homage to the horror flick

in homage of halloween, i dedicate this to my favorite horror movies. i guarantee that i will watch at least half of these movies from now until oct 31st.

#10. friday the 13th (parts 1-6, not to exceed 7)
my personal favorite ft13 are parts 3, 4, and 5... i think. sure, they've collected some cheese since being made way back in the 80's, but come on, it's jason voorhees. we can't let halloween come and go without watching jason slice, dice, snap, crack, and bludgeon countless hapless, oversexed teenagers; and laugh in the process. just don't go beyond ft13 number 7; if you think 1-6 are ridiculous, wait til you see jason in outer space...

#9. alien
another oldie-but-goodie. unlike #10, this movie hasn't collected much cheese, making the fear factor much higher. the lack of music makes this movie more tense. and who can forget the infamous scene in which the alien hatchling breaks free from Kane's chest at the dinner table? priceless.

#8. from dusk til dawn
this is one of the simplest vampire films ever made; as far as the bloodsuckers go, they appear halfway through the film and our heroes must individually slay each one before meeting their own demise. but the lack of vampire plot works so well. it's almost as if the vampire story is a sub-plot to tarantino's and clooney's outlaw kidnapping, but becomes the main focus through willy-nilly weapon-throwing. the humor is dark here, and no matter how many times i watch this film, i stay entertained throughout.

#7. the hills have eyes (2006, remake)
i have yet to meet another chick out there who enjoys this movie as much as i do. or even enjoys this movie at all. hills takes a lot of risks with its gore, and borders on unacceptable. but that's the beauty of this movie; it doesn't pull any punches. the bad guys are really, really bad.

#6. feast
what a surprise with this bloody little sleeper. the only 2 reasons i rented this movie were because 1) it was a horror flick, and 2) balthazar getty was on the cast list. i had no expectations of this movie being good. fortunately for low expectations, feast has become one of my favorite horror movies of all time. it is incredibly bloody, comedic when it needs to be, ingenious, and raunchy in small but extreme doses. i say rent it asap.

#5. dead birds
a ghost story of a different nature, dead birds is definitely one to be watched late at night, with the lights out (preferably in a room where you have a mattress on the floor with nothing in between it and the floor).

#4. seven
tense, psychological, inventive, well-written. any movie that invents new ways to kill people and doesn't do it in a way that you can tell that the death is fake is o.k. by me.

#3. the ring
i would consider myself a pretty solid horror-movie connoisseur, but... the first time i watched this movie, it was late at night. i had all the lights off. i almost made it through the movie, but within the last ten minutes, had to turn the lights back on.

#2. the thing (john carpenter, 1982)
this has to be the only movie that still has the power to scare me almost as much as it did when i watched it when i was little. the music alone is enough to make me turn on the lights while the sun is up. even the creature effects, for 1984, still hold their own against the CGI of today (although some of today's generation might disagree). the movie even has intelligence, like the scientific testing they do on each other to determine who's afflicted or not. and there's something sinister about being far from society in icy tundra, pursued by alien life forms, without help or escape nearby.

#1. the texas chainsaw massacre (2003, remake)
this is the best remake out there right now. it's tense, it's gory, it's downright scary as shit. leatherface looks great (in a bad way); the house becomes one of the creepiest characters in the movie; and, if nothing else, jessica biehl and eric balfour are sexy-ass motherfuckers. and, i love a horror movie that attempts to throw in some syripy, emotional bullshit that makes you feel more connected to the characters- and succeeds.