It's a Horrorshow. Ten of them. (Top Ten Horror Movies)

Member Name: Wolfzilla

Product:	Top Ten Horror Movies
Date:	13/07/06 (660 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some great movies

Disadvantages: Genre looked down upon by pompous film snobs

The Horror genre is much maligned by traditional movie ‘enthusiasts’, who often dismiss it as crass and without any redeeming qualities, despite the fact many ‘respectable’ actors have either started in the genre, ala Kevin Bacon, or at least dabbled in it at some point or another. Needless to say, it ranks up there as one of my favourite genres, almost due to being the antithesis of what pretentious movie fans look for. Horror movies rarely try to be too smart for their own good(well apart from Switchblade Romance), and usually don’t feature innovative camera work or deeply defined characters, however, unlike many genres, making a horror movie with flat out NO appeal is a very hard thing to do. Horror movies either tend to work, and entertain in the means they were designed to, or are that flat out bad they work on such a level of unintentional humour that most comedies could only dream of.

To try and narrow down to my Top 10 Horror movies is quite a tough thing. However, inspired by a few recent entries into the category, I figured this would be a fun little exercise(not to be confused with exorcise) to take up some time and challenge my brain.

Now, before I get started, I’d like to point out that these are not the 10 Technically Best Horror movies ever, far from it, these are my 10 FAVOURITE Horror movies. While ‘The Exorcist’ is a movie that has enjoyed success and notoriety all over the World, personally I hate it. Ditto ‘The Blair Witch Project’. Nobody ever accused me of having conventional tastes. I’d also like to point out that they aren’t ranked by how I rate them, it’s in alphabetical order, I decided not to rank the films, just pick my 10 favourites, the placings would probably change between the time I finish this word and the time I finish the paragraph anyway.

First of all, the near misses:
DRACULA (1931)
THE FLY (1986)
FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
FRIDAY THE 13TH: Part 6: JASON LIVES (1986)
JAWS (1975)
NEW NIGHTMARE (1994)
THE THING (1982)
THE WOLFMAN (1941)


1. ALIEN
1979
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt

Ok, so it’s technically Sci-Fi, but it’s technically horror as well, and is infinitely scarier than the majority of straight-up ‘Horror’ titles. The film is set in the future, where the Nostromo, a mining spacecraft investigates a SOS from a planet, only to find the long barren surface only home to an ancient spaceship crashed on the planet with no survivors, only a batch of bizarre eggs, one of which hatches and attaches itself to the face of one of the crew, paralysing him. Taking him back onto the ship, the creature eventually detaches from his face and all seems to return to normal. However, when another creature bursts free from his stomach, a deadly game of cat & mouse begins with the remaining crewmembers as the prey to this nameless, sleek and brutal creature, the dark corridors of the Nostromo being the Labyrinth they are confined to.

Quite easily the scariest Science Fiction movie ever made, Ridley Scott’s movie, with it’s immortal ’In Space No One Can Hear You Scream’ tagline being almost as famous as the alien creature which stalks the crew. The ridiculously creepy atmosphere, enhanced by good acting and wonderful special effects, especially when you take into account the budget, all round of one of the finest movies ever, never mind Horror movies. If it seems somewhat unoriginal, that’s because it’s been copied so many times. Followed by 4 sequels, the only one of which that is any good is James Cameron’s ’ALIENS’.

2. Basket Case
1982
Directed By: Frank Henenlotter
Starring: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terry Susan Smith

Low budget Schlock at it’s utmost best. ‘Basket Case’ epitomises everything that was great about independent Horror cinema in the early 1980s. It makes Sam Raimi’s ‘The Evil Dead’ look quite positively friendly in comparison, such is the nature of this politically incorrect, gory, cheap, nasty and ultimately fantastic horror from the enigmatic Henenlotter, the brain behind Frankenhooker and Brain Damage(another great and weird movie), who, unlike his peers Mr. Raimi and Mr. Jackson was never accepted by the mainstream cinemagoers, but then he never strived to.

Following a young man named Duane Bradley, ‘Basket Case’ charts his trip to New York City, always accompanied by a large wicker basket, the contents of which are in fact is deformed former Siamese-twin Belial. The pair are in town to take revenge upon the doctors who separated them against their will when children. However, when Duane falls in love for the first time, complications arise, and you can bet this most dysfunctional of families have one blast of a conclusion to their trip.

Made on a budget most of us give away on tips over the course of the week, Henenlotter’s twisted, gory, yet at the same time touching tale of brotherly love gone wrong is a movie that will probably never become ‘the norm’, or lose it’s power to shock, and it’s also a damn entertaining, if somewhat sick, little movie. Follow by 2 sequels, both of which are disappointing and more comedy orientated.

3.Creature From The Black Lagoon
1954
Directed By: Jack Arnold
Starring: Richard Carlson, Julie Adams

While you could name almost any of Universal’s 30s, 40s and 50s Monster Pantheon in a Top 10 list, with Bela Lugosi’s iconic portrayal of Dracula or Boris Karloff’s spot on portrayal of the sad-eyed Frankenstein’s Monster, my personal favourite was always the last of Universal’s classic monsters, the least human of all, the Gill Man himself.

‘The Creature From The Black Lagoon’ follows a group of explorers who travel to the titular area of the Amazon rainforest after a bizarre fossil which appears to be from the missing link between man and fish is found. However when they reach the lagoon, they discover more than just fossils, when a living, breathing fish-man makes his presence known, and falls in love with and abducts the sole female member of the crew, leading to a showdown between the crew and the gill-man.

I honestly don’t know what it is about this particular movie that appeals to me more than any of Universal’s other Monster movies, but there is something vibrant about the setting, despite the Black & White nature of the film, and the Creature’s design is not only fantastic, but well realised by the effects department, and the immortal scene where he mimics Julie Adams swimming in a fashion likened to a dance is worth seeing the film for. Followed by 2 sequels, neither of which I’ve seen yet.

4.Critters
1986
Directed by: Stephen Herek
Starring: Dee Wallace Stone, Scott Grimes

Another somewhat controversial choice, not only because it’s technically a Sci-Fi picture, but also because many write it off as nothing more than a ‘Gremlins’ rip-off, and those are many that are missing out on a fantastic little creature-feature that I actually prefer to Joe Dante’s more famous tale of little monsters on the loose.

This film’s threat are Krites, intergalactic serial killers that are only a foot in height, but make up for it with rows of razor sharp teeth, the ability to roll into a ball and shoot poison darts and a huge appetite. They escape their intergalactic prison, steal a ship and crash on Earth, in Grover’s Bend, Kentucky, right next to the Brown Family Farm. As the Brown’s fight for their survival, 2 Intergalactic Bounty Hunters with shape-shifting abilities, the local sheriff and the town drunk all chip in to try and repel this invasion.

While it should just be another cheap 1980s creature feature, for some reason all of ‘Critters’ pieces just fall into place perfectly, with good performances, very nice effects and a more nasty side than ‘Gremlins’, with less, but equally dark humour, ‘Critters’ is a personal favourite of mine. Also, look out for Billy Zane in an early role. The 3 sequels descend in order of quality.

5.Evil Dead 2
1987
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry

Despite it’s cult following, 1982’s ‘The Evil Dead’, was really more a triumph for low budget film-makers anywhere than it was a decent movie, but 5 years later, director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell teamed up again to make the movie that made Campbell’s character, Ash, a cult hero,and one of the finest Horror-Comedies of all time.

The movie follows a young man named Ash who visit’s a cabin in the woods with his girlfriends, and discovers it’s prior tenant was Dr. Knowby, who discovered the Necronomicon ex Mortis, ie The Book of the Dead, and translated many of it’s incantations. Ash accidentally plays a tape of such incantations, and, quite literally, all Hell breaks loose as he tries to survive the night, in whole or with parts missing.

Moreso than either movie that bookend it, ‘The Evil Dead II’ manages to find just the right balance of Horror and Comedy to hit all the right chords with the viewer. Ash both spits out the infamous quips and gets put in situations too scary for even him, limbs fly and blood flows freely in this franticly paced movie that is almost unanimously loved. It’s better than it’s prequel, and the sequel, ‘Army of Darkness’, is very good, but not Horror movie as such.

6.Gojira
1954
Directed by: Ishiro Honda
Starring: Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada

Don’t pay attention to the pointless and trite sequels, or even the butchered American version ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’, ‘Gojira’, in it’s original format, is a tale about a monster in the Pacific Ocean awoken by nuclear weapons, and in blind fury attacks Japan.

While the general plot has been applied to countless monster movies over the years, it’s the imagery, intended to evoke memories fresh in the minds of the Japanese public, of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as the monster levels Tokyo, and those not killed in it’s rampage suffering from radiation poisoning. A number of scenes are quite heavy going, as children are shown being orphaned, hundreds are seen in hospitals and more focus is put on the effects of the monster than the actual attacks themselves.

Also, as little sense as this makes, the movie boasts some of the best effects of the series, as Akira Tsuburaya’s Godzilla suit is at it’s best, and his miniatures flawless. Followed by almost 30 sequels, none of which even infringe on the somber tone of this movie, and of varying degrees of quality.

7.Hellraiser
1987
Directed by: Clive Barker
Starring: Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley

English author Clive Barker’s dark, gothic and gory short story gets the big screen treatment in this fantastically creepy movie, made all the more iconic by Doug Bradley’s portrayal of the ‘Lead Cenobite’, who would later be dubbed ‘Pinhead’ due to his appearance.

The movie follows the Cotton family, father Larry, daughter Kirsty and Larry’s new wife Julia as they move into Larry’s deceased brother Frank’s old home, where they are sucked into a world of nightmares as a drop of Larry’s blood awakens the undead Frank, who has escaped from a group of creatures known as the Cenobites, demon-like creatures which can only be summoned by solving an ancient puzzle box, and whose goal in life is to grant people the ultimate pleasure…via mindbending pain. Frank escaped them, and they want him back, but Frank wants to live again, and to do so he must keep killing.

It’s dark, incredibly gruesome, and some might even say sick, but ‘Hellraiser’ is quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and is a fantastically unsettling movie. Oh, and Ashley Laurence is gorgeous. Followed by about 7 sequels, all of which are almost unanimously dreadful.


8.The Howling
1981
Directed by: Joe Dante
Starring: Dee Wallace Stone, Patrick Macnee

Werewolf movies are a particular sub-genre vice of mine, with Universal’s ‘Werewolf of London’ and ‘The Wolfman’, Hammer’s ‘Curse of the Werewolf’, the low budget ’Bad Moon’ and John Landis’ ‘An American Werewolf in London’ all vying for a place on this list, but it’s Joe Dante’s 1981 feature that takes the cake for me, as it not only reinvented the rules of the werewolf movie, but done so with enough respect and nice little homages to the classic movies to win my approval.

It follows Karen White, a TV news reporter who has just had a close-call with a serial-killer and rapist, so, on her Doctor’s advice, she goes to stay in ‘the commune’, a health club of sorts, to help her get away from it all. However, when she is kept awake at night by wolf-like howls and her husband begins to act strangely, Karen begins to wonder if there is something afoot at the Commune, and what she learns goes deeper than she ever could have imagined…

‘The Howling’ did away with full moons, Wolfsbane, and most importantly did away with the notion of sympathetic werewolves, which were the norm for the genre. Here we were presented with creatures who could not only control their transformations, but fully embraced what most movies portrayed as a curse. Well acted, and with fantastic special effects, not to mention some trademark Dante wit, ‘The Howling’ is a movie I only recently got to see, but it quickly established itself as a favourite. Followed by (to date) 6 sequels, most of which are awful, but there are the odd low budget gem.

9.The Monster Squad
1987
Directed by: Fred Dekker
Starring: Duncan Regehr, Tom Noonan

Another one that may surprise a lot of people, this kid-orientated flick will find resonance with fans of ‘The Goonies’ and ‘The Lost Boys’, but personally, seeing as I grew up with it, I cherish this one a whole lot more than either of those films put together.

The film follows Dracula, who finds his way to modern day Smalltown America hunting for an Amulet that can be used to plunge the world into Eternal darkness. To aid him, he enlists the help of the Gill-Man, an Egyptian Mummy, a rejuvenated Frankenstein’s monster and goes about creating some vampire brides and an unwilling wolf man.

What he doesn’t bank on is the intervention of a group of kids with an obsession with monster movies and horror comics who call themselves ‘The Monster Squad’, who enlist the aid of ‘Scary Old German guy’, to face off with Dracula for the fate of the World.

Yes it’s silly as all hell, yes it reeks of the 1980s, but ‘The Monster Squad’ is a movie I’ve never known any man to hate, choc-full of memorable lines (“Wolfman’s got nards!”) and in un-PC moves that are probably the reason it hasn’t hit DVD yet, there is a character called ‘fat kid’ and the kids swear.

10. Nightmare on Elm Street
1984
Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund

A more conventional entry to round off the list, Wes Craven’s slasher movie with a difference redefined the genre, and created one of it’s most chilling icons. Like ‘Gojira’, ignore the sequels and plump for the original, before Freddy Krueger became a wise-cracking buffoon, he was a chilling, almost silent sick murderer as portrayed here.

The movie follows a group of kids who all live on Elm Street, who are all being plagued in their dreams by a horrifically burned man with a glove with knives for fingers. When the teens start coming to grisly demises while sleeping, nobody believes Nancy that it’s the man from their dreams doing it, and her boyfriend Glen (an early Johnny Depp) is blamed by the police, however, as the murders continue, it seems to be less a case of the adults don’t believe, and don’t want to believe this man called Fred Krueger is killing the children. Something Nancy aims to get to the bottom of, while also trying to figure out how to put an end to Krueger once and for all.

Quite possibly the most suspenseful and scary slasher movie of all time, ‘Nightmare’ is far nastier than many, reared on the weak sequels, expect it to be, and many of the deaths are genuinely gruesome, there is no turning characters into comics and ripping them up, no pizzas with human heads on it, in this movie Krueger, played menacingly by Englund, predominantly uses his bladed glove to off this teens. As I mentioned, the majority of sequels are laughable, although ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’, which took the series in a new direction, is a very interesting movie, and just missed out on this list.

Summary: Want to know my 10 favourite horror movies? read on!