It’s that time of year again, Halloween. More than most other holidays, Halloween is a movie-lover’s dream, or nightmare if you’re Cinematrimony co-host Francesca Scalici. Some of the other FilmNerds decided to bring you some last minute recommendations for your Halloween night movie marathon and while you’ll probably need to beg, borrow and steal to find them at this point, for future viewing purposes we’ve included Netflix links (just click the images). Enjoy!

Classic Horror (pre-1980)

Ben Flanagan’s Pick – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The first time I saw Tobe Hooper’s road movie bloodbath was in the far too intimate confines of the Ferguson Center theater at the University of Alabama. My brother Graham was running the movie series that fall and had dressed the theater lobby up with cobwebs, fake blood and other Halloween decorations, making for a terrific environment for the eager packed house there for a late night screening of the cult classic. Turns out, the intimate setting wasn’t so much as fun as it was horribly upsetting, yet deeply effective for this particular film. Following several of the genre rules it helped write, the film thrusts today’s seasoned viewer into what might seem like cliched moments, but it all feels perfectly new and disturbing, especially the “family dinner,” where I just wanted to leave. By the end, the screaming vixen might have escaped Leatherface’s wrath, but we sure haven”t.

Craig Hamilton’s Pick – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

I grew up on Horror.  So by the time I got to college, I thought nothing could faze me.  Then I caught The Texas Chainsaw Massacre around Halloween of my freshman year at Alabama (2001) at the Ferguson theatre (I could venture a guess at who was running the show at that time) and was completely floored at what I was watching.  The tension building up during the opening minutes that lead up to the inevitable chaos had my heart beating out of my chest.  And, of course, that shockingly brutal and graceless first kill.  It’s perhaps one of the best ever.  I’ll never forget that steel door bursting open and slamming shut following that unforgiving hammer blow to the head and the dragging of the convulsing victim’s body into the hidden labyrinth of that hideous house.  That feeling of horror was back inside me and in full force.  My jaw was on the floor.

Matt Scalici’s Pick – Alien (1979)

I’ve been derided by my fellow nerds for calling this arguably my favorite horror film of all time but I stand by the pick. Firstly, it’s undeniably a monster movie in its most basic form. Our heroes creep around dark hallways trying and failing to avoid being eaten by a terrible beast. Simple enough. But there are deeper things going on here that explore societal horrors, things like corporate greed gone horribly awry, the paranoia created by ever-advancing technology. I believe Alien still holds up today when it comes to terrifying effects, even when you include the shockingly highly-lit birth scene. Not many horror movies can still effectively turn stomaches 30 years later.

Graham Flanagan Pick – Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Polanski’s classic smash-hit about a woman who unwittingly becomes impregnated with the Son of Satan still exists as one of the creepiest, if not scariest, movies ever made. Polanski takes an absurd, almost laughable premise and stages it within a totally realistic environment. This is what makes the film work: the idea that something so frightening could happen in someone’s comfort zone.

 

Contemporary Horror (last five years)

Ben Flanagan’s Pick – Let the Right One In (2008) - Available via Netflix Instant

If you can’t already tell from one of his three stellar trailers for “Tinker Tailor Solider Spy,” few directors have a better grasp on tone than Tomas Alfredson, the Swedish auteur behind this beautifully haunting tale of youngish love and survival from 2008. Alfredson and cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema’s depicts a greater scope than the flat and quiet landscape might typically suggest. Alfredson never shoves any of the violent or scary moments in your face, often hiding them and earning every last second. The wintry, desolate atmosphere creates a thoughtful sense of dread and unpredictability, all rocking at a deliberate and steady pace few contemporary horror films have the discipline to match.

Craig Hamilton’s Pick – The Orphanage (El Orfanato) (2007)

I can appreciate a good scare, but when the film is particularly well made, then that’s quite an achievement.  The Orphanage is a beautifully made Spanish film set in an old orphanage where Laura, a woman who grew up there takes her family back to live.  The film has some extremely creepy scenes, including one great scene involving the Spanish version of Red Light, Green Light.  It’s a scene where you know what is going to happen, but the anticipation is where the fun’s at.

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Matt Scalici’s Pick – Paranormal Activity (2007) - Available via Netflix Instant

It’s been a rough decade for horror but in light of the recent (and hugely successful) release of the third installment in this franchise, I’d like to fully endorse the original film to any of you who haven’t seen it yet. Is it deeply and powerfully disturbing in a way that touches on something important in the human psyche? No. Will it make you curl into a ball of suspense in your chair and then jump and scream even though you knew something was coming? Yes, and really is there any more we should ask of a cheap horror film? This is the perfect Halloween night popcorn movie as are both of its sequels.

Graham Flanagan’s Pick – Catfish (2010)

Last year’s underrated indie “thriller” delivered some of the most brilliant movie marketing we’ve seen in years. Its ambiguous trailers portrayed the film as a Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity-esque ‘found-footage’ horror film. Those brave enough to see Catfish found out that the directors had indeed made a horror film: the first one about Facebook, that is.

 

Most Disgusting

Ben Flanagan’s Pick – The Fly (1986) – Available via Netflix Instant

David Cronenberg’s twisted sci-fi/horror black comedy mixes some Frankenstein with Dr. Jekyll while throwing in some seriously silly gore that still kinda grosses me out. If you’re a fan of bones not snapping on screen, you might avoid it. I remember many years ago when I saw “The Fly” on TV at about 6-years-old and nearly throwing up in my mouth during the climactic showdown between Geena Davis’ editor and Brundlefly, who pukes up this disgusting acid stuff that melts flesh and bone. Ick. For Cronenberg and gore purists, it’s a must, but for your average film fan, it’s a doozy. Jeff Goldblum’s delightfully wiry performance should win most people over.

Craig Hamilton’s Pick – The Last House on the Left (1972) – Available via Netflix Instant

Thanks to Joe Bob Briggs and his recommendations made on the weekly TNT variety show, MonsterVision, my little sister and I decided to rent the film when we were younger and it didn’t take long before we were scarred for life.  It’s not really a horror film.  It’s an exploitative and unnecessarily violent film; one made with hardly a budget and those are the scariest kind.  A girl is kidnapped, raped and murdered by a gang of convicts who end up staying at the house of the parents of the very girl they had just killed.  The Last House on the Left crescendos into a spraying of vengeful and horrific acts of violence by the victim’s parents once they realize who their visitors are.  This being a recommends piece, I suppose that I’m technically recommending it, but it’s not for everyone.  In fact, it’s hardly for anyone.

Matt Scalici’s Pick – Day of the Dead (1985)

As a whole, this movie is pretty talky and philosophical but I wanted to mention it here because it has perhaps the most disgusting and well-executed practical effects I’ve ever seen in a horror film. Late in the film, one of the key characters, who frankly has had it coming, gets rather horrifically drawn and quartered by a group of hungry zombies. We watch as his guts and appendages are torn off as he screams (simple enough, right?) but what’s truly shocking is when we see his still-screaming head ripped from the body. It’s a combination of great sound effects mixed with truly remarkable prosthetics and puppetry but while you’re watching it, all you can think is “they just ripped that dude’s head off!”

Graham Flanagan’s Pick – Evil Dead 2 (1987)

As if this film’s praises haven’t been sung enough since its cult-fueled video renaissance, I feel like I have something somewhat unique to add. I fear this movie’s title and its cover art might dissuade certain audiences (namely women) from giving it a fair chance, which would be a serious shame, since – despite numerous instances of absolutely revolting blood and guts – Sam Raimi’s low-budget masterpiece serves as one of the funniest (with emphasis on the word ‘fun’) entries in the history of the horror genre.

 

Worth Another Look

Ben Flanagan’s Pick – The Prestige (2006)

You might not find Christopher Nolan’s dueling magician opus in the horror section of Netflix, but fewer films in recent memory give me the creeps than when Andy Serkis shows Hugh Jackman where Tesla gets his power in an infinite field of giant light bulbs. Honestly, whenever Borden (Christian Bale) or Angiers (Jackman) reads the other’s journal, and the narration begins to address the reader, I catch myself looking over MY own shoulder. Nolan toys with an audience as well as anyone working today, perhaps no better than in “The Prestige,” a sophisticated sleight-of-hand that has you guessing at the onset when the opening shot fades in and Bale asks, “Are you watching closely?” The disjointed timeline, off-kilter handheld camerawork and eerie soundtrack make for as pleasant an unsettling feeling as you could possibly imagine.

Craig Hamilton’s Pick – The Shining (1980)

Having just finished the book I think it’s appropriate to recommend the film for another look.  Aside from the fact that it’s Kubrick and Nicholson, you should watch it because it has some of the most frightening images and scary scenes ever made.  The Shining is just a brilliant work of horror from a director who specialized in making unforgettable images.  A family occupies a closed down hotel during the winter season and the snow completely cuts them off from anyone for the entire winter.  With Kubrick, you get minimalism and it’s apparent in The Shining.  Not only the images, but the story too is minimal.  Nearly every shot is creepy and nearly every shot is slow.  It creeps along at a stalking pace, but the speed and tension both pick up to an incredible ending.

Matt Scalici’s Pick – Scream (1996) – Available via Netflix Instant

I admit I’m a little behind the curve when it comes to this franchise, which recently released a fourth installment earlier this year. I didn’t watch the Scream films growing up, as I had parents that cared for my mental well-being and kept me away from slasher films at a young age, except of course when they came on USA Network in a heavily-edited format. I marathoner the Scream movies recently with some friends and while I certainly think it must have had a stronger impact in 1996, when being “meta” was still a fresh idea, I still think the original holds up really well today. The plot is so aware of the audience watching and assumes they are as smart as the filmmakers when it comes to familiarity with conventions of the horror genre. That assumption gives even us jaded film nerds a chance to experience something that horror films rarely give us: genuinely surprising and clever plot twists.

Graham Flanagan’s Pick – Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

One of the most underrated movies of the 90s (and perhaps the most underrated movie in Francis Ford Coppola’s vast filmography) Bram Stoker’s Dracula definitely deserves another look… both for its amazing technical merits and its all-star cast, led by… Keanu Reeves!

Happy Halloween, FilmNerds! Today we begin a new (hopefully) monthly feature called FilmNerds Recommends in which the FilmNerds contributors give you our recommendations for the perfect DVD rental for your special occasion. Obviously, this month we’re getting you geared up for Halloween with our recommendations for the perfect Halloween Night horror marathon. But we know not everyone has the same taste when it comes to horror films, so we’ve separated out our picks according to the speed of scary movies you like best. Best of all, every FilmNerds recommendation is currently available on Netflix so if you see a pick you like, simply click on the DVD cover art to link straight to the movie’s page on Netflix.

Gory Fun

Matt Scalici’s Pick – Day of the Dead (1985)

George Romero’s third film in his original zombie apocalypse trilogy takes the gore levels to staggering and impressive new heights while also including some compelling philosophical debate. There’s a shot of a man’s head being ripped off his body while the head continues screaming (I’m still not sure how they did it).

Ben Stark’s Pick – Sleepy Hollow (1999)

A tame pick, definitely, but I find Tim Burton and Andrew Kevin Walker’s take on the legend of Ichabod Crane to be essential October viewing. It’s got a few fun gory moments and creative beheadings, but the real treat here is the film’s atmosphere.

Corey Craft’s Pick – Dead Alive (1992)

Early-era Peter Jackson zombie movie that features gallons upon gallons of fake blood, zombie horror, and gross-out humor galore. Not for the faint-hearted, but also hilarious, in a way.

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Ben Flanagan’s Pick – The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg’s black comedy will certainly gross you out if you’re not a fan of bones snapping on screen or acid-snot melting through flesh. Plus, Jeff Goldblum’s Brundlefly makeup will either haunt your sleep or make you cackle. A milestone for Goldblum!

Graham Flanagan’s Pick – Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Sam Raimi returned triumphantly to the genre that garnered him international acclaim (see the EVIL DEAD movies) with this excellent box office-underachiever. Where to begin? A mouth full of embalming fluid… a staple in the head… yeah I’ll stop there.

Classic Horror (pre-1980)

Matt Scalici’s Pick – Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The first time you see Roman Polanski’s classic tale of demons and paranoia, you won’t believe it was made in the ’60s. Terrific performances and way ahead of its time in style and tone and feels every bit like a modern psychological horror film.

Ben Stark’s Pick – Frankenstein (1931)

James Whale’s original adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel is still the king of biological horror films, perfectly boiling down the shocking idea of creating life out of dead tissue. Add to that the film’s iconic moments and the great Karloff performance, and you’ve got – in my opinion – the most resilient classic Universal horror movie.

Corey Craft’s Pick – Suspiria (1977)

Dario Argento’s horror classic set inside a dance studio run by – well, by something evil, to not spoil it – is a feverish nightmare of a horror picture, anchored by an appropriately terrified performance by Jessica Harper, some of the most demented murders depicted in film, and an awesome score by Italian rock band Goblin.

Ben Flanagan’s Pick – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Some of the scariest images, sounds and situations I’ve ever seen. End-all-be-all example of evil artificial intelligence via HAL 9000, who compromises his crew’s mission, putting his astronaut colleagues in the worst danger imaginable. The lip-reading sequence freaks me out, man.

Monster Movie

Matt Scalici’s Pick – Alien (1979)

Sci-fi horror at its finest, though it’s 10% sci-fi and 90% horror. This series may have descended into schlocky wackiness but in Ridley Scott’s original film, it’s a simple formula: woman trapped in dark cave with gooey, toothy monster. The alien’s “birth” scene is still among the best jaw-dropping horror scenes ever made.

Ben Stark’s Pick – Jurassic Park (1993)

When thinking of scenes in which humans are attacked by unreasoning non-humans, I don’t think there’s a more effective and masterful scene than the Tyrannosaurus attack in Spielberg’s dinosaur adventure. One of the film’s many merits is its ability to see its monsters as both miracles of life and dangerous antagonists.

Corey Craft’s Pick – Jaws (1975)

Jaws counts here, right? It’s a freakishly big shark in a place where it shouldn’t be — and unquestionably a horror classic, even if near the end it turns into more of an adventure film. Anyway, Jaws is great, but that’s self-evident by now.

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Ben Flanagan’s Pick – The Thing (1982)

If David Mamet wrote a horror movie…Director John Carpenter really cemented himself as a horror pioneer in the early 80s with this one only to fizzle out with questionable projects and inconsistency. Carpenter scores here with good gore, legitimate suspense and grade-A performances from all of its cast members, especially the mega-bearded Kurt Russell (and a rare Wilford Brimley with no mustache!).

Modern Classic (last 10 years)

Matt Scalici’s Pick – [REC] (2007)

American’s may know its sub-par studio remake Quaratine but rest assured, this Spanish found-footage thriller is among the most original, taut and gripping film experiences I’ve ever seen. If you want a good adrenaline rush, wait for the final 15 minutes.

Ben Stark’s Pick – Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Wright’s hilarious ode to classic zombie movies is sure to stand the test of time. Here you have great character arcs and heart combined with true scares and legitimate tension.

Corey Craft’s Pick- Session 9 (2001)

Brad Anderson’s low-budget horror film set in the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital, one of the scariest places in America, amps up the tension and the chills until one gut-punch of an ending. This movie is scary as hell.

Ben Flanagan’s Pick – Mulholland Drive (2001)

The always creepy David Lynch served up his best and creepiest movie in this California psycho-mystery where a chipper actress (Naomi Watts) arrives in Hollywood where she soon finds herself entangled in murder, intrigue, nightmares and confusion. I’m 25-years-old, and I still cover my eyes when they approach the dumpster behind the fast food place.

Graham Flanagan’s Pick – The Others (2001)

One of the most underrated thrillers of the 2000s,  Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar created the best Haunted House picture of the modern era. The mere thought of Nicole Kidman approaching what appears to be a decrepit old woman wearing her daughter’s clothes still gives me chills.

Note: Back to the Movies is a special feature on the FilmNerds blog in which Matt Scalici will be watching the Top 50 highest-grossing movies of 1983 in order from 50 to 1.

We arrive at the final and probably best-known Stephen King adaptation on our countdown, Cujo. While Cujo was only slightly more successful financially than The Dead Zone and Christine, I think it’s fair to say that it’s the most recognizable title of the three amongst the general population in 2010. It’s almost become a ubiquitous reference point in American popular culture. Mention Cujo and everyone, whether they’ve seen the film or not, knows that you’re talking about an evil dog.

Cujo did for dogs what Jaws did for sharks. It put an image in the minds of moviegoers that stuck with them, an idea which probably wouldn’t have been there otherwise. I confess that after watching Cujo, my next encounter with my uncle’s usually lovable golden retriever was just a tiny bit more nerve-racking than usual.

Having a lasting effect on the popular culture in a way that almost influences our basic fear responses over 25 years later has to be a sign of a successful horror film. But Cujo certainly wasn’t viewed that way at the time of its release. Roger Ebert was mercilessly critical of the film (he even mentions it derogatorily in his reviews for the other two 1983 King adaptations) and even the kindest major critics of the time called it mediocre and bland. Why then does the film hold such a strong place in the memories of viewers today and stand as an almost universally recognized horror classic?

I think the discrepancy comes from the film’s very unconventional approach to the horror genre. Like a conventional horror film of its time, say a typical slasher film like Halloween, the first half of the film is spent meticulously setting up the perfect scenario, leaving no holes that could distract the audience from simply experiencing the terrifying situation. King, who was perhaps more involved in this film’s production than any other adaptation of his work to date at the time, knew that in order for the audience to remain focused on what was happening later in the film, he would have to anticipate all the proposed solutions the audience would have to the heroine’s problem. Every possibility for salvation, right down to the mail man, is accounted for and neatly (though not unreasonably) taken care of.

But King’s hour-long setup does more than just tie up potential loose ends. It also creates a carefully crafted emotional subplot that gives our heroine’s plight later in the film an additional level of tension.

I won’t re-create the entire setup for you here but here’s a quick summary: Our main character is Donna, a suburban housewife who has revealed to her loving and devoted husband that she has been cheating on him with a local scumbag. The husband, despite his overwhelming love for their son, has decided that he needs a few days to work things out and heads out of town for an indefinite vacation.

Unfortunately for Donna, her car needs fixing so she decides to take it up to a local handyman just outside of town to see if he can fix it. The handyman and his family are unfortunately out of town and Donna’s car won’t start back up once she realizes this.

Now comes the film’s namesake: Cujo, the dog belonging to the handyman, has been bitten by a bat and has been infected with rabies. Cujo is a Saint Bernard, a formidable and intimidating dog, and is already covered in slime and blood from the first person who realized (too late) that he was rabid by the time Donna sees him.

I won’t reveals what happens beyond that but as you can see, our scenario finds Donna trapped in her broken down car with her small child with no hope of anyone turning up to help her for the next several days. Dee Wallace (The Howling, E.T.) is phenomenal as Donna, a fact that even the film’s harshest critics in 1983 were able to admit. The shift in her attitude as time goes by in the car is captivating to watch. We see everything in her face and reactions, from the sheer visceral terror she feels for her life and the life of her child to the guilt she feels about how her actions have in part created the situation she’s in.

Almost equally impressive is the heartbreaking performance by Danny Pintauro as Tad, Donna’s young son. Pintauro, who would later star in the long-running sitcom “Who’s The Boss?”, made his screen debut in Cujo and gives what is in my opinion one of the best performances ever by a child in a horror film. The film establishes early on that Tad has a fear of monsters in his closet that can only be soothed by the voice of his father saying one of those special little routine poems that all parents make up for their children. Donna, of course, doesn’t know the poem and is unable to soothe Tad’s terror when they are beset by what Tad believes to be a real monster. Pintauro’s screams and cries seem truly genuine and however director Lewis Teague was able to coax this out of him, it was incredibly effective. As a parent, watching a terrified child scream and not knowing how to calm him down has to be one of the most harrowing situations I can think of.

(SPOILER ALERT) According to a number of interviews and stories about the making of Cujo, King’s close involvement with the film stems in part from a desire to correct some mistakes he felt he made when writing the novel. King wrote Cujo at the peak of his alcoholism and while the plot and characters are among the most honest and believable of his career, the plot (particularly the ending) plays out in a way that is perhaps a bit too brutal for movie audiences. King has said that he regrets ending the novel the way he did and wanted to correct that error when writing the screenplay for Cujo. (END SPOILER)

Regardless of the film’s resolution, it’s the setup that makes Cujo effective and thus memorable as a horror film and to me this marks some of the best true horror writing of King’s career. Add to that an excellent pair of performances and some stunning (if occasionally overwrought) cinematography by Jan de Bont (who would eventually earn a reputation as one of the best action cinematographers of the 1980s) and you’ve got a horror film that holds up very well to scrutiny over a quarter of a century later.

Next Up: The quintessential space race classic The Right Stuff starring Ed Harris.

Note: Back to the Movies is a special feature on the FilmNerds blog in which Matt Scalici will be watching the Top 50 highest-grossing movies of 1983 in order from 50 to 1.

After a brief interlude by some lovely cartoon mice, we’re back to our three-film mini marathon of Stephen King films here on the Back to the Movies 1983 countdown. The second-most commercially successful King adaptation of the year turns out to be probably the least well-known of the three in 2010. There are a few reasons that could account for this but my guess is that unlike The Dead Zone and Cujo (which we’ll get to next week), Christine doesn’t really take itself that seriously. When it comes to horror film, though there are a lot of filmnerds out there that disagree, it’s absolutely essential that the audience takes the threat of real danger seriously. If they don’t, you don’t have a successful horror film by definition.

While Christine has a couple of good scary moments, it’s certainly not a film that keeps you in a sustained grip of terror in the way that many of King’s other stories manage to. Christine is much more of a slow burn, a decent into madness. The problem is that in the film version, we don’t know what that madness is coming from and what its exact nature is. That confusion impairs the horror.

I’ve said many times before that slavish adherence to the source material is neither a vice nor a virtue when it comes to film. A film should do what works best on film and not make decisions based on some kind of sense of “loyalty” to the source material upon which it’s based. Stephen King and his fans ran into this issue with Stanley Kubrick’s masterful adaptation of The Shining, which made significant departures from King’s book but nonetheless stands as one of the greatest horror films ever made. When it comes to the changes that director John Carpenter made to the original story, however, I think it may have been worth sticking a little bit closer to King’s writing.

Christine focuses on a classic car (the title character) that seems to have a strange effect on its new owner, a lowly high school nerd named Arnie (played by Keith Gordon). After purchasing the beaten up old clunker from a creepy old man, Arnie mysteriously begins to become cool and confident, dressing like the Fonz (even though the movie is set in 1978) and landing a date with the hottest girl in school (Alexandra Paul). He also manages to restore the car to looking brand new despite having almost no auto repair skills and no money.

It doesn’t take long for Arnie’s girlfriend and best friend Dennis (John Stockwell) to figure out what’s going on, and it takes us even less time since rather than giving us a clever mystery to be revealed later, Carpenter lets us see very early in the film what King only hints at for most of the book: Christine appears to be alive and can magically repair herself. Not only that but she’s also apparently quite jealous and vengeful and finds ways to kill those who hurt her (the bullies) or try to get between her and her owner (girlfriends, wives, etc.).

It’s a silly premise and Carpenter’s treatment of the story somewhat plays into that. The problem is that there’s not really anything particularly scary about a classic car, even when it’s running over people. It has no personality or expressiveness because it’s a big hunk of painted metal. It’s an idea that probably works a lot better on paper than it does on the screen, although the movie does do several things very well.

While the storyline of what the car is up to in 1978 may not be all that interesting, the backstory of the car is pretty intriguing. Upon first finding the car, Arnie talks to the owner, a grungy and strange-looking man named George LeBay played to creepy perfection by character actor Roberts Blossom (see the clip below). All the details about the old man and his story, the corset-like back brace, the murderous history of the car, all come from the book but are somewhat gutted in the film since we’re told that unlike in the novel, the previous owner was simply another victim of this inexplicably evil car. King’s story made the original owner the cause for the car’s evil, an obsessed ghost who was haunting or even possessing the car and making it do all the horrible things it’s doing in 1978.

Keith Gordon does an OK job in nerd mode but he’s never really able to convince us that Arnie could truly make a sudden transition to being the coolest guy in school. He’s much more effective in scenes like the early bully confrontation with Buddy Repperton played by William Ostrander, who despite being 24 when he made the film looks like he’s about 55. Arnie’s pathetic attempt to stand up to Buddy and his subsequent rescue by best friend Dennis make us really feel for the guy, though those sympathies go right out the window as the movie progresses.

As I mentioned before, it’s pretty difficult to work up legitimate terror when you’re watching someone get hit by a car. It’s just not as terrifying as watching someone be murdered in a more intimate way like with a knife (which you’d think Carpenter would understand having already made Halloween). But there is one legitimately cool piece of imagery that comes out of the car’s murderous night of revenge. In the midst of chasing Buddy, the ringleader of the bullies, Christine destroys a gas station which explodes in a ball of flame that must have accounted for half the film’s budget. As Buddy runs away down the highway, Christine rolls after him engulfed in flames. The sight of a flaming, murderous demonic car is a pretty cool image and probably the one enduring thing that really sticks with me after the film.

I have a few other minor beefs with the film but nothing that couldn’t have been overcome with a stronger premise or a tighter, more cohesive screenplay. One of my pet peeves with the film is the excessive swearing. I’m all for a good creative swear-off, I’m not offended by it. But when it’s used willy nilly without any obvious purpose, it comes off as ridiculous and really hurts my ability to connect with the characters. According to IMDB, the producers were afraid that because of the lack of gory violence in the film they would end up with a PG rating (since there was no PG-13 in 1983), a death sentence for a horror film. In order to land that much-needed R, the producers decided to insert as much swearing as possible into the film, even giving Arnie an oft-repeated nickname that involves the c-word. It’s a bush league move by the filmmakers and it certainly doesn’t do anything to help us buy the already ludicrous premise.

I wanted to point out one more detail that didn’t so much bother as amuse me. The film opens and closes with George Thorogood’s now-clichéd hit “Bad to the Bone”, a song that has become one of the most overused tropes of cinema over the past 25 years or so. Watching the film, the musical struck me as very odd, since the song has an almost comical connotation now when it’s used in movies and TV shows to signify something being unexpectedly bad-ass. But as the clever folks at The Onion AV Club point out, this is the first known instance of the song ever being used in a film, meaning the connotation I place on it as a viewer in 2010 is probably completely different from the effect the song had on viewers in 1983, when it was likely the first time they had ever heard the song, at least in the context of a film.

Maybe there are a number of elements in this film, like the use of “Bad to the Bone”, that made a much greater impact on audiences in ’83 than they do on me today. It would certainly explain why this film received so much critical praise in its time while the next film on our list, a film I much prefer to Christine, was almost universally panned and disliked.

Next Up: The final Stephen King adaptation on our countdown, Cujo.

Note: Back to the Movies is a special feature on the FilmNerds blog in which Matt Scalici will be watching the Top 50 highest-grossing movies of 1983 in order from 50 to 1.

We now reach our first film of the countdown to gross over $20 million at the box office and it also happens to be the first of three films released in 1983 based on the works of author Stephen King. All three films performed almost identically at the box office so you’ll be seeing them in fairly rapid succession here on the blog over the next few weeks.

Heading into 1983, King had already had two successful films made out of his novels in 1976′s Carrie and Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece The Shining (a film adaptation which King vehemently disapproved of) and was also becoming a reliable hit-maker in the print world as well. But 1983 marks a new point in King’s career, a year in which he went from being a well-known novelist whose work lent itself to the screen to being a major entertainment franchise. According to Box Office Mojo, King has been the creative inspiration for 38 theatrically released films, making him possibly the most oft-adapted American writer of all time. Not every film made from King’s work has been of equal quality (as we’ll see in the next few installments of Back to the Movies) but it’s clear that as a writer one of King’s greatest strengths is coming up with a premise that everyone, including movie producers, finds intriguing and fraught with possibilities.

The premise of The Dead Zone, directed by a young David Cronenberg, is fairly simple and not all that unfamiliar sounding to fans of science fiction and horror. A man with the bizarrely boring name of Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) gets into an auto accident and awakens from a coma five years later to find that he has psychic abilities. As a premise, it could go either way: in the hands of a mediocre writer it could turn into a series of small episodes where Johnny uses his abilities to solve minor problems for people like some sort of superhero (in fact, that’s exactly what happened with the television adaptation of this story made for USA Network a few years ago). In the hands of a more twisted mind, it becomes a fascinating vehicle to explore what a true curse such a gift would become were an average person to find themselves in possession of it.

After his initial discovery of his gift helps to save the life of a young child, Johnny suddenly finds himself becoming a local media sensation, viewed as a fascinating freak show to some and a delusional wacko to others. Johnny does what he can to stay out of the limelight but when a desperate sheriff (played by the awesome Tom Skerritt) comes to him for help in an unsolved serial murder case, Johnny feels that lending his talents to the case is the right thing to do.

How that situation resolves itself I will leave unspoiled as it serves as a sort of climax unto itself, a standalone episode within the film that works as a fascinating example of where Johnny’s story could go if using his gift weren’t slowly destroying him both mentally and emotionally.

The second half of the movie almost serves as an entirely separate story, with Johnny trying to start his life over in a place where no one knows about his abilities. There’s also another advantage of moving away from his hometown for Johnny in that it allows him to put his former fiance Sarah (Brooke Adams), who ended up getting married and having a baby while he was in a coma, out of his mind once and for all. Or so he thinks…

What makes the second half of the movie really interesting, in addition to Walken’s superb acting throughout, is the appearance of Martin Sheen as the maniacal rising star politician Greg Stillson. As a huge fan of Sheen’s great work on “The West Wing” as a beneficent, principled president I got a real kick out of seeing him play the complete opposite, a dirty politician who has used pessimism and anger to facilitate his rise to power. Sheen’s performance, like his character’s storyline, just skirts the edge of being overblown and ludicrous but somehow manages to stay believable, thanks not only to great acting and directing but also to King’s attention to detail in his story. King manages to drop breadcrumbs all along the way in the story that all begin to pay off in the film’s final act.

Minor spoiler alert for this paragraph and the video below: A great example of this film’s ability to actually pull off a scene that could be disastrously outrageous comes when Johnny shakes hands with Stillson and has a vision of the future that essentially determines Johnny’s motivation for the rest of the film. In this vision, we see Stillson as the President of the United States in a room at what is presumably Camp David. He pressures a general into putting his hand onto a briefcase-sized hand scanner before inputting a sequence of numbers. Stillson then walks out of the room to face a group of advisors to whom he makes a chilling proclamation.

(End Spoiler)

It’s a scene that I’m convinced shouldn’t work and wouldn’t work if had a different writer, a different director or a different actor involved. But as with a lot of things in this movie, the combination of King, Cronenberg and the superb actors involved make potentially ridiculous scenes into believable and chilling ones (Roger Ebert pointed out in his review that the fact that they are believable is exactly what makes them so chilling).

According to most of the reviews of the day, The Dead Zone is far and away the best of the three Stephen King movies released in 1983 (almost every review nearly spits when referring to Cujo, released two months earlier). It’s a tough call, but I’d say for me The Dead Zone is perhaps my favorite of the 14 films I’ve seen for this project thus far. If nothing else, it has led me to strongly consider picking up King’s original novel, a major achievement considering I’m not much of a reader. The Dead Zone certainly isn’t the scariest King-based film ever made but it is one of the most interesting, character-centric films I’ve seen based on his work.

Next Up: The re-release of the 1977 Disney animated classic The Rescuers.