Please don’t be afraid, we’re almost near the end of our hellish ride. Without further ado, here are the fourth and third entries to make my top ten horror movies list:
04) “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)
We all remember the song, “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…” We’ve all had those sleepless nights and we can all blame it on one guy, Freddy Krueger.
With his signature hat, glove with blades and his red-and-black striped sweater, who can ever forget this evil villain?
“A Nightmare on Elm Street” revolves around a disfigured person who goes by Freddy Krueger. Like most serial killers, Freddy has a nickname. It is the “Springwood Slasher.”
After Freddy Krueger is set free by a judge, the parents of the children that Freddy terrorized and murdered served their own form of justice, or so they thought, by burning him alive in a boiler room where he worked.
Years after Freddy’s death, some strange occurrences have been happening on Elm Street. Teenagers are killed in their sleep.
After these occurrences, a teenager named Nancy tries to put a stop to these grisly murders. The strange connection between Nancy and Freddy is that Nancy’s father is the officer whom arrested Freddy.
“A Nightmare on Elm Street” propelled not only Wes Craven’s career into superstardom, it also made Robert Englund a household name. On top of that, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was one of Johnny Depp’s first movies and now New Line Cinema is known as “The House That Freddy Built.”
03) “The Midnight Meat Train” (2008), “Hellraiser” (1987)
“The Midnight Meat Train” (2008)
It has been a long time since a horror movie came out that wasn’t rated PG-13 or that was worth watching. Who better to come to the rescue than the one and only, Clive Barker?
Here are some facts about “The Midnight Meat Train” that you might not know.
First of all, it was on limited release. The story is from the book, “Books of Blood Vol. 1-3” by Clive Barker, which is the first story from “Books of Blood Vol. 1-3” due to hit the big screen in the coming years.
“The Midnight Meat Train” is about a photographer named Leon who is trying to find the darker side of New York City. Leon attempts many times to find good snapshots of the bad. Somehow, he always comes up short.
On one particular night, Leon walks down to the subway station and finds a mugging in progress. Leon takes pictures of this mugging and irritates the thugs who are trying to do the mugging.
Using his wit, Leon was able to persuade one of the muggers to come close. The mugger’s face is then caught on the security cameras, and the muggers have no choice but to take off.
Leon thought that the woman he had saved was home free. Little did he know that this would be the last time he or anyone else would see the woman again.
After the woman turns up missing, Leon starts to investigate. More people turn up missing, and he becomes obsessed with the missing people. This curiosity leads Leon to a cat-and-mouse chase that never seems to end.
It is the most graphic, the most disturbing and the best horror movie that I have seen in years.
If you are a fan of Bradlee Cooper, Brooke Shields, Vinnie Jones, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Clive Barker, then I highly recommend “The Midnight Meat Train.”
It will make you fear subways for a very long time.
“Hellraiser” (1987)
“Hellraiser” is yet another masterpiece from the mind of Clive Barker. It derives from the book, “The Hellbound Heart.”
“Hellraiser” revolves around the Cotton family: Larry, Julia, Kirsty and Frank.
Frank loves to collect rare artifacts and comes across a puzzle box that will change his life forever. He didn’t know what the puzzle box was capable of until he attempted to solve it. Hooks fly across the room and pierce his body, literally tearing him apart in his own home.
Larry, Julia and Kirsty move into Frank’s house. While moving in a mattress, Larry cuts his hand on a nail. Larry goes to the room where Frank died and the blood from his hand makes contact with the floor and the floor mysteriously absorbs his blood.
The blood causes the floor to rattle. Frank’s body appears from the floor. Using Larry’s blood, Frank slowly begins to come alive again.
Later, Frank asks Julia to seduce men and bring them to the attic. For this was the only way that Frank will be human again. Throughout the movie, Frank slowly rebuilds himself using human blood.
Kirsty is set on a whirlwind of many questions with very few answers. When Kirsty discovers that the puzzle box held much value to Frank during their confrontation, Kirsty throws the puzzle box out of the window.
Kirsty finds herself in a hospital and tries to solve the box which opens a pathway to hell.
“Hellraiser” introduced the world to few more villains known simply as the cenobites: Female Cenobite, Butterball Cenobite, Chatterer Cenobite and, the one and only, Pinhead.
The makeup used for Frank’s slow rebuilding is visually stunning. “Hellraiser” has influenced many art forms including suspended piercings of the flesh.
“Hellraiser” is also being remade and if things go according to plan, it will hit the big screen this January. So look out for it!
Until next week…good fright, good night.