Part 4 of 5.
10. The Evil Dead
The first time I watched The Evil Dead, I had to turn it off. I was eating pizza at the time and all was honky dory until I got to the tree rape and pencil-in-the-ankle scenes. After that, I was kind of grossed out. Finally, when I got to the part where the deadite eats her own hand off, I had to stop it. It just wasn’t going well with my stomach. I ended up finishing it the next day. As time passed, I realized how effective The Evil Dead was. I had been a long time since I had been grossed out by a movie to the point that I had to turn it off and finish it later. I was also inspired by Sam Raimi’s energetic and unorthodox directing style. Finally, when I found out how little the movie was made for, I began to think, “Hey, I can do this.” So, in the end, The Evil Dead was a big inspiration to me. It’s the kind of horror movie that has it all: great scares, lots of gore, awesome direction and Bruce freaking Campbell. His character wasn’t a complete bad a yet in this entry but I’m okay with anything Bruce is in. I was tempted to put Evil Dead II on this list as it is one of my favorites but, after thinking about it, I just had to go with the original. It just had the biggest impact on me.
9. An American Werewolf in London
I’ve already said a lot about An American Werewolf in London during Monster Fest but I guess I’ll say a little more. When I was about ten, my dad forced me to watch this movie. It pretty much traumatized me. The first werewolf attack, the crazy dream sequences and the incredible transformation all terrified me. However, as time has gone by, I have come to truly love this movie. It’s really funny, scary and very fun to watch. It has a little of everything. For me, standout scenes include the constant use of Griffin Dunn coming back as a rotting zombie, the insane dream sequences (the one with the hospital bed scarred me), and the aforementioned transformation. Rick Baker got an Oscar for his special effects work in this movie and he deserved it. This movie really has it all: laughs, scares, a great soundtrack, fun and even some emotion. Please watch it if you haven’t already.
8. Jaws
As far as I’m concerned, Jaws is Steven Spielberg’s best film. Well, maybe it’s not his best film but, out of his massive library, it’s my favorite one to watch (next to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park). This movie caused so many phobias dealing with the ocean and water in general that it would be travesty to not to put it on this list. I love this movie so much. I love the direction, the classic, terrifying score by John Williams, the great ensemble of actors, the setting, the effects- just everything. That crazy rack focus that Spielberg pulls on Roy Schneider after that little boy gets eaten is one of my favorite shots in film history (my brother and I still refer to it as the Jaws shot and have tried to pull it off ourselves… but to no avail). To me, the scariest part of the entire film is the U.S.S. Indianapolis speech that Quint gives on while they are all out to sea. That story still bothers me in many different ways. Anyways, as far as I’m concerned, Jaws has it all. Watch it immediately if somehow haven’t seen it already.
7. The Thing
John Carpenter’s The Thing is the greatest remake of all time. It is incredibly scary, claustrophobic, psychological, paranoid and incredibly gross. They really don’t get much better than this. Everything about this movie is creepy and manages to get under your skin. It has a great cast (especially with Kurt Russell being a complete bad a once again), some solid atmospheric direction by Carpenter, a great bass-driven score by Ennio Morricone (of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly fame), and some truly amazing special effects by Rob Bolton. The dog kennel scene still grosses and weirds me out every time I see it. However, out of all the gross-out and tension-filled scenes, the blood-testing scene has got to be my favorite. It has one of the best jump scares and reactions from a cast that I’ve ever seen. Overall, The Thing is a real horror movie through and through. It’s the kind of horror film that they make for real men.
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of those horror movies that I saw as a child that really scared the crap out of me. What is scarier than a demonic character like Freddy Krueger that can kill you in your sleep? This is my dad’s favorite horror movie of all time and I can see why: it has some great nightmare stalk sequences (yes, that’s right, it’s imaginative horror), some solid direction by Wes Craven, a career making performance by Robert England as Freddy Krueger, a creepy score and probably one of the best concepts / movie villains ever. The idea of Freddy Krueger is just terrifying. Seeing him pull a girl around a room and over a ceiling during her nightmare, slashing her to bits in the process, is absolutely petrifying. However, to me, the standout sequence in the film is when Freddy gets newcomer Johnny Depp, pulls him into his bed and then creates a giant blood waterfall out of him. Did that make any sense? If not, please watch the embedded video below.
I will have to say this though- the "surprise" ending to this movie sucks. I just had to say it.
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