Editor’s Note: We’ve spent a while searching for a fitting replacement for Ashe (who we still miss), but we’re elated to welcome David Christopher Bell to our team. He’ll be writing insightful lists for us every Thursday from now until we stop blackmailing him for that thing he did in Florida in 1986. Please give him a warm welcome! It’s funny. After Anthony Perkins first appeared as Norman Bates there was absolutely no going back from it. No matter what role he was put in after Norman, when audiences looked at him all they could see was the shower-interrupting taxidermologist that they feared so deeply. This proved to be a major hindrance in his career, causing him never to land any major role in the industry afterward. Now if only he had worn a mask. After all, if horror films have taught us anything it’s that no matter how effective a performance is, if you have a bunch of rubber on your face, mainstream audiences aren’t going to end up learning your name or recognizing your face. So in the interest of giving credit where credit is due, the following are some of those very names and faces that are responsible for some of the greatest movie nightmares of modern horror. People who you could walk right by on the streets and never know that they are to thank for all those times your childhood-spawned neuroses forced you to double-check under your bed.

Silent Hill is one of the very, very, very few video game adaptations that has worked. It was a simple enough story that had the good sense to hire some talented actors, effects people, and the skill of director Christophe Gans (who also directed Brotherhood of the Wolf). Gans isn’t returning for the sequel (cleverly titled Silent Hill: Revelations), but the production has found another young vision to take on the project. Michael J. Bassett directed Deathwatch and the incredibly good Solomon Kane. Now, he’ll be heading back into horror territory with a story from the third game, featuring 18-year-old Heather Mason who starts having bad dreams and gets the urge to find her missing father. What’s the over/under that he’s been turned into a giant spider-humanoid in Silent Hill? Even odds? Thought so. I spoke with Bassett last year, and he’s about as sharp and energetic as you could hope for in a director. Essentially, the franchise now has a shot at 1) being a franchise and 2) being one of the good ones. [STYD]

If you’re in the mood for atmospheric horror with disturbing imagery, this adaptation of the popular game is just the thing.