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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Fun with Friday the 13th!

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I am NOT one for superstitions. I just thought that to enjoy Friday the 13th, I'd make thirteen posts about thirteen things. What 13 things? Well, I thought about making a Friday the 13th post after watching American Idol and seeing that they could not use the number 13 in their phone numbers because they did not own the number. In the long run, I really don't think the contestant would have been thrilled with having that number anyway. I wondered why the number 13 is an "unlucky number."



I did find out that there were traditionally 13 steps leading up to the gallows, but there are a lot of good 13s too. Like a baker's dozen is actually 13 loaves. Why it is called a baker's dozen is beyond me, and it would lead me to over analyze so I am not going to look that up. I could be up all night if I do that.



Since I think of Friday the 13th the horror movie, I thought I would start with my top 13 favorite horror films. :) I really do like horror films which is surprising to some people, but it is the truth. I think it is from growing up with a brother seven years older than me. He took me to see lots of horror movies growing up. I also developed an early appreciation for Clint Eastwood movies because of my brother, but I digress.



My favorite 13 horror films in NO particular order.




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1. Misery - Hello! This movie rocks. I can watch this from the beginning to end, middle to end, five minutes before the end, and just before the end and LOVE IT! Kathy Bates simply commands with her portrayal of Annie the over-the-top crazy fan of author Paul Sheldon (James Caan). I saw this movie when I was in college, and it had some pretty amazing scenes and also some graphic scenes (the hobbling scene will forever give me the willies!). In fact, the whole audience jumped in the theater we were at when Annie hobbled Paul's legs. This is also one of the first Stephen King movies I had seen done right when so many others just missed the mark.



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2. A Nightmare on Elm Street - This film was a nightmare creator for me. I have a very vivid imagination, and I have very realistic dreams. It seemed completely believable to me that a monster of any sort could attack you and cause you to meet your demise in a dream. Robert Englund was creepy to the fourth power! And hey...it had Johnny Depp...need I say more?


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3. Seven - Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors. This dark detective/thriller was over the top in so many ways. The very idea of someone using a person's sin against them was appalling. Who really could be spared? Kevin Spacey was this insanely level acting freaky killer. Even the opening was intense. This is not an easy film to watch at times, but it sticks with you!


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4. Friday the 13th - The horror movie that changed the way I looked at horror movies. It was a little heavy on the college age sex thing, but it was one of those moral tales. Who got killed? People who stole away to have sex or do drugs. Of course the first person killed was a girl who was going to be a cook at the camp and who seemed to love kids. I kind of think she wouldn't have gotten killed if she hadn't gotten suspicious when they were driving past the camp. I wonder. :) Anyway...I think that Jason and his maniac mother are two of the only horror characters that can be used in the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game...because, of course Kevin Bacon was in this film. :)


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5. The Amityville Horror - Mortifying. I saw this film when I was in my teens. I had also read the book. The book scared me silly and the movie didn't do much more for me. I think movies made during this time were just really well done and really scary. Just remembering the mother looking out the window and seeing the glowing read eyes! The flies! The house that plainly said "Get Out!" Classic.




6. Burnt Offerings - I watched this movie a while back with my husband. It was not nearly as scary as it was when I first saw it, but the concept was creepy. A couple and their son rent an old Victorian home in California. The couple who own the home are a brother and sister and they have only one requirement for the family, they have to live with the couple's mother in the home. The wife is basically required to leave her food and make sure anything she needs is taken care of. We never see this old woman. The home is kind of old and run down, but things start improving while the family is staying there, and things improve greatly when the family gets injured in any way. The wife becomes controlled by the house and a history of the house and its varied tenants becomes apparent by the end. This movie came out in the 70s and it was pretty scary and still has a certain creepiness about it.


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7. Carrie - Another amazing work of Stephen King's being played out on film remarkably well. I think we all know this story well. The ending was just as dramatic as the film itself. This is a movie I hope is NEVER remade. Sissy Spacek was the perfect victim with some vengeance in her. It was sad to see her come to a destructive end, because honestly, you wanted her to be happy. It was nice seeing the little outcast feel pretty and liked, and then the bucket drops. Great movie and great adaptation.




8. Jaws - Is this horror? It really scared me. I saw this when I was VERY young. It was the first movie that I ever saw in a theater by myself. Well, not by myself. I saw it without my parents. That movie had impact!





9. Dawn of the Dead - What do you do when zombies strike? Get thee to the mall! As I have looked back on it now...I am a little surprised at how much this film scared me. The zombies aren't terribly scary when you compare them to the zombies they make now, but boy they scared me! I think Night of the Living Dead was the tops, but zombies in the dark are easy to be scared of. I think the survival aspect is what got me. It really made me think as a child, what would I do if there was some sort of zombie attack or an attack of any kind? Where would I hide? Best scene - When the elevator doors open and there are a load of zombies that just reach in!


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10. Poltergeist - Hauntings always get to me. Again just like The Amityville Horror, I wondered why anyone would stay in a home that was acting all creepy. Seriously, I would have moved out when I found things were shifting around in my home without my help. I would not have had to wait for anything to suck my daughter into a television vortex. No squeaky voiced mediums would be needed. Now of course I realize this is all fantasy but seriously...I'd be hitting the bricks!




11. Prom Night - Not the newest one which isn't really THAT new any more, but the one with Jamie Lee Curtis. If you haven't seen this one...check it out. A killer is after several teens on prom night. It is definitely a slasher movie, but it too has a moral tale. These teens (though they look to be in their 20s) were all part of something that was wrong...if you haven't seen this version, and you like horror movies, I'd get it.


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12. The Sixth Sense - I don't think I need to say much about this. Sadly this is in my opinion the best M. Night Shyamalan film I have seen. This was the movie with THE surprise ending. Nothing has compared to this film in my book. The acting was incredible and though there were clues to the film you really didn't realize until it was almost over what really was going on. This HAD to be on my list.


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13. Halloween - Yep. Another film with a killer that just does not seem to know how to die. You obviously have to suspend belief a bit...well A LOT when you watch a film like this, but it is still engaging. This is one of those movies that gave me the nightmares of running from the crazed monster only to keep falling and getting up just in time.

Next list...after work. :)

1 comment:

Lindsey said...

I was scrolling through this thinking, "This is CRAZY, I haven't seen ANY of these!" Then I got to number 12 and yes I have definitely seen (and love) that one! The Sixth Sense. I also saw the first part of Jaws but it was just too real and disturbing for me so I couldn't finish it. Another one I've started and not finished is Saw. *shudder* I'm not really a horror fan, though I do like thrillers. And intellectual thrillers. I did see The Grudge. I'm sure I've seen more but I guess they didn't stick with me (I probably blocked them). The one about all the women who went spelunking in a cave full of freaky people-eaters... can't remember the title but I did NOT like that one.

hehe Good list!