An interesting experiment is currently taking place on the IMDB film boards, which I (occasionally) frequent under the moniker "Hail to the Chimp". A user, who goes by the splendid title "FleshAndTheFiends", is trying to compile a list of the ten best horror films of various decades, based on IMDB users' preferences.
He had little trouble obtaining votes for the films of the 70s and 80s, but seems to have struggled somewhat when he switched his attention to the silent era, the 30s, and the 40s. One possible, and depressing, reason for this discrepancy is the fact that 'horror', by an large, remains the province of teenagers with short-term memories…at least in terms of its fan culture. I've had personal experience of this on various horror-themed boards where the debate rarely raises itself above the level of "Friday the 13th Rocks!!" vs. "Friday the 13th Sucks!!"…or…"Michael Myers vs. Leatherface: Who'd win in a bike race?"
Part of the problem can be traced to the way in which teenage enthusiasts (and I was one myself) consume movies, music, or whatever it might be. The tendency is often to 'support' certain directors, stars, and 'franchises' (hideous word that) as if they were football teams (to use a random, sporting analogy). In other words, support is not based on quality so much as it's linked to ideas of loyalty and identity etc. I support 'Leatherface', you support 'Ash'….with the differences between us remaining irreconcilable.
Anyway, I happily voted on the horror of the silent era, and that of the 1930s, the 1940s, and the 1960s, but it was a tough task to name ten worthwhile films made during the 1990s (the decade he's currently working on). I'd almost forgotten what a lean ten years it was for the genre…and I was forced to include films that wouldn't even be considered in other decades. Though I'm a big fan of Ravenous (1999), the only really essential horror of the 90s, for me, is Candyman (1992)…though it's often criminally over-looked and (as far as I can tell) unavailable on Region 1 DVD.
It's not as if the new millennium has seen a dramatic improvement of the situation either. The majority of mainstream horrors these days are often little more than action-based, CGI-laden, fantasies. On a simple level…they're just not scary enough. Well, I should qualify that…the scares are there, but they constitute brief, jolting shocks rather than anything approaching lasting feelings of dread and unease. The roller-coaster model dominates: with carefully calculated thrills and spills replacing the kind of 'under your skin' creepiness evident in such (non genre) offerings as Lynch's Lost Highway etc.
Anyway, I'll stop there before I get too upset. In the words of Monty Python…It's enough to make you chew your own foot off…
Pretty Hollywoodcentric post all round. I think you have to call Ringu essential given its originality and I give very high points too for originality and inventiveness to the Blair Witch Project - much hated on for all the wrong reasons and a very important history-of-an t’internet landmark - and Cube, even if the mathematics of the latter are as bogus as net nerds of 1997 IRC would have had us believe. I think all three gave us classic low-budget, low-tech scares which would have done any 70s or even 30s flick proud.
Along with Ravenous and Lost Highway, there was some top-notch spadework in 90s horror to indicate that there was plenty still to do in the genre. If you didn’t ignore Scream etc. and the retarded postmodern conceit that there was nothing for such films refer to do but refer to themselves ironically, there were two distinct and irreconcilable perspectives, which it would be a shame to consider together.
Surely, the Scream weltanshaung was misguided and irrelevant and the problem would resolve itself in the coming post-millenial dispensation. Then Coppola gave us Jeepers Creepers.
October 5th, 2005 at 9:58 amBy the way, I wonder how many of the kids who watch ironic crap like Scream etc. have seen the original movies from which the supposed clichés on which it plays were drawn.
Of course, Scream can’t refer to those films since they didn’t posit clichés, rather the films that ripped them off rendered the narrative structures of the likes of Halloween as a series of ever more clichéd genre conventions. Which makes Scream redundant - as proved anyway by the existence of Scary Movie.
Of course, if Scary Movie demonstrated the redundancy of Scream, it was only because Scream made the likes of a Scary Movie tautological ab initio, which implies that Scream…
Head hurts…
I’m not saying we don’t live in a postmodern world; I’m irritated that the marketing-minded and less talented among us use the excuse of postmodernism to disguise a lack of creativity and orginality of thought and insight and to sell cheap, knocked off tat to dumbed-down punters who become even more dumbed-down, low-expectation motherfuckers upon consumption of same, their standards, as Woody Allen succinctly said, “systematically” lowered by bad television.
October 5th, 2005 at 10:18 amWell I included Blair Witch and Ringu in my top ten so I do value those contributions to the genre, though I don’t consider them essential classics.
It is amazing the thumping Blair Witch has taken in the last few years. Much of the hate comes from people more accustomed to viewing mega-buck, mega-budget fare I imagine. Instead of viewing it as an excellent, original (and eerie), little low-budget effort, there’s a tendency to dismiss it because of its perceived amateurishness.
It’s all rather a case of when ‘indie’ movies and ‘blockbuster’ audiences collide. The result is often overt hostility! I saw the same thing happen when I went to see The Thin Red Line in a ‘Warner’s Village’ cinema in London. The place was half-empty by the end with people walking out, clearly feeling furious and short-changed!
October 5th, 2005 at 2:01 pmThe biggest problem with the IMDB is that no one seems to moderate the forums. Any interesting discussion soon becomes engulfed by American teenagers and their obsession with the MPAA rating system, and fanatical christians who just can’t stop watching violent porn so they can comment on how offensive it is.
October 5th, 2005 at 6:08 pmThe place is also (particularly the dreaded “Soapbox”) home to some of the most vicious, mean-spirited, reactionary diatribes known to man: homophobia, racism, sexism, Bush-lovin’ (that sounds dirty) it’s all there…
The “Classic Film Board” is usually a safe enough haven for those who just want to chat about movies, but even there one bumps into the bile-spewing loons. A guy tried to hijack a thread about gay directors, the other day, by arguing that it was a mistake to ‘celebrate’ homosexuality as it was (and I quote) “an aberration like any other physical or mental human aberration”.
Lovely…
October 5th, 2005 at 6:42 pmJust an update on some of the (decade-by-decade) results “FleshAndTheFiends” has obtained for his fascinating Horror poll on IMDB…interestingly Candyman came in at no. 1 in the 90s section…which shows I’m in tune with general consensus if nothing else! The poll for the 80s is missing 2 of my favourites from that decade: Near Dark and The Hitcher. Also surprising to see The Howling absent…
THE TOP 15 (1990-1999):
15. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) (44 points)
14. Army of Darkness (1991) (47 points)
13. The Ninth Gate (1999) (62 points)
12. Jacob’s Ladder (1990) (65 points)
11. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) (65 points)
10. Se7en (1995) (69 points)
09. Exorcist III (1990) (70 points)
08. Misery (1990) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) (both 73 points)
07. Ringu (1998) (75 points)
06. Dead Alive (Braindead) (1992) (80 points)
05. Scream (1996) (120 points)
04. Audition (1999) (124 points)
03. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (131 points)
02. The Blair Witch Project (1999) (136 points)
01. Candyman (1992) (149 points)
THE TOP 15 (1980-1989):
15. Poltergeist (1982) (eliminated in Round 2 with 23 votes).
14. The Dead Zone (1983) (9 points in final round)
13. Dead Ringers (1988) (15 points)
12. Friday the 13th (1980) (16 points)
11. Hellraiser (1987) and Re-Animator (1985) (both 18 points)
10. Day of the Dead (1985) (22 points)
09. An American Werewolf in London (1981) (26 points)
08. The Fly (1986) (27 points)
07. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) (28 points)
06. Aliens (1986) (40 points)
05. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) (55 points)
04. Evil Dead 2 (1987) (59 points)
03. The Evil Dead (1981) (63 points)
02. The Shining (1980) (76 points)
01. The Thing (1982) (80 points)
THE TOP 15 (1970-1979):
15. Buio Omega (1979) and Salem’s Lot (1979) (both eliminated in Round 2 with 8 points).
14. The Tenant (1976) (eliminated in Round 2 with 9 points).
13. Alice, Sweet Alice (1977) (eliminated in Round 2 with 11 points).
12. The Brood (1979) (0 points in final round)
11. Deep Red (1975) (3 points)
10. Martin (1977) (9 points)
09. The Last House on the Left (1972) (10 points)
08. Black Christmas (1974) (12 points)
07. The Omen (1976) (14 points)
06. Jaws (1975) and Suspiria (1977) (both 19 points)
05. Carrie (1976) and Halloween (1978) (both 21 points)
04. The Wicker Man (1973) (22 points)
03. The Exorcist (1973) (24 points)
02. Alien (1979) (26 points)
01. Dawn of the Dead (1978) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) (both scored 35 points… Don’t ya hate ties!)
THE TOP 15 (1960-1969):
15. The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) (24 points)
14. The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) (27 points)
13. The Last Man on Earth (1964) (32 points)
12. Black Sabbath (1963) (38 points)
11. Repulsion (1965) (39 points)
10. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1963) (45 points)
09. The Birds (1963) and Black Sunday (1960) (both 47 points)
08. The Innocents (1961) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964) (both 55 points)
07. Onibaba (1964) (57 points)
06. Peeping Tom (1960) (70 points)
05. Carnival of Souls (1963) (75 points)
04. The Haunting (1963) (92 points)
03. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) (128 points)
02. Night of the Living Dead (1968) (192 points)
01. Psycho (1960) (212 points)
THE TOP 15 (1940-1949):
15. The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) (22 votes)
14. The Leopard Man (1943) (23 points)
13. The Scarlet Claw (1944) (24 points)
12. Son of Dracula (1943) (25 points)
11. The Queen of Spades (1949) (26 points)
10. The Lodger (1944) (28 points)
09. The Seventh Victim (1943) (33 points)
08. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) (41 points)
07. The Spiral Staircase (1946) (48 points)
06. The Uninvited (1944) (62 points)
05. The Body Snatcher (1945) (81 points)
04. I Walked With a Zombie (1943) (82 points)
03. Cat People (1942) (96 points)
02. Dead of Night (1945) (109 points)
01. The Wolf Man (1941) (110 points)
THE TOP 15 (1930-1939):
15. The Old Dark House (1932) (29 votes)
14. Vampyr (1932) (34 points)
13. Mad Love (1935) (51 points)
12. White Zombie (1932) (57 points)
11. The Mummy (1932) (70 points)
10. Island of Lost Souls (1933) (74 points)
09. The Black Cat (1934) (82 points)
08. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) (86 points)
07. Dracula (1931) (English language version) (93 points)
06. M (1931) (103 points)
05. The Invisible Man (1933) (112 points)
04. King Kong (1933) (135 points)
03. Frankenstein (1931) (162 points)
02. Freaks (1932) (170 points)
01. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) (246 points)
THE TOP 15 (1895-1929):
15. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) (11 points)
October 9th, 2005 at 10:37 pm14. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) (13 points)
13. The Lodger (1926) (21 points)
12. Waxworks (1924) (23 points)
11. Un Chien Andalou (1929) (26 points)
10. The Cat and the Canary (1927) (27 points)
09. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) and Metropolis (1927) (both 29 points)
08. Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) (1922) (36 points)
07. The Man Who Laughs (1928) (40 points)
06. The Golem (1920) (48 points)
05. The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (49 points)
04. Faust (1926) (52 points)
03. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) (70 points)
02. The Unknown (1927) (83 points)
01. Nosferatu (1922) (108 points)