The following films each received five votes:
40. The Sentinel -- 1977, Michael Winner
39. The Amityville Horror -- 1979, Stuart Rosenberg
38. Don't Look Now -- 1973, Nicolas Roeg
37. The Evil Dead -- 1981, Sam Raimi
Each of the following received six votes:
36. Pet Sematary -- 1989, Mary Lambert
35. Event Horizon -- 1997, Paul W. S. Anderson
34. The Exorcist III -- 1990, William Peter Blatty
33. Phantasm -- 1979, Don Coscarelli
32. Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- 1978, Philip Kaufman
31. The Conjuring -- 2013, James Wan
Boy oh boy, 40-32 is like music to my eyeballs. So many terrific films. You guys have the best taste, I swear! And perhaps after the next Film Club meeting, I'll be as excited about #31 on this chunk o' list. Stranger things have happened.
Speaking of strange things, here's something...uh, strange. It seems to me that the majority of horror fans really love Exorcist III. It's scary. It's unexpectedly solid, a hell of a lot better than Exorcist II (even if, let's face it, it's really lacking in musical numbers and Linda Blair). That's not strange- I love the movie myself. What's strange is that Warner Brothers doesn't take advantage of this love by releasing DVD after DVD! There's long been rumored to be more footage out there, and fans have desired a Director's Cut for quite some time.
All we've got, however, is a bare-bones DVD from 1999. In this age of duping the public with new editions every five years (I mean, how many times can Halloween and Friday the 13th be released?) and even the most obscure horror flicks receiving the deluxe Blu Ray treatment, it seems like a no-brainer. Ah well, we'll get something eventually I'm sure. The world can't go forever without weird grandmas creeping about in super hi-def.
All we've got, however, is a bare-bones DVD from 1999. In this age of duping the public with new editions every five years (I mean, how many times can Halloween and Friday the 13th be released?) and even the most obscure horror flicks receiving the deluxe Blu Ray treatment, it seems like a no-brainer. Ah well, we'll get something eventually I'm sure. The world can't go forever without weird grandmas creeping about in super hi-def.
14 comments:
1970's Donald Sutherland is well represented in this list. 1970's Donald Sutherland is all kinds of awesome.
Exorcist III is definitely underrated and a great pick -- all of the head-shearing scenes, people on ceilings and the creepy prison cell scene intercutting between Jason Miller and Brad Dourif. ... Pet Sematary is an unpalatable movie. Between the wooden acting of the two leads and the gut-wrenching topic of young children dying, it's just not a movie I care to revisit. I guess it's a compliment to say the scene of Gage's death is so pulse-racingly edited that I never want to see it again. ...
Meanwhile, let me ask some of y'all about The Sentinel. Is there anyone out there who grew up watching the TV edit before you knew about the theatrical cut? I found the TV edit to be one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. Then, when I finally saw the theatrical cut on DVD in the late 1990s/early 2000s, expecting chills all over again, I instead found myself turned off by the gratuitous amount of gore and, well, other stuff.
I'd never even heard of THE SENTINEL until I came across a copy at a video store about...6-7 years ago. I was surprised to see it ranked so highly here, but I guess I really missed out years ago. It's a really disturbing film on a few levels.
To TV version (which might not even be available anywhere) has: no nudity, no Beverly D. touching herself, a shorter ending to that scene where Cristina Raines hacks all the pieces off her "father," and fewer shots that linger on the "demons" (real disfigured people) during the final scene. I feel like the theatrical version really dwells on those disfigured people in an uncomfortably exploitative way.
The Sentinel RULES! Love that movie! There's more than a couple freaky WTF moments. And Pet Sematary made my list because of the whole Sister Zelda subplot which is incredibly bothersome (not that my list got used; I sent it in late [hours late!] and i don't think it was included. Say what you will about Final Girl, when she makes rules, she sticks to 'em!).
Chris, I agree- the end of THE SENTINEL makes for some seriously uncomfortable viewing.
It'd be amazing if Blatty got to finally release his director's cut of LEGION before he died.
The great UK critic Mark Kermode (who saw the original cut and raves about it) has been lobbying Morgan Creek for 20 years to let them look for the material, which Morgan Creek claims was destroyed.
But I guess if they can unearth the full cut of NIGHTBREED then surely there's a chance LEGION could be saved.
One can only hope.
Nathan, I included your list, so there's no need to be snarky about it, thanks.
I must have been having some kind of mental block to not include Amityville on my list. Back in the 80s, my preteen self really bought the "based on a true story" line.
I LOVES me some Exorcist III, it made my list and I'm glad to see it rank so highly. That 'nurses station' scene in the corridor where the camera just sits there... and sits there...
Amityville messed me up as a young'un! I read that book soooo many times.
I still remember seeing the Nurse decapitation scene from Exorcist III in the theater. The entire audience screamed in unison.
Good times.
Stacie - You did? Aw, hell. My snark has been retracted. Apologies. You is a stand up gal. STAND UP GAL, I say.
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