Is it really October already? Well, shoot. I guess it's time for some horror movie talk. So how about an absurd movie list? The following are my favorite horror movies that begin with "The." So there are a lot of classics that won't make the cut because they don't begin with "The." So you won't see Evil Dead II even though I really love it (probably more than the original) because it doesn't have "The" at the beginning.
You also won't see The Bride of Frankenstein because it was originally titled just plain Bride of Frankenstein.
10. The Birds (1963) - I love this movie, but it is not my favorite Hitchcock movie. But try thinking of how many Hitchcock horror movies begin with "The." It's a pretty short list.
09. The Evil Dead (1981) - The only movie that features a scene where a woman gets raped by a tree.
08. The Mummy (1932, 1959) - Okay, this is cheating. The original is superior, but the Hammer remake featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee is great, too. 07. The Mist (2007) - A modern classic. And yes, the ending is beyond freaking awesome.
06. The Wolf Man (1941) - Claude Rains, Lon Chaney Jr., and Bela Legosi all in one movie. How could I possibly leave this movie off my list? Plus, I dare you to name a werewolf movie that came out before this one. Aren't too many, huh?
05. The Omen (1976) - A horror movie with Gregory Peck? Hell yes!
04. The Masque of Red Death (1964) - I've said it before but any horror list not including Vincent Price is not one worth making.
03. The Exorcist (1973) - Yeah, it's an obvious choice, but you are probably surprised this is not No. 1, right?
02. The Thing (1982) - John Carpenter remakes a classic and makes an even better classic.
01. The Shining (1980) - Kubrick was a genius and he certainly flexed his muscles with this movie. Jack Nicholson stole the show with his classic performance and even Shelley Duvall's atrocious miscasting becomes gets buoyed by the ridiculous talent around her.
Okay, I missed quite a few. The Phantom of the Opera, The Invisible Man, The Girl Next Door, The Fly (the remake that I really do love), and (perhaps most egregiously omitted) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre all missed the mark. That's not on purpose, I swear. But what movie would I cut? Yeah, I could extend this list to fit fifteen, but then where would I put The Amityville Horror? See, it never ends. I'll end up just adding movies one after the other.
So this is my list and it is final.
The possibilities for this type of list is endless. A list with "dead" in the title would be good too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you give a thumbs up to the ending of The Mist (so many of the SKMB members hate it). That was very awesome and brave and I am shocked that the studio let them get away with it. Have you ever seen the black and white version? I hear it's great. There is a blu-ray release where they have the color version on one disc and the black and white on the other. The director wanted to it to be released in B&W. I'm going to have to track it down.