The Horror 100: 42 and 41

isn't this exciting???




















#42 The Devil's Rejects
(2005, directed by Rob Zombie, starring Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Sherri Moon-Zombie, Ken Foree, William Forsythe, Michael Berryman, Danny Trejo, Steve Railsback, et al.)

Now, I'm excited to be writing a review of this film…and had there been more years between the release of this film and the release of this list…this film may have been higher on the list…it just hasn't had enough time to solidify itself as a movie with staying power in my fickle little mind yet….that said…it's one of the 5 best films I've seen in the past ten years…and probably the 2nd best horror film in that same timeframe.

The Devil's Rejects is brutal, unflinching, and issues its bleak worldview through its character study. Let's begin this review by looking back at House of 1000 Corpses…the film for which The Devil's Rejects is a sequel to. Now Corpses was billed as the savior of my dying genre…a brutal film…a throwback to the 70's horror cinema that didn't wink at its audience….it attacked them. Well, Corpses proved to not be that. It wasn't terrible…in fact it was a fun film with some interesting characters…and I generally prefer watching a rip-off of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, then a rip-off of Scream.

Now, Corpses did show that its director, rock legend Rob Zombie, did have something. He had a style and a general affection for the genre that had been missing for sometime…he also showed that he had some skill and I anxiously awaited this sophomore effort….Ordinarily when I anticipate greatness from a film…I am let down…there is a first time for everything…Rejects kicked ten types of ass.

It is as if I was transported back to 1974 cinematically. The opening credits sequence and the ten minutes preceding it were the best I've seen in years. The marriage of soundtrack and celluloid was the genius…the southern-fried rock was perfect for this dusty, gritty road pic. The characters set up in the first film lose their senses of humor for the most part and become more realistic and more human. These aren't clichéd, one-liner spewing, horror icons…NO…these are that kid you knew in 8th grade whose mom allowed him to smoke and who used to torture his cat all grown up…and it isn't pretty.

Zombie has come of age and his style doesn't become a character of its own like it did in Corpses…it helps tell the story. This is a gritty, graphic road picture with no real "good guys." It stars a multitude of genre acting heroes like Ken Foree (from Dawn of the Dead), Michael Berryman (from The Hills Have Eyes), Danny Trejo (from From Dusk 'till Dawn), P.J. Soles (from Halloween and Carrie), Priscilla Barnes and porn vet, Ginger Lynn. If you like your horror films to not wink at you, but to grab you by the throat and choke you for 90minutes…look no further…you've found it. Thank you Rob Zombie.

#41 A Nightmare on Elm Street
(1984, directed by Wes Craven, starring Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, John Saxon, and Robert Englund)

There is a reason that films spawn innumerable sequels…they are generally good films. Wes Craven's original A Nightmare on Elm Street was a great film with a darkly charismatic dream stalker who you now all know as Freddy Krueger….though he did have a dark wit in the original…he was not yet the cartoon character he later became.

Freddy did make the original and all of its sequels what they are…but the story, though now it seems old hat…was very original. A young Johnny Depp led a predominantly teenage cast that held their own with character actors such as John Saxon and Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund…who up until then was best known for his role on V.

Good directing, good acting, good "cat jumping out of the closet" scares…and a great movie….watch it again for old time's sake.