In honor of Science Fiction II, where we are examining zombies and how they represent real human fears (death, cannibalism, plagues, disasters, collapse of society, and so on), we are going to watch two of the classic horror films in the zombie genre: Night of the Living Dead and 28 Days Later. So as I think about the first time I saw Night of the Living Dead - and how much it frightened me - I thought I'd revisit my semi-annual Top Horror Films list.
10. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil - I saw this campy classic a few years ago at the behest of my step-son Casey, who raved about it. And it was absolutely worth the time to watch.
What I love aboutt it - it's twist on the attractive, preppy college kids go campy and find redneck killers. I never saw this coming and loved every minute of the film.
9. Let Me In - This is the American version of Let The Right One In. This premise is excellent - a young boy who is bullied befriends a young girl . . . who just happens to be a centuries old vampire.
What I love about it - the pool scene where the young boy is nearly drowned by bullies and is saved by the vampire.
8. Cabin in the Woods - I saw this with the impression I was going to see just another run-of-the mill killer in the woods or zombie flick. I couldn't have been more mistaken.
What I love about it - So much. The laboratory underground (when all the monsters escape) is classic. The ending is also amazing. It's a perfect example of "I never saw that coming."
7. The Descent - I could hardly sit through this one. Clostophobia and the dark are key elements in this film.
What I love about it - It's a nice balance of found-footage with a traditional horror perspective.
6. 28 Days Later - I wanted to see this so badly that I actually went to it by myself. The entire film went by in about 10 minutes. This was my first time ever seeing "fast zombies." I'll never forget it.
What I love about it - the balance of terror at the fast zombies and the sinister isolation the main character feels when waking up in the hospital all alone.
5. Prince of Darkness - A campy classic that I recall fondly from high school. I saw this about half a dozen times with my friends Harry and Simon at Simon's house (he was one of the few kids I actually new who had a VCR).
What I love about it - this has the best "smart person" in a horror film scene. The ending - which is actually the beginning of the film - is brilliant.
4. Night of the Living Dead - I first saw this (okay, I only saw about 20 minutes of this total since I had to change the channel every so often) during the late night horror series on KBRR with Mad Frank. The mock news footage of the zombie plague erupting after the astronauts returned to earth and brought some type of virus back that re-animated the dead.
What I love about it - it's place in the horror cannon. There have not been many movies that you can say "this started it all" about. But Night of the Living Dead is where the fascination with zombies began.
3. The Thing - A sci-fi classic. Another Jon Carpenter film on the list (the other being Prince of Darkness). This is gory and haunting. I saw this one summer when we had a week of free HBO. The rest of my family was out during yard work while I went inside. (Imagine that! I'm sure I was trying to get out of the work). I became fascinated by the premise of this isolated arctic station battling an alien. Then I saw the scene where a man seems to go into cardia arrest. The camp medic attempts to shock him a a diffibulator. Then "it" happens - the alien reveals itself in the man, causing his chest to turn into a great gaping mouth with wickedly sharp teeth. The poor doctor's hands plunge right into the maw. The mouth snaps shut. The terrified doctor attempts to pull free and his arms are severed.
That was enough for me. I was out helping my family with yard work. It terrified me. I'll never forget it.
What I love about this it - the ending. Is the alien dead? Is Childs an alien? Is MacReady? Carpenter has never said a word. But we're still waiting for a sequel!
2. Seven - I never saw this one coming at all. It was one of those rare films where I wasn't even aware that I was watching it. I was in the film. Pulp Fiction is the only other film that has ever really done that.
What love about it - all of it. The cast is superb. The writing is excellent. Kevin Spacey's Jon Doe is the most frightening of all monsters. The twist at the end is a club to the face. And best of all, what this film gets right is that it just suggests the horror. This is where the Saw film gets it all wrong. In Seven, the horrific murders are shown after the fact (well, all but one). They are only hinted at and suggested. In Saw, they glorify the murders, which makes them somehow less frightening.
1. The Blair Witch Project. Like Night of the Living Dead, this film can say that it started it all: the found-footage film craze. But none have done it as brilliantly as The Blair Witch Project.
What I love about it - the isolation. The use of the power of suggestion. Ramsey Campbell says this is the greatest film in the HP Lovecraft tradition. It's got it all - the story is told after it's happened. We know something terrible has happened to the narrator. The monster/entity is only hinted at and glimpsed ever so briefly.
The scene where they wake up and realize their camera man is missing . . . and then they find some "present" from the witch . . . well, that still gets to me.
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