#9 Hocus-Pocus -- I'm not a huge fan of this movie, but my 8-year-old daughter watches it again and again, and it's one of the few family-friendly Halloween movies we own. It's fun seeing a very young Thora Birch in a pre-American Beauty role, and I really liked Penny Marshall's cameo as the disgruntled wife of the "devil."
#8 Halloween -- I'm not particularly a fan, but my husband loves it! I guess my hubby is a bit like Alex: "I don’t aim to sound like a sadistic son of a bitch, but I will never grow tired of watching Michael Myers hunt down poor Laurie Strode on that dreadful Halloween night." Love that line! It cracks me up.
For the record, I don't hate Halloween, slasher flicks just don't appeal to me, even if well-crafted and relatively tame.
#7 The Lost Boys -- I think this was a date movie for my husband and me, back in the late '80s. It's pretty campy, and the quality of the acting is uneven at best, but we still enjoy it. Where else can you meet intrepid child vampire-hunters called "The Frog Brothers" who use comic books as survival manuals?
#6 The Sixth Sense -- This may not be one of the greatest films of all times, but I love the performances by Toni Collette and Joel Hailey Osmont. And I'm one of the five people in North American who did not see the twist coming the first time I watched this movie.
#5 American Werewolf in London -- This was released the year I started high school, before the advent of modern CGI effects, and I still find it slightly creepy, twisted, and fun, with just the right touch of campiness. "Keep off the moors ... stick to the roads."
And to this day, I still think this is the best werewolf transformation I've ever seen:
#4 The Others -- This is my kind of horror movie: old-school Gothic, creepy, and atmospheric. I'm not usually a huge fan of Nicole Kidman, but she was terrific in this film -- she did a great job of walking the line between scared, vulnerable mother and terrifyingly bat-shit crazy bitch. Fellow Whovians -- watch for a cameo by the Ninth Doctor.
#3 Zombieland -- My son and I love Tallahassee's fabulous bad-assery.
"Where are the fucking Twinkies?"
#2 Shaun of the Dead -- Part satire, part campy horror comedy. It took several viewings for this movie to grow on me, but now I never get tired of it. I absolutely love the way everyone shambles around so mindlessly, as they go about the business of their quotidian lives, that when the zombie invasion hits ... well ... for a long time, nobody notices the difference.
"You've got red on you."
#1 The Shining
The best. Damn. Horror movie. Ever.
"Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in. I'm going to bash them the fuck in!"
Badass line up! I almost opted for The shining too, but I'm going to enjoy Hannibal Lecter instead. Zombieland is so funny, Woody Harrelson is the master of comedy.
ReplyDeleteThanks! We ended up going with The Cabin in the Woods instead. So you're watching Silence of the Lambs?
DeleteFantastic list! I need to watch Zombieland again.
ReplyDeleteCan we call The Lost Boys terrifying anymore? The last time I watched it, I did nothing but laugh. Still, maybe the nostalgia factor will always keep it among the best horror flicks.
I don't think The Lost Boys is really scary, though it does have a few creepy scenes. It's definitely more humorous, I think. :-) And I totally agree about the nostalgia factor.
DeleteGreat list! How bad is it that I haven't seen American Werewolf in London or The Lost Boys yet?
ReplyDeleteThose are probably movies that aren't popular anymore, and they definitely aren't all that scary by modern standards. They were always more goofy than scary, actually, though they do have some creepy parts.
DeleteBut you should consider giving American Werewolf a go, in my opinion, if only for the werewolf transformation scene. I love what they did there, with no modern CGI effects.
Well, they're both on my watchlist, so I'll get to them eventually. :)
DeleteI have watched very few of those, but agree about The Others! So wonderfully atmospheric. And someone recommended The Lost Boys to me just the other day.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like The Others!
DeleteGreat list! Not much of a fan of 5 and never seen 9 but otherwise love all of them!
ReplyDeleteWell, I can understand your not liking American Werewolf -- it's kind of campy and not really scary by today's standards. :-) But it's one of my favorites.
DeleteI'm no horror fan but I do like Shaun of the Dead and Sixth Sense. The Lost Boys was pretty campy indeed, but then again it's the 80s, ha..ha..!
ReplyDeleteYes, very 80s! :-)
DeleteI'm fussy when it comes to slasher flicks, I don't care for the formulaic ones. Unless they are done in a unique way like Suspiria or something, then I'm ok with watching.
ReplyDeleteI went with Black Sunday (1960) today for Halloween, very atmospheric in a kind of Tim Burton way. Glad I discovered it!
I've never heard of Black Sunday -- I should look it up. And I may give Suspiria a go, since you said it was developed in a unique way.
DeleteOh I loved Shaun of the Dead … and Zombieland. They both walk that same scary but funny line so well.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY! :-)
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