What else could the Friday five list be on a Friday the 13th? Obviously my top five horror movies, I will however point out that these aren’t the scariest movies. I don’t go into all that freaky deaky Ring and Grudge type of horror that the kids are all digging now days. Nor do I enjoy mutilation films like Saw and Hostel (in fairness to both I haven’t seen either but I don’t really have any intention on it, well maybe Saw if it’s on late one night).
No my favourite horror movies are all probably considered old school today and lame by current standards but I grew up on these ones and it is my list. You write your own list. Give me credit. Or money.
- Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors - there are reasons why I chose the second sequel, it brought Wes Craven back into the Elm St fold after the left of centre Elm St 2 and it was banned in Queensland, something I had trouble wrapping my head around when I first moved into the state. I still chuckle at the reasons why it was banned too, not because the main character slashes teenagers to their death in their sleep but because there is drug use??? Freddy was always my favourite character in the 80s/90s horror films. I wasn’t so keen on Freddy vs Jason but I found a lot of depth in those films, especially as a teenager who used to average a couple of hours of sleep per night at best. The characters avoiding sleep always appealed to me. The art direction of the films always impressed me.
- Evil Dead 2 - Bruce Campbell is a living god. The evil got into his hand and he lopped it off and replaced it with a chainsaw, I mean dude!?! Groovy. It had plenty of gore, plenty of innovative sequences and a dead girlfriend who dances in the moonlight and loses her head.
- The Creature from the Black Lagoon - I had to put a Universal monster in the list and Gill-man is my favourite of them so he gets the nod (the other Universal monsters are all awesome though). It was a very clever film for its time too, the underwater photography was brilliant, that suit must have been unpleasant under the water like that.
- Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - Sigh. OK now just give me a chance here and I’ll try and explain, yes there are probably better instalments, no it isn’t Jason X, you’ve all made that very clear. But I have to have one of the franchise in here and I choose this one because Jason uppercuts a boxer and sends his head flying off into the distance. Classic. If I had to choose another I would say part three (the 3D one) it was nice standard edition.
- Hellraiser - Clive Barker is an amazing writer, his Books of Blood are just mind numbingly great and so it comes to no surprise that I really enjoyed Hellraiser. Pinhead is a horror icon and the Hellraiser box has got to be one of the coolest props. The second film was banned in Queensland also (so was Near Dark) I’m not sure why but it may have been because of sexual content? I even enjoyed part three that starred a pre Star Trek Terry Farrell and had a Cenobite DJ that throws killer CDs.
Oh man there are a lot of films that could be on the list ranging from Jaws to Halloween (dig that Shatner face mask).
Check out my guest post over on Aussie Bloggers (after 6.30 Aussie time) too as I talk about truly awful Australian horror films.
Popularity: 17% [?]
13/06/2008 at 2:54 am Permalink
not half bad, nice list.
sir jorges last blog post..Population 436 Revew
13/06/2008 at 1:17 pm Permalink
I used to LOVE horrors when I was young.
I can’t watch them anymore at all. I get sweaty and have heart palpitations.
Widdle Shamrocks last blog post..WAY TMI ~~~~~
13/06/2008 at 5:40 pm Permalink
I think that counting to ten when counting the amount of horror movies I even saw is gonna take a while (remembering). I think Jeepers Creepers (1) might be the scariest one I saw..but then again I didn’t see a lot like I said.
Arjans last blog post..My state of mind:
13/06/2008 at 11:05 pm Permalink
Lee, I belong to the generation of the Ring and Grudge. So talking about your list, I have only seen Evil Dead 2, and that was like ages ago on a VHS,peeking from the back of my brother’s shoulder. I can graphically remember it was dead scary.
One of the most recent thrillers that I have seen is 1408. And it made me numb.
As for Jap-Horror, I feel Ring is the epitome.
Sujoys last blog post..Movie Review: Be Kind Rewind
15/06/2008 at 4:54 pm Permalink
Cheers Sir Jorge - any films to add?
15/06/2008 at 4:57 pm Permalink
Widdle Shamrock - I had a lot more tolerance when I was younger for gore, it doesn’t fuss me too much these days, I tend to avoid the particularly graphic or sadistic films. It’s a shame because Tracey loves them and I can’t watch them with her, actually that’s not true exactly she likes movies like The Ring or The Others or What Lies Beneath - all films that I watch through my fingers.
15/06/2008 at 5:04 pm Permalink
Arjan - I caught Jeepers Creepers 2 the other night on late night TV and couldn’t really make sense of it, they were on a bus or something. I’m sure if you’d seen the first it would make sense. I quite enjoyed the Final Destination series that I caught late night too.
15/06/2008 at 5:08 pm Permalink
I haven’t seen 1408 - that’s that one based on a Stephen King short story I believe, it looks pretty interesting actually. Evil Dead 2 was really effective in its film making.