'Music Box Horror Movie Marathon (10)'

'Music Box Horror Movie Marathon (10'

On Saturday October 9 at noon I attended the Music Box Horror Movie Marathon with three friends. I survived 24 hours worth of horror movies and trailers. Well I escaped one of the worst horror movies ever in "Pet Semetary" and took a breather but I survived! My friends saw everything and they liked "Pet Semetary" so we need to have a talk. Growing up I hated horror movies, probably because I was a wussy as a kid. As I loved film more and more later I started to study and love the horror genre. After I saw my favorite horror movie of all time, "Halloween" I was hooked! I thank the Music Box for such a great event and mostly great choices for movies. At the end of this piece I will make a list of horror movies I would love for the Music Box to show in the future. I just ask the Music Box to renovate the seats because my butt still hurts! It was tough to make it through everything without dosing off but here is my ranking of what I saw last weekend.

1.) Psycho (60) This Hitchcock classic started it all with the iconic Norman Bates character, a classic shower scene, killing the lead character off in the first hour and the slasher genre. There would be no "Halloween" without this delightful shocker.

2.) The Phantom of the Opera (25)

The live organ music at the Music Box is always a delight and it was so cool when it was played during this silent classic. I found this movie still effective today with a classic performance by Lon Chaney.

3.) Basket Case (82)

This was the first time I saw this cult classic and I loved it! In the style of the classic "Re-Animator" this is a hilarious, creepy and delightfully gory shock fest. The acting is very good here surprisingly and it is much better than the same director's "Frankenhooker", a very bad, bad movie.

4.) Killer Klowns From Outer Space (88)

I remember when this movie came out I thought it would be very bad. It was but one of my favorite things is being surprised at the movies and I found out this was pure genius. It has a classic John Vernon performance, unique, crazy and ingenious kills and a great tongue in cheek humor. Ed Wood would have been very proud!

5.) The Raven (35)

Seeing Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi together on screen was a real treat and a pure delight! This movie holds up really well and it is hilariously creepy and maniacal.

6.) Fright Night (85)

I loved this movie so much as a kid for it was fun and an old fashioned type monster movie. Along with "Martin" and "Near Dark" this is the best vampire movie. It has a wonderful old school performance by Roddy McDowall, great effects and scares and surprisingly holds up well. This is a lot of fun and could have played well back in the day of Hitchcock, Lugosi and Karloff.

7.) The Wolf Man (41)

This doesn't hold up as well as "The Raven" or "Phantom of the Opera" probably because the effects are cheesy and the Wolf Man isn't my favorite monster of all time. It still has a good Lon Chaney performance and some good kills.

8.) The Funhouse (81)

This brought me back to when the slasher film was fresh before the torture porn movies took over. It takes it's time telling the classic story of the young girl stalked by a monster. "Halloween" started it all and this is like an old fashioned monster movie from the 40's. I love that it takes place in a unique setting and place. This is much better than the awful "Friday the 13Th" movies, "My Bloody Valentine" and "Happy Birthday To Me", just three of the shitty movies that came out at the same time. This is a very under rated slasher film, one of the best of the 80's.

9.) Rabid (76)

I was prepared to hate this movie because I am not a huge fan of David Cronenberg. He made my least favorite horror movie ever, the sick and horrible "The Brood". Though out of his earliest shock fests he made the awesome "Scanners" and "Rabid" almost belongs in that category. "Rabid" has a surprisingly good performance by porn star Marilyn Chambers but no one else. It also kills Santa so it can't be all bad if it does that. This is a porno, Zombie movie and it is much better than most of the other Zombie movies. This movie is ready for a remake!

10.) Theater of Blood (73)

The amazing Vincent price is delightful here in this horror movie that brilliantly borrows from Shakespeare for it's kills. This is pure hamminess but done so effectively. A lot of fun and a perfect way to start into the classic British Hammer films of that time.

11.) House By the Cemetery

I am not a big fan of the self indulgent, Italian gore fest horror movies. They are so full of themselves as they try to be arty and just become so repetitious. This is a boring movie and after all the fake buckets of blood and kill scenes that over stay their welcome I wanted to leave so bad. I did laugh at the bad dubbing and all the cheesy close up shots and the yelling of character's names constantly.

12.) The Season of the Witch (73)

An early George Romero horror movie that no one had really seen and all of us at the Music Box should have been spared two hours also. Couldn't they get a copy of Romero's best horror movie ever "Martin"? No one has seen that should of been classic and this movie is very pretentious and dull. It is not scary, takes an hour to get going and it is like " Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" in slow motion on acid. I was hoping Samantha from "Bewitched" would show up and pimp slap the main character here. A witch, my ass!

13.) Pet Semetary (89)

There is a reason I skipped on this schlocky, tasteless and sickening gore fest. The acting is bad and not even campy, good bad. I did hear people laughing a lot outside the theater because the movie isn't even scary enough to take seriously. Maybe I should have revisited this and given it another chance but I hate anchovies and I know I don't want to try them again.This is one of the ten worst horror movies of the 80's and that is saying a lot!

All in all I had a great time, loved everything except for two movies and would do it again. Here are my suggestions for the upcoming years of this horror fest.

Martin
The Carnival of Souls
Near Dark
Terror Train-Another unique slasher film from early 80's where the movie takes place on a train on New Year's Eve night. During a a costume party the killer takes people in costume, kills them and wears their costume as he stalks others.

The original Halloween
Bride of Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein
Poltergeist
April Fool's Day
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The original The Hills have Eyes
The original Dawn of the Dead
John Carpenter's The Thing- A neglected horror masterpiece!
They Live
The Devil's Rejects
The Descent
The House of the Devil
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Evil Dead 2
Bubba Ho Tep with special appearance by Bruce Campbell for both Dead and Bubba
The Fly-both versions including Cronenberg's best movie hands down with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis

Sisters
The Fury
Body Double
Blow Out
The Crazies remake
Christine-Very neglected Stephen King adaptation, one of the best!
The Howling
The original Wicker Man
The Amazing Dr. Phibes