Happy Halloween!

Hello friends, time for another movie countdown. This one is courtesy of Amy and Nick from Charleston, South Carolina. Here is their countdown of

The Best Vampire Movies:

10: The Lost Boys:

Here's a film that is purely 80's and doesn't care. Not only does it involve a kick-ass soundtrack but also probably the most memorable performance the two corey's will likely ever make (that's haim and feldman). It also kiefer sutherland as a young vampire leader and the criminally underrated Jason Patrick who went on to give a spectacular performance in the movie Narc. Totally campy nut never boring.
Don't Forget about Bill S. Preston, Esq.

9. The Hunger: This film was Tony Scott's film debut and it's a gem. This was before he learned to add that annoying camera shake that makes us all want to vomit. This one's a bit artsy and there's an abundance of classical music that play's almost continuously through the entire movie. It's Davie Bowie is great as a man once bitten by Catherine Denueve (a true vampire in the film) who begins to age rapidly after spending decade's together. In his attempts to stop the aging process he runs across Susan Sarandon who portrays a doctor in the field of anti-aging. This film has virtually no violence but the end scene is totally worth the wait.

8. Shadow of the Vampire: Ok, so this one's not technically a vampire movie but rather a movie about the man that portrayed the world's most famous vampire Nospheratu. The film follows the production of Nospheratu and the strange behavior of Max Shreck who many thought to be a true vampire due to the lengths he went to staying in character. Willem dafoe and John Malkovich both give stellar performances.

7. Horror of Dracula: One of the first and best of the british Hammer horror films that ruled the 60's and 70's. This was the first color retelling of the Dracula story and it is well worth viewing, Christoffer Lee as dracula and Peter Cushing as his nemesis are great. This film takes all the creak out of the dracula character and actually adds some charm and sex appeal. It conforms more closely to the story than the original Dracula from 1931 and has surprisingly little violence.

I wonder is Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee ever thought they'd both be playing Star Wars villians. Probably not.

6. Dracula 1931: There isn't much to say about this one. It's the original Dracula story with Bela Lugosi starring in his most iconic role. His performance is a bit over the top but it is required viewing for anyone that loves vampire movies.

5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: This movie is also very loosely considered a vampire flick but like Nospheratu it helped to define an era or horror movies and is a prime example of german expressionist filmmaking at it's height. Those of you who haven't seen this film I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. The movie itself creates such a claustrophobic atmosphere just through lighting and set design which we see less and less in film today.

4. Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein: Alright, so this one isn't a vampire movie. It does however involve a vampire and one of the last on screen appearances of a then morphine addicted Bela Lugosi even if he is only standing in a few scenes for the actor portraying dracula. Aside from that this movie makes the list because it's damn Hilarious. Along with Young frankenstein there has not yet been made another horror spoof that stands the test of time and that I could actually call brilliant. Check this one out for some great laughs.

3. Nospheratu 1922/1979: I know it's not really fair to bunch these two together since they stand strong as two different realisations of the same story. I personally prefer the 1979 werner Herzog version as it is beautiful to look at and Klaus Kinski gives a performance that in my opinion rivals that of max shreck. The 1922 version is like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari a movie that defined an era and to some extent still does. It does suffers, however, from never really getting a good dvd transfer which makes it a little tougher to sit through. If you can get past this then you will be greatly rewarded and pretty creeped out as well. You can't really go wrong with either version so go check one out.

2. Vampyr:

This film by Carl theodor Dreyer is a must see. It is every bit as iconic as Nospheratu and was released the same year as the original Dracula. this Film does not however follow the dracula story. This movie is creepy, atmospheric and involves some great camera work from such an early period of cinema. I recommend this film to every fan of vampire flicks and I dare you not to like it more than Lugosi's Dracula. This one's chilling.

1. Near Dark: This film is a gem by Catherine Bigelow. It is a vampire film that never uses the word vampire as well as being a road movie. The film is about a group of travelling vampire's that stop in a texas town and happen to bite a teenage boy who very much does not want to become a vampire. I can;t go into the details too much more but bill paxton gives his most kick-ass on screen preformance ever! If nothing else watch this movie for him.

Honorable mentions:

Cronos-This is guillermo del toro's awesome movie about a man who discovers a contraption that unleashes hell on his life. In spanish but definitely worth taking a look at.

The mask of Satan aka Black Sunday-This is one of Nick's picks, so I dunno. It's good I just can't say a whole lot about it.

Interview with a vampire-Super cool movie about the making of Nospheratu

Captain kronos vampire hunter-I love this movies. Super campy but super cool.

30 days of night-This movie scared the crap out of me. One of the only times I actually wanted to leave a movie.

Dracula: Pages from a virgin's diary-Again NIck's pick I personally despise this particular film maker. It's told in black and white and is a ballet. Nuff said.


Well, I got a lot to see.

Top Ten Horror Movies (Guest Write)

So readers, a little change-up for today. A guest writer for us. I have used guest writers in the past, but that was just copying and pasting emails and was used when I really didn't have anything to write about. But this time my friend Amy offered and was kind of excited to guest-write. I guess the idea came up when I mentioned in a previous post my upcoming list of my favorite chick-flicks, which is still coming don't you worry. But anyways, here are the best horror films. I may add a few comments in italics. But here you go.

So here is my list of my top ten horror films:

Honorable Mention

High Tension-The movie is so freaking awesome until the plot twist in the end. It ruins the entire film which is why it is in honorable mention.

Dead Alive-Peter Jackson’s foray into horror. This movie is really freaking gross and scary. It goes in honorable mention because it’s more funny and gross then scary. (AKA Braindead in the US)

28 Days- A movie about angry, violent, scary zombies? Count me in (Me too. Zombies are scary)

Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder)- This movie is incredibly scary, but it’s more violent then anything else. (That ending was rough)

10. The Innocents

The Nicole Kidman film “The Others” is loosely based on this film but in my opinion “The Innocents” with Deborah Kerr kicks “The Others” ass. The children in this film are way creepy and what happens in the end is way creepy. Not violent and bloody like most horror films of today.

9. Suspiria

Dario Argento, what can I say? In my opinion one of his best films. The opening sequence makes the film totally worth watching. It’s also one of the last films to be shot in Technicolor. Just think of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs while you watch it. (If never seen this one, but just looking for pictures of it was pretty scary)

8. The Exorcist

Do I really need to explain why this is on my list? Two words: spider crawl.

7. Nosferatu

The original black and white silent film mind you. The remakes are good but if you watch the original in the dark you will get freaked out. Again not violent and bloody like the films of today but trust me what this in the dark and you get freaked out and incredibly uncomfortable. (Damn, look at that picture. Maybe Francis Ford Coppola could learn a thing or two about horror)

6. Eyes without a Face

In case you haven’t noticed a horror film doesn’t have to be violent and gross for me to consider it truly horrifying. Take “Eyes without a Face” a French horror film about a doctor who will do anything to give his daughter a new face. This film is a horror film because of the subtly implications of the horrors this man is committing just to make his daughter beautiful once again.

5. Halloween

How could this not be on the list? John Carpenter at his best (and Jamie Lee Curtis too). If you haven’t seen the original you have been living under a rock and have not yet experienced a classic horror slasher picture.

4. The Thing

Another John Carpenter film and possibly one of my favorite horror films ever. Plus it’s got Kurt Russell and who doesn’t like Snake? The movie just gets scarier and scarier as you watch. The part when they’ve got all the guys tied to one couch and one of them is infected is totally suspenseful and scary at the same time.

3. The Shining

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…need I say more? (The wife is scary ugly. The son has a pretty bad hair. Cut. The blood in the elevator, the two girls, "Come play with us Danny", the hot/scary dead lady, and the soundtrack, wow. See also: The Shinning

2. The Descent

Holy Crap if you have not seen this film you need to stop doing whatever you’re doing and watch this film. The story of a group of girl cave explorers is so terrifying because of what it hunting them and how the first attack is shot. You see the creatures attack the girls with different infrared colors on their cameras. The attack is so fast and brutal that you will be feeling like you need to come up for air and you’re just sitting on the couch. Oh and watch the directors cut because the original American theatrical ending sucks major. (Guess I should check this one out.)

1. The (Original) Texas Chainsaw Massacre

This movie holds a special place in my heart. I remember the first time watching it. I was babysitting and it came on IFC at like 1:00 in the morning. I watched it, freaked out and checked every bathroom, cabinet, and closet after it finished. The gritty look of the film and how at the beginning of the film you are informed it’s a true story (it’s not).It also doesn’t hurt that the killer in this film is a guy who runs around in a mask made of human skin and makes animal noises is pretty damn scary. (No Jessica Biel, though)

Well, thanks Amy. You definitely know more about the subject than I do. Maybe if the audience likes you, you can even come back for another post.