31 Horror Favs (#9) - An American Werewolf in London {1981}

An American Werewolf in London, Director: John Landis.



I remember one night in my youth where I was sleeping on the couch. Actually I was pretending to sleep while my father and soon to be step-mother watched An American Werewolf in London. The images that I saw through my barely cracked open eye haunted me for months. The transformation scene terrified me, as did the gore.

It took me years (in college) to garner the courage to watch the film again. But I saw the film in a new light. I caught the dark humor that was sandwiched in between great scenes of bloody goodness. The transformation scene, done by special effect artist Rick Baker, still blows my mind to this day and looks incredible.

Writer/Director John Landis created a classic here and possibly the best werewolf movie ever made.

31 Horror Favs (#10) - Dexter {TV series}

Dexter



I wont go into great details about each season as I dont want to spoil it for those who may not have watched it yet (what are you waiting for).

From the moment I saw the trailer on Showtime, the premise of a serial killer who works as a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police and only murders people who deserve it had me intrigued. After the first episode of Season One, I was hooked. Luckily the rest of the season did not disappoint as we see the Miami PD trying to find "The Ice Cream Truck Killer" while we have Dexter dealing with his relationship with Rita, the girlfriend, and Debra, his sister who's a cop. All the while he's trying to deal with his past and confront his inner temptations. The whole thing is fascinating with excellent performances from the entire cast, particularly Michael C. Hall as Dexter.

Season Two deals with an FBI Special Agent helping the Miami PD investigate "Bay Harbor Butcher", which in fact is Dexter. The Agent and Debra start having an interesting fling, despite their notable age differences. Rita and Dexter relationship is put to the test as a new woman named Lila enters his life and has her own secrets. I enjoyed this season almost as much as the first. The highlight is watching Dexter and Lundy play this proverbial chess game, which leads to an interesting conclusion.

Season Three has Rita becoming pregnant and finally taking control of her life after years of being a victim. She gives Dexter a choice in raising the baby or not. He worries about passing his "disease" onto the child. The main story is about the Prada family and how the friendship between Assistant District Attorney Miguel Prada and Dexter evolves through out the season. Especially when they share a common interest. This season was amazing as all the main characters showed tremendous depth and personal change. Probably my favorite season yet.

Season Four has just started and unfortunately I no longer subscribe to Showtime. Now my Dexter and Weeds fix has to wait until DVD.

I think this is one of the best programs on television. Like I said, it has great characters who are multidimensional based on event that happen to them each season. It's darkly comedic, a little gory, and each episode is tightly written. To watch Dexter battle his urges to kill while trying to lead a normal life is fascinating. This show comes highly recommended by me.


The show is based off the novels by Jeff Lindsay. I've got the first one in my big pile of books to be read. I'll get around to it some day. I've read the books and the show separate on their stories somewhat after the first novel, so these should be fun to get through.


The Books
1. Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004)
2. Dearly Devoted Dexter (2005)
3. Dexter in the Dark (2007)
4. Dexter by Design (2009)

31 Horror Favs (#11) - H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft




I'm not really sure one could talk about favorite horror literature and not mention H.P. Lovecraft. The man created an entire mythology around ancient, other worldly creatures known as Cthulhu. Lovecraft's writing is called cosmic horror (the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien). His tales deal with human running or at least trying to comprehend these these beasts. He also created the Necronomicon, a fictional book of the dead containing magical rites and forbidden lore.

There's not much I can say about him that hasn't already been said. Lovecraft is simply one of the most influential authors in the horror genre.


I enjoy his incredible vivid descriptions of the different types of being in the Cthulhu Mythos and the way the main characters always seem to battle their sanity in trying to comprehend their situation. It's magnificent.

My personal favorite stories are "At the Mountains of Madness", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", and "The Tomb".

31 Horror Favs (#12) - Dawn of the Dead {1978}

Dawn of the Dead (director: George Romero)




I could have put any of George Romero's classic zombie tales in this post. Night of the Living Dead
warped my mind as teenager when I first saw it and is single handily started the zombie genre as we know it today . Day of the Dead was a film that I gained a lot more respect and love for upon my second viewing about two years ago (the first time was the early 90's) as it revealed a whole new layer of how the zombies were evolving. But it was the instant classic Dawn of the Dead that I always felt was the best of the them. Every scene in the movie kicks ass. Plus you gotta love rough ass bikers battling the undead. With all the underlying themes running throughout the movie, it seems Romero had a lot to say about the state of America at the time. And if you dont want to think too heavily about it, just set back and enjoy the Tom Savini special effects.

Does a horror movie get much better than this one? Not for my money. It's right there at the top.

31 Horror Favs (#13) - Tales From the Crypt {TV series}

Tales from the Crypt

I'm not old to enough to remember the EC comic series Tales From the Crypt. In fact, I've never read a single one of them. My experience of TftC comes the TV series which ran on HBO from 1989-1996. I used to watch each episode I could, my family did not have cable at the time. Strangely enough I was able to see the majority when their aired. Thanks to DVD, I've now seen every delicious episode.

The show had it all: Scares, comedy, nudity, gore, and just over all good fun. Several top notch talent in Hollywood (actors and directors) lent their hands in the series. It was a fine show that ran for seven seasons and should live on through DVD.