Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

What the 1922 Nosferatu couldn't achieve due to the time period, this version does in spades. The 1979 German production directed by Werner Herzog takes the familiar story of Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) and his quest to sell property to Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski) in Transylvania. This is the art house version of Bram Stoker's Dracula and it is masterfully done. Normally, I prefer…

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Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)

While this pretends to be a sequel and does employ the use of the trioxin gas that created zombies in the first two movies, there isn't much about this movie that makes it a worthy successor to the masterpiece Return of the Living Dead or the passable Return of the Living Dead Part II. The plot is fairly basic: an army brat named Curt…

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Nosferatu (1922)

And now for something completely different. This is the classic unauthorized retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula in silent film form. I can imagine this movie being quite amazing when it originally came out. This was all the people had and it probably freaked them out. The choppy, grainy, dirty, black and white visuals make it really hard to see what is going on half…

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Parasite (1982)

About the only good thing about this pile of turd was that it was one of Demi Moore's first films. It's the future and things aren't so good. This doctor guy infects himself with a parasite to keep it out of the hands of an evil group that wants to use the parasite to do bad things. The hunt is on as the bad…

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Scream 4 (2011)

"Do you still like scary movies, Sydney?" It had been 11 years since Scream 3, when they decided to jump start the series with this fourth installment featuring the main cast as well as Kevin Williamson writing the script and Wes Craven in the director's chair. On the anniversary of the original Woodsboro murders, a copycat Ghostface killer starts offing teens with a phone…

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Bait (2012)

When a tsunami traps a bunch of wankers in a grocery store, things take a horrific turn when a blood-thirsty shark comes to do a little shopping at the human meat market. After Piranha 3D was a hit in 2010, there was a rush to make aquatic horror movies in an attempt to cash in on the popular sub-genre. Except that Piranha 3D was…

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Popcorn (1991)

This is one of those horror movies that tries really hard to be witty and smart, by paying homage to and poking fun at some of the common horror themes. In the end, though, it doesn't really succeed at much of anything. The main character is Maggie, a film student whose dreams about a fiery accident give clues about a past that may be…

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Demon Wind (1990)

Holy crap. This is like striking gold. Demon Wind is the kind of horror movie that gives immense pleasure from all the ways it both succeeds and fails without actually trying. The premise is fairly basic: a group of college age friends must fight demons to stay alive in a remote cabin-like setting. It draws heavily from the likes of Evil Dead and Night…

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Event Horizon (1997)

This movie was awesome when it first came out, and surprisingly it stands the test of time (mostly). The premise is simple: a ship and its crew are sent to a remote location near Neptune to search for a space exploration ship called "Event Horizon" that went missing for seven years. The crew is accompanied by Dr. Weir (played by Sam Neill), the guy…

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Death Valley (1982)

Oh, Peter Billingsley. Little Ralphie from A Christmas Story plays Billy, a kid who is on a road trip with his mom and mom's boyfriend. While at a stop on the way through Death Valley, Billy stumbles upon a fresh murder scene. Being the oblivious child that he is, he bypasses the dead bodies and picks up (steals) a small frog necklace. It turns…

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