30 Exciting Actresses Under 30

One of the joys of cinema is being able to watch a new star rise, and, conversely, to revisit the early work of some of today's major actors. I've attempted to craft of a list of the 30 young actresses (I'm taking "under 30" to mean 29 years old and younger) whose potential most excite me. Based on what they've done so far, they all look to have bright futures ahead of them. I've listed them in an approximate order, with their ages and what I consider their best/most illuminating performance as well.

30. Amanda Seyfried (25) - Chloe (2009)

29. Nicole Beharie (26) - American Violet (2009)

28. Zoe Kazan (28) - Meek's Cutoff (2010)

27. Bailee Madison (12) - Brothers (2009)

26. Shailene Woodley (19) - The Descendants (2011)

25. Felicity Jones (27) - Like Crazy (2011)

24. Rooney Mara (25) - Dare (2009)

23. Yaya DaCosta (29) - The Kids Are All Right (2010)

22. Emily Browning (22) - Sleeping Beauty (2011)

21. Shareeka Epps (22) - Half Nelson (2006)

20. Melonie Diaz (27) - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

19. Ellie Kendrick (21) - The Diary of Anne Frank (2009)

18. Jennifer Lawrence (21) - The Burning Plain (2008)

17. Abbie Cornish (29) - Bright Star (2009)

16. Abigail Breslin (15) - Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

15. Kristen Stewart (21) - Adventureland (2009)

14. Dakota Fanning (17) - The Runaways (2010)

13. Ellen Page (24) - Juno (2007)

12. Keira Knightley (26) - Atonement (2007)

11. Hayley Atwell (29) - The Pillars of the Earth (2010)

10. Mia Wasikowska (22) - In Treatment (2008)

9. Alison Pill (25) - Milk (2008)

8. Elle Fanning (13) - Super 8 (2011)

7. Anna Kendrick (26) - Up in the Air (2009)

6. Melanie Laurent (28) - Beginners (2011)

5. Anne Hathaway (28) - Rachel Getting Married (2008)

4. Emma Stone (22) - Easy A (2010)

3. Evan Rachel Wood (24) - Mildred Pierce (2011)

2. Saoirse Ronan (17) - The Lovely Bones (2009)

1. Carey Mulligan (26) - An Education (2009)

Close, but no cigar: Nina Arianda (27), Greta Gerwig (28), Selena Gomez (19), Mila Kunis (28), Blake Lively (24), Emmy Rossum (25), Gabourey Sidibe (28), Hailee Steinfeld (14)

A Very Good Place to Start

Welcome to the new blog! Still figuring out on my end what exactly I want this to be, but some things you can expect:

• lists, lists, and more lists
• frequent updates on current cinematical happenings
• regular retrospectives on the great films of yesteryear
• the mildly coherent rantings of a graduate student investigating his love for the cinema

I hope to write reviews of new films as they hit theaters, but seeing as I currently live between the coasts you may not see reviews of the more interesting limited-release films until a little after their peak of relevancy. My sincerest apologies.

We'll kick things off with the traditional Halloween-themed list of scary movies! What follows are the ten films that most scare ME personally. Not all of them may be considered outright horror movies (with a lot of that due to the inherent hybridity of the genre), but one thing they certainly do have in common: I'm too much of a baby to watch them with the lights out. That said, here we go:

10. Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)

A parody of the genre? Sure. But what makes it succeed so wildly is the sheer level of true terror bubbling up under the surface. The film critiques horror conventions while simultaneously taking full advantage of them to scare the hell out of you. That famous opening scene has retained all of its initial power; it's still bone-chilling even when you know what's going to happen next.

9. The Strangers (Brian Bertino, 2008)

Feel free to chalk this one's impact up to #firstworldproblems, but speaking as someone who has spent/spends a significant portion of time retreating to secluded lake houses, this one terrified me to the core. The randomness of the home invasion, the anonymity of the attackers... it's genius, and horrifying at a primal level. Revisiting the scene shown above still gives me the chills.

8. Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980)

What is there left to say about this one? One of the all-time great movie surprises.

7. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)

I saw this for the first time when I was way too young, and was thoroughly scarred until I turned 17 and was able to revisit it. The heart-pounding confrontation in the dark between Clarice and Bill has justly received a lot of acclaim, but for my money the scariest scene in the whole film was Bill's abduction of the senator's daughter. It was a moment that was too real to ignore, and significantly added to the film's consistently foreboding tone.

6. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)

I'm not one usually fazed by gore, but Romero's expert utilization of it, as in the scene pictured above, both turned my stomach and had me gripping the armrests in fear. The horror genre has had a lot of fun over the years with evil child antagonists, but none has come close to matching what we see when we descend into the basement in Night of the Living Dead.

5. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

Psychological horror at its most potent. The much-talked-about shower scene succeeded in making me afraid of my shower before I had ever actually seen the film. The conclusion in the Bates manor, though, had me on the edge of my seat and dragged me along to a payoff that did not disappoint.

4. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

This one gets even creepier upon repeat viewing. I'll never get over watching Jack Nicholson tear down the bathroom door in his pursuit of Shelley Duvall, but for me the most awesomely creepy moment in the entire film is when Duvall finally sees what Nicholson's been working on. With this one shot, my stomach dropped as it became clear how obviously too late it now was for Duvall and her son.

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

The best use of "based on a true story" to date. Perhaps the one title on this list that I legitimately wish I had never seen.

2. Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)

The adrenaline rush of the prom scene may never be matched again on film, with the unnerving split-screen footage elevating the moment into one of unbridled terror. It also ends on a spectacular note, closing on one of cinema's finest twists.

1. Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)

Still in my mind the standard-bearer for the genre. Genius premise, perfect execution, and a central performance that is pitch-perfect. Am I alone in seriously thinking Jamie Lee Curtis deserved an Oscar nomination for this?