With the Halloween season approaching, it’s inevitable that arts and media rags ‘n’ websites take to compiling lists of horror films. While the intentions in making these lists are always good, so is the road to Hell as the old saying goes. With that in mind, two fellow travelers of Hell’s many laneways (and making pit stops at the occasional Hell’s Denny’s), The Scope’s DVD critic Adam Clarke and Skullface & Others front-man Rodney Wall will be making 31 blog entries on notable horror films. One for each day that leads up to Halloween. Rather than condescending to tell you about the “best” horror films, they’re going to shed some light on lesser known entries in the genre that deserve to be discovered.
It’s not like there’s someone out there that doesn’t know how great John Carpenter’s Halloween or The Thing are or how spooky the original Nosferatu is by now, right?
Every day for the month of October, there will be a new entry on a sleeper horror film in the blog. This list of 31 will be complimented by a second list of ten appearing in The Scope’s October 23rd issue.
These reviews will not be enumerated as to say one’s better than the other. That’s for the potential viewers to decide. Each entry will describe the film without spoilers and comment on its availability. Some of these films will be available at Capitol Video. Some can only be seen via the internet or a bootleg film dealer.
These are the cult classics. The lesser-known gems…
These are The Most Fantastic Horror Films You’ve Never Seen!
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I have a recommendation for your list. I recently picked a three DVD set from St. Clair-Vision entitled The Cult Horror Collection. On it is a slasher film entitled Pieces. Originally released in 1983, this Spanish-Italian horror film is set on a co-ed New England campus where a deranged chainsaw murderer wreaks havoc. A quite effective and very gory film that is above most horror flicks of the era. There’s also a pretty undercover cop, and trails of dismembered bodies. And the best part is that it runs just under 90 minutes, the perfect time for a horror film.
BTW, the set this film is included on has 13 hours of horror for dirt cheap, and even includes a film from Dario Argento entitled The Hatchet Murders. Great way to waste a few hours with some kitschy horror fun.
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October 4th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I have seen and own PIECES, but Rodney hasn’t. As one of the more goofy horrors I’ve seen, it may make the online list just for its bizarre non-sequitur nature (the elevator death, the kung fu instructor, the ending).
I haven’t seen The Hatchet Murders (I thought it was directed by one of the Bavas), but I’ve heard it was quality…
Thanks for commenting!
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October 4th, 2008 at 11:33 am
This is a valuable public service–your selections are severed-head-and-shoulders above the usual “look, we have the rights to three of the “Halloween sequels” stuff you get on television.
Might I recommend a Spanish horror film released as “Who Can Kill a Child?” in the English-speaking world? It’s kind of like “The Birds”, but with eight-year-olds with knives as the unexplainable antagonists. And it starts with a narrator explaining that the most inhuman acts of war result in dead children–sort of a weird stab at artistic legitimacy before the children try to murder the protagonists.
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October 6th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Keven:
I haven’t seen Pieces, but it sounds like it might be fun.
I’ll check it out.
It probably won’t make the list though, because we already have a ton of movies, that we’re trying to get down to 41.
But I’m totally into the idea of people leaving comments, and recommending films that they love.
So let us know folks, what you think of the movies that make our list, and the ones that don’t.
Tim:
Thanks for the kind words.
I’ve seen “Who Can Kill a Child?” and thought it was pretty good, but I’m actually leaning toward including another film by the same director. Stick around to find out which one.
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October 8th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Pieces is one of the funnest movies of all time. The kung fu instructor scene and Linda Day George’s screaming “BASTARD!!” repeatedly are classic moments.
Also, The Hatchet Murders is just an American retitling of Argento’s Deep Red. Who Can Kill a Child? was also really good, great ending too.
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October 8th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Good recall, Matthew. I was confusing The Hatchet Murders with Bava’s Hatchet For A Honeymoon. And yes, Pieces is an unusually terrible movie, but very, very fun.
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