A cannibal family, the Aliens cast gone vampire, the original Ring, and Elvis Presley...
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| The 70's |
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)-
Wes Craven was a truly twisted person in the 70's; the guy was all about brutal, visceral and ultra-realistic exploitation, and he did it all very well. This is his little family camping movie, packed full of shootings, burnings, dog attacks, dog deaths, and just plain old all-out murder. It's a bit dated, but that doesn't make it any less classic or important;
The Hills Have Eyes was there at the beginning of the Horror Renaissance of the 70's, a forefather of what was to come. Brutal, dark, creepy, and unsettling, this is a gem of exploitation.
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| The 80's |
Near Dark (1987)- This is one of the best Vampire movies that many people may have never seen.
Bishop,
Hudson, and
Vasquez from
Aliens are all in this Horror-western; even
Johnny Depp auditioned for a role, that's how cool the script was. This is a slick and well made Vampire flick, and for some reason it's not a very well known one outside of Horror circles.
Bill Paxton is brilliant as the bad-ass of the vampire clan,
Severen, and it's worth checking this movie out for his performance alone.
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| The 90's |
Ringu (1998)- This is the movie that put
J-Horror on the map in the
U.S.A., with an absolutely great premise for a Horror movie; a cursed videotape will kill whomever watches it within 7 days. This movie made me not answer my phone for a good while after seeing it, and made me hate my
TV as much as
Poltergeist had almost 20 years earlier.
Sadako (the little girl) is one of the most terrifying Horror villains ever, and the scene at the end... well good luck sleeping after watching it. An excellent film that will please you if you liked the remake, because it's actually better.
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| The 2000's |
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)- This is one of my favorite movies ever, because it's really unlike anything I've ever seen before; living legend
Bruce Campbell stars as
Elvis, (who years ago traded identities with an impersonator to escape stardom) who is now an old man living in a nursing home, whose best friend is a black guy who has the brain of
JFK in his head. People at the home start dying, the handy work of a mummy who sucks their souls of their assholes, and its up to
Elvis and
JFK to stop this "
Bubba Ho-Tep" from killing any more of their friends. Seriously. It sounds ridiculous, but I'm dead serious when I say it's an amazing mix of fun, funny as hell, touching, moving, and action packed... I feel bad for you if you don't get to see this one, because it's 'effing
brilliant.
See you tomorrow with #15...
Very cool to see BUBBA HO-TEP get some love! It's one of my favorite movies of all time as well . . . a bizarre, fucked-up film with an absurd-to-say-the-very-least storyline, yet a film that is at the same time poignant and more than a little sad when all is said and done. I adore BUBBA HO-TEP.
ReplyDeleteEver read the novella it's based on, by Joe R. Lansdale (my favorite author)? Check it out sometime, if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed.
J.N.
http://www.james-newman.com