Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict’s House of 100 Horrors (page 8)

Tina Romero in "Alucarda"

71.  Alucarda (1978)  Sure, maybe you don’t need naked girls, sex and lesbianism to make a great horror film, but sometimes it sure helps.  Taking the best elements from The Exorcist, Vampyros Lesbos and Don’t Deliver Us From Evil, Mexican horror director  Juan Lopez Montazuma creates a garish and sexy thriller that succeeds in it’s eroticism without even becoming sleazy or campy.  When orphaned Justine meets the impish Alucarda at a convent, the mysterious Alucarda quickly seduces Justine to an unforgettable evil.  Soon Justine finds her soul damned, and not the church, nor the power of modern science, can save her from the demons that posses Alucrada.  This film has it all!  Lesbianism, satanic orgies, coffins full of blood, spontaneous combusting nuns and more shrieking then the average horror fest. However, this wouldn’t be possible without the presence of  as the beautiful and evil Alucarda. This girl does the best demon possession routine in horror film history, and somehow manages to be cute as a button in the process.  Not recommended for the average viewer, but anybody who loves a good international film should check this one out.  Modern horror directors should strive to make films as good as this one.

David Emge fights both bikers and zombies in George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead"

72.  Dawn of the Dead (1978)  Ten years after his masterpiece Night of the Living Dead, George Romero brings his zombies back for a second round in Dawn of the Dead.  Taking place at the same time as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead tells the story of four other individuals trying to survive the mysterious zombie outbreak.  When four survivors, including an air traffic reporter, his pregnant girlfriend and two police officers take off in a helicopter looking for safety from the horde of zombies that roam the city streets, they take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall.  Clearing the mall of the zombies that wander the halls, the four companions build a utopia for themselves where everything they need is at their disposal.  However, after many months pass and as boredom sets in the group suddenly must not only defend their new home from zombies, but a renegade group of bikers!  That’s right friends!  Zombies AND bikers!  It just doesn’t get much better then that!  With a far larger budget at his disposal then his first zombie film, Romero presents a tense and well acted thriller full of social analogies and black humor as well as a cast of likeable actors, including David Emge as the groups leader Stephen, Ken Foree as chopper pilot Peter (aka Flyboy), Gaylen Ross as token female Francine and Scott H. Reiniger as the tragic Roger, who all give strong performances.  Dawn of the Dead is also unique by not giving way to the clique of having any major conflicts between the four characters and having them work as a solid team that actually get along and like one another.  By not presenting any negativity about any of the characters the viewer begins to like all of them as well, making you care about their welfare.  Yet Dawn of the Dead isn’t without its draw backs.  The zombies themselves are very poorly done and are often more cartoony then actually scary.  Perhaps this was intentional, but the zombies in Night of the Living Dead are far better done, and far scarier.  Yet, despite this one set back, Dawn of the Dead remains to be thought provoking thriller.  If Night of the Living Dead is Romero’s best zombie picture, Dawn of the Dead is easily the smartest.

73.  Halloween (1978)  Although borrowing heavily from Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, John Carpenter introduced the world to psychotic killer Michael Myers and created a brand new type of horror genre in the horror classic Halloween.  In 1963 six year old Michael Myers murdered his older sister on Halloween night.  Captured and institutionalized, life went back to normal for the residents of Lumpkin Lane where Michael Myers became nothing but an urban legend for the neighborhood children.  However, fifteen years later, only days before Halloween, Michael Myers escapes.  Returning to his own stomping grounds and donning a William Shatner mask spray painted white, Myers begins to stalk neighborhood babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends, with his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis in hot pursuit.  Can Dr. Loomis stop Myers before he teaches Laurie the real meaning of terror? Halloween was the film which ushered in the slasher genre which would dominate the horror industry in the 1980s, spawning off such copycats as Freddy Kruger and Jason, and introducing many of the cliques that these films would embrace.  However, where Halloween differs is by fine performances by the films’ star Donald Pleasance as Dr. Sam Loomis, and Jaime Lee Curtis in her screen debut as Laurie Strode.  Yet, the film lacks motive, explanation and closure, which, of course, would lead to numerous sequels throughout the 80′s.  However, all the sequels and imitations pale in comparison to the original film that inspired them all.  Halloween is truly the best of the slasher genre.

74.  The Manitou (1978)  Tony Curtis and Michael Ansara lead an all star cast in this odd ball film which, despite questions of quality, is tons of fun.  Tony Curtis plays Harry Erskine, a real life psychic who has been reduced to doing superficial tarot readings for little old ladies.  When a woman from his past shows up with a lump that doctors seem to be unable to explain nor operate on without killing her, before she can say “it’s not a tumor,”  Harry is faced with the fact that the woman he loves has the fetus of a reincarnated four hundred year old Indian shaman growing out of the back of her neck!  Seriously.  I’m not making this up.  A four hundred year old Indian shaman….growing out of a lump in her neck.  Trust me.  It makes sense when you watch the film.  Anyways… seeking the aid of modern Indian medicine man John Singing Rock (played by Michael Ansara), it’s up to the psychic and the shaman to battle this century old spirit, who comes in the form of a slimy naked midget (once again I’m not making this up), before it kills everybody around it.  Totally stupid plot is kept together by a cast of fantastic actors, including Stella Stevens, Burgess Meredith and Felix “Cousin It” Sallas as the Manitou, who takes the film seriously which forces the viewer to take is seriously as well despite the whole insanity of the premise.  Tony Curtis is hilarious as Harry Erskine, who plays up the comedy angle to his role when at work as a psychic faker, but pulls all the dramatic stops when he needs to.  Ansara is also likeable as Singing Rock, although he plays the stereotyped modern Hollywood Indian, complete with beaded necklace and obligatory speech about how the white man stole his people’s land.  However the real treat of this screw ball picture is the totally strange and off the wall ending that looks like a 1960’s era Star Trek episode with Indian mysticism thrown in instead of a horror picture, complete with phony space aged background, mysterious alien entity and laser beam fights. It’s as if director William Girdler took the day off and Gene Roddenberry stepped in to take his place when they filmed the finale.  Totally off the wall and hilarious to watch, The Manitou is a fun little film that is a perfect lazy afternoon with a big bowl of popcorn guilty pleasure that wont disappoint 1970s film fans.

Klaus Kinski and Isabelle Adjani in Werner Herzog's "Nosfeartu the Vampyre"

75.  Nosfeartu the Vampyre (1979)  Although it seems like a totally stupid idea, Werner Herzog does the impossible by actually succeeding in doing a decent remake of the 1922 silent classic Nosferatu.  Casting the incredible Klaus Kinski in the role of the vampire, who looks so much like Max Shrek that you actually believe that he has risen from the grave to reprise his famous role, Nosferatu the Vampyre is a horror masterpiece all it’s own.  Borrowing heavily from the original film, and also being able to use references to the novel Dracula in ways that F.W. Murnau was unable to, Nosferatu tells the story of Jonathan Harker’s journey to Transylvania where he sells the mysterious Count Dracula a home in the German city of Wismar.  However, upon his arrival Dracula brings with him a plague, which kills off half of the city.  Discovering the truth behind Dracula through Jonathan’s journal, it’s up to his loyal wife Lucy to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the city, and the soul of the man she loves.   Besides Kinski’s haunting and eerie performance as the vampire, Nosferatu the Vampyre also features fantastic performances by Bruno Ganz as a morose Jonathan Harker; Roland Topor as a portly and whimsical Reinfield; and the beautiful Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, whose expressions of angst and sadness makes her one of the most beautiful women of the 1970′s horror industry.  However, the performances are only secondary to the beautiful cinematography which turns this film from a possible lackluster sequel to a cinematic piece of high art.  Herzog’s use of light and dark give Kinski an eerie environment to work in and beautiful on location shoots captures the beauty of 18th Century Germany.  Herzog also makes good use of the cityscapes of Wismar, with the most memorable scene involving plague victims feasting and dancing through the village square amongst a sea of rats.  Nosferatu the Vampyre is not just a remake, but in many ways a tribute to the original film, and it is hard to compare which is the better as it’s impossible to judge a modern film against a silent picture.  It’s far more fair to say that both films are masterpieces in their own right and should both be seen and appreciated for their own merits.  

The iconic impaled native girl from Ruggero Deodato's controversial film "Cannibal Holocaust"

76.  Cannibal Holocaust (1980)  Cannibal Holocaust has a deserved reputation of being one of the most disturbing and graphic films ever filmed, and even to the most desensitized modern horror fan, the imagery of rape, violence and death in this film is still powerful and shocking.  However, unlike most films that gain its reputation for shock and sensationalism, Cannibal Holocaust actually is a thoughtful and intelligent film, that questions the difference between civilized and savage man.  A celebrated film crew enters a South American jungle to film a documentary about two warring tribes of cannibals but never return.  A year later New York anthropologist Harold Monroe enters the jungle himself in search for the film crew, and after his own experiences with the cannibals that inhabit the jungle, returns with the lost film crew’s footage.  However, when the cans of film are opened and viewed, the truth about the film crews final days is revealed, which creates new questions about the definition of savagery.  The deaths in Cannibal Holocaust are so real and so convincing that after the film premiered in Milan, Italian authorities seized the film and arrested director Ruggero Deodato for obscenity and suspected murder, believing that he actually killed his actors on tape and that Cannibal Holocaust was a genuine snuff film!  Fortunately, Ruggero was able to contact his actors and get them to appear in court, thus dodging the murder charge.  However authorities would not give back the film for another three years.  Cannibal Holocaust was then banned in fifty countries, making it the most banned film in the history of the cinema!  Yet be warned.  While no humans were harmed during the making of Cannibal Holocaust, the same can not be said for animals.  A number of monkeys, pigs and sea turtles are slaughtered on film.  The slaughter of the turtle is particularly disturbing and unnecessary.  However, despite all of the notoriety surrounding this film, Cannibal Holocaust is a thoughtful film that poses some thought provoking questions, and is full of incredible cinematography, notably the burning of the cannibal village with the women and children trapped in the burning huts.  Cannibal Holocaust is not for everyone, but it is an exploitation film of the highest caliber.

77. The Evil Dead (1981) Now I’m going to be honest. I’m not a huge lover of The Evil Dead as much as I recognize the importance of the film as a masterpiece of grass roots independent film making, for it’s contribution to the art of make up and special effects and for introducing the horror genre to three of it’s biggest legends – director Sam Raimi, make up artist Tom Savini and B movie icon Bruce Campbell and his most endearing character, Ash Williams. However, the fact that The Evil Dead was made by a few friends on a sparse budget is a testimony to ambitious and imaginative film making, and the fact that their endeavor created one of horror’s most popular film franchises is an inspiration to independent film makers world wide. Plot wise The Evil Dead offers little new. On a trip to an abandoned cabin in the deep woods, five friends stumble across the Necromonica, an ancient book bound in flesh, and a tape containing a translation of a demonic resurrection passage, infecting the woods with dark evil and causing Ash’s friends to, one by one, transform into flesh eating demons/zombies (or “deadites”). What comes next is Ash, armed with a chainsaw, on a demon killing spree. Although the whole thing sounds kind of silly, it was played up seriously and, as a result, offers viewers some honestly frightening and gruesome visuals. While, the sequels, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness both were played up as comedic spoofs and are probably more popular amongst audiences, the original is still the best as a send up of the classic horror chiller.

78.  The Howling (1981)  1981 was the year of the werewolf with two landmark werewolf movies making its debut.  While An American Werewolf in London definatly had the superior special effects and make up in its corner, Joe Dante’s The Howling is a far better film reminding us that wolves aren’t always alone.  Sometimes they run with a pack.  When investigative reporter Karen White, played by Dee Wallace, narrowly escapes an encounter with a obsessed serial killer, she begins to suffer from flashbacks and nightmares, affecting her work and her relationship with her husband Bill. Karen’s therapist  Dr. Waggoner, played by the always marvelous Patrick MacNee, suggests that she and Bill go up to a retreat that he runs up in the wilderness called The Colony, which brings together his patients for barbeque, hunting, good times and group therapy.  However, there is far more going up in those woods then it seems and while Karen’s colleagues Terry and Chris investigate the life of Karen’s serial killer whose body has gone missing, Karen and Bill become prey for a far more dangerous type of hunter – werewolves!  Great psycho thriller full of inside jokes, Easter eggs and werewolf lore from dozens of different sources.  Possibly most memorable for the werewolf “mating” scene, which although is not as impressive as the transformation scene in American Werewolf, is still pretty impressive all its own.  Yet what The Howling does have is a stronger story, better acting and an incredible unexpected ending!  Don’t miss notable cameos as John Carradine as an elderly psyche patient of McNee’s, Roger Corman in a porn store and Forrest J. Ackerman in a book shop carrying issues of Famous Monsters in Filmland.  Great film to be paired up with An American Werewolf in London for a double feature werewolf night. 

Horror icons Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and John Carradine are brought together for the first, and only, time in "House of Long Shadows"

79.  House of Long Shadows (1983)  By the early 1980s the slasher film was in and gothic horror was out.  However, before the gothic horror genre was sealed in its grave for seemingly ever (or at least until Anne Rice and Neil Gaimen revived it near the end of the decade), director Peter Walker assembled the genre’s greatest icons for one final hurrah.  Gathering together for the first time in one film, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and David Carradine made up the cast of House of Long Shadows, the last of the classic gothic films.  Desi Arnaz Jr, in a role completely out of his element, plays Kenneth MacGee, a horror novelist who makes a $20000 bet with his publisher that he can write a gothic horror novel which is the same caliber as Wuthering Heights in twenty hour hours.  Setting up in a secluded house in the rural Wales on a dark and stormy night, MacGee finds out that he has far more company that he intended.  The members of the Grisbane family have also returned to the house after forty years for a morbid family reunion, and to put to rest a deed that has haunted them for decades.  Now it is up to MacGee and femme fatal Sheila Keith to piece the puzzle of the House of Long Shadows!  Based on the novel The Seven Keys to Baldpate, The House of Long Shadows is a delightful tribute to the classic gothic horror film.  The four stars all give fun over the top performances in roles that were especially tailor written to suite the characters that we are familiar for them playing.  Furthermore, the story has so many twists and turns that you get caught up in deciphering the story itself.  Unfortunately Elsa Lanchester was slated to play the Grisbane sister Victoria, but was too ill to travel to England so was recast by minor British horror actress Shelia Keith, who manages to fit in perfectly with the iconic horror stars.  Of course, the real novelty of the film is to see Caradine, Price, Cushing and Lee altogether for the first and only time the four were ever assembled, but the film is also notable for being the final film that the classic team of Cushing and Lee would appear together.  A staple bootleg in many horror collections, House of Long Shadows hasn’t been available commercially for decades.  However, if you are able to view this charming tribute to the classic gothic film, don’t hesitate.  The movie is a real treat.  Hopefully one day House of Long Shadows will be finally released on DVD so that the next generation of horror fans will be able to enjoy this fun film.

80.  Trick or Treat (1986) Cheesy, cheap and not the least bit scary, Trick or Treat has something that a lot of modern horror films don’t have – heart. A commentary and parody against the PMRC’s investigations against hard rock music in the 1980′s, Trick or Treat does something a lot of modern films, both horror or otherwise, never do. They present a heavy metal fan who is likeable, sensitive, smart and who the audience can actually cheer for and wants to get the girl, conquer over evil, and save the day! Furthermore, the tale of bullying and alienated youth is more relevant today in the wake of the Columbine massacre then it has ever been before. Alienated teenager Eddie Weinbauer (played by Marc Price, who is most famous for playing Family Ties nerdy neighbor Skippy) is having a bad week. It’s hard enough to be picked on and harassed by the schools jocks and their girlfriends, who bangs are bigger then their IQ scores. However, his world crumbles when his idol, heavy metal star Sammi Curr, is killed in a hotel fire. When Eddie suddenly becomes the sole owner of the acetate of Sammi’s unreleased final album, he detects backward messages in the recording. When it plays backwards it is as if Sammi Kurr is speaking directly to Eddie, and gives him advice to solve his problems. However, as Halloween grows closer, the messages begin to go from helpful to horrifying when Sammi Kurrs’ spirit attempts to resurrect itself out of the record and rage a deadly rampage upon the community that alienated him when he was a teenager himself. Now it’s up to troubled and misunderstood Eddie to stop his idol before he gets revenge on everybody. Marc Price’ honest performance is what saves this potential stinker, transforming it into a pretty decent film. At the hands of any other actor this film would have probably failed completely. Furthermore, marking this film as pop culturally important, are cameos by two of my favorite rock musicians, and two of heavy metals biggest icons – KISS’ Gene Simmons and Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne. Gene gives a genuinely good performance as the dj that gives Eddie Sammi Kurr’s album. When Gene talks about the death of Sammi, he actually musters up true emotion as he brings to the screen memories of every dead rock star whose death we’ve mourned. However, it is Ozzy Osbourne’s performance which is truly special. Cleaned up, hair cut short and dressed in a suite, a surprisingly articulate Ozzy plays Reverend Aaron Gilstrom, a member of the PMRC who speaks out against the evil of heavy metal music on a 700 Club type program. Furthermore, Ozzy plays the part completely straight without a hint of tongue in cheekness or a wink in his eye, which makes it even more hilarious. Trick or Treat is a cheap and easily passed over film that will never be deemed a classic, but as a result is available in DVD bins everywhere at a price of five dollars or less. Make sure to pick this gem up if you see it. You wont be disappointed.