Every episode of my podcast begins with a survey asking “What classic or essential haven’t you seen?”. Usually right around then I act all guffawed and incredulous when a guest tells me a ‘Film Lit 101’ title they haven’t seen.

I’ve been asked on more than one occasion what my answer would be to this very question, and I think the best answer I’ve been able to come back with has been TRUE GRIT or something of the like. But as I’ve been seeing more and more orange and black around town, and skimming through the increasing amount of posts based on scary movies, I remembered something. I recalled that when it comes to essentials that I haven’t seen, I was completely forgetting something:

I have a gigantic blind spot for horror films.

Want proof? Here are some of the scary movies I’ve never seen…

Any Friday the 13th chapter.
Any Nightmare on Elm Street after the first one.
Every George Romero film not titled NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (Edit: Add DAWN OF THE DEAD to the”seen it” column)
Any Halloween chapter (Edit: The first HALLOWEEN, seen it)
EVIL DEAD 1 & 2
Any Saw chapter
The original FRANKENSTEIN, WOLFMAN, MUMMY, and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
ROSEMARY’S BABY (Edit: Seen it – Loved it)
THE EXORCIST
THE FLY (Edit: Seen it – Loved It)
and the only time I’ve seen AMITYVILLE HORROR was the edited version on AMC

Why the gaping hole in my repertoire? Two reasons really. For starters, I’m not exactly surrounded by horror fans that prod me to see such things – though many of the Toronto Bloggers Circle are unabashed fans of genre cinema. Without someone acting guffawed and incredulous to me, these titles just get mixed into the list.

The other reason is much more simple – I’m a giant pussy. Edit: Me being a giant pussy is the reason THE EXORCIST is on this list. It freaks me out too badly. I’ve tried watching it – multiple times – but it just screws me up too badly. Mock me if you must.

So let this be my gift back to anyone I have ever affected with my “How the hell haven’t you seen ___________ ” diatribes. And let it also be a call…

When I do eventually endulge on a diet of horror, what should I be sure to add to the list?

Edit – The suggestions stand at:

BLACK SABBATH
THE BLOB
CANDYMAN
CARNIVAL OF SOULS
CAT PEOPLE
CAT’S EYE
THE CHANGELING
THE DESCENT
THE DEVIL’S REJECTS
DOG SOLDIERS
EVIL DEAD 1 & 2
FRANKENSTEIN
FRIDAY THE 13TH PT 1 & 2
FRITT VILT
GINGER SNAPS
THE GORGON
HAXAN
HIGH TENSION
HORROR OF DRACULA
HOSTEL 1 & 2
HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES
HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
THE INNOCENTS
INSIDE
JEEPERS CREEPERS
JIGOKU
KWAIDAN
LADY IN WHITE
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3
NIGHTBREED
NOSFERATU
THE OMEN
ONIBABA
POLTERGEIST
PULSE
[REC]
RE-ANIMATOR
ROVDYR
SAW
SLEEPAWAY CAMP
SUPSIRIA
THIRST
VAMPIRE LOVERS
VAMPYR
THE VANISHING

15 Replies to “Confession”

  1. THE FLY (Cronenberg) – Get on this IMMEDIATELY, but holy crap Ryan, you aren’t kidding, there are some real classics in there you’ve been missing out on.

    (SUSPERIA, PULSE, KWAIDAN, THE INNOCENTS (playing at Lightbox later this month), GINGER SNAPS, NOSFERATU, POTERGEIST, ED2, CARNIVAL OF SOULS,

  2. You, good sir, need to make Halloween (the ’78 version), Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist a part of a horror movie marathon on Halloween. Seriously, don’t argue. Just do it.

  3. Sorry – shoulda clarified. Since this post I have watched the first HALLOWEEN, THE FLY, DAWN OF THE DEAD, and ROSEMARY’S BABY.

    Everything else is still in play…

  4. Both versions of Nosferatu, original version of Cat People, Evil Dead 2, The Descent and Suspiria from that list are a must.

    The original Wolf Man is pretty good but the other original Universal films suck (Bride of Frankenstein is good, though).

    I also would throw out Repulsion as it’s one of the best horror films I’ve seen. Also, The Changeling is fantastic. Oh yea, and the original The Wicker Man.

    Also, The Vanishing is not horror.

    1. CAT PEOPLE seems to have caught a lot of people’s attention, so that might very well be scratched off the watchlist soon (Hah…”Cat People scratched”…I’m clever!)

      I never claimed VANISHING was horror: Whoever suggested it did.

  5. I’d say the top ones to go with…

    – Saw (though the first one is more thriller than horror)

    – Evil Dead 1 & 2

    – Poltergeist (cheesy effects, but is one everyone should see)

    As for some thoughts on the others on your list…

    The Blob – I haven’t seen the original, but the remake is good.

    Candyman – It’s really not scary, but Tony Todd is the man!

    I’m in the minority that thinks The Descent is vastly overrated. The first half is good, but then the little Gollum creatures show up and the movie gets silly. If you’re going with a Neil Marshall film, go with Dog Soldiers. I did really like that one.

    House of 1000 Corpses/Devil’s Rejects aren’t scary… just very gory and violent. Similarly, don’t bother with either Hostel film. The first is half softcore porn and half really fake-looking torture porn. The only good part is the last 20 minutes. The second film is exactly the same as the first, except with girls instead of guys… and without the good third act.

    Jeepers Creepers is fun in a very silly and stupid way. I can’t imagine you liking this one. It’s very juvenile horror.

    I recently saw Elm Street 3 myself. It’s very 80s, but it’s fun.

    [Rec] is great, though it does have some flaws. And if you’ve seen Quarantine, it’s practically shot for shot, with only a couple major differences.

    And, finally, Thirst has a great director and great ideas, but it’s only a so-so film.

  6. I will now attempt to recreate my enthusiastic response from last night.

    NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 IS ESSENTIAL. ESSENTIAL!!! [hand slaps table]

    It is some genuinely freaky shit, man, and it probably scared me more than any other single movie (except THE SECRET OF NIMH) when I was growing up!! [hand slaps table again]

    GINGER SNAPS is on the VERGE of becoming DATED but is still EXTREMELY GODDAMNED INVENTIVE!! [high five]

    It is still one hell of a take on a very old kind of story! [high five again]

    JIGOKU IS SOME CRAZY BATSHIT AWESOME WEIRDNESS AND OTHER SWEAR WORDS! [swears incoherently]

    See that shit! [swears incoherently again]

    …and so forth.

  7. Check it out. I read your post and now I’m commenting on it!

    Now, do the right thing and add The Changeling to your watch list. And make sure you watch it with the sound on. 😛

    1. Got that whole tricky system of commenting figured out, eh? Well done. You’re one of the few to mention THE CHANGELING, so that might not be an immediate watch…but I’ll be sure to get on it. After all, Angelina Jolie does look pretty damned scary in it!

      …oh wait…

  9. Ok my opinion would be you really should do the classics first. They are the foundation of horror and so many other movies pull and play on their themes and reference them that you would be remiss as a movie lover not to watch them.

    My favourites in order are:
    Frankenstein
    Creature from the Black Lagoon
    Dracula
    The Bride of Frankenstein
    The Wolfman

    ….which reminds me I need to throw those on this month.

    Once you have watched those these are some of my other favourite horror films…and just for the record I’m a lover of a good ghost story.

    Ghost Stories
    – The Changeling
    – Poltergeist
    – The Entity
    – The Devil’s Backbone (foreign)
    – Shutter (foreign)
    – The Ring

    Religion heavy
    – The Omen
    – The Exorcist
    – Carrie

    Monster Movies
    – The Thing
    – The Descent
    – The Host (foreign)
    – Them!
    – Night of the Creeps

    Invasion Films
    – You’re Next (saw it at TIFF)
    – Ils (foreign) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465203/)
    – Haute Tension (foreign)

    Slashers
    – My Bloody Valentine (Great Canadian movie)
    – Nightmare on Elm Street Series…1 & 3 are favourites… 2 is fantastic to watch for all of it’s homoerotic undertones

    And I’ll stop now cause I could just keep going 😉

    1. That’s not clarity – that’s just making my list longer! Thanks for those though, I’ll try to scratch some of them off.

      PS – Coulda swore I saw you after work last night. Does your walk home take you across Adelaide?

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