Ed Hardy at Shoot The Projectionist has posted the nominees for the 31 Flicks That Give You The Willies. In looking at it, it made me think of something I recently wrote in the comments section at Culture Snob. It was in reaction to Culture Snob's commentary on what is and is not scary. He somewhat took me and Neil Sarver at The Bleeding Tree to task for our definitions of horror. He commented that I was a bit too flippant and Neil was a bit too stringent. I stated that while I agreed on both fronts, I felt both were a good example of how everyone interprets horror differently. And I think this list is proof of that because it covers everything. From House Of Dracula to Friday the 13th to Blood on Satan's Claw to Scanners to Gremlins. Gremlins? The original Dawn Of The Dead made the list and so did the remake as well as The Thing From Another World and The Thing. And Gremlins? I was pleased to see Carpenter and Cronenberg so well represented and as always now I have the opportunity to redeem myself a bit by including some movies that I missed, such as The Birds and Mulholland Dr.
I will say that I think that in the nominees there still seems to be a bit of confusion, at least for me, between a well-done movie within the horror genre and a truly scary horror movie. Shaun Of The Dead is a great movie about zombies but I would never put it in the same category as Dawn Of The Dead or 28 Days Later. And again, I would say that I love Near Dark for mixing genres but again I wouldn't call it a scary movie. And Gremlins? But like I said before, horror is a very specific thing and I applaud this list for being so diverse. And well done to Ed for heading this up.
Here are the nominees. I have marked my original picks in red. Twenty-four of my picks made it in.
I will say that I think that in the nominees there still seems to be a bit of confusion, at least for me, between a well-done movie within the horror genre and a truly scary horror movie. Shaun Of The Dead is a great movie about zombies but I would never put it in the same category as Dawn Of The Dead or 28 Days Later. And again, I would say that I love Near Dark for mixing genres but again I wouldn't call it a scary movie. And Gremlins? But like I said before, horror is a very specific thing and I applaud this list for being so diverse. And well done to Ed for heading this up.
Here are the nominees. I have marked my original picks in red. Twenty-four of my picks made it in.
28 Days Later (2002; Danny Boyle)
Alice Sweet Alice (1976; Alfred Sole)
Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)
Aliens (1986; James Cameron)
All the Colors of the Dark (1972; Sergio Martino)
American Psycho (2000; Mary Harron)
An American Werewolf in London (1981; John Landis)
Audition (1999; Takashi Miike)
The Beyond (1981; Lucio Fulci)
The Birds (1963; Alfred Hitchcock)
Black Christmas (1974: Bob Clark)
Black Sabbath (1963; Mario Bava & Salvatore Billitteri)
Black Sunday (aka Mask of Satan) (1960; Mario Bava)
The Blair Witch Project (1999; Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez)
Blood and Black Lace (1964; Mario Bava)
Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971; Piers Haggard)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935; James Whale)
The Brides of Dracula (1960; Terence Fisher)
The Brood (1979; David Cronenberg)
Burnt Offerings (1976; Dan Curtis)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920; Robert Weine)
Candyman (1992; Bernard Rose)
Carnival of Souls (1962; Herk Harvey)
Carrie (1976; Brian de Palma)
Cat People (1942; Jacques Tourneur)
The Changeling (1980; Peter Medak)
Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972; Bob Clark)
Creepshow (1982; George Romero)
Cronos (1993; Guillermo del Toro)
Cube (1997; Vincenzo Natali)
Daughters of Darkness (1971; Harry Kumel)
Dawn of the Dead (1978; George Romero)
Dawn of the Dead (2004; Zack Snyder)
Day of the Dead (1985; George Romero)
Dead Alive (1992; Peter Jackson)
Dead of Night (aka Deathdream) (1974; Bob Clark)
Dead Ringers (1988; David Cronenberg)
Deathline (aka Raw Meat) (1972; Gary Sherman)
Deep Red (1975; Dario Argento)
Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man) (1994; Michele Soavi)
Demons (Demoni) (1985; Lamberto Bava)
The Descent (2005; Neil Marshall)
The Devils (1971; Ken Russell)
The Devil’s Backbone (2001; Guillermo del Toro)
The Devil’s Bride (aka The Devil Rides Out) (1968; Terence Fisher)
The Devil’s Rejects (2005; Rob Zombie)
Les Diaboliques (1955; Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Don’t Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg)
Dracula (1931; Tod Browning)
Dr. Jekyll & His Women (1981; Walerian Borowczyk)
Eraserhead (1977; David Lynch)
Event Horizon (1997; Paul W.S. Anderson)
The Evil Dead (1981; Sam Raimi)
Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987)
The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)
The Exorcist III (1990; William Peter Blatty)
The Eye (aka Gin gwai) (2002; Pang Bros.)
Eyes Without a Face (aka Les Yuex sans visage) (1960; Georges Franju)
The Fly (1986; David Cronenberg)
The Fog (1980; John Carpenter)
Frailty (2001; Bill Paxton)
Frankenstein (1931; James Whale)
Freaks (1932; Tod Browning)
Friday the 13th (1980; Sean S. Cunningham)
Friday the 13th, part II (1981; Steve Miner)
Fright Night (1985; Tom Holland)
Full Circle (aka The Haunting of Julia) (1977; Richard Loncraine)
Funny Games (1997; Michael Haneke)
Ginger Snaps (2000; John Fawcett)
Godzilla (aka Gojira) (1954; Ishiro Honda)
Gremlins (1984; Joe Dante)
Halloween (1978; John Carpenter)
The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
Haute Tension (2003; Alexandre Aja)
Hellraiser (1987; Clive Barker)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986; John McNaughton)
The Hitcher (1986; Robert Harmon)
Horror Hotel (aka City of the Dead) (1960; John Llewellyn Moxey)
Horror of Dracula (1958; Terence Fisher)
Hour of the Wolf (1968; Ingmar Bergman)
House of Wax (1953; Andre de Toth)
House on Haunted Hill (1959; William Castle)
The Howling (1981; Joe Dante)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943; Jacques Tourneur)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995; John Carpenter)
Inferno (1980; Dario Argento)
The Innocents (1961; Jack Clayton)
Island of Lost Souls (1932; Erle C. Kenton)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; Don Siegel)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978; Philip Kaufman) Jacob’s Ladder (1990; Adrian Lyne)
Jaws (1976; Steven Spielberg)
Jeepers Creepers (2001; Victore Salva)
Ju-On: The Grudge (2003; Takashi Shimizu)
Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966; Mario Bava)
King Kong (1933; Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack)
Last House on the Left (1972; Wes Craven)
The Last Man on Earth (1964; Ubaldo Ragona)
The Legend of Hell House (1973; John Hough)
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971; John D. Hancock)
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) (74; Jorge Grau)
The Locals (2003; Greg Page)
Lost Highway (1997; David Lynch)
Magic (1978; Richard Attenborough)
Martin (1977; George Romero)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002; Mark Pellington)
Mulholland Dr. (2001; David Lynch)
My Bloody Valentine (1981; George Mihalka)
Near Dark (1987; Kathryn Bigelow)
New Nightmare (1994; Wes Craven)
A Nightmare on Elm St. (1984; Wes Craven)
Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors (1987; Chuck Russell)
Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon) (1957; Jacques Tourneur)
Night of the Hunter (1957; Charles Laughton)
Night of the Living Dead (1968; George Romero)
Night Tide (1961; Curtis Harrington)
Nosferatu (1922; F.W. Murnau)
Nosferatu (1979; Werner Herzog)
The Omen (1976; Richard Donner)
Onibaba (1964; Kaneto Shindo)
The Others (2001; Alejandro Amenebar)
Peeping Tom (1960; Michael Powell)
People Under the Stairs (1991; Wes Craven)
Pet Semetary (1989; Mary Lambert)
Phantasm (1979; Don Coscarelli)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975; Peter Weir)
Pit and the Pendulum (1961; Roger Corman)
Poltergeist (1982; Tobe Hooper)
Possession (1981; Andrzej Zulawski)
Prince of Darkness (1987; John Carpenter)
Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)
Pulse (Kairo) (2001; Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth) (1967; Roy Ward Baker)
Ravenous (1999; Antonia Bird)
Re-Animator (1985; Stuart Gordon)
The Reflecting Skin (1990; Philip Ridley)
Repulsion (1965; Roman Polanski)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985; Dan O’Bannon)
The Ring (2002; Gore Verbinski)
Ringu (1998; Hideo Nakata)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968; Roman Polanski)
Saw (2004; James Wan)
Scanners (1981; David Cronenberg)
Scream (1996; Wes Craven)
The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988; Wes Craven)
Session 9 (2001; Brad Anderson)
Seven (1995; David Fincher)
Shaun of the Dead (2004; Edgar Wright)
The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick)
Shivers: They Came From Within (1975; David Cronenberg)
Signs (2002; M. Night Shyamalan)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991; Jonathon Demme)
Sisters (1973; Brian de Palma)
Sixth Sense (1999; M. Night Shyamalan)
Sleepaway Camp (1983; Robert Hiltzik)
Slither (2006; James Gunn)
Suspiria (1977; Dario Argento)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003; Ji-woon Kim)
Targets (1968; Peter Bogdonavich)
The Tenant (1976; Roman Polanski)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974; Tobe Hooper)
Them! (1954; Gordon Douglas)
The Thing (1982; John Carpenter)
The Thing from Another World (1951; Christian Nyby)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971; Amanda de Ossorio)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992; David Lynch)
The Uninvited (2003; Su-yeon Lee)
Uzumaki (2000; Higuchinsky)
Vampyr, the Strange Adventure of David Gray (1932; Carl Theodor Dreyer)
The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1988; George Sluizer)
Videodrome (1983; David Cronenberg)
The Village (2004; M. Night Shyamalan)
Village of the Damned (1960; Wolf Rilla)
Wait Until Dark (1967; Terence Young)
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962; Robert Aldrich)
When a Stranger Calls (1979; Fred Walton)
The Wicker Man (1973; Robin Hardy)
Witchfinder General (1968; Michael Reeves)
Wolf Creek (2005; Greg Mclean)
The Wolf Man (1941; George Waggner)
I had Gremlins on my nominees list. In the words of Jules, "well allow me to retort."
ReplyDeleteI took Ed's title of his event "films that give you the willies" literally, and focused on movies that have scared me the most, horror or not. Gremlins scared the hell out of me as a kid, and it still creeps me out a little bit.
My list of favorite horror movies would look quite a bit different, and it would also contain plenty of movies that don't give me the willies. Gremlins would not be on that list.
Adam,
ReplyDeleteI think you took the event the right way. I just purchased Fright Night and I love that movie, but it doesn't scare me.
And I can see where Gremlins would spook people. I was just attempting to be contrary - talking about how horror is very specific and then calling someone's pick.
Hey, Gremlins got two more votes than Malevolence or Westworld or Assault On Precinct 13 for me.
Any confusion as to the difference between a great horror movie and one that is truly scary reflected in the list is certainly my fault for being so vague, but what I was partially interested in achieving with this list was an accurate picture of what the community at large sees as belonging to "horror." Obviously, the title of the survey (which I poached from you, Piper) leaned the whole thing into a particular direction, one that had to do more with "scary" than "great." Which was once impetus for the invention of the Horror Comedy sub-list, the votes for which are even more varied, with some people voting strictly for horror parodies or comedies with "horror" elements, and others including horror movies they laugh at, etc. It's shaping up to be a pretty fascinating sidebar to the main event.
ReplyDeleteGremlins is more of a comedy, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSome of the new remakes - like The Fog, House of Wax, and Texas Chainsaw, among others - should be on this list for being so badly conceived, cast, and directed. Nothing scares me as much these days as some of these fucking terrible movies, and what they say about society.