Neither made my list but they're both very good 80s horror movies.
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Just Keep Telling Yourself It's Only a Thread: Talking Time's Top 50 Horror Movies!
- Thread starter Dracula
- Start date
Oh yay, it's my #2 and #3 picks! I've seen Prince of Darkness at least 4 times now and it never gets old to me. 1 of those times was a midnight showing at my local indie theater, and seeing it on the big screen is a huge delight, despite it being a very intimate and "small" film in general.
Videodrome I haven't seen in quite a while, but everything about it is just so striking and if nothing else, it immediately leaves a strong impression on the viewer. I bought a T-shirt some years back that's just the Civic TV logo thing with the channel number. It's very tasteful imo.
Videodrome I haven't seen in quite a while, but everything about it is just so striking and if nothing else, it immediately leaves a strong impression on the viewer. I bought a T-shirt some years back that's just the Civic TV logo thing with the channel number. It's very tasteful imo.
I honestly struggled whether to put Prince of Darkness or another movie at the top of my list, but looking at them with a cold impartial eye forced me to give a slight nod to another. And I won’t say which, because the odds of it not showing up later is remote.
With the possible exception of Annihilation, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that’s matched it for Weird and Therefor Scary. Just about every scene is about things getting Much Worse, and even explaining what the monster is (a sure fire way to cut any tension off at the knees) is met with a collective “Oh... frig. This isn’t good at all” from the audience.
A movie where a jar full of Satan Juice hacks a computer to taunt everyone with math should not be as deeply unsettling as it is here.
With the possible exception of Annihilation, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that’s matched it for Weird and Therefor Scary. Just about every scene is about things getting Much Worse, and even explaining what the monster is (a sure fire way to cut any tension off at the knees) is met with a collective “Oh... frig. This isn’t good at all” from the audience.
A movie where a jar full of Satan Juice hacks a computer to taunt everyone with math should not be as deeply unsettling as it is here.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
At this point in his career, Videodrome was Cronenberg's headiest movie. In terms of actual technology it seems like it should be dated but in terms of view on the media and how it effects us, it is still very timely. When Brian O'Blivion talks about having a "television name" its basically a screen name and, more than that, a persons online side. Its about the weaponization of the media which has always been but feels even "now more than ever." Its about how we think the horror we put on the media is an outlet but maybe we are perpetuating psychic violence and horror in our own brains. Its also a psychological body horror espionage mind control movie. A genre we need more of.
"Television is reality, and reality is less than television."
"Television is reality, and reality is less than television."
I have never heard a single thing about any Cronenberg movie that has made me consider for even one second watching a Cronenberg movie.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Videodrome the movie works very hard to make the character of Max Renn completely unlikable and that character still cannot hold a candle to James Woods.
pick!
While full of lots of spooky and scary moments the pièce de résistance is the unsettling dream transmissions that feel like they could turn into nightmares at any moment. The film also has an interesting take on combining recent(ish) scientific findings with theological/spiritual concepts.
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I like Prince of Darkness (another one I saw with Matchstick at an Alamo Halloween marathon some years ago), but to me, it's honestly the least of the Apocalypse Trilogy. Still, one I recommend in heartbeat to anyone who hasn't seen it.
Videodrome probably should have made my list. I just got it in the last Criterion sale (along with Police Story 1+2), but it's been a minute since I watched it, and I haven't had the chance to revisit since the blu-ray arrived.
Videodrome probably should have made my list. I just got it in the last Criterion sale (along with Police Story 1+2), but it's been a minute since I watched it, and I haven't had the chance to revisit since the blu-ray arrived.
Purple
(She/Her)
While not the most popular of his films by a longshot, I'd say if you do ever want to get your feet wet with a Cronenberg movie, you should actually give a shot to eXistenZ. In addition to being decidedly less gross than most of his output, it is a hell of a lot more coherent about what it's trying to say than most, and it has this odd distinction of being one of those super rare bits of media where the plot is all about video games and it seems like it was written by someone who has any actual familiarity with them. Specifically in that most of the weird Cronenbergery comes from the characters being in some direct mindlink game that follows the actual structure of a game, with cutscenes that take control away for brief periods to set the next scene up. If that comes off as too gross/pretentious/ambiguous, avoid everything else to.
Except maybe The Fly, which has in its favor a very straightforward premise (flies are gross!) and is the movie that tried to make Jeff Goldblum sexy if you've ever wondered how that became a thing.
Honestly, if you want to ease into Cronenberg (if such a thing is possible), his non-horror is maybe the best place to start. A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Not that they don't have violence (they very much do), but they don't have any weird body horror with people growing chest vaginas or slowly mutating into human flies. Or, in the case of eXistenZ, plugging a videogame console directly into a hole in their spine.
Well, while we're on the subject of Cronenberg...
Surprisingly, no one voted for Scanners, one of Cronenberg's other well-known horror films. Scanners is about a group of telepathic people known as...well, scanners. It follows one particular scanner, named Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), who is tasked with hunting down Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), a powerful and deranged scanner responsible for the deaths of many of his own. Through the course of the film, Vale slowly learns that the corporation that sent him on his mission is no more to be trusted than Revok, and he discovers several intertwined conspiracies involving the telepaths and their origins.
The movie is probably most famous for the graphic head explosion scene which occurs early in the film. If you've ever seen a gif of a guy's head exploding, it's probably taken from this film. It's also represented in the trailer embedded above, so don't watch it if you don't want to see that. But the movie is good beyond that one stellar SFX moment as it slowly reveals the depths of the corporate immorality which led to the creation of the scanners. The telepathic violence here isn't the real horror - instead it's the machinations which created it. If you like a quick and tense film that says a lot while speaking little, check this one out. If nothing else, it's worth it for Michael Ironside's scene-stealing performance as Revok.
If you have HBO Max, this one, as well as Videodrome, are available there for streaming.
Scanners (1981)
Points: 0 | Lists: None
"I'm gonna suck your brain dry!"
Points: 0 | Lists: None
"I'm gonna suck your brain dry!"
Surprisingly, no one voted for Scanners, one of Cronenberg's other well-known horror films. Scanners is about a group of telepathic people known as...well, scanners. It follows one particular scanner, named Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), who is tasked with hunting down Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), a powerful and deranged scanner responsible for the deaths of many of his own. Through the course of the film, Vale slowly learns that the corporation that sent him on his mission is no more to be trusted than Revok, and he discovers several intertwined conspiracies involving the telepaths and their origins.
The movie is probably most famous for the graphic head explosion scene which occurs early in the film. If you've ever seen a gif of a guy's head exploding, it's probably taken from this film. It's also represented in the trailer embedded above, so don't watch it if you don't want to see that. But the movie is good beyond that one stellar SFX moment as it slowly reveals the depths of the corporate immorality which led to the creation of the scanners. The telepathic violence here isn't the real horror - instead it's the machinations which created it. If you like a quick and tense film that says a lot while speaking little, check this one out. If nothing else, it's worth it for Michael Ironside's scene-stealing performance as Revok.
If you have HBO Max, this one, as well as Videodrome, are available there for streaming.
I think I've only seen it once and it was a long time ago now. Been meaning to rewatch it. Michael Ironside was my favorite part. If we had more than 25 spots I could see it making my list, but it couldn't make the cut otherwise.
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Points: 51 | Lists: Dracula (#3); Dr. Nerd (#20)
"Brains..."
Points: 51 | Lists: Dracula (#3); Dr. Nerd (#20)
"Brains..."
Following the release of Night of the Living Dead, screenwriter and Romero collaborator John Russo retained partial rights to the film series, and was allowed to continue making movies using the "Living Dead" moniker. So Romero went on to direct several influential zombie films, and Russo helped kick off a second, concurrent series of semi-related movies about the restless dead. The first of these is one of my very favorite films, Return of the Living Dead.
In this movie, an accident at a medical supply warehouse douses a neighborhood with trioxin, a chemical which causes the dead to revive. Two warehouse employees, a mortician, and a group of teenage misfits find themselves besieged by an army of zombies. Even this early in Zombie Film Canon, there's tons of neat little twists on the concept - the trioxin revives model corpses at the warehouse; the zombies are fast-moving and can talk; the undead claim that eating brains relieves the "pain of being dead." The horrors of this film are often clinical - when two of the characters are bitten, the mortician explains what's happening as they slowly die and transform into zombies. But it's also darkly funny. The characters call for paramedics, and when the ambulances arrive, the medics are immediately killed, and a zombie gets on the radio: "Send...more...paramedics."
The movie's got tons of creative SFX, fun 80s trappings, and a killer punk rock soundtrack. It's endlessly rewatchable, and I honestly prefer it to the more heavy-handed Romero flicks. That's how you know what kinda trash I am!
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Often, I find mean-spiritedness is a knock on a movie but I think Return of the Living Dead wears it well. No particularly likable, terribly bleak and a great punk rock zombie comedy that has what I feel is a nightmare structure. I don't mean that it is particularly scary (except the tar man) or even surreal, but the situation is inescapable and defies logic and things only get worse in a way that does feel like a bad dream.
Honestly as much as I generally like Cronenberg, the rest of Scanners did not live up to the exploding head gif.
No. 22: TIE
Hereditary (2018)
Points: 114 | Lists: Dracula (#12); Vaeran (#17); Adrenaline (#23); Dr. Nerd (#5); Shakewell (#14)
“I never wanted to be your mother.”
Hereditary is a 2018 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Ari Aster, in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Gabriel Byrne as a family haunted by a mysterious presence after the death of their secretive grandmother.
Drac’s Notes: I’m still completely floored that Hereditary is somehow Ari Aster’s directorial debut, and I hope he keeps making movies for decades to come, because this one is a masterpiece. It deals with two distinct, intertwined horrors: the dissolution of a family, and a secret demonic cult. Depending on who you are, these horrors may carry different weights for you. For me, a person who grew up in an evangelical household wherein I was reminded often that demons were very real, the demon angle carries plenty of weight.
Anyway, this movie is a master’s class of mounting dread. The slow, lingering long shots of forests and rooms always feel like they’re hiding something unspeakable. Scenes play out in ways that always manage to shock, even to me, a person who’s seen dozens of horror movies. This movie drilled its way right into the sensitive parts of my brain, and it terrified me from start to end. I loved it, but it’s not one I’d return to lightly. If you appreciate horror film at all, you absolutely must see this one.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Points: 114 | Lists: Dracula (#1); Patrick (#24); Issun (#8); Kirin (#25); Bulgakov (#18); Adrenaline (#3)
“Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head.”
Points: 114 | Lists: Dracula (#1); Patrick (#24); Issun (#8); Kirin (#25); Bulgakov (#18); Adrenaline (#3)
“Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head.”
The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris' 1988 novel. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer, "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer.
Drac’s Notes: Let’s get the hard part out of the way first. The Silence of the Lambs contains a depiction of a transgender person which is harmful to the transgender community. The film contains dialogue which is intended to distance Buffalo Bill’s murderous tendencies from his gender identity, and I believe director Jonathan Demme did not intend harm by this portrayal, but harm was caused nevertheless. There’s a good discussion of this issue in this video, starting at around 47:25 if it doesn’t go straight to it.
I bring this up partly because this is a high-profile movie and it bears discussion, but also because Silence of the Lambs, most of the time, is my very favorite movie, landing at my own #1 for this list and usually landing at #1 for me in general. The reasons for this are many: I love Demme’s spellbinding direction; I love Hopkins’ scene-stealing performance as Hannibal Lecter; I love Howard Shore’s brooding score; but most of all I love Clarice Starling. Jodie Foster plays a talented agent in a field dominated by men, and the movie never lets us forget how the patriarchy constantly seeks to undermine her talent. Her boss mansplains her. Her contacts try to hit on her. Lecter analyzes her. Men stare, men invade, men kill. Her victory at the end of this film is the reason I keep on coming back to it. It’s just so, so satisfying to see Clarice vindicated as the credits roll. I’ve never participated in any other Hannibal-related media, mostly because I don’t find the cannibalistic killer as interesting as beleaguered Clarice.
As a final bit of trivia, there’s some debate as to whether the “psychological thriller” is the same thing as a “horror film.” Here’s something to keep in mind: Silence of the Lambs was marketed as a horror film. But I have heard it said that the Academy came up with the psychological thriller label as a way to evade the label of “horror,” because the Academy has always been allergic to horror film.
The real horror is anyone who likes fava beans...
Far and away the most impressive part of Anthony Hopkins’ performance in Silence of the Lambs is that weird slurpy noise he can do with his lips.
Purple
(She/Her)
Honestly speaking, it's enough of an issue that if I had the ability to just completely eradicate a single film from history, this'd be my pick.
Silence of the Lambs is very problematic but it's difficult to find media more than 10 years old that's not, and in 2030, stuff that seems proggressive now will be questionable then. It really is each person's line to draw, and I'd understand if someone wanted nothing to do with this film because of Jamie Gumb.
It's really too bad that is in there, though, because it is an otherwise perfect movie.
It's really too bad that is in there, though, because it is an otherwise perfect movie.