The 31 Days of Horror- #7

A Shark, a bug, a sucker, and some nasty middle schoolers...

The 70's

Jaws (1975)- One of the greatest movies of all time, Jaws could easily be a top 5 movie in any decade, and not just on a Horror countdown. People were afraid to go swimming -even in lakes or pools- when this came out, because it was truly that terrifying. I can still remember seeing the infamous opening scene, and hiding my eyes every time the girl got tugged under the water... "I think you're gonna need a bigger boat." Indeed. Everything about this movie is fantastic, and it needs to be in everyone's collection. It's worth owning just for Robert Shaw's performance alone.

The 80's

The Fly (1986)- Cronenberg strikes again! Jeff Goldblum is freaky-looking enough on a daily basis, but when he starts his slow transformation into the Brundlefly, he becomes something truly nightmarish. The thought of a man genetically splicing his DNA (by accident) with that of a fly, and becoming a huge ass man-fly mongoloid monster...well how can you not love that? Especially when he pukes on things before he eats them! I do so miss intelligent Horror. Please come back, David Cronenberg!

The 90's

Dracula (1992)- This is a tour de force in Vampire filmdom; a master director, two master thespians in Hopkins and Oldman, and the master of darkness himself! Gary Oldman is brilliant as Dracula, giving him varied layers of humanity and non-humanity that compel you to like him as much as you might fear him. The look and feel of the movie are perfect, classic in every way, and the bloody mayhem is just as impressive. this may just be the best Vampire movie ever made (although that's highly debatable.) Watch it and love it.

The 2000's

Battle Royale (2000)- This movie may not be well known by American audiences, but it needs to be. This is a sick movie, forcing a middle school class to kill each other off with a variety of weapons until only one child is left standing (Hunger Games, anyone?), and it serves a dual purpose. One is to shock us; seeing kids killing each other in cruel ways is truly disturbing. Two is to make a statement; this movie is rife with social commentary, and it gets the point across quite well. Find the DVD of this great movie, I promise you wont be disappointed.

See you tomorrow with #6...