Travicity
01-19-2011, 11:22 PM
A Bloody Good Collection: Essential Horror Blu-ray Gifts
From Z-grade slashers to artistic psychological portraits, these are the essential horror Blu-rays your collection deserves.
The Exorcist
Quite possibly the scariest movie ever made, William Friedkin's aggressive, ultra realistic take on demonic possession has been serving up nightmares for decades. Every element, from Father Karras' religious journey to the curious noises in the sound mix, are note perfect.
The Extended Director's Cut & Original Theatrical Version Blu-ray also comes with never before seen behind the scenes footage. It is quite amazing to see Regan MacNeil act like a little girl between takes.
Piranha 3D
Unprecedented amounts of fake blood were created for the production of Piranha 3D, a razor-sharp picture that mixes bikini-clad sexpots and schools of pesky piscatorial monsters.
Come for the boobies, stay for Jerry O'Connell getting his schlong bitten off.
If you have one of those newfangled 3D home theaters, ownership of this one is non-negotiable.
The Shining
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Stanley Kubrick focuses all his film-making craft toward one specific goal: to making you scared.
On paper, there's nothing that scary about The Shining, but the movie is just so ominous and creepy that simply looking at production stills gives me the creeps.
And Soon The Darkness
One of the newer subgenres of horror is parable of the bitchy American hottie finding death and destruction off the vacation path in the third world.
And Soon The Darkness finds Amber Heard and Odette Yustman both in bathing suits and loosely socio-political trouble. Karl Urban is the ex-pat with brain and brawn to help. (Or is he?)
Halloween
The film that launched a thousand imitators and a thousand doctoral theses.
Immoral, perhaps, the John Carpenter's (still?) unequaled use of the camera to equate the gaze of the depraved marks a major milestone in cinema.
Also: Jaime Lee Curtis yells real well
Frozen
Adam Green's low-budget Frozen is a great example of the "holy crap, what would I do?" subgenre of horror.
Three young adults of varying grades of intelligence get stuck on a ski lift with no food or communication for what they soon realize is too long to survive. And a storm is coming. And there are wolves.
Holy crap, what would I do?
The Fly
There's a helluva lot going on in David Cronenberg's The Fly.
For starters, it has groundbreaking (and gross!) special effects. Also, it posits Jeff Goldblum as a leading man (which can tilt an argument in either direction over whether The Fly is horror or sci-fi.) It is a ripping good yarn and it is also. . . .really, really sad.
Yes, David Cronenberg found a way, beneath all that pus and mucus, to retain a genuinely touching, doomed love story.
The Human Centipede
"Feed her!"
What sounds like a movie made on a dare is surprisingly. . . legitimate.
Hell, more than legitimate. It is "100% Medically Accurate", according to its much discussed marketing campaign.
The Human Centipede is actually far grosser in your mind than it is in reality, but it still isn't for the weak. For those with iron stomachs, however, there's a lot to chew on here.
Children of the Corn
Never has a person's fear of vegetables been so justified.
Boy preachers and agrarian economies are a deadly combination, and the 1984 version of Stephen King's strangely effective short story proves this with blood on the plains.
Check out this first picture, before all the sequels and the television series went all corny.
Let The Right One In
This bloody bildungsroman offers a winsome, Scandinavian twist to the vampire mythology.
Don't call it an art film, though. There are enough legitimate scares and gross-outs to keep the subtitle-hatin' mouthbreathers happy. (Tell 'em it's called Let The FRIGHT One In!)
Inferno
Italian sociopath Dario Argento has a rich résumé of somewhat interchangable horror fever dreams filled with rich color and "operatic" acting.
Among my favorites is Inferno, set in the phoniest looking art deco apartment building, a man looks for his lost sister only to find evil spirits. Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) provides the none-too-subtle score.
Orphan
I'd like to officially apologize to my readers for not including Orphan on my best of the year list from 2009. That was a mistake on my part.
Orphan is a fun, creepy and altogether inappropriate time at the movies. The scenes with Sarsgaard on the couch before the big reveal . . .man, I don't know how they got that past the MPAA. I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
Gremlins
Among the many life lessons found in this slightly-too-scary-for-kids picture is this: don't buy anything from old Chinese men!
This classic horror-comedy was one of the main reasons the PG-13 rating was formed. Gremlins is cute, cuddly and destructive.
The Midnight Meat Train
Clearly a winner based on title alone, this adaptation of a Clive Barker short story has a sterling cast consisting of Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones and Leslie Bibb as well as a welcome appearance from Brooke Shields.
This was expected to be Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura's big entry into Hollywood film-making but it didn't quite work that way. Still, don't blame distribution problems on the film. It has a sleek look and a palpable brutality.
Hellraiser
Clive Barker stepped behind the camera in 1987 and transgressive horror has never been the same.
Starring Andrew "Elim Garak" Robinson and the villain soon to be known as Pinhead, Hellraiser and its puzzle-bound Cenobites brought vicious gross-outs to a whole other level.
For those who felt Freddie and Jason were tame, there was always Pinhead.
Last House on the Left (2009)
Quite the contrast to Wes Craven's ragged, brutal original picture (condemned by some as snuff-porn), Dennis Iliadis' recent version of Last House on the Left has a clean, almost unnerving sparkle to it.
The story, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is classic, and its simple, crisp version is a great example of visual storytelling. (Up until the goofy ending.)
From Dusk till Dawn
Robert Rodriguez may not know how to spell (it should be til not till) but he knows how to make a fun vampire killin' picture.
From Dusk til Dawn didn't just inspire a bunch of sequels (and, perhaps, the Grindhouse movies) it is a lynchpin in the Kevin Bacon game. You've got Clooney, Salma Hayek, Keitel, Tom Savini, Fred Williamson as well as the usual Trejo/Marin factor.
There's a neat documentary called Full Tilt Boogie about the making of this movie - something that today would just be a Blu-ray bonus feature, but back in 1996 was a great look behind the scenes.
High Tension
One of the essential texts in the "New French Extremity," Alexander Aja's High Tension is light on subtlety, but rich with tone.
This home invasion picture relies heavily on the "nightmare you can't wake up from" factor, and, if you can handle the brutality, is a gripping piece of film-making.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
If horror films bring to light the demons from our dreams, what about a horror film set within our dreams?
That, plus the knives, the sweater and Robert Englund's (dare I say it?) corpsing made for one of the most legendary franchises of all.
Go back to the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (with, yes, Johnny Depp) on Blu-ray and see how the magic happened. (Then go see Dream Warriors to see where Christopher Nolan got his inception.)
Funny Games
I watched this movie because I was told that no one should watch this movie.
"Don't do it!" they said. "You'll want to take a shower for a month."
So, like a schmuck, I watched Funny Games. And I felt sick afterwards. It is the most hardcore home invasion film you'll ever see. Only locksmiths should like this movie.
The Ruins
More hottie Americans in the third world! No . . .don't do it, girls! Just study indigenous art from the safety of your UMass 2 credit class!
This time it isn't just the natives, but the very soil and plant life that takes vengeance against American imperialism. The ancient stone looks lovely against the deep red blood.
The Mist
It's hard to make a "group of characters stuck in a place" movie work for today's ADD audiences, but Frank Darabont's adaptation of the Stephen King story delivers the goods.
The two-disc Blu-ray showcases both the color and black-and-white version, as well as numerous commentaries and featurettes (including a salute to designer Drew Struzan!)
The Descent
Neil Marshall puts the funk in spelunk!
A group of tomboys with something to prove hit the caves when a combo platter of hubris and underground mole-demons spell disaster.
The Descent is a brutal and disgusting yet, somehow, fun movie that endeared Marshall to fanboys forver.
Hostel
The remarkably adept interview subject Eli Roth was able to turn a straightforward survival horror film into a political football, getting this title talked about about at parties far more than anyone had any right to expect.
The movie pushes boundries, no doubt, but Roth's lightning rod for controversy ensured that this film (which, yeah, does have some political theory in there somewhere) remains a touchstone.
Psycho
Forgive its grave misunderstanding of actual psychiatry and instead enjoy this landmark for its vice-like tension and Anthony Perkins' creepy-as-hell performance.
No amount of hyperbole can overstate just how shocking this picture was in 1960. Not just for its violence, but for dismissing its main character and getaway plot so unpredictably. Even by today's standards, such a shocking break from Screenwriting 101 would disorient audiences.
An American Werewolf In London
Arguably the greatest horror comedy of all time for a simple mathmatical reason. Some horror comedies rely a little on the funny, some rely a little on the scares. An American Werewolf in London is just REALLY funny and REALLY scary.
John Landis' masterpiece has an additional benefit: it makes fun of the Brits, and that's something we can all enjoy.
Hausu
Featuring more WTFs per capita than any other movie you are likely to see in a year, the recently discovered (in America) Japanese flick Hausu has brought new life to the midnight screening circuit.
A group of schoolgirls take a country vacation where supernatural doom awaits. Cutting edge (for 1977) special effects and a weaving narrative make this essential viewing for folks looking for something a little different.
Death Proof
The more time passes the more I recognize Death Proof to be something of a masterpiece. I can't explain why I like Death Proof - I don't normally like to listen to women babble on and on before getting attacked by a murderer in a car - but there's such a pure specificity to this movie that one can't help but stand back and give it a salute.
And then jump up for a freeze-frame group high five.
Evil Dead II
Slapstick meets horror meets ingenious hand-crafted effects meets Bruce Campbell's chin.
If this was the only thing Sam Raimi ever did, it would be enough to endear him to fanboys forever.
Can we owe the longevity of this one simply to good timing? "Or maybe. . .the doorway to another world?"
The House of the Devil
Note to self - if Tom Noonan ever invites you anywhere - DON'T GO!
This retro '80s horror pic (the hair! the clothes! The Fixx!) is a wonderful period piece right down the limited edition VHS release. That old time grain looks even better in high-def.
Drag Me To Hell
Never has an economic downturn been this much fun!
Alison Lohman's hard-hearted banker gets her comeuppance in the form of a gypsy's curse that puts a lot of gross things in her mouth.
The legendary parking garage sequence ranks as one of the finest jump-scare sequences in all of cinema - and if you saw it with a full theater you know how much fun that was.
Dawn of the Dead
George Romero may have invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, but he perfected what to do with them years later with Dawn of the Dead.
As society breaks down, a band of survivors take unlikely refuge in the sanctuary of a modern shopping mall, allowing for unnerving juxtapositions of violent death and consumer happiness. This picture's a bloody mess, but it is a work of frenzied genius.
Daybreakers
Ethan Hawke stars in this wonderful "what if?" that presents a world where the vampires have already won. Decades later, and they've run out of human blood. Symbolism much?
Willem Dafoe co-stars as a John the Baptist-esque character named Elvis. Yeah, this movie's kinda all over the place, but it's fun.
The Eye
Jessica Alba has the prettiest. . .eyes.
This J-horror remake puts some danger into the windows of the soul, when Alba, a blind violinist, begins seeing visions after a cornea transplant. These are naturally the horrors of the organs' previous owners, which leads me to think that I'd love to get a fingertip transplant from Hugh Hefner.
Friday the 13th Part III in 3D
In my opinion it was with the third film that Friday the 13th got into its groove. Many purists claim this is where it got stupid, and I don't necessarily disagree. I like a little fun with my butchery.
This was the first one where Jason put on the goalie mask, the only one released in 3D (yes, we had 3D in the 1980s), and the last one with involvement from Steve Minor.
The Blu-ray comes equiped with those cheap paper glasses, as well as a 2D version for people who don't like headaches.
Resident Evil
Viruses, red dresses, getting sliced into cubes by lasers. This is the joy of Resident Evil, the only financially and (I'll say it) artistically successful game-to-film franchise.
Hard Candy
You can sit around and watch Dateline or you can take the matter of sexual predators into your own hands.
Hard Candy launched the careers of Ellen Page and David Slade and made guys go "ahhhhhhhhhh" at all the castration moments.
Vampire Circus
Under the big top tonight. . . .bloodsucking, child-murdering vampires!
The violentest show on earth comes to a 17th century Balkan villiage and high definition Blu-ray, up-rezzing this 1970s David Prowse vehicle from 1972.
Zombieland
Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland provides important rules like: if you have a worn-out trope like zombies, do something original with them.
The Thing
Put a bunch of sweaty scientists and outdoorsmen in an isolated station in the snow, add an interstellar space illness, and watch the magic happen.
Each and every time I see the blood test scene in The Thing I shout "holy sh*t
Shaun of the Dead
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright zing their way through a film that simultaneously sends-up and salutes traditional zombie films.
Everyone loves this movie - even my mom liked it, and she'd never even heard of Dawn of the Dead.
Triangle
Empty boats, time loops, causality - oh, and Melissa George in a bathing suit. These are the elements that make british director Christopher Smith's feature Triangle worth sailing through.
Trick 'r Treat
Michael Dougherty's anthology of ghoulish tales is just one piece of Halloween candy away from attaining true cult status.
Anything with both Brian Cox and Dylan Baker in the same movie is definitely worth your while.
The Crazies
Waterborne weaponized crazy juice. That's what turning Timothy Olyphant's town into hell.
Featuring some of the best breakdown-of-society scenes in recent years, The Crazies is a fine example of nightmarish film-making with solid jump scares.
Creepshow
When George Romero and Stephen King join forces, crazy stuff is going to happen.
A man turns into a plant, bugs take over a clean house, Leslie Neilson drowns Ted Danson. Crazy, I tell ya!
Creepshow was on cable 500,000 times during my youth, but to see it in high-def brings it to a whole new level.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Who says horror movies can't sing?
Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter serve up human meat pies and familial remorse in Tim Burton's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's olde time British musical.
Final Destination
Don't lie. Every single time you lower your neck a bit and step onto a plane you think about the first Final Destination film.
What's interesting about this series, however, is that the characters suffer all sorts of contortions to get them to die, yet these films go through equivalent contortions to stay alive.
Return of the Living Dead
"I wanna party!"
Something of a side-quel to George Romero's orignial Night of the Living Dead, this goofy (yet still scary) mortuary-based zombie flick taught us all the horrible truth: it hurts to be dead.
Monster Squad
And with Monster Squad, we have a rallying cry.
Wolfman, indeed, has nards.
Saw
Before the Saw films became synonymous with the shame of having no girlfriend to go out with the Friday closest to Halloween, it was a clever little independent movie with the dude from Men in Tights.
Relive the goodness that was that first disgusting-but-not-too-disgusting film in a Blu-ray packed with bonus features.
UGO
From Z-grade slashers to artistic psychological portraits, these are the essential horror Blu-rays your collection deserves.
The Exorcist
Quite possibly the scariest movie ever made, William Friedkin's aggressive, ultra realistic take on demonic possession has been serving up nightmares for decades. Every element, from Father Karras' religious journey to the curious noises in the sound mix, are note perfect.
The Extended Director's Cut & Original Theatrical Version Blu-ray also comes with never before seen behind the scenes footage. It is quite amazing to see Regan MacNeil act like a little girl between takes.
Piranha 3D
Unprecedented amounts of fake blood were created for the production of Piranha 3D, a razor-sharp picture that mixes bikini-clad sexpots and schools of pesky piscatorial monsters.
Come for the boobies, stay for Jerry O'Connell getting his schlong bitten off.
If you have one of those newfangled 3D home theaters, ownership of this one is non-negotiable.
The Shining
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Stanley Kubrick focuses all his film-making craft toward one specific goal: to making you scared.
On paper, there's nothing that scary about The Shining, but the movie is just so ominous and creepy that simply looking at production stills gives me the creeps.
And Soon The Darkness
One of the newer subgenres of horror is parable of the bitchy American hottie finding death and destruction off the vacation path in the third world.
And Soon The Darkness finds Amber Heard and Odette Yustman both in bathing suits and loosely socio-political trouble. Karl Urban is the ex-pat with brain and brawn to help. (Or is he?)
Halloween
The film that launched a thousand imitators and a thousand doctoral theses.
Immoral, perhaps, the John Carpenter's (still?) unequaled use of the camera to equate the gaze of the depraved marks a major milestone in cinema.
Also: Jaime Lee Curtis yells real well
Frozen
Adam Green's low-budget Frozen is a great example of the "holy crap, what would I do?" subgenre of horror.
Three young adults of varying grades of intelligence get stuck on a ski lift with no food or communication for what they soon realize is too long to survive. And a storm is coming. And there are wolves.
Holy crap, what would I do?
The Fly
There's a helluva lot going on in David Cronenberg's The Fly.
For starters, it has groundbreaking (and gross!) special effects. Also, it posits Jeff Goldblum as a leading man (which can tilt an argument in either direction over whether The Fly is horror or sci-fi.) It is a ripping good yarn and it is also. . . .really, really sad.
Yes, David Cronenberg found a way, beneath all that pus and mucus, to retain a genuinely touching, doomed love story.
The Human Centipede
"Feed her!"
What sounds like a movie made on a dare is surprisingly. . . legitimate.
Hell, more than legitimate. It is "100% Medically Accurate", according to its much discussed marketing campaign.
The Human Centipede is actually far grosser in your mind than it is in reality, but it still isn't for the weak. For those with iron stomachs, however, there's a lot to chew on here.
Children of the Corn
Never has a person's fear of vegetables been so justified.
Boy preachers and agrarian economies are a deadly combination, and the 1984 version of Stephen King's strangely effective short story proves this with blood on the plains.
Check out this first picture, before all the sequels and the television series went all corny.
Let The Right One In
This bloody bildungsroman offers a winsome, Scandinavian twist to the vampire mythology.
Don't call it an art film, though. There are enough legitimate scares and gross-outs to keep the subtitle-hatin' mouthbreathers happy. (Tell 'em it's called Let The FRIGHT One In!)
Inferno
Italian sociopath Dario Argento has a rich résumé of somewhat interchangable horror fever dreams filled with rich color and "operatic" acting.
Among my favorites is Inferno, set in the phoniest looking art deco apartment building, a man looks for his lost sister only to find evil spirits. Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) provides the none-too-subtle score.
Orphan
I'd like to officially apologize to my readers for not including Orphan on my best of the year list from 2009. That was a mistake on my part.
Orphan is a fun, creepy and altogether inappropriate time at the movies. The scenes with Sarsgaard on the couch before the big reveal . . .man, I don't know how they got that past the MPAA. I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
Gremlins
Among the many life lessons found in this slightly-too-scary-for-kids picture is this: don't buy anything from old Chinese men!
This classic horror-comedy was one of the main reasons the PG-13 rating was formed. Gremlins is cute, cuddly and destructive.
The Midnight Meat Train
Clearly a winner based on title alone, this adaptation of a Clive Barker short story has a sterling cast consisting of Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones and Leslie Bibb as well as a welcome appearance from Brooke Shields.
This was expected to be Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura's big entry into Hollywood film-making but it didn't quite work that way. Still, don't blame distribution problems on the film. It has a sleek look and a palpable brutality.
Hellraiser
Clive Barker stepped behind the camera in 1987 and transgressive horror has never been the same.
Starring Andrew "Elim Garak" Robinson and the villain soon to be known as Pinhead, Hellraiser and its puzzle-bound Cenobites brought vicious gross-outs to a whole other level.
For those who felt Freddie and Jason were tame, there was always Pinhead.
Last House on the Left (2009)
Quite the contrast to Wes Craven's ragged, brutal original picture (condemned by some as snuff-porn), Dennis Iliadis' recent version of Last House on the Left has a clean, almost unnerving sparkle to it.
The story, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is classic, and its simple, crisp version is a great example of visual storytelling. (Up until the goofy ending.)
From Dusk till Dawn
Robert Rodriguez may not know how to spell (it should be til not till) but he knows how to make a fun vampire killin' picture.
From Dusk til Dawn didn't just inspire a bunch of sequels (and, perhaps, the Grindhouse movies) it is a lynchpin in the Kevin Bacon game. You've got Clooney, Salma Hayek, Keitel, Tom Savini, Fred Williamson as well as the usual Trejo/Marin factor.
There's a neat documentary called Full Tilt Boogie about the making of this movie - something that today would just be a Blu-ray bonus feature, but back in 1996 was a great look behind the scenes.
High Tension
One of the essential texts in the "New French Extremity," Alexander Aja's High Tension is light on subtlety, but rich with tone.
This home invasion picture relies heavily on the "nightmare you can't wake up from" factor, and, if you can handle the brutality, is a gripping piece of film-making.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
If horror films bring to light the demons from our dreams, what about a horror film set within our dreams?
That, plus the knives, the sweater and Robert Englund's (dare I say it?) corpsing made for one of the most legendary franchises of all.
Go back to the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (with, yes, Johnny Depp) on Blu-ray and see how the magic happened. (Then go see Dream Warriors to see where Christopher Nolan got his inception.)
Funny Games
I watched this movie because I was told that no one should watch this movie.
"Don't do it!" they said. "You'll want to take a shower for a month."
So, like a schmuck, I watched Funny Games. And I felt sick afterwards. It is the most hardcore home invasion film you'll ever see. Only locksmiths should like this movie.
The Ruins
More hottie Americans in the third world! No . . .don't do it, girls! Just study indigenous art from the safety of your UMass 2 credit class!
This time it isn't just the natives, but the very soil and plant life that takes vengeance against American imperialism. The ancient stone looks lovely against the deep red blood.
The Mist
It's hard to make a "group of characters stuck in a place" movie work for today's ADD audiences, but Frank Darabont's adaptation of the Stephen King story delivers the goods.
The two-disc Blu-ray showcases both the color and black-and-white version, as well as numerous commentaries and featurettes (including a salute to designer Drew Struzan!)
The Descent
Neil Marshall puts the funk in spelunk!
A group of tomboys with something to prove hit the caves when a combo platter of hubris and underground mole-demons spell disaster.
The Descent is a brutal and disgusting yet, somehow, fun movie that endeared Marshall to fanboys forver.
Hostel
The remarkably adept interview subject Eli Roth was able to turn a straightforward survival horror film into a political football, getting this title talked about about at parties far more than anyone had any right to expect.
The movie pushes boundries, no doubt, but Roth's lightning rod for controversy ensured that this film (which, yeah, does have some political theory in there somewhere) remains a touchstone.
Psycho
Forgive its grave misunderstanding of actual psychiatry and instead enjoy this landmark for its vice-like tension and Anthony Perkins' creepy-as-hell performance.
No amount of hyperbole can overstate just how shocking this picture was in 1960. Not just for its violence, but for dismissing its main character and getaway plot so unpredictably. Even by today's standards, such a shocking break from Screenwriting 101 would disorient audiences.
An American Werewolf In London
Arguably the greatest horror comedy of all time for a simple mathmatical reason. Some horror comedies rely a little on the funny, some rely a little on the scares. An American Werewolf in London is just REALLY funny and REALLY scary.
John Landis' masterpiece has an additional benefit: it makes fun of the Brits, and that's something we can all enjoy.
Hausu
Featuring more WTFs per capita than any other movie you are likely to see in a year, the recently discovered (in America) Japanese flick Hausu has brought new life to the midnight screening circuit.
A group of schoolgirls take a country vacation where supernatural doom awaits. Cutting edge (for 1977) special effects and a weaving narrative make this essential viewing for folks looking for something a little different.
Death Proof
The more time passes the more I recognize Death Proof to be something of a masterpiece. I can't explain why I like Death Proof - I don't normally like to listen to women babble on and on before getting attacked by a murderer in a car - but there's such a pure specificity to this movie that one can't help but stand back and give it a salute.
And then jump up for a freeze-frame group high five.
Evil Dead II
Slapstick meets horror meets ingenious hand-crafted effects meets Bruce Campbell's chin.
If this was the only thing Sam Raimi ever did, it would be enough to endear him to fanboys forever.
Can we owe the longevity of this one simply to good timing? "Or maybe. . .the doorway to another world?"
The House of the Devil
Note to self - if Tom Noonan ever invites you anywhere - DON'T GO!
This retro '80s horror pic (the hair! the clothes! The Fixx!) is a wonderful period piece right down the limited edition VHS release. That old time grain looks even better in high-def.
Drag Me To Hell
Never has an economic downturn been this much fun!
Alison Lohman's hard-hearted banker gets her comeuppance in the form of a gypsy's curse that puts a lot of gross things in her mouth.
The legendary parking garage sequence ranks as one of the finest jump-scare sequences in all of cinema - and if you saw it with a full theater you know how much fun that was.
Dawn of the Dead
George Romero may have invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, but he perfected what to do with them years later with Dawn of the Dead.
As society breaks down, a band of survivors take unlikely refuge in the sanctuary of a modern shopping mall, allowing for unnerving juxtapositions of violent death and consumer happiness. This picture's a bloody mess, but it is a work of frenzied genius.
Daybreakers
Ethan Hawke stars in this wonderful "what if?" that presents a world where the vampires have already won. Decades later, and they've run out of human blood. Symbolism much?
Willem Dafoe co-stars as a John the Baptist-esque character named Elvis. Yeah, this movie's kinda all over the place, but it's fun.
The Eye
Jessica Alba has the prettiest. . .eyes.
This J-horror remake puts some danger into the windows of the soul, when Alba, a blind violinist, begins seeing visions after a cornea transplant. These are naturally the horrors of the organs' previous owners, which leads me to think that I'd love to get a fingertip transplant from Hugh Hefner.
Friday the 13th Part III in 3D
In my opinion it was with the third film that Friday the 13th got into its groove. Many purists claim this is where it got stupid, and I don't necessarily disagree. I like a little fun with my butchery.
This was the first one where Jason put on the goalie mask, the only one released in 3D (yes, we had 3D in the 1980s), and the last one with involvement from Steve Minor.
The Blu-ray comes equiped with those cheap paper glasses, as well as a 2D version for people who don't like headaches.
Resident Evil
Viruses, red dresses, getting sliced into cubes by lasers. This is the joy of Resident Evil, the only financially and (I'll say it) artistically successful game-to-film franchise.
Hard Candy
You can sit around and watch Dateline or you can take the matter of sexual predators into your own hands.
Hard Candy launched the careers of Ellen Page and David Slade and made guys go "ahhhhhhhhhh" at all the castration moments.
Vampire Circus
Under the big top tonight. . . .bloodsucking, child-murdering vampires!
The violentest show on earth comes to a 17th century Balkan villiage and high definition Blu-ray, up-rezzing this 1970s David Prowse vehicle from 1972.
Zombieland
Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland provides important rules like: if you have a worn-out trope like zombies, do something original with them.
The Thing
Put a bunch of sweaty scientists and outdoorsmen in an isolated station in the snow, add an interstellar space illness, and watch the magic happen.
Each and every time I see the blood test scene in The Thing I shout "holy sh*t
Shaun of the Dead
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright zing their way through a film that simultaneously sends-up and salutes traditional zombie films.
Everyone loves this movie - even my mom liked it, and she'd never even heard of Dawn of the Dead.
Triangle
Empty boats, time loops, causality - oh, and Melissa George in a bathing suit. These are the elements that make british director Christopher Smith's feature Triangle worth sailing through.
Trick 'r Treat
Michael Dougherty's anthology of ghoulish tales is just one piece of Halloween candy away from attaining true cult status.
Anything with both Brian Cox and Dylan Baker in the same movie is definitely worth your while.
The Crazies
Waterborne weaponized crazy juice. That's what turning Timothy Olyphant's town into hell.
Featuring some of the best breakdown-of-society scenes in recent years, The Crazies is a fine example of nightmarish film-making with solid jump scares.
Creepshow
When George Romero and Stephen King join forces, crazy stuff is going to happen.
A man turns into a plant, bugs take over a clean house, Leslie Neilson drowns Ted Danson. Crazy, I tell ya!
Creepshow was on cable 500,000 times during my youth, but to see it in high-def brings it to a whole new level.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Who says horror movies can't sing?
Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter serve up human meat pies and familial remorse in Tim Burton's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's olde time British musical.
Final Destination
Don't lie. Every single time you lower your neck a bit and step onto a plane you think about the first Final Destination film.
What's interesting about this series, however, is that the characters suffer all sorts of contortions to get them to die, yet these films go through equivalent contortions to stay alive.
Return of the Living Dead
"I wanna party!"
Something of a side-quel to George Romero's orignial Night of the Living Dead, this goofy (yet still scary) mortuary-based zombie flick taught us all the horrible truth: it hurts to be dead.
Monster Squad
And with Monster Squad, we have a rallying cry.
Wolfman, indeed, has nards.
Saw
Before the Saw films became synonymous with the shame of having no girlfriend to go out with the Friday closest to Halloween, it was a clever little independent movie with the dude from Men in Tights.
Relive the goodness that was that first disgusting-but-not-too-disgusting film in a Blu-ray packed with bonus features.
UGO