Now that horror-movies.ca and I are a unified front against the idiocy of the AFI snubbing horror films (welcome to the party, boys!) , it only behooves us to present for our readership’s pleasure and edification the list the AFI SHOULD HAVE PUT OUT, that bunch of cheesy…um…I’ll just stop there before I degenerate into a profanity-laced ranting fit.

I’ll go ahead and start with horror-movies.ca’s list:

1. The Exorcist 1973
2. Dracula 1931
3. Frankenstein 1931
4. Halloween 1978
5. The Wolf Man 1941
6. Jaws 1975
7. Night of the Living Dead 1968
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974
10. Friday the 13th 1980

And then follow it up with my own:

1. Night of the Living Dead 1968
2. The Exorcist 1973
3. Dracula 1931
4. Halloween 1978
5. Scream 1996
6. Dawn of the Dead 1978
7. The Evil Dead 1981
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974
10. Friday the 13th 1980

You’ll see that the primary difference is mostly that of order–I bumped the legendary Romero cut to the top of the list because it singlehandedly invented MULTIPLE subgenres of horror, including Zombie Apocalypse and Survival Horror. It also was at least partially responsible for the Resident Evil line of games. I’ve also pulled out some of the antiques–yes, the originals were important to providing us the horror-rich market we have today–but for the love of Mike, some of those were downright unwatchable. Dracula is in play, however, because the vampire subgenre is alive and well, and Dracula is the best possible representative.

I believed that Scream deserved a place–despite it being a Wes “Nerve Gas” Craven picture because it was a slasher movie in a time when slasher movies were considered mostly over. It spawned a legion of imitators and gave us back the one-masked-psychopath-army concept again.

Dawn of the Dead is actually widely regarded as George Romero’s best–it certainly put the Monroeville Mall on the map–and while I don’t believe it’s better than Night of the Living Dead, it’s definitely AS good.

And I had to give a place for Sam Raimi’s spectacular low-budget classic The Evil Dead. Not only did it start the career of Bruce Campbell, it also put a lot of fuel in the currently burgeoning indie film movement. The Evil Dead–and its sequels–gave us a huge amount of quotable lines that many of us still quote today. Isn’t that right, Mister Fancy Pants?

Hail to the king, baby. Or rather, kings.

Catch up with all the greats–no matter where they may fall on the list–in the horror movie trivia on Kwanzoo.

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