As well all should hopefully know from reading the site for the past 2 weeks, I'm not a planner when it comes to writing these articles but for this one, I've got a pen and paper out and I thought long and hard about this list.... ok 5 mins but still!
As always with these things, these are in my opinion the greatest 10 horror films in history, so of course it's not going to please everyone, and there's probably going to be a fair few that will be missed out that you'll call blasphemy on, but that's life kiddo! Also whilst making a list which stands at around 40, I noticed, I could literally make a top 10 just of Zombie films as they are a particular favourite and I might just do one! But this is about Horror in general.
So onto the show starting with NUMBER 10!!!!
NUMBER 10
SCREAM
Where do I start with the film widely regarded as the game changer which brought horror back to the forefront in the mid 90's and made it popular again. The magic of Scream on first viewing is that after the first 10-15 mins you really don't know what's going t happen. Why? Ermmm could be to do with Wes Craven killing off Drew Barrymore (The biggest star in the film at the time), within this 15 minute window. Wow...
I love the fact that Craven also likes to pay homage to this genre, by playing on your knowledge of the genre and twisting it to his liking. Also Jamie Kennedy's character is the ultimate film geek who keeps you informed of each little tidbit that's thrown at you whether it's the virgins who get it first, or you never run up the stairs! 2011 will also see the release of SCRE4M, whether it will be any good, who knows....
NUMBER 9
FREDDY vs. JASON
Freddy is one of my all time favourite horror characters, an Icon if you will. Team him up against another Icon and you've got gold. You wouldn't be able to even fathom my excitement when this finally left development hell and made it to our screens. 2 heavyweights finally battling it out to see who wins in a fight to the "death". Luckily for us all, even at the end when one of them finally "wins", the other lets us know, that this battle is far from over. Problem is, this was over 8 years ago now and you get the feeling we'll never see a rematch. A few years back, Bruce Campbell (more on him later) let slip that they were working upon a sequel titled Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, meaning we'd get more of the same but with a complete legend joining the field, shame it will never happen though now.....
NUMBER 8
FRIDAY THE 13th
What's the one common mistake that everyone makes when talking about this film? Jason doesn't make an appearance in his hockey mask and he isn't the killer GASP!!! Everybody, when you mention FT13th, automatically tells you that it's Jason but nope, it's Mrs.Voorhees who is to blame for the slaughtering of semi naked horny teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake. The one thing you need to look out for is a very early performance from one Kevin Bacon ( of six degrees of separation fame) who gets his throat opened up for him. I can promise you every Friday that happens to be on the 13th of a month, you'll find this on at least one channel whilst flicking through. Just promise me you won't try to judge this up against the terrible remake? Promise??
NUMBER 7
THE EVIL DEAD
Not too shabby for a film that started off as a student project and ended up with Spider-Man finally being made. Yes, the director of Spidey is also the twisted mind who brought this and (i'm guessing and kinda hoping) the only tree rape scene ever! Ok, so that might make you want to not watch this but stick with me here, it's great! Sam Raimi with the help of his brother Ted and star Bruce Campbell (told you we'd be seeing him again!) carved a truly terrifying story involving something called the "Necronomicon", a book wrote in blood and bound in human skin, mmmm mmmmmmmmm. Anyways this shows why you should never, ever go into the woods and read such a book, and expect to come out alive. One little tidbit I can share with you is that Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers fame (Fargo, True Grit remake etc) was the assistant film editor. You learn something new with us every single day don't ya know!
NUMBER 6
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Right, first thing first, this isn't the original poster, but it's by far the best one I've seen. Another in our list directed by Wes Craven and staring good old Freddy Krueger, this explains what Freddy is all about. A child killer, murdered by the parents of Elm St. stalking their teenage children in their sleep. Does it get any better? Honestly? The magic of this though was the fact Freddy was mostly shown in the shadows, giving him an air of mystery (truth was the make up dept. weren't over thrilled with the make up designed for Robert EnglundDepp so there's an excuse for making your missus watch it, aren't I good to you guys? Again, just like Friday The 13th promise me you'll stay away from the remake as, well it's really really shit!
NUMBER 5
DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004 REMAKE)
I know this one is a remake, but it's one of those rare occasions where a remake surpasses the original. The gore is amped up to 20 and the dread factor raised even more as we follow a small band of survivors of a zombie apocalypse as they hole up inside a deserted shopping mall. If anything, this gets a place on our list due to the worlds first zombie baby! They way it's mothers stomach bulges and little lumps come up as the baby fights to get out will make you squirm which means Zack Snyder, the director, has done his job in updating a classic originally made by the Grandaddy of the zombie flick, George A. Romero. Snyder must have done well out of this though, seen as he's tasked with making Superman cool again!
NUMBER 4
SAW
Now, I've spoke about Saw before, so you all know my feelings towards it! It launched a series which culminated in a 7th episode, so they must have done something right, Right? RIGHT??!?
NUMBER 3
THE EXORCIST
So, I'll admit it now, I'm catholic, so I've always been interested in the one thing we've always been told doesn't happen. I only caught this about 7 years ago, when I turned 18 as I was too young to catch it the 2nd time it came out at the cinema. What a powerful film! My dad had seen it firs time around in the 70's and always spoke about how mental it was, women throwing up in the cinema, being carried out, and he also mentioned about the supposed "curse" surrounding the film. It was only 2 years back when I got my hands on the documentary made by the BBC of all people called "The Fear Of God". It's a fantastic insight into a genuinely scary film!
NUMBER 2
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 - DREAM WARRIORS
It's Freddy again!! What a surprise I hear you say! This is a fantastic film, end of!! After turning down the chance to direct NOES 2, Craven came back to write the story for a film which is far superior to the one he directed. This has the best lines, the best kills and the greatest version of Freddy going!!! Bringing back the hero from the first film, "Nancy", helps you feel for the kids as they band together to take out this menace. Oh can I add...... "WELCOME TO PRIME TIME BITCH!" What I will say is that the film that beat this to number one in our list had to work hard, if that's even possible, as they are both equally amazing but coming in at......
NUMBER 1
EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN
So here's our number one horror film of all time as voted for by....well me! Technically a remake of the first film (number 7 on the list), I like to think that Evil Dead 2 is the perfect mix of comedy and horror and it's nice and gory too! Almost exactly the same story as the first film with the added matter of a time vortex thrown in (leading to the 3rd and final film, so far, in the series Army Of Darkness), this pushes cheap horror to it's limits. Did I mention our hero Ash takes his chainsaw obsession a little bit too far by cutting off his possessed hand and replacing it with the chainsaw.
Armed with his new hand and his trusty "Boomstick" and a vast array of witty one liners, Ash takes the deadites head on to save himself from being another one of their victims. The gore is A+ and the things Ash comes across will have you in stitches. Trust me, if you love horror and haven't seen this yet, go get it, stick it in your DVD player, shut the curtains and get ready for a real classic in horror cinema!
So there we have it, my top 10 horror films of all time! I'm thinking this is going to become a regular feature on the site as I seriously enjoy having to think about my favourites and I love trying to write about them in my particular writing style. As always guys and gals if you've got anything to say let me know either through the comments section, the email address at the bottom of the page, the facebook page or the twitter feed. I may or may not have time tonight to finish off the comic book film article, see how things go. I've also set up a few other blogs which once I get some things up and ready on them I'll unleash upon the world.
Anyways, if I don't get chance to write anything tonight make sure you all have a good evening, afternoon or morning depending where in the world you are!
Vader OUT!
No comments:
Post a Comment