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film - a pseudo-documentary supposed to be edited together from lost footage - saw three filmmakers set out to document the Blair Witch myth in the Maryland woodland. Beginning in retrospect, the viewer is told the students went missing in the woods never to be found. The only thing discovered were their film cameras and the footage held within. What we see is their footage, culminating in their ultimate demise. A demise that leaves many questions unanswered.

The best scene in the movie is the scene I pick for my second favourite scary moment of all time. The students, having completely lost their way in the woods, are becoming increasingly disorientated. After an unscheduled extra night in the woods one of the students disappears. Still lost, paranoia rampant, the two remaining students settle down for another night lost in the woods. They hear strange noises including their missing friend crying out in pain. As another day turns to dark they get back into their tent and try to get some sleep. Suddenly they hear voices of children all around them. Then, what appear to be hands start frantically pushing at the tent. Terrified, the two students make a hasty exit and run away into the woods screaming for their lives. We never find out what was pushing on the tent.

#1 JAWS (Steven Spielberg, USA, 1975)
I only recently read the Peter Benchley novel that Steven Spielberg's film is based on. It came as little surprise, given the quality of Jaws the movie, that its cinematic incarnation is an exceedingly more pleasing experience than its literary form. Jaws is one of those anomalies - the film is better than the book.

Jaws was a massive hit in 1975. It paved the way for George Lucas' Star Wars and began the trend of multimillion dollar blockbuster movies. Jaws became a summer event in itself and firmly placed Steven Spielberg at the top of the movie brats.

Everyone knows the story by now. Amity Island is being terrorised by a shark with a taste for human blood. Chief Brody hires the help of shark specialist Matt Hooper and fisherman Quint to catch and kill the big fish. On one night time expedition, Hooper and Brody find an unmanned boat. Hooper, for reasons of insanity and dramatic tension, decides to don his scuba diving gear and swim underneath the stricken boat. Naturally, that's when my all time favourite scary moment occurs.

Hooper enters the water lit by fluorescents from his boat and the diving torch in his hand. He heads under the boat and finds a sizeable hole beneath the water line. He goes towards the hole and finds a large shark's tooth caught in the wood. He shines his torch on the tooth in order to examine it. Then, with perfect timing, a dead head with a severed eye floats out the hole. Hooper screams, drops the tooth which disappears into the murky depths, and swims to the surface to tell Brody he's just had the fright of his life.

I can't think of a more perfect scary moment in horror cinema and I bet I'm not the only one to think this is the best of them all.

Learn more about this author, Daniel Stephens.
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