Best Horror Film of 1983 (part 5 of a series)

I have only seen one of these films (Videodrome) but I love it so much I can't imagine liking any of these films more or finding them better.

Sleepaway Camp x 1000000000000

altho man i really want to see whatever the hell Geek Maggot Bingo is

Theres actually quite a wealth of pretty fucking great stuff here tho (Cujo is not on that list btw)

Sleepaway Camp x 1000000000000

― Dr. Chuck Klosterman, LLC (jjjusten), Wednesday, July 7, 2010 1:24 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^^^^^

That said, damn this year makes an easy choice tough.

Gonna go with The Hunger

i wont get into it again because i know theres some thread on here where i went on and on about Sleepaway Camp, but srsly anyone who hasn't seen it needs to ASAP.

For me it's Cronenberg vs. Cronenberg

Voted for The Dead Zone

haha was going to post: "voted for sleepaway camp diaf if u dont" b4 reading the thread

Yeah, this is a banner year for Cronenberg, but in this case:

unwittingly flamboyant psychonutzoid trash >>> measured, mutedly disturbing, cold dread

Well, that might be true most of the time for me, but especially so here.

one of the things i really love about sleepaway camp is that there are like 10 things that happen in it that would never get greenlit today if you were trying to get a movie made.

sleepaway camp is great, but mostly for aunt whatsisname in the beginning and the final moments/shot. plus some amazing clothes hair in between. but a lot of down time, too. figure that videodrome is the one to beat, with the hunger and dead zone right behind.

love the deadly spawn, though. amazing homemade alien-invasion gore flick. and the keep is super draggy, objectively bad, but i always loved the music & atmosphere (plus i'm a sucker for fantasy/horror stories about hidden worlds within our own, even if you don't really get to see them).

altho man i really want to see whatever the hell Geek Maggot Bingo is

― Dr. Chuck Klosterman, LLC (jjjusten), Wednesday, July 7, 2010 11:25 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

tough choice: The Hunger vs. Videodrome

Jesus I mean I knew it had it's own little thing going for it but I didn't realize Sleepaway Camp was such a BFD. Will obtain and watch ASAP. Also never seen Dead Zone! Should I do that too?

I thought it was just some second-rate F13th sort of thing

Is Sleepaway Camp really all that great, though, outside of the ending? I recall it being pretty dopey for the most part.

No real clear favorites for me. I fondly remember watching Nightmares as a wee lad:

Young J.J. Cooney (Estevez) is a video game wizard and arcade game hustler with help from his bespectacled friend Zock (Billy Jayne).

Nightmarish. Dante's segment of Twilight Zone is pretty classic, but the rest isn't so hot (and the Spielberg segment is probably one of the worst things he's ever done). I remember Cujo being pretty brutal if not a terribly high-end film on the whole.

I'd vote for The Dead Zone, but I'm afraid that I'm largely conflating it with the novel.

oh man if you think the middle of sleepaway camp is downtime i dont really know what to say. the best part of the movie is looking back after its over and going wait holy shit did all that stuff going on in the middle just nonchalantly happen?! its like a warm love letter to violence being perpetrated against children which makes it totally fascinating and also gloriously fucked up upon further viewings

ok ill chill out now, im just kinda obsessed wrt that film

The whole of Sleepaway Camp is so f'n camp imo.

Zock (Billy Jayne)

Spoonerism?

"the Spielberg segment is probably one of the worst things he's ever done"
was this the kick the can one? one of the kid-versions does an incredible impression of an elderly lady -- amazing sell.

"Dead Zone" is sort of an early indicator of Cronenberg's recent direction of less gore. But "Videodrome" is such an incredible and obliquely prescient mindfuck that the only thing keeping me from voting for it would be the argument that it's not horror. Neither is "Dead Zone," really.

I think "The Hunger" is an over-stylized mess akin to "The Keep." Dante's bit in "Twilight Zone" is great. Can't believe "Amityville 3-D" and "Jaws 3-D" both came out this year. Shit sandwich.

For some reason I vaguely remember the ad and reviews for "Xtro" but know nothing about this one. Is that the one with an astronaut that comes back from space infected with some alien spawn that makes him go all oozy monster?

Yes!

Tony's father Sam, abducted by aliens three years earlier, returns to earth and seeks out his wife and son, but Rachel has since been living with Joe and the reunion is awkward. Joe doesn't trust Sam, and Rachel can't quite decide what her feelings are for her two men. Sam is not the same as when he left, and he begins affecting Tony in frightening ways.

Advantage brain.

"The Hunger" had a great soundtrack

Ebert intro:

"Xtro" is an ugly, mean-spirited and despairing thriller that left me thoroughly depressed. Why was this movie made? What vision filled the filmmakers with a desire to share this work with an audience? I am not expecting a great movie when I walk in to see something named "Xtro," but I do hope the movie will contain some humor, or style, or excitement. "Xtro" is the work of incompetent cynics.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19830531/REVIEWS/305310301/1023

There are fugitive moments of tenderness, as the little boy plays with his pet snake, Harry, but this idyll ends when Daddy eats Harry's eggs. There also are moments that fly in the face of reason. In one of them, the mother turns back her son's covers to find he is totally covered with blood. A doctor is called, but no wound is found. Next morning at breakfast, the boyfriend says it's time for the kid to go to school. "But what about last night?" asks the mother, not unreasonably. "Poof -- forget about it," says the boyfriend.

Most exploitation movies are bad, but not necessarily painful to watch. They may be incompetent, they may be predictable, they may be badly acted or awkwardly directed, but at some level the filmmakers are enjoying themselves and at least trying to entertain an audience. "Xtro" is an exception, a completely depressing, nihilistic film, an exercise in sadness.

At the theater where I saw it, "Xtro" was on a double bill with "Tootsie." Why? Possibly because a booker thought the combo of a third-run hit comedy and a first-run thriller might attract audiences. On a Sunday afternoon, the audiences that turned up for "Tootsie" were rather nonplused by "Xtro's" pulsating slime and bloody little kids. It's movies like this that give movies a bad name.

I absolutely love The Dead Zone, so I'm glad to see it praised here. At the time, I recall that Cronenberg's growing cult largely dismissed it: studio money, medium-sized star, Stephen King, no parasites or bloody wombs or exploding heads, etc. "Measured, mutedly disturbing, cold dread" describes it well. For me, Walken gives one of the great performances of the decade--a friend and I used to imitate "The ice...is gonna break!" whenever the mood struck. I still count it as Cronenberg's greatest film. Videodrome's very good for the first half, but I think all the "new flesh" stuff is kind of silly, and the ending's needlessly gross. I saw Cronenberg introduce it at Toronto's AGO a few months ago, which was very good.

I also like Cujo a lot.

Me too. But I like Christine a lot more.

Big year for Stephen King movies!

I'd vote for The Dead Zone, but I'm afraid that I'm largely conflating it with the novel.

Understandable -- iirc this is one of the most faithful movie adaptations of King. Creepy and bleak in a understated way, very different from Videodrome (which I also love).

Psycho II is way underrated.

Still don't know if I can vote for it over The Dead Zone, Videodrome & Sleepaway Camp tho

Is that the one with an astronaut that comes back from space infected with some alien spawn that makes him go all oozy monster?

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, July 7, 2010 12:05 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

yes! but despite ebert's valiant attempts to sell it up there, it's not all that great. notable mostly for garishly sleazy monster rape and even more garishly sleazy monster birth shortly thereafter. so incoherent it's almost psychedelic, but that's not as much of a compliment as it might sound. plus very dark.

Geek Maggot Bingo??

Videodrome in a walk

Amityville 3-D - this was one of the first press screenings I ever went to, really early on a Sunday morning, and I duly fell asleep. Richard Fleischer's worst film (yeah, even worse than Dr Doolittle) v slightly redeemed by a semi-interesting cast - eg early Meg Ryan app; Tony Roberts of Woody Allen 'fame'; a down-on-her-luck Candy Clark.
Christine - kinda charming, kinda lame.
Cujo - surprised ppl are rating this one, always thought it was v dull. Much prefer Cat's Eyes, Lewis Teague's other King-derived flick, or his earlier Alligator, written by John Sayles.
The Dead Zone - yeah, lovely wintry feel and excellent performances.
Mausoleum - my memory is that this was a Phantasm rip-off!
Psycho II - totes agree w/ Pillbox that this is p underrated, full of black humour and clever moments, tho' I don't think I've seen it since it was released. Australian director Richard Franklin's earlier movie Roadgames, w/ Jamie Lee Curtis, is kind of a Duel-Rear Window combo.
Sleepaway Camp - yeah yeah the ending, but a lot of this is flat out terrible, and to my mind no more, or less, exciting than say The Burning or The Prowler or Madman or Just Before Dawn....
Videodrome - my pick. I believe the version shown in the UK was slightly longer than the American version, which is weird, 'cos normally Cronenberg's films were quite often cut by the British censors - the scissors-in-the-throat scene in The Dead Zone was enough to earn it a 'video nasty' reputation it obv didn't deserve.
Xtro - Maryam D'Abo! Giving birth to an fully grown man!

I remember seeing Psycho II when it first came out on video. and yeah, def better than it had any right to be

Xtro x 1 Googol

I never saw Psycho II, but I do recall the "Mad" magazine parody.

is psycho II the one with the "mother doesn't allow me to have any c...c...cutlery" line? because if so yeah i remember being pleasantly surprised by that one

Guys I am 10 minutes into Sleepaway Camp and WAHT THE FUCK IS THIS

unfortunately, it will not recapture that magnificence until the last 10 min or so

RONG RONG RONG

SLEEPAWAY CAMP SPOLIER ALERT

SLEEPAWAY CAMP SPOLIER ALERT

Whoa, I was actually going to post "I bet this is some sort of Crying Game shit isn't it", mostly because I thought the mother was actually a dude, although there was definitely a point I realized Angela could very well be. There are so many layers upon layers to unpack from this film. Holy shit.

SLEEPAWAY CAMP SPOLIER ALERT

SLEEPAWAY CAMP SPOLIER ALERT

Also Eric H. otm that this would never, ever be made today.

One of the few not stupid things I have ever said on ilx, and it gets credited to someone else :)

Oh ooops JJ I SORRY

xp True, but a large part of the 70's/80's prevalence was downplaying or making fun of it, or at least framing it in a way that some sort of humor derived (or supposed to be)

Stevie otm

Lots of things are prevalent in real life - like shitting. But how often does someone take a dump in a movie?

It's one thing to have something ridiculous presented as escapism (like bad killers on the loose). It's another to have rape. It's a complete, complete other to have ridiculous rape. I wouldn't say having a girl raped by a tree, or by curling iron, or whatever counts as true-to-life grittiness. It's just ... gritty.

like, seriously, more than half of the sequel is the first movie.

this is also true of Silent Night Bloody Night 2!

silent night deadly night is a classic -- a bad movie, but one that's fun to watch.

"Punish!"

Yeah, it's in an earlier poll, but tons of "Friday the 13th" make it into "Part II." As if there were so much stuff from the first one you needed to know to keep track of the second.

the friday the 13th series has to be the worst of any series that went 5 or more deep. mostly because they have the fewest worthy entries -- the only one i've ever liked is the original, and not beyond "like".

the sequels i thought would be enjoyable on a weekend viewing marathon for mindless fun, but it sure gets old real fast. like before the credits even roll on the first sequel.

i heart friday the 13th series. all of it. the good the bad. i don't really care. mostly nostalgia for me though.

my preference of those series is Nightmare on Elm Street. they managed to cobble 3-4 good movies together in it (1-3, New Nightmare)

tons of "Friday the 13th" make it into "Part II."

??? Are you sure? I don't remember this being the case at all.

Starts out with flashbacks (maybe I'm thinking of audio flashbacks?) before it kills the survivor. Then I seem to recall flashbacks at the end when the new "survivor" has her showdown with Jason at his shack in the woods.

phantasm II includes TONS of phantasm

the friday the 13th series has to be the worst of any series that went 5 or more deep. mostly because they have the fewest worthy entries -- the only one i've ever liked is the original, and not beyond "like".

the sequels i thought would be enjoyable on a weekend viewing marathon for mindless fun, but it sure gets old real fast. like before the credits even roll on the first sequel.

― San Te, Thursday, 8 July 2010 22:45 (Yesterday)

I think Part VII would be hands down my favorite if they'd left in the crazy gore effects.

I like Part VI, which contains one of my all-time favorite lines:

Hiding camper kid to other hiding camping kid: "So, what were you going to be when you grew up?

silent night deadly night is a classic -- a bad movie, but one that's fun to watch.

the highway rape scene in sndn is pretty much the opposite of fun imo

Ah, Ulli Lommel. From Fassbinder's camp to promising director to... well, someone really ought to make a "Wonderful, Horrible Life of" movie about this guy. Have you followed his recent DTV career, Scott? So appalling, I've finally ceased coming to his defense in public fora. I can remind people about The Tenderness of Wolves, and Cocaine Cowboys until I'm gasping for air, but it doesn't make up for the cynical sell-out he has become. Tragic, really. At least we'll always have Brainwaves.

Mausoleum hasn't been addressed yet. Silly possession potboilers notable only for starring ex-evangelist oddball Marjoe Gortner and the bubbly Bobbie Bresse, who ends up endowed with a pair of carnivorous demon tits.

Voting Videodrome.

the highway rape scene in sndn is pretty much the opposite of fun imo

actually I would agree with you there. rape scenes are always repulsive and this one was particularly bad. to be honest there is little fun about the first 20 minutes or so of the movie -- it's hard not to feel extremely awful for the child.

but then, inexplicably, the movie gets to be pretty funny. "Naughty!" "Punish!". the head rolling down in the snow. There still is a permeating creepiness to it, but it gets to be fairly ridiculous.

yeah, but it's the second one that has GARBAGE DAY!!?

i must see this sequel.

but I have Pinnochio's Revenge en route from Ebay. I fear it's going to be a movie like Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, which seems hilarious in premise, but is so bad it's actually bad.

Oh man, Jesus Christ vampire hunter made me really angry for exactly the same reasons.

yea pretty much other than the part where 3,000 athiests fly out of a vehicle to fight Jesus, I laughed about 2 times. turned it off midway through.

The Dead Zone. Mentioned this elsewhere, but I thought the book was unreadable, and I like King. Movie is a Cronenberg peak. Videodrome hasn't aged nearly as well IMO.

I liked the book! Think a lot of the film's virtues come from it. Videodrome will always get more love cos it fits more neatly with Cronenberg's usual obsessions, plus it might well have looked a little dated or off from the moment it was released.

the technology's dated (like that's a bad thing) but Videodrome's general subject matter's still pretty relevant IMO

I think the FX in "Videodrome" have aged pretty well. Peak Rick Baker FTW.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Hate that I didn't give Christine a vote.

reasons that these results are wrong that dont involve basic fact that sleepaway camp is great.

1. Dead Zone is really not all that good.
2. Videodrome is awesome but NOT a horror movie.
3. goddamnit

I'm perfectly fine with any insinuation that Sleepaway Camp is not canon. I like liking movies that aren't, even in the context of polls like this.

yeah true. i think i just keep wanting to bring it up so more peeps will watch it.

after which they can choose to think i was OTM or TP my house, whichever reaction works.

I'm sensing some hot oil.

Dead Zone is really not all that good

Horror fans = WEIRD

will be watching sleepaway camp.

and it ain't horror but I can't NOT vote for videodrome in anything, sorry.

I just saw "Sleepaway Camp" for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was pretty mediocre at best. Almost like a parody of a slasher film up until the (awesome) final shot. Not scary, not funny, not well acted, not terribly well shot, not hard to identify the killer, lots of talk talk talk. Curious lack of T&A and blood. Just filler setting up that last shot.

shout factory just released galaxy of terror and forbidden world (aka mutant) on DVD as part of their corman collection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk4_9skNrUw

oh my God, Forbidden World is one of the most hilariously terrible movies I've ever seen

the bit where the semi-horny anthropologist is all "we have to communicate with it!" and types "are we compatible?" into a computer translating between the crew and the monster and the monster replies by eating her after tenderly making love to her by sliding a tentacle up her skirt and bursting it out of her back... just, no

I love how they didn't even try to make the creature look different than the one in alien, such chutzpah

I thought I'd seen The Dead Zone before, but I was mistaken b/c I'm watching it now & it seems new to me. Pretty great so far, except I'm having a hard time not loling at Walken b/c of his 'trivial psychic' bit on SNL, which I now realize was spoofing this film: http://www.hulu.com/watch/4180/saturday-night-live-ed-glosser-trivial-psychic

The last 45 seconds of Sleepaway Camp are flown in from some other, also-unwatchable-but-in-a-more-interesting-way movie -- the rest of the film is sleazy and cheap (you just know somebody on the crew committed statutory rape during the filming) and is an excellent example of the devastating effect of cocaine abuse on logic and a sense of time.

^^^this. the movie is really not... that good? but it is bad in a very interesting way. so glad I watched this on Pride Weekend lol

Thanks to DJP, I now know where the sampled dialogue in Alla's "Because" comes from. Thank you so much, dude!

The fact that I didn't mercilessly own fools for shitting on sleepaway camp on this thread implies that I must have been really busy doing something in 2011

Oh ha I see on further inspection that I did, but did not properly bring the hammer down in the late game on josh and shakey mo.

It is amazing and if you don't think it is amazing u are terrible and wrong.

I think it is terrible and wrong but thats what makes it amazing.

Man, Xtro is good. Super creepy alien effects and some surprisingly great writing.

After all the business with the alien eggs, I was waiting for a big payoff, but the ending scene didn't seem all that logical. Neither does the alternate ending mentioned on Wikipedia (involving clones). I thought he'd want to bring his wife back to the alien planet with him.

El Norte

Okay, not great writing, but funny in spots.

"Paula, please stop drooling."

I know Psycho II has its defenders, but I thought it was a typical unnecessary sequel, full of the usual nudge-nudge callbacks and unnecessary messing around with the mythology of the original. I did nearly do a spit take during the final kill (if you've seen it, you'll know what mean), though, and Dean Cundey shoots the thing beautifully, as usual. Perhaps my favourite (colour) cinematographer.