My Top Ten 1970-1999 Horror Movies

Oh man – this was a hard list to do since the majority of my favorite horrors are from the ’70s & ’80s. I’ll also have watched shitloads, so am sure I’ve forgotten to add some great ones & I’ll be annoyed I forgot them. Oh well – I can update the list if so!

Some Rules/Notes:

1. I’ve had to make this a Top Forty, and even then I’m missing some favorites. So I have some “honorable mentions” listed at the end. And the ’80s especially was the decade for “franchises” but it’s too hard to rank every single sequel in those cases plus I see each series as a whole. So, where I mention some, I kind of mean the series. I’ve only listed some specific sequels if any were actually really good (Dream Warriors!). And, let’s face it, the first movie is usually a million times better than the rest (Halloween! Almost wish it was a standalone film…).

2. Also, in order to do this, I’ve decided to leave a few films out that I love/really like but I don’t see as “horror” films…

– Alien/Aliens (Two of my all-time favorite films. I don’t think “horror” with these – I think sci-fi)
– Jaws (Again, I just think “action thriller”)
– They Live & Hardware (Sci-fi)
– The Crow (I’m not really sure what genre this one is but I adore this film)
– Blade (See it more as a comic book movie)
– Ghostbusters (Not horror to me – just comedy)

3. And I’ve added horror comedies into this list. I used to keep them separate (I did a list HERE). But… I figure they’re still horror as well. So some of these, including my second favorite, aren’t scary horror.

4. Finally, I’ll just add this (Is anyone actually reading my long & rambling intros?!): This list is absolutely ridiculous. There used to be a blogger I really liked who told me off one day for all the “ties” on my lists & that I need to number them differently if there are ties & I can’t have more than ten in a top ten. And I was all “My blog, my rules!”. He was awesome, though, and I’m really sad he completely disappeared. Anyway – he’d have a meltdown over this list. I mention 17 films in my top ten (seriously) and number 20 alone mentions 8. I admit that’s pathetic but, hey, I’m indecisive & also hate the thought of leaving anything out. Should I also admit that I go back & rearrange my old lists sometimes?! I think I have some sort of disorder. So I dedicate this list to that dude.

So here’s my ranked list counting down to My Top Ten 1970-1999 Horror Movies (but including way more than 40 movies):

Top Forty:

40. The Blair Witch Project (Yes, I liked this first film)
39. Night Of The Creeps
38. The Exorcist (Low, I know – not big on this, mainly just love Tubular Bells)
37. The Hitcher
36. Tremors
35. Waxwork
34. Hausu
33. The Craft
32. The Stepford Children & The Stepford Wives (Children is a cheesy TV movie & big guilty pleasure of mine)
31. Magic

Top Thirty:

30. Society
29. Children Of The Corn (Only the first one)
28. The Changeling (Probably deserves to be higher but in all honesty I need to rewatch it – would maybe move up then)
27. Friday The 13th (I’ve shockingly only seen a few of these, so only really the first couple of films for this one)
26. Child’s Play (First three – Yes, I liked the third one too)
25. Chopping Mall
24. April Fool’s Day
23. The Return Of The Living Dead
22. The Sixth Sense
21. The Wicker Man

Top Twenty:

20. David Cronenberg – The Brood, etc (Sorry for the big cheat but what do you expect from someone who mentions 17 movies in their Top Ten?? 😉 Other than The Fly, I’m lumping all the rest of Cronenberg’s films that I like together. Big fan of his style, although his movies aren’t ones I revisit like a lot of other horrors. In order starting with my favorite of the remaining films of his: The Brood, eXistenZ, Scanners, Videodrome, Shivers, Rabid, Crash. Need to rewatch The Dead Zone)
19. Don’t Look Now
18. The Amityville Horror
17. TIE: Phantom Of The Paradise & The Rocky Horror Picture Show
16. Scream
15. It
14. Fright Night
13. Pet Sematary
12. The Fly (Unlike the other Cronenbergs, I’ve watched this many times)
11. Night Of The Comet

****Top Ten:****

10. Dario Argento – Deep Red, etc (Did it with Cronenberg so might as well with Argento too! Deep Red is my favorite followed by Suspiria, although I need to rewatch that. Next is Phenomena, which isn’t nearly as good, but the rest of what I’ve seen of his wouldn’t make this Top 40 list)

9. TIE: Carrie & Halloween (Only the first Halloween film & honestly for the score more than the film itself)

8. TIE: Poltergeist & An American Werewolf In London

7. The Lost Boys

6. The Thing

5. The Omen

4. A Nightmare On Elm Street (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is also great – Love the whole series but these two by far the best)

3. The Shining

2. Gremlins (Do like Gremlins 2 as well but the first one is much better)

1. Dawn Of The Dead & Day Of The Dead (Dawn Of The Dead is my favorite horror film while Day Of The Dead may not be quite as good but it’s a lot of fun & I love it too. Obviously, the Romero “Dead Trilogy” tops my overall favorite horror movies list I may post on Halloween)

Honorable Mentions:

– Stephen King (I have several in the list but I watch every King adaptation & even like most of the bad ones. I ranked them all HERE once – the top two not horror! – but need to add ones from recent years. Some more I liked: Cujo, Maximum Overdrive, Silver Bullet, Cat’s Eye, Misery, Firestarter, etc)
– Body Horror (I did a separate list HERE as I find these fascinating but they’re not exactly Top 40 material: From Beyond, Re-Animator, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Altered States, Basket Case)
– More: The Toxic Avenger (Didn’t feel right putting Troma in the 40 but I do like this one. Actually, I like the first three), The Evil Dead Series (Sorry, I don’t hate these but I never really got into them), Hellraiser Series (Also not really a fan overall but appreciate its fucking weirdness), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Not big on these either), Candyman (Meh), Arachnophobia, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, The Entity, Sisters, Dolls, Alice Sweet Alice, Pumpkinhead, The People Under The Stairs, From Dusk Till Dawn, Audition

Some I Need To Rewatch Again Before Really Knowing Where To Rank Them:

– Stephen King (‘Salem’s Lot & The Dead Zone. Crazy I’ve not rewatched these when I’m obsessed with Stephen King & these are actually my favorite of his books – But I did rank them with the other King movies because my lists make no sense. Should also rewatch Creepshow, Misery, The Stand & Christine)
– John Carpenter (Really liked The Fog but, again, need to rewatch it as well as these: Prince Of Darkness & Christine, as mentioned with King)
– More: Ringu (I know I included it in my Top Foreign Horror Movies list but I really do need to rewatch it before knowing where to rank it here), The Hidden, The Blob, Phantasm, Near Dark, Black Christmas, Dracula

Want To See These!:

The Amusement Park
Martin
The Exorcist III
Puppet Master

My Top Ten Horror Comedies

I love a good horror comedy! Horror isn’t exactly my favorite genre, especially in recent years, but horror comedy is something that I really enjoy when a film gets the balance right.

With this list, I found it even harder to define “horror comedy” than I did to define “body horror” for last week’s top ten. This time, I won’t bore you all with a rambling explanation of why I’ve excluded certain movies – I’ll just list those at the end. This time, I’ll get straight to my list.

So here are My Top Ten Horror Comedies, counting down to my favorite:

**New additions to this Top Ten as of October 2017: The Final Girls, Trick ‘r Treat, Hausu, and The Babysitter. But I don’t want to take any out, so… Sorry for all the “ties”!

10. TIE: Zombieland & Warm Bodies & The Final Girls

9. TIE: Grabbers & Tremors

8. Tucker And Dale Vs Evil

7. Night Of The Creeps

6. Fright Night

5. Shaun Of The Dead

4. Night Of The Comet

3. An American Werewolf In London

2. The Return Of The Living Dead

1. Gremlins

Honorable Mentions:
– Gremlins 2: The New Batch
– Creepshow
– Dead Snow
– The Cabin In The Woods
– Rubber
– Killer Klowns From Outer Space
– Black Sheep
– Teeth
– Eight Legged Freaks
– Waxwork
– What We Do In The Shadows
– The Babysitter (2017)
– House (Hausu) (1977) (probably Top Ten material but I’ve added to this list too much)
– Trick ‘r Treat (2007) (this also probably actually just makes it into my Top Ten but I already have way more than ten in my Top Ten…) 😉

Ones I’ve Excluded:

Some of my top ten are iffy & I’m not sure if I’d really consider all of them horror comedies. Oh well – I didn’t want to stress about it! I worked off of this list at Wikipedia but there were some that I really didn’t agree with so these are the ones that I excluded. I love these! Just don’t consider them horror comedies…

– Ghostbusters (excellent, funny movie. horror, though? no. just be happy that I included Gremlins – I think that one is very borderline on the “horror” too)
– The Lost Boys (hubby & I disagreed on this one – he said it’s not horror & I said it’s not comedy. whatever it is, it’s still a favorite of mine)
– The ‘Burbs (just a comedy)
– Phantom Of The Paradise (no. why does Wikipedia consider this a horror comedy?)
– Beetlejuice (not really a “horror”)
– Slither (it’s great but I put it on last week’s list – it is a horror comedy but I still think of it more as a body horror)

My Movie Picks For MovieRob & Silver Screen Serenade’s Cara

 
I recently won a quiz put together by MovieRob for Cara’s blogiversary bash over at Silver Screen Serenade (you can see the post & quiz HERE). Anyway, I correctly named a bunch of lesser known Star Wars characters (because I’m a nerd who goes to things like Secret Cinema’s The Empire Strikes Back). 😉 So my reward is choosing three movies for Cara & Rob to each watch. Here are my picks!:

  FOR CARA:

I e-mailed Cara a little list of about ten movies asking her if she’d seen any of them and was surprised that she’d only seen one. Cara is young and still has plenty of classic movies to see so it was much easier picking three for her than for movie-watching-machine Rob. I’d like Cara to watch:

• The Terminator
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
• EITHER: Cinema Paradiso (original version, not the Director’s Cut) or City Lights

*Cara – I’ll let you choose whether you’re in the mood for a silent film or the Italian film my blog name is based on – I love them both! They both have two of the most amazing endings ever. But next quiz I win, you’re watching a Studio Ghibli. 😉

 FOR ROB:

Rob is very hard to choose a movie for because he’s seen everything worthwhile! He’s a movie-reviewing-maniac. So, Rob – I’m not doing this to be mean but you’re going to have to step out of your comfort zone and watch the very few movies on this planet that you possibly haven’t seen. 😉 I know you’re unlikely to like these but, every movie to your taste that I thought of, I checked your blog and you’ve seen it! So… I’d like Rob to watch:

• A film directed by David Cronenberg that he’s not seen
• Seven Samurai if he’s not seen it (Rob – as a Star Wars fan, you should really see some Kurosawa if you haven’t)
• EITHER: One of the Jackass movies or Slither if not seen

*Rob – it has to be a movie you’ve not seen so, if you HAVE seen any of the above, let me know as I have a few alternatives. But you REALLY won’t like those… Lol. (For the record, I like all of the above)

There you go! Cara, I hope you enjoy my picks. And, Rob, I hope you don’t hate me. 😉

 
I’d just like to add that Kelli Maroney favorited my tweet yesterday about My Top Ten Drew Struzan Movie Art Pieces. Did you say “who”?! I forget you’re all only 20. Kelli Maroney from Fast Times At Ridgemont High & Chopping Mall & the AWESOME Night Of The Comet!!! 🙂 (I take every opportunity I can to mention the fact that she & Catherine Mary Stewart follow me on Twitter…) 😉

Thanks also to @videovangaurd @le0pard13 & @RobbinsRealm for retweeting it. Drew Struzan needs more recognition!  

Happy 2nd Blogiversary To Me

I’m having a party! And you’re all invited…

Hi all! How is it possible that I’ve not seen a movie where Mary Ingalls slaughters a bunch of people?! Well… I’ve made it to two years! Wasn’t sure that I would (and almost didn’t). I’m now chilling a bit and just doing this thing when I have the time. Let’s do a little recap of this past year and then I’ll talk a bit about my (more laidback!) plans for the future of this blog. 🙂

MOVIES:

As usual, I’ve watched a lot of movies so far this year. I’m way behind on reviewing the movies I’ve watched at home but have at least managed to review most the movies I went to in the cinema. Top Ten lists will of course be done end of December (god I love LISTS!) but here are My Top Five Movies (watched in the theater & at home so far in 2014) (the full RANKED list can be found HERE for anyone who is really curious. or bored).

Seen In The Cinema:

1. The Wolf Of Wall Street – 9/10
2. Guardians Of The Galaxy – 8.5/10
3. Her – 8.5/10
4. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes – 8/10
5. Edge Of Tomorrow – 8/10

Seen At Home:

1. Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind – 9/10
2. The Return Of The Living Dead – 8/10
3. Spring Breakers – 7/10
4. Full Metal Jacket – 8/10
5. Marnie – 7.5/10

STATS:

My views are still nothing compared to the 100,000 a lot of you seem to get in just one year but I’m happy enough considering I know I’ve slowed down on the blogging this year. As always, I’m most thankful to everyone who stops by & leaves me a comment as I always love some movie chat. 🙂 I’ve found it very hard to keep up with blogging this year but I do my best on catching up when I can.

As always, I loved seeing my above All-Time Top Search Terms. I had no idea 21 Jump Street was in the lead, probably because I reviewed the movie as well as talked about the TV show (which was way better and nothing whatsoever like the movies). It’s nice to see that Avengers Dildos is still going strong and that Duplicitous Taint is slowly gaining. The power of anything slightly pervy, eh?

Which leads me to My Most Viewed Posts. Well, number one by FAR is still the same as last year: My Top Ten Shower & Bath Scenes In Movies. Coming in second is Chris Hemsworth’s Butt In Rush (along with Natalie Dormer’s naked butt as well – I know this now that I’m obsessed with & halfway through Game Of Thrones). In third place is my About Me page. I’m honored to be so close to Chris Hemsworth’s naked bum! *snicker snicker* I was hoping that My Top Ten Carpets & Rugs In Movies would be a top post but it doesn’t quite make it.

One of the highlights for me this year was getting a lot of Twitter attention for my review of Night Of The Comet. The film’s star, Kelli Maroney, thanked me for the review and she & Catherine Mary Stewart now follow me on Twitter! Oh, and Egg Dude in the middle. We’re all gonna go on a post-apocalyptic shopping spree together! 🙂

GUEST REVIEWS:

I’d once again like to thank everyone who participated in my massive John Hughes Blogathon back in March. I believe I managed to get at least one review for every film written by Hughes (except for one obscure one – I’ll try to do that one myself someday). You can find the links to every John Hughes review HERE including my The Breakfast Club and Don’t You Forget About Me (documentary about John Hughes) reviews that NO ONE read as everyone was sick of Hughes after an entire month… 😉

Also, thank you as always to everyone who has contributed to (or at least signed up for) my ongoing IMDB Top 250 Challenge (you can find the links to every review HERE). I have guest reviews scheduled for every Tuesday from now through February at the moment! I’ve fallen way behind on the 100 I’m meant to be doing myself – this year I’ve only managed to watch 9 and, of those, only reviewed 3. Yikes! So I plan to do a lot more IMDB reviews myself in 2015. Which leads me to some plans I have for Cinema Parrot Disco in 2015…

FUTURE PLANS FOR THE BLOG:

As I said before, I’m planning to take it a little easier & not push myself to do loads of reviews if I don’t have time. I have a few things planned, like an Akira Kurosawa Month & a Charlie Chaplin Month where I’ll work through reviewing their IMDB Top 250 films (plus a few more). Don’t worry, I won’t overdo things like I did with John Hughes – I’ll still review other things too those months. 😉 I also plan to start my own blogging relay soon that I’m hoping will work its way around WordPress. And, as always, I’m still trying to think of the best ways to make the time to READ READ READ all your blogs too! The main things I’ll be focusing on for this blog in 2015 besides my own IMDB Top 250 reviews are:

Studio Ghibli Month in January:

As you can see above, I’ve ranked Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind as the best movie I’ve seen at home this year but I’ve not yet reviewed it. I’ve watched a lot of Studio Ghibli films this year that I’ve not yet reviewed so have decided I’ll review as many as I can through January. As so many of them are in the IMDB Top 250, I’m doing all those (as well as several others) and am holding off on the guest IMDB reviews that month.

John Carpenter Project:

When I finished the John Hughes Blogathon, I announced that my next blogathon would be a John Carpenter one. Apologies to the few people who got really excited about this… I kept putting it off as I remembered JUST how much work is involved in a blogathon so, instead, I’ve decided to make it my own personal project to review all his movies in 2015. Not sure yet if I’ll post them randomly when I get time or if I’ll save them up then post them all when I’ve finished them. Either way, I’m not going to stress about it & will take my time. I’m doing this because there are a few big films of his I’ve still not seen. Unlike the Ryan Gosling Project, I won’t abandon this project. (I got bored with Ryan Gosling. I’m so fickle! Then again, it’s not like he’s done anything as bad as Ghosts Of Mars. Hmm…)

Wow. Sorry for the LONG POST! It was all a bit “me me me”, which I hate. The truth is, I’ve kept doing this for two years now thanks to all you great people! I do love to “have a chat” when I have time and wish I could find more time for this blogging thing. Thanks again to everyone who visits and who comments – I’m sorry I’ve not been visiting other blogs much this year. I really do appreciate you all! Not just these lovely people below but also those who’ve taken the time to comment on even one of my silly posts. You’re the best! THANK YOU! 🙂

CPD Classics: Night Of The Comet (1984) Review

Night Of The Comet (1984)

Directed by Thom Eberhardt

Starring:
Catherine Mary Stewart
Kelli Maroney
Robert Beltran
Sharon Farrell
Mary Woronov
Geoffrey Lewis
Peter Fox
John Achorn
Michael Bowen

Running time: 95 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls to fight the evil types who survive.

First of all, I know I promised “Zombie Fridays” through October but I’ve had to change my schedule slightly so may not manage that. I’ll try. Night Of The Comet is KIND OF a zombie movie! Second of all, I should point out that CPD Classics are simply some of my all-time favorite movies or movies I just feel deserve more attention. Not all of them will necessarily be “good” but they’re all special to me (like Hardware!). Night Of The Comet won’t be for everyone but I grew up with it and it’ll always make me think of my early teens and make me feel all nostalgic.

Why It’s A CPD Classic:

Night Of The Comet is part of the post-apocalyptic genre that I adore. I did a list of My Top Ten Post-Apocalyptic Movies HERE and gave this an honorable mention. I think that’s back when I wanted you all to take me seriously but, if I’m honest, this would be in my Top Ten. This is certainly one of the movies most responsible for my fascination with this genre.

So, as the above plot synopsis says, a comet wipes out pretty much everyone on Earth besides the two sisters in this film and a small group of scientists who were the only ones smart enough to worry about the comet and took shelter. Oh, and it also turned some people with limited exposure to the comet into “zombies”. See? Zombies! (Don’t go expecting a full-on zombie movie, though – there are only a few of them!)

There truly aren’t many survivors in this movie and I was always quite fascinated with how desolate it is (think Will Smith in I Am Legend or Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later). These two girls are left roaming around these silent big city streets and there’s not a soul in sight (except for a couple of those zombies). They first go to this great massively 80’s-looking radio station as they figure there may be survivors there since the station is still on the air. Then, and this is my FAVORITE bit, they realize they can go to THE MALL and take whatever they want since everyone is dead! So we get this great 80’s montage where the sisters, seemingly not too terribly bothered about the planet being wiped out, go on a fun little shopping spree and try on loads of clothes. I LOVE IT. Now, I’ve never been a girly girl but I first saw this when I was 12 or 13 and I think a small part of me wished for a similar scenario in real life so I, too, could go on a post-apocalyptic shopping spree. Is that fucked up?? Lol. Screw that shopping spree in Pretty Woman (where Julia Roberts shows those snobby bitches that she’s not just a slut, she’s a slut with MONEY!). Night Of The Comet has THE best cinematic girly shopping spree.

Now, onto the characters… The little sister is played by Kelli Maroney and, when I used to watch this all the time, I found her character a little annoying. I actually did re-watch this for the first time in years the other day and liked her much more. She’s just very “young” and she’s meant to be the less mature one who kind of needs to be taken care of by her older sister. It’s quite cute how the only thing she cares about with everyone dead is the fact that she may never have another boyfriend plus I have a soft spot for her as she was also in Fast Times At Ridgemont High and the awesomely bad (but I love it anyway) Chopping Mall.

Probably the MAIN reason I liked Night Of The Comet so much, however, was because of the older sister (played by the lovely Catherine Mary Stewart). She’s COOL. There are a few (mostly obscure) actresses I wanted to “be” as a young teen. Regulars here will already know how much I loved Elisabeth Shue in Adventures In Babysitting. I also had a thing for Meredith Salenger (most her movies were crap but I wanted to look like her) and Tammy Lauren (a prize to the first person who can name something she’s been in without looking her up! she’s going to be in another review of mine this month). Then there was Catherine Mary Stewart in THIS. First of all, she works at a movie theater which I thought was pretty cool. She’s wearing this dumb uniform at the beginning but manages to look awesome in it. She’s also screwing the projectionist, which is super cool (yeah – I think it would kick ass to make out in that little room while a movie is playing). Hell, it’s what saves her life as she’s not outside when the comet appears!

Let’s see… She’s also amazing at playing video games (she’s super pissed off that some new initials have emerged in amongst all her high scores on the video game at the movie theater where she works). Oh! And… She’s good at fighting off zombies and is really good with a gun as the girls’ father was in the military or something and taught them both how to shoot (now very convenient for these comet-apocalypse girls!). Finally, she wears the coolest 80’s clothes and is of course totally attractive.

Summary:

Wow. I hope none of you actually read any of that above – it sounds like I was a massive geek! Well, all kids are geeks at that age, right? This is the first CPD Classic that I actually re-watched before writing my review as I hadn’t seen it in a long time. I already knew it wasn’t that “good” so was expecting it to be horribly dated now. You know what? It’s better than I remember. I can’t say anyone watching this for the first time now is going to love it unless they love 80’s movies (and this is VERY 80’s) but it’s a fun film and has a very “cult classic” feel to it now. There are plenty of 80’s films I still adore even though I will readily admit that they’ve not aged well but I was very surprised to find that, after re-watching Night Of The Comet, it’s actually gone up in my estimation. Worth a watch for lovers of the 80’s, anything post-apocalyptic, zombies, video games, girls dressed as cheerleaders while shooting guns, no thorough plot explanations, and shopping.

My Rating: 8/10