Rob at the Movies
Hey, do you want
to see something really scary?
Well I hope you all enjoyed that first slice of cinematic catch up
because it's all about to get a lot spookier... not too spooky, I'm
not into the really hardcore stuff that some people are, and to be
honest, only have the smallest of merits anyway compared to the real
classic stuff. I am talking of course, about the horror genre... the
genre that covers things that go bump in the night (that John Hurt so
wonderfully in Hellboy claimed to be one of the ones 'who bump back')
and yet can cover a wide range of the genres, from the comedy horror,
o r the psychological thriller... there's all out gore fests, or
torture porn as they're bizarrely known, or the realms of extreme
cinema where only the brave or foolish dare to tread... horror can
cover so many arenas of the genre and be so many things to so many
people.... it's a genre that has mass appeal yet a lot are reluctant
to give it a go, for strong reason.... not everyone has the stomach
for it, or some people are just 'fraidy cats (I say this being
somewhat of a scaredy cat myself)....
But what of horror? It's all very nice and all to mention it (or not,
it is horror after all) but why do I bring it up? Well at the time of
typing this particular bit, we're way into November (or even
December, goodness knows when this will go out.... actually it's now
May!) and October (heck all the months now) is setting off down the
M6 to head over to France for a holiday so we're bidding it
farewell... it was a good time of year to talk horror movies, it just
happens to be really (I'm trying hard not to make it a Halloween
reference, as apart from the chance to dress up in loads of amazing
costumes, I'm not a fan of the season much at all!) and the
coincidental thing is, the last blog I tried to do back in October/
November 2011 before it got lost to the sands of time and the
computer died... was coincidentally exactly what I'm attempting to do
again here... a big discussion of horror movies, but more
importantly, the Top 25 Favourite Horror Movies of mine, and a few
paragraphs/ essays on each particular movie... a chance to agree or
disagree with me and just get a perspective on what makes me tick
movie and horror-wise. So without too much more waffle, I'll just
move into it and start by discussing a few that didn't quite make the
cut....
The
Runner's Up
Maybe it's a show of how little horror movies in the grand scheme of
things that I may have seen, but there's a rare amount of massive
standouts in the category of what may have just missed out on the big
Top 25 list. I think I've managed a good bunch but a few straight up
that didn't make it that I really dig are Event Horizon, Sleepy
Hollow, Interview with the Vampire, Insidious, The Faculty, The
Orphanage, The Fog, Jeepers Creepers and The Descent just to name a
few. There ain't no Halloween or Friday the 13th movies in
here either, whilst the lead baddies in each is memorable and the
series have a few good moments, overall I'm nowhere near as big a fan
as many are of these series.... controversially, I much prefer the
third Halloween movie that doesn't even have Michael Myers in (Season
of the Witch) just because it has a creaky charm to it's inherent
wackiness...
The classic Hitchcock chiller The Birds just missed out, as did
Nicolas Roegs' spooky Don't Look Now and David Fincher's killer
thriller Se7en. Great comedy horrors like Tremors, Tucker and Dale
vs. Evil, Zombieland, Lake Placid, Re-Animator, and maybe to an
extent Blade (more cool than scary) and the terrific Grindhouse
movies Planet Terror and Death Proof and all their fabulous insanity.
On similar levels, there was sadly no place for Sam Raimi's bonkers
scary Drag Me to Hell or Neil Marshall's werewolfs in the woods Dog
Soldiers or even Christian Bale slowly going doo lally as the
murderous yuppie in American Psycho. Zombie's seemed to miss out a
bit too, as well as the previously mentioned Zombieland... there
wasn't any space for the terrific Land of the Dead and not even Day
of the Dead could make it, where previously it might have stood a
chance...
Ghosts and other spooky things missed out in a way too... there was
no room for Robert Zemeckis' super chilly What Lies Beneath or Nicole
Kidman going bump as she encounters The Others... nor even sadly one
of the increasingly few truly great M. Night Shymalan movies as Bruce
Willis and Haley Joel Osment encounter dead people in The Sixth
Sense. John Cusack might as well check in for the night again because
Identity and 1408 didn't make the cut either. Whilst Ryan Reynolds
might as well bury himself again because Buried just missed out
too... and Christopher Walken couldn't predict The Dead Zone not
making it. You don't have to wait 7 days to find out that the remake
of The Ring didn't make it, and De Niro may well go mental when he
finds out the Cape Fear remake didn't make the cut either.... boy
these pun's of sort are fun! Lastly, one that I would have loved to
acknowledge but again didn't make the cut... the chilling tale of a
couple left abandoned at sea, widely derided by people I know but I
loved it and was on the edge of my seat... I would have loved to give
some love to Open Water!
The Top 25 Horror
Movies as picked by the Ribby Keeper
Enough of the waffling and baffling... it's time to get on down with
the list, these are my 25 favourite movies that either are scary
scary, got a horror theme, or fit somewhere within the parameters of
the genre and therefore are fair game for inclusion. You've already
heard what didn't make the cut but what did, well sit back and find
out:
- From Dusk 'till Dawn (1996) Rated 18Directed by Robert Rodrigruez
Robert Rodrigruez has had a pretty prolific career from Sin City and
Machete to the Spy Kids movies and stuff like Shorts, Adventures of
Sharkboy and Lavagirl... but back in 1996, he was merely riding
pretty decently off the back of the terrific Desperado and his low
budget debut El Mariachi... something similar could be said for
George Clooney, fresh off E.R and making one of his big screen debuts
here, both with something to prove, both about to prove it big!
From Dusk till Dawn seems fairly normal if you're coming at it like
any other movie, maybe not really knowing the jist of it or where
it's heading... Clooney and Quentin Tarantino play brothers who are
on the run, robbing banks and stores across the state... they wind up
on the road with a Christian family (led by Harvey Kietel) who they
are holding hostage and they have to go to a bar across the border
called the Titty Twister to lay low until the morning where they will
meet a contact. And that's where everything changes... what exactly
changes? Let's just say Vampires are involved, Salma Hayek is rather
sexy and then deadly... and all sorts of mad action, fun characters,
crazy gore, dry wit, and high drama occur....
Clooney is at his smooth best, both very dangerous but very cool and
charming whilst Tarantino fares well in a acting role (or at least
better than he has proved in subsequent acting roles) and there's a
host of great supporting roles, not least a marvellous Tom Savini as
crazy biker Sex Machine. If you want high cool thrills mixed with
gory chills and a fantastic cast and pace... this is the movie that
you want to check out, get it watched before Dawn!
- 28 Weeks Later (2007) Rated 18Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Sequels are one of those big genres in movies that have a tendency to
either go bigger and better in scope and scale but disapoint
otherwise, or they can just be superior entertainment, expanding on
the first movie in the themes, the character development, as well as
the scope and scale and budget and proving the true masterpiece of
the series of movies that it's a part of. For every Toy Story 2
there's a Hangover Part II or a Good Day to Die Hard. After Danny
Boyle's supermly chilling and fast paced 28 Days Later hit big in the
winter of 2002, making a star out of Cillian Murphy and throwing some
energy into the Zombie genre, even if the monsters at the centre of
the action aren't necessarily Zombies.... the question was where to
go to next, does it even need a sequel?
Thnakfully the answer was yes. In the struggle to contain the
outbreak as it spreads across the city of London, you have a more
wide scope via the budget too to provide more action and more heart
stopping thrills and in the story of Don (Robert Carlyle) and how the
outbreak affects him and his family very profoundly, it feels more
personal and the stakes higher emotionally. As well as the character
stakes being raised... the scale is wider too, with the whole of
London on lockdown and commander Idris Elba (in an early role)
struggling to keep things under control whilst soldiers including
Jeremy Renner (you could say an early role but he's been going
steadily for a while now) are on the streets trying to maintain order
in harsh ways, showing the lengths we can go to in order to maintain
control, eerily similar to the infamous ending of Night of the Living
Dead. The scope is bigger, the gore more crazy (a helicopter scene
rather similar to something from Dawn or Day of the Dead) and it's
essentially the sequel that improves on the original in the right
way... and that opening scene is simply intense beyond words!
- The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Rated 15Directed by Drew Goddard
Joss Whedon really can do anything he wants, can't he? Not content
with beikng the wunderkind behind Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse... and
also having scripted Toy Story and created Dr. Horrible's Sing Along
Blog, he then assembled the Avengers for one of the biggest
blockbusters ever created and pulled it off perfectly. He's also a
big producing force on this insanely clever horror mind twister which
came kinda' out of nowhere to a degree just before the Avengers hit
and took the cult world by storm through it's well deserved word of
mouth and hype... and like Scream when it first hit screens back in
1996, the horror genre was turned inside out once more in terrific
fashion.
This will probably be a short summary as I don't want to say hardly
anything about the film, lest I hint even slightly at it's twisty
secrets, too good to spoil... suffice to say, it contains a bunch of
kids who go up on the typical vacation to a secluded cabin, ignoring
the usual ominous warnings from locals when they ask for directions,
and then as is the way, spooky things occur... but are things really
all they seem?
The way this completely turns the plot on it's head is rather crazy
and bonkers in a way that is simply ingenious, and pays a whole
truckload of tribute to the history of the slasher movie and the
typical horror conventions. To say more would be unfair, but it also
involves a seemingly unrelated strand of the story involving bored
office workers going about their day (played with great wit by the
wonderful Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford)... how could it all
add up? It's a film that deserves to be explored in the dark (well
you can turn the lights off too, but I mean more as in knowing as
little as possible) and as soon as you can... this is one of the
casualties that occurred when MGM when bankrupt and this had to sit
on the shelf for a while... so when it was finally released, one of
the 'at the time' unknown leads had suddenly hit big as Thor in the
Marvel movies, Mr Chris Hemsworth... but released it was, and a cult
classic it surely has become....
- Saw II (2005) Rated 18Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Horror sequels are a bit the inevitable third part of a superhero
franchise, always highly anticipated but very often pretty
disapointing or even downright terrible... see Freddy's Revenge, The
Fly II, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Halloween 2, Friday the 13th
Part II and so on and so forth. So it's refreshing and nice that the
installment of the Saw franchise that I have chosen to represent it's
presence on this countdown is in fact the second part, which via it's
superb final twist manages to one up the ingeniousness of the first
in my books, and delivers a finale that is both insanely tense but
also twists and turns so much that what you think you know changes
levels at a alarming level, and you never quite catch up with where
it's headed until it's too late... possibly some of the intense
originiality of the first movie's twists can't be repeated but the
twists are so good it hardly matters....
In this second installment, the hunt for the jigsaw killer has
intensified after the events of the first movie led to the identity
of Jigsaw being revealed. The police catch up with him and hold him,
but he has a further nasty surprise in store... and in an undisclosed
location, a bunch of strangers wake up to find they are being held
captive and the games will once more commence. What wicked schemes
does Jigsaw have in mind and how will it all play out? Problems
further arise when the lead detective Matthews finds out his son is
amongst the housemates....
Because it's a sequel, the ante is upped for much more nastiness....
including a very chilling scene involving needles, the opening gambit
that involves finding a key in a very hard to reach place as well as
furnaces, shotguns and more. It's hard in a way to decide which out
of Saw and Saw II is truly the best, because I think they're pretty
equal in their chilling trickery and enjoyment factor if you can get
past the ickiness. But out of the two movies, it's the second one
that made me remember how awesome it is to be blind sided by a
fantastic twist that turns your head and makes you go 'oooh'... sure
the twist of the first one is so shocking but the twists in the
second one are pretty terrific too....
I know the Saw films aren't for everyone, but certainly the first two
prove why the franchise was such a hit.... get past the constant grue
and it's a calculating and fiendish thriller with chills and spills
aplenty.
- Final Destination 2 (2003) Rated 15Directed by David.R.Ellis
If you want a really cool original idea for a horror movie but also
one that really is the aepotheosis of a good fun gory silly horror
movie... then you need look no further than 2000's supernatural
slasher Final Destination from director James Wong (also responsible
for Jet Li's The One)... following the events that occur when a bunch
of teens get off a plane moments before it takes off and subsequently
crashes and burns, due to a premonition had by Alex, a teen on a
college trip to Paris. What happens next is the strangest thing...
one by one, the people who got off the plane are bumped off one by
one by a unseen force in a series of unusual and increasingly
elaborate accidents. It seems that you can't cheat death and death is
out to restore the balance....
This surprise horror hit sparked a never ending (well five) franchise
that managed to be consistently enjoyable and daft and great fun....
maybe the fourth one was the weakest but even then it had a great 3D
element and still some ridiculously fun daft moments involving a
shopping mall and a cinema. Whilst the first of these movies is
undoubtably a genuinely fun and shocking thrill ride, it was with the
second installment that the series proved just how fun and clever it
could be.
From the opening accident, which proves a massive step up from the
terrifying plane explosion in the first... which whilst chilling in
it's terror was a simple straightforward incident. Here, you get a
pile up on the highway that involves numerous car flips, logs through
windows, people squished by objects and bikes and so on... it's epic
and gruesome and again truly chilling (in later films the accidents
became gruesome but comical) and in the deaths that occur, once more
the bar is raised, dancing the threshold between comic and horror
from a ladder to the face via a kid being squished by falling glass
through to a sinister air bag incident. It's in the trying to figure
out what gruesome incident will happen next where the fun lies...
it's silly but you know from the off that it's going to be a bit over
the top so you can just go with it, unless you're squeamish, in which
case be a bit concrned!
To a degree, these films aren't exactly Picasso... but they
themselves were pretty and colorful. These films are the most fun
with lowered expectations and just a massive threshold for fun....
and then you'll have a mega fun time.
- Slither (2006) Rated 15Directed by James Gunn
There is no greatest chemical conundrum to figure out than the
delicate balance of Horror and Comedy into one big gallumping riotous
fest of fun... from Ghostbusters and Shaun of the Dead on one end of
the scale to films like The Cottage and Tormented that maybe don't
work as well... and then there's the Scary Movie films that don't
even try and be scary anyway. You'll see more examples as the
countdown continues, but this movie throws a big wallop of sci-fi
into the mix and is one of the biggest throwbacks to the heyday of
the 80's when gloopy horror comedies like Night of the Creeps and
Toxic Avenger were all the rage...
Set (as all these films are) in a sleepy small town in America... it
finds a couple (Elizabeth Banks, her off Pitch Perfect, 30 Rock and
more... and Michael Rooker, Merle off Walking Dead) having a few
difficulties which only get worse when he comes across a strange
object and slowly being to experience a few changes.... which only
get worse when he becomes a big blobby creature that starts infecting
the citizens of the town, turning them into mindless zombies (in a
call back to Night of the Creeps, people are infected by slugs going
into their mouths). So it's up to the local sheriff Bill (the
legendary Nathan Fillion, who better to be the charming lead hero in
ANY film) who has a romantic past with Starla (Banks) to team up with
Starla, the mayor (Gregg Henry, fabulously grouchy) and others to
survive and stop the alien menace....
Like all the best horror comedy movies of the 1980's... this is way
out bonkers and full of gore and mayhem. From sloppy zombies and
blobby creatures to fat people exploding with slugs and all sorts of
other gloopy nonsense that re-calls everything from Society (you
really don't want to know) to Shivers (slugs in the bath)... it's
very witty and very funny, it's very gloopy and sinister... and it
does exactly what a good horror comedy should, it makes you chuckle a
load but still makes you go ooh aah and yuck! Plus it has a great
cast of familiar faces who make it work a treat.... it's sorely
underrated so if you've never seen it, rectify that now!
- Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) Rated 18Directed by Sam Raimi
A sequel surely can't essentially be a remake of the first can it?
Otherwise it'd be a remake not a sequel. I ask this because Sam
Raimi's bonkers follow up to his controversial gore fest Evil Dead
plays essentially as a more fun remake of the original movie rather
than continuing the story. You essentially have a very similar cast
(Bruce as your hero for one, though they could never change that as
he is such an icon and wonderful hero, though more of the back of
this one as opposed to the *whisper it* too straight faced first one)
and a very simple plot: teens go on holiday to a creepy cabin,
unleash evil spirits who then kill them all and take over their
bodies. It's creepy and kooky and seriously, once things kick off,
boy do they really kick off...
Taking the outlandish excess of the first movie and twisting it into
something equally outrageous and blood covered, yet slightly more
accessible and a lot more fun... this manages to be almost every bit
as insanely gory as the first movie yet manages to make it more
mainstream... the first one was just nasty whereas this one is great
fun. The madcap comedy sensibility making a film that is a great
example of a horror comedy because it really is as nasty and scary as
it is bonkers and funny... from slapstick involving a possessed hand
to sight gags involving book titles and laughing mooses. Anchoring
all this of course is the wonderful Bruce Campbell and whereas Evil
Dead make him noticeable, ED2 made him a bonafide icon.... witty,
funny and truly commited to the physical stuff... he is a joy to
watch and a cult icon in the making and it's testament to his charms
that he remains a star and icon to this day....
Because I wouldn't say it's a horror, Army of Darkness isn't in the
list.... but I need to mention it quickly because it's my far
favourite of the three and the biggest reason I'll always madly love
Bruce and this series. Endlessly quotable, relentlessly wacky and
funny and packed to the brim with invention and zaniness, it's superb
fun... a medieval comedy with elements of horror and action. It's a
real treat and hopefully you'll all track it down and have a blast,
or simply agree because you've already seen it....
- The Hitcher (1986) Rated 18Directed by Robert Harmon
Never was the advice 'Don't talk to strangers' more apt than when
young Jim Halsey decides to pick up the mysterious John Ryder and
lives to regret it. I am of course talking about The Hitcher, and one
of the finest examples of why Rutger Hauer is so damn awesome. I'll
give the briefest of a nod to the remake, which was essentially the
same everything but with a female lead, more over the topness and
Sean Bean doing good psychopath also, but overall it ain't even a
blink of a shadow of this supreme chiller. It's the simplest of
premises, Jim picks up John on a dark rainy night and John then
proceeds to make Jim's journey a living hell, framing him for endless
murders and crimes and threatening and taunting him all the way...
John Ryder soon becomes an unstoppable force with an unknown dark
background, much like a Mike Myers... we don't know why he's doing
this, and we don't need to. We just know he's a damn scary guy not to
be messed with.
And thus begins what is a pretty straight forward thriller, as it
goes from a simple taunt in the car through to a full cross country
chase, mowing down police stations and multiple murders along the
way. It's like a more modern day and much more gritty road version of
Halloween with Ryder the Michael Myers figure, kinda blank and
emotionless almost as he chases Jim and his girlfriend... you don't
need to know, he just does. It's really chilling, really taut and
exciting... and even though it's been remade, you may well not know
much about it, so check it out....
- Fright Night (1985) Rated 18Directed by Tom Holland
Ever thought your neighbour was a bit strange? Maybe that he was a
vampire? No? Well Charlie Brewster does.... he's sure of it, sure
that Jerry Dandridge (played to perfection by the wonderful Chris
Sarandon, also of Humperdinck and Jack Skellington fame) is of the
night and that he has designs on his mother. So what to do? How about
seeking out the presenter of a television show about vampires (the
eponymous Fright Night), one Peter Vincent (the late great Roddy
McDowall) and seeing if he can help? Of course though, it's only a TV
show... he thinks Charlie is insane. But what if all this is real?
What if it is Fright Night, but for real?
Again the mix of horror and comedy blends like a fine sauce for a fun
and monstrous time, with some terrifically 80's creature effects and
gory moments mixing with the sarcastic wit and teen banter that makes
for that perfect mix, you're pretty chilled and freaked out at points
but you also laugh like a drain at some of the dialogue and moments.
Something that also worked well in the lesser but still terrifically
fun remake from 2011, with Colin Farrell being superbly sinister and
smooth as Jerry whilst David Tennant is essentially Russell Brand as
Vegas magician Peter Vincent, it's the mark of a classic that it can
be remade, and thankfully with solid results too.
If you haven't seen Fright Night, you owe it to yourself to do so
immediately... it really is a outstanding example of how to do a
horror comedy, and one of the finest horror classics of the 80s, A
real treat, immensly entertaining and massive fun... it will woo you
and make you chuckle, it really is tremendous!
- Scream (1996) Rated 18Directed by Wes Craven
For the many different movies that can define the genre and make a
splash, there's only so many films that can really lay a claim to
changing the face of the genre and re-defining it forever. Scream is
one of those movies. Tearing up the rule book laid down by Halloween,
Elm Street and more, much in the way that Cabin in the Woods did two
decades later, but Cabin owes it all to Wes Craven's slasher reboot.
As does a generation of movies that came afterwards, and nothing was
ever the same again...
Back in the winter of 1996, no one really knew what to expect....
sure Wes Craven was infamous from his Elm Street movies amongst
others, but who knew the radical game changer that was to become a
massive sleeper hit going into the early months of 1997? Taking the
concept of a slasher movie and re casting it with a cast of
characters who've seen a whole load of those movies and know the ins
and outs of the genre and are pretty savvy to the rules... it was
dark, entertaining, witty and knowing and it's so easy to under
appreciate the impact it had.
In the small American town of Woodsboro, the local teens begin to
receive prank phone calls from a sinister voice who simply wants to
talk classic horror movies, and after a cameoing Drew Barrymore in
the iconic opening sequence is brutally butchered.... tensions rise.
What is the link between these murders and Sidney Prescott (Neve
Campbell) and her dark past? With a culturally savvy killer on the
loose, it pays to have seen your fair share of horror movies.
Scream is great, simply put it's just a terrific movie.... it does
the great thing that all of the best horror comedies do. It gels the
two sides of the coin perfectly, it makes you jump and shriek and
kept on the edge of your seat whilst also making you laugh and wink a
lot too. Plus there's some top twists and edgy turns, you really
don't know where it's going at some points which is really cool. The
cast are terrific, mixing people you already know with new faces who
went on to bigger things or not. Then there's a great cameo from
Henry Winkler, not to mention a director's cameo that is one of the
coolest things ever. It went on to spawn three more sequels, and
whilst only maybe Scream 2 really is in a similar league of funny
scary and twisty, all of them are great fun and if the series wants
to do a Scream 5 I really won't argue....there ain't many horror
movies this much fun!
- The Omen (1976) Rated 18Directed by Richard Donner
It's an interesting experience when you see a remake before the
original, you can find yourself fascinated by a story that is only
great because of the movie that came before it that thought of the
great story. This is only a simple remake, not one of those like The
Fly that does something fascinating, it's essentially the same film
done again (ala Hitcher or Psycho)... but upon watching the remake,
despite liking the story you merely find the film ok. It is upon
watching the original and allowing the passage of time to take its
toll, that you realise how superb the 1976 original is. At first, you
admire the story once more and appreciate it's a better re telling
but that sense of deja vu from already having seen the remake takes
away too much of the special that you should feel. But with time and
re watching and reflection (and the remake fading into a meh mush in
the distance, though by remake standards it's a solid enough re
telling... even if it was just a marketing gimmick to get THAT
release date) the original classic becomes just that, a bona fide
terrific and terrifying and chilling tale....
It shows what a man of many talents Richard Donner is, he really is
among that unsung group of directors who have done such a wide varied
range of amazing movies but never get as much credit as they should.
The Goonies, Scrooged, Lethal Weapon, Superman, and this amongst many
many many others.... and he really pulls this off wonderfully. The
mix of outlandish moments with the quiet chill and what you don't see
is great. This of course is the tale of Senator Robert Thorn (played
stoically by Gregory Peck) and his wife Katherine, who unbeknownst to
them, during childbirth... are given the gift of a child who is not
their own. His name is Damien, and when very strange incidents begin
to occur... it becomes apparent to some that Damien is more than he
seems and is very very dangerous.... you know the rest.
Bolstered by a great support cast, including the wonderful David
Warner in a head turning role... this is a bona fide classic pure and
simple, the story is well known and even a lot of the classic scenes.
It manages to be really chilling and terrifying with the air of
menace as opposed to a whole ton of jumps and gore (though there are
few funky scenes nonetheless) and even the remake ain't too bad, it's
essentially the same film but with lesser actors in the roles but
still manages to be effective.
- The Lost Boys (1987) Rated 15Directed by Joel Schumacher
Vampires eh? They're in vogue and then they're not and then they are
again, but regardless of Twilight and all the current iterations of
the fanged wonders, they'll never be cooler than they were in the
late 1980's when director Joel Schumacher (he of killing the Batman
series fame) created the wonderful encapsulation of the 1980s that is
The Lost Boys. Not only that, it is the wonderful Kiefer Sutherland
as his most deliciously mischevious and has a soundtrack of infinite
wonders, not least the chillingly beautiful Cry Little Sister by
Sisters of Mercy and a upgrade of People are Strange by Echo and his
men who are bunnies. Nothing screams the late 1980s quite like The
Lost Boys.... a top mix of chilling Vampires and witty banter
When a family have to move to the Californian town of Santa Carla, a
number of things happen.... while the mother settles in getting a
job, the two brothers find themselves on very interesting paths. The
youngest Sam, meets the oddball Frog Brothers, who tell him of the
myths and mysteries of Santa Carla and there may be dark secrets
lying under the surface.... and when Mike falls in the local gang,
especially the beautiful Star and their charismatic leader David
(Kiefer), it seems Mike has fallen in for a lot more than he
bargained, including a penchant for sleeping during the day and
needing to feed....
Great performances from Kiefer, as well as the Coreys and a
delightfully sinister Edward Hermann as Max, not to mention the
wonderful Barnard Hughes as the wonderfully potty Grandpa. Some
terrifically witty dialogue, and a great mix of laughs as well as
scares and iconic scenes.... from the synthy saxophone soundtrack to
the poodle hair and fashions, this is the 80's through and through,
it's also a stone cold classic, and my guess is you'll either go with
it or think it's overblown.... only a fool wouldn't be won over
though...
JOIN US!
- The Mist (2008) Rated 15Directed by Frank Darabont
When you get to the end of a horror movie, it's typical for it to be
either a nasty silly jump or a dark moment, or even just a simple
ending. And no, I'm not going to say much more about the end of The
Mist, but it's memorable. I was aware fairly quickly that I was
veering towards spoilers so I stopped myself... because the first
thing you remember when discussing The Mist is THAT ending but I
shall say no more. There is of course, plenty other cool things to
discuss about this dark creature feature from the pages of Stephen
King and directed by Frank Darabont (who had Stephen King adaptation
history with Green Mile and Shawshank, and later went on to make more
horror history by helming The Walking Dead).... and it plotlines a
whole host of horror cliches with such aplomb that it's fairly easy
to go along with it and experience it all over again.
In the small town of Maine (where else?) a strange foggy mist rolls
into town and weird things begin to happen, a small group of people
covering plenty of the cliches hole up in the local supermarket,
where they must keep the fog out and whatever it could be that is
trapped in the fog wanting to get out.... whilst also battling each
other as madness sets in and the group is seperated into factions and
they become much more dangerous than whatever could be out there!
The cliches are out in force: you have the band of cliched people,
you have them trapped in a single location going barmy, you have the
creepy creatures, you have the people being more trouble than the
creatures, and you have plenty of mystery and twists.... but what's
great about The Mist is it takes these cliches and makes them still
work aplenty. It's creepy, it's dramatic, it's scary, it's fun....
and with that ending, it's all worth the journey just to be.... I
can't say ;)
There is a version of this film available in Black and White, which
is a terrific version and says all you need to know about this creepy
B-movie throwback that mixes nasty drama with cliched chills to great
effect....
- Stir of Echoes (1999) Rated 15Directed by David Koepp
1999, Autumn. M. Night Shymalan's The Sixth Sense is a massive
hit.... everyone goes ooh and ahh and praises Shymalan as this next
big thing (funny how that worked out) and the twist is all anyone can
talk about (to the point which I knew it way before I saw the film,
sheesh). What people don't realise as much is another movie about
someone seeing spirits and spooky things was released around the
time, and for my money is even stronger and sorely underrated. Not
least for a tremendous performance from Kevin Bacon, on terrific form
as the naysayer who suddenly and fiercely is forced to believe after
a hypnotism gone wrong....
This is one of those unsung gems that more people are slowly
discovering and is getting a nice little fanbase of it own
thankfully. Whilst the Sixth Sense is rightly terrific, Stir of
Echoes is darker and spookier and more thrilling with the really
gothic way it does the whole way he becomes 'ghost seeing' (I'm
rubbish at making terms) and in the way the events unfold, it's
creepy and it's very dark but it's always engrossing and intriguing.
Bolstered by a solid support cast including a terrific Illeana
Douglas as the physic who accidentally empowers Kevin's character
with this ability, as well as the always delightful Kevin Dunn as the
concerned neighbour and best friend. Also featuring a tremendous use
of the Rolling Stone classic Paint it Black (watch the film to
discover for yourself) as well as a creepy early performance by
Jennifer Morrison of House and Once Upon a Time fame.
It's great to get the word out about films more people need to see,
and this is certainly one of those. The director David Koepp is an
underated talent too, having gone on to direct Ghost Town and Premium
Rush, two terrific little movies that also need more love.
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Rated 18Directed by Jonathan Demme
When is a villain not a villain? When does it turn into the term
anti-hero? In the case of Hannibal Lecter, it's the perfect example
of this. He might be a bad 'un, but there's been something about him
right since Manhunter and this classic example of the character.
People can cite Brian Cox as the best incarnation of the character
all they want (he's great no doubt but overrated in my opinion
really, as is Manhunter... it's too overstylised and cheesy) and to
be honest I think Mads Mikkelsen is a strong contender for best
Hannibal, and definetly not the young random in the terrible Hannibal
Rising. Anthony Hopkins is definetly the most iconic portrayal and
for very good reason, sure he went a bit hammy as the movies went on
but he remained utterly chilling and charming throughout... a
delectable portrayal of a fascinating character....
In this, the terrific Jodie Foster is FBI Agent Clarice Starling, who
is on the hunt for the terrifying Buffalo Bill (a chilling Ted
Levine, iconic) who is kidnapping women for a horrific purpose. To
catch a psycho, maybe you need to use a psycho... so she consults the
imprisoned criminal mastermind Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist
and notorious cannibal. The friendship and psychological war that
develops makes things interesting even whilst the hunt for Bill
intensifies...
The one thing there might not be enough of, yet at the same time
there's plenty that go completely wrong... is the dark psychological
thriller, it's a really fascinating genre. Silence of the Lambs is
one of the ones that does it perfectly, it's got a really solid cast
of characters and isn't afraid to go to really dark places while
staying mainstream enough to attract a blockbuster audience with it's
hollywood thrills. See for example the chilling sequence in which
Hannibal escapes his cell, and what he does to the guards.... it's
horrific yet done in a way that will please the big crowds.
There's not much that needs to be said for this one really, it's so
iconic... it's big moments and dialogue very memorable and everyone
kinda' knows the story. But if you're looking for an intro into the
character of Hannibal following an interest in the new TV show...
then this is the perfect entry point. Grab some fava beans, a nice
Chianti and some liver and settle on down....
And there you have it, the story so far. But wait I hear you cry,
what about the rest? Well that'll be for the next installment of this
mighty fine blog, in which I'll count down my Top 10 of the spooky
variety. So if you're concerned I missed your favourite out here,
then fear not it may be on the way....
But for now,
You stay classy!
