Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

The 1968 classic and original, Night of the Living Dead, written and directed by George A. Romero, has been one of the main reasons we have so many amazing movies, comics and television shows which revolve around the use of zombie's. This is the father of all zombie films (White Zombie being the Grandfather of the genre of course) and has not only helped spawn a countless amount of media, but also a gained a series in itself by generating five distinct sequels.

Starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Bill Cardille and Kyra Schon.

This film follows the story of five strangers who are seemingly stuck in a farm house relying on each other in order to survive the night after they hear reports that the dead has begun to rise.

One of the most well known horror films out there thanks to it's effects in pop culture as well as it's numerous amounts of remakes, night of the living dead is on the top of most horror fans what to watch list and can be thanked for helping create great properties such as Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead.

The black and white can take away from the film for somebody raised with computer graphics enhancing everything they watch but it's one of the most important films out there and should be viewed by every horror fan at least once in their lifetime.

For a movie made in the late 60's the gore was unbelievable, and really a statement to show the effect of what was happening to these survivors.

Another piece of the film that I always loved was the news reports the survivors watch on the television. It was something that was able to add that extra vibe to the viewing and really helped suck my into the film.

Although the ending threw me for a loop the first time I had watched it, I was still able to understand and appreciate the film as a whole and for that I give this classic a 10 out of 10. This is not only because of how great it is, but for what it has helped bring to future writers and film makers.

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Pontypool (2008)

An odd plague starts taking over the small Ontario town of Pontypool where Grant Mazzy, a radio show host, is on lock down in the local station.

As he is reporting the odd behavior of the towns folk on his morning show, he learns that he may be the root cause of it all and must make a choice.

Does he keep quiet and save those who are yet to be affected or does he relay the necessary info over the air waves and risk infecting the entire population.

Directed by Bruce McDonald, written by Tony Burgess, starring Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly and Hrant Alianak.

Pontypool was based from a book  titled "Pontypool changes everything" which is the second book in a trilogy written by Canadian author Tony Burgess.

I heard nothing but great things not only in regards to the book, but the film adaptation as well. It took me a while to get around to it but I finally picked myself up a copy. And my only regret is not having done so sooner.

I highly enjoyed this movie to the fullest extent possible due to its originality, the concept behind it, the fact that it's taking place in the same province I reside in and it's ability to make me use my imagination in the fullest extent possible.

They use a series of descriptions to inform you as to what is happening with the citizens of Pontypool and how their behaviors and reactions are impacting the city as opposed to having a full out gore-filled movie. With the exception of one visual scene and the remainder being sound, there are basically no special effects being used through the film.

With that being said and I have to stop talking about this one in order not to kill the surprise of it all for anybody and just go out and give it a 9 out of 10.

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Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007)

Rob Zombie's Halloween is the story of a young boy named Michael Myers (not to be confused with the guy from the Austin Powers movies) growing up in a broken home. He is constantly abused by kids at school, his sister and his step father.

When he is finally pushed over the edge, Michael decides to take matters into his own hand and eliminate each and everyone of his problems by course of murder.

After a small killing spree takes place, Michael is placed in a psych ward until his inevitable escape.

Written and directed by Rob Zombie. Starring Malcom McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor-Compton and Tyler Mane as Michael Myers.

This movie came in midway through the "let's remake every movie ever" phase that all the large scale studios were involved with. Basically, if the original made them a decent amount of money or had a fair sized fan base, then it would be considered for a reboot and Halloween was no exception.

I was not looking forward to this one once I heard about it as I am a fan of the John Carpenter original. But my distaste for remakes wouldn't stop this one from getting made, so why even bother complaining about the inevitable.

But hell, was I ever wrong!

Rob Zombie is a pure genius, he not only made this remake work, he made is better than the original.
While sticking to the original film, Zombie reworked the story and gave Michael a strong background which gave the audience a sense of pity for Michael when he was being bullied as a child. That pity translated over to cheering for him when he was taking out some of his victims.

Clearly, I love this movie, there is no other way of putting it. The story was awesome, the casting for most of the roles were spot on (especially for the Sheriff and Loomis) and the kills were perfectly done.

Not really much else I can say about this without sounding like a huge ass kiss, so I will leave it at that and give this movie an 8 out of 10. It was amazing, not perfect but I can watch this one over and over again anytime.

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Hocus Pocus (1993)

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Hocus Pocus? Isn't that a Disney movie? What kind of horror fan are you?

Well first off, it was my wife's pick. And second off, go to hell! This movie's awesome and it's about witches on Halloween, so it's still counts in my books.

Starting off with three witches living in Salem who have kidnapped a little girl in order to use her soul to make themselves younger. The young girl's brother tries to save her, but ultimately, is caught and transformed into a black cat who can never die.

The townsfolk go on a rampage and take the witches into custody and prepare them to be hung.
But right before they could be hung, the witches placed a curse, stating that if a person who is a virgin, lights a black candle left behind in their home on Halloween night, they would come back.

Three hundred years later, guess what happens?

The witches have been brought back to life and in order to make it past sunrise, they must sacrifice a child once again.    

Made in 1993. Twenty years ago and the special effects still look amazing for it's time. A lot of the scenes with the cat talking still looked amazing and almost believable.

The biggest thing I love about this one is that it's a huge childhood memory of mine. The witch using the vacuum to fly instead of a broom, the witches singing "I put a spell on you" to put a spell on the crowd at the costume party. A zombie named Billy who is hilarious once he gets hold of a knife to cut open his sown mouth to call the lead witch a "wench" among other colorful (but non-offensive to children) words and sentences.

I have to give this movie an 8. Just a big pile of childhood memories and the special effects, again, look fantastic. It's a great story, and one that I will have my son watch when he is old enough to appreciate it.

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