 |
 |
Staff
|
My Favorite Horror Movies
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
1. "Jacob's Ladder": This gem of a horror movie was put out in the early-90s, but little known about it. It revolves around a man named Jacob Singer, who has constant visions of demons trying to get him after his return from the Vietnam War. He is constantly trying to figure out why is happening to him. This is a great horror movie and a rare one in the genre because of the movie's philosophical leanings. Also Tim Robbins stars as Jacob Singer, which is one of Robbins' most demanding and underappreciated roles. |
|
2. "Hellraiser": This movie was written and directed by horror maestro Clive Barker. The movie is true to his style; it's gory, perverse, decadent and has Barker's sort of humor ("Please, no tears, it's a waste of good suffering."). The story is about the Cotton family and their encounter with the Cenobites, who are sadomasochistic demons. The movie is most famous for introducing Pinhead, the Cenobite demon with pins stuck in his head. |
|
3. "Dawn of the Dead": This is one of the best horror movies every made. This George Romero film was the first sequel to "Night of the Living Dead" and is arguably even a better than that film. It takes place a couple of weeks after "Night of the Living Dead," and it revolves around a group of people who take refuge from the living dead in a mall. Like "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead" stays true to Romero's style of having social commentary and satirical flair in a zombie movie. |
|
4. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre": Like "Night of the Living Dead," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is one of the most influential horror movies ever created. It is loosely based off of serial killer Ed Gein, who actually devoured his victims and created different things out of their body parts. This movie is about an unlucky group of young people who encounter a family of cannibals in rural Texas. The film is most famous for its central villain, Leatherface, who wears masks of skin made from dead victims, and the movie is the prototype for the slasher films of the 1980s. |
|
5. "Aliens": This is the most popular movie in the Alien saga. James Cameron's masterpiece took the Alien story in new directions and expanded on its concepts. Many people already know the story. Ellen Ripley, the last survivor of the cargo spaceship the Nostromo, goes to the planet LV-426 with some Marines. Once there, they not only encounter a whole bunch of aliens, but also their big, nasty alien queen. |
|
6. "Night of the Living Dead": This George Romero film is a milestone in horror fiction. "Night of the Living Dead" is one of the most influential horror movies; it single handedly created the post-apocalyptic zombie subgenre. The story is about a group of people who take shelter in a house and have to fend off flesh-eating zombies. The movie has many memorable moments, especially the dialogue "There coming to get you, Barbara." This film has been so influential because George Romero made it in to a human parable through the use of social commentary and satire. |
|
7. "Alien": Ridley Scott's masterpiece introduced audiences to one of the most terrifying creatures and one of the most beloved heroines in cinema history. The story of "Alien" is about a group of blue-collar workers on a spaceship who encounter an extraterrestrial being that is xenophobic. The idea of the alien was ingenious. The alien's terror was not supernatural but biological. The alien is creature that stands more than six feet, and has sharp teeth, a dangerous tongue, a tail which can be used for stabbing and acidic blood. Also Ellen Ripley, the heroine, had the intelligence to survive and the guts to face the creature when even she was terrified of it. This character became a heroine symbol for a generation of movie goers. |
|
8. "The Fly" (1986): David Cronenberg's remake of "The Fly" is often cited as a rare example of a remake being better than the original. It is about a man named Seth Brundle, who is working on a machine named the "telepod." This machine is supposed to transport matter through space, but it can also combine the structure of two or more objects if they are in the machine. Tragically, Brundle's genetic structure gets combined with a fly. |
|
9. "Pet Sematary": This is one of the best horror movies adapted from one of Stephan King's books. In the story, the Creed family moves to Maine and discover an ancient Native American burial site that reanimates the dead. The film was directed by Mary Lambert, who also directed Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video. This movie is most remembered for its creepy atmosphere and philosophical musing on death, especially the quote, "Sometimes dead is better." |
|
10. "The Candyman": This is the best movie based on one of Clive Barker's stories. Director Bernard Rose masterfully handled philosophical ideas in the film, even though it is in the slasher genre. In the movie, a woman named Helen is doing her thesis on an urban legend named the Candyman, a mythological figure that haunts a housing project in a Chicago housing project named Cabrini-Green. Also she says "Candyman" five times in a mirror, strange occurrences happen to Helen. |
|
Responses: Year: Alumni Comments: John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing" is a must see but "The Ring"? Come on. Name: Charlene Name: Shaun Name: Shaggy
|
|
|