Willie List Bonus: Top 5 Horror Comedies

Man, do we love our zombies. And, apparently, we think they're pretty darn funny, too. I encouraged those who voted in the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies poll to include a list of their Top 5 Horror Comedies. Take a look at the results:

5. Dead Alive (aka Braindead) (1992; Peter Jackson)



4. Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetary Man) (1994; Michele Soavi)



3. Bride of Frankenstein (1935; James Whale)



2. Shaun of the Dead (2004; Edgar Wright)



1. Evil Dead II (1987; Sam Raimi)



Whether you like your zombies super gorey (Dead Alive), artfully composed (Dellamorte Dellamore), British (Shaun of the Dead), or being fought by Bruce Campbell, we can satisfy your needs! Just don't come looking for anything that's not a zombie. You could even make a case that Frankenstein is one of the living dead, if you were so inclined. And, lest you think this is a fluke, I present the the runners-up, another five films full of dead people coming back to life:

6. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948; Charles Barton)
7. Re-Animator (1985; Stuart Gordon)
8. Young Frankenstein (1974; Mel Brooks)
9. Return of the Living Dead (1985; Dan O'Bannon)
10. Planet Terror (2007; Robert Rodriguez)

What does this say about us as a society and a film culture?...

P.S.: For the record, I voted for Dellamorte Dellamore, the Burbs, Planet Terror, Bubba Ho-Tep, and From Dusk Til Dawn.

31 FLICKS THAT GIVE YOU THE WILLIES

I asked the world to send me a list of 31 films that scared the pee out of them. Many more people than I would have thought possible heard, and answered, the call. 183 films were nominated and voted on. The resulting list is not perfect, but it is a fascinating picture of what our little community considers canonical horror cinema. In the coming days I hope to post a runners-up list. And the Top 5 Horror Comedies is yet to come!

Incidentally, I chose not to vote. Hardly any of the films on my nominating list made it and I didn't feel that I had seen enough of the nominees to vote fairly.

And now, the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies...

31. Bride of Frankenstein (1935; James Whale) 285 pts.


That iconic haircut and a goofier, more lovable monster (and script), garnered this sequel fifty more points than the original Frankenstein.

30. Aliens (1986; James Cameron) 286 pts.

I've never really thought of this as a horror film. It always played more like an action movie; the 'guys on a mission' thing. Adding to that effect, for me, is the classic problem of the horror sequel. If I already know what the monster is, what exactly it is creeping around in the dark, how can I be afraid of it? Great flick, though.

29. Poltergeist (1982; Tobe Hooper) 288 pts.


Poor Tobe Hooper. Even with Poltergeist, everyone will always say he's a one trick pony.

28. Seven (1995; David Fincher) 289 pts.


I've always secretly believed that everyone was so freaked out by this movie because they knew, deep down, there was something about their own personality that would compel Kevin Spacey to kill them in some creative and hideous way.

27. Night of the Hunter (1957; Charles Laughton) 290 pts.


One of the most beautiful movies ever shot in black and white, a plot that puts kids in danger (a perennial thriller trope that almost never fails to bloom into something creepy), and a pair of iconic knuckle tattoos. Need I say more?

26. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; Don Siegel) 292 pts.


Imagine if your best friend, all of the police and the other townspeople, even your own best girl turned into... Commies! Man would that suck.

25. Carnival of Souls (1962; Herk Harvey) 302 pts.

Bob Turnbull writes of this gem, "Proof positive that limitations in budget don't have to limit your imagination." (Read the rest of Bob's thoughts on the films on his own list here. Final Girl's take on the film, and a bunch of gorgeous screen shots, can be found here.)

24. Carrie (1976; Brian de Palma) 310 pts.

R.A. Naing at Direct Cinema writes of De Palma's breakthrough success, "A stunningly orchestrated, stylistically audacious study of female adolescence, teenage insecurity, and religious hysteria, this is without a doubt one of the best horror films ever made. Simply transcendent." All that, plus pig's blood and young Travolta!

23. The Ring (2002; Gore Verbinski) 317 pts.


For a while it looked like Hideo Nakata's original Ringu was going to be in the top 31 as well, but it came about 15 points short of making it.

22. (TIE) Eraserhead (1977; David Lynch) 327 pts.
The Fly (1986; David Cronenberg) 327 pts.

Two creepy movies directed by two creepy Davids. I like to imagine the two of them on a picnic together, both fascinated with the ants crawling all over the lunch they have spread out between them.

21. The Brood (1979; David Cronenberg) 347 pts.


Cronenberg strikes again with another tale of the body in revolt against itself and the natural world.

20. Rosemary’s Baby (1968; Roman Polanski) 364 pts.

R.A. Naing at Direct Cinema writes of this film, "Everything you've heard is true. Polanski's film is one of the few perfect horror films ever made." Me? I can't watch this movie without flapping my arms around and yelling at the screen in frustration as Mia Farrow makes one ridiculous decision after the other.

19. 28 Days Later (2002; Danny Boyle) 381 pts.


A lot of people blame this movie for pushing zombies back to the forefront of pop culture. I don't... care. (Here's what Final Girl has to say about the film, and here's me on Danny Boyle's career.)

18. (TIE) The Wicker Man (1973; Robin Hardy) 391 pts.
Eyes Without a Face (aka Les Yuex sans visage) (1960; Georges Franju) 391 pts.


The former is an imperfect movie with some lasting images and mild creepiness. The latter is a singular work featuring a villain pushed to horrific acts by totally understandable causes and a protagonist whose unseen countenance is covered by the creepiest mask ever NOT worn by a serial killer.

17. (TIE) Nosferatu (1922; F.W. Murnau) 413 pts.
The Descent (2005; Neil Marshall) 413 pts.

That's right, Murnau's insanely creepy vision of the vampire--the most animalistic and downright scary bloodsucker ever put on film--received exactly the same amount of votes as that movie about the spelunking girls from a few years ago.

16. The Evil Dead (1981; Sam Raimi) 421 pts.


Stacie Ponder wrote of this film, "Sometimes, it's just so simple: five friends, a creepy cabin in the woods, an eeeeeevil book bound in human flesh and inked in human blood. Writer/director Sam Raimi took that simple premise and a $3 budget and managed to create a horror classic- one of the most twisted and dangerous films of my youth." Read the rest of her piece on why the first is the best of Raimi's trilogy here.)

15. The Blair Witch Project (1999; Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez) 450 pts.

If there is such a thing as a one-hit wonder in the film world, this was it. People only remember the marketing campaign, but this film--one I don't particularly like--still sports a killer ending that is worth the wait.

14. The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise) 464 pts.


A great, old-fashioned idea for a ghost story executed in a great, old-fashioned manner.

13. Don’t Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg) 469 pts.


The shocking moment near the end of this film still divides viewers. Is it a brilliant scare-you-out-of-your seat left turn, or does it ruin the slow burn and emotional intensity of what comes before it?

12. Suspiria (1977; Dario Argento) 482 pts.


Witchcraft and other such spookery have never been my thing. Nonetheless, Argento's composition and use of color are just as beautiful here as in the slasher films I love him for best. Plus, there's that scene where they're really mean to the blind guy, and that's pretty creepy.

11. The Birds (1963; Alfred Hitchcock) 483 pts.


Not to step on any toes here, but... this one I just don't get. They're frickin' birds, man! What's the big deal?

10. Jaws (1976; Steven Spielberg) 526 pts.


Everybody who nominated the original blockbuster felt compelled to mention that it was originally just a scary movie with a shark you barely see. Though I mock these Spielberg apologists, they have a point: success and time tend to cloud genre associations, as if a popular movie is an island unto itself, completely separate from its generic lineage.

9. Dawn of the Dead (1978; George Romero) 645 pts.


The message inherent in this film is still so relevant that it was remade 25 years later and didn't have to be updated in the slightest.

8. The Thing (1982; John Carpenter) 661 pts.


Nobody who ever sees this film will forget that dog, and to me, that is what horror films are all about: indelible imagery that sticks with you and burns into you, recurring at the strangest moments.

7. Alien (1979; Ridley Scott) 675 pts.

Space + claustrophobia + icky crawly spitting grossy things=no one hearing you screaming.

6. The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin) 723 pts.


As a child I had no conception of what this movie was about, but the image on the box alone was enough to make me tense up as I walked by it on the rack. I imagined 'the Exorcist' was the villain, and I wondered what he wanted to do to me with whatever was inside that bag he was carrying.

5. Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock) 747 pts.


The "mother" of them all. Get it? Because, you know, it's like the movie that got all that blood flowing through American cinema and there's a character called Mother in it. So it's sort of like a play on words. Ha, ha...

4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974; Tobe Hooper) 784 pts.


To me, nothing in this film is as scary as the shot of the chicken in that little tiny birdcage. Plus, it's a known fact that everything is scarier when it's shot on that 1970's yellowish sepia film stock.

3. Halloween (1978; John Carpenter) 824 pts.


There had been slasher films before, but none nailed the mindless evil psycho villain character quite like this one. And the score is so simple and brilliant that just two or three seconds worth of it gets the goosebumps going.

2. Night of the Living Dead (1968; George Romero) 862 pts.


A brilliant ending necessitated by financial woes; a social message implied by the mere fact of casting a black protagonist. Oh yeah, and the movie that gave us the modern American conception of the zombie, of which there have been infinite variations. Now let us all lurch and hunger, together, as one.

1. The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick) 997 pts.


For once, justice is served. I have long said that The Shining is the greatest horror film in existence and it won't soon be surpassed, for beauty, for chills, or for an ability to provoke thought. (My own personal relationship with Kubrick's last great film is detailed here. A brilliant analysis from Exploding Kinetoscope can be found here.)

Thanks everyone who participated, and especially to those of you who are spreading the word, and to those who were quoted in this post.

Double Dose of Seijun Suzuki

Often these days when we speak of an “auteur,” we talk about a recognizable style used by a director over a series of films, an artistic imprint. But when the theory of auteurism was first posited, it was not only about identifying the common elements between an artist’s work, it was about the ability of a contract director to transform a studio project into a personal statement. Seijun Suzuki made a ton of studio assignments at Nikkatsu. Two such mid-60’s films are astonishing deconstructions of and participations in the yakuza genre, both starring Joe Shishido. The approach of Youth of the Beast (1963) bears about as much resemblance to Branded to Kill (1967) as With the Beatles does to Sgt. Pepper’s, but—like those landmark pop records—they are both brilliant examples of the form they ultimately transcend.

Youth of the Beast is a tweaking of the Red Harvest/Yojimbo plot and since it is so, it must establish its (anti-) hero as a real badass. To this end, immediately post-credits Joe Shishido, as “Jo,” goes on a rampage, kicking the hell out of a guy and then wiping his shoe off on him. Shishido’s performance ripples with intense physicality. He starts at full-bore and never downshifts throughout the entire film, at every moment threatening to explode violently onto his environs. Jo’s unpredictable savagery is so convincing that when it’s revealed that he used to be a cop, I almost had a hard time buying that he would’ve ever been able to control himself to that extent.

It is this rampant physical flamboyance that I most miss in Branded to Kill’s altogether more psychedelic and absurdist approach. The only connection I felt with Shishido’s No. 3 Killer was in the sequence detailing his unusual sexual proclivity. Not to say that I, too, am aroused by the smell of cooking rice and use it as an aphrodisiac. But this sequence renders an emotion and a physical process through striking visuals and maintains a closeness between viewer and character. Almost everywhere else in the film, I as a viewer am left distant and remote by the spare set design, detachment of the characters from their own emotions, and privileging of beauty over continuity in the visual realm. I am awed by the visual splendor of a flushing toilet bowl filled with swirling bloody water half-obscured by the corpse sprawled perfectly across it. But somehow my pleasure is tainted because this shot doesn’t match up with the one before it, of the body taking the bullet in the head. The film attempts no ligature to hold the cuts together and make me believe that the action I saw happen in one shot carried over to the composition of the following shot. Therefore, though the image is beautiful, it feels somehow unearned.

Youth of the Beast doesn’t sacrifice any of its visual beauty for greater narrative coherence. Like the greatest genre films, it bends over backwards to accommodate the artistic desires of its creator within the framework of the generic plot it is supposedly concerned with. What I personally consider to be the most beautiful scene in any Suzuki film I’ve seen is a psychotically violent and warped version of something you would see in Sam Fuller or Anthony Mann. One of the more important of the many villains in the film whips his girlfriend, chasing her out onto the porch, a windstorm of epic proportions raging all around them. The scene isn’t there simply for beauty’s sake: the character of the man with the whip is reconsidered with the revelation of his sadistic sexual habits.

In Chris D.’s Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film, Suzuki responds to a question about the aforementioned scene by saying, “There wasn’t anything like a symbolic meaning behind those artistic decisions. It was, in that case, how best to emphasize, to reinforce, that something bad was happening. In my moviemaking philosophy, there are three ways, all using natural elements, to make a film interesting: one is wind, two is rain, three is snow. For that particular scene, it seemed right to use the wind.”

Branded to Kill uses rain twice, in spectacularly different fashions, the film’s experimental structure keeping director Suzuki constantly questing for a more abstract, expressionist form of representation. The first time, Shishido is driving in a convertible in heavy downpour. We cut to a scene of shower sex, continuing the water theme. The other time, later in the film, Shishido is beset by a series of obstacles, each appearing as a stark animation laid over the black and white film image. Along with birds, there is the rain, depicted as white diagonal lines on a black background, some of the lines broken, most of them intact, extending across the length of the screen. It is the final break with reality in a film that never asks the viewer to believe that the actions taking place on screen have an analogue in the physical world. That Suzuki is able to do this utilizing one of the three natural elements he always turns to in order to “make a film interesting” is remarkable.


It is probably obvious that I prefer the more earthbound physicality of Youth of the Beast; my response to Branded to Kill, however, is a much more rich and complex one. I like the earlier film better and would say it is the more powerful film. Yet I can’t get Branded to Kill out of my mind. I am perplexed by the fact that all of the qualities causing me to feel disconnected from it are the same ones that would have drawn me to it ten years ago. In high school I was deeply interested in the Theatre of the Absurd, the work of Beckett and Ionesco, and the literature of such figures as Camus and Dostoyevsky. Had I seen this film then I would have seen in it what I was compelled by in these others works, and loved it. This, I know, says much more about me than it does about Suzuki or either of his films.


One further compare/contrast: Both films have scenes with black and white film projected onto a wall. In Youth of the Beast, shot in color, they are scenes from older gangster movies, and they make up the scenery in the office of one of the yakuza. The characters in our film don’t verbally comment on the characters in the other film, but the characters in the other film—by virtue of being their generic forefathers—comment visually on the characters in Suzuki’s film. In Branded to Kill, the film projected on a wall is in Shishido’s apartment, and it is a prominent part of the plot. His girlfriend has been kidnapped and the film shows her treatment at the hands of the perpetrators. Joe Shishido’s No. 3 Killer not only reacts to these images, flailing around and wailing, he attempts to interact with them as well, calling out to his girlfriend over and over, “Where are you?!” The viewer of the film may be similarly compelled to call out to the characters on the screen, “Where are you?”


This post is my entry into the Double-Bill-a-Thon being hosted over at Broken Projector.

Polish Film Poster of the Week (10/22-10/28)

This week: Raider of the Lost Ark (1983); artist: Jakub Erol.

Ed's Thoughts: An H.R. Geiger vision of Indiana Jones. No less disturbing is the alternate poster displayed below, also created in 1983, by Grzegorz Marszalek.

What interests me about these images is that the Polish, so much closer to the issue than the Americans who created the film, see the use of Nazis as the villains in Raiders of the Lost Ark as establishing a dark, horrific tone. Whereas U.S. distribution sold it as an adventurous romp fit for the whole family. And yet, though the general level of sensitivity is obviously much lower, it is in America that the use of the swastika on a poster would be taboo.

Runners-Up to the Willie List Nominees

The following films are the poor, neglected orphans that only needed ONE more vote to make it onto the Willie List nominees. That means that YOU, just for the cost of leaving Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Night of the Living Dead off of your list, could have gotten one of these films nominated. Shame on us all for not including these fine films. Except those of us who were unfortunate enough to cast the only vote for something like half a dozen titles.

By popular request, the Runners-Up.

The Addiction (1995; Abel Ferrara)
Altered States (1980; Ken Russell)
The Amityville Horror (1979; Stuart Rosenberg)
Angel Heart (1987; Alan Parker)
Arachnophobia (1990; Frank Marshall)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976; John Carpenter)
The Black Cat (1934; Edgar G. Ulmer)
Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch)
Blood Simple (1984; Coen Bros.)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992; Francis Ford Coppola)
The Burning (1981; Tony Maylam)
Cabin Fever (2002; Eli Roth)
Cannibal Holocaust (1980; Ruggero Deodata)
Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (1974; Brian Clemens)
Castle of Blood (1964; Antonio Margheriti)
A Clockwork Orange (1971; Stanley Kubrick)
Crash (1996; David Cronenberg)
Cure (1997; Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Dark Water (2005; Walter Salles)
Deliverance (1972; John Boorman)
Dementia 13 (1963; Francis Ford Coppola)
Deranged (1974; Jeff Gillen & Allen Ormsby)
Donnie Darko (2001;Richard Kelly)
Dracula’s Daughter (1936; Lambert Hillyer)
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1932; Rouben Mamoulian)
Evil Dead Trap (1988; Toshiharu Ikeda)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005; Scott Derrickson)
Fascination (1979; Jean Rollin)
Flatliners (1990; Joel Schumacher)
Frightmare (1974; Pete Walker)
From Dusk Til Dawn (1996; Robert Rodriguez)
Gozu (Cowhead) (2003; Takashi Miike)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982; Tommy Lee Wallace)
Hell Night (1981; Tom DeSimone)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977; Wes Craven)
Horror Express (1973; Eugenio Martinez)
House of 1000 Corpses (2003; Rob Zombie)
House of Dark Shadows (1970; Dan Curtis)
The House on Sorority Row (1983; Mark Rosman)
The Invisible Man (1933; James Whale)
Isle of the Dead (1945; Mark Robson)
It’s Alive (1974; Larry Cohen)
Knife in the Water (1962; Roman Polanski)
The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972; Charles B. Pierce)
Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973; Richard Blackburn)
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974; Jorge Grau)
Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane (1976; Nicolas Gessner)
Maniac (1980; Bill Lustig)
Marebito (2004; Takashi Shimizu)
Masque of the Red Death (1964; Roger Corman)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006; Guillermo del Toro)
Perfume of a Lady in Black (1974; Francesco Barilli)
Phantom of the Opera (1925; Rupert Julian)
Perfect Blue (1998; Satoshi Kon)
Pumpkinhead (1989; Stan Winston)
Rabid (1977; David Croenberg)
Requiem for a Dream (2000; Darren Aronofsky)
Scream 2 (1997; Wes Craven)
The Sentinel (1977; Michael Winner)
Shallow Grave (1994); Danny Boyle)
Shock (1977; Mario Bava)
Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974; Theodore Gershuny)
Sleepy Hollow (1999; Tim Burton)
Spider Baby (1968; Jack Hill)
Tales from the Crypt (1972; Freddie Francis)
Tarantula (1955; Jack Arnold)
Tourist Trap (1979; David Schmoeller)
Tremors (1990; Ron Underwood)
Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964; Herschell Gordon Lewis)
Vampyres (1974; Jose Ramon Larraz)
Who Can Kill a Child? (1976; Narciso Ibanez Serrador)

Corrections & Errata

I have just realized that, in addition to Tomb of Ligeia, two more films were left off the nominees for the Willie List undeservedly. Both Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954; Jack Arnold) and Kaidan (aka Kwaidan) (1964; Masaki Kobayashi) received four votes apiece, more than enough to be nominated. The mistake has been rectified.

I can only blame this error on the laziness and stupidity of Yours Truly. Now if I could just FIND the bastard...

24 WORDS PER FILM (#14)

Global warming personified=wendigo ghosts in Last Winter. But they’re not as scary as the documentary montages resembling cinematically powerful versions of Inconvenient Truth.

Polish Film Poster of the Week (10/15-10/22)

This week: Down By Law (1991); artist: Andrzej Klimowski

The 411: In 1991, Poland got Jarmusch. Klimowski designed this poster, the one for Mystery Train included below, and this one for Stranger Than Paradise. They are all of a piece, stylistically, but each do their own thing within the established (and oft-seen around this time) form of collage mixed with illustration. Major Polish Poster Motif #1, the obscuring of part or all of the human face, is satisfied most classically in the Mystery Train poster, while the image for Stranger Than Paradise uses it more obliquely, with the figures standing with their backs to the viewer.

Andrzej Klimowski is a fascinating character. He was born in London, made his name in Polish poster design, and has lately turned to the graphic novel form. He's also a silent film enthusiast. A great article on Klimowski originally published in The Comics Journal a few years ago, can be found here.

Mummy of the Day: BUBBA HO-TEP

Killer, uh, mummy!


I was the only living soul who nominated this for the Willies List. I shouldn't've been surprised as the number of votes for horror parodies/comedies was not that high (especially after the list became known as "Flicks That Give You the Willies" and people started voting specifically for scares), but Shaun of the Dead made it, so wah wah wah goes Ed.

Anywho, I created the Top 5 Horror Comedies Willie Bonus Sub-List (I believe is what I called it) specifically to address this issue. And also so I could somehow vote for The Burbs and not feel like an UTTER boob. Just kind of a boob. (Link to my Burbs obsession here and here.)


Bubba Ho-Tep is the kind of movie that you can get almost any film geek to watch just by telling them the pitch: Ossie Davis plays JFK as an old black man. Bruce Campbell plays Elvis as old, fat Elvis. They meet in a nursing home. Then team up to fight a mummy. Do you really need to know anything else?

Official Nominees for the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies List

Here are the 183 official nominees from the 67 nominating ballots I received:


28 Days Later (2002; Danny Boyle)
Alice Sweet Alice (1976; Alfred Sole)
Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)
Aliens (1986; James Cameron)
All the Colors of the Dark (1972; Sergio Martino)
American Psycho (2000; Mary Harron)
An American Werewolf in London (1981; John Landis)
Audition (1999; Takashi Miike)
The Beyond (1981; Lucio Fulci)
The Birds (1963; Alfred Hitchcock)
Black Christmas (1974: Bob Clark)
Black Sabbath (1963; Mario Bava & Salvatore Billitteri)
Black Sunday (aka Mask of Satan) (1960; Mario Bava)
The Blair Witch Project (1999; Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez)
Blood and Black Lace (1964; Mario Bava)
Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971; Piers Haggard)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935; James Whale)
The Brides of Dracula (1960; Terence Fisher)
The Brood (1979; David Cronenberg)
Burnt Offerings (1976; Dan Curtis)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920; Robert Weine)
Candyman (1992; Bernard Rose)
Carnival of Souls (1962; Herk Harvey)
Carrie (1976; Brian de Palma)
Cat People (1942; Jacques Tourneur)
The Changeling (1980; Peter Medak)
Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972; Bob Clark)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954; Jack Arnold)
Creepshow (1982; George Romero)
Cronos (1993; Guillermo del Toro)
Cube (1997; Vincenzo Natali)
Daughters of Darkness (1971; Harry Kumel)
Dawn of the Dead (1978; George Romero)
Dawn of the Dead (2004; Zack Snyder)
Day of the Dead (1985; George Romero)
Dead Alive (1992; Peter Jackson)
Dead of Night (aka Deathdream) (1974; Bob Clark)
Dead Ringers (1988; David Cronenberg)
Deathline (aka Raw Meat) (1972; Gary Sherman)
Deep Red (1975; Dario Argento)
Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man) (1994; Michele Soavi)
Demons (Demoni) (1985; Lamberto Bava)
The Descent (2005; Neil Marshall)
The Devils (1971; Ken Russell)
The Devil’s Backbone (2001; Guillermo del Toro)
The Devil’s Bride (aka The Devil Rides Out) (1968; Terence Fisher)
The Devil’s Rejects (2005; Rob Zombie)
Les Diaboliques (1955; Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Don’t Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg)
Dracula (1931; Tod Browning)
Dr. Jekyll & His Women (1981; Walerian Borowczyk)
Eraserhead (1977; David Lynch)
Event Horizon (1997; Paul W.S. Anderson)
The Evil Dead (1981; Sam Raimi)
Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987)
The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)
The Exorcist III (1990; William Peter Blatty)
The Eye (aka Gin gwai) (2002; Pang Bros.)
Eyes Without a Face (aka Les Yuex sans visage) (1960; Georges Franju)
The Fly (1986; David Cronenberg)
The Fog (1980; John Carpenter)
Frailty (2001; Bill Paxton)
Frankenstein (1931; James Whale)
Freaks (1932; Tod Browning)
Friday the 13th (1980; Sean S. Cunningham)
Friday the 13th, part II (1981; Steve Miner)
Fright Night (1985; Tom Holland)
Full Circle (aka The Haunting of Julia) (1977; Richard Loncraine)
Funny Games (1997; Michael Haneke)
Ginger Snaps (2000; John Fawcett)
Godzilla (aka Gojira) (1954; Ishiro Honda)
Gremlins (1984; Joe Dante)
Halloween (1978; John Carpenter)
The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
Haute Tension (2003; Alexandre Aja)
Hellraiser (1987; Clive Barker)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986; John McNaughton)
The Hitcher (1986; Robert Harmon)
Horror Hotel (aka City of the Dead) (1960; John Llewellyn Moxey)
Horror of Dracula (1958; Terence Fisher)
Hour of the Wolf (1968; Ingmar Bergman)
House of Wax (1953; Andre de Toth)
House on Haunted Hill (1959; William Castle)
The Howling (1981; Joe Dante)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943; Jacques Tourneur)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995; John Carpenter)
Inferno (1980; Dario Argento)
The Innocents (1961; Jack Clayton)
Island of Lost Souls (1932; Erle C. Kenton)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956; Don Siegel)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978; Philip Kaufman)
Jacob’s Ladder (1990; Adrian Lyne)
Jaws (1975; Steven Spielberg)
Jeepers Creepers (2001; Victore Salva)
Ju-On: The Grudge (2003; Takashi Shimizu)
Kaidan (Kwaidan) (1964; Masaki Kobayashi)
Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966; Mario Bava)
King Kong (1933; Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack)
Last House on the Left (1972; Wes Craven)
The Last Man on Earth (1964; Ubaldo Ragona)
The Legend of Hell House (1973; John Hough)
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971; John D. Hancock)
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) (74; Jorge Grau)
The Locals (2003; Greg Page)
Lost Highway (1997; David Lynch)
Magic (1978; Richard Attenborough)
Martin (1977; George Romero)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002; Mark Pellington)
Mulholland Dr. (2001; David Lynch)
My Bloody Valentine (1981; George Mihalka)
Near Dark (1987; Kathryn Bigelow)
New Nightmare (1994; Wes Craven)
A Nightmare on Elm St. (1984; Wes Craven)
Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors (1987; Chuck Russell)
Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon) (1957; Jacques Tourneur)
Night of the Hunter (1957; Charles Laughton)
Night of the Living Dead (1968; George Romero)
Night Tide (1961; Curtis Harrington)
Nosferatu (1922; F.W. Murnau)
Nosferatu (1979; Werner Herzog)
The Omen (1976; Richard Donner)
Onibaba (1964; Kaneto Shindo)
The Others (2001; Alejandro Amenebar)
Peeping Tom (1960; Michael Powell)
People Under the Stairs (1991; Wes Craven)
Pet Semetary (1989; Mary Lambert)
Phantasm (1979; Don Coscarelli)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975; Peter Weir)
Pit and the Pendulum (1961; Roger Corman)
Poltergeist (1982; Tobe Hooper)
Possession (1981; Andrzej Zulawski)
Prince of Darkness (1987; John Carpenter)
Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)
Pulse (Kairo) (2001; Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Quatermass and the Pit (aka Five Million Years to Earth) (1967; Roy Ward Baker)
Ravenous (1999; Antonia Bird)
Re-Animator (1985; Stuart Gordon)
The Reflecting Skin (1990; Philip Ridley)
Repulsion (1965; Roman Polanski)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985; Dan O’Bannon)
The Ring (2002; Gore Verbinski)
Ringu (1998; Hideo Nakata)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968; Roman Polanski)
Saw (2004; James Wan)
Scanners (1981; David Cronenberg)
Scream (1996; Wes Craven)
The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988; Wes Craven)
Session 9 (2001; Brad Anderson)
Seven (1995; David Fincher)
Shaun of the Dead (2004; Edgar Wright)
The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick)
Shivers: They Came From Within (1975; David Cronenberg)
Signs (2002; M. Night Shyamalan)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991; Jonathon Demme)
Sisters (1973; Brian de Palma)
Sixth Sense (1999; M. Night Shyamalan)
Sleepaway Camp (1983; Robert Hiltzik)
Slither (2006; James Gunn)
Suspiria (1977; Dario Argento)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003; Ji-woon Kim)
Targets (1968; Peter Bogdonavich)
The Tenant (1976; Roman Polanski)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974; Tobe Hooper)
Them! (1954; Gordon Douglas)
The Thing (1982; John Carpenter)
The Thing from Another World (1951; Christian Nyby)
Tomb of Ligeia (1964; Roger Corman)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971; Amanda de Ossorio)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992; David Lynch)
The Uninvited (2003; Su-yeon Lee)
Uzumaki (2000; Higuchinsky)
Vampyr, the Strange Adventure of David Gray (1932; Carl Theodor Dreyer)
The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1988; George Sluizer)
Videodrome (1983; David Cronenberg)
The Village (2004; M. Night Shyamalan)
Village of the Damned (1960; Wolf Rilla)
Wait Until Dark (1967; Terence Young)
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962; Robert Aldrich)
When a Stranger Calls (1979; Fred Walton)
The Wicker Man (1973; Robin Hardy)
Witchfinder General (1968; Michael Reeves)
Wolf Creek (2005; Greg Mclean)
The Wolf Man (1941; George Waggner)


My thanks to everyone who sent in lists. The response has been unbelievably enormous: I had no idea THIS many films would appear on three or more people's lists. I am impressed by the eclecticism of the nominees to the point that I feel it would be almost be a shame to narrow the final list down to only 31 choices.

Here's the rules for final voting: Your ballot is due by the end of the day Sunday, Oct. 28th. It may contain no more or fewer than 31 of the listed nominees. Unlike the nominating lists, your ballot must be ordered and numbered. Your votes will be tallied in a weighted manner, so if you put something in first place, it will receive 31 points. If you put something in last place, it will receive 1 point.

An important point: Anyone can vote in this survey. You do not have to have sent in a nominating list or have heard of this project before this very moment to vote. Eligible ballots are ones that contain a numbered list of 31 of the nominees listed above and are sent to me before the end of of the day Oct. 28th.

The 31 Flicks That Give US the Willies will be posted on Halloween. If the responses of the final ballots are as varied as the nominating lists were, I will probably post a runners-up list a few days later. As always, if none of this makes any sense, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.

Thanks again to everyone who has participated (or plans to.)

BONUS for the ultra-list-o-maniacal: If you wish, include with your ballot a sub-list of Top 5 Horror Comedies, also ordered and numbered, but not necessarily culled from the nominees above. For the Top 5 Horror Comedies Willie Bonus Sub-List, you can vote for any five movies that you believe fit that description. (And yes, faithful readers, this IS just another ploy for me to write about The Burbs.)

Ghoul, Ghost, Killer or Fiend of the Day: The KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE

To that strange minority of people in the world who are deathly afraid of clowns: I give you the Chiodo Bros. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988).



They cocoon people in cotton candy, then slurp the juice out with crazy straws. They make shadow puppets that eat people. They fly a spaceship that looks like a circus tent. And, most importantly, they unite us in the face of their aggression, for they prey on the normal and clown-fearing alike.

a memo and a meme

Despite the paucity of posts, Shoot the Projectionist H.Q. has been a flurry of activity over the last several days. The deadline for 31 Flicks that Give You the Willies nominating ballots is the end of the day tomorrow. Which means as the clock rolls over to midnight and it becomes Sunday, Oct. 14th, I'll check my e-mail for the final time, log the last the nominations and publish the list of nominees. I've received sixty ballots so far and well over a hundred films have been nominated--but there is still time and there are still a lot of neglected titles! So if you're out there and you haven't sent in your list yet, pack it full of obscure favorites and send it on in.

In other news, I've been tagged for a meme by Jonathan Lapper of CinemaStyles. (His post at that link has some interesting stuff about the meme phenomenon you may want to check out.)

When this thing started at Pharyngula it looked like this...

Here are the instructions: The Pharyngula mutating genre meme There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations: * You can leave them exactly as is. * You can delete any one question. * You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is…" to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is…", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…". * You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…". You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable. Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions. Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them. Here are my starting propagators. Since I'm the one starting this whole shebang, my source site is nowhere but me, and I should be the only one to answer NONE…unless someone throws out my questions altogether and starts a competing meme, which would be rather interesting.

My parent is: NONE. 1. The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is… The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers. 2. The best romantic movie in historical fiction is… Cold Mountain. 3. The best sexy song in rock is… Gloria, by Patti Smith.



When Lapper sent it over to me it had gone through several mutations and become:



My parent is: Cinephile (you owe me a lot of back birthday presents Dad)
1. The best epic song (over six minutes in length) in rock is... How Soon is Now, The Smiths
2. The best mockumentary movie in comedy is... Best in Show ("He went after her like she was made out of ham")
3. The best End of the World movie in Science Fiction is... The Day the Earth Caught Fire


I left two questions alone and mutated one of them, creating this:

My parent is CinemayStyles.

1. The best epic song in rock is… COBRA by My Morning Jacket

2. The best horror parody film in comedy is… DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE (1996)

3. The best End of the World movie in Science Fiction is… A BOY AND HIS DOG (1975)


And now, dear readers, I am sorry to say, but you have been tagged. If you feel compelled to do so, please mutate my meme and pass along the infection to someone else.



This is the cover to My Morning Jacket's Chocolate and Ice EP which contains "COBRA." At 24 minutes, 12 seconds, "COBRA" truly is the most epic song in rock.