Dir - Peter Duffell
A real-estate agent's nightmare
The first though certainly not last Amicus anthology horror film to appear on this list is the one with that excellently tongue-firmly-in-cheek Jon Pertwee/Ingrid Pitt vampire episode “The Cloak”. Definitely the most fun segment in the bunch as the Third Doctor Pertwee is clearly enjoying himself as an utter hambone horror film star and Ingrid Pitt and her glorious cleavage are bountifully on display. Yet Dripped Blood is also noteworthy for having both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing once again on board, each in a different story. Cushing’s “Waxworks” with its mysterious wax museum and Lee’s “Sweets To the Sweet” with his not-so-innocent daughter are both excellent. Indiana Jones’ Denholm Elliott starts the whole thing off as a going-slightly-mad author in the very Tales From the Crypt-esque “Method for Murder”. So basically, the fantastic cast is what sells it. Though that being said, Robert Bloch, (the guy who wrote Psycho), cannot go without praise here as he penned all four stories.
59. NOSFERATU (1922)
Dir - F.W. Murnau
All hail Max Schreck!
Long before What’s-Her-Twilight-Fuck-Name turned vampires into sparkling pussies, the undead looked like demonic, venomous rodents. Max Schreck’s iconically wretched make-up is still the most grotesque Dracula presentation to date and it is hard not to chuckle when the Thomas Hutter (or Jonathan Harker), character does not immediately run screaming to the hills when he lays eyes on him. My favorite silent horror film by a mile, F. W. Murnau’s 1922 German Expressionist classic Nosferatu is a mainstay on almost all horror movie lists and one of four Dracula adaptations appearing on this one. Many liberties were taken with the source material as is always the case, down to the Count’s name, (Orlok here) and setting, (England switches to Germany), as this was due to Bram Stoker’s still-living widow successfully suing over copyright infringement at the time. The 1979 Werner Herzog remake almost made my list as well and is a far more surreal experience, (though the great Klaus Kinski’s Count is a bit weaselly).
58. HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1972)
Dir - Carlos Aured
The Naschy rises
Any fan of 70s and/or European horror is bound to know and bow down to the name Paul Naschy. The actor has the distinction of playing every monster ever and a werewolf particularly more times than anyone, (twelve to be exact), hence the long-running nickname of the “Spanish Wolfman”. It is therefor rather ironic that his only appearance on this list is one of his non-werewolf films, but nevertheless his best in Horror Rises from the Tomb. I am as big a Naschy fan as anyone, but there is no denying that all of his films are rather flawed. Nearly all of them only exist in (terribly) dubbed versions and ridiculous scripts that weave in and out of logic are very much the norm. Just about every Waldemar Daninsky film recycles an almost identically silly plot, yet do not let any of this deter you. They are all varrying levels of awesome. Horror Rises’ tale of a resurrected evil sorceress and her warlock lover reaping their vengeance on the modern world has all the Gothic, gory, sex laden carnage that Naschy movies relish in. Missing lycanthropian shenanigans be damned.
57. DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965)
Dir - Freddie Francis
Five guys walk into a train carriage...
The other great British horror company Amicus Production made eight anthology horror films between 1965 and 1980 and they kicked off their fantastic run with Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. These films utilized many of the same actors as Hammer Studios did, primarily Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, who both appear here. Whereas Hammer mastered the old period Gothic thing, Amicus set almost all of their films in the present day for budgetary reasons. Both companies produced some utter classics though, Dr. Terrors easily one of the finest. As is always the case with these “multiple stories” features, some are weaker than others, (the killer plant story “Creeping Vine” takes the turkey prize here), but “Voodoo” and Lee’s “Disembodied Hand” are pure awesomeness. We even get both a werewolf and a vampire in the remaining two tales. Cushing does killer work in the title role, (with German accent and all), and Lee’s douchebag art critic is pitch perfect. Amicus produced one better than this one, but Dr. Terror’s is certainly a good enough place to start as any.
56. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
Dir - John Landis
Bad moon a-risin'
John Landis is a man well known for directing some of the greatest comedies ever made, (Blues Brothers, Coming to America, Kentucky Fried Movie), so it is hardly surprising that he laces his very best horror movie An American Werewolf In London with enough humor to remind us it is still him. Really though, Werewolf packs a hell of a lot bigger wallop as a horror movie than anything else. Many of its moments, (particularly those strange dream sequences), are rather frightening indeed. The film’s greatest triumph is in its ability to balance the humor throughout the horror. The career-making transformation scene by Rick Baker is easily the best human-to-beast moment ever filmed, made all the more unsettling by Sam Cooke softly crooning “Blue Moon” in the background. I personally dig that once he goes full wolfman, we only catch quick glimpses of him crawling on all fours as he brutally mauls a handful of people to death. This is as perfect an example as one can find that good ole fashioned make-up, animatronics, and puppets come off so much better than CGI cartoon horseshit any day of the week.
55. THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973)
Dir - John Hough
Another evil old house that was born bad
As sort of a second cousin to Robert Wise's The Haunting, The Legend of Hell House is yet another haunted abode film and from that golden early 70s era of horror no less. Richard Matheson's script, (based off his own novel of the same name), shares an almost identical premise with that of The Haunting, with a physicist, his wife, and a couple of psychics going to investigate another old creepy castle which was built by an eccentric madman. Not to keep comparing the two, but this movie is a little more heavy and graphic than the aforementioned The Haunting, (which makes sense as it was made ten years later), particularly in the sexual overtones which become pretty creepy in some intense possession sequences. The finale is a tad over the top with perhaps too much explanation and “science vs. the supernatural” jargon, but none of this deters from the end result. It certainly helps that the always wonderful Roddy McDowall and hella robo-babe Gayle Hunnicutt are present, but in the end it is that good ole nasty Hell House itself which is the star of the show.
54. RINGU (1998)
Dir - Hideo Nakata
Good thing VCRs are not around anymore, eh?
The ultimate “J horror” movie and highest grossing film ever in Japan, Ringu very much got the ball rolling for the hugely popular resurgence of the sub-genre. The ghost of a pissed-off girl who uses technology to reap her vengeance upon the unsuspecting living is as standard as contemporary Japanese horror stories can get and it was arguably never been better done than here. I am very much a fan of most Japanese horror films that I have seen and Ringu takes the prize with a memorable premise and many outstandingly creepy moments. Director Hideo Nakata, (whose Dark Water is also excellent and also got an American remake), creates an eerie tension throughout that ultimately climaxes with one of horror cinema’s finest moments. You know, the one that makes you not want to keep a TV in your bedroom. The American The Ring did a rather exceptional job at delivering the scares, (perhaps not surprising as it is very similar), but I can read just fine so subtitles are never a problem, therefore making this the superior version.
53. HORROR EXPRESS (1972)
Dir - Eugenio Martín
"Satan lives! The unholy one...is among us!"
A rare Spanish horror/sci-fi film set on a train from China to Moscow and staring the classic British paring of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, (all with a side of Telly Savalas), Horror Express is certainly daft on paper yet oh so much fun on film. It is almost even more of a 70s horror fan’s wet dream as Alberto de Mendoz’s mad monk looks uncannily like the great Spanish every-monster-ever star Paul Naschy, so much that me and my cousin both just pretend it is him when watching it. Speaking of Naschy, the sultry Helga Line who stared in both The Mummy’s Revenge and more importantly Horror Rises From the Tomb also makes an appearance, (though unfortunately her clothes stay on this time for those seeking birthday suits). All this and more combine to make one of the better low budget foreign horror films I think ever made, with a “monster on the loose in close quarters, picking off people one by one” framework expertly and even humorously done. As good as Cushing and Lee are, Mendoz’s fanatically disturbed monk steals the show, uttering forth some of the most quotable lines ever for a metal band to sample.
52. BRAINDEAD (1992)
Dir - Peter Jackson
"Your mother ate my dog!"
Behold the goriest film of all time! Now I am sure the Japanese have made a few attempts to top it, bless their hearts, but there comes a point in cinema, (I would call this the “lawnmower scene”), where the amount of blood and guts per second that can possibly be shown on screen simply reaches its limit. Braindead, (or Dead Alive as us Americans like to call it), is such an over-the-top, cartoony spatterfest that it qualifies way more as a comedy than a horror movie. Me and anyone I have ever watched it with have certainly found ourselves laughing to the point of tears far more than cowering in fear at the grotesqueness being spewed forth in nearly every frame. This makes it probably the silliest zombie film ever made, (Return of the Living Dead a close second). As everyone I hope knows, the great Peter Jackson has gone on to much more profitable and respectable blockbuster territory with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I for one fell in love with his early disgust-fests such as this, Bad Taste, and Meet the Feebles long before. It still belongs on a horror list for all the astronomically ridiculous zombie liquification that goes down.
51. BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992)
Dir - Francis Ford Coppola
All hail Gary Oldman!
Francis Ford Coppola’s supposedly “faithful” take on the Bram Stoker novel that started it all was a movie I was literally obsessed with as a kid. I made my own Bram Stoker’s Dracula board game for a science project in 6th grade, for one. So more than some others on this list, this movie holds a nostalgic place in my heart as I was at the perfect age and already a bona-fide monster movie fanatic when it came out. All that aside and despite Keannu Reeve’s infamously lackluster efforts, the film holds up just as well today. In fact I appreciate more things about it now than I ever did, for instance Coppola’s insistence on going all retro with the special effects which are all are fantastic. With a budget like this, Coppola did not hesitated in going over the top, with everything from werebeast rape to baby eating thrown violently into the mix. Also, let us not forget the Count’s occasionally ridiculous and almost laugh out loud funny costume choices. The cast, (minus Reeve of course), is all kinds of fun, with Anthony Hopkins and certainly Gary Oldman delivering rather iconic performances to say the least. I am calling it that this is the most entertaining Dracula pic yet made and naturally a movie that I cannot wait to show my little ones. Though I will certainly wait until it is at least 6th grade science project time.
A real-estate agent's nightmare
The first though certainly not last Amicus anthology horror film to appear on this list is the one with that excellently tongue-firmly-in-cheek Jon Pertwee/Ingrid Pitt vampire episode “The Cloak”. Definitely the most fun segment in the bunch as the Third Doctor Pertwee is clearly enjoying himself as an utter hambone horror film star and Ingrid Pitt and her glorious cleavage are bountifully on display. Yet Dripped Blood is also noteworthy for having both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing once again on board, each in a different story. Cushing’s “Waxworks” with its mysterious wax museum and Lee’s “Sweets To the Sweet” with his not-so-innocent daughter are both excellent. Indiana Jones’ Denholm Elliott starts the whole thing off as a going-slightly-mad author in the very Tales From the Crypt-esque “Method for Murder”. So basically, the fantastic cast is what sells it. Though that being said, Robert Bloch, (the guy who wrote Psycho), cannot go without praise here as he penned all four stories.
Dir - F.W. Murnau
All hail Max Schreck!
Long before What’s-Her-Twilight-Fuck-Name turned vampires into sparkling pussies, the undead looked like demonic, venomous rodents. Max Schreck’s iconically wretched make-up is still the most grotesque Dracula presentation to date and it is hard not to chuckle when the Thomas Hutter (or Jonathan Harker), character does not immediately run screaming to the hills when he lays eyes on him. My favorite silent horror film by a mile, F. W. Murnau’s 1922 German Expressionist classic Nosferatu is a mainstay on almost all horror movie lists and one of four Dracula adaptations appearing on this one. Many liberties were taken with the source material as is always the case, down to the Count’s name, (Orlok here) and setting, (England switches to Germany), as this was due to Bram Stoker’s still-living widow successfully suing over copyright infringement at the time. The 1979 Werner Herzog remake almost made my list as well and is a far more surreal experience, (though the great Klaus Kinski’s Count is a bit weaselly).
Dir - Carlos Aured
The Naschy rises
Any fan of 70s and/or European horror is bound to know and bow down to the name Paul Naschy. The actor has the distinction of playing every monster ever and a werewolf particularly more times than anyone, (twelve to be exact), hence the long-running nickname of the “Spanish Wolfman”. It is therefor rather ironic that his only appearance on this list is one of his non-werewolf films, but nevertheless his best in Horror Rises from the Tomb. I am as big a Naschy fan as anyone, but there is no denying that all of his films are rather flawed. Nearly all of them only exist in (terribly) dubbed versions and ridiculous scripts that weave in and out of logic are very much the norm. Just about every Waldemar Daninsky film recycles an almost identically silly plot, yet do not let any of this deter you. They are all varrying levels of awesome. Horror Rises’ tale of a resurrected evil sorceress and her warlock lover reaping their vengeance on the modern world has all the Gothic, gory, sex laden carnage that Naschy movies relish in. Missing lycanthropian shenanigans be damned.
Dir - Freddie Francis
Five guys walk into a train carriage...
The other great British horror company Amicus Production made eight anthology horror films between 1965 and 1980 and they kicked off their fantastic run with Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. These films utilized many of the same actors as Hammer Studios did, primarily Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, who both appear here. Whereas Hammer mastered the old period Gothic thing, Amicus set almost all of their films in the present day for budgetary reasons. Both companies produced some utter classics though, Dr. Terrors easily one of the finest. As is always the case with these “multiple stories” features, some are weaker than others, (the killer plant story “Creeping Vine” takes the turkey prize here), but “Voodoo” and Lee’s “Disembodied Hand” are pure awesomeness. We even get both a werewolf and a vampire in the remaining two tales. Cushing does killer work in the title role, (with German accent and all), and Lee’s douchebag art critic is pitch perfect. Amicus produced one better than this one, but Dr. Terror’s is certainly a good enough place to start as any.
Dir - John Landis
Bad moon a-risin'
John Landis is a man well known for directing some of the greatest comedies ever made, (Blues Brothers, Coming to America, Kentucky Fried Movie), so it is hardly surprising that he laces his very best horror movie An American Werewolf In London with enough humor to remind us it is still him. Really though, Werewolf packs a hell of a lot bigger wallop as a horror movie than anything else. Many of its moments, (particularly those strange dream sequences), are rather frightening indeed. The film’s greatest triumph is in its ability to balance the humor throughout the horror. The career-making transformation scene by Rick Baker is easily the best human-to-beast moment ever filmed, made all the more unsettling by Sam Cooke softly crooning “Blue Moon” in the background. I personally dig that once he goes full wolfman, we only catch quick glimpses of him crawling on all fours as he brutally mauls a handful of people to death. This is as perfect an example as one can find that good ole fashioned make-up, animatronics, and puppets come off so much better than CGI cartoon horseshit any day of the week.
Dir - John Hough
Another evil old house that was born bad
As sort of a second cousin to Robert Wise's The Haunting, The Legend of Hell House is yet another haunted abode film and from that golden early 70s era of horror no less. Richard Matheson's script, (based off his own novel of the same name), shares an almost identical premise with that of The Haunting, with a physicist, his wife, and a couple of psychics going to investigate another old creepy castle which was built by an eccentric madman. Not to keep comparing the two, but this movie is a little more heavy and graphic than the aforementioned The Haunting, (which makes sense as it was made ten years later), particularly in the sexual overtones which become pretty creepy in some intense possession sequences. The finale is a tad over the top with perhaps too much explanation and “science vs. the supernatural” jargon, but none of this deters from the end result. It certainly helps that the always wonderful Roddy McDowall and hella robo-babe Gayle Hunnicutt are present, but in the end it is that good ole nasty Hell House itself which is the star of the show.
Dir - Hideo Nakata
Good thing VCRs are not around anymore, eh?
The ultimate “J horror” movie and highest grossing film ever in Japan, Ringu very much got the ball rolling for the hugely popular resurgence of the sub-genre. The ghost of a pissed-off girl who uses technology to reap her vengeance upon the unsuspecting living is as standard as contemporary Japanese horror stories can get and it was arguably never been better done than here. I am very much a fan of most Japanese horror films that I have seen and Ringu takes the prize with a memorable premise and many outstandingly creepy moments. Director Hideo Nakata, (whose Dark Water is also excellent and also got an American remake), creates an eerie tension throughout that ultimately climaxes with one of horror cinema’s finest moments. You know, the one that makes you not want to keep a TV in your bedroom. The American The Ring did a rather exceptional job at delivering the scares, (perhaps not surprising as it is very similar), but I can read just fine so subtitles are never a problem, therefore making this the superior version.
Dir - Eugenio Martín
"Satan lives! The unholy one...is among us!"
A rare Spanish horror/sci-fi film set on a train from China to Moscow and staring the classic British paring of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, (all with a side of Telly Savalas), Horror Express is certainly daft on paper yet oh so much fun on film. It is almost even more of a 70s horror fan’s wet dream as Alberto de Mendoz’s mad monk looks uncannily like the great Spanish every-monster-ever star Paul Naschy, so much that me and my cousin both just pretend it is him when watching it. Speaking of Naschy, the sultry Helga Line who stared in both The Mummy’s Revenge and more importantly Horror Rises From the Tomb also makes an appearance, (though unfortunately her clothes stay on this time for those seeking birthday suits). All this and more combine to make one of the better low budget foreign horror films I think ever made, with a “monster on the loose in close quarters, picking off people one by one” framework expertly and even humorously done. As good as Cushing and Lee are, Mendoz’s fanatically disturbed monk steals the show, uttering forth some of the most quotable lines ever for a metal band to sample.
Dir - Peter Jackson
"Your mother ate my dog!"
Behold the goriest film of all time! Now I am sure the Japanese have made a few attempts to top it, bless their hearts, but there comes a point in cinema, (I would call this the “lawnmower scene”), where the amount of blood and guts per second that can possibly be shown on screen simply reaches its limit. Braindead, (or Dead Alive as us Americans like to call it), is such an over-the-top, cartoony spatterfest that it qualifies way more as a comedy than a horror movie. Me and anyone I have ever watched it with have certainly found ourselves laughing to the point of tears far more than cowering in fear at the grotesqueness being spewed forth in nearly every frame. This makes it probably the silliest zombie film ever made, (Return of the Living Dead a close second). As everyone I hope knows, the great Peter Jackson has gone on to much more profitable and respectable blockbuster territory with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I for one fell in love with his early disgust-fests such as this, Bad Taste, and Meet the Feebles long before. It still belongs on a horror list for all the astronomically ridiculous zombie liquification that goes down.
Dir - Francis Ford Coppola
All hail Gary Oldman!
Francis Ford Coppola’s supposedly “faithful” take on the Bram Stoker novel that started it all was a movie I was literally obsessed with as a kid. I made my own Bram Stoker’s Dracula board game for a science project in 6th grade, for one. So more than some others on this list, this movie holds a nostalgic place in my heart as I was at the perfect age and already a bona-fide monster movie fanatic when it came out. All that aside and despite Keannu Reeve’s infamously lackluster efforts, the film holds up just as well today. In fact I appreciate more things about it now than I ever did, for instance Coppola’s insistence on going all retro with the special effects which are all are fantastic. With a budget like this, Coppola did not hesitated in going over the top, with everything from werebeast rape to baby eating thrown violently into the mix. Also, let us not forget the Count’s occasionally ridiculous and almost laugh out loud funny costume choices. The cast, (minus Reeve of course), is all kinds of fun, with Anthony Hopkins and certainly Gary Oldman delivering rather iconic performances to say the least. I am calling it that this is the most entertaining Dracula pic yet made and naturally a movie that I cannot wait to show my little ones. Though I will certainly wait until it is at least 6th grade science project time.
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