FAVE 20: Jason Edward Davis

Lemme tell you, Jason Edward Davis gives great movie recommendations, especially to folks like me who think they've seen everything, because clearly I have not but clearly he has. Jason knows every movie! If I say "Jason, I'm in the mood for a slasher, what should I watch?" he won't say "Have you heard of Psycho?"--he will say "The Legend of the Willywompadoo Swamp Killer is a good one!" or something, you know, the one 80s slasher I haven't heard of, never mind seen.

Jason also puts his movie knowledge to incredible use in his work as an artist. Horror folks around Portland OR are familiar with Jason's work from gallery shows and the like, in particular his work as the resident artist for the Queer Horror series at the Hollywood Theatre.  I love that so much of his work centers the oft-overlooked women in horror films, the sidekicks and the weirdos, including some of the queens he mentions in his list. And he draws cats both spooky and cute and plenty of horror hunks too, ok my. Here's his website. Spend some time giving your eyeballs some treats!

And spend some time with Jason's favorite 20 horror films! I knew there would be some off-the-beaten-path entries and it doesn't disappoint.

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988, Kevin Tenney)

It's Judy's turn to cry... for help!

DEMONS (1985, Lamberto Bava)

Perfect movie, perfect cast, but the real question is... how did the usherette get the job? What was the application process like? Who trained her? Does she have a comprehensive benefit package?

DEMONS 2 (1986, Lamberto Bava)

When Sally is the life of the party, it means the party is going to be the death of everyone else!

KILLER PARTY (1986, William Fruet)

When I was kid, this movie would play on the television in the afternoon all the time. Now it plays in my heart all of the time. Bless Sherry Willis-Burch, who plays Vivia, my favorite final girl. She laughs, she loves, she lives!

SPOOKIES (1986, Genie Joseph, Thomas Doran, & Brendan Faulkner)

Five minutes in and the kid is dead. Then the spider woman shows up, after the mud monsters, but before the monkey-like-carny-killer, in the room with the haunted-trivial pursuit, next to the grim reaper, who works for the pale man with the head thing, who's in love with the ghost, who isn't a ghost, but she's good, but also the mother of the other monster kid.

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CLASS REUNION (1982, Michael Miller)

What do you get when you combine a devil worshiper, a vampire, a serial killer (who is not Ben Stiller), and Bunny Packard? A sleepover at my house... I mean, a class reunion! MVP goes to Zane Busby, as Delores Salk, a real go-getter.

EKO EKO AZARAK: WIZARD OF DARKNESS (1995, Shimako Sato)

A teenage witch, an inescapable school, and a huge body count! Yes please!

IT FOLLOWS (2014, David Robert Mitchell)

It followed me all the way home... and now we are married. I don't make the rules, I just lock the doors.

STAGEFRIGHT (1987, Michele Soavi)

Hide the axe, tuck in the chainsaw, put away the knives, because once this dancing owl hears the sweet-sweet sounds of burning-hot-cool-murder-saxophone no one is safe! But then again, danger has never looked this cute!

CHEERLEADER CAMP (1988, John Quinn)

Lucinda Dickey will have you yelling Cory all the way to the insane asylum! Poor Bonnie though.

I SAW THE DEVIL (2010, Jee-woon Kim)

I saw the devil and the devil saw me... we both cried. It's been a hard year.

HONEYMOON (2014, Leigh Janiak)

I've never been more upset watching someone fail to make coffee. Watch this, then read Claire C. Holland's book of poetry I Am Not Your Final Girl.

THE BONEYARD (1991, James Cummins)

Hands-down my favorite leading lady. A burned out psychic a.k.a. middle-aged butch who rises from a pile of laundry like a phoenix from the ashes to take on zombie children, poodles, and Phyllis Diller.

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (1985, Jack Bender)

I refuse to acknowledge a life in which this isn't watched every October since it came out.

THE TALL MAN (2012, Pascal Laugier)

What can I say, I got a bad case of the Beasles!

PUMPKINHEAD (1988, Stan Winston)

I first saw this when I was the age of Lance Henriksen's kid. Now I am older than Pumpkinhead and I would like to think we've both grown during this time.

TRIANGLE (2009, Christopher Smith)

This is my High Tension.

THE KISS (1988, Pen Densham)

National treasure, Meredith Salenger, with the help of an amazing eagle sweater, must fight for her life against her beautiful-witch-aunt Joanna Pacula. If you grew up in the '80s you were terrified of dying on an escalator. This movie shows you why!

MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973, Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz)

When this movie pulls over and offers you a ride in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, you'll be saying "sure, why not" all the way to the end! You'll be so in love with the cast and the visuals that you won't even realize you're being surrounded... until it's too late!

JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (1993, Adam Marcus)

Body jumping, Jason Voorhees, and an endless parade of character actors?! I don't want to be right, when being wrong is this bad... I mean, good!