_____V_____
12-23-2008, 07:21 AM
Welcome to Part 4 of a 5-part, decade-wise exploration of the finest horror cinema. So far, we've done the 60's (http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37777), the 70's (http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38364) and the 80's (http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39107). This, and the following list, look not just at the most acclaimed horror films of the decade, but the ones with the most impactful cultural footprint. I hope you enjoy the show, and go back to your classic DVDs with a smile on your face.
(All credit goes to the original author who wrote the initial descriptions. I put forth my choice of movies only. The Blurbs have been taken from the Stickied Top 100s and related threads.)
Let's just call 'em the nondescript nineties.
The Internet. The Gulf War. Seinfeld. Dolly The Sheep. The iMac. Michael Schumacher. ICQ. Lara Croft. Grunge fashion. Michael Jordan. Genocide in Rwanda. Spice Girls. The death of Princess Diana. OJ Simpson 'not guilty'. Tiger Woods. The Simpsons. The death of Freddie Mercury. Techno music. Sony PlayStation. End of the Cold War. MC Hammer. The Taliban seize Afghanistan. MP3s. Nelson Mandela. The death of Kurt Cobain. Jay Leno takes over from Johnny Carson. Hip-hop. The death of Mother Teresa. Baywatch. Oasis. The Chechen Wars. Guns'n'Roses break up. Hong Kong becomes a part of China. The world panics about impending y2k doom. And Bill Clinton does "not have sexual relations with that woman."
To be fair, it's a decade too soon to reminisce about just yet, considering the one after that hasn't even ended yet. Generation X moved over and was introduced to Generation Y, and global attention spans got even shorter. The world was ravaged by war and, for the first time, we were treated to round-the-clock news channel coverage of it. Meanwhile MTV, seemingly innocuously, created shows in a new genre called 'reality television,' a stultifying monster that continues to haunt us to this day.
In popular film, the era of the blockbuster continued unabated. American cinema was overwhelmed by groundbreaking special effects, even as the European influence shone through in its independent cinema as a major number of auteur directors found their wings. Film was developed to meet new formats, the medium itself altered by radical editing and a significant increase in close-up cinematography -- both results of home viewing becoming as important as theatrical viewing. A new style of consumption necessitated a new style of creation, and the CD brought exactly that to the table.
The ten following horror films, presented strictly in chronological order, have little in common with each other. Save for the fact that they all made our collective jaws drop in awe.
01) Jacob's Ladder (1990)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RVHWFR20L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
In this under-appreciated acid trip of a film, we follow Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer, a Vietnam war vet who begins to experience violent, demonic hallucinations. Immersing us in a subjective reality, Jacob's Ladder forces us to witness the same horrible world as Jacob, leaving little room to catch your breath. It's only too soon that you realize that each terrifying image, each nightmarish hallucination, and each cruel reality (although it becomes increasingly hard to separate them) served to set you up and knock you down, reeling in a final revelation.
If you haven't seen it yet, make it a priority, and prepare to peel back the many layers of Jacob's Ladder.
02) Dead Alive aka Braindead (1992)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZD8DCJAWL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
A great deal of the movies on the Sickest & Gorific 100 list are there because of their realism: they expose the depravity that could happen right in your own neighborhood and are terrifying because of it. This couldn’t be further from the truth for Dead Alive, a gorehound’s dream in the most over-the-top, cartoony fashion that I have ever seen.
To say that the gore is plentiful is an understatement. This movie takes about 15 minutes to set up the carnage, and after that it’s just balls-to-the-wall foolishness right to the end. We’ve got zombie babies, the most sickening custard of all-time, a monster-mother that makes even the worst in-laws look like a gift from Heaven, a lawnmower massacre, and – my personal favourite – a Catholic priest who “kicks ass for the Lord”.
It’s a much coveted title, especially among the movies on this list, but as far as I’m concerned this HAS to be the goriest movie of all time. There are certainly movies that are far more disturbing, but in terms of blood and guts per minute I think Dead Alive beats out just about everything. And just think – the guy behind this now makes 3 hour plus, multi-million dollar Hollywood epics. Oh how times have changed.
03) Army of Darkness (1992)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PR3E6JABL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
There's not much that can be said about this film that hasn't been said already. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell team up for a third time in what could quite possibly be the world's most perfect horror-comedy.
This sequel to Evil Dead 2 picks up where that film left off and our cult hero, Ash, keeps the one liners and blood flowing just like this movie's predecessors. The low budget effects only add to the campy appeal of this classic film. A wonderful and complete entertainer from start to finish.
04) Cemetery Man aka Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y948K0Z2L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
One of the most entertaining zombie films ever made. This one has it all, comedy, gore and the big bare man-made boobs of Anna Falchi.
Francesco Dellamorte (the brilliantly cast Rupert Everett) works in the town cemetery. His main job is dispatching the newly dead who just happen to rise from grave like clockwork in this one particular cemetery soon after they are first buried - aided only by his trusty man-child man-servant Gnaghi. (Gnaghi steals the movie several times - especially with his 'love for TV' wink-wink) There is a bizarre love ...(triangle...rectangle ..?) subplot featuring the sexy Anna Falchi like only the Italians could pull off - but the film really takes wing when an accident between a school bus full of boy scouts and a biker gang fill the cemetery in one fell swoop. Francesco's pain is our gain .. not to be missed!
05) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411R7MSBQ1L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
In the Mouth of Madness is far more intelligent and creepy than it is often given credit for; its an intriguing film that actually stuck with me long after I shut off the television. Of all of Carpenter's films, this one may be his most underrated.
Inspired by the tales of H.P Lovecraft, the atmosphere is spot on, the imagery is disturbing, and the film does an excellent job of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Its like watching a nightmare unfold; you just aren't quite sure when reality ends and the nightmare begins. The casting of Sam Neill as an insurance investigator investigating the disappearance of hugely successful horror novelist Sutter Cane is perfect. I have rarely seen him better. In many ways, the script is a rather twisted love letter to horror literature, which manages to stir and terrify us with words and imagination. Not to be missed.
(Contd.)
(All credit goes to the original author who wrote the initial descriptions. I put forth my choice of movies only. The Blurbs have been taken from the Stickied Top 100s and related threads.)
Let's just call 'em the nondescript nineties.
The Internet. The Gulf War. Seinfeld. Dolly The Sheep. The iMac. Michael Schumacher. ICQ. Lara Croft. Grunge fashion. Michael Jordan. Genocide in Rwanda. Spice Girls. The death of Princess Diana. OJ Simpson 'not guilty'. Tiger Woods. The Simpsons. The death of Freddie Mercury. Techno music. Sony PlayStation. End of the Cold War. MC Hammer. The Taliban seize Afghanistan. MP3s. Nelson Mandela. The death of Kurt Cobain. Jay Leno takes over from Johnny Carson. Hip-hop. The death of Mother Teresa. Baywatch. Oasis. The Chechen Wars. Guns'n'Roses break up. Hong Kong becomes a part of China. The world panics about impending y2k doom. And Bill Clinton does "not have sexual relations with that woman."
To be fair, it's a decade too soon to reminisce about just yet, considering the one after that hasn't even ended yet. Generation X moved over and was introduced to Generation Y, and global attention spans got even shorter. The world was ravaged by war and, for the first time, we were treated to round-the-clock news channel coverage of it. Meanwhile MTV, seemingly innocuously, created shows in a new genre called 'reality television,' a stultifying monster that continues to haunt us to this day.
In popular film, the era of the blockbuster continued unabated. American cinema was overwhelmed by groundbreaking special effects, even as the European influence shone through in its independent cinema as a major number of auteur directors found their wings. Film was developed to meet new formats, the medium itself altered by radical editing and a significant increase in close-up cinematography -- both results of home viewing becoming as important as theatrical viewing. A new style of consumption necessitated a new style of creation, and the CD brought exactly that to the table.
The ten following horror films, presented strictly in chronological order, have little in common with each other. Save for the fact that they all made our collective jaws drop in awe.
01) Jacob's Ladder (1990)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RVHWFR20L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
In this under-appreciated acid trip of a film, we follow Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer, a Vietnam war vet who begins to experience violent, demonic hallucinations. Immersing us in a subjective reality, Jacob's Ladder forces us to witness the same horrible world as Jacob, leaving little room to catch your breath. It's only too soon that you realize that each terrifying image, each nightmarish hallucination, and each cruel reality (although it becomes increasingly hard to separate them) served to set you up and knock you down, reeling in a final revelation.
If you haven't seen it yet, make it a priority, and prepare to peel back the many layers of Jacob's Ladder.
02) Dead Alive aka Braindead (1992)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZD8DCJAWL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
A great deal of the movies on the Sickest & Gorific 100 list are there because of their realism: they expose the depravity that could happen right in your own neighborhood and are terrifying because of it. This couldn’t be further from the truth for Dead Alive, a gorehound’s dream in the most over-the-top, cartoony fashion that I have ever seen.
To say that the gore is plentiful is an understatement. This movie takes about 15 minutes to set up the carnage, and after that it’s just balls-to-the-wall foolishness right to the end. We’ve got zombie babies, the most sickening custard of all-time, a monster-mother that makes even the worst in-laws look like a gift from Heaven, a lawnmower massacre, and – my personal favourite – a Catholic priest who “kicks ass for the Lord”.
It’s a much coveted title, especially among the movies on this list, but as far as I’m concerned this HAS to be the goriest movie of all time. There are certainly movies that are far more disturbing, but in terms of blood and guts per minute I think Dead Alive beats out just about everything. And just think – the guy behind this now makes 3 hour plus, multi-million dollar Hollywood epics. Oh how times have changed.
03) Army of Darkness (1992)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PR3E6JABL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
There's not much that can be said about this film that hasn't been said already. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell team up for a third time in what could quite possibly be the world's most perfect horror-comedy.
This sequel to Evil Dead 2 picks up where that film left off and our cult hero, Ash, keeps the one liners and blood flowing just like this movie's predecessors. The low budget effects only add to the campy appeal of this classic film. A wonderful and complete entertainer from start to finish.
04) Cemetery Man aka Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y948K0Z2L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
One of the most entertaining zombie films ever made. This one has it all, comedy, gore and the big bare man-made boobs of Anna Falchi.
Francesco Dellamorte (the brilliantly cast Rupert Everett) works in the town cemetery. His main job is dispatching the newly dead who just happen to rise from grave like clockwork in this one particular cemetery soon after they are first buried - aided only by his trusty man-child man-servant Gnaghi. (Gnaghi steals the movie several times - especially with his 'love for TV' wink-wink) There is a bizarre love ...(triangle...rectangle ..?) subplot featuring the sexy Anna Falchi like only the Italians could pull off - but the film really takes wing when an accident between a school bus full of boy scouts and a biker gang fill the cemetery in one fell swoop. Francesco's pain is our gain .. not to be missed!
05) In The Mouth of Madness (1994)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411R7MSBQ1L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
In the Mouth of Madness is far more intelligent and creepy than it is often given credit for; its an intriguing film that actually stuck with me long after I shut off the television. Of all of Carpenter's films, this one may be his most underrated.
Inspired by the tales of H.P Lovecraft, the atmosphere is spot on, the imagery is disturbing, and the film does an excellent job of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Its like watching a nightmare unfold; you just aren't quite sure when reality ends and the nightmare begins. The casting of Sam Neill as an insurance investigator investigating the disappearance of hugely successful horror novelist Sutter Cane is perfect. I have rarely seen him better. In many ways, the script is a rather twisted love letter to horror literature, which manages to stir and terrify us with words and imagination. Not to be missed.
(Contd.)