Top Ten from a Dedicated Aussie Horror Freak!

by Tom
(Australia)

I, like most horror freaks, have a great deal of difficulty in trying to pin down an exact, definitive 10 of the best (or worst) horror movies - so here are 10 horror flicks I love, in no particular order…

(Please note I consider zombie flicks a category of their own, so I have not included any zombie movies in this list - stay posted for an upcoming zombie flick list sometime soon!)

1. Alien -
Can't go past listing this as it's one movie that scared the beejesus out of me when I was a lad, huddled alone in the dark in front of a bad little b+w television while the wind howled through trees around my tiny house.

2. Basket Case -
I love this flick, it’s a campy, cheap, gross little effort from Frank Henenlotter that is "cheerfully demented" in every way - worth watching just for the atrocious stop-motion animation used to animate "Belial". Great shots of a very seedy NY Times Square, circa early 80's.

3. Re-Animator -
THE example of schlock-horror from the 80's. Bone saws, a talking decapitated head, and a zombie cat. What more do you really need?

4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre original 1974 version -
Forget the remakes, forget the crappy "origin" movie, forget the abominable sequels. THIS is where the massacre began. Not a whole lot of gore, despite what the title may suggest, and not even really many effective scares (though there are a few!) but it's sick. It's gross. It's disgusting and perverse. Rob Zombie could only DREAM of being this twisted…

5. Child's Play -
"Wanna play?" Chucky, the cabbage- patch- doll- from- hell, terrorizes innocent little Andy, who just wanted a playmate! I'll never forget the scene with Andy in the psych hospital looking out the barred window to see Chucky methodically making his way to the cell…creepy.

6. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer -
Genuinely shocking, almost documentary-style window into the life of a quiet, menacing serial killer and his would-be partner in crime. It's subdued and never in-your-face, the most shocking violence in the whole movie is only implied, yet this remains one of the most effective horror movies I've ever seen.

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street -
One can only HOPE this does not fall prey to "remake syndrome"… though I do not hold much hope! This is the one where "Fred" was still simply the maniacal ghost of a horrid child-murderer, not the wise-crackin' imbecile he became in the later films.

8. Halloween 1978 version -
Started it all, in my book (cuz it was the first horror movie I ever watched)… to this day the scene where Jamie and her friend are walking home from school and Myers appears very briefly out from behind a hedge, then vanishes again… scares the sh*t out of me!

9. Creepshow -
Best anthology horror movie ever from the master of the zombie flick George A Romero and horror king Steve.

10. Friday the 13th Part 2 -
Definitive "slasher" flick - clueless teenagers= check, deserted campsite in woods= check, weed= check, demented psycho in woods= check. Just something really satisfying about watching Jason slash his way through a bunch of gawking pubescent nobodies for 80 odd minutes. But to this day the final flight from Jason through the woods still gives me chills, a veritable lesson in how to build tension in a horror film.

Anyway, hope this helps or you just enjoyed reading! Take care.