Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
Dracula (1931) Dir. Tod Browning
Universal's Dracula may not hold up as well today with a contemporary audience more used to seeing perfect CGI fighting robots than bats dangling on "invisible" strings, but it's still gothically atmospheric and Bela Lugosi created an iconic performance that to this day holds the golden vampire standard.
One of the scariest things about Dracula (and still relevant to even contemporary horror films like Paranormal Activity) is the fact that he bites you on the neck while you're sleeping. If you are conscious and have a cross and clove of garlic you stand a fighting chance, but in terrifying Freddy Krueger fashion Drac will kill you while you dream of kitty cats and puppy dogs, making you into a horrible vampire without you even knowing! Dracula covers a lot of the "horror" standards like this - such as old creepy castles, bloodthirsty animals, and scariest of all a Hungarian actor.
*Sorry about the laziness, but this one was either gonna be half-assed or I would've screwed up doing one per day! Sorry folks - it's not like these blogs are mind-blowing academic studies into the annals of each film anyway...I'm just throwing out movies off the top of my head!
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
The Shining (1980) Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Pure and simple, The Shining is one of the best horror movies ever made (despite what Stephen King makes of it). Jack Nicholson is at the top of his game in this one and Stanley Kubrick meticulously plotted out a film that has stood and will stand the test of time. The story follows the Torrances, who are the latest caretakers of the secluded Overlook Hotel during the winter. It's rumored that the previous caretaker went nuts and slaughtered his family in a cabin fever frenzy -- but clearly Jack Nicholson is the best choice to keep everything sane again. Throw in Scatman Crothers, a creepy little kid with some kind of supernatural power, a tear-and-snot waterfall named Shelley Duvall, and some of the most seemingly random nightmarish images ever in a movie and that's The Shining for you.
Not much to say with this one; Jack Nicholson being my favorite actor it's easy for me to love this movie. His performance is so intense and crazy that in the hands of anyone else it would come off as comical. There are so many great sequences in this film...in fact, pretty much every moment during its run time is a classic scene! From Duvall discovering Jack's typewriter, to Danny (little boy) yelping "red rum" over and over, to the "Here's Johnny!" axe-to-door scene, to a terrifying hedge maze chase, and last but not least to Scatman Crother's funky bachelor pad, almost all the scenes and lines of this movie have seeped into our cinematic sensibilities. If you haven't seen it, Halloween is just around the corner - you haven't lived until you've experienced The Shining.
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
REC (2007) Dir. Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
REC, in my opinion, very well may be the scariest film of the 2000's. Recently we've seen a huge influx of "mockumentary" styled horror films (such as Paranormal Activity, Diary of the Dead, and Cloverfield), but REC outshines them all in terms of sheer nightmare-inducing quality. This Spanish production follows a news team as they go on a routine "around town" type of story at a local fire station. The fire team gets an emergency call from an apartment building and the news crew, not wanting to miss some juicy coverage, travels along with them. Once inside however, it turns out that what has been causing the disturbance wasn't a fire - it is something much more sinister....ZOMBIES. Unluckily enough the news team along with everyone else in the apartment are soon quarantined inside and must fend for their lives from terrifying, infected monsters!
If this sounds familiar to you US Americans out there (reference to Miss Teen South Carolina), that's because a pointless, nearly SHOT FOR SHOT english-language remake was released as Quarantine, starring that chick from The Exorcism of Emily Rose. They're pretty much identical films, but the acting is much, much better in the Spanish version. If you're one of those people who'd rather watch it sans subtitles it really doesn't matter with this film - the dialogue is sparse and it feels more like a walk-through haunted house than a typical horror movie. It's also pretty annoying that during the advertising and publicity of Quarantine little was mentioned of the [superior] original film. REC is a perfect movie for Halloween, especially if it's a dark night and you've gathered up a crowd of scaredy cats - so find it, love it, and pray to your god that the building you're in now won't be sealed off next!
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
Carrie (1976) Dir. Brian De Palma
Carrie is based off of Stephen King's first ever published novel of the same name. The story follows a teenage high school girl (...named Carrie, how'd you guess?) who is a little "different" than her peers. She grew up extremely sheltered from the real world by her insanely religious mother - and as a result she is often mocked and humiliated by her peers for not knowing the "right" way to act (in the first scene, Carrie panics and believes she is dying after having her first period in the girls' shower). Even the principal gives her a hard time, screwing up her name calling her 'Cassie.' However, Carrie soon discovers that she has certain psychic powers and when she is provoked or just really pissed she can whip objects around with only her mind.
Myself never being quite "Mr. Popular" growing up, I find Carrie to be despairingly tragic. Her home situation mixed with the ridicule at school - it's easy to see how someone like that could just snap. I don't think I'm ruining the movie to say she takes a nutty at her school prom (it's only on every Carrie-related poster, trailer, DVD cover, CD, book, t-shirt, newspaper clipping, lunchbox, and/or bedsheet). As a joke, the "hottest" guy in the school asks her to the prom; after a 'false' good time, the kids were then to dump a bucket of pig's blood on top of her when she gets up on stage (to further mock her "period incident"). Once that happens she just can't take the relentless abuse anymore and finally goes berserk - her eyes widen and she blazes the school into a hell-like fury. Carrie a story of a girl being pushed to the edge by bullies, and I think what has made this story stay with us all these years is the fact that we connect with Carrie since [most of us] have been bullied at one point or another, and that makes it so intense to see her become an almost feral, Bride of Frankenstein-type psychotic fire-starter. Carrie is at it's core the ultimate anti-bullying movie.
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
Saw (2004) James Wan
Saw typically gets a bum wrap from critics and naysayers who brush it off as "torture porn" or trash cinema - but if you sit down, watch the movie, and give it an actual chance, you'd see that it's much more clever and well-made than you would have believed. The story begins with two strangers (played by Cary Elwes and the writer himself Leigh Whannell) waking up in a dirty, dingy bathroom, handcuffed to opposite sides of the room. As they begin to regain consciousness and try to piece together what happened, they realize they are now the pawns in a sick game created by the latest "killer," Jigsaw (voiced, and played in later entries by Tobin Bell), after they each find an audiocassette player and play a message regarding the "rules." Elwes is told he must kill Whannell before the clock times out or else his family will die; they are also given small clues as to how to escape. All the while police detectives are on the trail (Danny Glover and the asian ghost whisperer from Lost), and by the end there have been so many twists and turns your head will be spinning.
As opposed to the films with which it's often compared (such as Hostel or Wolf Creek), Saw has a complex story and a killer with a philosophy. He doesn't kill to "get off" or for pleasure or just for the sake of doing it - he plays his game in an effort to give people a new perspective on life, to show them how valuable and fragile their life is (usually picking his victims based on the wrongs they have committed). In a demented way, his unconventional thinking kind of makes sense, which is what I think makes the series much richer than most people give it credit for. The villain wants to cure, not kill, his victims. He also makes a unique trap for each individual, each one representing whatever atrocity they have committed. So not only is it intense, brutal, cleverly written and completely disgusting and gory (in an over-the-top good way), but it leaves you second-guessing your own morality once it's over, and I can't say that about many movies, let alone a blood-drenched torture flick.
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
Misery (1990) Dir. Rob Reiner
Based off of the Stephen King novel of the same name, Misery stars James Caan as a writer who finds himself in a car wreck in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a snowstorm, and in a dilly of a pickle. Luckily (...well, kind of luckily...) Annie Wilkes, played by Kathy Bates, is there to save him. She also happens to be his absolute number one fan. She places him in bed so he can rest and for his broken legs to heal -- but when she reads his latest novel, she flips a major shit when he "kills off" the main character, named Misery. Slowly but surely we find out that Kathy Bates is a sadistic psycho-bitch and the film becomes claustrophobically and almost frustratingly terrifying as we watch her imprison Caan and force him to rewrite his own story.
Caan and Bates are two wonderful actors, but Bates really shines here in one of not only her best performances, but one of the best horror villain performances ever (she accepted the 1990 Oscar for Actress in a Lead Role thanks to this). When King wrote this story of an obsessed fan, it's probably likely that he had ran into a few "Annie's" in his time, which makes it eerily personal. Bates is psychotic, but in a way that seemed as though someone like her probably does exist somewhere (I'd bet money on it). Because the majority of the film takes place in this bedroom where Caan is trapped, it's almost like a play and it's really the actors and the script that build the suspense.
There is an infamous scene involving James Caan and a black of wood that is definitely the highlight of the movie, but Misery is a great picture to not only see another King story brought to life and handled well (by the likes of Spinal Tap and Stand By Me director Rob Reiner), but to have a very different kind of villain brought to the screen with an amazing complexity. Misery is a great flick to watch when you're snowed inside during the winter and you want to watch something to pass the time while sipping on hot chocolate; fame comes with a price, and in a way, this is probably Steven King's truest nightmare!
*Ok, this teaser trailer kind of sucks, I know...but the only other official theatrical trailer I could find ruined many of the best scenes in the film! Sorry; if you haven't seen the film but are hell-bent on ruining it for yourself via Youtube videos, feel free to surf the web...
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
Jacob's Ladder (1990) Dir. Adrian Lyne
Jacob's Ladder is, in my opinion, one of the best "mindfuck" movies of all time. The story begins with Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) and his troop in the Vietnam War. After some bromantic small talk, the men are all of a sudden subjected to heavy fire, but for an unknown reason the unit starts exhibiting strange, erratic behavior. We find out soon after that these are flashbacks Jacob is having - currently he is living with his girlfriend Jezebel (Elizabeth Pena) and his emotionally-wrecking memories of his son's death (played by Macaulay Culkin through flashbacks). Jacob starts to have very vivid, terrifying hallucinations (with creepy monsters!) and soon finds out that the members of his team from the war are having similar problems. I really don't want to give too much away - you really just have to go on this amazing journey! Find this movie!
One of the infamous scenes in Jacob's Ladder is the "dance" scene. This nightmarish scenario places Jacob in a strobe-lighted, music-booming dance floor as he watches his girlfriend getting jiggy with a different partner. The scene starts out innocently enough, but slowly things start becoming very weird. Her dancing turns into more of a grinding, and it seems to morph into an almost sexual act. Through the strobe light flashes we catch glimpses of what might be a reptilian appendage through her legs as well - and as the tension gets higher and higher, all of a sudden we hear a "RIP" and this white horn tears through Jezebel's mouth. Few images are more disturbing and unexpected than that.
I feel as though Jacob's Ladder should be regarded as a "classic," but it's rare that I meet someone who has actually seen it before. Really, it's an amazing film that I can't recommend enough. If I could tell you to find and watch one movie on my Month of Terror list, it would most likely be this one. It's a visceral cinematic horror story that really can't be described properly through words - it simply must be seen! Plus, you get to see a pre-Seinfeld Jason Alexander (still bald though) and Danny Aiello (in a non-tough guy role) as Jacob's chiropractor (and in a "cameo" that literally lasts half a second you can see Lewis Black before he was famous!). Please find this film. It's kind of an obscure find now -- but get it on Amazon, rent it off Netflix (I believe there has just been a re-released DVD and Blu-ray), or buy it off the black market if you have to, just make sure you don't miss out!
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and creatures lurking in the shadows! This month, October, is a favorite among horror fans, such as myself. My goal for the next 31 days is to share with you the scariest and best of the genre. The films will range from old school classics to modern day gorefests (they won't be in any particular order). So scout these movies out, grab a bag of popcorn (or a blood bag) and enjoy!
Opera (1987) Dir. Dario Argento
Dario Argento is the guy who many horror fans call the "father of italian horror" (making the true original of italian horror, Mario Bava, the appointed "grandfather"). He helped create the subgenre of "Giallo" horror films (the english translation of 'giallo' means "yellow," due to old italian mystery novels having distinguished yellow covers), which were basically Italian slasher movies from the 70's-80's that often dealt with gruesome, intricate death sequences and hot Italian women being strangled - in Argento's work typically by the hands of an unseen killer. His films are nearly always thin on plot but rich in atmosphere. His most famous work would probably be 1977's Suspiria, but my personal favorite is Opera, which is what many consider to be his last "good" film.
Argento throughout his career never created movies with snappy dialogue or "deep" characters or even a plot that felt coherent - but somehow his films find a way to grab you and keep you absorbed. Opera has a basic story: a young opera singer replaces the lead in Macbeth after she has a fatal accident. Soon after, various people in the opera's cast and crew also start dying (more specifically being murdered) by a man with black leather gloves that we only see from point-of-view shots (although it's not much of a mystery who the killer is if you've seen the film). That plot may seem basic - but it's how the killer commits his atrocities that's both terrifying and nauseating. The killer's "hook" in Opera is that he ties the main girl up and places needles directly under her top eyelids - meaning that every time she blinks she gets poked by the needles and in effect forces her to watch the murders of her fellow cast members. That's some pretty sick stuff!
Argento's films, love them or hate them, feature some great examples of cinematography and Opera is no exception. From the beginning of the movie, we see the opera stage from the point of view of crows (birds being another reoccurring motif in his movies), and it's as if our point of view is as limitless as the bird's motion. It's well-shot throughout and in essence the combination of the camerawork, the simplistic yet original scenes of violence, and a soundtrack featuring sweeping classic opera tunes mixed with the music of Claudio Simonetti (of the great Italian rock group Goblin!) make it a title worthy of a midnight screening. While it definitely isn't the best film during this "Month of Terror" and it probably won't ever be considered a "classic," as someone who doesn't like things in or around my eyes this movie struck a chord with me. Plus crows make anything scary - just ask Hitchcock.
