Time released Top 25 Horror Films

Time magazine just released their collection of Top 25 Horror Films.  Overall, I think they got it right.  Two or three of the films were put in more for humor’s sake but, nonetheless, worthy of mention for the psychological effect on the audience.

 As my friend and I finished reading the list though, we couldn’t help but think of other classics that were left of the list, such as:

American Werewolf in London- Man, you never know what kind of illness you can catch in a foreign country.  Although CG gives way to morphing scenes now, you cannot mistake the mastery that went into the transformation of man to werewolf in this film.

Village of the Damned- And who said a group of bratty British children couldn’t be scary!?

28 Days Later- My personal favorite of all time.  Rage in its purest form.  These zombie-esque didn’t kill for food or anything; they killed because that was their nature… and they did so until they starved to death.

Nightmare on Elm Street- My buddy didn’t sleep for three days after we watched this… unlike myself, who cried himself to sleep.

Poltergeist- Call this the worst decision of my parent’s parenting career. We watched it at a drive-in in Cape Cod.  It was the last time my parents voluntarily let my brother and I watch horror films… and I think it was the last time we ever went to a drive-in as well. 

Friday the 13th- Probably the biggest oversight of the list.  If only for the number of sequels the film has, and continues to produce.

Any we missed?

I am Legend returns to the big screen

I will always remember the movie, The Omega Man, for the energy that Charlton Heston brought to the character Robert Neville.  In a way, you could really get a grasp of how much joy Neville took out of brandishing a gun against his enemies.

By the way, can anyone else think of where he got his inspiration for such lead-pumping tomfoolery?

And though I knew the movie was based off the book I am Legend by Richard Matheson I never bothered to read it until now… and as I am reading it I still can’t get Charlton out of my head!  The boozing, the rage… the, the… yelling at a dead car salesman “you cheating bastard!”

You just can’t get enough of that for my dollar.

 So, considering how much I enjoy the Heston-movie version of this book, I was interested when I saw there is a new adaptation of the film, this time actually called “I am Legend.”  But I am a little curious as to how the film will compete to the book and the original film version.

It’s nothing against Will Smith.  He has made some great films in the past and really dives into his roles.  And, truth be told, I love the quality of action sequences he has done.

But I like them on a campy level… and this is definitely not a light-hearted film.

In a way, I am interested to see just how loyal the film will be to the book.  As promotional pictures already show, there are at least a few details which were changed in order to fit the plot (notice the faithful and relatively healthy dog).  But even more than that is the question of whether Neville’s enemies will be vampires or mutants (the major change from the book to the movie).

In the end, I’m not sure it’ll matter… they already got my 9 dollars ready to spend.

30 Days of Night… Graphic turned Celluloid

The one luxury we have when the vampires attack is that daylight will come.  If we can just hold out long enough, a couple hours, the sun will rise and the vampires will have to find shelter.  For those brief times of sunlight, we are safe and can build our defenses for the next attack.

But what happens if you live so far north that sunlight doesn’t come for 30 days?  How do you rest and regroup.

More so, how do you survive?

 The graphic novel, originally written by Steve Niles takes place in Barrow, Alaska.  When the winter season hits in this small secluded town the sun will disappear for 30 whole days, thus leaving its residents in total darkness.

And that’s when the vampires hit.  For 30 days the vampires feast upon the residents of Barrow, forcing them to live like rats in hiding.  For the few survivors, including the Sheriff and deputy, they must find a way to stop the vampires and save the town.

On October 19th, the horrors of Steve Niles creation will come to the movies.

I can remember reading the graphic novel and thinking how genuinely scary the premise was.  Just think about the freakiness of all the vampire movies before this, where people have to fight to survive until daylight… but take the daylight away (i.e. the vampires’ greatest weakness and probably your best chance for survival) and it doesn’t take long to see how desperate the situation is.

If the producers of the film are able to produce the spirit of the graphic novel, this could be on seriously scary film.  I for one can’t wait to see it…

but I can wait to watch it in the daytime!

But the truly great thing about this is that, once again, the movie industry has turned to the vision of a graphic novelist for their next blockbuster!

15 Must See Zombie Films

Due to the anticipated release of 28 Weeks Later, the writers at Movie.com have compiled 15 must-see zombie films.  Overall, it is a solid list and is quite ecletic in the span of films they chose.  The only one they overlooked on the list is the prequel that inspired the post in the first place, 28 Days Later.

I’m not sure my wife has completely forgiven me for taking her to see that film and, incidentally, I am on my own for its sequel.  That said, she was kind enough to buy me the DVD on the day it was released…

 

Anyway, in the spirit of what could be called National Zombie Appreciation Day, my top 5 Zombie films go like this:

1.  28 days later- Zombies infected with a rage virus that makes them super fast and aggressive.  They don’t want to just feast on the living, they want the sport of hunting them down and hurting them for no apparent reason other than to cause harm. 

2.  Night of the Living Dead- You have to go with the original.  Filmed at night between real jobs and on a shoe string budget, yet its affect essentially grew the zombie film out of independent films and into the mainstream. 

3.Return of the Living Dead- Combine punks, a cemetary, a morgue, a government conspiracy and cover up and you have got the makings for a funny and freaky film.  And really this film kind of made the movement in zombie films where you split your characters into two parts… those you want to live and the jerk characters who deserve to be thrown to the wolves.. erm, zombies.

4.  Doom Asylum- You can’t find this film anymore, but it was made at an abandoned asylum in northern New Jersey.  The writing and special effects are so incredibly bad that you will wonder whether it was all intended.  Near 20 years after seeing this film, my friends and I still quote lines from it.

5.  Evil Dead- This film just plain freaks me out.  The endless uncomfortable screaming that goes on, the distracting chainsaw spirit that runs through the woods, this film really doesn’t let your senses take much time to take any of it in… once you think you’ve processed what’s going on, something else is going on.

The Top 25 Sci Fi

Entertainment Weekly has released their collection of the Top 25 Sci films and movies.

Overall, I would have to agree with a lot of their decisions, although not necessarily in the order they chose.  That said, I strongly have to disagree with their # 1 choice.  True enough, as a single film it was very entertaining, but the sequels utterly destroyed any points made by the creators.

 As much as I would like to add my own top 5 to the list, I just can’t, the sci-fi shows I liked all seem to get cancelled within two seasons… sigh

8 Films to Die For… Horrorfest

As you know, I am a horror junkie.  I tend to watch these movies late at night as I cuddle my wife to bed insisting that the wailing and bloodshed coming from the TV isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds.  Eventually, she does fall asleep only to wake up the next morning and tell me about the strange dreams she had the night before…

Do you think there’s a connection?

Anyway, for those of you who aren’t watching the Sci-Fi channel, they have been heavily pushing the film festival, 8 Films to Die For.  Taking place from November 17-19, in over 500 theatres across the country, eight films have been selected to be shown which have been previously “passed on” for public viewing due to their content.  Supposedly, this means they are super scary and gory.

Hopefully so, I would hate to think I bought an eight-movie pass to films that were passed up on because they just plain sucked.

Transformers Movie

Dreamworks Pictures, the company that has brought us, Munich, Over The Hedge and Memoirs of a Geisha have set their sites on even higher standards of film making.  In 2007, the company plans to release a live action film, Transformers… although, I am still assuming the Transformers themselves will be CGI.

 I can’t imagine the robots will be allowed to even join the acting union until at least 2025.

 Now, as bad as idea as this movie sounded to me, I couldn’t believe the incredibly bad preview they offer on their official film website.