Geez. Life feels a bit meaningless right now, doesn't it? What, with this whole "November" thing being shoved down our throats and all. I know how it is. (Meaningful look) I'm here for you. I thought we could take our minds off the misery of Halloween being 364 days away by taking a look at some "fun" "facts" about your
SHOCKtober picks. Man, you guys gave me 732 movies! That's so cool. You guys rule!
- Director with most movies featured: Wes Craven
I was kinda shocked by that, but you guys listed 10 of his films. Dario Argento placed second with nine movies making the cut, followed by a three-way, eight-film tie between David Cronenberg, Mario Bava, and Terence Fisher. John Carpenter, whose films
Halloween and
The Thing nabbed the #1 and 2 spots, had six films on the list.
- Most popular decade: The 1980s
Okay, so 190 films from the 1980s were listed. The runner-up decade? The fucking aughties! I thought for sure the 70s would place second, but noooo- we're living in the now, y'all, and there are 170 films from 2000-2009 to prove it. Anyone who says modern horror is dying needs to can it!
- Movies directed by women: 9
Nine. Nine movies directed by women made the list. 9 movies out of 732- that's 1.23%. That's sad. The world just needs more women making movies- more movies by women will mean more good movies by women...more bad ones, too, but still. More. Kathryn Bigelow's
Near Dark was the highest-ranked at #59. It was the only one to crack the top 100, although Mary Harron's
American Psycho was close at #104.
- Number of Tracey Gold movies: Zero
What is wrong with you people??
- That settles it, it's horror: Jaws, Alien, and The Silence of the Lambs
These three films inevitably make "Top Whatever Number" lists of horror films- classics, favorites, bestests, what have you- and yet there are always dissenters crying "That's not horror!", or people who want to namedrop 'em but don't because they're worried about those pesky genre lines. Well, in the
SHOCKtober countdown,
Alien ranked #12,
Jaws #14, and
Silence #52. They're horror movies as much as they're sci-fi, drama, and thriller, so there you go. If you want to cite 'em, cite 'em for fuck's sake. Now let's all move on with our lives!
- Because really, horror is whatever you think it is.
I have to say, I was glad no one got typically snarky and, you know, "
Sex and the City is a horror movie, ha ha!"...but some of you did come up with some unusual choices-
The Cable Guy (#627),
Sunset Boulevard (#284),
Cries and Whispers (#467)- which were completely well-reasoned and honest choices. Who am I to tell anyone what's horrifying? Don't be all hemmed-in by categorizations. Live free, die hard, something somethinger.
- That settles it, he's a horror director: David Lynch
Lynch's name is not necessarily one that springs to mind immediately when talking about horror movie directors, but with four films making the list (and honestly, I'm a bit surprised that
Mulholland Dr. didn't make it)...I think we can claim him as one of our own. Gooble gobble, baby!
- You guys looooove zombies.
There is one subgenre to rule them all, and it's zombie cinema. If you don't like the current Craze of the Living Dead, then you only have yourselves to blame! No one is shooting this subgenre in the head, so it just keeps going and going (
walking, not running, mind you). Two of the Top 10 were zombie flicks, and a gander at the list as a whole will prove how much y'all dig the rotties. From
Night of the Living Dead (#6) to
[REC]2 (#693) and everything in between- they're coming to get us,
Barbara horror fans!
- You've given me so much homework...
...and I thank you for it! Never mind the number of films on the list that I've never seen- there are tons of 'em I'd never even
heard of before your choices started pouring in.
Espectro? What in the what? I'm so excited to get out there and watch, watch, watch I could just barf!
And so,
SHOCKtober 2010 comes to an end. It all went by so quickly and none of it was what I'd originally intended to do this month, but who cares about that? It was awesome. Big thanks to the special guests who contributed, to everyone who submitted a list...umm, thank you. Couldn't have done it without you! Well, I could have, but without your lists
SHOCKtober probably would have consisted of reviews of Tracey Gold movies, and that-- wait, that would have been
WICKED! SHOCKtober 2011, here I come!
Yeah!
Yeah!
ah, can't wait for next year's shocktober! thanx Stacie, you did a great job!!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna track down at least one movie listed in SHOCKTOBER 2010 that I've never heard of, watch it, and then review the shit out of it over at the House of Sparrows. It'd sure be neat-o if others who submitted lists were to do the same.
ReplyDeleteThis really was an education. Like you, Stacie, I was amazed by all of the films on this list I’d never heard of in all my years of loving horror. I maintain a long list of horror movies I want to see, slowly but surely checking them off. There are still about 100 films on there I have yet to view and now… now I have to add another 400 or so. Talk about homework.
ReplyDeleteHuzzah!
ReplyDeleteThis is honestly one of the best, if not THE best, ongoing blog entries I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Reading about my favourite horror films and seeing others appreciate them is one thing, but I'm thrilled by the fact that I've been introduced to all these new films which will keep me busy for quite some time. Kudos to you all.
This was a GREAT series. I may or may not have compiled all 732 titles into a master list that I may or may not be chipping away at for the rest of my days. Seriously. This was such a fantastic idea.
ReplyDeleteYou could always dub this month "No!!"vember, and do something with that....slasher retrospective maybe...
ReplyDeleteClearly not as epic as Shocktober, which was a complete blast, and I expect the excel spreadsheet that I made with all the lists (yes the excel spreadsheet I made) to see which I've seen and what I'm going to start watching (Killer Workout here I come) will get a lot of play between now and the next Shocktober. Thanks for all your work, and clear love of the genre. Makes me want to be a better horror fan. ;-)
Heck Stacie, as long as you've got Final Girl, it's ALWAYS Shocktober!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all this! Still, le sigh...
Rob
Yeah, I've already watched a few films off of these lists. David Lynch (and BTW, Mulholland Dr. is my favorite movie, period) - follow me, this isn't as stupid as it will look at first - I think he's to horror what Aerosmith is to heavy metal. No, I don't mean watered down or "lite", I mean that before Van Halen and Judas Priest changed the game, Aerosmith was what was considered heavy metal. You could point to a few songs like "Jailbait", and say that those are definitely metal songs, but nowadays, you wouldn't look at Aerosmith's overall output and categorize them strictly as a metal band. But you'd still have to include them in the discussion, because they had metal moments, had the same fan base (up to a point), and were heavily influential on bands that are definitely considered as metal. That's what David Lynch is to horror: outside but nearby, a kindred soul following a different path. He also seems to have more respect for horror than other directors of his repute; you see references to Coffin Joe and Carnival of Souls in his movies. So, yes, gooble gobble. Of course, the Aerosmith analogy breaks down when you consider their relative quality, but you could substitute Led Zeppelin or Thin Lizzy, and it still works.
ReplyDelete