Board 8 > Board 8 Watches and Ranks 80s Horror - The Rankings

(+) Yeah! (+)

Damn, Christine. One of my favorites. Just a fantastic looking movie.

Bitto posted...

Evil Ed and Charlies friendship really captures a high school friendship, in that I have no idea why either of them decide to hang out with each other.

It seems to me the kind of thing where it's two people who probably aren't otherwise very popular, Evil Ed obviously.

Seginustemple posted...

I had no idea that Fright Night was that well-liked, to the point where people consider it superior to Child's Play. Chucky is so iconic, whereas the only time I've ever heard anyone refer to Fright Night was Herschel Walker on the campaign trail.

Let's keep it rolling with The Dead Zone

Chucky is a popular franchise horror charcter, but if I'm being honest most individual movies in franchises developed out of iconic horror villains aren't that great on their own.

I did also read Christine and I'd agree that the characters are slimmed down a good bit from the book, and yeah you find out a lot less about Christine and why the car is significant. But I think the movie largely makes up for it by having the visual thrill aspect the book doesn't, which is pretty essential for a story like this

I'll say Evil Dead II as well

I'll switch to Henry

I'll still say Henry. Surprised it lasted longer than Fright Night and Christine.

Fright Night was a refreshing & meta take on vampire movies when it first came out, and still holds up pretty well today. It's somewhat of a parody but is also pretty damn scary, which is rare. Evil Ed reverting back from a wolf freaked me out as a kid, and Chris Sarandon plays the right blend of charming and sinister. Meanwhile Roddy McDowall's reluctant hero character is one the best 'good guys' in 80s horror.

Christine is one of King's worst stories in my opinion, or at least worst concepts. I'm all for 'cursed object' horror, but an evil car always seemed silly to me.

It's kind of interesting Christine has fallen by the wayside in discussions on Carpenter's movies given it was probably his biggest hit that decade (and from there likely second biggest after Halloween). Also huh The Fog is not on this list. I appreciated its craft but wasn't a fan.

jcgamer107 posted...

Fright Night was a refreshing & meta take on vampire movies when it first came out, and still holds up pretty well today. It's somewhat of a parody but is also pretty damn scary, which is rare. Evil Ed reverting back from a wolf freaked me out as a kid, and Chris Sarandon plays the right blend of charming and sinister. Meanwhile Roddy McDowall's reluctant hero character is one the best 'good guys' in 80s horror.

Christine is one of King's worst stories in my opinion, or at least worst concepts. I'm all for 'cursed object' horror, but an evil car always seemed silly to me.

An evil car is like...the most reasonable and frightening cursed object possible. It's mobile on its own, and it's a multi-ton machine that kills people regularly when it's NOT cursed.

Gonna guess...Henry.

jcgamer107 posted...

Fright Night was a refreshing & meta take on vampire movies when it first came out, and still holds up pretty well today. It's somewhat of a parody but is also pretty damn scary, which is rare. Evil Ed reverting back from a wolf freaked me out as a kid, and Chris Sarandon plays the right blend of charming and sinister. Meanwhile Roddy McDowall's reluctant hero character is one the best 'good guys' in 80s horror.

Christine is one of King's worst stories in my opinion, or at least worst concepts. I'm all for 'cursed object' horror, but an evil car always seemed silly to me.

I agree that the concept for Christine is very silly, and I'm really not much of a fan of King's writing tbh. But I think Carpenter knows that and it feels just as self aware to me as Fright Night, even more so really.

This was probably the 5th or 6th time I saw it and I've really grown to love it.

Love Fright Night as well though. And yeah, McDowell is great in it and I love that he gets his own little character arc in it too. His character is a great way to sort of bridge the gap between the geniune horror elements of the movie and the intentionally campy throwback aspects to like B horror cult schlock that the movie also seems to admire.

Great movies, and this ranking motivated me to finally get around to watching the blurays I had for Christine and Fright Night, though I had seen both movies before.

Since it's tangentially relevant to this topic, anyone else here know of 1984's "The Devil's Gift"? It's a movie that can be watched free on YT. Basically a rip-off of Stephen King's short story "The Monkey", about a demonic cymbal-banging monkey toy that kills a living thing every time it claps its cymbals. Best known for having footage from it stitched into the director's only other film, 1996's "Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders" starring Ernest Borgnine. That movie was eventually featured on MST3K only three years after its release.

Needless to say, I was so caught off-guard by how, uh, "scary" it was for something clearly meant to be whimsical (it was meant to be a horror movie but then retooled into a family film due to meddlesome executives) when I saw the MST3K episode I checked out the original movie myself. What a thing.

I know of it but never seen it fully!

14. The Dead Zone (1983 / 188 points)
Directed by: David Cronenberg / Screenplay by: Jeffrey Boam
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c0ef5fc6.jpg
Why Its Significant - While often overshadowed by the more visceral works of Stephen King and David Cronenberg, their 1983 collaboration, The Dead Zone, still holds a place in the horror genre, offering a unique blend of psychological horror, supernatural suspense, and political thriller. Up until this point in his career, Cronenberg had established himself with a cult classic collection of seminal body horror works, but here, Cronenberg explored a different avenue with his first film not written by himself but Jeffrey Boam (who would later go on to write The Lost Boys and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and of course based on Stephen Kings novel originally. The film explores the potential for evil within seemingly ordinary people as Stillson's ambition and ruthlessness are presented as equally horrifying as any supernatural entity. The Dead Zone paved the way for a new wave of horror & thrillers that explored the psychological and social aspects of fear. Films like Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Inception, & Get Out owe a debt to its focus on internal struggles and the blurring of lines between sanity and madness. The Dead Zone was followed by a television based on both the novel & film, and The Dead Zone had been the subject of many parodies over the years.

The Rankers
Plasmabeam - 4
Inviso - 5
Lightning - 8
Jcgamer107 - 12
Johnbobb - 12
Evilordexdeath - 14
Karo - 15
Rockus - 15
Mythiot - 18
Bitto - 19
Snake - 20
Seginustemple - 22
Fortybelowsummer - 24

Plasmabeam - One of the most underrated King books leads to one of the most underrated King movies. This stays pretty faithful to the source material (which is a GREAT thing), and the only real issue I had with this movie was Christopher Walken being cast to play Johnny. In the book Johnny was more of an energetic goofball (at least early on), and this movie couldve benefited from that. Still, the important pieces are here, and this story does a great job exploring supernatural concepts and piercing themes.

Inviso - Its so weird, having grown up in the nineties, when Christopher Walken became a comedy icon for his appearances on SNL, to see him as a serious actor dealing with serious issues in a serious manner. The concept behind this movie is fascinating: you have a guy who was just a normal, every day English teacher, but he gets caught in a car accident that leaves him comatose for five years. When he wakes up, hes lost everything about his old life, and gained the power of precognition. Within a day of rousing from his coma, he saves a little girls life by touching a nurses hand and realizing her daughter is trapped in a house fire.

The movie is basically told in three parts. You have the intro and the coma, and the realization that Johnny Smith has psychic powers (including realizing that his doctors mother is still alive, after she sent him off to safety during World War II, and embarrassing an arrogant reporter with the secret knowledge of his abuse towards his sister, before he killed herself). At that point, Johnny is just trying to recover, and these powers are new and strange to him. Then we get to the middle of the film, where the police seek him out for aid in a serial killer casewhich he solves by discovering that the killer was the sheriffs deputy. But ending his reign of terror, Johnny still gets shot for his troubles, and decides hes better off to go into hiding and stay out of the public eye.

This all sets up the third act, where a very charismatic Martin Sheen (Greg Stillson) is running for president, and we spend a great deal of time focusing on his character in the background, until Johnny winds up at a campaign rally and shakes his hand. Suddenly, he realizes that Stillson is secretly a maniac behind his everyman persona, and hes destined to plunge the United States into nuclear war via his rash actions. And then the narrative goes from if I sit back and keep to myself, anything bad is not my fault to if I do nothing, everything bad this man does is on my conscience. So, he attempts an assassination, fails, but still succeeds in his goal because Stillson uses a baby as a human shield. He dies happy, knowing he did the right thing.

I just thought the movie was structured well. They did a great job of building Johnny up as this guy who just wants to live his life, and he doesnt want all the additional shit that comes along with being a psychic. And I love the slow ramping up of his visions: helping individuals with their lives becomes stopping a serial killer becomes stopping a nuclear war. And each time, Johnny is forced to suffer because he doesnt want the responsibility for being a savior in these moments. Its a really well-told story, and the only real flaw Id say is that they might not have needed the scene with Stillson blackmailing a newspaper editor. That wouldve made the reveal of his evil all the more shocking (and made it more of a moral conundrum in the eyes of the audience as to whether or not Johnny should put a stop to him.)

Lightning - THE ICE IS GONNA BREAK!

More of a science fiction thriller with some horror overtones than a straight horror film, this represents one of the very best Stephen King adaptations with a great lead performance from Christopher Walken. I found the structure of this one kind of fascinating, were this released today it would definitely be a TV series rather than a movie. There is very much a longer form structure to this, almost episodic rather than a traditional three act structure. It works however, as it helps to give you the feeling of Johnnys life changing over time as the impacts of his ability to see peoples future are felt.

Ultimately this film hinges on Christopher Walkens performance as Johnny Smith, he perfectly blends his unique, slightly frantic energy with a cool charisma and inner turmoil. He is charming at the beginning and always keeps you with him even as he gets increasingly desperate. You hang on his every word, even when they are hammy such as the above quote. There is also a great turn from Martin Sheen here, and its cool to see these actors fully formed even forty years ago. What makes this the best Stephen King Adaptation of its decade to me is the fact that it really sells the characters, and that understanding of character is what makes Kings style what it is.

Of course, the films other technical aspects are very strong as well. Cronenbergs direction shows that he doesnt need to rely too heavily on body horror to deliver a strong picture. There is still a pretty shocking moment of body horror with the scissor suicide of course! Really though what is at the heart of Cronenbergs films is suspense, and you get plenty of that here. This is a tense, thrilling political story that does not let go of you and unfortunately feels increasingly relevant even in the present day.

4/5

Jcgamer107 - 6/10

Johnbobb - The Dead Zone is one of the first Stephen King books I think I read back in high school, and I really dug it at the time. I wasn't as big a fan of the movie, mostly because it changed things from the book and I was one of those "the movie has to be exactly like the book" people for a while. Rewatching it now for the first time in over a decade, I really dug it. It helps that Walken is one of my favorite actors, and he really gets to play to his strengths. The concept is basically "what if Bruce Willis' character from Unbreakable didn't become a superhero and instead tried to assassinate the next mass murdering politician. Honestly, I'm here for it.

Evilordexdeath - First of all, I question the inclusion of this one on the list. Yes this is an adaptation of a Stephen King book directed by David Cronenberg, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a horror film. It's more of a weird-fiction yarn about a few episodes in the life of an English teacher who develops psychic powers after being bitten by a radioactive car accident. It's a fun little tale, but the overarching story is too loose - although the episode that ends things off is set up early, I felt like I was waiting for a stronger and more cohesive story to coalesce out of the individual incidents. While the premise of a man seeing visions of the future and trying to change it could be fertile ground for interesting moral quandaries, the villains are too over-the-top, and the questions raised by the narrative too clearly answered for the film to really rise above an entertaining popcorn-munching distraction. For example, I would've liked what happens after the ending, in which the protagonist makes a failed assassination attempt on a politician his psychic powers tell him will start a nuclear war - to be left ambiguous. That would've left the viewer with some intrigue to puzzle over in the manner of another almost mystifying Cronenberg film I hope to see higher on the list - instead it's just spelled right out for you and rendered almost completely uninteresting, the politician gets discredited and Christopher Walken (whose presence is definitely a big part of why this film is as high as it is on my list,) dies a hero. Most other incidents feel the same in this narrative defined by wasted potential.

Karo - After a traumatic brain injury, this guy discovered that he has the ability to see someones future when he shakes their hand. Or sometimes the past. Or even the present!

Anyway, he eventually shakes hands with a politician who will someday cause nuclear armageddon, and so he tries to assassinate him but fails at that like everything else in his life.

The pacing seem far too slow and features too much of just the protagonist acting morose and self pitying than really exploring his new abilities. The movie's title is thrown out once in a sentence and not really explained further despite ample time to do so, and the plot seems to straggle on without direction throughout. I mean, one minute we're a lovelorn rip van winkle story, then next we're an episode of 'Medium', and now he's doing secret agent shit or something? There is no cohesion.

It is a fine but rather forgettable movie that doesn't really add anything new to the psychic/clairvoyant trope, and to place it in the horror genre at all is the stretchiest of stretches.

Rockus - Another novel Stephen King premise, and heightened by the talents behind and in front of the camera. In a way it almost feels *too* normal for a guy like David Cronenberg and it almost plays more like a drama than a horror film. Its also almost more unsettling from the implications it hints at than events that it depicts on screen. Unsurprisingly, Christopher Walken is phenomenal in this. He really brings the film together and his presence keeps it on track when its semi-episodic pacing gets a little carried away. Very good movie but feels minor compared to the rest of Cronenbergs work.

Bitto - Raitng: C

The fodder line. The execution is good, but the premise is just lame. It feels like 4 stories loosely tied together. Johnny's an interesting character. I like that he's reclusive and hates his talent. He has a nice arc throughout the movie. The scenes where Johnny is physically in the hallucinations are the strongest: the house burning and the Castle Rock Killer. Stillson is a fun antagonist, but he just doesn't really get as much time as you would hope for.

Snake - The Dead Zone is mainly a compelling exploration of psychic burdens and the weight of foresight as Christopher Walken delivers a powerful performance as Johnny Smith. The film excels in its suspenseful atmosphere, building dread around Johnny's increasingly disturbing visions and the moral quandary they present. Martin Sheen is equally captivating as the charismatic politician Greg Stillson, whose dark future Johnny glimpses. Their dynamic forms the core of the narrative, creating a complex struggle between fate and free will. I love how the film loosely plays with horror and isnt really the main focal point, mainly focused on creating a tense thriller more than anything. However, compared to the novel's sprawling narrative, I feel the movie condenses the story significantly, sacrificing some character development and plot details. This streamlining can feel rushed at times, particularly in the later sections. Still, I think this film absolutely sticks the landing regardless

Seginustemple - This one I'd argue isn't quite horror, more along the lines of detective mystery/political thriller. You would think King x Cronenberg would be a body horror extravaganza but it's restrained on that front, only one moment stands out as being particularly visceral (the scissor suicide). Walken is a good pick for a man haunted by Crossing Over with John Edwards powers, he has that chilly morose energy. I like that there's a logical progression from crime to politics as he comes to grips with his ability, from which point Martin Sheen steals the show as an uncannily Trump-like character. And the throughline of the post-coma grief/the lover who had to move on keeps it emotionally well-grounded. But I think there is an episodic nature to the story that seems more fit for a miniseries, as a film it's somewhat disjointed.

Fortybelowsummer - While its not the scariest Stephen King offering, Dead Zone is one of the best film adaptions of one of his stories. Sandwiched in between the madness of his two other classics on our list, Videodrome and The Fly, David Cronenberg directs with subtlety and thoughtfulness that proves his genius beyond the body horror genre. Its more mainstream and accessible but he really pulls off the psychological thriller aspects. Christopher Walken isnt asunorthodox here as he can sometimes be, but by no means is he boring as the subdued but intense Johnny. Its really not a stretch to call this one of his best performances. He captures the emotional weight of a man struggling with the power that hes been given. Martin Sheen is awesome too and though hes not in it a lot hes perfect in the corrupt power-hungry politician role. They certainly bring their charisma as they careen towards the dramatic ending, and thats much needed because the movie does at times feel kind of bland. I also feel like there wasnt enough buildup to Johnny and Stillsons final encounter. It seems to happen so quickly that he realizes the grave danger that Stillson poses, acquires the gun, and makes his plan. Still though, the ending is impactful and its a solid movie that will rank fairly low for me but only because so many other favorites are here.

Also since there were a lot of write-ups bemoaning the lack of horror in the film (which I predicted in my head and can agree with), I still included it just like I did Fire in the Sky on the 90s list or Bird Box in the 2010s because I think horror can be a lot of things and straddle the line on a lot of genres and offer unique perspectives on what the genre can be.

Outlier
Fortybelowsummer - 157
Jcgamer107 - 123
Karo - 123
Inviso - 115
Evilordexdeath - 107
Seginustemple - 104
Snake - 98
Johnbobb - 96
Bitto - 91
Plasmabeam - 86
Mythiot - 85
Rockus - 78
Lightning - 74

I had a premonition who won outlier but I won't say!

On Christine I think the silly-sounding premise of the book works because King goes so deep into the characters. At its heart it is a classic ghost story while the film is kinda just about an evil car. Its fun, I like fun movies, I had Creepshow higher than it, but it loses a bit of its texture and depth and some of the elements become incongruous. Some cool shots though.

As for The Dead Zone, I liked this one a lot and it would have been nice to see it higher but its a good placement. Even though its not REALLY a horror, I still think it belongs on the list for being a confluence of two of the biggest minds in horror at the time. Also some of those sequences are pretty chilling and the premise is scary.

HOUSE WINS!! Also, I didn't even notice the "lack" of horror in The Dead Zone. Was too distracted by the fun concept/scenario to care.

VEGAS ODDSBOARD:
+600 Re-Animator (1985)
+700 Possession (1981)
+850 Videodrome (1983)
+850 Gremlins (1984)
+1100 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
+1100 Hellraiser (1987)
+1300 Evil Dead II (1987)

+200 Any Other Movie (+2000 if guessed correctly)

Current Leaderboard:
1) Bitto $4100 (Poltergeist 2000,Creepshow 650, Tetsuo: The Iron Man 600, Sleepaway Camp 650)
2) Lightning $3300 (Christine 800 The Changeling 200, Creepshow 650, Friday the 13th 500, Sleepaway Camp 650, Basket Case 500)
3) Johnbobb $3150 (The Changeling 2000, Friday the 13th 500, Sleepaway Camp 650)
4) Seginus $2550 (Fright Night 700, Phenomena 1000, An American Werewolf in London 200, Sleepaway Camp 650)
5) Inviso $2400 (Creepshow 650, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600, Sleepaway Camp 650, Basket Case 500)
5) Exdeath $2400 (Creepshow 650, Friday the 13th 500, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600, Sleepaway Camp 650)
6) jcgamer $1200 (An American Werewolf in London 200, Tetsuo: The Iron Man 600, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600)
7) Karo $650 (Sleepaway Camp 650)
7) rockus $650 (Creepshow 650)
8) fortybelow $200 (Poltergeist 200)

The House Won On:

• +1000 Pet Sematary (1989)
• +1000 Prince of Darkness (1987)
• +2000 Childs Play (1988)
• +2000 The Lost Boys (1987)
• +1250 The Dead Zone (1983)

I see the future. It's Videodrome.

Man I have no idea with this list

Gonna say Evil Dead 2 again

Can we PLEASE eliminate more of the shitty art films before we go after a bunch of quality movies all in a row?

Hoping and praying for Henry, just to get more Vegas points.

No scratch that, I'll say Re Animator

Since I haven't given a hint in a while, the next film has a #2 ranking!

I'll guess Possession then

Im going to say Henry.

https://youtu.be/h-xz0z1gU1M?si=_ZihemmoK9ghmalK

A #2 huh, I could see it being Possession

I'll try Gremlins for next

Snake5555555555 posted...

Since I haven't given a hint in a while, the next film has a #2 ranking!

Gonna place a Vegas bet of my own and say it's my #2.

Yeah, given how the past few entries have gone, I'm gonna place a Vegas bet for MY NUMBER TWO next.

13. Gremlins (1984 / 184 points)
Directed by: Joe Dante / Written by: Chris Columbus
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a5107475.jpg
Why Its Significant - A Christmas classic (released when else but in June), Gremlins influence is easy to see and pretty self-explanatory. Any film with little creatures causing havoc somewhere, sometime? Its Gremlins. Its that simple. The film relies heavily on puppetry and animatronics, creating a tangible threat. Gremlins feel real, their movements grotesque and unpredictable making their on-screen debut instantly iconic & memorable. The Christmas theming also contributes to this factor, making it such an easy film to throw on and watch every year for those like me who just have to have a bit of horror in their Christmas! The film received a sequel, amusement park rides, video game appearances, and dozens of cameo appearances over the years, turning the Gremlins and particularly Gizmo and Stripe into minor horror icons & mascots for WB. Gremlins also holds notability for being one of the primary films that led to the creation of the PG-13 rating.

The Rankers
Inviso - 2
Lightning - 6
Mythiot - 8
Bitto - 10
Snake - 10
Karo - 13
Rockus - 13
Seginustemple - 13
Plasmabeam - 15
Fortybelowsummer - 18
Jcgamer107 - 23
Evilordexdeath - 25
Johnbobb - 28

Inviso - As I write this, I had trouble deciding to rank Gremlins as high as I have, because I was worried whether it truly deserves the placement. But screw it, this is my ranking, and I ranked Peewees Big Adventure at the top of the road comedies list, so what of it? I like goofy, funny, cutesie shit. And this is a GREAT PG horror movie, because a lot of the time, PG, or even PG-13 doesnt translate to horror all that well; theyre too restrained by trying to play it safe. The Gremlins themselves are JUST monstrous enough to be scary, but not SO monstrous to be a complete turnoff to younger audiences. It rides the line, and I like how this movie works as kind of an introduction to horror for kids.

But yeah, this is just well done across the board. The movies has a decent start, with all of these town scenes and the introduction of numerous characters and how they deal with life in the town, and you get Mrs. Deagle being the WORST. But what I really like is how the Gremlins themselves are hyped up by Murray Fudderman as having sabotaged machines during the war, and then we go to Billys house and his car is a piece of shit, and his dads inventions are all terrible across the board. It feels like hes living in a world plagued by gremlins (small g) already. So then, when the Gremlins show up and start wreaking havoc, it showcases how truly terrible things can get.

But theres just so much to talk about with this film. For me, the Gremlin theme is one of the most iconic horror movie themes of all time. Its right up there with Halloween, because its extremely catchy, but it also manages to convey the whole chaotic havoc element of the Gremlins with that high-pitched, screechy singing. When it kicks in as the Gremlins start attacking the Fuddermans with Murrays snowplow, thats a brilliant score to set off the events of the chaos rampage scene of the film.

Also, I want to give a shoutout to Billys mom, because in short order, she manages to take out three out of the five Gremlins that invade her home, all in different and creative ways (in a blender bowl, via straight-up stabbing one, and via microwave). She comes across as a total badass throughout that entire scene, and its a shame she gets taken down on the fourth Gremlin in the Christmas tree, because I think she couldve held her own and really allowed Stripe to prove why hes the badass leader of the bunch.

The general transformation is great too, turning these cute little Mogwi into demonic reptile monsters, complete with gross-looking alien eggs (that hatch into monsters creatures). Seriously, the first kill of the movie, you see that hatched egg and its so disgusting alongside the biology film reel of a beating heart, and then the science teacher just gets straight-up murdered off-screen. Poor guy just wanted to run a simple blood test, and he winds up one of the only two confirmed human kills in the entire movie (alongside the well-deserved death of Mrs. Deagle).

Theres also the goofiness of Phoebe Cates tending bar even as the Gremlins are going on a rampage, the bar scene itself has a bunch of little gags and sound effects (plus a hilarious poker scene where one of the Gremlins is wearing Mrs. Deagles wig), and then you also get the out-of-nowhere monologue from Phoebe Cates about her dad dying on Christmas. Its so weird, but its so wacky and fun (well, aside from the revelation about the dad) that it really manages to inject just that little bit extra character into the film. Oh! And Mike from Breaking Bad is in this movie as a chickenshit cop. Guess he got over that cowardice in order to work for Gustavo Fring. Yeah, great movie all around.

Lightning - And thats how I found out there was no Santa Claus.

Gremlins represents an absolute Christmas classic that shows that Christmas movies dont need to slot into a certain genre yet can still have plenty of heart. This is a really over the top horror comedy with a slightly mean sensibility to it that is loads of fun and has that real tender sentimentality to it also that you want in a holiday movie. Although it is very well directed by Joe Dante, Spielbergs influence is all over this.

Frankly this movie is just incredibly entertaining, possibly the most fun to watch of any on the list. I also do appreciate it that its successfully pitching horror to a younger audience, its not too much but has some pretty good scary sequences like the kitchen scene. It also really gets you on the side of the characters, the leads are so likeable here, and that Santa Claus monologue will long live in my memory. It also does a good job of satirising the consumeristic and neoliberal nature of the 1980s, the social commentary is surprisingly strong here. Unfortunately it also shows its 80s nature in the opening scene which leans very hard on Chinese stereotypes and is probably the biggest flaw of the film.

Of course it would be remiss of me to not mention the Mogwai (and the Gremlins) themselves. The whole film hinges on them and they really work. The designs are great, and the puppets are even better. The transformations look suitably spooky, and I like the way each is subtly characterised through variations in their look. Gizmo of course is one of the most adorable characters ever and you really root for him throughout. Overall, this is a film that is just lovable for almost its entire runtime.

4/5

Bitto - Rating: B-

Really stretching the definition of horror here...but it's fine. This is a great movie. The mogwai are obviously fun to watch, kinda being like evil Muppets once they transformed. Them wrecking havoc in the town could be seen as horrifying, but the characters they're attacking are usually caricatures. The main family are all incredibly likable. We spend the most time with Billy, but I love the dad and the mom. The dad being a goodhearted, but bad inventor and the mom continuing to use the inventions despite clearly not finding them useful is just really fun characterization. The mom gets the best scene when it probably becomes the most like a horror movie when the mogwai just transformed. It's wild seeing how much the tone changes for just those few scenes.

Snake - Just a film with so much boundless creativity and gag-a-minute jokes. Sure none of the Mogwais rules make any god-forsaken sense, but its hard to really care when this much carnage is on the screen at any given minute. I like the lightheartedness of the first-half with lots of small-town humor and family comedy taking center stage, with the horror kicking in slowly and subtly as it goes in, the kitchen massacre being of course the best centerpiece where the film really shifts focus. I mainly just get a kick at how much personality each gremlin is given, the bar scene being a HUGE stand-out for the films brand of visual comedy. It doesnt matter that maybe the film doesnt have that much thematic depth - sometimes horror just needs to be fun and wacky like this!

Karo - A bunch of people who have never seen the trouble with tribbles get a hold of a strange fluffy creature that can reproduce at an astounding rate and they don't find this a cause for concern.

Once the whole town is infested with Furbys, it is unfortunately discovered that giving them a midnight snack turns them into orcs, the whole transformation into which is regarded with a laughable lack of alarm by everyone involved. Giant slimy pupae draped all over the room? No biggie!

It is campy and silly in kind of a good way, though maybe goes a bit overboard in places. Like once they started turning into Minions I kind of checked out of the movie. If you get this ridiculous it makes it hard to regard the gremlins as the fearsome adversaries you are trying to portray them as.

I guess it is decent enough at being what it was trying to be (a kids horror movie), though it will never reach any levels of greatness in either of those genres.

Rockus - Its difficult to look at Gremlins and separate it from my childhood because I grew up seeing this movie repeatedly. Though Joe Dante and crew would really show how self-aware they were with the sequel this first Gremlins is still silly and playful, with almost a cartoon sense of logic run amuck. Both Gremlins movies are such a blast that its a relief that they havent been able to resurrect the brand for a new film yet because I dont think it would work out of its era or with a different director behind the production. Some exceptional creature designs and animatronics help make the movie all the more memorable.

Seginustemple - Although it's trying to make some point about technological excess, it's such an entertaining and silly romp that it hardly needs analysis. The little bastards are delightful. They're just a rowdy dive bar crowd that loves singing along to Snow White, can't hate that. The rocket stairlift prank is beautiful, the way the old lady hits the portrait on the way up so it looks like the subject tilts his head at her is a perfect touch. It's not the only stairlift kill on the list but it's the best one. The backstory the movie gives to Phoebe Cates is crazy - she found her dead dad in the chimney dressed up as Santa and that's how she found out Santa isn't real. It's such a kick in the nuts, I kept thinking they would go one further and have the real Santa show up to defeat the Gremlins at the end.

Plasmabeam - Charming, fun, and solid overall. Does a great job walking the line between creepy and endearing.

Fortybelowsummer - Theres something I have to get off my chest in regard to Gremlins. A lot of the movie focuses on the dad and his shitty inventions. Wouldnt it have been fitting for him to make up for his monumentally poor decision in purchasing Gizmo by inventing something that defeats the gremlins? Turns out the only purpose of the gadgets is comic relief and when all hell breaks loose hes at a convention on Christmas Eve for some reason. At least it makes sense for Gizmo to vanquish Stripe, though, and it gives him a chance to zoom around in a little car. Anyway, now that Ive wasted most of my self-imposed word count on that pointless minutia, Gremlins is mostly fantastic. Any comprehensive list of pop culture things from the 80s is going to include a Gremlin/Mogwai. The little guys are iconic in both forms and its always a great choice to watch during the holidays. I like a good festive, snowy small-town vibe and I like it even more when its being absolutely ravaged by horrible little monsters. I think I might be an outlier in having this one so low, but I just dont hold as much nostalgia for Gremlins as a lot of my 80s/90s peers.

Jcgamer107 - 4/10

Evilordexdeath - I saw this one a few times as a kid. My dad used to fast forward through one particular scene and tell my siblings and I it was too scary - it was actually because one of the characters says that Santa isn't real. My memories of it were so vague that I definitely had to rewatch, but I was really not looking forward to it without particularly knowing why. Maybe it was because it has that "Produced by Steven Spielberg" stink about it. Spielberg is a very skilled director but the types of themes and aesthetics his films are built around seem so saccharine and dull to me that even the movies he directs are misses with me more often than hits. A lot of films produced by him seem to have those same failings but without the technical proficiency. Sure enough I found this pretty damn tedious to watch. Like 60% of this movie is gremlin shenanigans that I found entirely tiresome (except for the mom vs. gremlin kitchen battle scene which was sick.) From the moment the gremlins hatch until like the last 5 minutes is just constant "peril" of dealing with the little bastards for 50 minutes on end with the only break for characterization being that frankly dumb backstory about why the one girl hates Christmas and it got so repetitive and exhausting that I tapped out of the film completely. Also, I'm sorry, but Gizmo just isn't very cute. This kind of 70s-80s American puppetry that you see in E.T. and a lot of the aliens from Star Wars is good for making things that look a little weird or creepy, but not very good for making things that look cute. I guess I admire the bold attempt to use it to make a cute character, but the end result is a freaky, strangely moist little weirdo.

Johnbobb - I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this. It's a horror comedy, I think, only the Gremlins are too goofy to be scary, and they're not particularly funny either. What does that leave me with but a Jim Henson project, but instead of telling jokes, the muppets just screech violently and incoherently for 2 hours. Also, the furry gremlins and creepier than the lizardy ones.

Jesus absolute Christ you guys.

Vis and forty make money and Johnbobb doesn't!

VEGAS ODDSBOARD:
+600 Re-Animator (1985)
+700 Possession (1981)
+850 Videodrome (1983)
+1000 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
+1000 Hellraiser (1987)
+1200 Evil Dead II (1987)
+1200 Beetlejuice (1988)

+200 Any Other Movie (+2000 if guessed correctly)

Current Leaderboard:
1) Bitto $4100 (Poltergeist 2000,Creepshow 650, Tetsuo: The Iron Man 600, Sleepaway Camp 650)
2) Lightning $3300 (Christine 800 The Changeling 200, Creepshow 650, Friday the 13th 500, Sleepaway Camp 650, Basket Case 500)
3) Inviso $3250 (Gremlins 850, Creepshow 650, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600, Sleepaway Camp 650, Basket Case 500)
4) Johnbobb $3150 (The Changeling 2000, Friday the 13th 500, Sleepaway Camp 650)
5) Seginus $2550 (Fright Night 700, Phenomena 1000, An American Werewolf in London 200, Sleepaway Camp 650)
5) Exdeath $2400 (Creepshow 650, Friday the 13th 500, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600, Sleepaway Camp 650)
6) jcgamer $1200 (An American Werewolf in London 200, Tetsuo: The Iron Man 600, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600)
7) fortybelow $1050 (Gremlins 850, Poltergeist 200)
8) Karo $650 (Sleepaway Camp 650)
8) rockus $650 (Creepshow 650)

The House Won On:

• +1000 Pet Sematary (1989)
• +1000 Prince of Darkness (1987)
• +2000 Childs Play (1988)
• +2000 The Lost Boys (1987)
• +1250 The Dead Zone (1983)

O damn surprise great elimination, I think this gives us a small possibility of a top 10 with no bad movies

Gonna guess Re-Animator again

Well, we do hate fun but I'll go with the decidedly un-fun Henry for next.

MOTHER FUCKER

the casino is rigged

Blaziken posted...

Jesus absolute Christ you guys.

gremlins sucks sorry vis

I'll go Re-Animator again I guess

Inviso posted...

Can we PLEASE eliminate more of the shitty art films

No.

Snake5555555555 posted...

13. Gremlins

Again. It's exactly where it belongs I suppose.

Blaziken posted...

Jesus absolute Christ you guys.

I'm a big fan of the movie (though I've only seen it once and don't feel particularly compelled to revisit it) but many of those complaints were levelled at the movie right from the get-go. There's a reason Leonard Maltin had a cameo in the sequel where he read his actual (negative) review of the movie, though it also helped Dante and Maltin were good friends.

Never seen The Dead Zone, might have been better if The Fog was there but I guess didn't want four John Carpenter movies here? I know Christopher Walken is primarily associated with memes but it is primarily serious roles (or at least roles in movies that aren't comedies) that come to mind, e.g. Batman Returns, Pulp Fiction, Catch Me if You Can, heck even Dune Part 2 recently. Then again I wasn't even aware of a lot of these movie guys growing up, e.g. not even having heard of Pulp Fiction until 2013.

Speaking of which, not terribly relevant to this topic, but I do not like Batman Returns (wouldn't say it's a bad movie though) or Walken's character in the movie. Now, it's not because Walken's character is a caricature of Trump - if anything that's the one aspect that does work because it was dead on about the kind of person Trump is (apologies for going political) - but because his character is there just to tie Catwoman and The Penguin together and if anything he's emblematic of the problems I have with the movie. The whole thing just feels too disjointed, like Burton or writer Daniel "Hudson Hawk" Waters just came up with ideas for scenes and they struggled to put them together in a coherent fashion. HOWEVER, it's certainly memorable.

There are no bad art movies left, only great art movies.

Shame about Gremlins but we are getting into the top films now. Im going to guess Re-Animator.

Guessing Henry again I guess. Who fucking cares at this point.

Henry makes top 10 I predict

MAYBE top 5 but the amount you dislike it makes me think not

Im sorry, but Im just fucking MAD at this point. I GET people not liking Gremlins, because everyone has different tastesbut it just feels like casually popular movies are held to SO much higher of a standard by this group of rankers, and it sucks to see movie after movie after movie that was actually FUN to watch get picked off while the more pretentious films on the list get to just step over that EXTREMELY low bar.

Like, as a collective, our group decided Basket Case is the worst movie on this list. Its a movie that is visually grimy and gross, the imagery in it is nauseating and disgusting, the audio is a non-stop assault of horrific noise, and the acting is godawful. Its a movie that rightfully deserves to be panned.

But then, you have Tetsuo. And while it still only placed 23rd, thats a full seven spots higher; and FOUR people ranked it as the seventh best film or better on this. Everything bad about Basket Case is repeated in Tetsuo. Bad visuals, disgusting imagery, painful audio, bad acting, and hell, off-putting rape scenes. Yet there is MASSIVE swings between the two movies (16 placements for Evil, 18 for Rockus, 22 for you, Johnbobb, and a massive 24 for Seginusand to be fair, its weird to see a 16 point swing in the other direction for Bitto). To me, that makes it seem like one movie is a sleazy, low-budget monster/slasher film and is judged accordingly, while the other is a black and white movie with subtitles and metaphors and is given a LOT more leeway in terms of its actual quality. And then I look at whats left and its likemy least favorite movies left feel like theyre being cut a LOT more slack than they deserve.

And on that note, why not? Lets change and predict Re-Animator, because it fits the theme of recent eliminations.

I mean I didnt like Tetsuo and only put it one space above Basket Case, but there is a difference in the level of craft there. And among the general populace and critics Tetsuo is the better regarded film.

When I look at the films remaining, its a good mix. There are going to be plenty of fun films in the top ten. Like three max will be art films, unless we count The Shining which was auteur-led but also very commercial. All are well received, at least as well as movies like Gremlins. Im not really seeing the art film bias and I ranked them across the scale from near the top to near the bottom. Two are in my top ten, one in the middle, two in my bottom ten. Thats the same range as every other film. I mean its not like Gremlins did badly too, 13 is a pretty good ranking on a strong list. I was the second highest ranker of Gremlins!

I also forgot that one of the remaining artsy films hadnt dropped yet - there is one left that I dont think is great but its alright.

Speaking of Tim Burton, I was thinking about what it would be like if Michael Keaton was in a horror movie...then remembered Beetlejuice still hasn't dropped has it? I'm honestly surprised it's so well-liked, but it could be since the first thing that comes to mind about the movie is Siskel & Ebert both panning it. I do genuinely like the movie but mostly on the level of a live-action cartoon than anything. For me it would be like a 7/10 while Poltergeist is an 8/10 and Gremlins is 8-9/10. And maybe I'm thinking of Gremlins positively because Siskel & Ebert both recommended it, but Gremlins and Poltergeist also seem to make best-of lists more often to me.

Also frankly Beetlejuice doesn't belong here. It's at best as much a horror movie as Ghostbusters. Okay, it does follow a lot of horror movie conventions, but they both still operate on the rule of subverting every scare into a farce. An American Werewolf in London is kind of that too but it tries to be scary a lot more than those two.

Ill bet on Possession.

Espeon posted...

Im sorry

Remind me to respond after work because st the very least I can explain my perspective