Top Ten 10 Slasher Movies

This week in the corner in honor of my slasher movies 101 panel at Dragoncon I am going to be giving you a very cliche list of my 10 favorite slasher movies of all time.  Now to be clear some of the movies on this list are not great movies, but I really like them.  They are movies that I have seen a thousand times or just think a whole lot of.  So if you read this and don't agree, just remember that we all have guilty pleasures in every genre of cinema.  So here is my list, from my most favorite movie on down.


1. SUSPIRIA

This movie is hands down, my favorite slasher movie.  If you have seen Argento movies before you know he is all about scene setting, bright colors, and the art of the film.  At the time this movie was released it had what was considered one of the nastiest murder scenes in a movie.  Even now in 2013, it is pretty intense.  Dario Argento has a ton of great movies, but if you have never seen any of this flicks, Suspiria is a great place to start.

2. SCREAM

In many ways, the horror and slasher genre had it's hey day in the 1980's.  But in 1996, Wes Craven brought both horror and slasher back into the popular main stream.  It was the first horror movie to gross more than $100 million dollars, and sparked a litany of slasher clones that dominated the late 90's.  But what made Scream so unique was how it was a meta parody of the entire horror genre.  It played on tropes of running up the stairs when the killer was in the house instead of running out the front door.  It made characters who said, "I'll be right back!" pay with their lives in the next scene.  Scream sparked a renaissance of the horror genre and I could write so much more about it.  Is sparked 3 sequels and there is talk of a Scream 5.  As long as they keep making them, I will keep watching them.

3. HALLOWEEN

Most people will probably say that this is the best slasher movie of all time, and they are probably right.  Halloween in a way not only spawned the slasher genre, but made horror movies in general something to go see at the movies.  There were others horror movies before it, Psycho (which we will see later), Night of the Living Dead, and the Last House on the Left.  But Halloween made horror mainstream and created the idea of a masked killer slowly killing a group teenagers that we all know and come to expect with a slasher.  Most people dont know that the budget was so small, props were purchased at local stores and many of the actors wore their own clothes on set.  The infamous Michael Myers mask was a William Shatner mask purchased at a local costume store that was spray painted white and had teased hair.  Halloween is a classic and deserves to be seen for not just fans of horror, but fans of movies in general.

4.SLEEPAWAY CAMP

Remember that I said this list is of my favorite slashers and not necessarily what I think are the best slashers.  Sleepaway Camp is technically a pretty bad movie.  The acting is substandard, the dialogue is cringe worthy, and the whole package is just rough around the edges.  But there is something about this movie that I love.  The special effects used for the death scenes are great and the twist at the end was a complete shocker to me.  The 2 subsequent sequels were atrocious and they even made a 4th called Sleepaway Camp Returns that was straight to video and was just as awful as the previous two.  But the original struck a chord with me and I will always have this movie on my top 10 list.

5. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

I really want to put the whole Elm Street series here at number 5.  This is probably my favorite horror series out there.  I love all of the sequels (of which there are 6) and the franchise never really got stale for me.  A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 was the highest grossing horror movie until Scream which shows how much fans enjoyed the original and all of the follow ups.  I think I like these movies so much because of how these movies played out.  The slasher genre is pretty formulaic.  A killer uses a knife or a machete or some other sharp object to kill their victims.  Freddy Kreuger has knives on his fingers but through 7 movies and a remake, Freddy rarely ever kills his victims with his glove.  Because he had the supernatural power of dreams on his side, the death scenes were always so much more elaborate and creative than just another stabbing.  The original Nightmare was excellent and the 2nd Wes Craven movie on this list.  Freddy Kreuger almost became the hero as the movies went on and Robert Englund was always great in the iconic role.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is a must have on any horror list.

6. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was probably the first horror movie I ever saw where I was actually disturbed by what I was watching.  Tobe Hooper directed a movie so gritty and realistic that it scared droves of people and made Texas one of the scariest places to visit.  The first time we see Leatherface on screen, he hits a poor unsuspecting young man over the head with a meat tenderizer.  The low muffled thud of the hammer hitting his skull is sickening and the way Leatherface pulls the man's lifeless body through the door frame, while pulling the large metal sliding door shut shook me unlike any horror movie I had seen before it and is still creepy even to think about now.  The ending scene of the movie is also one that doesn't disappoint and will always be one of my favorite slashers.

7. THE PROWLER

The Prowler is a slasher movie that truly benefits from the creepy killer who is slicing and dicing throughout the film.  The movie doesnt do anything unique in terms of the way people are killed or how the movie progresses.  To me, it is pretty formulaic in its narrative.  But the slasher wears army fatigues and a helmet throughout this movie and creates dread and fear every time he comes on screen.  Other famous slasher flicks have icons like Jason, Michael Myers, or Freddy.  Cinema goers wanted to see these killers.  They became the reason to see the movie.  But The Prowler was the villain you never hoped you would see and were happy when his scenes were over.  This is another that probably wouldn't make a lot of slasher lists, but I really like this move and wish more people knew about it.

8. FRIDAY THE 13th PART 3

So you may be thinking...not the original?  Not for me.  Friday the 13th is synonymous with Jason Voorhees.  Not just Jason Vorhees, but Jason, in a hockey mask, Voorshees.  For being one of the most iconic slasher movie killers in one of the most iconic masks, Jason doesn't don the infamous hockey mask until the 3rd installment of the series.  Part 3 created the Jason we know and love and for that it makes this movie my favorite of the series.

9. PSYCHO

Pyscho is such a good movie that it should probably be on any greatest movie list that you can think of.  Alfred Hitchcock made a classic.  If Halloween is the movie that made slashers mainstream, Pyscho is that movie's mother screaming from the top floor of the house on the hill. It is really almost two movies in one.  For 1960 this movie had a grisly death in the shower scene and one of the most profound twists that shocked everyone who saw it.  This movie dealt with mental health, greed, lust, and a lot of other taboo subjects for the time period it was released.  This list may not even exist if this movie had not been made.  You cannot go wrong with Psycho.

10. APRIL FOOL'S DAY

My final movie in this list is April Fool's Day.  Again, not the best movie ever made, but I love the tongue in cheek approach that this movie takes from the very beginning.  It in a lot of ways iit s very much like Scream only made 10 years earlier.  It really sort of makes fun of itself as being a very stereotypical slasher movie, but still maintains a solid story, some good death scenes and another one of those great twists.  If you know going in you are not watching an academy award winning film, it is hard not to love what April Fool's Day has to offer.

So there it is...that is my list.  What did you think?  Do you think I am a fool?  Leave comments below and let me know what some of your favorite slasher are.  Do you think mine are in the right order?

Thanks for reading and if you are in Atlanta this weekend for Dragoncon come check out my panel on Friday night...Slashers 101!

The ABC's of Death

This week in the corner, I am writing about one of the strangest movies I have ever seen, The ABC's of Death.  If you have been following this blog or at least read my first entry on V/H/S, you may remember me referencing this flick.  Like V/H/S, this movie is an anthology horror film which is just a compilation of shorts to comprise a whole movie.  Since I already discussed the anthology genre in greater detail in that earlier blog post I wont retread familiar ground here.  But I will write about how the anthology works for this movie.  Essentially ABC's is comprised on 26 shorts that are each no longer than 3 or 4 minutes and each one represents a letter of the alphabet.  One of the cooler aspects is how 26 different horror directors came together to write and create these small bits that make up the whole of this movie.  Another neat point is that the directors hail from such places as Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the US.  It gives the movie a diverse and multicultural feel and really adds some charm.  With having 26 different shorts, it is inevitable that there will be some strong entries and some weaker ones.  That is most definitely the case here.  Some are so utterly bizarre you wont know whether to laugh, shutter, or just be awestruck at what you are watching on your television.  There are some that are animated, super violent, super sexual, and super over the top.  But because each short is a maximum of about 4 minutes you don't have slog through too much before you are into the next one.  The best part for me was figuring out how each short, no matter how crazy, was going to play out.  Each short has one (or more) person die and then the end reveal is the letter that the short represents.  They play out in alphabetical order, so will know when you are watching the D short for example, but you wont know what D stands for until the end when you see "D is for ...."  It makes for a great guessing game, especially for some of the more bizarre, so I don't want to give away any of the letters here.  Each letter also doesn't fall into conventional deaths.  For example, A won't be for Ax or something like that, but believe me that the shorts for the letters F and L will make you hope no one knows you are watching what you are watching.  They are that shocking and insane.  This movie had a very limited release, but with some good word of mouth and I guess some good DVD and Bluray sales they have already lined up 26 new directors for a second installment of ABC's due for 2014.  I will be honest, this movie received horrible reviews, but I was enthralled by each short and couldn't wait to find out what each letter represented.  This movie currently can be streamed on Netflix and you can buy it on DVD and Bluray.  If you are in the mood for craziness and don't mind 4 or 5 shorts that are really out there, you should definitely give this a shot.  I also feel it is important to note that this movie is a hard R, so it really should be adults only.

If you give this a shot please leave comments below and let me know what your favorite letters were!

I am going to take a side step now and let you know that if you are going to be in Atlanta over labor day weekend you might have heard of the largest fantasy convention in the world known as DragonCon.  This year marks the first year that there will be a unique and separate Horror Track.  There will be a series of panels and programming featuring actors from the HBO series True Blood, the film Nightbreed, and fan discussions.  On Friday night August 30th at 10pm, I will be a speaker on the Slasher Films 101 panel.  The schedule right now is of course tentative but if you would like to know more about the Horror Track, check out the website here:  www.horror.dragoncon.org.


In honor of this I am going to do something a little different next time and put up a post of my top 10 favorite slasher films.  I hope to have this up by the end of next week, so keep on the look out and let me know what some of your favorite slasher films are!

World War Z

This time in the corner we are going to take a look at the second theatrical release on this blog, the Brad Pitt summer zombie blockbuster World War Z.  This movie is based on the novel of the same name written by Max Brooks.  We will get to the comparison a little later.  First, I am going to write a little about the novel.  Max Brooks, the author, is the son of hilarious film maker Mel Brooks.  The novel is in no way a comedy, but to me it is cool that Max has decided to write about something so different from anything like Blazing Saddles or History of World Part I.  The best aspect of the novel, in my opinion is the way the narrative is constructed.  Brooks doesn't follow one character necessarily in an adventure across the globe, or have a good guy or even really a bad guy (unless you count zombies as bad guys).  The book is a series of written interviews that recount different times and instances in the war between the living and the non living.  Interviews range from stories of battles, the fall of cities, and just being alone trying to stay alive.  Brooks did an excellent job capturing people talking about war.  Remove the fact that the enemy are zombies and the book could be an oral history of world war II or Vietnam.  It is that realistic.  When I found out that they were turning this book into a movie, I couldn't understand how they would turn this format into a film.  This is in my opinion the only and biggest problem with Brad Pitt's movie.  World War Z as a movie is an epic, globe spanning intense adventure, with Pitt doing a great job as our hero.  He starts in the USA and treks to all corners of the earth including South Korea,Israel, and Wales.  There are some great moments of true edge of your seat popcorn fun.  The CG zombies run, crawl, and topple over each other almost like a colony of ants to climb walls and scale huge buildings.  But the movie in no way really resembles much of the book aside from the title.  I know most movies adapted from novels never really do those books justice, but it is hard to say that here because the movie and book really are two different works that happen to share the same name.  There are some places where characters in the movie share dialogue with those in the book.  There are also multiple characters in the novel that seem to have been combined into one for the purposes of the movie.  But overall they are two different products.  They are both well done in their own right, but there is very little overlap and commonality between the two.  If you have read the book, and are looking to see this movie, I say go for it, just don't expect a faithful reconstruction of Max Brooks' novel.  At this point World War Z has been out for over a month now and if you haven't seen this movie in the theaters yet you probably won't.  But if you get the chance, seeing Brad Pitt's adventure on the big screen is worth it.  The set pieces and the special effects look great in Sony Digital 4K.  I know that when this movie is released on blu ray, I will probably pick it up.  I will just keep the novel and the movie in different rooms so guests don't confuse them to be the same thing.

Overall, I recommend both movie and the book, particularly if you are a zombie fan.  Leave comments in the section below and let me know which one you preferred.  Did you find more similarities between the two than I did?

Next time in the corner I will be writing about truly one of the strangest movies I have ever seen.  Another horror anthology...The ABCs of Death!

The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre

Before I get to the new movie this week, I want to thank everyone who has been coming to this blog and reading the content that I have posted.  I have surpassed 1000 hits to my blog in just over 4 months.  I really appreciate you reading and I hope you continue to come back and continue learning (and watching) about some of these kooky movies that I am writing about.  I have definitely chosen a kooky movie this time around.  The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre!  Yes, this is a real movie.  It is actually called just Harpoon here in the states but it is a loving homage to the wonderful 1970's classic the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Tobe Hooper directed the original TCM that spawned 3 sequels, a remake, a prequel to the remake, and this year a brand new movie that was a direct sequel to original.  Confused yet?  The point is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has had regular theatrical releases for the last 30 years and those films have inspired new film makers across the globe.  One of those film makers is Iceland's own Julius Kemp.  This movie's title basically explains the whole plot.  The movie follows a young blonde Annette who is going on a whale watching expedition with about 10-15 other people.  The boat is captained by Gunnar Hanson who was the original Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and has a great cameo in this film.  Through a series of mishaps and mistakes the captain ends up getting killed accidentally and without a captain to pilot the boat the passengers are left to call an SOS to the closet ship that can help.  Of course the closest boat to the stranded whale watching group has a crew of three and they are a mother and her two sons and they are crazy!  They take on the stranded passengers and spend the duration of the movie killing them off one by one.  The movie is silly and violent and is a bit tongue and cheek the whole time.  Aside from each movie being about a crazy family that kills people there is very little in common with Harpoon and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  But overall it is a fun movie and I recommend you give it a shot.

Unfortunately this movie is a little hard to find and currently you can only get it on DVD or Blu Ray.  But if you get the opportunity and like gory movies it would be worth a buy and have your friends over for a big a viewing party.

Next time in the corner I am going to write about another theatrical release, the film adaptation of Max Brooks' novel World War Z!

Feel free to leave comments below and thanks again for reading.

Mimesis: Night of the living Dead

So it has been a super long time since my last post.  So if you have been a reader of this blog I apologize for not uploading any new content recently, but I have good news!  I have a steady stream of new movies to write about in the coming weeks so keep on the look out for that.  So this week in the corner I am writing about a movie with a very interesting premise called Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead.  Now the word Mimesis itself has a meaning of mimicry or imitation and that is sort of the foundation of what this movie has to offer.  Now I have to say up front that this movie will be much more enjoyable if you have seen the George A. Romero 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead.  Romero's film is in my opinion not only the best horror film of all time, but a film that had a profound impact on cinema, violence, and racial boundaries.  It also was the beginning to the zombie craze that mainstream America has fallen in love with in the last 5-10 years.  Romero filmed the original classic in black and white in a time when movies were all moving to colorizing their pictures.  Romero chose black and white purely for financial reasons (it was cheaper) but it actually adds an eerie quality to the movie.  Secondly Romero chose to cast an African American in the lead role in a time when racial tensions were at a breaking point in the mid to late 60's.  In fact, this movie was finished and shipped on April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  George Romero never intended to have racial undertones in this film but the impact that it had cannot be denied.  Finally the original Night of the Living Dead was pretty violent for the time.  To show the zombies eating human flesh, Romero used pork shanks with chocolate syrup, to make it look like the zombies were actually tearing the flesh off of the bloody bone.  It was quite shocking at the time and made the stabbing of Janet Leigh in Psycho look tame.  Now this blog entry is about Mimesis but a little back story on the original helps with the synopsis of this film.  The premise of this movie involves a couple of guys who go to a horror convention.  They go to see some horror celebrities and directors and get autographs and while they are there they are invited to an after midnight party out on a farm.  This is never a good idea in general but of course the two guys agree to go to the party because they are invited by a hot girl.  After arriving at the party and having a few drinks the two guys pass out and when they wake up, find themselves in a farm house, with new clothes, and no idea why they are there.  They soon find out that they have been captured by a group of sadistic killers, with a catch.  The killers are dressed and have make up on to emulate zombies and look to re enact the original Night of the Living Dead for their own sick enjoyment.  The killers kidnap seven people just like seven in the original.  They kidnap a father, mother, and daughter just like original.  The race, gender, and clothes of the seven people even match the cult classic with the lead being African American.  The director adds a nice touch by having all of the TVs in the house showing the original Romero film while the seven people are trying to avoid death at the hands of this group of "dedicated" horror fans.  It is an interesting twist on the genre.  The finale of the film sort of loses its way and doesn't have the impact that the original Romero film did, but it was still a fun watch especially you if you are a fan of the 1968 version.  I feel like there could be a whole series of Mimesis films, one dedicated to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, or any other classic horror franchise.  If you are a fan of the original Night of the Living Dead, you should give this movie a go.  If you haven't seen the original you should go watch that immediately.

Mimesis to my knowledge can only be viewed on DVD and blu ray, but if you can find a copy, let me know what you think in the comments!  I would love to hear your thoughts on the original Romero film as well!

Next week I am going to be writing about another loving homage to a classic horror franchise.  The Icelandic version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre!  (this is not a joke! It is an actual movie!)

Citadel

This week in the corner we will take a look a little indie Irish movie called Citadel.  This is an interesting movie if you can suspend your belief for about 80 minutes for what you watching.  But if you have been keeping up with this blog you may remember that I will be looking at movies that may be a bit polarizing in their content.  I can see where you could really love this movie or really be bored with it.  But that is the fun! Citadel starts in an apartment building with the main character Tommy and his pregnant wife.  Tommy leaves his wife at the door to their apartment to take bags outside for their trip to the hospital.  Upon returning he is caught in the elevator and witnesses his wife attacked by what seems to be 3 children.  Once Tommy gets out of the elevator his wife has been stabbed with a needle.  Tommy rushes her to the hospital and the doctors are able to save Tommy's baby, but after some time in a coma, Tommy's wife dies.  This sets the stage for the rest of the movie.  Fast forward nine months later and Tommy is a single father and suffers from a serious case of agoraphobia which is basically having constant anxiety of places that can put you in danger and overall panic attacks.  Tommy becomes a prisoner in his own home because of his anxiety and holes up in his apartment all stemming from witnessing the events of murdered wife.  Adding to his stress and anxiety is the fact that he is stalked and haunted by the same feral children that attacked his wife months ago.  If you have ever dealt with panic attacks or extreme anxiety it is very easy to relate to Tommy and the need to escape where he lives, but being so overcome by fear that can't.  All the while doing his best to raise his 9 month old daughter.  The scenes with the feral children are extremely creepy.  Especially in the final act of the movie when they start to play a much larger part to story.  They are almost zombie like.  They hunt in packs and are ruthless to their victims.  They also have a shriek that will give you chills.  I won't spoil why they attack people or what is behind their savage nature but as with most horror movies, there is an underlying social aspect to the movie.  Tommy's character lives in an area of town that is being rejuvenated.  A very poor area almost like what we would call the projects here in the US.  A rejuvenation project is when the government comes in and cleans up the area and in many ways forces the poor to move elsewhere.  The closest thing that I can think of in our country is gentrification.  This movie clearly has a message of poverty, class systems, and the social and economic ramifications of these problems on our planet.  The feral children in the movie are just a representation of these problems regardless of how the director chooses to explain their behavior within the context of the story of the movie.  Overall Citadel has some pretty scary moments and great characters towards the end.  This movie can be streamed instantly on Netflix.

Take a chance on this movie and let me know what you think in the comments below.  Also be sure to sign up with your email below so you can get notifications on when this blog is updated.    Next time I will be writing about a movie that is generating a lot of buzz amongst horror fans...Mimesis!!!

Hemlock Grove

First off, there are some changes on my blog for this week.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page and input your email, you will receive email updates whenever I post something new!  This week in the corner we are going to switch gears again and take a look at something a little different.  I am going to write about the new television series that is exclusive to Netflix called Hemlock Grove.  This series is created and developed by Eli Roth.  Eli Roth has developed quite a bit of fame in the horror genre without ever really making an iconic movie.  He did direct Cabin Fever which is creepy and gross(and pretty good) and he also did the polarizing Hostel, which in a lot of ways was responsible for the horror sub-genre known as torture porn.  With Hemlock Grove, Roth is doing something different entirely.  There is quite a bit of gore in certain scenes and there is some scares and spooks but this series is more about the town and people who live in it.  The show begins in episode one with the murder of a teenage girl and the ensuing mystery that follows.  When the body of the girl is found we are initially led to believe that she was attacked and killed by an animal of some sorts instead of just some sadistic killer.  You can probably tell from the one sheet above that werewolves are involved and all of the supernatural fun that comes with them.  If you are worried (or excited) that this show is jumping on the success of Twilight, this is hardly the same thing.  In fact, this show in many ways is trying desperately to recreate the aura of the early 90's cult masterpiece Twin Peaks.  Both of these shows start out with the murder of a teenage girl and the who dunnit that follows, but both shows really focus on all of the quirks and oddities of the various towns folk and there are definitely some odd ones in Hemlock Grove.  I don't believe that this show achieves quite the same vibe as Twin Peaks, mostly because no one can do what David Lynch does, but it definitely creates more creepiness and discomfort through its characters than it does with werewolves and murders.  Those are merely a backdrop that allows us to get a close up look at the people of Hemlock Grove and what makes them tick throughout the show.  The bigger question I would like to pose, is about what Netflix is doing with this show.  This is the second big show to be released all at once exclusively with Netflix.  The first being House of Cards with Kevin Spacey.  Netflix is also bringing back the wildly popular Arrested Development for its fourth season.  Not only that, but Netflix releases every episode at once, so viewers can technically watch all 13 episodes in one sitting.  They don't have to wait for a week for new episode and they don't have to sit through commercials while they watch them.  I believe that this could be the beginning of a new generation of television the same way Napster and iTunes changed the way we listen to music.  Consumers are being able more and more to watch their favorite shows through places like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.  They are able to skip through commercials with DVRs and paid subscriptions to TV services.  House of Cards has already been hugely successful for Netflix and created almost 2 million new subscribers since that show was released.  If Hemlock Grove proves to be just as successful Netflix will only continue to create new content. Eventually people are going to start to look at their $100 a month TV bill for Comcast or Directv and start to question whether they should subscribe to 2-3 services like Hulu and Netflix for about about $8 each and get all of the TV they want for a fraction of the price.  Eventually major cable networks and these huge cable providers are going to have to look at how they do business to continue to compete with these streaming services.  I think the only thing holding back a mass exodus from cable and satellite providers are the sports networks like ESPN or NFL network.  Currently there isnt really a way to watch sports live through Roku box or Google TV.  But if these networks ever strike a deal with a service like Netflix or Hulu, then there will be a television revolution that will change the way most people consume media as we know it.

I know I didn't really write too much about horror this week, but Hemlock Grove is a show that has its hand in so many different genres not only in substance but as a television show in general that it is an important stepping stone in what could be the way we watch TV in the next 5 years.

If you end up watching Hemlock Grove tell me what you think in the comments.  If you think TV is on the precipice of change let me know that as well!

Next week I will be back to basics and write about a crazy movie called The Citadel!! This flick has feral children.  Please subscribe with your email below and check back in next week!