Horror

Horror is my favorite film genre. So this list was quite difficult for me to put together since I have seen SO many scary movies. There are a lot of horror films that I like but it was hard to call some of them my favorites. So, here are my top ten favorite scary movies :)

10. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

Adapted from the novel of the same title by Oscar Wilde (one of my favorite books) this movie is about a handsome young man who longs to stay young... and sells his soul to do so. Instead of physically aging, a painting of him ages instead. Throughout his life of sin, Dorian locks the painting away refusing to see what he is doing to himself. This movie is very good and intrigues me to this day, although it doesn't creep me out as much as it did when I was a kid.

9. The Descent (2005)

I really liked this movie. It was different because it featured an almost all female cast and it really pulls you into the plot. Basically a group of women decide to get away for a weekend to explore some caves and cheer up their friend who is mourning a loss. They decide to explore an uncharted cave and run into some unexpected inhabitants. Awkward camera angles and clever lighting create a tense, suspenseful atmosphere. And even though I'm not claustrophobic in the slightest, I was extremely un-nerved during some portions of this film. If you don't mind gore/blood and you haven't seen this movie, you should. Its very different from a lot of scary movies out there. There are two different endings depending on which version of the film you watch.

8. Suspiria (1977)

I took a modern horror films class a few semesters ago and we watched this film. I remember being surprised because from the plot outline, the movie didn't seem that interesting. But when we watched it I was blown away. First of all the music is brilliant and visually it is a very beautiful film. You can tell its a foreign made film because of how artistic it is. As for the plot, an American ballet dancer goes to Germany to attend a dance school and when students start to vanish she becomes curious and gets herself into trouble. It is an early "slasher" film and it contains quite a bit of gore if you're curious about how gory it is there is a youtube video of one of the death scenes.

7. Arachnophobia (1990)

The main reason this is on here is because I AM TERRIFIED OF SPIDERS!!!! I have an absolute paralyzing fear of them and it was difficult to get a picture of the movie poster cause when I googled "arachnophobia" LOTS of creepy spider pictures popped up. I love Jeff Daniels (as he pops up in a few of my other top ten movie lists) I gotta give support to the fellow Chippewa and Michigan native (and on a side note we have the same dentist... for real). I have seen this movie tons of times and it still puts me on edge. Jeff Daniels is great as well as John Goodman as the exterminator. The plot is as follows, a South American spider hitches a ride to the US in the casket of a corpse, once it gets here it holds up in a barn and reproduces with an American spider and the killings begin. I always check my shoes and slippers now before I put them on my feet!

6. Pet Sematary (1989)

Yet again, another film I was exposed to as a child. I really like Stephen King books and actually I have never read this one. But I love this movie. One of the scariest scenes in this movie is the scene with the semi-truck when the family is flying a kite. So many things scare me about this movie... Church the cat, the little boy with the scalpel and the mom's creepy deformed sister. Just overall a good and creepy movie! :) If you don't know what this movie is about I'll give you the rundown: A family moves to a house that is by a busy road, unfortunately because the road is so busy a lot of pets get run over. Behind the local pet cemetery is a blocked off path that leads to an old Indian burial ground. The legend of the burial ground is that anything buried there comes back, but they don't come back right. The main character in this film challenges that legend when the family cat is killed and he buries it at the Indian burial ground. Other bad things continue to happen after that and I can't really say too much without giving it all away. It is definitely worth checking out.

5. The Evil Dead (1981)

A classic cult film, absolutely cheesy humor and ridiculous gore. But it's awesome. Made on a low budget this zombie horror film follows a group of college kids to a cabin for the weekend. They find an old book (the Necronomicon AKA the book of the dead) and a tape recording of its translation. When they listen to the tape, the evil is unleashed and starts to possess everyone. The main character, Ash, fights to save his friends and we follow him in his journey to do so.

4. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

"They're coming to get you, Barbara." I hope that one day I can make a movie that's even close to as brilliant as this one is! Another classic zombie film, the plot is simple: for some reason, all of the dead... won't stay dead! The film follows a group of strangers as they try to figure out what is going on and how they are going to survive. This is a classic movie that everyone should see at least once in their life. Although,I don't get why zombies are always cannibals. Can anyone explain this to me? If I were a zombie, I'd be like "Hmmm... I could really go for a steak right now." Being a zombie and all I might go chew on a live cow, but I would in no way crave human flesh. I just don't understand the rationale.

3. Scream (1996)

I'm sorry but I love this movie and never get sick of it. I like movies that make fun of themselves and that's what this one does. The teenagers in this movie are all film buffs and constantly talk about the correct way to survive a horror film. Reflecting on the movie itself, they talk about what their lives would be like as a film, and their survival depends on whether or not they follow their own scary movie rules. In this movie, a group of high school teenagers find themselves in a town with a serial killer, and for one girl in particular it stirs up memories of the murder of her mother several years before. The girl, along with her friends, the deputy sheriff and a controversial news reporter try to survive and solve the mystery of the murders.

UPDATE: Just a few short months after posting this I had the privilege to work as an extra on the set of Scream 4 and THE Wes Craven told me I did a good job!! A moment I will never forget :)

2. 28 Days Later (2002)

This movie is brilliant! It grabs you and pulls you in within the first several minutes. The plot is as follows: A group of animal right activists free several animal test subjects including a few chimpanzees that were used in a rage study. The monkeys were strapped to a chair and forced to watch videos of war and violence. From this the animals became "infected with rage" and apparently this is a very contagious thing. If any bodily fluids from an infected mix with the bodily fluids of another living thing it becomes infected as well. The disease spreads after the animal is freed and the movie jumps ahead to 28 days after the epidemic began. A man wakes up in a hospital after being in a coma and finds the entire hospital and city deserted. In my opinion one of the creepiest parts of the movie is when the man is walking through the abandoned city streets searching for any sign of life and there is nothing but silence. The guy quickly realizes that any "person" he finds is a zombie-like enraged creature, he finds a few un-infected people and the movie follows them on their search for answers and survival. Good movie, I highly recommend it. You know, sometimes I feel like I'm infected with rage.

1. The Shining (1980)

This is my all time favorite horror film! I can somewhat identify with this movie, not with the whole wanting to kill my family thing, but with the being isolated to the point of going insane thing. But I'm better now so its OK! Basically this movie is about a family that moves into an isolated hotel in the mountains for the winter. And during the winter months no one can enter and no one can leave the hotel grounds because the snowfall is so high. The film follows the family as they deal with the secrets of the hotel and the tensions that arise between them as the feelings of isolation start to take over.

Anyone who knows anything about this film knows that it is in fact a horror film (hence the reason it is on this list) and not a "family-friendly" movie. I wanted to include this youtube video I found because I think its awesome. Through the magic of editing and a new VO (voice-over) this movie trailer was made to make The Shining seem like a great movie for the whole family to enjoy. :)



So there it is... my top ten favorite horror films. More top ten lists to come :)

Movies You Probably Haven't Seen...

As most of you know, I'm a pretty big film viewer. Cinema Studies is my minor and most of my life I've wanted to work in film. So needless to say, I watch a lot of movies. For fun I've been trying to compile a top ten list of my favorite movies in each genre and over the next two weeks I will post those lists here.

My first list is NOT a top ten list, I just realized that I have seen a lot of random movies in my life and some of them are movies most normal non film people have never seen or even heard of. So for fun I thought I'd list them here. I would like to thank my dad for introducing me to most of these :)

As to those who I know read my blog: Eric, you are an avid film viewer and since one day we will make a movie together I recommend all of these movies to you. I know your taste in film from what I've read of your blog and I know you will enjoy most of these. Andrew, you're in a few of my film classes and it seems like you like some films that are out of the ordinary so I recommend these to you as well. Kevin Smith, I know you have seen some of these because I have had a few film classes with you as well, you would probably enjoy some of these immensely... probably. Annie, I don't know if you would like some of these because I'm not sure what your gross out factor is Cemetery Man might be a little too odd or gross but I know you're awesome so if Eric checks any of these out... then you should too. Everyone else... if you like movies that are a little out there, not Oscar material but still enjoyable none the less then check these out.



Ravenous (1999)
A delectable film aboout cannibalism.


Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
American title: Cemetery Man. You'll never look at Rupert Everett the same way again. An often overlooked zombie dark comedy. Evil Dead fans... check this one out.


They Call Me Trinity (1970)
A hilarious spaghetti western that I came to love as a child. Its a really bad movie and probably everyone else in the world hates it but me and my dad. haha


Trinity Is Still My Name (1971)
The outlaws are back... a decent sequel to follow up the first film. :) Once again... hilarious but still really bad.


Clash of the Titans (1981)
Not a well made movie... at all. Probably why they are re-making it. But it is a classic. I grew up with this movie and even though its bad, its good... if that makes any sense.


Drop Dead Fred (1991)
One of my favorite movies of all time. Laugh out loud funny. When I was little I would pretend that Drop Dead Fred was my imaginary friend. They are thinking of re-making this movie with Russell Brand as Fred... which in my opinion would be a good fit. It wasn't until I was older and rewatched this that I realized how many dirty jokes there were in this film!


Westworld (1973)
Excellent sci-fi thriller! I highly recommend this one if you haven't seen it. The Simpsons parodies this movie in one of their episodes where the robots at Itchy and Scratchy Land malfunction and run amuck.


They Live (1988)
An awesome cult classic sci-fi film starring 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper. It is actually a very good film with an underlying message. Not to mention it contains one of the best fights of all time!! It has several awesome memorable quotes including the best known: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum." Go watch this movie... right now.


Night of the Lepus (1972)
This movie is terrible and poorly made and acted BUT it terrified me as a child. Giant, killer bunnies. It stars Janet Leigh (the woman who gets hacked up in Psycho and Jamie Leigh Curtis' mother).


Crazy People (1990)
This movie is pretty hit or miss with people. I watched it in one of my media classes at Washtenaw C.C. If you don't understand the humor, you'll hate it.


The Dream Team (1989)
I watched this movie in psychology class in high school. Its hilarious! Michael Keaton, Christopher LLoyd, and Peter Boyle are fantastic. Four patients from the nut house witness a crime and are left wandering the streets of New York... I wonder what kind of trouble they can get in!! :)


Waterloo Bridge (1940)
I caught this movie on TCM about a month ago at 3am when my insomnia was keeping me up. Its a very different romantic story but I really loved it. Not to mention Robert Taylor is pretty hot :) Its one of those man meets woman... they fall in love... he gets deployed... she thinks hes dead but hes not... then he comes back. Although there is a twist. I won't spoil it for you but its quite interesting. And its funny how they got around the production code in this film.


Duel (1971)
An early Steven Spielberg film. Its a very simple concept, a crazy semi-truck driver is trying to run this guy off the road. Good movie :)


The Last Starfighter (1984)
I read this book when I was younger and I loved the movie. Its on TV a lot. This movie proves that video games can come in handy sometimes... they can help you save the universe.


Harvey (1950)
In my mind, how can you go wrong with Jimmy Stewart and a giant invisible rabbit? This is a heartwarming funny movie and its worth being checked out if you are a fan of Jimmy Stewart.


The Children (1980)
When I was 4 or 5 my dad went out to the store or the gas station or something and I was flipping through the television channels and came across what I could remember as the scariest movie I had ever seen, and I only saw about five minutes of it. I didn't know what it was called all I knew was that it was about kids and that when they touched you, you died. Well a couple of months ago I was looking through some Netflix watch instantly movies and came across this one... IT WAS THE MOVIE I SAW AS A KID!! So I watched it, ready to be terrified and basically laughed throughout the entire movie. I guess they were right when they said most horror films are terrible 'B' movies.


The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
This film was remade and called "Poseidon" a couple of years ago and it sucked. The original was MUCH better... but thats the way it always is right? I watched this movie growing up and it always put me on edge even though I knew what was going to happen. Great cast and great movie! What would you do if your cruise ship capsized and you couldn't get out?


The Beastmaster (1982)
Well, I love animals so a fantasy movie about a guy who can talk to them was awesome when I was growing up!! Though, I feel bad for the tiger in the movie cause they painted him black. If you like 1980s sci-fi/fantasy movies (oh, you know those are the best kind) you'll like this movie. Its much better (in my opinion) than that stupid TV series they made about this movie.


So, there it is. My list of completely random movies that I've seen that many other people have never even heard of. Most of them are "awesomely bad" movies but some of them are legit. If you check any of them out or have seen any of them before let me know!! :)