This month's Team Experience Top 10 is a two-parter that's especially dear to my heart: it being October and all, we've all submitted our top 10 horror movies made before and after The Exorcist in December, 1973 (a cutoff point I argued against, but you can't fight city hall). The first list is the classics, and considering the time span involved and the wide range of styles available, I think the consensus list is as strong as it could be, though I would happily quibble with the rankings.
Meanwhile, my own ballot - and I think I should mention that political considerations were not totally absent this time around, as I had a damned hard time assembling what I'm sure regular readers will appreciate was an especially daunting list for me of all people to commit to in public.
1. Cat People (1942) [on the TFE list]
2. The Haunting (1963) [on the TFE list]
3. Night of the Living Dead (1968) [on the TFE list]
4. Vampyr (1932) [on the TFE list]
5. The Wicker Man (1973)
6. Nosferatu (1922) [on the TFE list]
7. Black Sunday (1960)
8. Don’t Look Now (1973) [on the TFE list]
9. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
10. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Runners-up, chronologically
Night of the Demon (1957)
Eyes Without a Face (1960) [on the TFE list]
Psycho (1960) [on the TFE list]
The Innocents (1961)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)
16 October 2013
15 comments:
Just a few rules so that everybody can have fun: ad hominem attacks on the blogger are fair; ad hominem attacks on other commenters will be deleted. And I will absolutely not stand for anything that is, in my judgment, demeaning, insulting or hateful to any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. And though I won't insist on keeping politics out, let's think long and hard before we say anything particularly inflammatory.
Also, sorry about the whole "must be a registered user" thing, but I do deeply hate to get spam, and I refuse to take on the totalitarian mantle of moderating comments, and I am much too lazy to try to migrate over to a better comments system than the one that comes pre-loaded with Blogger.
What would you have chosen for the cutoff point?
ReplyDeleteNight of the Living Dead. More than anything else, it's the film that draws a line in the sand between atmospheric horror and violent, aggressive horror.
ReplyDeleteBride of Frankenstein would easily be my #1, and it not making the TFE list is mind-boggling.
ReplyDeleteWhen will the second part be published?
ReplyDeleteBrian- I know, right? NOTHING from Universal was a real stunner.
ReplyDeleteChris- Next Tuesday, I think. Maybe the Tuesday after that.
Love your list. I would put "The Haunting" first but semantics. And I need to watch "Black Sunday" pronto. I always think I've seen it, and then I realize I'm thinking of "Black Sabbath" (which I don't care that much for honestly).
ReplyDeleteLooking at the main list, the omission of Universal films is a little strange, but I do love the inclusion of "The Birds" and "Eyes Without a Face," so I'm a little more forgiving. I'll just assume that either "Bride of Frankenstein," "Frankenstein," "The Invisible Man," or "The Mummy" was number 11.
One film on that list I have never understood the appeal of is "Freaks." It's an interesting concept with what I consider to be God awful execution. It's just a film I've resided myself to the fact I will never understand it's cult status.
I'm ashamed to say I've only seen four of the top ten, and three of the runners up. With that said, they're good strong choices - The Haunting and The Wicker Man would probably be competing for my #1 spot.
ReplyDeleteSurprised by the omission of Reazione a Catena though - not a film I care for that much myself, but I thought you really dug it Tim?
I held myself to an unofficial 1 per director rule, and if I had to pick JUST ONE Bava film, the one I think I'd like to guide to most people to is the earlier film. Like I said, politics played their role.
ReplyDeleteJonathan- I'd bet money that Bride was #11. And I agree, Black Sabbath is kind of... well, it's an anthology film, ain't it?
Night of the Living Dead would have been a more logical cutoff point, I agree. 1968 was a game-changer in science fiction, fantasy and horror.
ReplyDeleteNotLD
Rosemary's Baby
Planet of the Apes
2001: A Space Odyssey
Even Barbarella
I think Night of the Living Dead or Psycho would've been justifiable cutoff points. The Exorcist makes no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteNight of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, and Don't Look Now (let alone movies like Last House on the Left) clearly do not belong to the same universe as anything pre-1960 or most things pre-1968.
Anyway, I love your list! Your top three is identical to my own, which is cool. It's rare to see someone else rank Cat People that highly.
Looking at the list, there was a tie for #10, and then Bride was #12, so it did just miss the list, but... God that makes no sense. It's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN for fuck's sake.
ReplyDeleteBride of Frankenstein is indeed great and I think another James Whales film deserves a mention: The Old Dark House. It's little-seen because it was lost for a long while before being rediscovered but I would put it near the top of Whales remarkable list of horror classics.
ReplyDeleteOh, how I love horror movie lists. I can't disagree with any part of your top ten, Tim (I have a slight bit less love for Night of the Living Dead but that's just a quibble). Just for fun, here is my top ten:
ReplyDelete1. Psycho
2. Don't Look Now
3. Haxan
4. Night of the Hunter
5. Cat People
6. The Haunting
7. Night of the Demon
8. I Walked With A Zombie
9. Nosferatu
10. Rosemary's Baby
Runners-up: The Seventh Victim, The Devils, Blind Beast, The Face of Another, Repulsion, and Vampyr.
Paring down to a top ten is considerably harder than I thought it would be. To leave off Bride of Frankestein, Wicker Man, and Black Sunday is tough.
The Face of Another is brand-new to me. I'll have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see you have Night of the Hunter on there; there was some disagreement among us whether it counted as "horror" or not. Personally, I think of it as a realist fairy tale with noir elements, but I absolutely see where the argument can be made.
Yeah, I think you'd like The Face of Another. It might lean a bit more toward sci-fi, but only about as much as Eyes Without A Face does. It's similar to Frankenheimer's Seconds in theme.
ReplyDelete