The Lycos 50 Blog: News from the Pop Culture Fast Lane
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Five Classic Horror Movies Everyone Should See
With the recent release of Rob Zombie’s "Halloween," there has been a lot of talk about classic horror movies. Being an avid horror fan myself (it’s 44 days until the release of "Saw IV!") I feel the need to educate today’s teens about the classic horror movies that defined the genre for today’s filmmakers. Here are the top five classic horror movies everyone should see.
5. Halloween (1978) – The original John Carpenter classic introduced the world to Jamie Lee Curtis. Carpenter’s version was terrifying thanks to Michael Myers, the soulless killer with almost superhuman strength. The movie spawned many, many sequels as well as the Rob Zombie remake and a song by horror-rocker Wednesday 13 titled “Haddonfield.” Every true horror fan needs to see this movie for the simple fact that it set the stage for the morality factor in most modern horror movies – teens who drink, do drugs, and have premarital sex are the first to face the killer.
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984) – From the mind of horror master Wes Craven came Freddy Krueger, easily one of the scariest horror movie killers ever invented. Freddy kills people in their dreamsand they die in real life. The movie introduced a very young Johnny Depp to the world (thank you, Wes Craven – we are forever grateful) and embedded the image of a red-sweatered, knife-handed Robert Englund in every young viewer’s mind. While its sequels are some of the most ridiculous movies ever made, the original terror Freddy instills is something every horror fan should experience.
3. Friday the 13th (1980) – The infamous Camp Crystal Lake has killer on the loose, murdering promiscuous teens (harkening back to the "Halloween" morals). "Friday the 13th" featured the work of special effects master Tom Savini and contains several of the most disgusting death scenes ever filmed - Kevin Bacon learns firsthand what happens to bad little camp counselors. While it also spawned many sequels (one in outer space!), the original and the first three sequels are really the only ones that matter. After all, Corey Feldman is in the fourth movie.
2. The Exorcist (1973) – One of those movies that just sticks with you long after you’ve seen it, "The Exorcist" has been recognized as one of the most disturbing movies of all time. The images of poor, possessed Regan MacNeil spewing vomit and twisting her head around were too much for 70s movie-goers; it has been reported that paramedics had to be called to movie theaters to tend to the many who fainted during the film, and one viewer even sued the studio after breaking his jaw when he fainted and hit the chair in front of him. According to IMDb, both Entertainment Weekly and Maxim voted this the Scariest Movie of All Time. Every fan of horror should see this film. You will never forget it.
1. Psycho (1960) – As the horror movie to launch all horror movies, "Psycho" creates vivid memories of showers and twisted momma’s boys. So vivid, in fact, that viewers clearly recall the red blood going down the drain, even though the movie was shot completely in black & white and the “blood” was actually Bosco chocolate syrup. "Psycho" is a staple in any horror fan’s collection. It defined the morality issues in horror films – Marion steals money and has premarital sex, therefore she’s the one that dies. Psycho also features two of the biggest plot twists in movie history – the main character dies less than halfway through the film, and Norman Bates is Mrs. Bates. Voted the #1 Most Thrilling movie by the AFI, and the seventh scariest movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly, "Psycho" should be first on your must-see list this Halloween.
Of course there 100s of other horror movies out there – gore-fests like Hostel, semi-spoofs like "Scream," and creature-features like "An American Werewolf in London"– but these are the five movies that will ensure your horror-movie-fan friends don’t laugh at you at the upcoming Halloween parties.
About the Guest Author: Christine Kayser is a movie fanatic and writer/editor for MovieSnobs.net, a movie news and review site. Her favorite movies include "The Wizard of Oz," "The Prestige," and the "Saw" horror series.
LOL - Clearly Micth likes the Texas Chaisaw Massacre. I think Steven King got dissed on your list too - no Shining or Carrie? Those were badass, scary movies. And, The Ring scared the bejezuz out of me.
I do totally agree with Nightmare on Elm Street though - that first film with Johnny Depp ending in a complete bloodbath is just iconic. And I love the touch of humour you get with Freddy, which, frankly adds a huge scare factor b/c the sadist factor is over the top.
These 5 movies are great picks. Don't get me wrong there's a lot good horror movies out there. But these are the cream of the crop. Nightmare alone scared the hell out of me for about 3yrs. when I was a kid.
Funny thing - I debated between Psycho and Evil Dead for about two days before deciding on Psycho. It's too iconic to leave off the list. (I also contemplated including Nosferatu for the same reason, but I decided to go more modern with the list.)
As for Chainsaw... I never really understood the draw.
I contemplated including Stephen King's It, since Tim Curry as Pennywise is one of the best bad guys ever, but these five won out overall.
How this list is worthy of a front page link is beyond me. If the intent were merely to produce a list of the five most iconic (see also obvious) horror films ever made, then I suppose this blogger has done pretty well, though even the most casual moviegoer could have produced the same. The author, however, purports to be educating those less familiar with the genre. It takes either a great deal of condescension or a great deal of obtuseness to suppose your audience so ignorant as to be unaware of these films. Since the chance of you being enough of goober to have not seen most or all of these films is pretty small, here's another sampling of 5 (in no particular order) that might actually give you a leg up during your Halloween movie night chatter:
1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari 2. Night of the Living Dead 3. Peeping Tom 4. Suspiria 5. The Devil's Backbone
haw haw, what a terrible top 5, how staid and predictable and all american. Psycho is barely a horror movie, it's more of an "intense suspense" isn't it? Your choices are cliches... Halloween should probably be there, but Friday The 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street are what true horror fans consider kids stuff. Suspiria, Italian director Dario Argento's masterpiece, is widely considered to be the greatest horror movie of all time, and it's beauty, surrealism and outright brain scrambing terror puts drive-in slasher crud like Friday The 13th in the shade. If you want a truly scary and cinematically superior American horror movie, try the classic The Evil Dead. I would also suggest The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a far scarier and more groundbreaking film than all the others mentioned. also it's criminal Night Of The Living Dead isn't in there, and Friday The 13th is... what gives?. some film snob you are, it's like someone calling themselves a cheese snob while munching down on Kraft singles. off the top of my head, here is an alternative Top 5 that is better than the cliched PG-13 one supplied.
1. Suspiria (dir Dario Argento) 2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir Tobe Hooper) 3. The Beyond or Zombie (dir Lucio Fulci) 4. The Evil Dead (dir. Sam Raimi) 5. Halloween (dir. John Carpenter)
and don't bother coming back with "ooo hitchcock isn't american so why are you calling my list all-american", because you know what I'm saying.. I'm saying why are all your movies mainstream and obvious english language horror flick cliches. anyway Psycho shouldn't be in there at all... "The Birds" is more proper horror than Psycho. calling yourself a fan of the genre and then underscoring it with how you're counting down the days til Saw 4 is kind of comedic. ooh, I can't wait til Final Destination 8. How bout watching "The Tale Of Two Sisters" or "Cannibal Holocaust" or "Deep Red" and then getting back to us. having seen all the Scream movies, like, twice, doesn't really make you a fan of the genre.
First of all, don't knock the Saw series - it has a more compelling backstory than half the movies I've seen this year.
Secondly, the list wasn't intended for "film snobs" or horror fans. It was intended for the completely horror clueless - those who don't recognize the names Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, or Norman Bates. The ones who sit in the corner at Halloween parties and talk about Scary Movie or -gasp- Scream as their favorite horror movies.
I do recognize that there are many significant horror flicks missing from my list. That's the drawback of only making a top 5 list.
Burbank, Calif. -- Oct. 2, 2007 -- Alpimar Books announces the publication of Halloween in Oz: Dorothy Returns -- BOOK ONE of its series of stories set in a magical world that readers have heard of, but know so little about, the Land of Oz. With 553 pages, the book is written in the fuller style of twentieth-first century fantasy, yet keeping the spirit of, and remaining in the era of, L. Frank Baum’s classic: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.
Those who miss Harry Potter and grieve for Hermione will welcome Dorothy Gale back. And Dorothy is as feisty as Hermione ever was. Some of the boys at school in rural Kansas call her a spitfire when they tease her about her tale of Oz. But Dorothy is right. Oz was not simply a dream, as portrayed in the famous movie, but a real place -- as it was for Baum. And in Halloween in Oz, it is revealed that the Land of Oz is part of a larger alternate Earth, a world called Alpimar -- where magic reigns, not science and technology.
It’s a few months after the tornado, and Dorothy wants to return to Oz for many reasons: to prove to herself that Oz does exist, to escape for a while the boredom of 1900 Kansas where only boys are expected to do so many things, and to find an old tintype that she lost there -- the only picture she had of her deceased parents. Then, finally, the ghostly voices of her parents in a Halloween-night dream summon her back.
Dorothy discovers that the opportunity for evil witchcraft is at its peak during the Ozian Halloween -- which lasts for a "witch-week" of thirteen days! She finds old friends, like Scarecrow, Tin-man, Lion, the Munchkins, and new friends, like a mysterious boy with purple hair, a flight of bats, and her Kansas pumpkin-head magically brought to life. These join Dorothy and Toto in what becomes a battle to save Oz.
