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This Halloween, you have 8 movies to introduce somebody to horror.
So your buddy doesn't know anything about horror... it's a shame I know, you're not even sure why you're friends with that person but that's beside the point. The point is that this week your friend wants you to introduce them to the horror genre. That sounds fun right? Kind of, they've set aside time to watch two movies a day, every other day for one week starting on Monday. You have 8 movies to show your friend the classic side, the gory side, the crazy side, the funny side, and all the aspects of horror cinema that you can squeeze into eight flicks. Which eight do you pick?
I think I would go with... Nosferatu Bride of Frankenstein Night of the Living Dead Evil Dead 2 Creepshow Suspiria The Thing Cabin in the Woods But even while typing those eight I came up with so many others I could put into each and every spot. I know these "top horror movie" threads have been done to death... and I don't care. |
Classic
Frankenstein- Though Bride is my favorite horror film, I think without the first film as a pelude a lot would be lost, so I'd start with the original. Plenty of time later to get to the sequel. Horror of Dracula- Bring on the other iconic monster with Hammer's masterful take on the tale, and introduce two iconic personalities, Cushing and Lee. Gory Well, my gory films won't actually be that gory. I'll reinterpret this category to mean films that up the ante with violence and scares. Halloween- a near perfect masterpiece of terror. Texas Chainsaw Massacre- Not that gory, but still violent and shocking. Crazy Repulsion- I'll go literal with this selection of a true masterpiece film depicting a woman's descent into madness. Carrie- Original version. Some cheese factor, but Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie elevate this film to brilliance. Funny Beetlejuice- It just doesn't get much funnier than this film while still managing some scares. The Raven- My friend probably won't get why this film is so funny, but I don't care. I'll just be geeking out the whole time about Price, Karloff and Lorre. I didn't choose Young Frankenstein because he needs to know more about horror before he sees that. Nice post, Despare. It will be interesting seeing people's lists. |
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As for the categories, you don't have to go with what I wrote, just throwing out some very general sub-genres within horror. |
Halloween (original)
Night of the Living Dead Frankenstein Bride of Frankenstein Dracula (Hammer) The Mummy (Hammer) House on Haunted Hill (original) House of Usher ____________ "Enjoy that dead girl's body" |
Eight is tough. First of all I wouldn't limit yourself to only two of these arbitrary types, crazy, funny, gory, etc, because the best tend to overlap in those respects, and also it is a narrows your selection and potentially eliminates some terrific movies that might be more compelling to someone unfamiliar with the genre. Here is a list of eight that I think gives a newbie a good introduction to a nice cross-section of horror and a good reason to seek out more:
Them Night of the Living Dead (original) The Reanimator Evil Dead 2 The Haunting (original) The Thing (82) Audition Black Sunday (Bava) The classics I selected were the kind I thought would be more palatable to a modern viewer whose attention span might not make them amenable to the Universal classics or the German Expressionist classics. I also tried to avoid movies which are so brutal they might be a turn-off to the uninitiated, but I suppose Audition might be an exception to that, except everyone I have shown that to were blown away by it. |
Classic:
Frankenstein Son of Frankenstein Gory: Brain Dead Dog Soldiers Crazy: Repulsion Paranoiac Funny: Shaun of the Dead Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein |
Tough to choose just eight. I try and introduce horror to people year round. I tend to choose.
Suspiria Audition ( most people i show this to get bored,or dont like subs.) I love them personally. Evil Dead Repo! The genetic opera (funny,scary,and a musical) Frankenstein Jaws Zombi Psycho |
Just strapped in some friends and am playing I Spit On Your Grave. Guys, this is awkward...
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it was awkward when I showed friends "Martyrs" I think that one scarred them for life.
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I've not looked at anyone else's choices (except Despare's) so I'm not influenced/put off saying what I would say to be more original :p
Classic Nosferatu The Curse of Frankenstein Gory The Thing Hobo With a Shotgun Crazy Basket Case The Abominable Dr. Phibes Funny Brain Dead (Dead Alive) - also equally suited to gore The Cabin in the Woods - the last one I'd show so that hopefully they got a few more tropes. |
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