It is not hard to appreciate the impact of a good horror movie, though stomaching one might be a challenge for some. As a child of the 80's, I was raised on a steady diet of slasher movies and developed an appreciation for them that many moviegoers (critics especially) would never understand. A movie that can scare you witless is like a movie that can make you cry...it takes you beyond simply watching a movie and makes you part of it, if only for an hour or two. Here is a rough guide to getting a foot into the genre and live to tell the tale.
Before Jason and Freddy...
The classic horror movies of the 1930's and beyond are considered to be the modern classics, despite being relatively tame by today's standards. Hungarian-born Bela Lugosi stunned movie-goers with his performances in both Dracula (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection) and Horror Classics, Vol. 1: White Zombie, for which he will be best remembered (it's sad that his career nose-dived shortly thereafter). His competetor, Boris Karloss, had equal success in the role of Frankenstein (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection), as well as successful roles in such classics as The Mummy, The Ghoul, and The Bride of Frankenstein, the masterful sequel to the first "Frankenstein" picture. To obtain a good collection of classic monster movies featuring these two actors (and many others), check out the Universal's Classic Monster Collection (Dracula/Frankenstein/The Mummy/The Invisible Man/The Bride of Frankenstein/The Wolf Man/The Phantom of the Opera/The Creature from the Black Lagoon), which is one of the best horror DVD box sets around...if you've got the cash.
The Hitchcock Connection
Modern horror was nothing new when Hitchcock came along, but he perfected the genre and made it his own. Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed one of the most successful and prolific careers of any director, and his movies are still widely praised to this day. His horror movies were more psychological than splatter, though he pushed limits wherever he could. His masterpiece, Psycho (Collector's Edition), was ahead of it's time in terms of screen violence. Who could forget the famous "Shower Scene"? It is believed that audiences fainted at the screenings and even a few people had heart attacks. His follow-up, The Birds (Collector's Edition), did more to cement Hitchcock's reputation as one of the best thriller directors around. Other notable thrillers include Frenzy, Vertigo (Collector's Edition), and the James Stewart masterpiece Rear Window (Collector's Edition).
All of Hitchcock's movies are readily available on DVD, and highly recommended.
The Gore The Merrier
Yes, that cliche died in the 80's - and rightly so, but the genre is the most popular among fans of modern horror. Slasher, or "Gore hound", movies grossed millions at the box office have been blamed for most of society's problems up to date. There are usually nothing more than excuses to kill and maim people in inventive and violent ways, and this is exactly what audiences want.
The movie that started the "Slasher" craze were John Carpenter's Halloween, which is the most successful independant film (in terms of profit) of all time. It introduced two essential themes: 1) The lone masked killer stalking teenagers, and 2) the sexually active teens die while the lone virgin survives. Despite a violent reputation, "Halloween" had very little graphic violence, and almost no blood. The same can be said for Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which has a terrible reputation but is actually quite tame, graphically speaking. The psychological effects are damaging to say the least!
Jason Vorhees was the favorite masked killer during the 80's. The Friday the 13th series grossed millions, and spawned a whopping ten sequels (I am including Freddy vs. Jason (New Line Platinum Series)). The themes never varied - Jason stalks a group of teens in the forest and kills them off one by one, except for the one virgin (why is only one of them not doing it?) who offs him in the end, but he survives to come back in the sequel. It is a winning formula, and the series got more bloody as it progressed. The scares are strictly the "Bump-in-the-night" variety, but effective and chilling nonetheless. More inventive was the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, where dream demon Freddy Krueger offs children in their dreams. Another winner from the 80's, and a personal favorite. Lower on the totum pole is the Hellraiser and Candyman series, which never met with the same success as the two aforementioned series, but still are cult favorites.
No "Gore Galore" list would be complete without including Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead series, which pushed the boundaries of blood and guts beyond all comprehension. The first entry was pure horror, with wall to wall blood. The two sequels blended in more slapstick and farce to balance out the blood.
The Comedy of Terrors
"Serious" horror movies are in short supply nowadays, owing to the fact that most of what could have been done has been, well, done. But when comedy is used to lighten up the proceedings, it can go two ways: It can push the movie in the gutter or improve it dramatically. This section is dedicated to movies that fall into the latter category.
Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (The Millennium Edition) is the definiton of "cult classic". It has a great storyline, decent acting, and a nice blend of comedy mixed with excessive blood and guts. The horror fans dream. As mentioned above, Sam Raimi went in a more comedic direction with his "Evil Dead" sequels, Evil Dead II (Special Edition) and Army of Darkness (Boomstick Edition). By the mid-90's, the genre had dried up. Then along came Wes Craven with his fan-coveted Scream Trilogy - Boxed Set series that parodied the genre in a way never done before, and renewed interest in horror movies that, unfortunately, led to much of the dredge that was dubbed "teen horror" movies. The less said about them, the better.
The Dead Can Dance
No horror movie library would be complete without zombie movies, those wonderful movies where humans are besieged by the walking dead. The foremost authority on that particular subject is George A. Romero, a Pittsburgh-based filmmaker who turned Hollywood upside down with Night of the Living Dead (Millennium Edition) back in 1968. A small group is holed up in a farm house while an army of flesh-eating zombies roam the countryside. And not in common with most horror series, it spawned two excellent sequels, Dawn of the Dead - The Original Director's Cut (Collector's Edition) in 1978, and the much bloodier Day of the Dead (Divimax Special Edition) in 1985. Both were fantastic horror movies, and ones that no horror fan should be without.
Special mention also goes to Italian director Lucio Fulci, who was known as an "Italian Romero" of sorts. His movies were similar in style, though more explicit in their violence thanks to not having to deal with the MPAA. His masterpieces include The Beyond, The House By The Cemetery, and the Romero-inspired Zombie.
Obviously, I am only scratching the surface, the the movies mentioned above should give you a good overview of the genre, and hopefully a new appreciation of it.
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