FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

Oct 25, 2010

SHOCKtober: 132-108



I don't want to admit it, but we're nearing the home stretch of this fat-ass list of your favorite horror movies. I assure you, though, SHOCKtober won't end simply because October does.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves! Let's take a peek at 132-108, which is perhaps or finest hot hunk of list yet.

Each of the following films received SEVEN VOTES:

132. House on Haunted Hill -- 1959, William Castle
131. Ravenous -- 1999, Antonia Bird
130. Cannibal Holocaust -- 1980, Ruggero Deodato
129. The Exorcist III -- 1990, William Peter Blatty
128. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? -- 1962, Robert Aldrich

Each of the following films received EIGHT VOTES:

127. From Beyond -- 1986, Stuart Gordon
126. Planet Terror -- 2007, Robert Rodriguez
125. Pulse -- 2001, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
124. Peeping Tom -- 1960, Michael Powell
123. Possession -- 1981, Andrzej Zulawski
122. Eyes Without a Face -- 1960, Georges Franju
121. The Sixth Sense -- 1999, M. Night Shyamalan
120. Hausu -- 1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi
119. The Abominable Dr. Phibes -- 1971, Robert Fruest
118. Martin -- 1977, George Romero
117. Resident Evil -- 2002, Paul W. S. Anderson
116. The Mist -- 2007, Frank Darabont
115. Hostel -- 2005, Eli Roth
114. Dracula -- 1931, Tod Browning
113. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer -- 1986, John McNaughton
112. The House of the Devil -- 2009, Ti West
111. Dog Soldiers -- 2002, Neil Marshall

The following films received NINE VOTES:

110. Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter -- 1984, Joseph Zito
109. Demons -- 1985, Lamberto Bava
108. Opera -- 1987, Dario Argento


  • If you've yet to see Hausu...by God, what are you waiting for?!
  • Y'all, I loves me some Demons. I do. I love it in all its dripping, green foaminess.
  • I cannot see or think about Romero's Martin without this getting stuck in my head EVERY TIME:




Hopefully now you'll fall under the curse and the same will happen to you. That's called "paying it forward", just like in that movie...what was it called? Ah, Ju-on.

23 comments:

iasa said...

I don't want Shocktober to end!

Cody said...

There are some great ones on this list. But I have a question for you guys that enjoyed Cannibal Holocaust - what is it about that film that you like? Please don't read that as a judgmental comment because it is in no way, I am just genuinely curious.

michael said...

"If you've yet to see Hausu...by God, what are you waiting for?!"

Tomorrow, when the DVD is actually released.

Stacie Ponder said...

Wakka wakka. This movie's been all over the place!

Simon said...

I'm waiting for Hausu to be released on DVD.

michael said...

I haven't encountered it! And I've been dying to see Hausu ever since I was trying to figure out the killer lamp I saw once. Turns out it was Amityville 4 (?) mentioned recently but if you search for "killer lamp" on Youtube you get a scene from Hausu.

Anyway, bless Criterion for releasing it.

Sad man said...

Aw, Baby Jane and House of the Devil deserved more votes. Still pretty decent considering how many great movies got only one and two votes.

I don't get the Cannibal Holocaust love. Aside from very impressive makeup effects I thought it was a disgusting film (true animal deaths not my thing) with an obvious message. But hey, to each their own!

Tedums the Precious said...

I voted for Cannibal Holocaust because it's a thrilling meta-experience stomaching the damn thing. Not really, but yeah...

I also voted for Hostel. My two votes in this edition make me seem like some gorehound, but I'm really not...

Verdant Earl said...

Wow. I've only seen 3 of my 20 show up so far. I guess my list wasn't as unique as I thought it was. Of course, I keep forgetting what I submitted so...

Are ya gonna post a complete master list once this is all over and...sniff...done with?

John Weddell said...

Just waiting for my copy of Possession to drop through the letterbox. Wanted to see it for years. Big fan of Zulawski's other stuff.
And I never would have expected to see Ravenous so high up the list. It seems to have completely dropped off the map in the years since its release (if it was ever on the map at all). Saw it at the cinema as a young schoolchap attracted by the bizarre.

Andreas said...

Oh man, some seriously good movies on here! A fine hunk of list indeed. Martin, Dracula, Peeping Tom, Baby Jane, and one of my picks, Eyes sans Face!

The "face transplant" movie is one of my favorite horror subgenres.

Quiet Wyatt said...

Aww, yeah! Now, indeed, we are getting down, to the nitty, AND, the gritty, comma,!

Only 3 of my top 20 have made the list thus far. That means the other 17 are practically in the top 100! Yay me!

But, wait... maybe that means my taste in horror movies is plebian and unoriginal. Frowny face. :(

But no! If 17 of my favorites are in the top 100, that means I'm cool and individual like all the other cool and individual people! Big smile with a long nose! :-)

But, aw, crud, I'm not special because I don't stand out from the crowd, and everyone's gonna think I just voted for the popular movies cuz I want to be popular and it's not true, I'm a unique individual member of the Final Girl tribe! ;-P

But what if people think I voted *against* my own interests, in order to seem more cool by subverting the expectation that I would vote for the movies I truly love? Then they'd think I was a poser, trying to be unpopular by looking popular... |x

>*< SYstEm mAlFUnCTioN .
blueSCREEN error error error error
---- mommy? where are you, mommy?
+]"?}=[/]'=]/[}'/

...

^ (this is basically what happens in my head EVERY time I post online)

...

But self-doubt and second-guessing can DRAG ME TO HELL for all I care! I'm proud to be part of this survey, and LOVING the nice long list of movies I now need to see.

Rock on Stacie, rock over Chapel Hill. (And over every other dwellingplace of horror aficionados!)

dementia13 said...

This is a pretty nice section of list. I might have voted for Cannibal Holocaust; I at least considered it. I could probably explain it better if I'd seen it in the last couple of years. Yes, the message is obvious, but I like the intensity with which it's carried out. Is it disgusting? Yes, and that's part of its "charm", although I hope to live the rest of my life without seeing another penis get chopped off and eaten. I'm not crazy about the animal bits, either; but I think that the animal cruelty angle is overplayed, revolting as those parts are. In some cases, it's footage of one animal attacking another, the same kind of footage you can see on Wild Kingdom. In the instances where the animals are killed by humans, they at least eat the animals. So, you could say that the animals were killed for the movie, but its just as likely that those animals would have been killed and eaten were there no cameras there to record the event. It's grueling to watch the footage of the butchery, but that documentary-style footage blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction, and that realism makes the film's final act seem that much more brutal. We praise TCM for these kinds of things, but the cannibal films catch hell. Of course, many of them sucking might be part of the reason; once you've seen CH, you've seen them all. The cannibal films are definitely an...acquired taste (rat-tat-boom! crash!), and CH is by far the best of the bunch, that I've seen. It just works for me, but I recognize that they're not everybody's cup of white devil tea.

ArtAlmquist said...

So glad to see "Exorcist III" here. Man, I love that film. I was one of the few to see it in theatres and loved every second of it. Still do. Everything from the dialogue, to the slow build of tension, to the jump-out-of-your-skin hospital scene, to the climactic exorcism - it all works for me. Yes, even the controversial exorcism scene is great in my eyes - without it, i don't know how we'd have Kinderman's amazing monologue about how the demon's actions have helped his "unbelief" ... just not in the way the demon hoped. Love it, and Scott is terrific in this moment and this role. So is Jason Miller.

My wishes: that the studio would have called it "Legion", because "Exorcist III" does generate some giggles after "The Heretic"; also, I wish that Father Morning's character had been explained more. I know he was an afterthought, but some explanation as to how he found Patient X would have really helped the story. FInally, I wish there was enough love for it to get a special edition. Well, at least the DVD edition has great picture and sound.

But that's all nitpicking. I just love this film and am glad to see that at least 6 other people do as well!

Matt said...

Ah, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter". I used to be terrified of that movie as a kid, because Jason would RUUUNNN full speed and chase you! And the commercial announcer during the trailer asked, "What would you do if it happened to YOU?"... and then I would think about what I would do, and I was very, very afraid.

One point I'd like to make though -- Trish (Kimberly Beck) never gets any love for her heroine status. Sure, Tommy's cool, but Trish is a total final girl in that film. She jumps out 2-story windows, literally tries beating Jason off of her with her fists, protects her brother, et al. She's a badass and never gets mentioned in discussions of cool survivors. Why is that? And Kimberly Beck gave a very likable, good performance to boot.

Neil said...

I agree with dementia, Cannibal Holocaust is representative of the genre in general: real animals killed on camera, naked natives, and generally attempting to be as sensationally "shocking" as possible. It probably gets extra points for the whole "found footage" angle too, which was still unique at the time. It's got a simple message that even dummies like me can pick up on. That said, it exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations and is actually a pretty good piece of filmmaking.

I'd definitely recommend you watch it once if only to say you did. The recent "Welcome to the Jungle" is a decent update as well.

P. K. Nail said...

HAUSU was supposed to run for just a week at the IFC Center here in New York in January. They ended up keeping it on their schedule for several months because everyone loved it so much. I saw it twice there, and I'm telling you, I am counting down the MINUTES until I can own that movie on Blu-Ray this morning.

I too am struck with the "Mar'in" curse. I pronounce it that way in my head EVERY DAMN TIME.

Cody said...

Stacie, don't let Shocktober end, I am already getting sad because October is almost over - we can keep Shocktober alive forever!

FreeRangeHuman said...

Finally made the list...and with 3 of mine in this edition! yay!

One of those being 'Cannibal Holocaust' which I chose because it really affected me the first time I watched it. It is put together quite well, and is shocking and disgusting, so I think every horror fan should see it at least once. But yeah, the animal killing is pretty reprehensible. BTW..My other 2 on there are 'Planet Terror' and 'Henry' so, um...read into that what you will =)

Eddie Ho said...

Oh demons, damn I want to change my entry. I love that movie and never even thought of it.

Cody said...

Thank you guys for responding to my question about Cannibal Holocaust. I watched it recently and still don't know how I feel about it and since seeing it I have been curious about what other horror fans thought of it - especially those who "enjoyed" it.

KZ said...

Andreas...I know what you mean. Face transplantation (?) is a great little sub-genre. Eyes without a Face (so unsettling, even without the Billy Joel song on the soundtrack); Seconds; The Face of Another also rocked my world....you could even probably include the original Hellraiser....good stuff

KZ said...

Hausu....oh lordy yes....where else can you see a man turn into a pile of bananas after surviving a Benny Hill style fast forward fracas? and a magical refrigerator. words cannot describe this thing