Today we’ve been getting drenched by our dear friend Sandy, closing up shop for the day to keep dry & safe as 80mph + winds & rain blows through the city & all across the east coast.
So, in honor of Halloween, which is right around the corner, what a perfect excuse to huddle up and indulge in some Schlock-tober-fest horror movie fun!
10. Hellraiser<br/ >
Gory & surreal, Clive Barker’s breakthrough is an S&M-tinged freakout involving parallel dimensions, bondage-loving demons, and beautifully disgusting set pieces. Birthed the one-and-only Pinhead, who would never be as cool as this again.
9. Suspiria<br/ >
Even more surreal, Dario Argento’s freaky-styley masterpiece is a fantastic exercise in style murdering substance. The story is held together with duct tape, but the sights & sounds are gorgeously disturbing.
8. The Fog<br/ >
Not on quite the same level as his best stuff, Carpenter’s The Fog is a slow-burner: a dreamy, atmospheric salty dog of a ghost story.
7. Dawn of the Dead<br/ >
George A. Romero’s zombie epic that says as much about modern consumerism as it does about flesh-eating mayhem.
6. The Evil Dead II<br/ >
More fun than scary, Sam Raimi’s campy splatter-fest takes the core premise from the first one, heaps on budget & (slightly) better acting, and creates the ultimate cabin in the woods yarn (except maybe for the new Cabin in the Woods)
5. Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors<br/ >
Nope, not the first one (that’d be too obvious!), the third one is on part with Wes Craven’s classic and has highly imaginative sequences, Dokken on the soundtrack, and (surprise!) a pretty decent story with characters who aren’t just props waiting to get offed.
4. Alien<br/ >
H.R. Giger & Ridley Scott team up to create a beautifully slow & damn scary space-monster story.
3. Halloween<br/ >
The mother of all slasher flicks, this movie put John Carpenter on the map, and scared the bejesus out of millions of people without showing any blood or relying on predictable “don’t go into the basement” clichés that riddle the genre.
2. The Shining<br/ >
Like the Cardigan’s cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, The Shining only resembles its source material, and instead creates a unique statement all its own. Kubrick takes some healthy liberties in his interpretation, creating an absolutely terrifying and gorgeous horror masterpiece.
No horror movies has as many conspiracy theories as to what its true intentions are (can’t wait to see “Room 237”).
1. The Thing<br/ >
Not the one from a couple of years ago, the third John Carpenter film on this list is the big daddy here: like Empire Strikes Back, the snowy landscape here creates an otherworldly atmosphere, enhancing the claustrophia & paranoia that permeates the entire film. Kurt Russel is the ultimate movie bad-ass, and Rob Bottin’s creature effects are better than any CGI-shenanigans I’ve seen recently.