Alien (1979)

This is, I think, the scariest scary movie I've seen this summer. A great deal of the scariness (hanging chains and dripping water, darkness, things jumping out of nowhere, monsters from outer space) is kind of passe. But the little biting mouth that shoots out of the larger biting mouth totally makes this movie. Without the mouth-within-a-mouth: B+ With it: A

The Omen (1976)

I had no problem with this movie, right up until the end. Killing the Antichrist, even if he's only a six-year-old, is pretty damn important, and I have to say that the American Ambassador fails miserably. Seriously, if you're going to stake a child out on the altar of a church in the middle of the night and stab him in the heart, I suggest that you refrain from speeding wildly past police officers and almost running your personal guards down. This will only attract their attention to you, leading them to follow you, shoot you, and give your Satanic offspring to the President of the United States to raise as his own. Bad idea.

The Third Man (1949)

Smuggling penicillin just doesn't pack the emotional punch in the new millennium as it did in post-war Vienna, robbing this movie of some of its impact. Also, I found Holly Martins' (FYI: this is a man's name) loyalty to his obviously unsavory friend somewhat difficult to undertand. Still, this movie was pretty thrilling (even though I already knew the big surprise). The tagline (Hunted by men...Sought by WOMEN!) makes it sound a bit like pr0n.

Children of the Corn (1984)

This movie spawned seven sequels. SEVEN! I have no idea how this happened, given that its primary virtue is being short and to the point. Satanic children with knives? Got it. The 'corn cam' is also nice. The longer I spend dwelling on this movie, the more criticisms I'm going to come up with, so I think I'll go have a sandwich.