The 30 Day Horror Movie Challenge

I participated in this a bit on Facebook while it was going on, but I didn't really give it my all. This is the kind of thing that I stress over, as I'm always worried that I'm forgetting a much better choice for a particular category than the one I'm going with. The challenge is over now, but its legacy has lived on through some of the blogs I read. A couple of others have decided to tackle the challenge all in one post, but with the way I ramble on, that might take me all night. So, I'm going to break it up into two separate posts, with the first 15 days going up today, and you guessed it, the final 15 going up tomorrow. If you haven't been following along with anybody participating, basically it's a questionnaire that asks you to pick one specific horror movie for an answer, the only stipulation being you're only allowed to use a movie once. For instance, I can use "Let the Right One In" for favorite foreign film, but can't use it again later for favorite vampire flick. Got it? Good. Let's get to it...

1. Your First Horror Movie - Yeah like I can remember this, especially with a dad like mine. He loved to torture my brother and I with horror movies when we were little kids. I suppose if I really think about it, one of the first I can ever remember laying in bed at night and staring out my window frozen in terror over was Silver Bullet. My dad was a huge Stephen King fan, and he loved this movie. Add my young overactive imagination with the fact that we lived out in the woods in Alabama, and you get one effective horror flick. Still one of my favorites to this day too.

2. The Last Horror Movie You Saw in the Theater - Easy one, I hoped it would be great, despite knowing that I should know better. Of course I ended up disappointed in Wes Craven yet again. I spent my hard earned money on Scream 4 and you can read all about it here.

3. Favorite Classic Horror Movie - Another fairly easy one, even though I'm a self-professed whore for the classics. I love all the Universal monsters, but when it comes down to the best of the best, the one that despite it's hokeyness still manages to creep me out a little, I gotta give the nod to The Thing From Another World. I love Carpenter's "The Thing" as much as the next guy, and probably a little more, but the first time I actually sat down and watched the original, I was completely hooked on it. I still watch it every year, usually during Monsterfest on AMC.

4. A Horror Movie You Thought You'd Love but Didn't - Oh there are so many choices for this one I hardly know where to begin. There have even been several examples lately, The Last Exorcism, The Human Centipede, etc. But the one that I had completely bought into the hype over, the one that I was promised would make me afraid to sleep alone, the one that was causing heart attacks in theaters nationwide, the one that I was supposed to fall head over heels in love with but ended up totally disappointed with was Paranormal Activity. I expected to be scared shitless and instead I got slamming doors and an invisible chicken.

5. Favorite Horror Remake - I'm actually not a complete hater of all the new remakes. I've liked most of them to some degree or another, with Elm Street being the only one I completely hated. If nothing else, these remakes introduce some of horror's classic franchises to a whole new audience, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The easy answer to this one is Let Me In, and while that is definitely a great remake, there are others that honestly I would rather watch. The one that I keep going back to is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and for several reasons. Andrew Bryniarski is great as Leatherface, Jessica Biel wears a skin tight wife beater and runs a lot, and it's also the movie that introduced me to Jonathan Tucker and I love that dude. But the real reason to watch this movie is R. Lee Ermey. My God that dude is absolutely despicable as Sheriff Hoyt, and he turns in a performance 10 times as scary as Bryniarski does as Leatherface.

6. Favorite Vampire Movie - I'm not a huge fan of vampires, never have been. I still watch my fair share of vampire movies though. I've seen a lot of mention for Near Dark, Fright Night, and Let The Right One In, but this one always boils down to three movies for me. I can almost never decide which is my favorite. The contender consist of The Lost Boys, From Dusk til Dawn, and my pick for favorite vampire movie, 30 Days of Night. I read and loved the book first, and this movie is a damn near perfect adaptation. For my money, the overhead scene when the vampires initially attack Barrow is hard to beat.




7. A Horror Movie You Think No One Has Seen - I have a huge collection of movies that hardly anybody has seen, but thanks to the internet, I've discovered that I'm not alone in my love for obscure horror movies. So it would almost be impossible to pick a movie that no one else has seen. Still looking over at my dvds, I see a few that maybe aren't as well known as the Human Centipede's of the world. I'm gonna pick Dead End for this one. I don't even remember where I first read or heard about it myself, but I'm glad I did. I loved it, and it even creeped me the fuck out the first time I watched it.

8. Favorite Foreign Horror - Another easy one, not only is it my new favorite foreign horror movie, it's one of my favorite movies period. I fell in love with everything about The Loved Ones. Do yourself a favor and do whatever you gotta do to see this movie. I feel bad not mentioning a few others, so honorable mentions for this one go to The Host, Let the Right One In, Dead Snow, Haute Tension, Martyrs and The Orphanage.

9. Favorite Supernatural Horror Movie - This one seems really vague to me, as most horror can be described as "supernatural". I'm assuming for our purposes here, something ghost related is what we're looking for. If that's the case then the obvious choice is Session 9. Creepy movie, and one of my all-time favorites. Few movies really get to me, but I'm coming clean here, I do get a little freaked out by ghost movies sometimes. This one definitely fits the bill.













10. Horror Movie that Everyone Loves But You Don't - I've talked about this before but despite all the talk, and even mainstream attention it gets, The Human Centipede just didn't do anything for me. Yeah I get it, it's horrible, and were I ever to find myself in a similar situation I'm sure I'd be terrified, but as a movie I found it to be more humorous than anything else. The doctor guy was creepy I guess, but not any creepier than any other foreign dude with a God complex. It was a well made movie, I'll give it that but that's about as far as I go. I saw it once, doubt I'll ever watch it again.

11. Favorite Horror/Comedy - Plain and simple, anybody who didn't answer Shaun of the Dead on this one is WRONG.









12. Your Most Disturbing Horror Film - I have a couple of movies in mind for this one. I've been watching some fairly disturbing stuff lately, Antichrist, Martyrs, Fat Girl, etc. But they all pale in comparison to the mother of all disturbing movies, A Serbian Film. Even knowing what this movie was going to be about didn't prepare me for it. NOTHING can prepare you for this movie. It literally had me fucked up for days after I watched it. You can read more about what I thought of it here if you're so inclined.

13. Favorite Zombie Movie - Impossible not to go with the king on this one. Romero defined the genre, and everyone who has made a zombie film since owes him a debt of gratitude. It's hard to pick just one favorite from the "Holy Trilogy" as I love Night, Dawn, and Day almost equally. Today, I'm going with Day of the Dead. If you ask me tomorrow, my answer will likely be different.






14. Favorite Indie Movie - Been talking about it for months, no surprise here, my new favorite all-time Indie movie is the grindhouse-errific Dead Hooker in a Trunk from the Soska sisters. The dvd is set to come out soon in the UK, and hopefully a region one release isn't too far off from that. Believe me you're going to want to check out this debut from the Twisted Twins, they are going to be a big name in horror in the future.





15. Favorite Monster Movie - Almost impossible one to pick here. In fact, I love monster movies more than any other kind of horror film. I wish this category would've been broken down into subs, such as "favorite giant monster movie" or "favorite sci-fi monster movie". As is stands though, I've said it a million times, Stan Winston broke the monster mold when he designed the Predator. The movie itself completely delivers everything you could want in an 80's monster flick, lots of gore, lots and lots of testosterone, a badass creature, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura with a mini-gun.



There ya go, the first 15 days of the 30 Day Horror Movie Challenge. To anyone who actually reads all this, oh dear god thank you, as it might not look like much, but this fucker took me a looong time to do, and I'm only halfway done. Come back tomorrow for days 16 thru 30!