The Black Lagoon Halloween top 5
As you may well have noticed, it’s Halloween, so we thought we’d cash in with a list of our top five films best suited for viewing on October 31st. These aren’t necessarily the most gory or horrific films, but we’ve tried to pick stuff that’s suitably creepy… And of course, any other recommendations are more than welcome in the comments box below!
5. Halloween
Inevitable really. But in a genius twist, this classic slasher film turns the act staying in and watching spooky films on Halloween into something you should be afraid of. Post-modern, but bloody scary.
4. Bad Day At Black Rock
Not strictly speaking a horror movie, but few films are as successful in fostering such an uncomfortable sense of unease. A simple morality tale that’ll really get under your skin.
3. The Wicker Man
A creepy, slow-burning build up leads to a pretty shattering conclusion that completely changes your perspective on everything you’ve just watched. You’ll never look at Scottish people the same way again.
2. Night of the Living Dead
Effectively, it’s one night in a haunted house - but the house is very ordinary, and the dangers very real. Camp-free, funereal and upsetting, it suggests that your peers are actually the people you should fear most.
1. The Night of the Hunter
The classic good-against-evil parable. Laughton’s accomplished synthesis of American Gothic and German expressionism makes this both chilling and hauntingly beautiful to watch.
[Honourable mentions go to the original Frankenstein (gothic and gorgeous), Suspiria (nonsensical but gorgeous) and Ringu.]
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Okay, so it’s taken us an unreasonably long time to get round to one of the genre’s defining classics, but is there really all that much to say about Night of the Living Dead? Probably not, and I’m certainly not going advance the art of film criticism by announcing that it’s both a historical and an artistic milestone for cinema. What is interesting is viewing it in the context of the three Dead films that followed it. I rewatched Night for the first time in about 18 months, hot on the heels of revisiting both Dawn and Day and seeing Land and the superlative Martin for the first time, and found it fascinating how Romero managed to bring so many new ideas to the table whilst simultaneously learning his craft both as a film-maker and as a storyteller. Read more
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
There are lots of people who argue that Scream was one of the most significant horror films to come out of the 1990s. Tosh. When it comes to picking the most significant, most original and most refreshing film to emerge from that decade The Blair Witch Project must be the leading contender for the crown. Perhaps I’m being a little biased here; Blair Witch was the first horror film that I’m conscious of being more than just a film and more a cultural phenomenon even BEFORE it was released in Britain. It seems to be on the wane now but it still happens that a horror film which tries to big itself up before its release styles itself as ‘Blair Witch meets…..’ in the way that Psyhco was used in the 1970s and The Ring is now (in this vein one can only marvel at a film which claimed to be ‘Psycho meets Blair Witch meets The Ring). Perhaps because of the voyeur element of the camcorder it has also spawned more soft-porn tributes than any other film I aware of– horror or not – with titles such as The Bare Wench Project (and the unforgettable Bare Wench 2: Book of Babes), The Erotic Witch Project and Witchbabe: The Erotic Witch Project 3. Read more
Last House on the Left (1972)
The directorial debut of genre superstar Wes Craven, Last House on the Left is another film whose violent reputation precedes it. It tells the story of two teenage girls, Mari and Phyllis, who are taken captive by a group of escaped murderers led by Krug (David Hess), raped and then finally murdered. Faced with the bumbling and ineffective local authorities, Mari’s parents decide to take matters into their own hands and avenge their dead daughter - in the most horrendous and brutal way possible. Read more
They Came Back (2004)
Okay, so it’s another film about the dead returning to life but I’ll wager that They Came Back is unlike any other zombie film you’re likely to have seen. When you think of the number of movies that are turned out on this subject you have to give credit to anyone who injects their story with a measure of originality; Romero and Fulci manage it, and Shaun of the Dead is a more recent Black Lagoon favourite. They Came Back offers us a stunningly simply plot twist, namely what would happen if the dead came back to life and DIDN’T try and kill the living? Considering the simplicity of the premise it’s surprising that it has never (to my knowledge) been tried before. When done well – as it is here – the results are infinitely more unsettling than dealing with the consequences of legions of the undead hunting down the living. Read more
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