Horror is my second favorite genre of movie but I typically only watch scary movies during October or late September. Of course there are exceptions to the that rule but for the most part, that’s how I role. I don’t really have much to say before getting on with the list. If a movie on the list is part of a franchise, you can assume I’m adding the entire series. The same goes if it has a sequel or two. That being said, lets get to it.
I saw this for the first time when I was around 11 or 12. At the time, I didn’t understand the difference between “inspired by” and “based on.” I thought this was a reenactment of something that actually happened. Needless to say, the first time I saw this, I was mortified. About a year or two later, I discovered it was loosely based on Ed Gein. He was a murderer from Plainville, Wisconsin. The dude kills people, eats them, and then wears their faces…clearly he had a rough childhood. I would not recommend eating while watching. Eating is a pivotal plot point for much of the movie. Ironically, it isn’t appetizing at all.
It is an interesting concept. Quite frankly, it does a fantastic job giving the audience a panic attack for the majority of the film. There isn’t much opportunity to catch your breath either. It’s pretty interesting. A sinister force or curse is chasing Rose around. The curse is passed on when someone witnesses the person presently cursed kill themselves. The newly cursed person then sees people smiling…a lot…and they’re smiling in a creepy way.
The marketing campaign for Smile was pretty cool. They just had people in random places smiling, literally, that’s all they did and I think it was brilliant.
How To Watch Marketing Campaign
Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I would not recommend trying to eat while watching this. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend eating an hour or so before watching. It is awfully gross which I think is what it was going for so mission accomplished. Mia Goth plays Pearl convincingly. I don’t think I’ll ever manage to see her as anything else.
Like Pearl and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I wouldn’t recommend eating before or during a viewing. If you can eat afterwards, more power to ya. The third installment of the series recently came out in theaters. It tops the first two in terms of gore. It is more disgusting and shocking. All three are difficult to watch. I’d go as far to say they all lack the rewatchability factor. It took quite a while to watch one and two again. Frankly, rewatching the third is not a high priority. I was capable of eating very little popcorn whilst watching.
The third entry pulls very few punches. It crossed a line at the beginning. I’ve seen very few horror movies cross this line. In fact, only two movies come to mind. I’m not going to spoil it but let’s just say it gets really uncomfortable really quick. There was a cool bit of trivia from IMDB. It stated Santa Claus Art was paying homage to an episode of Tales from the Crypt. I know the exact episode because it scared the shit outta me when I was a kid. It’s a neat little throwback to my childhood.
I can easily list three of the four slasher villains on my Mount Rushmore. If you were to ask me, I wouldn’t have to think about it. Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers. The fourth is more difficult. At times, I’ve chosen Leatherface or Chucky. There have also been times I’ve picked Jigsaw or Ghostface. But, after Terrifier 3, Art The Clown is making quite an argument for that fourth spot.
Also, bonus points for the second and third entries of this series. They feature a cameo from none other than my favorite wrestler of all time, Chris Jericho.
How To Watch (Terrifier) How To Watch (Terrifier 2)
How To Watch (Terrifier 3)
The Two Corey’s (in their first movie together), an awesome soundtrack, and vampires…a recipe for a decent horror flick. This movie does not follow the rule I stated earlier. I am referring to considering the entire franchise as an entry to the list. They ended up making a couple sequels twenty years later but they weren’t too good. Ya know what would’ve been good though? Jim Carrey in the role of David, a role which he was considered for.
What’s my favorite scary movie? Well…keep reading and you’ll find out (haha).
A meta classic by one of the greats, Wes Craven, that totally redefined the slasher genre. It was released around Christmas time in 1996. My siblings and I went to see it on Christmas or Christmas Eve. We used the movie passes Santa brought us. I was probably too young to be watching this. My sisters wanted to see it, so they snuck me in. Gotta love older sisters, am I right? I wouldn’t change a thing about that Christmas. I’m pretty sure I saw the second one in the theater with my sisters too.
The first one is the best. Then four follows. After that comes two, then six, and then five. Finally, three comes in last. I’d say three is the only one of the series I don’t care for. I’m looking forward to the seventh entry in the series coming out next year.
How To Watch (Scream) How To Watch (Scream 2)
How To Watch (Scream 3) How To Watch (Scream 4)
How To Watch (Scream 5) How To Watch (Scream 6)
The “Mike Lackey Pick” of the list, if you’re new here, Mike Lackey is my stepdad. He raised me from the age of four and he passed away a few years ago. I attribute my creativity to him. That’s why there’s always at least one “Mike Lackey Pick” per list in honor of him.
It also has a lot to do with nostalgia that this one ranks as high as it does. I loved the movie when I was a kid. If I’m being honest, it’s hard to sit through now. It’s imaginative, but it gets a little repetitive. Jodie repeatedly tries to investigate alone. He tells Mike to stay put or finds ways to make Mike stay put. Mike ends up trailing him anyway. Seriously, it happens like three or four times. It happened even more in deleted scenes.
The four sequels that followed are alright. The second didn’t have the original Mike. It did introduce the infamous quadruple barrel shotgun. The third is like the second but with more of a focus on Reggie. The fourth used a lot of unused footage from the original and provided quite a backstory. The fifth one was kinda hard to follow. If I remember correctly, it involved alternate universes. In these universes, the entire story had played out in many different ways. Overall the series provides hours of good fun as long as you don’t try to make sense out it.
How To Watch (Phantasm) How To Watch (Phantasm 2)
How To Watch (Phantasm 3) How To Watch (Phantasm 4)
How To Watch (Phantasm 5)
There’s gotta be a zombie movie right? Fitting it would be my favorite zombie movie huh? I like the original Dawn of the Dead. The remake had way too many characters. I’m not a fan of the running, rabid zombies. If the zombie apocalypse ever goes down and it’s the crazy fast rabid zombies, I will just opt out. But if it’s the slow moving zombies, then I gotta chance.
It’s the middle movie of the Dead trilogy. Oddly enough, I’m not the biggest fan of Night of the Living Dead. As far as I’m concerned, Day of the Dead sucked. I know that upset some, but that’s my opinion. Lastly, I used to own Dawn of the Dead on VHS. I wish I had kept it. It’s a hard movie to find. Up until recently, you couldn’t stream it anywhere. You can now rent or buy it on Amazon. DVD’s/Blu-ray’s still aren’t being produced anymore.
As with the earlier entry, I’m talking about the original. The original is a simple story. A kid kills his sister and gets committed. Fifteen years later, he breaks out of the mental institution. He goes on a killing spree on Halloween. Low body count but oh so suspenseful with some epic music. Really though, the music adds a lot to the proceedings, you take the music out, it’s a terribly boring movie.
Honestly, they left the first one alone, not made any sequels, and it would’ve been fine by me. I do like Halloween 2, H20, and Halloween (2018) as I consider them pretty swell as far as sequels go. I’ll watch the other ones. Yet, I don’t really care for Halloween 3 because it doesn’t have Michael Myers. I also don’t care for Halloween Resurrection. That one screams random horror movie screenplay. The studio bought it and shoehorned Michael Myers into it. And contrary to popular opinion, I don’t hate Halloween Ends. I appreciate that they tried something different. It had its moments but could’ve used just a little more Michael. Nonetheless, it wasn’t as terrible as most everyone else says.
How To Watch (Halloween) How To Watch (Halloween 2)
How To Watch (Halloween 3) How To Watch (Halloween 4)
How To Watch (Halloween 5) How To Watch (Halloween 6)
How To Watch (Halloween H20)
How To Watch (Halloween Resurrection)
How To Watch (Halloween – Rob Zombie)
How To Watch (Halloween 2 – Rob Zombie)
How To Watch (Halloween – 2018) How To Watch (Halloween Kills)
How To Watch (Halloween Ends)
Halloween came close but I have to give the nod to Freddy Kruger, the man of your nightmares. He was my dude when I was a kid. He scared the shit outta me. I still watched the movies for some reason.
The first three are solid. Four thru six kinda sucked. Four was especially horrible. It had poor character development, even for a horror movie. They recast the lead who was killed off in the first half hour. New Nightmare established the meta framework that Scream would incorporate a couple years later and Freddy vs Jason was decent. The remake incorporates some innovative things. These include the song All I Have to Do is Dream. Freddy continues to torture Jesse after his death. This happens because the human brain continues to process information five to ten minutes after dying. The remake also features micro sleeps. Yet, it was overall disappointing.
How To Watch (A Nightmare on Elm St.)
How To Watch (Freddy’s Revenge) How To Watch (Dream Warriors)
How To Watch (The Dream Master) How To Watch (The Dream Child)
How To Watch (Freddy’s Dead) How To Watch (New Nightmare)
How To Watch (Freddy vs Jason) How To Watch (Remake)
That’s gonna do it for this list. If you made it this far, let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments. Or just let me know what you thought about it in general. Until next time, one, two, Freddy’s coming for you…what was that sound? I’m gonna go check that out, I’ll be right back…
