Thursday, October 27, 2011

My Top Ten Horror Films

With this month being October and it is the season for Horror i've decided to show with you my Top 10 horror films. some you all might have seen. some you might not have seen.


10.Tales From The Crypt Demon Knight(1995)

It's campy, its scary, but just a lot of fun. Billy Zane as The Collector is sinister in a gleeful way that you find yourself rooting for him but remembering that he is the bad guy. William Sadler is great as the mysterious Brayker, Jada Pinkett Smith is one of the few women who can pull off a shot haircut and still look sexy even though she's the tough chick in this movie.

Dick Miller is great in these type of movies, the man i swear has been in every B movie made it seems like. The Special Effects are pretty good for mid 90s pre CGI crazy that came only a few years later.



9. Trick R Treat(2007)

Trick R Treat or as i like to call it "The Pulp Fiction of horror" this movie is a anthology of 4 interlocked stories that take place on Halloween night the one main thing that connects all the stories is Sam (Pictured above) He shows up in all the stories and especially in the end.

it has a cool ensemble cast Dylan Baker(Spiderman), Brian Cox(X2), Anna Paquin(True Blood) most notable. its on of the best underrated horror movies out. i think any true horror fan would like this movie. Serial killers, werewolves, ghost, and Sam weave in and out of this movie. i highly recommend it.

8. Slither(2006)

Another B Horror/Comedy with great special effects. it reminds me alot of another movie that will make this list. it's not as great as that one, which i'll explain the reason being when i get to it,but its a fun ride witha great ensemble cast Nathan Fillion(Firefly,Castle) Elizabeth Banks(The Uninvited) Gregg Henry(Payback) Jenna Fischer(The Office) Michael Rooker(Mallrats,The Bone Collector )written and Directed by Dawn of the Dead 04 screenwriter(James Gunn).

The story is a homage and throwback to the 50s B movie alien invaders coming to earth Ala Invasion of the Body Snatchers but with a wild and crazy twist. Gregg Henry as Mayor MacCready stills the movie with alot of one liners and quotes that will make you cry from laughing. Nathan Fillion gets beat up by a deer which is a very funny scene. the Slug creatures themselves are very creepy looking so great mix of CGI and special effects.

7.Day of the Dead (1985)

You can't have a horror list without having atleast two of George A. Romero's Dead films on your list otherwise you don't like good horror Lol.

The third entry into Romero's dead series is unique in the fact that its called Day of the Dead but its set underground in darkness, and unlike the two predecessors that are only two or three characters that fully understand what's going on in the world. 

The best performances in this movie comes from polar opposite characters first being Joesph Pilato as Captain Rhodes who as become a cult icon because of this one single role, with his bravado and over the top but restrained approach to what his mission is and where the Zombies place is supposed to be(watch the big meeting scene to fully understand what makes his character great) and 

secondly but not really is Howard Sherman's portrayal  of Bud the zombie, who is probably the most human character in the movie, with his movement and almost child like approach to things makes his performance almost that more great.  Romero does a great job directing. KNB does a awesome job with the special make up effect (One movie that anybody who is into Make up effects on movies should watch to see how great it can be with CGI) Probably the only Romero dead movie that i can watch over and over and never get tired of( big fan of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead).

6. The Horde(2009)

This 2009 French sleeper zombie flick is one of the best that i have seen in recent years even better then 28 days later which alot of people like to praise a lot, granted its a good movie but this movie just has a lot more action and very fast pace.

what starts out as a cop drama quickly turns into Assault on Precinct 13 the zombie version. good guys/bad guys must band together if they want to survive this hellish nightmare. its a interest cast of characters through this movie most notable is the Leader of the cops who has a great scene where he fights a Horde of zombies in a parking garage and one of the tenants iof the building who seems to had been ready for something like this to happen since he has a freaking Gatling Gun that he isn't afraid to use.

the one thing that bother me a little about this movie and the reason it be in my top 5 is something that's brought up early in the movie actually pays off at the end of the movie which i thought wasn't going to happen because of what the group goes through but i guess it had to happen though( for any one who has seen the movie should know what i mean, because i don't want to spoil it for anybody). all in all great zombie flick that more people should see.


5. Friday the 13th Part 4 The Final Chapter(1984)

This movie really should've  been the end of this franchise it was set up so perfectly with the opening with the recap of part 1-3 and how this movie pulls a Halloween 2 picking up where the 3rd movie ended, but just like Michael Myers Jason Voorhees can not stay dead for to long.

Jason played by Ted White this time around (my favorite Jason, no disrespect to all of the Kane Hodder fans)  he is pissed off this time around with his body language and his kills for example what he does to Axel in the hospital, The twins, Crispin Glover, and Rob are some of my favorite kills in this movie.

The group of teens this time around is probably the best overall group with the exception of maybe one or two character who deserved to be killed. the one kill i think was kinda sad was what Jason did to the Hitchhiker(she really didn't deserve that)

Tom Savini's special effects in the movie are top notch as always when he is involved that like the guy so much that Corey Feldman character Tommy is a homage to him and it was only fitting that the guy who created Jason look in the first movie is the same person who kills him( yes Jason actually died at the end of this movie. i could rave on and on even more about this movie but i'll save that for when i do a fully review of the move.

4.Halloween (1978)

The movie that made holidays not safe(yes Black Christmas came out 4 years earlier) but the team of Carpenter/Hill made one of the best or in some cases the best slasher movie all time with this simple story of a little kid who kills his sister and is sent to a mental hospital just to escape 15 years later and continue what he started could've been a bomb in the wrong hands.

John Carpenter shows why he is a master of horror with who Michael Myers stalks his victims before he actually goes in for the kill. the 3 female leads are all believable in their now stereotype roles as Party Girl Linda(P.J.Soles), Sarcastic but girl next door Annie(Nancy Loomis) and Shy Virgin Laurie(Jamie Lee Curtis)

Of course every movie has to have a hero and even though Laurie is a hero in the making in this movie, she is more of the survivor here( Laurie doesn't become the hero until H20) Dr. Sam Loomis play to perfection by the late Donald Pleasance is the hero here with his trademark coat, he's the only man who seemed to know or even care what Michael Myers really is with lines like "Death has come to your small town sheriff" "You talk about him as if he was human" Loomis knows where he is going and what he going to do even when no one wants to believe him.

Great suspense. great casting. John Carpenter great directing. Nick Castle as The Shape is some of the best you'll probably see and Dick Warlock in Halloween 2 continues where he left off.

3. Halloween 2(1981)

Now i know alot of people are scratching their head that i have Halloween II higher then the original Halloween( well this is my top 10 so i do what i want) LOL! i''m the first to admit that i can't believe i enjoy Halloween II just slightly above Halloween just because where Halloween II takes the second movie deeper then where the first movie went...

Even though this movie picks up exactly where the first movie ends even shows a few minutes of the first movie ending and everyone who survives the first film(Donald Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Charles Cyphers) return. the fact that this movie is made three years later but you can't tell me or anybody who watches them back to back that its been that long in between films because it feels like one long movie.

Donald Pleasance in the second movie is given more to do this time around as he is running around waving his gun around "I shot him six times" "He's not human" "This isn't a man" just a few things that scares Loomis even more about Michael Myers now played by long time stunt man Dick Warlock who moves similar to Nick Castle in the first movie.

Charles Cyphers makes a small return as Sheriff Brackett but is replaced by Hunter Von Leer as Deputy Hunt which is kinda fitting since that's what this movie is about Michael is still on the Hunt for Laurie which we find out why later on and Loomis is still on the Hunt for Michael who Loomis doesn't think he can bring down with a tragic ending. 

i know this movie gets alot of flack because the violence level is raised way above the first movie and that it was done because at this point in time the slasher craze of the early 80s was really in fully swing. but overall i think part 2 just has a great feel to it even though John Carpenter didn't direct this time around he was busy with a few other movies that would become classic in their own right( one of which makes this list a little later)

2. Night Of The Creeps (1986)
Ok This is the movie that Slither reminds me of, Fred Dekker's 50s B movie monster movie/80s slasher has pretty much everything you would want little Slug creatures that when they take over you brain can make you come back from the dead, they can make you walk again if you paralyzed. 

with Homages from Roger Corman to John Carpenter this is one of my favorite 80s movies not just because of how fun it is, the main teen characters (Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow, and Steve Marshall) play off each other very well. but the for me the king of 80s horror acting wise for me is none other then the man himself Tom Atkins (The Fog, Halloween III:Season of the Witch) he has the best quotes in this movie as world weary Detective Cameron "Thrill Me" "I've got good news and bad news girls..." are just a few.

the 50s opening to this movie lets you know the Dekker was very serious about this movie sadly it didn't do to well at the box office(alot of the great ones don't for some reason) since coming out in 86 and because of word of mouth it has over the years reach cult status which it should have. highly recommend for any one who hasn't seen it.

1.The Thing (1982)
  

John Carpenter is one of my favorite movie directors all time, so of course i'm going to be a bit bias towards him now the movie he was busy making instead of directing Halloween II was this little Remake of the 1951 classic in its on right The Thing From Another World.

with a awesome ensemble cast led by Kurt Russell and rounded out by character actors Wilfred Brimley, T.K.  Carter, Keith David, Charles Hallahan  Richard Masur, Donald Moffat. one of the few movies that plays on a wide range of emotions most notable being paranoia because no one knows who the thing is and who isn't and signs point to every single character in the movie so the audience has no idea who is human and who isn't until the thing is revealed.

The creature effects in this movie is hands down some of the best you'll ever see in any movie pre/post CGI thanks to Rob Bottin and his team( if you don't know how IMDB him and check out his film credits) everything about this movie imo is perfect and no matter how many times i watch it. i still find something i never seen before and gives you more questions to ask and answer some questions that you might had before.

now with this new version of The Thing that's come out recently which i might be checking out just to see how it is, but already i know its nothing compared to what Carpenter and everyone involved with this movie did because it has a great blend of suspense, mystery, horror. so anybody who say they don't want to see this movie because it's old or what not, should check this movie out because it might scare you unlike alot of the new PG-13 horror films( which i think is a joke) PG-13 and horror don't mix.

So thank you for checking out my Top 10 Horror Films. let me know what you think.do you like? do you hate? agree? disagree with my thoughts on this movies?

2 comments:

  1. Love your choices. Trick r Treat is my favorite. Great selection. I have to get around to seeing The Thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you like my list i might do a big list at some point...you should really see The Thing one of John Carpenter's best if not his best movie in my opinion

    ReplyDelete