While not downright scary, there’s no denying the influence of the sci-fi thriller, Village of the Damned. Creepy little kids dressed in suits speaking in English accents? I don’t know, it might have been featured in movies before this, but I think we can credit Village of the Damned by popularizing it.

The plot is simple; the population of a small town passes out, and find their ladies impregnated when they wake up. Hey, who hasn’t been there? The spawn, of course, are creepy little alien children.

Village of the Damned is an excellent movie. The acting is top notch, and the filming is genuinely creative throughout. And while the movie isn’t jump out of your seat scary, it certainly is eerie.

Awesome stuff. Village of the Damned opened the door for creepy child actors like Macaulay Culkin.

For some reason the time period between ‘88-’98-ish seems to be littered with “thrillers” that combined “psychological scares” with melodrama. Some, like Single White Female worked, but most others didn’t. Place Pacific Heights firmly in the latter category.

Let’s just get the only right thing about this movie out of the way: Michael Keaton is good. Very good. But he’s only on the screen for about 15 of the movie’s long long long 103 minutes.

The rest ranges from dreck to pointless. Why does Michael Keaton’s character lock himself in an apartment where he terrorizes his landlords? Lord knows, though if the idea was to kill Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine’s careers then job well done, and good riddance! Rarely have I seen such a dire performance of what is (admittedly) a piss-poor script.

I’m not going to get into how unbelievable the storyline is; either these people don’t know how to write out a lease, or California’s tenant laws are completely mucked up.

But Michael Keaton is definitely due for a comeback.

A sure sign you’re old mature: they start remaking movies you remember watching when they’re new. Take Child’s Play; a remake by the original screenwriter is due next year.

I like Child’s Play, and I think Chucky is one of those underrated antagonists. He’s evil, he’s funny, and he has that Freddy Krueger vibe going.

Dolls freak me out anyway, thus Chucky is a perfectly fun scare for me. I would probably have preferred to see Dolls, which was released a year before Child’s Play, to occupy this spot, and possibly see this movie a bit further down the list, but regardless… Child’s Play is a good movie and it deserves to be checked out by all.

Seriously?

I have never seen a Hitchcock movie I didn’t like, though The Birds might be one of those I don’t exactly love. Not that it’s a lesser put together movie or anything, but seagulls? Not something to lose a lot of sleep over…

So I find the concept flawed, but the execution is great. Wonderfully filmed, excellent acting, and the lack of a “proper” soundtrack makes The Birds a great study in technical film making.

The movie is based on the book by Daphne Du Maurier, and while I haven’t actually read it, I feel her later entry to this list, Don’t Look Now far surpasses The Birds story-wise.

Still, Hitchcock can make gold out of a turd, so whateva’.

Cat People is one of those classic cult movies that don’t really work for me. A different take on the werewolf genre of sorts, the movie combines melodrama with some rather mild scares, and yada yada yada… I never cared much for any of the characters, particularly the lead lady who provides one ditsy facial expression throughout the movie. Sorry Simone Simon!

There are some interesting references to folklore in the movie, and had the movie concentrated more on that than the rather average stereotypical early-forties relationship story, Cat People might have worked. As it is, the melodrama overshadows the parts that possibly could have been fairly eerie, and the movie ends up being pretty dull.

In my opinion Cat People should not be on the list.

Zombi, or Zombi 2, is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it is, despite its name, not a sequel. Thing is, Dawn of the Dead was marketed as Zombi in Italy, and to cash in on its success, they decided to call this one Zombi 2 even though it was filmed before (and with no connection to) the Romero classic. Confusing, no? They even added a scene at the end of the movie to connect it to Dawn of the Dead.

Those Italians!

Zombi is, in itself, a pretty fun movie, though it doesn’t feel much Romero-like at all, but you’ll find plenty of the director’s (Fulci) trademark touches here, including the classy glass to the eyeball scene. And yes, it’s as gross as it sounds.

The b-movie type filming and crazy death scenes make this one of those classic movies to watch at Halloween. Sure it’s not great art but then again, should it really be?

Zombi, like the two previous movies, fits just fine on the bottom of the top 100. Definitely one to catch for some fun, icky scares.

I’m a fan of the Tales from the Crypt, so naturally I approve of seeing Creepshow, a two hour tribute to EC comics, on the list.

Of the five segments, “Something to Tide You Over” ranks as the best one. A sadistic Leslie Nielsen/Ted Danson vehicle about revenge of the undead, it certainly shares more than passing similarities to specific EC stories.

“They’re Creeping Up on You,” every clean-freak and cockroach-phobe’s nightmare, is a close second, if only for the freaky effects.

“The Crate.” Not overly scary, but certainly sadistically funny.

“The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill,” meanwhile, takes a bit too long to get to the point, but when it finally does, it hits home.

“Father’s Day,” in all its predictability, is really the only story that doesn’t work for me. Maybe I just don’t like cake enough…

On the whole I don’t know if I’d call Creepshow that scary, but it’s certainly a fun horror classic that fits in on the very bottom of the list. Hell, Romero and King together? How bad can it really be?

Zombie movies rarely seem all that scary to me, as outrunning a zombie is quite doable. I mean, really, I don’t care if there’s an army of 10,000 of them; send in ten hicks with machine guns and the problem would be taken care of.

28 Days Later is a bit different, as the zombies in it don’t have any issues with running, and are aggressive to boot. On top of that the actual premise of the movie (the virus and how it spreads by just a drop of blood) is somewhere in the realm of being halfway believable.

As opposed to a good chunk of the top 100, 28 Days Later is definitely an A-movie. The production value, directing, and writing are all top notch, and the acting holds a high standard. I mean, yeah, Cillian Murphy looks like a grade A douchebag, but I am OK with that.

I think 28 Days Later sits well on #100 on a list like this, and could even possibly be placed a bit higher when some of the more suspect inclusions are taken into consideration.

British zombies FTW!