Here we are, still in the realm of where, as the Spice Girls might say, "2 become 1." Except here the two stay as two...? I am tired. The point is, each of the following films received two votes!
428. Ghost Story -- 1981, John Irvin
427. Ghostbusters -- 1984, Ivan Reitman
426. Gothic -- 1986, Ken Russell
425. Graduation Day -- 1981, Herb Freed
424. Halloween II -- 2009, Rob Zombie
423. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers -- 1988, Dwight H. Little
422. Halloween -- 2007, Rob Zombie
421. Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages -- 1922, Benjamin Christensen
420. Hell Night -- 1981, Tom DeSimone
419. Hellbent -- 2004, Paul Etheredge
418. High Tension -- 2003, Alexandre Aja
417. Horror Express -- 1972, Eugenio Martín
416. Horror of Dracula -- 1958, Terence Fisher
415. Host -- 2020, Rob Savage
414. Hostel: Part II -- 2007, Eli Roth
413. Hour of the Wolf -- 1968, Ingmar Bergman
412. Housebound -- 2014, Gerard Johnstone
411. Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte -- 1964, Robert Aldrich
410. In a Glass Cage -- 1986, Agustí Villaronga
409. Kill List -- 2011, Ben Wheatley
408. Kuroneko (aka The Black Cat) -- 1968, Kaneto Shindô
407. Lake Placid -- 1999, Steve Miner
406. Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural -- 1973, Richard Blackburn
405. Let Me In -- 2010, Matt Reeves
404. Lights Out -- 2016, David F. Sandberg
403. Little Shop of Horrors -- 1986, Frank Oz
402. Maximum Overdrive -- 1986, Stephen King
401. Motel Hell -- 1980, Kevin Connor
400. Night Warning (aka Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker) -- 1981, William Asher
399. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master -- 1988, Renny Harlin
398. Only Lovers Left Alive -- 2013, Jim Jarmusch
- No movie in the whole entire history of ever brings together the talents of Vanna White, Linnea Quigley, Christopher George, and a Football-With-a-Sword-Attached besides Graduation Day. It is the only movie! And that is worth something. And that picture of my beloved Football-With-a-Sword-Attached? About 15 years ago I paused my VHS copy of Graduation Day and took a picture of my television so I could talk about that iconic moment here at Final Girl, because that is the way I did things here at Final Girl at the time. Yes, since then I have upgraded to the Blu-ray of Graduation Day, but I do not want to update that picture with a fancy, hi-def screencap where you can actually tell, like, what's going on. I only ever want to post that shitty photo because it is a good reminder for me of this site's very early days and very humble beginnings, when I had not written anything about horror movies for public consumption (or even for my own private consumption, to be fair). It was a time when the internet was a kinder, gentler, weirder place that felt full of creative opportunities--and I don't mean financial opportunities or exposure opportunities or what have you. It was simply a new platform and people were making stuff not for clout or to be cool, but because they just wanted to do it. I certainly had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted to talk about horror movies--and there was nothing fancy about Final Girl at all, as that picture demonstrates. Final Girl isn't particularly fancy now ("Yeah, we know" - you), but the pictures are usually nicer than those days where I posted tiny-sized pictures I took of my TV screen or awful scans from horror magazines. There isn't much point to all of this rambling except to say that it was a good time! And if you were around back then, thank you. If you've found this place since then, thank you. If you are Graduation Day, thank you: All hail the Football-With-a-Sword-Attached.
11 comments:
I really have to give Kill List another watch. I should possibly also rewatch Gothic, which is definitely peak Russell. Even Russell Crowe rustling Jack Russell Terriers would be not 1/10th the Russell.
How did I not know that Vanna White was in Graduation Day? That's one of the classics that I just finally saw recently. But there has never been a time in my conscious life when I didn't know who Vanna White is.
Another I just saw is Hell Night, which always eluded me due to disappearing from Netflix DVD and streaming sites.
In a similar vein, m y confession is that I still haven't seen Blood Rage, which seems to be the "in" retro-slasher nowadays.
Horror Express is fun. How can you top the classic duo of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing? How about Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, AND Telly Savalas!
Horror Express and Hell Night are some of my faves. They're both such a good time, and so is Blood Rage, absolutely. I think the (fairly?) recent Arrow Blu-ray got it into the zeitgeist and I'm so glad. I saw it for the first time ~2 years ago, maybe, and I loved it. It's completely bonkers and a worthy Thanksgiving tradition!
IN A GLASS CAGE is a twisted but beautifully made piece of work.
I included In A Glass Cage, expecting mine to be the only inclusion - that there’s another twisted fuck here that also loves this movie makes me so happy (Jon Waters said something like “I love this movie, but I’m afraid to show it to my friends” about it)
Betty White was a youthful 77 when she stole the show in LAKE PLACID.
Why do I love the "horror on a transportation system" genre so much? Who knows! But god bless the two of you lovely people who picked Horror Express.
Oh man why do I always forget about IN A GLASS CAGE? It's an astonishing movie -- truly genuinely disturbing but not without shit to say (it's not shock for shock's sake) and absolutely beautifully made. I absolutely would've put that on my list had I remembered it.
It’s streaming on Shudder right now (and they added a warning before the movie, which I hadn’t seen before a Shudder movie before)
I've had a couple of people come to my place and (as one tends to) peruse my blu-ray collection, and from the other side of the room I hear a muffled: "What's IN A GLASS CAGE?" Because, invariably, it's a movie most normal people have never heard of and it stands out when it's right next to the JOHN WICK movies.
I try and breeze over it by just saying: "Oh, it just some weird Spanish horror movie..." And I hope they don't then ask me what it's about.
At first glance, I'd thought that Football-with-a-sword-attached was a fish in motion. Shows what I know...
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