Sunday, May 9, 2010

Top 6 Horror flicks

I've seen a bucket o' horror films in my day, but these 6 are the ones that I would choose to keep if I had to sell my entire horror DVD collection (which consists of over 300 horror films). It was a grueling process to decide on just 6 and there will be honorable mentions at the end but these 6 (in no particular order) are the films that I enjoy watching the most and have had the most impact on my taste in horror films.

1.Dawn of the Dead 1978
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This was actually the first horror movie I ever remember watching. I don't remember exactly what year it was but I do remember it was Easter Sunday. How inappropriate is that! The whole idea of being stuck in a mall while the zombie apocalypse occurred around us struck me as one of the most terrifying things anybody could come up with and still haunts me to this day.
  
2. Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
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Total f$#%ing classic! This was a "Movie Mania Classic" in other words a movie I rented from our local movie mania video store so many times, the tape began to wear out. I also remember right after seeing this film my cousins telling me Freddy lived in their basement, and because I was like 6 at the time believing them. When I'm coming up from the basement in any house I still zip like the flash up the stairs without looking back because of this movie.

3. Evil Dead II 1987
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Not much I can say about this classic that hasn't already been said other than I was a little late to the Evil Dead party. I didn't see this movie until high school. I remember thinking ugh how bad is this shitty sounding movie going to be? Little did I know that I would be watching the legend himself Bruce Campbell in his greatest acting role to date!  The one-liners and over the top gore and special fx were what mad this movie stick in my head for days after the first viewing. It wasn't long after watching this that I went back to movie mania to rent and catch up on a lot of the classics that I had skipped out on up until that point.

4. Friday the 13th 1980
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OK to be honest I still wonder if this movie have any impact on my horror fan parents decision in naming me Jason? They won't fess up to it but the horror fanatic in me can't help but believe its true. This is one of those movies that whenever I watch totally brings me back to my youth. I can remember sitting in my living room scared shitless, eating potato chips, inhaling bowls of ice cream, and drinking Faygo, staying up way past my bedtime. Another inappropriate movie viewing was of this movie on the night that my family put up our Christmas tree one year!

5. The Return of the Living Dead 1985
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This is another one of those films where I don't quite remember my first viewing but I do remember watching it over and over on HBO. Linnea Quigley may have been one of my first scream queen crushes and this was the movie that introduced me to her. The Tarman absolutely freaked my mind when I was just a kid.

6. Halloween & Halloween II* 1978/1981
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*The reason I list these together is that the very first time I saw these movies they were one after the other and I feel that they should be watched as one viewing experience.

Again late to the party. I do remember my first viewing of these two movies was my freshman year of high school when I purchased them from one of K-Mart's old school much missed Halloween budget bins. I came home that night and watched them along with Halloween III all right in a row. Again these are films I can't say too much about that you haven't already heard, and I really do owe it to these films to give them full blog postings which will come at a later date.

Honorable mentions: Halloween III:Season of the Witch 1982, Phantasm 1979, Re-Animator 1985, Trick r' Treat 2008.

So there it is, my top 6 Horror films and some honorable mentions. Let me know what you think of my list by clicking the comments tab right down below.

5 comments :

Sharon Day said...

Good classics. I think those lists always get colored by the first ones you saw--the ones of your era. I know folks who are snobs about the Vincent Price ones, others who are Hammer freaks, and then the children of the 70s/80s who love their slasher/zombie movies. You really hit your era well. I agree about Phantasm--I love that one! I didn't like Trick R Treat for the stories, but the atmosphere made up for it. Why the hell aren't there more movies that take place on Halloween???? I just don't get it. That movie actually was the first I ever saw that crammed the feel of Halloween night into it.

Halloweenman666 said...

Absolutely and the only reason I didn't include it on the list of classics is because it's still too new. Many moons from now I'm sure it will make the cut on the list of classics. Also I'm glad you liked the list, and thank you so much for commenting!

Halloweenman666 said...

Also I will be doing a post hopefully for the soon to be annual Halloween countdown that will include movies that take place on or around Halloween!

Anonymous said...

Those are literally my favorite as well... Except for Return of the Living Dead, and Evil Dead.. I liked Friday the 13th 3 the best of that series too.. I also liked the new Dawn

Jeremy [Retro] said...

two thumbs up!