Top Ten Films by Genre

Good Morning Friends! As we are well into the “season of spoop”, this morning I am picking up a series that I started a few weeks back where I talk about my favorite horror films. The problem with that undertaking is that horror as a genre is too broad to ever boil it down to a comprehensive top-ten list. Instead, I am tackling things by various subgenres, and to date, I have covered Zombie films and Vampire films. This morning I will rip the bandaid and get this genre out of the way because I have to admit slasher films are not exactly my favorite. There are gems in the genre, but my preferences tend to align more towards dark fantasy or films with a clearly defined monster and some deep world-building. That is not to say that I do not occasionally enjoy watching some villain tear through a bunch of drunken college kids.

I am saying this ahead of time because my favorite slasher films are likely not going to align with someone who is really into that genre. This is probably the most “your mileage may vary” that we are going to get with this series of listicles. Again these are not necessarily in any particular order.

Halloween

We have to start things off with what is maybe objectively the best movie on the list. Halloween is a master class in suspense and leaving the worst parts unseen. It also introduces what is potentially the most relentless hunter that does not dip down into the supernatural. Jamie Lee Curtis will always be the queen of horror movies in my book, and this movie highlights why. The Michael Myers appearance is reportedly a cheap William Shatner mask, but the end result leads to one of the most creepy and soulless killers out there. There are a handful of sequels that I have enjoyed, but nothing will beat the original.

Friday the 13th

When looking at Friday the 13th it is impossible not to think about the deeply derivative number of sequels this movie has had. I think to date there are twelve different movies in this series, including the truly dumb Jason X which is set on a space station. However, the original movie is a truly creepy film and I think deserves our respect. As far as villains go, Jason is known for being this relentless force that will track you forever but the first film didn’t even need the supernatural to lean on. While I really dig some of the later films like Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, I still feel like the first film is the best.

Nightmare on Elm Street

Continuing the sequence of bringing out the great slasher baddies, let’s talk about Nightmare on Elm Street and Freddie Krueger. If you were a child of the 80s… we all wanted that glove. Sure Robert Englund did an excellent job bringing this bloodthirsty oneiromancer to life, but the glove… that is the part that made everyone love Freddie. Again you have a series with many sequels… some of which are not all that good but I think the first film is probably objectively the best. That said I really loved dream warriors as a kid in part I think because it gave the “victims” way more agency.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

One of my core problems with the slasher genre as a whole is that so often it devolves into torture porn. That really is not my jam as far as films go, so you are unlikely to see any movies of the Saw series on my list. That said every so often there is a movie that is ABSOLUTELY torture porn, but it is delivered in such a compelling manner that it has to be respected. For me, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of those films and while it is legitimately hard to watch at times, it presents a world that is deeply disturbing but also extremely unique for the time in which this was released. Not only is Leatherface an iconic villain but the fact several of elements from the movie are lifted directly from the life of Ed Gein makes it even more traumatizing.

Childs Play

I love this movie for entirely the wrong reasons. In the 80s there was this toy called “My Buddy” and the commercial was played so often during Saturday morning cartoons that the theme song drilled into your brain. The Chucky doll is a play on this and what if this object of safe childhood play… went horribly wrong. The BEST version of this is the Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors Krusty Doll satire, but the original Child’s Play movie is still a pretty solid outing. I love the world that got built around this movie and more specifically the phenomenal performances that Jennifer Tilly has given as Tiffany the girlfriend/bride of Chucky.

Wrong Turn

This is another film that borders on torture porn but still is extremely interesting. City folk especially have deep-seated fears of the unknown in the undeveloped green wastes of our world. I come from “Rural America” and even then there are always the weird people that come to town very rarely, and largely live off the grid. This movie dials this up to eleven and presents a clan of highly deformed mountain folk who prey upon outsiders. There are multiple versions of this film, but I think the 2003 rendition is my favorite. It feels like it draws heavily upon the banned television episode of the X-Files called “Home” from 1994. It is a disturbing watch to say the least.

Happy Hell Night

I can pretty much guarantee that this film is not going to be on anyone else’s list, but it means a lot to me personally. Once upon a time, there was a movie rental place near me called Video Giant, and they had this 20 movies, 20 dollars, 20 days deal exclusive to effectively “B Movies”. My friend Kaleon occasionally comments on this blog and I would go over there, each get 20 movies, and then swap back and forth until it came time to return them. There was many a treasure unearthed through these adventures and one of my favorites was Happy Hell Night. It features a very young Sam Rockwell and Jorja Fox and is not likely something they specifically promote on their resumes. Everything about this film is “not great” except for the villain which is this demonic priest that has a “catchphrase” of a sort each time he kills someone. He does not really speak at all other than uttering things like “No Sleep”, “No Sex”, or something similar with No and something relevant to the context of the killing. Something about the absurdity of it all made me fall in love with this film and recently I tracked down a DVD so I could rip it and add it to my digital collection.

Happy Death Day

Also in the absurdist sub-sub-genre is Happy Death Day. Essentially this movie is what if you combined a slasher flick with groundhog day. It is Tree Gelbman’s birthday, and at the end of the night, she is going to die. Each time she dies… it resets the loop and she wakes up in a dorm room after a one-night stand each day she has to live out a walk of shame… and a sequence of events leading up to the same conclusion. Essentially she has to figure out how to solve her own murder so that she can avoid it… close the loop, and live to see another day. The movie is definitely not your standard brain-dead slasher fare and is extremely funny in the process.

Candyman

I love Clive Barker and this is his ode to the slasher film genre. What this has that so many other films lack is this rich mythology that is built up around the titular villain the Candyman. Into the narrative are woven statements about social class structure and racial violence, that make this far more than just a tale of the boogeyman. The brush chosen to paint this story however is borrowed from the Bloody Mary style mythos where someone saying a name three times in the mirror summons forth a demonic presence. Like pretty much everything that Barker has been involved in, it is both compelling and terrifying at the same time with a palpable sensuality. Sweets for the sweet.

Scream

Scream is a great film… full stop. It is a satire of the slasher film genre, while at the same time being one of the best and most competent examples of it. While this gets watered down greatly over the course of a series of movies, the first film is still phenomenal. The Ghostface killer also walks this line between being one of the most generic-looking villains ever but also summoning forth an iconic appearance at the same time. What I find so interesting about it and that will not be understood by future generations… is the mask used in this movie was like the cheapest of cheap Walmart discount bin costumes for years. Much like Michael Myers gave new life to a discount bin William Shatner mask, Scream made this awful ghost mask design the stuff of legend. If you have never watched this film I highly suggest doing so.

More to Come

This is probably going to be one of the more controversial lists that I have released in this series because in creating it… I left out a lot of fan-favorite slasher films. That said this is “my” list of favorites not designed to be universal. I think next up we are going to tackle Werewolves, which moves us back into more of my favorite sub-genres. Like I said before, Slasher flicks are not exactly my favorite in the genre but I wanted to tackle them just so I could talk about Happy Hell Night, a film that I think more people should appreciate for its absurdity.

Good Morning Friends! This morning I am going to continue this “season of spoop” series where I dive into some of my favorite movies in horror subgenres. Earlier this week I gave you my rundown of zombie films, and today I am going to talk about the much sexier undead… Vampires. This list was shockingly hard to narrow down because I kept fiddling with one or two places swapping movies in and out of the list until I finally landed on the ten that I am happy with. Suffice it to say that vampires and vampire hunters are well-trodden ground when it comes to horror films. As someone who spent countless hours playing Vampire the Masquerade, this topic is very near and dear to my heart… so I hope you won’t ram a stake through it.

Again these are not necessarily in any particular order but I will be closing out the list with a few of my absolute favorites.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Much like a Zombie list has to include Night of the Living Dead, a Vampire list must pay homage to the original Bram Stoker tale that largely canonized the mythos for western society. There are many versions of this tale in cinema form, but it is highly unlikely there will ever be one quite so baroquely lavish as the 1992 rendition by Francis Ford Coppola. I have a feeling that this film was a bisexual awakening for many as it just exudes raw passion at times. If you ever have the chance you should totally check out the Mike Mignola comic adaptation from the short-lived Tops Comics imprint because it brings really plays with the over-the-top designs that this film brought forward.

John Carpenter’s Dracula

With Vampires comes the presence of hunters and hunter-focused movies. There are so many phenomenal ones, but one of my personal favorites has always been Vampires from 1998. Growing up Catholic, there has always been a certain amount of romance about thinking about the Vatican as a force that sanctions monster hunters. At its core, this is a prime John Carpenter film, and it has the same quirky irreverent flavor that his protagonists often do. I also have this thing for the whole concept of roaming packs of vampires preying on the outskirts of society.

Fright Night

I love this film, and honestly, I am surprised it does not get talked about more often. There was a not-amazing remake some years ago featuring Colin Farrell and the late Anton Yelchin, but for me, the best version is the 1985 rendition. Vampires in suburbia is another interesting trope, and this movie carries that out beautifully as bad things are happening under the nose of your average small-town folks. The special effects do not hold up to modern scrutiny… but it was a simpler time. I remember NOW Comics had a phenomenal run of Fright Night comics that originally retold the movie and then picked up continuing the tale from that point forward.

Underworld

I think the hardest part of the list was trying to determine which Underworld and Blade films I might include, and ultimately I landed on ONLY including the first Underworld film and unfortunately completely skipping Blade. For me, the film series will forever be connected because they are this latex-suit industrial-metal Matrix-infused Vampire action. While I enjoy all of the Underworld films collectively, I think the first one is still the best because it does not require you to watch the previous films to understand. As the series continued it felt more and more derivative, and while this was great for existing fans… the whole hierarchy of the Vampire and Lycan worlds and which period of time we happened to be in got a little fuzzy. Still a great series if you have never watched them, thought not exactly what I would consider a scary viewing experience.

Night Watch

I went back and forth on whether or not to include this film, because while Vampires absolutely play heavily into the unfinished trilogy, it is more akin to a Russian Nightbreed than anything else. Not knowing where else I might fit this movie however led me to slot it into the Vampire list. This is one of the most creative and lavish visions of the conflict between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. It very much comes across as a dark faerie tale as opposed to something clinging to the western Dracula tradition, and honestly… that makes it so much more compelling. As I said before this is part of an unfinished trilogy of movies but if you enjoy this I would highly suggest checking out Day Watch as well. Dusk Watch sadly seems to be completely dead in the water.

What We Do In The Shadows

Yes, this is a comedy, but it is also one of the best Vampire films ever created. There are a number of “funny” vampire films, but most of them are pure shit. This however is high art and has so many absolute genius performances. This has also turned into a series on FX that is in its fourth season. Taika Watiti is brilliant as always but my favorite will always be Matt Berry’s Laszlo Cravensworth. I am a huge fan of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace so I am just generally partial to Matt Berry characters. Definitely start with the movie and if you enjoy it, then consume the series posthaste.

Interview With The Vampire

I am a product of my age and this movie was released during my freshman year in college. I had read several of the Anne Rice books and was still deeply into Vampire the Masquerade, so you know this movie meant quite a lot to me. I still don’t exactly agree with Tom Cruise as Lestat but whatever… the movie was still enjoyable. I’ve not had a chance to watch any of the new series that retells the tale, but it is on my list of things to do over the “season of spoop”. Brad Pitt as Louis is still delectable. I used to roleplay as a vampire on Undernet IRC and I was deeply into the family dynamic of these stories, and wish I still was in contact with the folks who used to roleplay as my “childer”.

Innocent Blood

This film does not get near the attention it deserves. Another aspect of Vampires that I have always loved is the ones who only feed on those who deserve to die. This is a tale of mob violence told through the vignette of a huntress slowly taking down “the family”. There are aspects that do not hold up… like the special effects but this comes from the pedigree of being directed by John Landis. The movie also has a bit of a buddy cop meets rom-com vibe as our vampire joins forces with a cop to take down some accidental vampire mobsters. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is currently on any of the streaming services, and you will have to digitally rent it. It has been years since I have seen it so I might need to track down the DVD.

Lost Boys

This movie came out when I was eleven and I probably did not actually get to watch it until I was twelve or thirteen… but when I did it heavily influenced pretty much everything about me going forward. This is the film that made me completely hooked on Vampires. I was convinced as a kid that the comics shown in this movie were real, and went on a quest to try and find them… only to find out that they were simply props but that lots of other horror comics existed. This movie is VERY 80s, but I completely love the style of the vampires and the cool lair that they live in. This is probably the only movie that had “The Two Coreys” that still hold up today. I remember having a massive crush on Star… as did pretty much everyone. I think the Grandpa however will always be the best character. Phenomenal movie and maybe an even better soundtrack. Cry Little Sister is a truly iconic theme song.

Near Dark

This is the best vampire film you have ever seen… or at least very few have actually seen it. This film absolutely is in contention for my favorite vampire film. What if I were to tell you that there was a Vampire film that included the best actors from Aliens, and was set here in Oklahoma? This tale goes in a lot of interesting directions but largely follows the story of a fledgling being inducted into this little tribe. Instead of relying on fangs, these vampires have to use more conventional methods of feeding off their victims like slicing them open with a razor. Instead of staying in one place, they travel around the country in a blacked-out RV to protect themselves from sunlight. The feel of the movie is deeply compatible with a roaming band of Kindred and I’ve always thought something like this would work extremely well for a Vampire the Masquerade setting. I think Shudder now owns the streaming rights to the film and I consider this a must-watch for anyone interested in Vampires because it is such a unique feeling take on the genre.

More To Come

Like I said at the start this one was really hard to narrow down to ten. There are so many great vampire films out there, and I am sure I have missed many of your favorites. Feel free to contest my decisions in the comments below. I am not sure where I am going from here, but maybe slasher films are the next sub-genre I tackle. As I am piecing things together in my head, there is absolutely a category of horror films that defy categorization. Not sure what I will do with those if I decide to tackle them at all.

Good Morning Friends! I realize that the listicle is pretty much the lowest form of internet content, but excuse me while I engage in it. It is now the official month of “spoop” and as a result, I have been involved in several conversations already about horror film suggestions. First off… I consume a lot of horror films and it honestly might be my favorite genre. All of these discussions have made me realize that I have never devoted much effort to talk about the horror films that I really enjoy. Since I consume so many, it was going to be near impossible to create a superset of “favorites” but instead, I am deciding to break it up into sub-genres. Since I’ve always been a big fan of Zombies even before the Walking Dead spawned the popularization of the genre, I figured I would start here for my first in this series.

These are in no particular order and include serious films as well as more satire-based comedic horror.

Shaun of the Dead

I am not really sure what to say. This is maybe the best comedic horror film that has ever existed. Not only do you have the high art of an Edgar Wright film that is meticulously edited to the soundtrack, but also you have some of the best Simon Pegg gags. Let’s go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

Blood Quantum

I literally just watched this for the first time this weekend and it has already made its way to the list. It is a pretty interesting spin on the Zombie film genre, as it centers around a first nations reservation in Quebec. Essentially in this version of the zombie lore, Indigenous folks are immune to turning from bites… but they are of course not immune to being eaten. I highly suggest you track down this film and watch it over this spoop season, very good.

Little Monsters

Be warned this should not be confused with the similarly named Howie Mandel nightmare-fueled children’s tale from the 80s. This film came out in 2019 and gives us another excellent comedy zombie film genre tale of a deadbeat uncle who finally shows some focus and tries to save his nephew from a zombie-filled field trip to a petting zoo. Lupita Nyong’o steals the show with her portrayal of Miss Caroline the teacher willing to do anything to protect her flock of students, while also trying desperately to keep them calm.

Train to Busan

This is quite possibly my single favorite zombie film and is in pretty heavy contention among my favorite horror films. Be warned this is a South Korean film, which will require “reading the movie” with subtitles but it is well worth it. I largely lump this and the 2020 sequel Peninsula as a combined experience, and both should absolutely be watched. One of the most fast-paced films you will watch as the action picks up almost immediately and then never really stops until the conclusion of the film. Peninsula on the other hand is a bit more pensive but still contains a lot of furious zombie-killing action.

Fido

This is a gem from the early days of Netflix when we used to have to maintain our streaming movies in one giant queue. Fido is another comedic zombie film set in a world after the zombie apocalypse where things have reverted back to an almost 1950s existence. In this world, they utilize zombies as a form of slave labor, through electronic collars that turn them docile. However, events happen that lead to this going horribly wrong in this tale about a boy and his dog… except that dog is actually a zombie.

Night of the Living Dead Animated

If we are going to talk about zombie films, we have to give some respect to the original George Romero classic Night of the Living Dead. In 2021 my favorite version was released where they used the original audio… but crafted a full cell style animation movie on top of it. This version specifically masks some of the failings of the first… like the zombies maybe not really looking great compared to modern standards. This is now my preferred method for revisiting this classic, and if you have never watched it… I consider it required viewing for understanding how the genre evolved.

Zombieland

This movie is just a fun ride. One could think of this as the American version of Shaun of the Dead and then get into the whole debate about which is the best version of The Office. I think Zombieland stands on its own two feet however and it will be worth the watch. I’ve always been a big Bill Murray fan, and he nails his role in this film… as himself. It is just a fun road trip film with the key differentiator from that genre being that they are trying to avoid getting eaten in the process.

Land of the Dead

There have been a lot of sequels to the original Night of the Living Dead, but my favorite of these is Land of the Dead from 2005. Romero has always been less than subtle with the political armature that he builds his stories upon. “Land” is maybe the least subtle as the wealthy continue to live a life much like they did prior to the apocalypse in a gilded tower that is serviced by the struggling masses in a shanty town that has formed at its base. It features John Leguizamo in an excellent non-comedic role and Dennis Hopper as the maniacal ruler of this haven for “the haves”. From a sheer zombie lore standpoint, it plays with the normal rules of engagement quite a bit in interesting ways.

The Girl with all the Gifts

This is one of the most interesting additions to the zombie genre. It presents a relatively unique version of a zombie, and if you have never seen the film I won’t spoil the conclusion of how it works. Basically, the story centers around a military base where they are attempting to educate and care for a number of children that have been infected. With proper precautions, they appear to be normal children… but once those precautions fail they turn into ravening zombies with superhuman agility. This protected state however does not last forever, and the fall of this base is largely the start of our tale.

28 Days Later

28 Days Later is part of an unfinished trilogy and gave us the rabid “rage zombie” archetype that dominated so many other zombie films for a decade. The first film is by far the best, but I still greatly enjoyed the follow-up 28 Weeks Later. The intro is very reminiscent of The Walking Dead where a man wakes up from a coma in a world gone very wrong and tries to figure out how to survive. Danny Boyle of Transporting fame brings us his specific spin on the zombie genre, and it is rather good. I hope at some point they finish the trilogy with I would guess 28 Years Later pending they follow the pattern set by the first two films. I am not holding my breath however because it has seemingly been in preproduction hell for years.

More to Come

I am honestly not sure how many of these I have in me, but I am pretty sure at a minimum I will do one over Vampire films, Demonic films, and Slasher films. I MIGHT have a Werewolf or Ghosts one in me as well, but we will have to see how these all come together. Hopefully, you enjoyed the list, and if there is a zombie film that you feel I overlooked please drop it down in the comments below. I could have likely filled two “top ten lists” with Zombie films however because there are so many that I have greatly enjoyed.