Horror Hits . . .

Monday 8 September 2014

I love a horror movie. Okay, in fairness, I do love more than just one horror movie. So, I thought I’d jot down a few of the ones that I kinda like. Some of them are stand-alone films, and others are franchise flicks. And if you haven’t guessed by now, the fact that I’m whipping up a list means that I’m stuck for any other ideas for a blog post! 😉

Let us start at the beginning.

1. A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise: No doubt it sounds odd to say that one loves a horror movie, but I do love Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger. He is, and always will be for me, the ultimate Freddy. That being said, Jackie Earle Haley’s interpretation of Krueger was menacing in a way that Englund wasn’t. Although it was Freddy that really hooked me on this series, the plots weren’t too bad for the decades in which the movies were made. They weren’t the best plots but they were creative. And who could forget the crossover with Friday The 13^th that saw Freddy Krueger face off against Jason Vorhees? Oh, what a nice segue way into number two.
2. Friday The 13^th franchise: Jason Vorhees, the indestructible, supernatural mass murderer. Okay, so the plots of these movies pretty much sucked after the second movie because, well, you’d have thought that the teenagers of American would have got it through their head that tripping off to Camp Crystal Lake was a very bad idea. But no, year after year, brainless teenagers journeyed off to the very place where young Jason Vorhees was drowned (or so we thought), managed to somehow survive or be resurrected, and has now become the perfect predator – determined, callous, menacing, and indestructible, and despite the fact that he seems to walk everywhere and still be able to kill more people than you can poke a pointy stick at. I will put my hand up and admit that I quite liked Jason X when Jason’s cryogenically stored body ended up in space, and he became a futuristic, supernatural mass murderer in space.
3. Hellraiser franchise: Why is Hellraiser (the original) so bloody good? Two words – Clive. Barker. Even as cr@ppy as some of these movies became, I still quite enjoyed them. I like the mythology behind the Cenobites and the puzzle box, and I really enjoyed the instalment that addressed the creation of the box. My favourite Cenobite? Pinhead, of course. Doug Bradley was delicious in the role.
4. Hostel: Butt-clenching and cringe-worthy. I know I’ve used those terms to describe zombie movies, but they fit perfectly with this zombie-free flick. It’s a great concept for a creepy story (paying for the ‘privilege’ of torturing and killing), and to be honest, watching this movie definitely put me off ever staying in European hostels when I travel . . . especially in Eastern Europe because, according to horror movies, that’s where the creepiest people hang out.
5. Night Of The Living Dead: The original one and the remake. Hey, it’s zombies. They’re grossly scary. We all know how I feel about zombies. I need not say any more.
6. Child’s Play: A doll possessed by a nutjob killer. What’s not to love? Chucky is a classic. The sequels not so much, but the character is great.
7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A weird a$$ family. A bunch of strangers. Leatherface. A chainsaw. A lot of blood and guts. That about covers it.
8. Halloween franchise: Classic masked maniac. I do have a soft spot for Halloween: H20 even though it wasn’t really that good. But, like Jason in the Friday The 13^th franchise, there’s something awful about a killer who walks after his victims and still manages to catch and kill.
9. Psycho: I really don’t think I need to say much about this one. It gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘mummy’s boy’. Good ol’ Norman Bates.
10. The Blair Witch Project: For those of you who have seen it, the reason I liked this film all comes down to that last scene when Heather is at the witch’s house and she uses her camera to look around, and then she sees Mike facing the corner. That one segment of film is what gave me the shivers. The rest of the movie was just Heather’s snotty nose.
11. It: Stephen King. Tim Curry. Pennywise the clown. For some, I’ve frightened the cr@p out of you just by mentioning clowns.
12. Pet Sematary: My favourite Stephen King. Dead things purposefully being brought back to life by their loved ones. An ancient Native American burial ground. Something bad is always going to happen. Not to mention Herman Munster! If you’ve seen it, you’ll know who I mean.
13. Candyman franchise: Oh, I do love a horror franchise. Again, I enjoyed the mythology that was created for this story. The Candyman back-story made me feel for the man who had become the urban legend. Tony Todd totally delivers in the title role. Don’t say his name five times whilst looking in the mirror . . .

There are many, many more horror movies that are great, and I could continue this list possibly indefinitely. Let me know what you think are some great horror flicks.