
4. Jose Bautista, TOR--Beastly power would garner more acclaim if he played in U.S.
5. Hunter Pence, SF--Speedy power hitter is the ebullient counter to the austere Posey.
6. Jayson Werth, WAS--Old goat is on the decline, but is still a highly skilled RF
7. George Springer, HOU--Wicked combo of speed, power, and athleticism in RF. Future Star.
8. Jason Heyward, STL--Excellent defender needs to work on hitting and getting on base.
9. Jorge Soler, CHC--Extremely talented Cuban has talent to rise to the #1 spot.
10. J.D. Martinez, DET--Has to prove last year's surprising, remarkable year was no fluke.

Top Ten Scariest Movies
1. The Exorcist--A terrifying visual and thematic assault on the viewer's senses and sensibilities.
2. Alien--Terrifying and spooky haunted house film in space with a particulalry malicious monster.
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre--Shockingly realistic and relentless precursor to Slasher flicks.
4. A Nightmare on Elm St.--Freddy Kreuger, Johnny Depp eaten by a waterbed, and more frights.
5. Psycho--Horrifically deconstructed the 50's and the most memorable death scene ever.
6. The Thing--Carpenter's remake re-set Alien in isolated Antarctica with same claustrophobia.
7. Session 9--Haunting film about 4 men in an insane asylum...and maybe the Devil.
8. Invasion of the Body Snatchers--Greatest paranoia film ever skewers McCarthyism and conformity.
9. Night of the Living Dead--German Expressionism meets Zombies in Romero's classic.
10. Ringu--Much scarier than remake, The Ring, spliced old-fashioned Ghost story with modern technology.

Nice list's both, I'd only swap out Reddick for Soler, more because Soler hasn't really played yet, than due to raw talent.

As for the horror films, you're in my wheelhouse now, great list, can't really poke holes in it, but I will offer a few other gems some well known, others not so much:


The Shining - I'm not as enamored with it as others, and it's now got a huge cult following trying to decipher the "hidden meanings" Kubrick may or may not have packed into the film, but you can't deny Nicholson's turn as Jack Torrance slowly loses his marbles and the claustrophobic feel Kubrick is able to pile on the viewer. There are scenes in the film that make little sense if you haven't read King's book, and if you've read the book, the film itself will leave you scratching your head as to why Kubrick decided to leave some things out, and change what he did, but both are masterpieces of horror.

28 days later - What Romero seemingly perfected in Night of the Living Dead, Danny Boyle amps up like a wrestler juiced on steroids and cocaine, mostly by simply doing a really simple thing, making the zombies fast, REALLY fast. The film also does a great job exposing our worse societal fears in a post 9/11 world, the failing of all authority and societies systems. Other films have done this, but not nearly as effectively.

Rosemary's Baby - May not even be Polanski's scariest film, Repulsion may hold that honor, but watching poor Mia Farrow realize her world is crumbling around her as she realizes she can trust no one, not even her husband, while coming to the realization of what must be every mother's worst nightmare, is truly terrifying.


Descent - Recent entry that is unusual for a few things, the all female cast, the setting, and then the unexpected ending, once this film gets going, it is relentless in pouring on the terror.

Freaks - A film once thought so repulsive, it was banned in the UK for 30 years. A story about carnival freaks and what they do when someone tries to cross them. The film used actual freak show performers and ended the film career of Todd Browning, it's director. The current season of American Horror Story owes a big debt to this classic.

Jaws - It's lost a lot of it's impact due to being shown so often, but when this film came out people were even afraid to swim in lakes, it was that terrifying. The ironic thing is, that part of what makes the film so effective happened practically as an accident. Spielberg wanted to show the shark full on, and in full action much more than is in the film, but couldn't, because the mechanical shark kept malfunctioning. Forced to change the way he planned to shoot the film he instead relied on ingenious POV shots of the shark, both under the water, and right on the surface. Putting the viewer in the shark's head really amped up the tension and terror.

The Haunting - 1963 adaption of Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, still as unsettling today as when it was released. Watching the female lead, played by Julie Harris descend into madness as the house slowly inhabits her mind is unnerving to say the least. It was remade poorly a few years ago with Liam Neeson and, Stephen King's Rose Red television novel, is heavily influenced by it ( with a smattering of the Winchester mansion thrown in).

I ruined The Shining by reading the book, and living through the nightmares generated by King's prose. When the movie came along, I was bitterly disappointed. Hard to beat the budget and possibilities of the human imagination when you are constrained by film (and having to deal with real people and locations).

I'd put up The Birds for consideration. I still look suspiciously at any gathering of birds in the trees, wondering if I can make it to my car before they coordinate their little bird-brain attack.

Scary movies are my wheelhouse.

My favorites are ones that scare through what you CAN'T see (e.g. Alien) rather than making the evil readily visible (e.g. Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

Recently I have enjoyed the following:

Sinister
Insidious
The Strangers
The Babadook
The Conjuring
Mama

Scary movies are my wheelhouse.

My favorites are ones that scare through what you CAN'T see (e.g. Alien) rather than making the evil readily visible (e.g. Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

Recently I have enjoyed the following:

Sinister
Insidious
The Strangers
The Babadook
The Conjuring
Mama

I have not checked these out, my wife HATES the genre so my horror viewing time is limited these days, I've heard/read good things about them though.

Also very glad No one has mentioned Blair Witch Project, which thoroughly bored the hell out of me and I found completely UNscary. Maybe it's my background in TV production/film study but it looked like a bad student film to my eyes. Academy award marketing, but not a good film INHO.

I ruined The Shining by reading the book, and living through the nightmares generated by King's prose. When the movie came along, I was bitterly disappointed. Hard to beat the budget and possibilities of the human imagination when you are constrained by film (and having to deal with real people and locations).

I'd put up The Birds for consideration. I still look suspiciously at any gathering of birds in the trees, wondering if I can make it to my car before they coordinate their little bird-brain attack.

King was also bitterly disappointed. In fact he HATES Kubrick's version and has been rather outspoken about his dislike of the film. It's what prompted him to do the TV version a few years ago that actually used the real hotel that inspired King to write the novel in the first place.

I like to look at them as two different artist's interpretation of the same situation, kind of like Dali interpreting a Picasso painting, so I don't expect them to be the same.

That said, there is one film that absolutely NAILED my vision of a King book, at least part of it. In the Film version of Pet Semetary, the deadfall that separates the pet cemetary from the Pet Semetary (you know what I mean if you know the story), looked like they ripped it straight from my imagination, spooky accurate to how I envisioned it.

and I agree with The Birds, scary as hell, Psycho is better, The Birds right up there mostly because we never find out why the birds attack in the first place.

I ruined The Shining by reading the book, and living through the nightmares generated by King's prose. When the movie came along, I was bitterly disappointed. Hard to beat the budget and possibilities of the human imagination when you are constrained by film (and having to deal with real people and locations).

I'd put up The Birds for consideration. I still look suspiciously at any gathering of birds in the trees, wondering if I can make it to my car before they coordinate their little bird-brain attack.

King was also bitterly disappointed. In fact he HATES Kubrick's version and has been rather outspoken about his dislike of the film. It's what prompted him to do the TV version a few years ago that actually used the real hotel that inspired King to write the novel in the first place.

I like to look at them as two different artist's interpretation of the same situation, kind of like Dali interpreting a Picasso painting, so I don't expect them to be the same.

That said, there is one film that absolutely NAILED my vision of a King book, at least part of it. In the Film version of Pet Semetary, the deadfall that separates the pet cemetary from the Pet Semetary (you know what I mean if you know the story), looked like they ripped it straight from my imagination, spooky accurate to how I envisioned it.

and I agree with The Birds, scary as hell, Psycho is better, The Birds right up there mostly because we never find out why the birds attack in the first place.

I think Psycho is a difficult movie to classify. I didn't find it that scary (although I understand those that do), but more like a thriller. Maybe they shouldn't have wrapped it up so nice at the end, too. That little "Norman is gone, all that is left is Mother" bit seemed tacked on.

I think Pet Semetary is a good one, loved Fred Gwynne in that one. A few weeks ago, a guy claimed his dead and buried cat returned home 5 days later, and my family had to endure my "Sometimes, dead is better" imitation.

I think Psycho is a difficult movie to classify. I didn't find it that scary (although I understand those that do), but more like a thriller. Maybe they shouldn't have wrapped it up so nice at the end, too. That little "Norman is gone, all that is left is Mother" bit seemed tacked on.

I think Pet Semetary is a good one, loved Fred Gwynne in that one. A few weeks ago, a guy claimed his dead and buried cat returned home 5 days later, and my family had to endure my "Sometimes, dead is better" imitation.

LOL on that, your family must have LOVED that.

I totally agree on Psycho. It's pretty much the dividing line for horror films stopping being about external horrors for the most part and looking at internal horror. I have seen the monster, and he is me.

I think Psycho is a difficult movie to classify. I didn't find it that scary (although I understand those that do), but more like a thriller. Maybe they shouldn't have wrapped it up so nice at the end, too. That little "Norman is gone, all that is left is Mother" bit seemed tacked on.

That said, there is one film that absolutely NAILED my vision of a King book, at least part of it. In the Film version of Pet Semetary, the deadfall that separates the pet cemetary from the Pet Semetary (you know what I mean if you know the story), looked like they ripped it straight from my imagination, spooky accurate to how I envisioned it.

Firstly, I've enjoyed all the posts. Not only are the posters clearly horror movie fans, they've clearly put thought into their evaluations of the films.

As to Psycho, it is a difficult film to classify. Like most all of Hitchcock's films, it's primarily a suspense film. However its two horrific (for its time) murder scenes did push it into horror. It also is the true origin of slasher films, despite its relative lack of gore. I also don't think they wrapped it up so "nice." Many horror movies have such denouements, and Psycho's certified both the nature of Norman's dementia, as well as its finalization, as his competing personalities finally fused into the dominant one of the mother. Hitchcock was too much of a visual director to not present that reality. Following the previous events, that final shot is effectively disturbing.

I also have to second what Niners said about the Pet Sematary film. It wasn't the best film of King's books--Stand by Me, Shawshank, and Carrie were--but it did best recreate what made King's book scary. Considering it was King's scariest book, that says a lot.

As to some of the other films. I loved seeing Rosemary's Baby, The Descent, Sinister, and Freaks get some love. Rosemary's Baby is more spooky and unsettling than scary, but it is a spooky, unsettling masterpiece. The Descent and Sinister--along with Session 9--would be in my top ten horror films of the millennium, and Sinister uses found footage better than any film I have seen. As to Freaks, it is a major masterpiece that manages to be both frightening and ennobling as it beautifully shows the humanity of its "freaks." A suggestion, though: for those of you still meddling with the herb, do not watch this film stoned. It does not lead to a "chill" experience...

Finally, I have to also second Niners' disdain for The Blair Witch Project. I heard all the amazing buzz about the film and waited an hour in line to see it. I spent the whole film getting sick from it's shaky, pretentious hand-held camera usage, and thought I had been completely scammed by the end of the film. The Lego Movie was scarier. Even worse, it has spawned that ridiculous "found-footage" genre that has produced hundreds of terrible horror movies. As I said before, Sinister is the only one that got that right.

Adding Session 9 to my queue