In Reply to: Top 50 Greatest Horror movies by Total Film.com posted by Jeff Starrs on October 10, 2005 at 11:57:12:
Yes, there are some titles on the list I agree with and some I don't think belong, but what chaffs my arse is the order and the fact that some titles aren't even on the list that should definitely be there.Notice for instance that there isn't one silent horror classic on that feeble list even though The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, and Lon Chaney's version of Phantom of The Opera are legendary horror classics and still other important silents which are not as well known like Haxan, The Cat and The Canary, and The Man Who Laughs which should've been considered were probably overlooked altogether. Tinear mentioned some of these and I concur.
Also, there are a number of early sound horror films overlooked that are much scarier or at the very least more disturbing than Vampyr, such as Tod Browning's Freaks, which was banned in Great Britain for over 40 years and then there's a later film of his titled The Devil-Doll which is no less unsettling in spite of it's dated special effects. And why weren't more of Val Lewton's classic psycological horror films that he Produced on a tight budget for RKO on this list?
Where's The original Fog (it's arguably a better crafted horror film than Halloween); where's Interview With a Vampire (tremendously atmospheric and genuinely creepy); where's Silence of The Lambs (one of the most realistic and bloodcurdling shockers ever made); where's Roman Polanski's Repulsion (it's at least as scary as Rosemary's Baby and the atmospheric B&W photography contributes to the pervasive paranoia)?
And since there's so much kitsch on the list, where are Herschell Gordon Lewis's notorious shoestring budgeted gore fests like Blood Feast or 2000 Maniacs?
Okay, enough ranting. I agree with some of the listing even though I think that the ranking is horror all unto itself. It's good to see relatively obscure horror films like Peter Bogdonovich's Targets make the list along with classics like Robert Wise's The Haunting and Hitchcock's Psycho (still the greatest of all horror films in my book). The Wicker Man is an excellent horror film as well, and not as obscure as it once was, so I'm glad that it made the list.
AuPh
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Follow Ups
- Oh, how I hate lists like this! - Audiophilander 19:06:43 10/10/05 (9)
- Re: Ok...I won't ever, ever, never again... - Jeff Starrs 02:05:15 10/11/05 (8)
- "Horror Of Dracula"-1958-Good Hammer Film. nt - AudioHead 09:57:28 10/11/05 (7)
- Re: Yes! Good one.. - Jeff Starrs 10:38:12 10/11/05 (6)
- QuaterMass Xperiments, 1 & 2...... - AudioHead 13:38:41 10/11/05 (5)
- Re: QuaterMass Xperiments, 1 & 2...... - Jeff Starrs 05:03:45 10/14/05 (0)
- Re: Thanks... - Jeff Starrs 21:51:46 10/11/05 (3)
- Re: Thanks... - AudioHead 07:14:03 10/13/05 (2)
- Re: Some stills - rico 08:49:47 10/13/05 (1)
- Thanks For Info. nt - AudioHead 10:36:38 10/13/05 (0)