Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), 10/14.

"David Lynch and George A Romero both cite Carnival of Souls as an influence on their work, but Carnival of Souls isn't just influential; it's worth seeing on its own as a very different kind of horror film, one that works as a dream-like slow poison as opposed to the short sharp shocks of modern horror films," writes James Rocchi. Also at Cinematical, two lists: Patrick Walsh's "Non-Horror Movies that Scared the Crap Out of Me as a Kid" and Peter Martin's "Best Asian Horror Films That Haven't Been Remade."

"A straw poll of the Times office has revealed the cinema frighteners that still haunt us and thirteen of the most distressing are listed below." Michael Moran introduces a list laced with comments and clips.

And another list: Piper's "Ten Dumbest Monsters," via Jeffrey Hill at the House Next Door.

Andrea Bianchi's The Nights of Terror "cares for nothing but zombie mayhem, and subsequently pushes the cynical, eternal apocalypse-style of zombie film to its endurable limits," writes Thomas Scalzo.

Also at Not Coming to a Theater Near You, Eva Holland on Death Becomes Her: "I suppose there is some decent commentary about aging, death, and the pursuit of physical perfection in this movie, as well as some clever parodying of aspects of the classic horror film. But for my part, it is hard to notice those good bits when Meryl Streep has her head on backwards and Goldie Hawn has a volleyball-sized hole in her stomach."

And Jenny Jediny on Alice, Sweet Alice, "a cut up version of far more famous scary flicks, but cheap and dirty."

For Rob Humanick, Val Lewton's I Walked With a Zombie is "a miniature masterpiece of contorted human emotions and uneasy personal broodings emphasized by a gothic melange of sight and sound," while Lucio Fulci's Zombie 2's "abandonment of generally accepted cinematic 'necessities' is in fact the key to it's semi-brilliant indulgences into monstrous spectacle."

Phil Morehart's latest clips at Facets Features: Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, Your Teeth Are in My Neck and Return of the Living Dead. Also: "Chicago horror fans, don't forget: The Music Box Massacre returns to town this weekend. As usual, the movies run 24-hours straight, along with music, DJs, contests and all that freaky stuff. There are some gems in the bunch this year, including The Cat and the Canary, Peeping Tom, Equinox, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Deathdream, Freaks, The Shining, Videodrome, The Monster Squad, and more."

Brian Elza's got a clip, too, from Don't Look Now.

Meanwhile, Andrew Bemis carries on posting scary trailers.

Posted by dwhudson at October 14, 2007 9:30 AM