I wanted my first piece on here to be something special, something from the heart, as opposed to a review or news. On my last site, I had a "Top 10 List" proudly displayed as it's own page and I thought that I should kick Nocturnal Visions off with a personal touch as well. However, a “top 10” is a daunting task to undertake. To attempt to
narrow the love of an entire genre down to a list of only ten films requires a
ton of thought, a pros and cons list and few rounds of “Eeny, Meeny, Miny,
Moe”. Even after all the rigamarole, I would still look back on it in a day or two and want to change it up
or be upset that I managed to forget a certain film.
In all reality though, it’s
almost impossible for me to pick a list of my all time favorite horror flicks.
Today I like and love things that I never would have liked 10 years ago. When I
was 18, I lived and breathed what many fans affectionally refer to as "gore porn". Just like my fascination with heavy
metal at the time, my movies had to brutal or it was “pansy ass shit that
wasn’t worth my time”. My, how times (thankfully) change. While I still enjoy a good splatter fest today, my
tastes have grown and broadened quite a bit since then. For instance, I wouldn't have been caught dead talking about Killer Klowns from Outer Space or something like The Conjuring, it was High Tension or bust. That’s the great thing about life though,
your tastes are allowed to change and grow as you learn who you are as a person.
So, in lieu of everything I’ve just said, I will not be
doing a list of my Top 10 Horror Films, however, I will be compiling a
list of the 7 horror films that made me who I am today. These are the films that had the
biggest impact, be it drawing me into the genre initially or changing the way I
view the horror landscape in general because, let’s be honest here, my favorite films could potentially change on pretty much a monthly
basis. In many ways, this is my journey that led to this site, and a little bit on why horror is such an important factor in my life.
Scream (1996) – Wes Craven/Kevin Williamson
Unfortunately I was born 20 years too late to experience the
true heyday of the slasher film. I never got to experience Michael stalking
Laurie, or Freddie turning Glen into a human puree on the majesty of the silver
screen. One thing I will never forget though is when Scream was released in
1997. Scream was more than just another average slasher movie, it challenged
the conventions of the horror film not through subtle symbolism but by bringing
the overused cliché’s, that seemed to be the genre’s downfall, to the front and
center of the plot. It was aware, it knew what it was doing and more
importantly it knew what it was trying to accomplish. It was visceral, it was
wonderful, it was Wes fucking Craven
at the top of his game.
The entire Scream franchise is in fact on my
top 10 list, I love these films. It is the only franchise that I love top to
bottom, and the first entry is the reason that I love slasher films in general.
I may not have been lucky enough to live through the glory days of the original
baddies, but my generation has Ghostface and that’s just fine with me.
Event Horizon (1997) – Paul W.S. Anderson/Philip Eisner &
Andrew Kevin Walker
Most people have their “first memory” of something pleasant,
like a Christmas morning, or their birthday. Maybe it’s getting their first
puppy; something along those lines. One of the very first memories that I have,
if not the first, would be my father taking me to see Event Horizon when it was
released in theaters. I remember screaming and crying, begging to be taken out
of the theater where I sat in the hallway until the movie ended. I even
remember going back into the theater, and the sound design alone was enough to
send me back into a fit of teary-eyed convulsions ultimately leading back to
the safety of the popcorn scented hallway.
It seems like most people who grow up to be life long fans
of the genre have one thing in common. There was that one film that they came
across when they were little that petrified them on a subconscious level. I think
that this kind of thing is ultimately what led me to be such a massive fan of
the genre. I now own Event Horizon, and it is one of my
favorite flicks to toss on when there’s nothing else to watch. I may have a
very severe case of “nostalgia goggles” with this film, but I love the
mythology behind it and I think it’s a pretty underrated flick in the grand
scheme of things. You can read my review here.
Friday the 13th (1980) – Sean S. Cunningham/Victor
Miller
Come to think of it, a lot of these entries are in here due
to my father. I don’t know what that says about him, but he showed me a shit
ton of horror films. I think that, partially, he liked to laugh at my fear but
I also like to think that he wanted to find some way to bond with me.
Regardless, when mom went out of town, dad showed me horror films and Friday
the 13th was at the top of his list. For many people when
asked what comes to mind when they think of a horror film they will rattle off
one of three names, if not all three. I don’t think I need to name them, but up
until I was about 10 years old Friday the 13th or Child’s
Play summed up the entire genre for me. While Friday helped give birth to the
modern slasher genre as we know it (in league with Halloween of course), the
first film played more as a whodunit than a traditional slasher film, leading
to one of the greatest twists the genre has to offer. To this day, when I think
of classic American horror, Friday the 13th is the
first film to pop into mind.
The Omen (1976) – Richard Donner/David Seltzer
What’s more terrifying than any serial killer, vampire,
werewolf, monster or zombie? How about Satan himself? And what’s even scarier
than that? Satan in a handbasket, in the form of an adorable British child in
the cutest little hat you’ve ever seen.
Yet another film that I credit the first viewing of to good
‘ol pops, The Omen sparked a massive change in the way that I viewed the
horror genre as a whole. Going from morbid curiosity, and viewings spent
glimpsing through meshed fingers, I began to grow curious about these films. I
began to realize that they didn’t terrify me quite as much and after I first
watched The Omen, I found
that I wanted to watch it again. I wanted to learn everything I could about it.
I purchased the film, I watched the special features repeatedly, and that was
when the roots of a life long fascination (and obsession) began. The
Omen is one of the most important films in the history of the genre,
and I will definitely be writing an entire piece revolving around the impact
that the film had on the world, as well as the genre itself.
The Exorcist (1973) –
William Friedkin/William Peter Blatty
Shortly after my first viewing of The Omen, I had an
insatiable urge to watch as many films as I could. Next up on dad’s list was
the most infamous of them all, The Exorcist, which mom had strictly
forbidden me from watching (and him from showing me). Of course, the next time
she went out of town he came home from Blockbuster with a copy in tow and we
settled in for a viewing. The excitement was palpable, I can still remember
thinking that I was about to watch something that was going to change my life
and in many ways it did.
Those of us who were born long after the release of the film
have all grown up hearing about The Exorcist; the legends and tales
of people passing out in theaters and vomiting in the aisles. I vividly
remember when The Version You’ve Never Seen was released into theaters. The lines
of people waiting to see it and quiet whispers made me all that much more
curious about the film. In all reality The Exorcist was a spectacle, it was
and is so much more than a film. While I can ramble on and on about this, I’ve
already written a review (that pretty much turned into an appreciation piece)
that you can read here. It goes further into depth as to what this film means
to me as well.
Se7en (1995) – David Fincher/Andrew Kevin Walker
As the years progressed I watched more and I read more. I
continued to fall in love with the genre, and when I was in high school a
friend recommended that I rent David Fincher’s 1995 flick, Se7en. At the time, I had
a deep fascination with serial killers, which my father also helped foster. As
a man from the FBI, he kept me stocked with books on the topic; it was another
way that we could bond. I don’t know what I expected when I sat down to watch
the film, but it certainly wasn’t what I got and I was instantly hooked. Se7en was when I went from viewing horror as
films strictly about ghosts and demons to realizing that horror could showcase
perhaps the most terrifying thing of all, the human psyche. From there I began
to dive into a whole new world of horror, which quickly became my favorite
subgenre. To this day Se7en remains one of my favorite
horror films and even my horror-obsessed girlfriend finds it strange that I ask
if we can fall asleep to it.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – Tobe Hooper/Kim Henkle
As I just mentioned with Se7en, there came a time
when my tastes began to shift a little bit. While Se7en put the shift into
place, there was one flick that carried me to the next level, and that was The
Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I don’t think that I will ever have an
experience like I did when viewing this film for the first time. Raw, visceral
and borderline voyeuristic, it’s akin to watching a gang of killers film their
evil deeds and shove the footage in your face, whether you want it or not. I
distinctly remember watching the credits begin their crawl, unsure of how to
feel. The only thing that I knew is that I needed to clean my bedroom and
everything else I owned. To put it lightly, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is
a film that stays with you.
Texas Chain Saw is one of my godfather films, along with
The
Exorcist and The Shining, that are untouchable in my eyes. No matter what films come and go, these three will never be topped. TCM has resonated with
me in a way that I find hard to describe, and to this day I still get a chill
down my spine every time I watch it. It’s one of the few horror films that I
would call a perfect film, from beginning to end and as a proud native of Texas
I love it all the more.
While I could continue to ramble about horror movies that I
love and the various ways that they’ve made an impact on me, I believe that
this list sums it up the best. Also, I’m bordering on novella-length and I know
that nobody has the time to read that long of an article. Again, I can’t
describe how excited I am to be back, writing about one of the biggest loves in
my life, and I want to thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more updates!
Keep It Spooky,
Ryan Wilkins
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