1968 to Present
I’d have To say I would like to see
-The Exorcist
- The Shining
- The Thing
- Hard Candy
- Death Proof
If modern means what I think it means, then The Blair Witch Project is the only movie that would deserve consideration.
I’d probably have to go with:
Angel Heart (Parker)
Carrie (De Palma)
Don’t Look Now (Roeg) – though technically a UK production
The Fly (Cronenberg)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman)
Last House on the Left (Craven)
Stir of Echoes (Koepp) &
Vampire’s Kiss (Bierman) – though you could argue this is more of a comedy
Of course, some are such slam dunks (The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Alien, Halloween, the original Chainsaw Massacre, etc.) that they seem almost too obvious.
Black Xmas, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw XII, Star WArs I (oh sorry, that was horrible, and not an horror movie, well, maybe…). but like Shotzi i wonder what modern is… so if modern means what I think it means I’d say Diary of the dead (universal isn’t it?)
Shaun of the Dead.it has good extras and im pretty sure there could be a shitload more.
MODERN…
(1975 – up)
basically, when horror got the guts to show the guts…
sure, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) would be one of the rare exceptions for the timeline i gave, as well as the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis…
Audition is foreign but good.
All of the above, of course, along with a boxed set of the Corman/Poe collaboration. And just for the sheer hell of it, “An American Werewolf in London.”
It would be hard to top the current Blu-ray version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre; that is one beautiful transfer. Although some better extras would be nice.
Huzzah on the Corman/Poe boxed set! Regardless of differing interpretations of “modern,” that one definitely needs to happen.
For the purposes of this post, modern will be considered 1980 and up.
1980’s
1. John Carpenter’s The Thing. A marvelous update on the 1950s gem that remains one of the defining “body horror” films, and is just as wicked a commentary on the 1980s “me first, then screw everyone else” mindset as anything written by David Mamet.
2. Dressed to Kill. One of DePalma’s best.
3. An American Werewolf in London & The Howling. Both of these films redefined the werewolf for a whole generation.
4. Q: The Winged Serpent. I would love, love, love to see a top-flight Larry Cohen film get the Criterion treatment. This one is still my favorite and features Michael Moriarty giving one of the great, unsung star turns of the decade.
5. Gremlins. Along with Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom, this is the film most responsible for the PG-13 rating and for traumatizing, rather delightfully, an entire generation of children whose parents thought they were treating their sons & daughters to family entertainment.
6. Re-Animator. This one already has a fine dvd release, but it would be nice to have its “classic” status codified.
7. The Dead Zone. One of Cronenberg’s best, and arguably the finest adaptation of a Stephen King novel to date.
8. The Stepfather. Terry O’Quinn!
9. The Hidden. Beloved cult classic.
10. The Fly. Since I started with Carpenter’s The Thing, this seems like a nice bookend. I’ve enjoyed seeing Goldblum’s great, great performance get a lot of love on this site.
1990’s
1. The Blair Witch Project. Definitely a strong contender for the most important horror film of the decade.
2. Nadja. Peter Fonda plays both Dracula and Dr. Van Helsing. What else can you ask for, you know?
3. Tremors. Spawned a lousy franchise of direct-to-video hack jobs, but the first one is pure gold.
4. The People Under The Stairs. Shockingly angry Wes Craven film. The suspiciously Ron & Nancy-esque couple is one of the most sublimely subversive and nasty things that any American horror film has ever gotten away with. Ever.
5. Se7en. Might be stretching it to call it a horror film, but I’m doing just that.
6. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Still one of the better meta horror films.
7. Raising Cain. I can’t believe this even got made in the first place. Wonderful and nuttier than a wagon load of pralines.
8. Chopper Chicks in Zombietown. There should be at least one Troma film in the Criterion Collection. This one is my favorite.
2000’s
1. The Devil’s Rejects. I’ve gone on and on about this film enough already.
2. Bubba Ho-Tep. Although it would be hard-pressed to top the current edition.
3. Freddy vs. Jason. I feel weird even typing that out, but it’s such a fascinatingly strange horror movie.
And that’s all I have for this decade in terms of American horror. I picked The Devil’s Rejects just so I wouldn’t have to bother with other “torture” porn movies, and my own personal prejudice against Americanized J-horror prevents me from giving The Grudge, The Ring, etc any credit.
Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, and Repulsion, although I am not sure wether the latter was an American release it’s definitely worthy of the Criterion treatment, as I think it’s been too under the radar for the past 40 something years.
Apropos this topic, let’s have a moment of shivery silence for Forrest Ackerman, founding editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, who died Thursday in L.A.
“the exorcist”. needless to say, one of the greatest horror films ever made. and i actually think it’s a perfect film. a flawless diamond. i’d canonize it up there with the greatest films ever made, period. criterion would have a field day making a special edition out of it.
Evil Dead.
all the Evil Dead movies. The Devils rejects and Phantasm 1&2 would be real cool.
you know, i liked “the devil’s rejects” too. i can’t exactly say why though. it seemed like a good ol classic american b-film. it had a great spirit to it.
i’m curious to know what other people like about it. somehow i got the feeling that zombie is a good director. i haven’t seen his “Halloween” though.
I have alway’s hated the new style of horror where the bad guy does something then runs away. “The Devils Rejects” was very old school and is done very well. It’s a very satisfying film and very fun. It seems to me that, that film is what “grindhouse” tried to do, only it did it much better than both. Thats my openion anyway. I thought “Halloween” was about as good a remake as you could do. It put the scares back in the series. To me Rob does horror films the way they should be done, in your face and none stop with jokes to keep it fun.
Seconding the RIP for Forrest Ackerman. When I was little, I would get my dad to buy those old Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines for me in spite of his, rather reasonable, objections that they were turning me into a weird kid. Growing up in a boondock town in the 80s, most of those films were almost completely unavailable to me and I would read about them envy and incredible curiosity.
yeah, “devils rejects” is definitely a classic grindhouse film. they should let zombie make that “werewolf women of the ss” film. see what he comes up with. it would probably be the most off-the-wall shit in years!
I didn’t realize this was for The Criterion Collection. I don’t think any American horror movie since 1975 deserves it. The best American horror movies since 1975 are probably… The Shining, Halloween, Friday the 13th… Blair Witch, I guess. That’s pretty much it.
I agree with Bobby. I also would like to say “Evil Dead” should be. If anything for it’s importance in the independent film community. Whitout it maybe the Coen’s would not be around. One of them edited it and Sam influenced them to shoot a trailer to raise funds for “blood simple”. The trailer had Bruce Campbell in it. Then there was how “Evil Dead” was made with homemade equipment and money raised door to door.
I’m with SHOTZI, unless you go back to Carpenter’s THE THING and HALLOWEEN, THE SHINING, and THE EXORCIST. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is the only recent contender.
Does Cronenberg’s THE FLY count, he is Canadian.
Why can’t we scare people anymore?
The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be on that best American horror movies list if “modern” started in 1973. For the record.
If we are going with the “modern” defination….then I have to throw another vote in for “The Blair Witch Project”. Simply one of the crux type films that ended the decade and previewed the one to come.
yeah. “blair witch” is one of those major shifts. i remember seeing it in the theater and being completely amazed. rarely have i been so into a film.
but on the flip side, the film has zero substance. you cant watch it multiple times. its pure cotton candy. i dont think it will stand the test of time at all.
I know a lot of people haven’t heard of this one, but “Night of the Shrew” apperaed to be a low budget movie but made you think “What if I was stranded on an island and chased by big, bad, and hairy giant tusked shrews? How could you get to your boat?” Haven’t even located this movie again since I saw it in the 50’s. Not even sure of this is the name of the movie.
“Carrie”, “Repulsion”, and “Halloween”, were released by Criterion on laserdisc. Shouldn’t be much trouble for them to be put out.
i would have to have to include maniac and henry: portrait of a serial killer in the discussion.
Can’t Stop the Music…memories of Bruce Jenner’s performance have ruined the innocent whimsy of Keeping Up With the Kardashians for me.
bottomboy
sure, the collection has the rare horror entry. but, most are either foreign OR obscure drive-in flicks…
(which there isn’t anything wrong with that, i love them)
but, what MODERN…AMERICAN…HORROR films would you add?
i’d like to see a special edition of ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE definitive version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD added…
but, modern-wise: THE ADDICTION (Abel Ferrera) RE-ANIMATOR and…yes, i’ll say it…THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (contemporary and, though a lot will deny it, it’s true, a classic)…
would say CUBE (but, those damn canucks made that one, lol)