Live Magazine October/November 2016 Live Magazine October Edition | Seite 40

movies

10 nightmares

Halloween is almost here, my personal favorite time of year! So I was
asked to make a little list for you all.
As a horror film nut, to put together
my top ten favorite horror films! It’s
about to get messy!

10. SCREAM (1996)
Wes Craven’s irreverent, self-aware
masterpiece is one of the best
slasher films around. Mostly due to
it’s clever and witty script that not
only serves to make a great and
effective slasher film, but also tear
the genre apart in true tongue and
cheek satirical style. It also gave
us the great screen killer “GhostFace” who would go on to kill
again in three more sequels and a
TV show spin off. The original film
though stands as a great horror film
but also as a great dark-comedy.
Well worth a watch!

9. Night Of The Living Dead
(1968)
George A. Romero’s 1968 Night
of The Living Dead sees the birth
of the modern zombie film. This
black-and-white gem shows us a
disturbing reality where the dead
come back to life to feast upon the
living. It is very famous for several
reasons. It is one of the first films
to feature a protagonist of colour,
which still makes it significant. The
film really stands as one of the first
horror films with a real downer of an
ending. Usually in old horror films at
the end of the movie, the sun rises,

evil is defeated and the heroes walk
off (or limp off) into a safe dawn. In
Night of the Living Dead... Nope. After surviving the entire night from
attacking undead monsters, our
hero Ben emerges from the house
only to be shot dead by a group of
militant locals putting down the living dead. The film ends with gruesome images of Ben being picked
up with meat hooks like livestock
and being thrown on a bon fire. A
cruel and gruesome end to a good
man. The movie leaves you with a
sinking feeling in your stomach, as
all good horror should.

8. Halloween (1978)
John Carpenter’s Halloween still
stands as my favorite of the slasher movies. There is something
wonderfully horrible about Michael
Myers. Seen by the public as an escaped murder/mental patient. Yet
his psychiatrist sees him as the living embodiment of pure evil. It presents this somewhat realistic story
of a crazed killer, yet at the end
begs the question of a seemingly
supernatural influence over the
story. Just remember that not every
trick or treater is out to have fun.

7. The Thing (1982)
Another hit for John Carpenter. The
Thing is a masterpiece of psychological horror, paranoia horror and
ultimately body horror. As an alien
being infects members of a remote
arctic research base. The remain-

ing crew members are left to work
out who is their friend and who is
a monstrous alien beast seemingly wearing their friends as a suit.
The resulting tension is absolutely
fantastic. When you finally see the
creature itself it stands as one of
the best implementations of practical special effects and still to this
day looks incredible and disgusting!
You never know who to trust.

6. Jaws (1975)

WE’VE HEARD FROM THE EXPERTS IN HOLLYWOOD ABOUT THEIR HORROR PICKS, NOW HERE’S
OUR RESIDENT HORROR LOVER AND COMIC EXPERT, SCOTT SOWTER ON HIS SUGGESTIONGS TO
SCARE THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU THIS HALLOWEEN
The year of it’s release saw Catholic church attendance go through
the roof. It was one of those first
truly gruelling cinema experiences.
A test to see if you could make it till
the end. It’s use of religion and symbolism as well as subliminal imagery
remains the best in modern cinema.
It is a powerful and remarkable film,
but is not for the weak of heart.

4. Re-Animator (1985)

The first blockbuster. I had to have
Jaws on this list. It is in my opinion
still the finest film ever made. As a
horror film their have been better,
but as a film, it is pretty flawless.
This giant shark movie could be
considered the starting point for all
other nature run amok horror films,
yet Jaws still stands as the best.
Elevated by a great script, perfect
Spielberg direction and three Oscar
worth performances from Robert
Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard
Dreyfus. Jaws becomes a great
barreling beast of a film that grips
you from its dark isolated beach
opening till its bombastic explosive
finale.

Stuart Gordons darkly funny adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story
Herbert West Re-Animator is the
best adaptation of a Lovecraft
story (with the only possible competitor being Gordon’s later adaptation of From Beyond). Re-Animator
is a gruesome, often hilarious horror comedy about a scientist trying
to invent a cure for death. The results are however... Less than successful. Often turning people into
insane monsters. The blood never
stops flowing in this insane movie.
One scene involving an undead cat
is simply the funniest scene in the
film. Well worth watching! Also introduced the world to cult star Jeffery
Combs.

5. The Exorcist (1973)

3. Alien (1979)

William Friedkin’s The Exorcist still
stands as one of the most terrifying films ever made. The story of a
violated youth by the darkness of
pure evil and the redemptive story
of priest out of touch with his faith
still remain such a powerful story.

Alien in my opinion is one of the
most remarkably twisted and perverted films ever made. The film
revolves around the crew of a
spaceship being assaulted by a
remorseless killing machine, the
eponymous Alien. It first impreg-

nates a man, and comes into the
world through a very violent birthing
scene! It then proceeds to grow up
and crawl about the ship penetrating the crew members. It is a horrific
sexual predator. All of the designs
from master creep H.R. Giger have
a bizarre level of sexual imagery
about them, making the Alien and
it’s surrounding that much more off
putting and terrifying. It is a brilliant
and tense film that birthed an epic
legacy.

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The sixties ended with Charles
Manson and the death of the hippie
culture. The youth of America in this
time were left with the Vietnam War
and a sense that they had somehow lost. Peace and Love changed
nothing... This volatile environment
in the social fabric of America gave
birth to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tobe Hooper brings us a gritty, realistic, unrelenting horror film,
that is filmed more like a documentary than regular cinema and what it
gives you is a pure nightmare engine.
The story of a cannibalistic family of
serial killers from the remote backwoods of America took the world by
storm and introduced us to the killer
known as Leatherface, a killer who
literally wears other people’s faces.
The film is savage and filthy. And at
the end of the film, the victim barely
escapes although her sanity is left
in question and the killers are left to
continue their rampage of murder,

torture and feasting. It’s a true HORROR film.

1. EVIL DEAD (1981)
My favorite horror film is Evil Dead.
The darkly funny, brutal masterpiece from then twenty-one-yearold filmmaker Sam Raimi. The film
is just a blood bath. It was so violent
it was banned in England on it’s initial release. The film tells the story
of a group of friends in an isolated
cabin in the woods who unwittingly
unleash an army of demons called
deadites, who possess the group
one by one. The only way to stop a
deadite, “complete bodily dismemberment”. What follows is more
blood and gore than any other movie of the time period. The film’s real
legacy is its hero Ash, played by
Bruce Campbell. The film spawned
two sequels, a few video games
and now a hit TV show. It is a great
ride, gory, scary but above all fun.
Happy Halloween!

BY scott f. sowter