Time to write about the films that made my list, including my one-pointer, which I've yet to spotlight:
Dead Heat was my
#25. I started not to include it since it's a mish-mash of so many genres, and if I lived in an awesome alternate reality where this was a beloved classic I probably would've used that very reason not to vote for it, but who are we kidding? This is the best (and only?) zombie buddy-cop action/horror/comedy in existence. Treat Williams plays Roger Mortis (get it?), a cop with a 12-hour deadline to find his killer before his re-animated body putrefies to goo. It's a B-movie update of the 1949 film noir
D.O.A., which I noticed playing on TV in one of
Dead Heat's scenes during my most recent re-watch. 80's
SNL alum Joe Piscopo is Williams's partner. Piscopo mugs for the camera a lot, fantasizes about being re-incarnated as a girl's bicycle seat, and appears to have matched The Ultimate Warrior's steroid intake. If you don't like locker-room humor, you'll likely find Piscopo incredibly obnoxious, but I enjoy his goofy demeanor and chauvinistic jokes. The practical effects are surprisingly good. One hilarious scene in a butcher's shop pits our protagonists against zombified chicken breasts, duck heads and the walking slab of meat from a recently slaughtered cow. Vincent Price makes one of his last appearances on film, adding class to the picture with his limited scenes. The runtime zooms, and logic is discarded in favor or melting bodies, exploding vehicles and heaping doses of fun.
I first rented this movie from the video store as a kid and watched it multiple times over the weekend, as I used to do back then with any movie I loved. As years passed, however, I forgot the name of the movie or who was in it or much of the specifics. I used to describe random scenes to Google, but the search engine and my faulty memory always failed me. Finally a couple years ago I stumbled across a screenshot on a random website and in a glorious moment of hallelujah recognized it as the video store relic for which I'd long been searching. Immediately ordered the DVD and basked in nostalgia as I was reminded of why
Dead Heat entertained me so much as a kid.
The Last House on the Left was my
#20. Wes Craven made many great contributions to the horror genre, but his first two films are his best, in my opinion. (It's a shame that
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) likely won't make the countdown, although I made sure to give it a fair number of points.) This is exactly the type of sweaty, nasty, in-your-face horror film that most appeals to me, and it's got that scratchy, sleazy, seventies grindhouse aesthetic that automatically makes every film look cool as hell. This might also be the first true "video nasty" I ever watched, and unlike most of them, this dirty little rape-and-revenge drive-in beacon of controversy lived up to its notorious reputation. I remember returning it to the video store with a sense of shame and reproach, as if I'd just rented a snuff film and the clerks might report me to the authorities. Wes Craven has talked about how this film was a result of a repressed upbringing -- a rebellious lashing-out, of sorts -- along with the growing animosity and disenchantment brought on by the Vietnam War and the Manson murders and all the violence and turmoil raging on the nightly news. He felt a need to shock America's senses, to show how violence begets violence, to strip away our comforts and expose the primal rage residing within each of us. And he succeeded, creating a landmark, revolutionary film in transgressive horror. Rough viewing in more ways than one, but that's how I like it.
Cannibal Holocaust was my
#1. I'm not saying it's the greatest horror film ever made, but for what I personally seek from the genre, it's the most
effective horror film that I've seen --- and I doubt anything will ever top it. You don't watch
Cannibal Holocaust, you endure it. Something alters inside of me every time I watch it. By the time the credits roll, I feel victimized. My senses have been raped. My soul assaulted. I'm miserable for the rest of the day. I lose all hope in humanity. And that's the film's intention. Who are the real savages? We are. You, me, all of us. Detractors say that the film is hypocritical for how it portrays the sensationalism of the media, the bloodthirstiness of viewers and the moral vacuum of society, and I agree, but that hypocrisy only bolsters the message. The real-life filmmakers demonstrate the same ugly traits for which it condemns its fictional filmmakers. Meta on top of meta; an endless string of mirrors reflecting the same black shriveled-up sin.
Much is made of the animal killings, and they're horrible, but the list is long of films that have killed animals on screen, including celebrated classics like
Apocalypse Now, so I think that particular controversy is overblown. I find the film's inclusion of real-life executions from war-torn countries just to further its narrative perhaps even more repellent. But it's that marriage of real and staged violence that makes the horror so effective. Suddenly everything feels disturbingly real, which is perhaps why the director was arrested on charges of murder until he proved to the courts that the actors were still alive. Despite
The Blair Witch Project getting all the credit,
Cannibal Holocaust is the true innovator of the found-footage style. The musical score by Riz Ortolani might be my all-time favorite. At times the score is the very definition of tranquil beauty, then in a blink the music will mutate into something sinister. To me,
Cannibal Holocaust is the most disturbing film ever made and a bona fide masterpiece. Getting it on this countdown feels like an honest-to-devil achievement.
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