The 31 Days of Horror- #6

Witches, Zombies, a crazy bitch, and a f'd up family...

The 70's

Suspiria (1977)- This is not only Argento's magnum opus, but also one of the best Horror films ever made. If you haven't seen Suspiria, nothing I say will be enough to convey how unique and special this movie is. It's the story of a girl that goes away to a school run by Witches, but it's unlike anything you have ever seen before. Argento is a master film maker; his plots aren't always coherent or even plausible, but his visual style is second to none. His use of colors, camera movement, gore, atmosphere, and score come together to give you exactly what a horror movie should be. Perfect. If you have any self respect as a Horror fan at all, you need to own this movie.

The 80's

Day of the Dead (1985)- The third in Romero's "Dead" series may also be my favorite. Dawn of the Dead is a better film overall, but for some reason Day has always stuck with me more. Maybe it's the way that the over the top gore warped my mind when I was 14, or maybe it seemed as if the world of Day was far more desolate than in Dawn, but I just love it. This movie is an absolute gore fest once the shit hits the fan, and on top of that, you get Bub; maybe the coolest and most sympathetic Zombie character ever. He's an icon folks, it's true.

The 90's

Audition (1999)- Takashi Miike is a nasty, nasty man, and if ever there was a movie that would make you never want to date again, Audition is it. It starts as a simple story of a widower who is looking for a companion who holds a fake film audition to find one; the girl he finds is a crazy bitch who messes his shit up in all kinds of ways! Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction has NOTHING on Asami... she is a mental case of the highest order, and the movie heads towards a finale filled with some of the nastiest torture I've ever seen. What goes through Miike's mind when he makes his movies, I'll never know, but the man is pure genius. Prepare to be fucked up.

The 2000's

The Devil's Rejects (2005)- Zombie's 2nd film is far better than House of 1000 Corpses, and is an instant classic. A road movie, an exploitation movie, a movie about family... it's all of these things and more. In some ways this movie is just mean spirited, but that's what makes it brilliant; we want to see Otis be sadistic, we want Captain Spaulding to be funny while he's killing someone, and we want to see Baby naked. In oil. Anyways, I want a third one, but I know we will never see it. This may be the best movie that Rob Zombie will ever make.

See you tomorrow with #5...