15 Movie Challenge

Well shit...I have been tagged to do a 15 movie challenge on Facebook.  I have decided to take this to my blog to give the breathing room I need.  While I normally bow out of such shenanigans, movies are my life.  Almost literally. Movies have been my job for nearly 30 years now. As a kid, I watched movies regularly with the family at the local drive-in.  We would see a movie on a whim on the weekend because we could.  Many a Friday and Saturday night in the 70’s were spent with my dad watching CREATURE FEATURE with Count DeVol on channel 20 or THE GHOST HOST on channel 45 in the DC/Baltimore area during the drive-in off season. I was baptized in fake blood of horror movies and as a result, most of the movies I have listed are of the horror genre.  I also have been steeped in the musical through my mother.  As a result, this challenge sort of sings to me.

The challenge is to list 15 movies that have stuck with me.  Does not matter if I like them or not.  The thing is, being that I have made a career out of movies, the ones that have stuck with me have a deep love from me.

#1 DRACULA (1931 with Bela Lugosi): I was indoctrinated in movie lore by my parents with the sheer number of movies we watched while I was growing up.  However, up until I was 5 years old, I really was not aware of horror movies.  My father started our weekly horror movie tradition when I was 5 or 6 when he sat me down to watch DRACULA.  I had no idea that you could make a scary movie.  My love of horror and Halloween was born that night.  We watched horror movie every Friday & Saturday night and this was the one that kicked it off.

#2 ALIEN:  By 1979, I had seen my fair share of horror movies from good to bad and was pretty sure I had seen it all even though I was only 10 years old.  The family took one of final trips to the drive-in and they were running a double feature of FREAKY FRIDAY and ALIEN.  I had seen the ads and was intrigued.  Especially since I had my scifi love lit on fire 2 years prior with STAR WARS.  Normally, I would fall asleep at the drive-in when I was a kid before the second feature.  Not this time.  I was determined to watch this one.  I did not care to watch FREAKY FRIDAY and spent most of my time on the playground.  As soon as the Fox logo hit the screen, I sat in the seats at the concession building and watched it from there alone away from the family. This hit me like no other movie has before or since then.  The design work, the atmosphere, the sheer horror…I had never seen anything like this ever and I became obsessed with the Alien creature and its life cycle.  Where the hell was the internet when I needed it to fuel this obsession?!?  I truly feel this is the movie that drove me to work at the theatre in 1986 when the sequel came out.  Of the bunch here on this list, this one has probably the most influence on me after #3.

#3 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: After I started working at the theatre, I was asked if I had seen this movie playing at the competition across the street from us.  I knew of the movie but really had no interest in seeing it.  After being asked a billion times from coworkers, I finally broke down and made a solo trip over to see it and I was blown away.  I eventually joined the cast and then joined the rival cast at the larger venue when we were tossed out for being too dirty.  This was the first place I ever felt welcomed for being the nerd/geek/dork/weirdo that I was.  It made me aware of the underground/cult movie scene that I started researching through local video store with all the cash I had from the movie theatre.  It was also the place that I met my future wife and the lifelong friendships I made. The show and cast helped me become the person I am today and embrace myself for who I am and not give a shit what society thinks of me.  “Fuck society.  One by one. Starting with me.”

#4 THE THING:  By the time this one came out, ALIEN was the trend setter in the rush of gory and scary scifi movies but they all paled in comparison.  They were all missing something.  Not this one.  John Carpenter tapped into something amazing with this one.  DELIBERATE pacing.  A sense of dread much like ALIEN had and the most fucked up practical special effects that seriously hold up so well today at 32 years after its release.  It was these special effects that made sit up and take notice that nothing can be off limits in designs.  Despite that, the dread that permeates this film is still something to behold and it is something that all modern horror films have seemed to have forgotten.

#5 HELLRAISER:  Here is a movie that had poor acting choices and a very low budget but was still able to deliver one of the most evil things I have seen on screen up to this point in 1987.  It was one of the first times I have seen the idea of hell and demons that was not biblical or Faustian in background.  A new twist.  It was also one of the most twisted things I had seen on screen.  It was also one of the first times I have seen what should have been the villain not be the villain.  The Frank and Julia were the villains, not Pinhead.  They were even more monstrous.  Even though the second movie is superior in every sense, this movie sticks with me.

#6 STAR WARS: You knew this one had to be here.  Interesting thing though…I did not want to see it originally when it came out in 1977.  I thought the title was stupid even for this 8 year old.  It was peer pressure that made me go with the family…and the fact that my parents weren't going to leave me at home being 8 years old.  For those that are not old enough to remember this time frame, you could not go a second without a reference to STAR WARS.  For me, this is the most a movie has influenced our culture.  Nothing has come even remotely close to this one.  It was also the first time that I like the villain more than the heroes.  Come on…Darth Vader…are you kidding me?!?  He was the baddest mother fucker in the galaxy and I wanted to see more of him on screen.

#7 EVIL DEAD II:  This was the second “unrated” movie I had ever seen.  The first was REANIMATOR.  REANIMATOR was great and I do truly love it but EVIL DEAD II did something I had never seen before…mixed comedy with gore.  I remember watching this for the first time and being shocked by some of the gore on the screen then followed by laughing to something that appeared to be written by the 3 Stooges.  WHY HADN’T SOMEBODY DONE THIS BEFORE?!?

#8  BLADERUNNER:  This was the third movie I remember seeing that made the future/scifi look used and beat up.  STAR WARS was the first and ALIEN was the second.  Ridley Scott really nailed the look in this movie…perfected it if you will.  The future actually looked bleak which was a rarity at the time. 

#9 NAME OF THE ROSE:  This was one of the first free movies outside of FERRIS BUELLER and ALIENS I saw when I started working at the theatre.  It was a fairly by the numbers mystery flick but is was the setting the captivated me.  This was one of the most dread filled flicks I had seen.  It was dripping with a gothic horror atmosphere that was made the movie a blast to watch being that it was a mystery.  It is one of my go to movies to watch whenever I have nothing of interest to watch on.  I just now need to find it on Blu-Ray.  I have always felt that SE7EN captures some of the feeling in this movie.

#10 THE SHINING:  This is another one of those movies just hell bent on delivering atmosphere like no other.  Not much gore but it doesn’t need it.  I remember seeing it for the first time on HBO in 1980.  They played it all the time but I did not care.  I soaked it up. 

#11 ANGEL HEART:  This is another film in the same vein as NAME OF THE ROSE that came out about the same time frame.  Alan parker delivers a great mystery film noir movie just dripping with atmosphere.  I see a theme here regarding mood and atmosphere.  Then there is that heavy handed twist at the end. 

#12 MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL:  One of the most over quoted flicks of all time by geeks all around the world.  With that, I really don’t remember when I saw this for the first time.  Did I see it at the drive-in with the family when it came out?  On TV?  I don’t know.  However, I do remember discovering this around the same time I discovered Python on TV and I was forever hooked on the absurd British comedy styling. 

#13 FIGHT CLUB:  I went into this movie not thinking it would amount to anything.  Boy was I wrong.  This movie spoke to me.  Here it is, 15 years later and I still cannot 100% put my finger on why this movie speaks to me but it does. 

#14 THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS:  Danny Elfman soundtrack: check.  Tim Burton visual styling: check.  Amazing stop motion animation: check.  A movie that is centered on Halloween: double check.  How could I not include this movie?!?  My home looks like a museum dedicated to this movie.  I have a life size Jack and Sally standing in my living room.  I would so love to actually walk down the streets portrayed in this movie.  I want a theme park designed on it.   Obsessed much?  Maybe…

#15 HEAVY METAL:  I was just around 12 years old when I saw it on cable for the first time (1981 or 1982 I think).  Up until then, animation was for the kids.  I never thought of a cartoon for adults.  It was unheard of in my small world at the time.  I had no idea what FRITZ THE CAT was or most of the catalog by Ralph Bakshi except for THE HOBBIT.  Here comes this animated movie with girls with big tits, drugs and violent dystopian imagery.  Again, another defining moment on film that anybody can do whatever they want in whatever medium they wanted.