Gerald Dean Rice's Blog, page 124

#18: Silent Hill

The greatest video game movie ever.  Ever.  Actual thought was put into this script and from what I hear, it's relatively faithful to the game.  Pyramid Head was great!  And those creepy ash children were... creepy.  The only drawbacks to this movie are the dreaded 'This is why I'm evil' explanation and the ultimate monster at the end that kills everyone (same flaw as House on Haunted Hill except this still kinda works).

 

#17: Hellraiser

It's Hellraiser.  What else exactly do I need to say here?

 

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#16: Alien

Personally, I like Aliens better, but the original was filled with much more suspense, particularly the scene when the alien first emerges.  John Hurt was the only actor on set who knew what was going to happen; the other actors were told to simply finish the scene.  The looks of shock on their faces was utterly... genuine.

 

#15: Jaws

I don't really remember this movie.  In truth, this is one of those 'You were supposed to include this movie' movies.  I might need to get this from the library.  The thing that stands out in my memory is my brother's godmother thought it was hilarious.

 

The original grillz.

#14: Jeepers Creepers

Probably the most original monster since Freddy, the creeper wants to eat you.  Well, not all of you.  He only eats what he needs- a hand, a liver, a head.  And man what Derry and his sister find in that cave or whatever it was outside of that abandoned church.

 

#13: Friday the 13th

OK, this was a coincidence.  I realized I'd forgotten something and did a little switching around and FtT wound up as the thirteenth movie on the list.  Honest.  But the mother of all slasher movies had to make an appearance.  But just a hint: the killer is Jason Voorhees mother!

#19: Stir of Echoes

There's a reason The Sixth Sense does not make an appearance on this list.  While an excellent movie, Stir of Echoes is similar enough, yet far enough superior that including the M. Night movie would have been superfluous.  Excellent acting from Kevin Bacon and Katherine Erbe and a script based on a story by Richard Matheson.  I don't know how it is every couple years 2 movies come out at about the same time that have a similar theme (Dante's Peak, Volcano; Antz, A Bug's Life) or why The Sixth Sense was more popular than this movie, but this is definitely the more superior work.

 

Draculas

Got my copy of this latest offering by Joe Konrath, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson.  I'd already read Blake Crouch's collaboration with Jeff strand, Serial, which was excellent.  Now I'm set to sink my teeth into this. 

#20: Uzumaki

Only the 2nd Japanese horror movie to make the list, this one left me disturbed.  I can't remember the ending, though.  For some reason I chose to watch it very, very late and fell asleep (and had to return it before I could watch again).  And the exact same thing happened when I rented it a 2nd time.  By the time I was ready to rent again, it was gone.  But who knew a spiral could be something so scary?

 

#21: Event Horizon

There's only one reason this movie makes the list.  It isn't because it sets up decent suspense.  It isn't because Laurence Fishburne owns everything he stars in, or how wicked Sam Neil is revealed to be.  It isn't because this is by far the best movie Paul WS Anderson ever made.  And the fact the movie devolves into a Hellraiser rip-off in the final act isn't enough to take away that singular reason.  The video. 

 

You know, the video of what happened to the original crew.  Where they tear each other and themselves apart and the captain says, "Save yourselves from hella," in Latin? 

 

Oh yeah.  That video.  I dreamt about that video for like 3 nights after seeing that movie.