Lost! Surrounded! Trapped! Off the beaten path! Messing with supernatural forces you can’t comprehend! That’s always a recipe for disaster. With the remake of the cult classic Evil Dead coming out this Friday, similar movies have been on my mind. And considering horror movies for some reason are always better back-to-back, here are some flicks for you to watch before heading to the cinema. In chronological order….
Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Cabin in the Woods literally just came out. You don’t need me to tell you how awesome it is. We here at The House have pretty much taken every opportunity afforded to us to tout how awesome and badass this flick is. The premise seems simple (group of kids go into the woods and bite off more than they can chew), but the kids could only wish it was that simple.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
Who hasn’t run into 2 lovable hillbillies in the woods and mistook them for psychotic redneck killers? C’mon, happens all the time. This particular time it happens to Tucker and Dale, buddies on their way to their “fixer-upper” vacation home. A group of college yuppies, having seen too many movies and afraid of being those dumb kids who get killed in the first reel, do what any self-respecting do-gooder would do: attack first, ask questions later! Karma is the real killer here.
Antichrist (2009)
When it comes to art-house cinema, I still have my training wheels on. This flick was my first foray into the works of Lars von Trier, who has recently made a name for himself Nazi saluting the Cannes film fest. Von Trier might be a nut, but he is a talented nut, one who likes capturing the rawness of human sadness, cruelty, and physical gratuity. In this creepy tale, a psychologist brings his wife to a cabin to work through her emotional problems following the death of their son. Things escalate quickly, and that’s putting it lightly.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
This is my all time favorite werewolf movie. A group of Scottish soldiers go out into the woods with fake guns to run through battle scenarios when they are attacked by werewolves. They make their way to a secluded cottage and hold up for the night with a zoologist who gave them a ride. They aren’t the most ground breaking werewolf effects, but they still look cool. And you get some of the best acting you’d ever expect to get from a B-horror monster movie with Game of Thrones‘ Liam Cunnigham and Rome‘s Kevin McKidd playing key roles.
Pumpkinhead (1988)
You may not know Stan Winston, but you sure as shit know his work. He is the effects guru behind the Terminator, the Predator, the Aliens, and the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. Pumpkinhead marks his directorial debut. Some city kids go out to the country to hang back, get wasted, and get laid, but along the way they accidentally kill a young boy. Now they have to deal with an urban legend about a revenge monster buried in a pumpkin patch. This creature is like a cross between the Alien and the raptors from Jurassic Park. It hunts them down one by one, but the man who summoned him is plague by telepathic visions of Pumpkinhead’s kills.
Prince of Darkness (1987)
I wrote a review for Prince of Darkness back last Halloween along with all of John Carpenter’s work. This is one of my favorite flicks of his. This one doesn’t take place in a cabin or in the woods, but it is still about a group of young people messing with supernatural forces beyond their control. These young people are graduate students from different fields brought together by a priest to study a cylinder of green swirling goo. The goo basically works the same way as the Necronomicon which acts like a hurricane of supernatural force that just keeps making matters worse and worse.
The original Evil Dead (1981)
How could I not include this one? If I ranked them by best possible companion piece this would definitely be number 1. Its what started it all. Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and a couple of their buddies screwing around in the woods just spraying each other with fake blood and viscera. It’s true that it is missing the charm of The Evil Dead II and the humor of Army of Darkness, but it does have a surprising amount of sincerity and that passionate homemade look.
The Sentinel (1977)
This is another one that doesn’t take place in either a cabin or the woods. I first saw a clip from The Sentinel on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Moments (It was #46) and finally saw the whole thing when it was added to Netflix Instant. It’s about an aspiring fashion model who moves into a New York apartment, that happens to be over the gates of hell. It’s kind of campy in an original Evil Dead way, but it is still a lot of fun with some cool mythology. I am always a sucker for a horror movie that takes advantage of Judo-Christian dogma.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
An absolute classic. A must see under any circumstances. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is easily one of the most influential and memorable horror movies to ever be created. It basically combines the stories of real life story of serial killer Ed Gein (also the inspiration for Norman Bates) and mixes it with The Addams Family then throws a van full of road-trippers at them. Be cautious of going off the beaten path. If movies taught me anything, they lead to nothing but crazy hillbilly cannibals.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
This film is even more classic, influential, and memorable than The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Filmmaker George Romero’s “ghouls” (don’t say the zed word) are a little different than Sam Raimi’s “deadites.” The ghouls are shuffling brainless corpses that just happen to walk and chew while the deadites are these grotesque possessed humans that like to manipulate their victim as much as injure/kill them. From the looks of it, this new flick isn’t stopping that tradition. Despite the differences, the influence is clearly there.
