A few days have passed since Halloween, and after spending the last two months watching horror movies in a festive rage, I find myself feeling how I used to feel as a kid after Christmas--like all the fun in the world is over. And just as the annual onslaught of early Christmas marketing begins, I hope I can still spread a little Halloween cheer with these humble notes of horror-love.
Last year,
My Season of Horror was probably my favorite blog post to write because it helped me focus on a genre I've come to love, despite my relative inexperience with it. This year I decided to dedicate not just one, but two months to watching as many horror movies as possible. Though I still didn't end up watching as many as I would have liked, I was able to cover some solid ground and figure out which corners of the horror film universe I want to visit next.
Now that I've made it this far down the horror movie rabbit hole, it's even more apparent that I'm still only scratching the surface. Last year I admitted that, though I loved horror films, I'd not yet watched enough to feel like I could call myself a true horror fan. This year, my rapidly increasing enthusiasm for all things horror that tells me the opposite. After all, isn't enthusiasm the thing that makes you a true fan of something?
So, here's the format going forward--same as last year, I'll offer a quick-and-dirty review of every horror film I watched during the Halloween season (excluding repeat viewings), in chronological viewing order. I'll also give each film a letter grade, but don't take that too seriously. These are kind of first-reaction reviews, and if the film gets a B or higher, its a definite recommendation.
The Evil Dead
Kicked off my 2016 season of horror with the one-two cult classic punch of
The Evil Dead and it's beloved sequel
Evil Dead II. For me, both these films lived up to the hype, and then some. There's probably little to say about these movies that hasn't already been said. But whether it's been said before or not, I'll say this:
The first
Evil Dead film is a shining testament to both low-budget and genre film-making. The more horror films I watch, the more I realize that it might be the most technically innovative genre of the entire art form. Low-budget horror filmmakers are often ravenous dogs backed into a corner, with no choice but to use the camera and the editing bay to fight their way out.
Evil Dead is rife with signs of this type of film-making. My favorite type of special effects are ones that only do half the work, leaving the other half up to camerawork and editing.
Evil Dead's best and most impressive moments are all brilliant utilization of this. The story is simple, strange, and fun, and it's been done before and since several times (bunch of friends at a remote location, attacked by supernatural evil...and zombies). But what makes the Evil Dead so special is the kinetic, inventive approach. I'm using a lot of broad platitudes here, but if you haven't seen
Evil Dead, watch it and it won't take long to see what accounts for its lasting appeal.
Grade: A-
Evil Dead II
When a low-budget surprise hit leads to a bigger-budget sequel, the result is often lackluster at best. As it's reputation suggests,
Evil Dead II is definitely not such a case. Sam Raimi manages to maintain, and sometimes exceed the standard of camera work, editing, special effects, humor, and frenetic energy of his first
Evil Dead picture, while somehow keeping it all vibrant and fresh. This movie is also where star Bruce Campbell's Ash really comes into being, and again, it became immediately apparent to me as to why this series of films, and their ludicrous hero, have garnered such an enthusiastic fan base.
Grade: A
The Cabin in the Woods
It's hard to know how much more I would have liked this one had I seen it upon its release, rather than five years later when I've got a serious case of Joss Whedon fatigue. There's much to enjoy about this film, but at this point I can only take so much riffing on any given thing before I just want to enjoy the original thing on its own merits. That is to say, I'd rather watch an actual cabin-in-the-woods horror movie than a send-off, even if it's as clever as
The Cabin in the Woods insists it's being. But before you Joss Whedonites get your pitchforks out, let me just say, I did appreciate how the film seemed to get more and more creative with its premise as it went along, eventually becoming its own animal entirely. At the end of the day, this movie a lot of fun, but the cult classics it is satirizing (like
Evil Dead, for instance) will always be
more fun.
Grade: C+
Hush
Hush isn't a new classic by any means, but it is a taught, efficiently executed contemporary thriller. It's winning premise--a deaf writer being terrorized by a sadistic burglar in her remote forest home--is mostly given an effective enough treatment. Ultimately, though, much more could have been done technically to immerse the viewer into the sensory world of the deaf protagonist. There are a lot of wasted opportunities in this film, but over all it's a pretty good bit of viewer exploitation.
Grade: B
The Hunger
On a purely aesthetic level, this one's an A++. In other areas, it's still really great. Every frame of this vampire love triangle (featuring a brilliant trio of stars in Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Surandon) is sexy as hell, and the blackish-blue New York setting is every bit as moody and dreamlike as
Blade Runner's future Los Angeles. I've watched the film's music video-esque
opening scene a few times since my first viewing, and I'm still getting a visual buzz from it.
The Hunger was also a bitter sweet treat to watch in the year of
Bowie's death, a cathartic reminder of the man's unique star-power and prismatic talent.
Grade: A-
The Wicker Man
A bizarre tale of a puritanical police sergeant sent to a pagan Scottish island village in search of a missing girl,
The Wicker Man is an almost comic orgy of weirdness (both literally and figuratively) up until its horrifying twist and finale. I don't think I've ever seen a film that leans so heavily on the terror of one moment and succeeds so thoroughly in doing so. With a slew of gonzo performances (including the always fantastic Christopher Lee as the village's nefarious leader) and plenty of unnerving imagery,
The Wicker Man is a very fun, very creepy delight.
Grade: A-
Repulsion
Along with it's more famous counterpart,
Rosemary's Baby, this brilliant Roman Polanski horror classic captures the daily terrors of what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. Though the film is technically a surreal journey through the life of Catherine Deneuve's sex-repulsed protagonist, the most horrific scenes are often the most realistic. There's a slow-burning attempted rape scene in particular that is absolutely terrifying in its quiet, technical restraint. Roman Polanski's infamous personal history also makes this film a disconcertingly clear example of art transcending the artist.
Grade: A
Hellraiser
The earliest manifestations of my interest in horror were when I would peruse the horror section of Blockbuster as a child, staring at the VHS box art with perverse fascination. Of all the iconic horror movie images from that time that burrowed deeply in my mind, the image of
Hellraiser's Pinhead--the guy with all the nails in his white face and scalp--looms largest. Finally watching the movie from whence this specter of my childhood sprang was a singular experience, equal parts alluring and demystifying. The film itself is a novelesque melodrama, probably because it's the directorial debut of horror novelist Clive Barker. Horror films and horror literature seldom feel like each other. But this film felt curiously like reading a good piece of horror fiction, while also offering the visual catharsis and baroque gore of a distinguished horror movie.
Grade: B
Planet of the Vampires
Planet of the Vampires is my first foray into the filmography of Italian director Mario Bava, but it sure as hell won't be my last. This sci-fi horror cult classic is a wonderfully campy, fetishistic cross between Forbidden Planet and Alien, with delightfully BDSM-ish costume design and low-budget practical effects that are beautifully augmented with style. If you're looking for pure aesthetic pleasure, check this one out ASAP.
Grade: B+
Bone Tomahawk
This neo-western thriller is a surprisingly well acted, well written, and well directed film that finds a meaningful place for Eli Roth-style torture porn gore without taking the fun out of it. Kurt Russel (one of American cinema's most underrated actors) leads a magnificent cast of crusty frontiersman on a mission to rescue some their townsfolk from cannibal cave dwellers. Stylistically,
Bone Tomahawk leaves something to be desired in comparison to other films I watched this year, but it sure is an effective genre portrait of Anglo-society and its inability to co-exist with the more mysterious forces of nature.
Grade: B+
Army of Darkness
Given the significantly lower Rotten Tomatoes score (not that I usually put any stalk in Rotten Tomatoes scores) and its troubled post-production history, I went into this third installment of the
Evil Dead franchise ready to be slightly underwhelmed after having loved the first two. I was an idiot.
Army of Darkness is fantastic. Picking up where the
Evil Dead II leaves off, Bruce Campbell's Ash finds himself transported from the cabin in the woods to a medieval wasteland to battle the undead once again. If you think that sounds ridiculous, you're probably imagining something much tamer than this movie.
Army of Darkness is an insanely fun ride with some of the most fun practical effects I've ever seen.
Grade: B+
Children of the Corn
Don't be me. Don't believe your mom when she tells you this movie is so scary that when she saw it as a teenager she slept on the floor in her parents room for a week. This movie is really boring and annoying, and I don't know why it maintains a reputation that would have anyone believe otherwise. I wish I could say it was at least campy, like fun campy, but it's not. And it's not so-bad-its-good either. It's just bad. And that's a shame, because the premise is great, and the opening scene--where diner patrons in a small Midwestern town are massacred by their own children--sets it up to be great as well. It takes an earnest stab at exploring themes of tension in religious fundamentalism, as well as the tension between pure faith and blind obedience. Ultimately, though, it only dabbles in what might otherwise be interesting thematic territory. This is a story that's ripe for a good remake, and it'd be great to have a new
Children of the Corn that's actually good instead of one that should be good, but is really bad.
Grade: C-
Creep
It's not a particularly distinguished piece of work (as a found-footage thriller is wont to be these days), but I'll be damned if
Creep isn't a ton of fun. Director Patrick Brice (who also did 2015's criminally unnoticed dark comedy
The Overnight) leads us through a delightful descent into madness with the ever-inspired Mark Duplass as the film's titular character. The film's improvisational nature probably accounts for both its strongest and weakest parts. There are definitely some distractingly unbelievable moments, but ulimately all the pieces amount to something really fun and genuinely shocking.
Grade: B+
Halloween (2007)
John Carpenter's
Halloween is arguably the gold standard for the slasher genre. It's also the first slasher film I remember watching, and remains one of my favorites. Needless to say, I never gave much thought to watching the Rob Zombie remake, until a few trustworthy sources urged me to give it a shot. Right from the beginning this is a delightfully effective retelling of Michael Myers' story. The way Zombie subverts and builds upon this franchise's iconography and mythology is fresh and intriguing. Though things kind of come screeching to a halt in the middle (after the compelling first act, which covers Michael's childhood transformation into the monster we all know), the film picks up again and ends on a surprisingly powerful emotional note. I'm really looking forward to watching Zombie's
Halloween II, which, from what I hear, is the real winner. I'm also looking forward to watching more of Rob Zombie's work. There were so many great directorial choices and moves in this movie that I really want to see what he does with original material as well. I guess what I'm finding out as I write this is that I enjoyed
Halloween for what it introduced me to as much as what it reminded me of.
Grade: B+
Hausu
If you're a film fan, you've probably seen the marketing material for this one (usually featuring a big, bright orange cat with cartoonish lips and jaws) all over the place, even if you haven't seen the film itself. I had heard plenty about
Hausu before seeing it, but nothing could have prepared me for how beautiful, bizarre and brilliant it really is. There's much to unpack in
Hausu, but upon first viewing I was simply overjoyed at the visual insanity on the surface. For more on the feminism of
Hausu, read this
insightful article over at Smug Film, one of my absolute favorite film sites/podcasts.
Grade: A
Carrie
Finished off the season with a long-overdue classic. I'm already certain that, had I seen this like 10 years ago like I should have, it would have been a cemented favorite, and probably would have set me on a path to a 2016 where Brian DiPalma is my favorite filmmaker instead of Kubrick. In other words, I adored this movie. Just about everyone is aware of it's iconography, has seen pictures, if not actual footage from the film's climax where Carrie is covered in blood and reaking telekinetic havoc on her high school prom. But unless you've seen the whole thing, you really can't understand how brilliantly horrifying it really is. Much like
The Shining,
Carrie is the result of a master at work, changing the horror genre forever by making it his own. My favorite kind of movies are the ones that force you to consciously acknowledge the medium, and
Carrie does this to chilling effect. It's a classic genuinely acknowledged as such by the mainstream. But if
Carrie and
The Shining are hailed as cinematic masterpieces, then that acknowledgement should put some serious cracks in our cultural misgivings about the entire horror genre.
Grade: A
Top 5 of the Season
1. Carrie
2. Repulsion
3. Evil Dead II
4. Hausu
5. Halloween
