Some Top Tens

Sharing some film opinions I've been sharing on Facebook while I recharge:

My Top 10 Zombie Movies

I usually, fairly pretentiously, make some clarifications about the zombie horror genre along the lines of how the genre, when it works best, acts as a study of human society and its reactions to massive apocalyptic change (while I liken werewolf movies to occasionally stand as an exploration of isolation and feeling of "otherness" and vampires are all about sexual repression), and I continue to stand by this stance. But, as with any genre, there are also gems that really do little, if any, work to further this discussion as they merely revel in the craziness and fun also available to their genre. My list of zombie films is definitely going to cover the broad spectrum.

Before I go further, some notable mentions and clarifications of film left out:
While I love the entire Evil Dead series (and its multiple versions of the final film), I do not consider it a zombie film.
The Serpent and the Rainbow, about actual voodoo zombie-ism is a nice movie, but not the supernatural living dead zombie, so it doesn't make my cut.
Dead Alive is amazing early Peter Jackson, but it's too far out for me to include in the genre.
I love "Deadly Friend" but don't consider it a zombie movie nearly as much as it's an A.I./dangers of technology movie. Funny Kristy Swanson almost made multiple lists.

Although I contradict myself by including two such films, I hate "running zombies" movies. I don't feel zombies should have the coordination necessary to run effectively.

I am so looking forward to the "Walking Dead" comic series being adapted as a cable television series.

The tv miniseries, Dead Set (not released in the US) is AMAZING and you should find a way to see it.

A note about Michael Myers, Freddie Kruger, Jason Voorhies, etc.: I consider Freddie a ghost. The other two, while technically quite zombie, really belong to a very different category of film, as everything about their films falls into the Slasher mold and not at all into the zombie apocalypse mold. Just as the Elm Street movies are also slasher films.

My ten (no order of preference):

1. Night of the Living Dead (Romero). THE classic zombie film. Covers every glimpse into the psyche of man in apocalypse and makes a nice statement on racism. I think there's something wrong with anyone who doesn't include this on their list.

2. Undead. I don't know what these filmmakers were thinking, but this little film from Australia with all its zombies and then alien bductions just does it. It's great on survival, paranoia, campy goodness.

3. Dawn of the Dead (Romero). The only Romero sequel that makes the list (there are parts of "Day," "Land" and "Diary" that I like, but not nearly enough). The characters in this film are not at all as sympathetic as they were in "Night of" or even in the Zack Snyder remake, but I think this film is one of the finer when it comes to illustrating society in collapse and the evils man will do to each other when faced with these problems (picked up on, and better done in my second movie following this). Like "Night of", ends on a pessimistic note, which seems more real to the situation to me.

4. Dawn of the Dead (Snyder). Sigh, fast zombies. But one of the most slick films in the genre. Fantastic soundtrack. Cast of great sympathetic characters and great douche bag characters. Holds to, differently, the good pessimistic ending. Sarah Polley.

5. 28 Days Later. Another that goes deep into the evils man commits on one another in a crisis. My weak spot for Cillian Murphy. Fast zombies, sigh, but more bearable as these aren't "dead" zombies per se and seem to break down with time and starvation (and so would sensibly slow down). The rare film that EXPLAINS the zombie apocalypse's cause and doesn't suck for doing so. While I like the sequel, not a huge fan. Danny Boyle has only let me down once as a director (read: Sunshine).

6. Shaun of the Dead. Amazing. Hilarious. I still have and cherish my cut of the film from before its release (has alternate recorded dialog and a couple scene differences) almost as much as I love the finished theatrical version. DVD-wise, one of the finest when it comes to extras. One of the few consistently funniest films for me. And now I also have a hankering to watch "Spaced."

7. Fido. While I'm covering comedy, not as funny for me, but still a gem. And a great exploration into how a society that survives can deal with the zombie problem--by domesticating them as physical laborers.

8. Re-Animator. One of the few Lovecraft translations to film I enjoy. A bit crazy with the camp, though. Nice exploration of whether it's right to use all of our knowledge. Another of the "classics."

9. Pet Sematary. That rare gem of a movie that's actually at least almost as good as the novel it's based off.

10. [rec] and Quarantine. Since they're, almost shot for shot, the same movie (the former being the original Spanish film and the latter its American remake from a year later). Nice for its "trapped in a building with the monsters and we have to escape" survival horror. Who do you trust? How do you work with everyone else to survive?

My Top Ten Vampire Films

While zombies are clearly my favorite genre of "monster horror movies," and I have a much greater excitement level for good Werewolf movies, as they're so so very rare, vamps used to be my big favorites and this particular "top ten" meme is floating around my friends this week, so I too will participate. My top ten vampire movies in no order of preference:

1. Let the Right One In: This is far and away the best film in the genre to be produced this decade. I can watch, and find new scenes of enjoyment in, this film again and again and again and again. . .really, REALLY not looking forward to the americanized remake of it that is currently in the pipeline.

2. The Russian "Watch" movies: Night Watch, Day Watch (and hopefully someday in the near future, the third--Twilight Watch) all based on a fantastic trilogy of novels, cinematic-ally beautiful and absent the "vampires are all sexy" tropes of most vamp cinema. Another big thing going for these films, for me, is the depth of exploration devoted to factioning of vampire types, the politics and policing of vampire activities.

3. Blade Trinity. Screw the first two, this movie's just here for all the delicious eye candy (Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, Dominic Purcell) that I was allowed to enjoy for most of my 113 minutes.

4. The Forsaken. More eye candy, nice juxtaposition of horror and humor. Jonathan Schaech never gets enough credit for being a good actor who generally only makes movies that don't make the A-List. Mostly a fun, generally mindless but pretty film. Heavy on the then-WB young hot actor factor. Strangely seems to be making all of our lists.

5. Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter. It's everything: a musical, a kung fu flick, sexploitation, comedy, Troma-esque gore. You can not beat Christ coming back to rescue lesbians from the vampires who hunt them because lesbian skin is sun resistant. And he teams up with a Mexican wrestler. Did I mention musical numbers? See it for Jesus' kung fu showdown vs the atheists. Best of all, if you end up not liking it, you get to blame Canada.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Clearly, while I have much love for the tv show and it's spin-off and prefer to pretend the film is not canonical to the show (despite how the first Buffy comic series MADE it canonical, and did it well), and while the production, and egos of certain actors (Sutherland) and shortcomings of others (Swanson) yanked this film far away from the vision Joss envisioned for it in his screenplay, it gave us Buffy. It is the Mater Familia, and on its own it is campy hilariousness in ways that Fright Night fails to remain twenty years later.

7. Interview With the Vampire. A lot more going on that worked than not. Really enjoyed Kirsten Dunst, which is a rarity.

8. From Dusk Till Dawn. Honestly, I hated this movie the first time I saw it, and it was years before I gave it another chance. It is jarring still in its transition at the film's midpoint. But this movie has grown on me so much I don't even vomit in my mouth anymore every time Juliet Lewis mentions her pussy.

9. Near Dark. The best Clive Barker adaptation to date. Edit: I am retarded; this is not a Clive Barker adaptation. Still amazing and different.

10. Monster Squad. Pretty much exactly the same reasons Adam cites.