Fright Fest

They don’t make em like they used to.  This phrase could be used for a million different things.  The saudade in all of us can appreciate its meaning.  Movies are one of those million things but are one of my favorite things.  Horror movies to be specific, as evidenced in previous posts.  Hollywood has increasingly resorted to remaking the good ones and they still can’t get it right.  The fact is that they have run out of original ideas, so they rehash the old ones and add more gore and shock value.  This usually makes for a worse adaptation and comes off as trying too hard.  Scary for me has typically come in the form of being led down a dark tunnel and fearing what you can’t see as opposed to what you can.  So for me, the gore does nothing.  

As I was compiling my top album list, the thought hit me that I needed to put this one together too.  I have compiled the top 10 horror movies of my personal collection that would outperform anything being put out today.  As I put this list together, I tried to follow a general formula that included the scare factor, level of rewatchability (may or may not be a word) and quotable value.  I wound up with some classics, some mainstream favorites and some cheese as well.  I think they are all representative of my tastes in the genre.  While they may not be widely accepted as top 10’s, they are in mine and that’s the perks of having a blog.  I think I’ve even successfully put them in order.  So, let’s go to the movies!

10.  From Dusk Til Dawn (1996) – This Quentin Tarantino vampire classic blew me away the first time I saw it.  A group of us rented it not really knowing the plot other than it being about a couple of criminals on the run.  Yeah, that’s a minor subplot.  It’s loaded with a who’s who list of performers; Clooney, Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Tom Savini, Cheech Marin, Juliette Lewis and a personal favorite of mine, Danny Trejo.  It also introduced me to an actress by the name of Salma Hayek, who played the lovely Santanico Pandemonium…..whew!  The more I thought about this one, the more I wanted to move it up the list but I can’t justify it.  It’s largely entertaining and has plenty of scare value as well but also goes off script a little too much to maintain some level of believability to keep the tension.  It teeters back and forth between horror, action and comedy, which helps it maintain its top 10 spot but also keeps it from threatening the top 5.

9.  Fright Night (1985) – This one to me was legit scary.  The effects in this movie were ahead of their time.  For a movie made in 1985, the vampires made me nervous to walk down a dark hallway.  Another level of fear for me at the time was the thought of knowing something and not being able to have anyone believe me.  That’s a kids worst nightmare.  This movie plays on the notion that there are monsters all around us but we can’t prove it.  I haven’t like Chris Sarandon since I saw that movie and can only envision him as a bad guy whenever I see him in other movies.  This is one that was remade in the 2000’s and fell way short in my opinion.  Could’ve been Colin Farrell or the lack of Roddy McDowell or a combination of both.  If you haven’t seen this, be sure to watch the ’85 version first.

8.  Return of The Living Dead (1985) – Ok, before you say it, I know this is one of the cheesiest zombie movies ever made but it was supposed to be and it was made obvious.  On the quotable level, this would probably be #2 as it is packed with 80’s goodness.  I also liked the fact that this movie actually revealed the origin of the pandemic as opposed to leaving it in the background.  It was even a plausible story as zombie apocalypses go.  A zombie (along with its gasses) is released in a single building but the dumb responses by the employees in the building lead to the widespread infection.  Oh, and the government is behind the whole thing.  Sounds reasonable.  This is a classic that will make you laugh more than anything but is still a horror by definition and is firmly in my top 10.

7.  The Shining (1980) – I believe this is Stephen King’s second best story, as you’ll see when I get to number 2.  It is more psychological than gory and keeps you thinking that it could legitimately happen.  This movie introduced viewers to “Redrum” and me to Scatman Carruthers.  Take a kid who sees dead people and talks to imaginary friends and put him in a haunted hotel and you’ll likely scare me every time.  Of course, this also included a performance by Jack Nicholson that is likely unmatched in his catalog, with the possible exception of Cuckoo’s Nest.  I catch myself to this day being a little anxious walking down a long hotel hallway thanks to those creepy twins.  It probably didn’t help that I saw this for the first time when I was about 6 thanks to a babysitter not caring what we watched.  

6.  Day of The Dead (1978) – This classic zombie flick made the list for one prominent reason.  Along with being a very entertaining film to begin with, it introduced us to the idea that a zombie could be domesticated if given the proper attention and teachings.  Bub was a lovable walker that enjoyed listening to his headphones just as much as I do.  Of course, the villains in the film, which weren’t the zombies for once, couldn’t understand or accept this so they eventually pushed him to be the monster he was.  There was a certain realism that was scary in this film that was unrelated to the zombies and has been taken to all new levels with The Walking Dead.  Sometimes, it’s the living that you have to be more afraid of than the dead.  

5.  Evil Dead (1981) – For the most part, I’ve never been a big fan of demonic or paranormal movies.  This is the glaring exception.  I don’t know if it was the setting I first saw this movie in or if it was the movie itself but it really creeped me out.  The first time I saw it was when I spent the night with a friend who lived out in the country.  Just down the road from his house was an old church and graveyard.  We would go to the graveyard as a group and see who was bravest among us to walk through it in the dark.  After watching Evil Dead, I don’t think we ever did that again.  Another film that was remade in the 2000’s and taken to a whole new level of shock value, the better version remains the original.  The disappointing issue with the film is that it spawned a couple of sequels that were purely spoof comedy and totally went off the rails.  If it had started that way, I could understand it but by the time we got to Army of Darkness, I was lost.

4.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – The only movie on this list that has decent remakes is Chainsaw Massacre.  None beat the original though.  I think there is even another one coming out this summer.  I’m pretty sure me and Zibby are going to see that one as no one else will watch them with me.  The last Chainsaw Massacre I saw in the theater ended up with Alicia going to Wal Mart about 20 minutes in and not talking to me for a week.  This movie produced many imitations over the years but remains one of the original “creepy family kidnaps teenagers and tortures them” films.  It could probably be #1 on this list and many others but I have personal reasons for my top 3.  Still, Leatherface will go down as the scariest monster in my book.  An actual crazy person that has a taste for blood and enjoys wearing skin as a mask.  No thanks!

3.  Halloween II (1981) – The Halloween series and Michael Myers is probably my favorite collection of all time.  The only movie I didn’t like was III and it was an oddball movie about masks that went way off script from the general story.  While the original Halloween is considered the classic of the series, part 2 was the most entertaining to me.  This was partly due to the setting, a hospital.  Hospitals have always been one of the scariest settings for a horror movie to me.  I’m not entirely sure why but they make the hairs on my neck stand up.  Add Michael Myers to the setting and you’ve got a real creepfest.  Now would be the time to say that while I enjoyed Rob Zombie’s Halloween films, I would have been much happier had he just created his own movies instead of using Halloween, which should have remained as it was created.  If not for Malcolm McDowell playing Dr. Loomis, I’d be totally out on the new Halloween.  Which leads to my last point.  Sam Loomis may be the best character in a horror movie ever, aside from the killers themselves.  I love Donald Pleasance!

2.  Silver Bullet (1985) – This might not be a popular pick among most horror buffs but this one holds the #2 spot on my list. This is likely because it’s one of the first horror movies I watched from beginning to end.  I was probably 8 or 9 when I first saw it and some friends over at Fort Gaines had it on Beta, for those of you who remember that.  I can still plug that movie in today and watch it all the way through, fully entertained.  Corey Haim was pre Corey Feldman and Gary Busey was pre Gary Busey.  This is Stephen Kings greatest accomplishment in my opinion.  The effects were a bit corny and don’t hold up at all today but the story continues to be a haunting twist among many werewolf plots. It’s also very quotable.  So much so that I could probably act out the movie, playing each part, and only miss a line or two.  The movie is worth watching, if for no other reason, just to see Gary Busey tell his “jackass” joke.  When I decide it’s time for Bailey to start watching horror movies, this will be the first one she sees.  I may even watch it tomorrow night myself.

1.  Night of The Living Dead (1990) – I’ve already told the story behind this movie.  You can read all about it here, Old Friends.  This is the movie that got me hooked on zombie films for life.  The downside of the film was that I later could not enjoy the Candyman series due to my appreciation for Tony Todd and my dislike of his portrayal of a killer. My horror collection begins and ends with this film and it will forever be #1.

I couldn’t list just 10 movies so I listed a few more as potential list crackers but, for various reasons, didn’t make it.  

Honorable Mention:  

Aliens – Classic movie but just not quite a top 10 film.  It’s actually been a while since I’ve seen it.  I hope it still holds up.

28 Days Later – Great premise, great visual style, great effects.  The execution was just a little off and it lost me the closer I got to the end.  Great movie but not a list buster.

Shaun of The Dead – No doubt in my top 10 comedy list.  I just can’t bring myself to classify this as a horror.  That is the only reason it’s not in the top 10.

Friday the 13th – The series absolutely deserves to have a film in the top 10.  I will not argue that point and I’m disappointed in myself that it’s not there. I just couldn’t pick one out of all of them.  That’s it.

The Devil’s Rejects – This is what a Rob Zombie film is.  It’s really not a film I would go around recommending to just anyone either because you have to have a pretty strong tolerance for explicit scenes because it really pushes the envelope with its themes.  Great movie but really not for everybody.

So this is my list and I stand by it but feel free to tell me where I screwed up and what I left off.  If you haven’t seen all of these films, I’d recommend checking them out but keep an open mind as it relates to time periods.  I have these on DVD so come over and we’ll watch them together.  I’ll try not to quote them as we watch.

J-Dub