Shocktoberfest 2020 Wrap-Up and Ranking

    While me and my brother were doing Shocktober, we also watched some more family friendly horror films with our younger siblings. I've talked about Beetlejuice, The Blob and The Nightmare Before Christmas before, so I won't bother to repeat myself here. We also watched:

Ghostbusters (1984)

     The classic 80's comedy, Ghostbusters is perfect family viewing for October. The plot, part working class comedy, part parody of haunted house films, part send-up of cosmic horror stories, shouldn't work but somehow it does. The chemistry of the four leads is pitch perfect, with each character contrasting the others. Bill Murray's acerbic jerk is the perfect foil for Dan Aykroyd's wide-eyed, enthusiastic man-child and Harold Ramis' stiff, obsessive nerd, while Ernie Hudson serves as a relatable everyman, helping to ground the crazy supernatural hijinx. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis are great as well, while William Atherton and Annie Potts are perfectly cast in their respective roles. The over-the-top special effects and shear imagination on display are just icing on the cake and director Ivan Reitman weaves together all of these disparate elements with real flair. 

Score: 10/10 

The Batman vs. Dracula (2005)

     A direct-to-video animated film based on WB's The Batman TV series, The Batman vs. Dracula is surprisingly dark and violent given it's target audience. There are copious amounts of blood and the film's portrayal of a vampiric Joker (already an unnerving presence in the show) is truly frightening. The film has an eerie tone and the more grounded, realistic look the The Batman, contrasted with the exaggerated, anime influenced character designs serve the material really well (though I think that the Bruce Timm style would have worked even better). As in the show it remains a character driven story, and never falls into the trap of relying on it's admittedly gimmicky central premise to make it work.

Score: 8/10

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

     Ok so this one may have been a mistake. It was way more intense then I remember and the stuff with the witches, in particular, was a little too much for my youngest sister, who wisely went to bed half way through the film. In any case I've always liked the way Tim Burton's film acts as a send-up of old Hammer Horror movies. Like those films it is a period piece and an literary adaptation but in this case it adapts American, not English literature. The set and costume design is great as are the blood and gore effects or at least the practical stuff (the CG hasn't held up well at all). The performances are also solid all around and the film has a great cast. Danny Elfman's score is superb as usual. On the other hand I find the directors revisionist take on the religious moralism of the time rather distasteful.

Score: 8/10

Shocktober 2019 Ranked

Ranked on Flickchart.com 

 

1. Ghostbusters (1984) 

What can I say? Perhaps I'm outing myself as a normie by putting this at no. 1 but Ghostbusters is just endlessly entertaining. 

 

 2. Horror of Dracula (1958) 

A superb adaptation of the definitive vampire novel, even if it plays a little fast and loose with it's source. One of my absolute favorite horror movies. 

 

3. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

A worthy sequel to the classic 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelley's story, James Whale delves deeper into the psychological aspects of the story while upping the amount of black comedy, at which the director excels. 

 

4. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 

A truly chilling thriller The Silence of the Lambs is carried by it's lead performances from Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. A great film. 

 

 5. Psycho (1960)   

     Hitchcock's groundbreaking masterpiece changed cinema for better or worse but nevermind, his direction is positively masterful and Anthony Perkin's career defining performance paints a picture of a man set on constructing his own reality at any cost. The ending remains haunting and impactful to this day.   

 

6. Misery (1990) 

Though it's another performance driven movie, director Rob Reiner makes the best of the film's isolated, claustrophobic setting to deliver a really suspenseful thriller.

 

7. Zodiac (2007)

The first David Fincher film I've really liked, Zodiac minimalist approach to it's story and it's fidelity to the historical facts really impressed me.

 

8. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Easily the best of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, Wes Craven's New Nightmare returns the series to it's roots in psychological horror and introduces a meta-elements which are echoed in the director's Scream movies. 

 

9. The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

A classy little sci-fi horror that put Hammer studios on the map The Quatermass Xperiment is just as good as the gothic, period piece horror films that the studio is now famous for. 

 

10. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)

Not a horror film, but a fairly chilling gothic romance The Mystery of Edwin Drood does a good a job adapting it's unfinished source material as can be expected. Claude Rains is magnificent, as always. 

 

11. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

I'm a sucker for Sherlock Holmes so, this being an adaptation one of Doyle's best novel, it may be a little high but it is a well made detective story, despite being flawed. 

 

12. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Though not quite as good as the 1931 Universal version, The Curse of Frankenstein is a respectable adaptation in it's own right and a triumph for Hammer and Terence Fisher. 

13. The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

A worthy follow-up to Curse, even if it's a little more rough around the edges. 

 

14. The Raven (1935)

     The pairing of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff is, by itself, worth the price of admission but the Poe inspired story is not half bad either. 

15. Quatermass 2 (1957)

Though less focused then it's predecessor, Quatermass 2 still has a lot going for it, not the least of which is it's paranoid, conspiracy fueled plot. 

 

16. The Batman vs Dracula: The Animated Movie (2005) 

An above-average DTV animated film that combines two of my favorite properties, how can you go wrong?

 

17. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Tim Burton's loose adaptation of the classic Henry Irving story is equal parts flawed and brilliant. As a result it tends to go up and down in my estimation every time I see it. 

 

18. The Mummy (1959)

The Mummy is yet another strong period horror film from Terence Fisher but I have to admit that it bored me at times. It seems I just can't get into this kind of material.

 

19. X: The Unknown (1956)

     Another well made sci-fi horror/thriller from Hammer, X: The Unknown lacks the sharp scripts and unique visual style of the Quatermass movies.

 

20. The Invisible Ray (1936)

The third pairing of Karloff and Lugosi may be their weakest so far but it still oozes atmosphere and the two titans are as good as ever.  

 

21. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

 Freddy vs. Jason is not a great film by any means but if you look up dumb-fun in the dictionary you may find a picture of it.

22. The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934)

A well made little drama that doesn't really belong on this list. It's interesting thematic ideas are let down a little by a script that is lacking in subtlety but the performances are top-notch.  

 

23. Jason X (2001)

Though a guilty pleasure at best, Jason X is still a more entertaining film then at least half of the Jason movies. 

 

24. Werewolf of London (1935)

A middling effort from Universal, Werewolf of London's biggest strengths are it's atmosphere and some better-then-average comic relief, even if the latter is resorted to a little too often. 

25. Dracula's Daughter (1936)

An interesting, if uneven, follow-up to the Bela Lugosi classic, Dracula's Daughter works best when it focuses on the internal struggles of the titular vampiress which is all-too-often sidelined by the activities of the Otto Kruger's protagonist. 

26. Red Dragon (2002)

A decent enough follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs even if it falls short of Micheal Mann's 1986 version. 

27. Secret of the Chateau (1934)

     Secret of the Chateau is largely forgettable but, as I said, I have a soft spot for detective movies and this one, if nothing else, has an interesting cast of characters to keep me engaged. 

28. The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Overall the weakest of the early Hammer sci-fi pictures, The Abominable Snowman is still quite good. It has a unique atmosphere and wrestles with some really intriguing ideas.

29. Saw (2004)

An at times promising but ultimately frustrating debut for James Wan, Saw is too focused on its contrived mystery plot and spends too little time on its intriguing central premise. 

30. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

The first really bad film on this list, The Final Friday deserves credit for trying to take the series in a different direction, even if it falls a little flat. 

31. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) 

  A truly terrible sequel that wastes its impressive production value on an overstuffed, incoherent and mean-spirited script.

 

32. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

 Freddy's Dead is that special kind of sequel that is fascinatingly bad. 

 

33. Halloween II (2009)

Though a more interesting film then it's predecessor Halloween II is still marred by it's directors blunt approach and love of excess to really work. 

 

34. Life Returns (1935)

An utterly inept production, more remarkable for the bizarre true story that inspired it then anything else.  

 

35. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)

Though technically a better film then The Final Nightmare, Dream Child is at the bottom of the list because it repeats and doubles down on all the mistakes its already awful predecessor made while adding nothing new or interesting to it. It's also thoroughly forgettable.

 

Shocktober 2020, Week 4

 

     For the last week of October we watched through the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series (the first three of which I've already talked about) and the last couple Friday the 13th films (I reviewed the first eight last year) finishing with Freddy vs. Jason (2003).

 

 1. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

     After the relative breath of fresh air that was Dream Warriors this film is a huge step down. The plot is incredibly incoherent. How does Freddy return exactly? Why is he destroyed by looking at his own reflection? Why does is seem like the victims in this film fall asleep in the middle of the day for no reason? Another problem is that there are just too many characters here to real latch on to any one. It is clear that the producers wanted to up the body count, and the kills in this film, while really creative and featuring great effects work, are much more mean spirited then previously. The central idea (the final girl in this film is able to attain the dream powers of Freddy's other victims) has promise but is mostly wasted. New Line Cinema turned down Wes Craven's proposal for this installment and reportedly began shooting before a director was even hired and Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight) was ultimately given the rather thankless task. 

Score: 5/10

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

     This film doubles down on everything that was wrong with it's predecessor. The are more mean-spirited and the plot is more confusing. The production value, which was one of the few good things about The Dream Master (it may have the most impressive effects of the series) is also a step down here. Freddy himself, once a terrifying if occasional sardonic ghoul, has now been reduced to a silly, comic book villain, who seems more interested in toying with his victims then killing them. While Renny Harlin's direction was, at least, competent, Stephen Hopkins' often falls flat.

Score: 4/10

 

3. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

     The final nail in the coffin for the series, Freddy's Dead is a bizarre concoction. Tonally, it's all over the place, vacillating between surreal and Lynchian (the scenes in Springwood come across as a subpar Twin Peaks homage) to over-the-top and cartoonish, to downright disturbing. The series had lost any semblance of a coherent mythology at this point with the film seeming to come up with new ideas on the fly. The climax (presented in glorious pre-Avatar 3D), which brings back the idea from the first movie of bringing Freddy into the real world in order to kill him, feels 7 years too late. Why does it work this time anyway? The kills here are so drawn out, ridiculous, and so thoroughly lacking in any sense of true terror that you really just want Freddy to go away by the time the first victim dies. This is an abysmal film. 

 Score: 2/10 

4. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

     Having obtained the rights to Jason Voorhees character (but not the Friday the 13th title) New Line Cinema decided to bring him back from the dead only to kill him again. He dies both at the beginning and the end of this film! Like Freddy's Dead, it plays around with the series mythology, revealing that Jason had a sister that we never knew about. The plot is rather confusing (though not nearly as much as The Final Nightmare) and Jason doesn't even show up (after dying in the film's opening minutes) until the climax, instead his "spirit" is transferred from one body to another throughout the film. The resulting picture feels more like a mediocre X-Files episode then a Friday the 13th film. On the plus side, it does have a more likable protagonist then many of the franchise's other installments and the blood and gore effects are really creative. It is definitely the odd-one-out of the series but I appreciate the new direction the filmmakers tried to take.

Score: 5/10

5. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

    Wes Craven returns to direct this out-of-universe sequel, about Freddy entering the real world to haunt the cast and crew of the latest Nightmare film, a concept the director had come up with for the 3rd film which was rejected at the time and which he resurrected for this one. The film anticipates Craven's Scream films in it's meta commentary on the genre, it feels as if Craven was uncomfortable with what the character he'd created had become. In any case, this is the best Nightmare since the original, which is fitting since most of the original cast returns (playing themselves this time around). Between the script and the effective direction, Craven successfully blurs the line between dreams and reality in a way not seen since the original film. More remarkably, the director rescues Freddy Krueger from his campy, pop-culture image and restores him as a figure of menace. 

Score: 8/10

6. Jason X (2001)

     As with Jason Takes Manhattan, the producers tried to change things up for this installment by moving the location away from Camp Crystal Lake, this time into a futuristic, space bound setting. The results are better this time around as the film is faster paced and has a welcome sense of self awareness compared to it's predecessors. The cast, as per usual, is made up of largely expendable degenerates, who Jason dispatches with renewed vigor. They're are quite a few impressive kills here, most notably Jason shoving a woman's head in liquid nitrogen before smashing it to bits. There's also a fair amount of sex and nudity, which I could really have done without. I can't really say it's a good film by any standard, but it is a more entertaining one then many of the series later entries.

Score: 6/10

7. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

     The last canonical entry in either series, Freddy vs. Jason is able to realize it's concept without feeling too contrived, which, in itself, is an accomplishment. Freddy has been left powerless when the authorities in Springwood form a conspiracy to suppress any knowledge of his killings. This leads Krueger to bring Jason back from the dead (how he does this is not clear) in order to make the youth of the town afraid once again, allowing him to invade their dreamspace). The cast is relatively likable for this kind of film, and Robert Englund puts in one of his better performances as Krueger, balancing out the menace and the camp. The direction, courtesy of Chucky veteran Ronny Yu, is a bit too manic for my taste, and lacks the surreal atmosphere of the better Nightmare films and the low budget charm of the Friday movies. Again, I'm not sure this is a good film, but as a diverting novelty it's a lot better then it might have been. 

Score: 6/10

     As I have done in previous years, I will do a wrap-up and ranking of this year's Shocktoberfest sometime in the next week. Stay tuned!