I was christened into the horror genre when I saw The Evil Dead at midnight 3+ years ago. Something clicked within my mind in the comfy couch of that little independent cinema. My aversion to blood and loud scares morphed into an attraction to the thrill and humor for the horrifically absurd and the comically gory. And so I began a steady march to watch more horror.
I saw films like Carpenter's The Thing and Videodrome at the Boston Science Fiction Marathon and my seedling began to draw nourishment from such genius. Then in our senior year, my high school friends and I watched the Romero trilogy. Suddenly the entire world of societal commentary became apparent. The greatest horror had messages directly related to society.
Freshman year of college, a class named "Zombies and the Apocalypse in American Pop Culture" appeared in the course catalog and I . Looking specifically at zombie cinema, the class focused on historical and societal messages in horror. Since this class, I've been watching horror with sparing regularity.
With such academic foundation, I now challenge myself to complete my foundation in horror literacy. This project commits me to watch 51 horror films that will elevate me from amateur to aficionado. Here is the list
(strike through denotes already watched) :
The Exorcist
Rosemary's Baby
Friday the 13th (original)
Carrie
Martin
The Crazies 1973
When a Stranger Calls
Angel Heart
Jaws
The Haunting (original)
Poltergeist
Repulsion
Frailty
Eyes without a Face
The Legend of Hell House
The Grudge
Saw
Cure
[REC]
Black House
Blood Beach
Dead and Buried
Dead of Night
Deathdream
Deranged
Dog Soldier
Dracula's Daughter
Grotesque
Kiss the Vampire
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Martyrs
Mordum
Slither
The Grapes of Death
The Midnight Meat Train
The Mist
The Unknown
I hope to finish by the end of January. Short critiques and interpretations of each film will follow.
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