Dir - Robert Wise
You will never be rid of him
I must admit that I am simply not a big fan of hardly any of the RKO/Val Lewton produced horror outings of the 1940s, especially the two most hugely praised ones Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie. Perhaps then it is the great Robert Wise taking the helm of The Body Snatcher that makes it as good as it is. Well, that and Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi making it their seventh and final film together, though Lugosi’s role is sadly regulated to a scant few minutes of screen time which still produces one of the pair’s very finest scenes together. This deters the film not at all though, as Karloff the great is at the top of his game as the grave-robbing scoundrel John Gray, one of his many, many “best” roles. His performance would be enough to carry the proceedings gloriously along even if the rest of the film was utter jargon, but alas, The Body Snatcher features an astonishingly strong script, especially for such a small budget genre film. The ending is particularly strong, a rarity itself in horror films.
Dir - Terence Fisher
"Do you believe in evil?"
Though not one of the studio's more well known Gothic monster epics, The Devil Rides Out is nevertheless a largely respected Hammer entry and certainly my favorite film by the legendary company. You got Christopher Lee of course who is always worth a great deal, an appearance by Satan himself, and a white vs. black magic showdown that conjures up, (amongst other things), a giant spider and the Angel of Death. Lee actually plays a good guy here and he was such a fan of the film that he has expressed interest numerous times over the decades to remake it, reprising his role as Duc de Richleau. This would actually work better than one would think as said character was in fact a far older chap and closer to Lee’s current age in the novel the film is based on. Remakes of great movies are never necessary, but I could not help but be on board for one that was under Lee’s influence. Regardless of whether they get around to it or not, The Devil Rides Out stands as a hallmark occult film and again for my money, easily the best non-monster movie in the Hammer cannon.
Dir - Alejandro Jodorowsky
"My hands! My hands!"
With only six completed full-length films to his credit since 1968, French/Chilean madman Alejandro Jodorowsky certainly is not the most prolific of filmmakers. Yet he is definitely one of the most eccentric. I fell in love this man’s work after experiencing 1973’s gloriously-on-drugs The Holy Mountain for the first time. He only made one rather tame outing between that and 1989’s Santa Sangre, making this a comeback of sorts. Shockingly provocative avant-garde insanity is what Jodorowsky films are all about, though Sangre is slightly more "straight-forward" story-wise than either Mountain or the man’s other famous opus, 1970's El Topo. It is also his only movie that could fit into the horror genre, admittingly by a stretch mind you. It is chalk-full of head-scratchingly bizarre scenes, one after the other such as Down's syndrome patients snorting cocaine, an elaborate funeral parade for an elephant, a man who thinks he is both a phoenix and the Invisible Man, and a cult that worships an armless girl. Think of it as a very twisted version of Psycho, albeit with more clowns, whores, and midgets.
Dir - Jaume Balagueró/Paco Plaza
The camera keeps rollin'
Though superhero films often get it right for whatever reason, (The Dark Knight, X-Men Days of Future Past, Batman & Robin, etc), superior horror sequels are a very rare breed. Rarer still is a superior sequel to an already excellent film and [REC] 2 just happens to be one of those. Starting immediately where [REC] ended, it makes sense that [REC] 2 plays the same game as its predecessor, only the rules very much have changed the second time around. Fairly early on here, writing/directing team Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza reveal their ace in the hole and a very different level of creepiness gets heaped upon the already sufficient “zombies on the rampage” formula. It is a bold move, but it more than delivers in setting it apart from what just as easily and safely could have been a carbon copy of the first film. Both Balaguero and Plaza have since split up to each take on a separate sequel to add to the franchise, so time will tell if they can continue to hit pay dirt. With two kick-ass films in a row, they certainly have nothing to prove in my eyes, but they have certainly given me no reason to doubt them either.
Dir - Roger Corman
"Are you ready now Bartolome?"
The second Roger Corman/Vincent Price Edgar Allan Poe adaptation Pit and the Pendulum may be the quintessential Gothic horror outing. A gargantuan, dark and spooky castle which is cast upon a mountain top with violent waves crashing about underneath it, also with a history of madness and murder lurking inside its walls, this is prime horror movie real estate we are talking about. The film treads very similar terrain as the previous year’s House of Usher, (stranger visits a castle, Vincent Price is the weirdo who lives there, there is a beautiful wife/sister, etc.), only everything has been improved upon. Price goes mad with a vengeance, the always sensuous Barbara Steele wreaks some ghostly havoc, and a Spanish Inquisition torture chamber gets a full work out. The prolific Richard Matheson, (who I believe has more writing credits on this list than anyone else), penned the screenplay as he did Usher and two more Poe/Corman/Price films in the following two years. As is the case with each said adaptation, they all use the Poe title and little else in the original story, but one can hardly complain. As Corman himself put it, “…a two-page short story is not about to give you a ninety-minute motion picture”. Touché Mr. Corman.
Dir - Don Siegel
No sleep for you
Your family not being who they say they are? Not being able to fall asleep, even for an instant? Afraid you will wake up as a different person? Freaky shit and all brilliantly realized in nearly everyone’s favorite sci-fi horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Now I am a weirdo and actually prefer the 1978 remake to this one, (which I will get to later on in this list), but there is no denying that both are excellently realized. Pods from space that turn people into soulless, passionless clones was both a metaphor for the increasingly conforming suburban community of America and for the Communist paranoia of the day, and decades later the film can still resonate on variations of these themes. All of that aside though, Invasion is just a good goddamn horror movie. The entire premise is assuredly creepy and Kevin McCarthy’s turn from a calm and charming town physician to a hysterical and desperate man who is all alone against a seemingly unstoppable “monster” is chilling to behold. A classic through and through.
Dir - Dan O'Bannon
"What would be like, the most horrible way to DIIIEEE?"
I can and probably will watch this movie a hundred or so times in my lifetime and to put it simply, no zombie film is more fun than Return of the Living Dead. Writer/director Dan O’Bannon, (the man who also wrote Alien and did a whole lot of stuff behind and on screen in John Carpenter's amateur-hour debut Dark Star), utilizes none of that Romero-esque social commentary here. Instead, it is just good ole brain-eating mayhem, served up tongue-very-much-in-cheek. More silly than anything else, Return nevertheless features the most badass zombies a horror movie has yet to produce. Impossible to “kill”, running and feasting at full speed, and tossing off one-liners like nobody’s business, the ridiculousness is ever intensified as the situation grows more and more hopeless for the ensnared zombie-meat. The initial re-animated Tarman they foolishly unleash in the basement is particularly nasty. Of course, let us not forget Linnea Quigley's naked-punk-chick-stripping-in-a-graveyard scene, surely the single greatest nude moment in cinema history. Fun for the whole family!
Dir - Lew Landers
"Yes! I like to torture!"
Out of the seven Boris Karloff/Béla Lugosi team-ups, The Raven is my personal favorite. Dracula is Dracula, but I dare say that Lugosi’s turn as the maniacal Dr. Richard Vollin is possibly the best performance the Hungarian legend ever gave. Universal supposedly offered it to Karloff originally, wanting Lugosi to play the killer-on-the-run Edmund Bateman. Instead, Lugosi insisted on the two actors switching roles, which was a wise move to be sure. Karloff got the top billing anyway and the film did little business when originally released, all unfortunately fueling both Lugosi’s jealously over his towering English rival and his declining box office appeal. If only The Raven and Lugosi got the praise they deserved at the time. Like the also fantastic The Black Cat from the previous year, The Raven is just over an hour and uses an Edgar Alan Poe story for its title. It also shares a torture theme with said film and Lugosi goes gloriously over the top when it is time to bust out the dungeon toys. Any Lugosi fan is well aware of this gem, but for the uninitiated out there, make it a priority.
Dir - Tobe Hooper
So, how do you feel about leather?
The exploitation “slasher” film to rule them all, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is horror at its most horrific. I first saw it in high school and it basically fucked with me something fierce. I refused to watch it again for several years, but by that time I had grown to appreciate the cultural importance and technical aspects of the film. Its low-budget, grainy, documentary look as well as the in-your-face directness of the violence does oodles to get in your head and stay there. Though the first half kind of slags, shit gets really fucked-up before too long and the dinner scene climax is otherworldly disturbing. Sally’s non-stop, blood-curdling screams during the final reel may be the most perfect horror ending you can get. It certainly still packs quite a wallop and though I cannot say that I can joyously revisit this film as much as others on this list, that is probably very much the point or at least very much should be.
Dir - Alfred Hitchcock
Hello mother dear
I did not intend to put two films very loosely inspired by the same serial killer Ed Gein in a row, but well, here we are. Though some could split hairs and argue that Psycho is more of a serial killer movie than a proper horror movie, the incredibly famous “shower scene” pretty much settles the score right there in my book. Really though, those silhouetted murder scenes which build-up to that legendary “twist” in the finale all set this one firmly in the horror camp. Also, it would inspire countless other genre films. A pre-curser to slashers in particular, (for better or worse), Psycho was a violent and shocking statement for its day and could easily be regarded as Hitchcock’s finest hour. Though I can hardly dispute such praise, I nevertheless have one more from the master of suspense on the way. There is really not much else that can be said about the film that has not already been said countless times already, so if you are one of the zero people who have yet to see it, very much do so already.
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