It looks like Don Coscarelli will be rounding out our list of famous horror movies, but not for his wildly popular Elvis haunter Bubba Ho-Tep, no. Before his work with Bruce Campbell and his adaptation of John Dies At The End, Coscarelli made his mark with a strange sci-fi/fantasy/horror hybrid called Phantasm, introducing us to a villain known only as The Tall Man. Floating silver orb of death, anyone?
Following a young boy named Mike and his caretaker brother Jody living together after the deaths of numerous family members, Mike witnesses some concerning facts about the local mortuary expert known only as the before mentioned “Tall Man.” As Mike investigates further, his reportings to Jody only become more unbelievable, telling him of flying silver balls that kill people, little Jawa-looking minions, a man who can lift and entire full coffin, and other horrifying events.
Don Coscarelli’s script and vision spiral Mike’s life out of control slowly but surely in this ambitious piece of old-school horror, separating itself from typical slasher films content with a killer and victims.
[h2]99) Juan of the Dead [/h2]
Alejandro Brugués broke onto the horror scene into a big way with Juan of the Dead, Cuba’s tonal answer to Edgar Wright’s zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. For Cuba’s supposed first foray into horror, boy did they make a splash.
Focusing on a poor Cuban everyman who takes advantage of a growing zombie epidemic, Juan of the Dead is full of undeniable horror fun and fantastic creativity. Great performances from Alexis Díaz de Villegas and Jorge Molina only add to the entertainment, leading an eclectic cast of characters who are tremendously fun to watch take on the apocalypse.
A cult classic in the making, zombie fans shouldn’t miss this one!
1992’s Candyman is an urban legend a la Clive Barker, so you probably know what to expect. Grad student Helen (Virginia Madsen) investigates local Chicago superstitions and uncovers the legend of Candyman – a killer ghost who can be summoned by speaking his name in a mirror five times (shades of Bloody Mary) and has a hook for a hand with which to dispatch his victims. Naturally, Helen decides to say his name in the mirror, because she has never seen a horror movie. Ever. Just as naturally, guess who isn’t just a legend?
What makes Candyman more interesting than your average ‘killer with a hook’ narrative are the underlying racial politics. Helen begins to uncover the true story of Candyman: the son of a slave who became an artist, fell for a white woman, had his hand cut off by a lynch mob. He was finally covered in honey – hence ‘Candyman’ – and stung to death by bees. Now he haunts the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago – a notorious center of poverty and gang violence.
While it might seem stupid and incongruous for two white, blonde female grad students to be prowling around Cabrini-Green – this is a horror movie after all – it does draw into sharp relief the racial and class politics of the early 90s. This is a film that came out just a year after the Rodney King beatings, after all. Candyman is a perfect example of horror as return of the repressed. The ending, bizarre though it is, bears that out. There’s more than one repressed minority in this film.
I know what you’re thinking, too much love being paid to the [REC] franchise, but shame on you for thinking such films don’t deserve it. [REC] 2 is The Godfather Part II of horror, being equally effective yet still completely different from its original material. Plaza and Balagueró struck gold again this time, but also remain just as ambitious and inventive.
What truly works here is [REC] 2’s completely new introduction of story material, advancing the franchise mythology immensely while continuing to move forward with style. There’s also no fear amongst the creative team controlling everything, as our main characters waste no time entering the room from [REC] where the horror really gets feisty. You never know what to expect and what even still makes sense, but I’ll be damned if the ride wasn’t worth it.
This 1973 Vincent Price shocker has everything your little heart can desire: Vincent Price, Diana Rigg (!), violent murders, William Shakespeare, a fabulous soundtrack and gallons and gallons of blood. It’s schlock-horror extraordinaire as only Mr. Price can bring.
In some ways similar to Price’s earlier The Abominable Dr. Phibes, the Douglas Hickox-directed horror-comedy follows a madman murdering those who wronged him in the most outlandish – and hilarious – ways. This time Price is Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, presumed dead, killing off all the critics who ever gave him a bad review and denied him a coveted award.
He’s aided and abetted by daughter Edwina (Ms. Rigg, who is absolutely brilliant) and a bevy of derelicts in his revenge, inspired by the murders in a selection of Shakespeare’s plays. The result is nothing but sheer bloody pandemonium, performed and filmed with a glee that is so wrong it’s right.
Theater of Blood stands a decapitated head above some of Price’s other films from the same period simply because of the cast; along with the formidable Price and Rigg, we have British thespians like Ian Hendry, Robert Morley, Jack Hawkins, Coral Browne and Dennis Price indulging in some Shakespearean histrionics as Lionheart offs them one after the other.
Price and Rigg themselves are quite obviously having the time of their lives, spouting hammy Shakespeare with a half-grin at the camera. And they’re actually sympathetic villains in this case, their victims a mish-mosh of snark and vitriol. Critics be warned: sometimes your words come back to haunt you.
[h2]95) Severance[/h2]
Just another bloody office outing, and no, I don’t mean the British slang “bloody,” I mean literally an office outing soaked in the red liquid flowing through our veins. Director Christopher Smith gives us a darkly comical horror story billed as “The Office meets The Hills Have Eyes,” a poor group of cubicle monkeys take a team building adventure into the woods, only to find a murderous group of what appear to be hunters hot on their every move. How could a boring company retreat get any worse? Oh yeah, by dying.
Danny Dyer and Andy Nyman lead a strong UK cast against insurmountable odds, as each character slowly begins to understand their creepy pursuers may not be part of the trip, no matter how insane their boss is. Severance is a rather ingenious and funny take on the slasher genre by a director and cast perfectly enlisted for a horror/comedy hybrid. They next time you have an awful day at work, just be happy your head is still attached to your body, because it could be a whole lot worse.
Notice who the only horror icon to appear twice on our list is? Yes, many of Freddy’s sequels were entertaining but riddled with faults, and one was even atrociously embarrassing, but Chuck Russell should be proud of himself for creating a worthy sequel to A Nightmare On Elm Street with The Dream Warriors. Creative kills, worthy scripting, another strong performance from Robert Englund, and most importantly – no Wizard of Oz references.
Russell created some of the most iconic moments of the franchise in his visually engaging film, morphing our villain into many forms such as a snake, puppeteer, a needle handed drug dealer, and many other inventive creations. Freddy wasn’t simply slashing people with his razor sharp hands here – there was a fantastic theme behind every single intriguing death scene. One of my favorite scenes of the franchise is also found in Russell’s sequel, when Freddy slices a message into one of Nancy’s friends which says, well, you know…
Ah, the Christmas season – is there a better time to think about horror? Director Bob Clark certainly doesn’t think so, birthing the original winter classic Black Christmas. It was remade back in 2006 by Glen Morgan with an upgrade in the gore category, but don’t think the modern day reincarnation is within even a snowball’s throw of Clark’s original.
Christmas is usually a time of joy and jubilation, but Clark’s sick seasonal scare-fest makes sure to liven up the mood with disturbing and truly revolting dialogue which sets a unsettling tone rather early. Black Christmas then sets itself aside from typical slashers by using minimal reveals and tension to contain a frigid grip on true horror, showing us that less can sometimes be more. It’s true, a lack of information can destroy a film, but Bob Clark is able to utilize it to keep holiday horror wrapped up beautifully with a blood-red bow on top.
What happens when Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino get together and make a horror film, instead of separately like on their double feature Grindhouse? Insanity, a tattooed George Clooney, a guy with a hidden cock gun and naked vampire strippers.
Playing like two completely different films, we get the obviously Tarantino scripted introduction as the Gecko brothers flee the US in search of greener pastures. Then, Rodriguez’s directorial influence kicks in as creatures of the night take over the Titty Twister, mixing blood and guts with stellar Tarantino writing.
A personal favorite of mine, this dynamic filmmaking duo created one hell of a good time with From Dusk Till Dawn and it undoubtedly deserves a place on this list.
[h2]91) Who Can Kill A Child?[/h2]
Even in the horror world, directors always seem to play it safe when it comes to children. Never really being portrayed as the bad guy, children usually are protected by adult characters or carry out their own little fantasy adventures that never turn bloody for the little guys. People don’t really want to see innocent youngsters tortured or killed because audiences typically feel that’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed – until Narciso Ibáñez Serrador came along that is.
Who Can Kill A Child? begs a question no horror fan ever wants to ask, or more importantly one they don’t want an answer to. Seriously, if it was life or death, could you kill an evil child if it meant survival? Well, if they’re turning other people your age into human pinatas, does that help make your decision? Violent, offensive, disturbing, and morally insane, Serrador’s film is anything but cheap child’s play.
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