TR's Top Ten horror flicks of all time

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

I loved Nightmare 3!

I wonder what #1 is if ANOES 3 did not make #1?

[Al Wilson Lives: Thread Killer]

Dream Warriors is one of the best sequels period. It's up there with Empire Strikes Back, Godfather Part II and Jason Lives (good company eh?).
The funny Freddy parts were actually funny ("I said, 'wheres the smurfin' bourbon?'") instead of cheesey, Improv reject stuff we'd suffer through in Dream Child and Freddy's Dead (I still like Dream Master, so I'm not gonna rip it).
Also the movie features not one but TWO Dokken songs: the awesome theme song and Into the Fire, unless you're watching a VHS copy which removes ItF. It's cool enough that the kids in the flick use their dream powers to fight Freddy but in the video Dokken fights Freddy with rock. Don Dokken, George Lynch and Co.: 1; Freddy: 0

[Lick Ness Monster]

And we've come to it - TR is ready to hand out the award for #1 horror film of all time.

And it could only be one film. A movie so terrifying that it's legacy of horror is felt to this day. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...





















GOTCHA.

In all seriousness - here we are. My favorite horror film of all time, and an experience that is required viewing for myself every October 31st - my favorite day of the year. And, in a Russo-esque swerve...

#1.




...when combined together, to form (in a Transformers-like transformation) something that I refer to as...

HALLOWEEN: THE NIGHT MICHAEL MYERS CAME HOME
1978 and 1981
Directors: John Carpenter and Rick Rosenthal

Brief, brief plot synopsis: Halloween night, 1963. Young Michael Myers brutally stabs his sister to death. There is no motive for his horrific crime, and the young boy is institutionalized. Fifteen years later, he escapes. Followed by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who realized the horror that lurks behind Myers’ mask of silence, Michael returns to the same town – and the same street – where he committed that first murder, and begins to recreate the glory of the crime again, eliminating a small group of babysitters with the exception of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). After a stand-off with Loomis, Michael follows Laurie (who barely survived her own confrontation with Myers) to the local hospital where he eliminates the staff with savage force while Loomis uncovers Michael’s link to Laurie – and the mysterious holiday known as “Samhain.” All pieces head toward one final, bloody, fiery confrontation inside Haddonfield Memorial Hospital – with two characters of virtue versus the ultimate in evil.




TR’s thoughts: Every list of the great horror movies should start with this – when viewed together (as I always do), this is a flawless, 3+ hour opus of terror. The original film is the original slasher flick, a movie that every scary movie for the next thirty years – and continuing to this very day – owes a debt to. Picking up mere minutes after the first film ends, Halloween II can (and is, by me) be viewed as the second part of the same film – perhaps a little more graphically violent than the original film, but shot in the same spirit as the original and containing some truly fascinating chess pieces ("Samhain" and Michael’s relation to Laurie). In addition, these films are still just as scary today as they were all those years ago. Much like Jaws, these films use the less is more technique to perfection. A character will be in the foreground doing some mundane thing, move for a second, move back – and there’s something lurking just behind the character’s shoulder. It’s such a simple cinematography trick, but it’s a very disquieting, affecting technique when done to perfection like it is with this film. In addition, Halloween: The Night Michael Myers Came Home (please, tell me that's not a lame title) boasts truly likable victim characters, all of them fleshed out extremely well. The lead heroine, played by Jamie Lee Curtis is THE eponymous girl-next-door horror heroine which still shows its considerable influence in horror films today.




Villain ruminations: In my humble opinion, the version of Michael seen in Halloween and Halloween II is the single greatest horror villain of all time. His mask is a shroud of pure emotionlessness, much like the character itself, with its plain white features allowing us to project our own fears and our own thoughts about evil upon him. Unlike Rob Zombie’s version, he’s also not a hulking monster – he’s cold, calculating, and like a wraith in how he can seemingly disappear from a victim’s line of sight before reappearing somewhere else. But what’s truly unnerving about Myers is that we just don’t know; we don’t know why he is the way that he is, or why he does the things that he does. He just does them; he is, in the words of Donald Pleasence’s immortal Sam Loomis, “evil personified.”




Why it deserves to be here: As one single film, viewed back to back, this is THE horror movie. Friday the 13th. April Fool’s Day. New Year’s Evil. A veritable WAVE of slasher cinema that followed in Halloween's wake and movies that, to this day, still see occasional light – masked, emotionless killers stalking coeds through one night of brutal terror. But while the first two entries in the Halloween series contain comparatively little graphic violence and/or gore, it’s still scarier than all of them, due to the outstanding acting by Curtis as lead heroine Laurie Strode, the excellent dialogue and delivery provided by Donald Pleasence, and John Carpenter and Rick Rosenthal’s exemplary direction – and use of music! Perhaps the only horror score that is required learning in piano class, the score of Halloween is something to behold. But perhaps tehboobz, a friend of mine here on the WC forums, said it best: “This is the movie that leaves you checking every closet, and every shrub, for the boogeyman. Because the boogeyman is real – and his name is Michael Myers.”

[Big DSR Energy]

Yeah, Halloween 1 and 2 are pretty damn good. And, you said something in your review that I've said about the franchise, and Myers specifically on these boards before: "His mask is a shroud of pure emotionlessness, much like the character itself, with its plain white features allowing us to project our own fears and our own thoughts about evil upon him." I honestly can't disagree with a thing you said...well, I can disagree with one thing:

The original film is the original slasher flick,

See, original would indicate "first." And, while I'll admit that Halloween was the first slasher movie to really strike a chord with audiences, there have certainly been slasher movies before it. Off the top of my head, there's Black Christmas, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, and any number of gialli from Italy. Granted, it may have been because of Halloween that the phrase "slasher movie" was invented, but I don't think there's any real way of proving that.

But, Halloween 1 and 2 have certainly earned their place in horror film history, and it is indeed because of them that the "slasher boom" existed. And yes, together, they add up to one hell of a powerful horror film.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Oct 29, 2008 21:29:40 GMT -5 Big DSR Energy said:

Yeah, Halloween 1 and 2 are pretty damn good. And, you said something in your review that I've said about the franchise, and Myers specifically on these boards before: "His mask is a shroud of pure emotionlessness, much like the character itself, with its plain white features allowing us to project our own fears and our own thoughts about evil upon him." I honestly can't disagree with a thing you said...well, I can disagree with one thing:

The original film is the original slasher flick,

See, original would indicate "first." And, while I'll admit that Halloween was the first slasher movie to really strike a chord with audiences, there have certainly been slasher movies before it. Off the top of my head, there's Black Christmas, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, and any number of gialli from Italy. Granted, it may have been because of Halloween that the phrase "slasher movie" was invented, but I don't think there's any real way of proving that.

But, Halloween 1 and 2 have certainly earned their place in horror film history, and it is indeed because of them that the "slasher boom" existed. And yes, together, they add up to one hell of a powerful horror film.

Yeah, DSR - respect is due. I blatantly stole those words from you from my "Halloween" franchise thread. That's just so much better of a way to put Myers as a villain than I ever could have.

[amsiraK]

YES! YESYESYES!

Halloween I and II are the best of the best! And I totally agree:

But what’s truly unnerving about Myers is that we just don’t know; we don’t know why he is the way that he is, or why he does the things that he does. He just does them; he is, in the words of Donald Pleasence’s immortal Sam Loomis, “evil personified.”

I don't know why we got a huge spate of movies explaining every psycho's terrible background, but this is the damn truth. The things we didn't know about Michael Myers is what made him so damn scary. You never knew what was going on with him and the unknown is always a million times worse.

A stellar list, I think! And I like ANOES 3 - my favorite of the Freddie movies!

[Lick Ness Monster]

Oct 29, 2008 22:06:07 GMT -5 amsiraK said:

I don't know why we got a huge spate of movies explaining every psycho's terrible background, but this is the damn truth. The things we didn't know about Michael Myers is what made him so damn scary. You never knew what was going on with him and the unknown is always a million times worse.

Exactly. And therein lies the reason why Zombie's remake, which I FINALLY got around to seeing, absolutely missed the point. Don't get me wrong - he tried, I'll never fault the guy for not trying or not caring about the source material. But, also as Tehboobz said, the movie should come in textbook form as "How Not to do a Remake." Giving Michael the overly cliched backstory shot the movie in the foot before it even started.

And then there was adult Michael himself. Incredible Hulk Michael. I should have expected it - you watch Zombie's other movies, and they're about as subtle as a mallet shot to the balls anyway, but for this character - sorry, Rob, try again.

[Rorschach]

Oh WHAT?!?!?!

And BOO-URNS to the JAWS THE REVENGE pot-shot. Way to kick a franchise when it's down.....ah hell, who am I kidding? That was pretty funny.

Still....The HALLOWEEN Set over JAWS? Heck, a third sequel, albeit the best one in the series, over JAWS? TRAVESTY.

It's your list, though. And hey, I agree with most of it. Unconventional, controversial, and completely shocking....just like how the BEST horror movies are made.

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

I KNEW it!

I mean any self-respecting horror fan would include the Big 3: Nightmare, Friday, and Halloween in their Top 10 lists, and you already had Nightmare and Friday, but not Halloween.

For Christmas last year one of my gifts was 3 horror movie DVDs, Friday 1 & 2(double pack) and....Halloween 1. I was ecstatic!

[Rorschach]

Oct 30, 2008 1:56:00 GMT -5 Lick Ness Monster said:

Oct 29, 2008 22:06:07 GMT -5 amsiraK said:

I don't know why we got a huge spate of movies explaining every psycho's terrible background, but this is the damn truth. The things we didn't know about Michael Myers is what made him so damn scary. You never knew what was going on with him and the unknown is always a million times worse.

Exactly. And therein lies the reason why Zombie's remake, which I FINALLY got around to seeing, absolutely missed the point. Don't get me wrong - he tried, I'll never fault the guy for not trying or not caring about the source material. But, also as Tehboobz said, the movie should come in textbook form as "How Not to do a Remake." Giving Michael the overly cliched backstory shot the movie in the foot before it even started.

And then there was adult Michael himself. Incredible Hulk Michael. I should have expected it - you watch Zombie's other movies, and they're about as subtle as a mallet shot to the balls anyway, but for this character - sorry, Rob, try again.

YEP. And the transformation....I mean, come ON. I warned Tehboobz about this before he went and saw it....but he didn't believe me. I told him the transformation of that pudgy little kid, who looked like he MIGHT top out being about the height of Jason Alexander, into f***ing KANE from the WWE was laugh out loud ludicrous. He didn't believe me, said it COULDN'T be that stark of a contrast. Then he went and saw it, and well....let's just say we talked on the phone for over an HOUR about the things that Rob got wrong ALONE. Still....Boobz didn't hate it as much as I did. I was FURIOUS at this film initially....but you know, I have since come around to tehboobz' way of thinking about it, and I agree with him on it. Rob's heart WAS in the right place, and this WASN'T done with carelessness, or lack of love for the source material, as almost ALL of Platinum Dune's atrocious remakes have been. This WAS his dream project, and somehow, someway, the worst case scenario for it came true.

Still and all....I would LOVE to see Rob turned loose on something like MOTEL HELL or EATEN ALIVE....see what he could do with THOSE franchises.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Oct 30, 2008 2:04:24 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

And BOO-URNS to the JAWS THE REVENGE pot-shot. Way to kick a franchise when it's down.....ah hell, who am I kidding? That was pretty funny.

It was either that or Halloween III: Season of the Witch - but for some mystical reason people seem to really like that movie. I was also going to do a big, long write-up for Jaws the Revenge, but people would have figured out that gushing over the film added up to a joke after...oh, a couple sentences or so.

[Bobeddy]

Just read the whole list.

Gotta agree with your Top 2.
Halloween is by far and away my favourite horror movie, I've never watched 2 back-to-back but might just do it this year.

And just a quick word about NOES 3.
That was the first horror film that gave me trouble sleeping. That marionette scene, that freaked the ever living bejeebus out of me.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Yay!! Awesome end of list! I recently saw ANOES 3 for the first time and I found it amazing, and I haven't seen Halloween yet but I plan to do so... tonight.

[Garee]

Good list

[Lick Ness Monster]

Oct 30, 2008 12:45:43 GMT -5 SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman said:

Yay!! Awesome end of list! I recently saw ANOES 3 for the first time and I found it amazing, and I haven't seen Halloween yet but I plan to do so... tonight.

Just watching Halloween for the first time, eh? Let me know how that goes - and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Well, unless anybody has anything else to say, happy Halloween from Michael, Freddy, Jason, Bruce the Shark, and the rest. The last official "TR" reviews thread, signing out.

[amsiraK]

Oct 30, 2008 1:56:00 GMT -5 Lick Ness Monster said:

Oct 29, 2008 22:06:07 GMT -5 amsiraK said:

I don't know why we got a huge spate of movies explaining every psycho's terrible background, but this is the damn truth. The things we didn't know about Michael Myers is what made him so damn scary. You never knew what was going on with him and the unknown is always a million times worse.

Exactly. And therein lies the reason why Zombie's remake, which I FINALLY got around to seeing, absolutely missed the point. Don't get me wrong - he tried, I'll never fault the guy for not trying or not caring about the source material. But, also as Tehboobz said, the movie should come in textbook form as "How Not to do a Remake." Giving Michael the overly cliched backstory shot the movie in the foot before it even started.

And then there was adult Michael himself. Incredible Hulk Michael. I should have expected it - you watch Zombie's other movies, and they're about as subtle as a mallet shot to the balls anyway, but for this character - sorry, Rob, try again.

I'm not a fan of Rob Zombie's filmmaking style anyway... if you can all that style. Everyone pees themselves silly over 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects, but I think he needs to quit making movies about nutty-as-f*** hillbillies. There's only so many times you can go to that well. I'd watch Malcolm McDowell do any role, but I can't do that one. I just plain can't. I've tried, but... no go.

He didn't just swing and miss, he showed up to the plate with boxing gloves on. And he gets extra points removed for existing in a world where the Psycho remake exists and not learning from it.

IMO, of course.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Alright, one more post, than I'm done, I promise.

For those that don't know, a little over a year ago, my brother died.

Before that, I'd always LIKED horror movies, but ever since then, to put it lightly, I've needed a diversion - something to take my mind off things. So, while I always enjoyed horror flicks before, more than any other genre, in the last fifteen months it's become an addiction. I don't know the exact figure of horror movies I've added to my collection during that time, but it's definitely triple digits. I started out with the slasher essentials, went to the big franchises and box sets, and just recently discovered the wonders of J-horror and Dario Argento.

Which lead to these threads. I actually set myself a goal when I did the first franchise review - do all the big franchises (Friday, Halloween, Nightmare and Hellraiser) and a top 10 thread by Halloween, 2008. Pretty cool to actually set a goal and see it come to fruition, although it's kinda sucky now that it has to end. In reading some of my first reviews, man, they were just BRUTAL.

For all three people interested, my previous threads/franchise reviews:

Friday the 13th: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ota2007&action=display&thread=70143

Nightmare on Elm Street: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ota2007&action=display&thread=70550

Child's Play: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ota2007&action=display&thread=71161

Puppet Master: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ota2007&action=display&thread=73083

Psycho: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ota2007&action=display&thread=73239

Hellraiser: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ot2008&action=display&thread=135999

The Omen: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ot2008&action=display&thread=137152

Halloween: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ot2008&action=display&thread=137051

Sleepaway Camp: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ot2008&action=display&thread=137705

The films of Wes Craven: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=112324

The Exorcist: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=153704

Ringu/The Ring: officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=155603


And one more thing...PM me for my ANOES remake script, which comes with the sterling recommendation of none other than WC forums' own Tehboobz.

I'm done, I'm really done?

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

I know I may get shit for this but I consider Halloween, Halloween 2 and Halloween H20 to be one movie. Yeah, I add in H20. Out of all the sequels it easily fits the best with the first 2. And it really was the perfect way to end the series.

[Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action]

I've been reading 'em from the start!

Also, you'll never be done TR NEVER! Like any good horror movie there is always one last scare!