Tag Archives: 30 Day Horror Film Challenge

30 Day Horror Film Challenge Day 30

Day 30: Best Horror Movie Death

My choice for best horror movie death is the death of Martha Higgins in William Castle’s cult classic The Tingler.

While the death is rather ordinary, the set-piece leading to it is rather clever. The character is a deaf-mute with a phobia of blood, and sequence involves her turning on a tap and instead of water, blood trickles out. She the finds the bathroom tub filled with blood and blood covered hands emerge and attempt to grab her.

What makes this sequence so striking is that it is a black and white movie, yet all the blood is red. This effect was done having the scene shot in colour but the sets painted black and white, and using black and white backprojection.

30 Day Horror Film Challenge Day 29

Day 29: Best Horror Movie based on True Events.

Well I was going to nominate Psycho as Norman Bates was based on notorious killer Ed Gein, however a bit of research proves that when Robert Bloch wrote the novel the details of Ed’s crimes were unknown until the manuscript was virtually finished, so Bloch added a few lines in reference to Gein.

So I am going for Hitchcock, which is a film about the making of Psycho.

30 Day Horror Film Challenge Day 28

Day 28: Best Stephen King Horror Film

Nice emphasis on horror there as it rules out “Stand by Me” and “The Shawshank Redemption” which would possibly classify as the best Stephen King adaptions.

So this is quite a quandary, as are we looking at best film in terms of transferring the film as a faithful transfer to the screen, or best film based on a Stephen King story on its own merits?

King famously is not a fan of Kubrick’s The Shining but it is a pretty good film even if it does miss a lot of the nuance and subtext of the novel.

The problem with a lot of King’s novels is that due to the length of them, a film adaption even a long film, is going to lose out on some details making me think that a mini-series would suit them better. Having said all that there are a few of his novels which appear to have pages for the sake of pages.

So I am going to go with the original “Carrie” as while it differs in aspects (and the violence and cruelty to Carrie is toned down) it is well stylised film due to director Brian de Palma.

The 2013 remake is worth checking out aa well, and the whole Prom humiliation is handled a believably modern way.

30 Day Horror Film Challenge Day 27

Day 27: Best non-Halloween holiday horror movie

I would argue that the vast majority of no Halloween holiday horrors are superior, not just because of influence of John Carpenter but because Halloween is such a ridiculously obvious setting.

I am going to go with the Amicus portmanteau film “Tales from the Crypt” which has a number of individual stories and has appearances from Joan Collins, Ian Hendry, Peter Cushing and Richard Greene. Particular highlights are the reworking of the story of the Monkey’s Paw, and the Joan Collins story where she plays a woman who murders her husband on Xmas Eve after learning an escaped crazy murderer is on the loose, intending to put the blame on him. However her plan is screwed up when her daughter lets the escaped man into the house because he is dressed as Father Christmas.

30 Day Film Challenge Day 25

Day 25: Best Horror Film Made for Children

Not sure if my choice counts as a horror film despite it being responsible for many children’s nightmares, so I will supply a back up to cover just in case.

My choice is the 1985 Disney movie “Return to Oz” – a sequel to the Wizard of Oz- which is perhaps truer to the spirit of F L. Frank Baum’s original stories and has a huge number of surreal images and a delightfully child-friendly opening scene in which young Dorothy is given electronic shock treatment.

If Return to Oz doesn’t fit the criteria, then I will go for the most recent I watched at the Flicks which was the Jack Black movie “A House with a Clock in its Walls” which also features Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan.

30 Day Film Challenge Day 24

Day 24: Best Genre of Horror

For me it is the best genre is the creepy old dark house genre, whether it be the prime focus of the film or an element on the film.

Examples of this genre in the main focus include The Old Dark House (1932), The Haunting (1963), and The House that Dripped Blood (1971).

30 Day Horror Film Challenge Day 22

Day 22: Best 80s Horror Movie

Ah 1980s Horror, the age of the “Video Nasty ” and a lot of movies full of unpleasantness for the sake of it, heralding films with such alluring titles like “Zombie Flesh Eaters”, “I Spit on Your Grave”, “Cannibal Ferox” and laughable cash ins such as “Xtro”.

But it was also the decade when the genre started getting more respect in film circles with films such as the original Nightmare on Elm Street and the Shining receiving critical acclaim.

So naturally I am going for the 1988 TV Movie adaption of Susan Hill’s “The Woman in Black”, which was adapted for screen by the late great Nigel Kneale for Central Television.