[9] Director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) puts five young people in a cabin in the woods and lets all hell break loose. The Evil Dead is a true independent, low budget marvel, filmed on the director’s dime whenever he could get his moviemaking friends together to continue the shoot. Raimi’s style is kinetic, cartoonish, and… I want to say ‘squishy’. Evil Dead is full of clever …
[10] With the success of Animal House and The Blues Brothers behind him, director John Landis was able to take a chance on a horror-comedy about two American college students who have a close encounter of the hirsute kind while backpacking through the English moors. David Naughton and Griffin Dunne star as the two Americans, Rick Baker provides the groundbreaking makeup and special effects, and An American Werewolf in London remains …
[9] Stanley Kubrick takes on Stephen King, and while it may not be the most faithful adaptation, The Shining is a gorgeously crafted plunge into fear and insanity. Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall play a husband and wife who take their young son with them to the remote Overlook Hotel, where they’ll be all alone for several months working as caretakers during the winter down …
[10] Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror opus Alien is really a haunted house movie set in outer space, where a ragtag team of “space truckers” do battle with one of the most fascinating monsters in movie history. Scott is one of the finest directors of our time, and this may be his best film — a taut thriller, designed and executed with tremendous attention to realism and …
[9] Ten years after Night of the Living Dead, which pretty much invented zombies as we now know them, George Romero went back to the well and made a sequel that I like even better. Never content to make a zombie movie that is just a zombie movie, Romero infuses Dawn with a statement on the soul-numbing effects of crash commercialism. It’s excellent fodder for …
[9] Brian DePalma directs this Stephen King tale of a ridiculed girl who discovers she has telekinetic powers she can use against her tormenters. King’s forte is character, and he’s got two rich ones with timid Carrie and her whackadoodle mama. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie knock it out of the park in two Oscar-nominated performances. Their scenes together are magic — especially when Laurie …
[10] Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Peter Benchley’s shark thriller is extraordinarily well made and far more sophisticated than your average monster movie. The first half is a solid scare-fest that unwinds beautifully, from the first vicious attack on a late night bathing beauty to the sensational tragedy during the town’s Fourth of July festivities. Once the people of Amnity Island have had enough the movie …
[10] Oh, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… I love that you’re an unrelenting free fall into madness. I love that your first half is mysterious and suspenseful, and that your second half is hysterically macabre. I love how your 16mm film stock lends a raw, documentary feel to the horror. I love your locations — from …
[9] Edward Woodward (TV’s The Equalizer) stars as a Christian police officer investigating the disappearance of a child on a remote island in the Scottish isles. Attempts to solve the case are complicated by the locals, all pagan practitioners who deny the child ever existed. The Wicker Man is a British cult classic that never had much of an original theatrical release, but has since …
[9] Director William Friedkin (The French Connection) approached William Peter Blatty’s tale of demonic possession with seriousness and realism, striking fear in the hearts of moviegoers worldwide. Often feeling more like a documentary than a sensational horror film, The Exorcist lulls you into a false sense of security with its measured pacing, only to shock the piss out of you when the Devil tightens his …
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