Re-Ranking HMV's Top 50 Horror Films

Okay, so this has been bouncing around many of the horror blogs out there. HMV released their ranking of the Top 50 Horror Films. It is not surprising to me that no one has agreed on it. Horror fans are bemoaning the lack of older films and the inclusion of some newer ones.

50 films are a lot of films to rank, and I don't think you can find two fans who can agree on such a list. What scares one person enough to send them cowering under the covers may only generate a yawn in someone else. But, maybe that is the fun of these lists. They can start a debate (hopefully friendly and fun) of what belongs and what doesn't, of what should rank higher or lower.

Anyway, I took the top 50 films from their rank and RE-ranked them in the order I would put them, from #50 on down to my #1. Of course, there are movies I wouldn't include in the list (The House on Haunted Hill remake? really?) And there movies I would include that aren't listed (I personally think the original Black Christmas is damn creepy!)

But, just taking the list given, here is my RE-ranking of their Top 50:

(first number is my rank, second number is the film's HMV rank)

50) 41. House on Haunted Hill. William Malone (2000)
49) 35. Rosemary's Baby. Roman Polanski (1968)
48) 13. Lost Boys. Joel Schumacher (1987)
47) 4. The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme (1991)
46) 18. An American Werewolf in London. John Landis (1981)
45) 46. The Mist. Frank Darabont (2008)
44) 30. Salem's Lot. Mikael Salomon (2004)
43) 14. Dawn of the Dead. George A Romero (1978)
42) 45. The Changeling. Peter Medak (1980)
41) 27. The Evil Dead. Sam Raimi (1981)
40) 38. The Entity. Sidney J Furie (1981)
39) 22. Candyman. Bernard Rose (1992)
38) 43. It. Tommy Lee Wallace (1990)
37) 9. The Wicker Man. Robin Hardy (1973)
36) 8. Ring (Ringu). Hideo Nakata (1998)
35) 37. The Orphanage. Juan Antonio Bayona (2008)
34) 44. Audition. Takashi Miike (1999)
33) 49. Shutter. Masayuki Ochiai (2008)
32) 48. The Vanishing. George Sluizer (1993)
31) 50. Planet Terror. Robert Rodriguez (2007)
30) 24. Carrie. Brian De Palma (1976)
29) 36. Child's Play. Tom Holland (1989)
28) 47. Suspiria. Dario Argento (1977)
27) 28. Hellraiser. Clive Barker (1987)
26) 34. Misery. Rob Reiner (1991)
25) 17. The Blair Witch Project. Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez (1999)
24) 7. A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven (1984)
23)11. The Birds. Alfred Hitchcock (1963)
22) 5. Saw. James Wan (2004)
21) 2. The Shining. Stanley Kubrick (1980)
20) 3. Alien. Ridley Scott (1979)
19) 10. The Omen. Richard Donner (1976)
18) 1. The Exorcist. William Friedkin (1973)
17) 20. Poltergeist. Tobe Hooper (1982)
16) 23. Scream. Wes Craven (1996)
15) 26. Final Destination. James Wong (2000)
14) 33. Wolf Creek. Greg McLean (2005)
13) 19. Se7en. David Fincher (1995)
12) 12. The Thing. John Carpenter (1982)
11) 39. Nosferatu. FW Murnau (1922)
10) 29. Hostel. Eli Roth (2005)
9) 42. The Haunting. Robert Wise (1963)
8) 40. Night of the Living Dead. George A. Romero (1968)
7) 16. Jaws. Steven Spielberg (1975)
6) 25. Friday the 13th. Sean S Cunningham (1980)
5) 31. The Descent. Neil Marshall (2005)
4) 21. The Amityville Horror. Stuart Rosenberg (1979)
3) 32. The Hills Have Eyes. Wes Craven (1977)
2) 15. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tobe Hooper (1974)
1) 6. Halloween. John Carpenter (1978)

So, there you go. Like I said, not my ideal choice for the top 50, but I worked with the films from the HMV list.

I know you disagree, and that is okay with me!

Halloween & Horror Movies

Halloween is almost here, and that means the TV lineup is filled with my favorite movies - scary movies! I wish they were all scary, but sadly, that isn't always the case. Lots of them can be downright bad, and not in the good-bad way, but in the lose-my-attention way. Ugh.

I still get excited in the week leading up to Halloween, mainly because of all the movies airing. The old classics are like comfort food, and there is always hope something great will be found in a new flick.

AMC (American Movie Classics) starts their annual FearFest tonight (previously called MonsterFest, not sure what necessitated the name change) with the original Halloween from 1978, my all-time favorite movie. AMC is playing up the 30th anniversary of the film, with Rob Zombie hosting FearFest, and PJ Soles as his guest, she played Linda in that movie. Always good to see her, she respects the fans and the movie, and she is always totally happy and smiling.

Some of the other movies on tonight are good, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers among them. Always liked this one, it has an effectively creepy feel, even if it was more like other 80s slasher films than the original film. Rachel was a great "scream queen," and Danielle Harris stood out. Zombie has her as a guest tonight, as well. Very cool!

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers is airing, as well, which is okay. This film has some interesting ideas and scenes, but I think losing Rachel was a bad idea. The scene with the kids at the park and Michael behind the tree always creeps me out.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers airs later, not much good I can say about that one. Confusing, far-fetched - bleh.

Even later tonight (early in the a.m. actually) Motel Hell is airing. Now this is an an odd one. If you haven't seen it, well ... 1980, Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons (Beulah Ballbricker from Porky's) and home-made beef jerky you WON'T want to try. Need I say more?

So, all in all, not a bad start for a week of scary movies. Hope I can stay up for most of them. Not as easy as it used to be, that's for sure!

Happy Halloween!