Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
One of the genres I’m most attuned to are horror films, thus it’s one of the genres I’ve most tackled in these 5 favorites articles. Rather than hit many of the same titles over again, this week, in honor of the release of Halloween Ends, I’m going to list five favorite horror films that I haven’t mentioned before. While going through my (long) list of seen films, I managed to come up with a theme for another list, but I’ll save that for closer to Halloween since this list is more in line with Halloween Ends as the inspiration. The most interesting thing about this list is that they each fell into one of two categories: anthology horror films or horror comedies. So, here’s my next 5 favorites.
Creepshow (1982)
The first of the two anthology films on this list happens to be one of the best such efforts. Creepshow is written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero, so horror is in its blood and although the five vignettes vary in quality, the whole is something quite engaging. The framing device here is about a young boy whose father opposes the content of the in-film horror comic Creepshow. Those pages come to life as the quintet of stories on screen. There are some incredible actors involved including Ed Harris, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, and E.G. Marshall among the credited folks.
The first two stories are the weakest, but the last three are terrific. “Father’s Day” is a simple story about the late patriarch of a wealthy family seeking revenge against his bitter daughter and his other descendants. “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” stars King himself as a backwoods yokel who begins to grow grass all over his body after coming into contact with a meteorite. “Something to Tide You Over” is about a ruthless billionaire who seeks revenge against the executive who’s having an affair with his wife. “The Crate” is about a janitor who discovers a mysterious crate hidden beneath the stairs dating back to 1834 and the vicious creature the hides inside of it. And “They’re Creeping Up on You!” is about a man obsessed with his hermetically sealed apartment and the roaches that find their way inside of it. The stories are well constructed and fit together surprisingly well given their differences.
No original review available.
Trick ‘r Treat (2008)
This is the second of the anthology films, but feels more like Paul Thomas Anderson does horror than a traditional series of vignettes. Even Dylan Baker features in the film. While there are essentially five stories going on here, they interweave in intriguing and engaging ways. The narrative also jumps around in time as the audience is treated to an escapade of slaughter built around the concept of Halloween traditions. The central figure to all of these tales is Sam, a kid who walks around in burlap pajama suit whose unwritten rules of Halloween form the basis of the morality play of each segment.
The first section is about a young couple returning home from a celebration the husband admonishing the wife for blowing out a candle in the jack-o-lantern upon their return, but who sneaks out to dismantle the decorations while he sleeps. The second is about a principal who poisons children and tries to bury them in the yard while being interrupted by his own child. The third features a group of teenagers, including Anna Paquin, who go out to an old quarry where they scare one of their member with a story and a costumed fright. The fourth is about a surprise party involving werewolves. The last of the independent segments has Sam invading the principal’s neighbor’s house. The final segment ultimately ties them all together and the final slaying is a perfect culmination.
No original review available.
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2011)
With anthologies out of the way, let’s move onto the comedies. The first is a meta-horror that doesn’t draw attention to that fact. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine play the titular Tucker and Dale respectively, hillbillies with the purest of intentions. As a group of meddlesome teenagers descend upon their neck of the woods, gruesome accidents befall the teens and Tucker and Dale, innocent bystanders who just happen to be in the wrong places at the wrong times, are thought to be the killers. The teens have grown up on the likes of The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Masscare and immediately think these hicks are the ones behind the killings and mayhem delightfully ensues.
What’s so special about this film is that it knows all of the tropes and it plays into them. Chipper shredders. Chainsaws. Sawmills. They all get fascinating use and everything plays out with a wink and a nod, but doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is the biggest drawback to a number of other spoofs and parodies. Tudyk and Labine shine, but most of the teens are forgettable, which is why many of them haven’t gone on to better things. Eli Craig directs the film off a screenplay he co-wrote with Morgan Jurgenson and both treat the material almost perfectly. Too bad neither of them made an effort to continue filmmaking after this with only Craig trying once more before seeming to quit.
ParaNorman (2012)
It’s easy to say that most animated films are comedies. This film might be very close to the border between comedy and drama, but it’s all fun. Filmed in stop-motion animation, the film marked Laika’s second feature film and helped forge a legacy that has resulted in Laika eclipsing Pixar as the greatest animation studio in history. Norman is an 11-year-old boy who can talk to dead people. His unusual gift has alienated him from his family and has made it difficult to make friends outside of Neil, an overweight kid who has similar issues making friends. The pair are both bullied frequently and it takes a catastrophe to finally make the town realize that they aren’t just strange little kids.
A delightfully bizarre and inventive premise follows Norman as his uncle demands he complete an annual ritual that will prevent the victims of a series of witch slayings 300 years prior from rising to exact their revenge. The film involves zombies, witches, magical storms, and plenty of hijinks as young Norman tries to use his abilities to save the town. A coming-of-age story that exults in the bizarre and protects youngsters who don’t fit in, the film presents a straightforward moral that all kids need to see and understand, but prevention of bullying begins with parents who must not be bullies themselves or encourage such behavior, a lesson this movie could also teach them if they were willing to learn.
Stage Fright (2014)
Horror films and sleepaway camps are a very frequent pairing with the Friday the 13th series most ably employing them. Now, we have horror at a musical theater camp, a rare and fertile playground for this final film on the list. Stage Fright is set years after the brutal slaying of prominent musical theater actor Kylie Swanson (Minnie Driver) whose death on the night of the premiere of the show, The Haunting of the Opera, figures into her daughter Camilla’s (Allie MacDoanld) story. Hearing that her mother’s legacy is going to be put on by a musical theater camp, she convinces the director to cast her as the lead in the play, which leads to dire warnings for anyone who takes on the role, especially the daughter of the original actor.
Jerome Sable makes his directorial debut, but you can be forgiven for not knowing who he is. Like with Tucker & Dale‘s filmmaker, his filmography is sparse, consisting of a handful of short films, this film, and a vignette in ABCs of Death 2. In addition, he also wrote the screenplay and co-wrote the music and lyrics. The film is incredibly fun to watch along with. Vicious killings are part and parcel for the experience and they are all handled well, but it’s the narrative that drives the success of the film as you’ll be guessing until the end who the killer is. If you want a bit of fun and you don’t mind good parody, this is a film you should consider.
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