Last horror filum you watched

Tail Sting (2001)
Mutant scorpions terrorize the passengers on an airliner.

And the script pretty much writes itself. Hardly anything original here; it might as well be called Scorpions On An Airplane. Irritating characters combined with campy acting are always a bad mix. I do give the movie credit for the use of practical effects, but unfortunately those effects are cheesy.

Strictly by-the-numbers.

3/10

The Parallax View (1974)
An idealistic senator is assassinated in the Seattle Space Needle during a campaign event. Three years later, an intrepid reporter begins his own investigation when he discovers witnesses to the assassination are dying under mysterious circumstances.

Imagine a world that has this secret organization specializing in assassination, and will also stop at absolutely nothing in covering up what they believe are loose ends. This includes murdering innocent people they suspect might know something, making the deaths look like accidents. It's a cold-hearted, evil, dehumanizing concept that is frightening and remarkably played out here. Director Alan J. Pakula beautifully captures this sense of dread, and the result is dark, moody, and mysterious. The dark anamorphic cinematography by Gordon blends in well with this feeling, and also helps give plenty of space for those scenes shot at great distances; this really sets the tone of paranoia and alienation.

Pakula presents this vision of American society in which average, everyday people are unaware of what they perceive to be as normalcy is actually something else entirely. The idea is that underneath the facade of cheery, flag-waving patriotism and rooting for idealistic political candidates hoping to bring major change, there lurks unknown dark forces who have the power to keep things status quo.

Not everything is spelled out clearly in The Parallax View, as there is some ambiguity. But the idea is to really make you think and draw your own conclusions on certain elements that are open to interpretation. Out of all those 1970s paranoia thrillers, this one is probably the most frightening.

7.5/10

I prefer Shivers to Rabid. Rabid is just pretty much the same film, just more expansive and the crazies are violently rabid, rather than sex starved rabid. 

The ending of Shivers is very good and could in fact have led to a follow up, but the scenario was changed for Rabid. The apartment setting works well in with Shivers atmosphere.