MyPhoneRiches
 
Home » Tag: horror movies

 

Five Great Horror Movies For That Perfect Movie Marathon

Watching horror movies can be a great way to have a fun evening with your friends, no matter how old you are. No more so than if you have a nice home theatre system, it can be a night full of screams, laughter and you can even add popcorn to the mix for a great entertaining night.

Many of these classics have been released recently on Blu Ray in High Definition, but they are also available on the web, so you could download or stream them too, if you have the capabilities. A few of the latest televisions have internet access now, so you can download the films directly to the TV. Or you can connect a projector to your computer and create your own little cinema in your lounge area.

These five films are a perfect choice for a classy night of horror movies. It is a choice of titles that have been produced over the last half a century, proving that first class horrors never date. These were not only great scary movies though, they were also highly rated films, nominated for many awards, and in some cases winning. These are five films that every film-lover should see at least once.

The number one movie to put on the list should be Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Psycho. Released in 1960, it is still as shocking and eerie today, thanks to a superb performance by Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. Bates Motel is definitely worth a visit, unless you happen to be Janet Leigh. Try not making the error of getting Gus Van Sant’s re-make which featured Vince Vaughn in the Norman Bates role and is not nearly as good. The original Psycho was nominated for 4 Academy awards.

William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist came out in 1973 on the silver screen. Since then its been scaring people around the globe, and this tale of a possessed teen girl played by Linda Blair, who received a nomination for an Oscar for her role, is spine-chilling still today. The Exorcist was the winner of 2 Oscars, for Best Writing and Sound, while it also received another 8 nominations.

In 1975 living Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg made his first mark on modern culture with the instant classic, Jaws. Winner of 3 Academy Awards, including one for John Williams, who composed the unforgettable theme music, Jaws may not stand up to today’s films’ special effects, but it is still as frightening as ever.

The master of horror writing since the seventies has undoubtedly been Stephen King and choosing one of the films based on his books will always be a good choice for a scary-movie night. In 1990 Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her performance in Misery as the character Annie Wilkes. This is an edgy film about Bates’ obsessed fan who saves a famous writer played by James Caan after he is in a car accident.

The Sixth Sense, made my M Night Shyamalan in 1990, and arguably his best film ever, picked up 6 Academy Award Nominations. Bruce Willis leads the cast but it is the Oscar-nominated performances of Haley Joel Osment as the child who can see dead people, one of the best acting performances by a child ever, and Toni Collette as his mother, that steal the show.

If you have not seen these movies, get to it now, as they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the horror genre. Of course if you love horror you will know there are thousands of other movies out there, from the Japanese classics to the independent gore flicks.

Looking for popular zombie movies online? Then be sure to visit Fright Flicks.com – offering a massive selection of horror movies, vampire movies and zombie movies.

Adriana Noton 24 April 2011 Movies , , , , , , , No Comments

Many Horror Movies Online To Scare Everyone

If you are fan of horror, the web is now the best source for these films, whether you are searching for major blockbusters or those ones that most video stores have not even heard of. Horror has always been a leading genre when it comes to independent movies, ever since they became part of popular culture in the Fifties. You can find these and other horror movies online on many video hosting sites.

The genre is as old as cinema itself, with many of the first films ever produced being horrors. Many of these historically relevant productions like Nosferatu are over a hundred years old and are now free to the public domain. For many years of silent movie production, horrors were very popular, but not nearly as popular as when sound came into the films, and gave us screams.

The genre continued to steadily grow until the Fifties when it suddenly exploded. Suddenly studios popped up all around the world dedicated specifically to making scary cinema. Legendary characters and creatures like the Wolfman, Frankenstein and Count Dracula were regular film subjects, and many of the classic horror movies online like these are easy to find.

The Fifties and Sixties saw thousands of B-movie titles released. It was a time in America that people flocked to the Drive-In and the most popular genres were science fiction and horror. The internet has become an archive for these B-movie classics and a quick search will lead you to them.

Horror became serious business in the sixties and a master of the craft was Alfred Hitchcock. You can find many of Hitchcock’s horror movies online like The Birds and Psycho. And it was another fright movie master in the late sixties who would influence a generation, George Romero, with his zombie film, Night Of The Living Dead.

From huge studio productions to fan-made films, there are hundreds of zombie Romero-influenced horror movies online. This specific genre has garnered incredible fans who have paid tribute by making their own mini productions. This has even seen some of these fans go into the industry and many special effects artists and directors began their careers like this.

With many of these fan-made films the focus was on the gore, or special make-up effects. This was a trend that started in the 1970’s when the genre peaked for the first time. Low budget scary films filled cinemas like the cult Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as did studio films like The Exorcist and Jaws.

It was a time that started the scary franchise, and sequel after sequel began to appear. Friday the Thirteenth, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street are just three examples of series that had a number of follow-ons and spin-offs. More recently there has been a trend to remake a number of these movies too for a new audience. Other movies like When A Stranger Calls and Amityville Horror have also been re-produced lately.

The past two decades has seen scary productions come from all corners of the world, with many of the best coming from Asia, and Japan specifically. The web has brought all these productions one step closer, so if you are looking for a fright, get searching now.

Looking online for the best horror movies online? Then be sure to visit Fright flicks.com – offering a massive selection of horror movies, vampire movies and zombie movies.

Adriana Noton 16 April 2011 Movies , , , , , , No Comments

All Hallows Eve

I am a huge fan of holidays. Not for socially correct reasons beaten into us by parents – like love for your family, the “giving” mindset, or quality time with your loved ones. No, I am definitely not a giver; I love holidays for what they do for ME.

And why shouldn’t I? The bulk of my time for each day/week/month year goes to servicing others and making the rich even richer, ranging from the boss’s Yoda vocabulary in my professional life (”Logistics you have, effort levels you don’t?”) to my personal life (”was it supposed to end this quick?”), even extending into my beloved TV time (”is ExTenze right for you?”). And then comes the relief that for one night, for one solitary night of drinking, costumes and debauchery, social constraints don’t apply. I love Halloween.

The Mayans must have boogied on Halloween too, because this holiday is the calendars gift to all horror movie aficionados, NBA fans, social deviants…and whores. And I love them all. Each time Halloween rolls around, it’s like all the mistakes in life mask their flaws for a night: tasteless horror movies becomes insta-classics, the Lakers have an 0-82 season while the Golden State Warriors grace the NBA hardwood, and the abdominal flab on the nearest girl looks like a rock hard 6 pack (or 18 pack, depending on the size of that particular girl and the conviction of your beer goggles).

Though there wasn’t any Golden State Warriors frenzy present, this years’ horror appetizer “Chain Letter” had all the makings of an instant TNT classic. Blood, guts, suspense, nudity, and a murderous wardrobe. And by murderous, I mean the Chain Man killed it with a wardrobe we all can relate to: tattered shirt and pants (from our poorer days), over sized chains (like the steroid freaks use for workouts at your local 24 Hour Fitness), and a cool mask (think Scream meets Ninja Gaiden). You know, all white, enveloping the head AND mouth area, just to make sure his air supply is recycled.

We can hit up our neighborhood’s seasonal Halloween store (that was a run down Save Mart on September 29) and pick up gear from our favorite horror movies, like Chain Letter. Its cool horror-movie masks and motifs like that that makes Halloween all the more enviable to party-goers throughout the nation. More so for the guys, however. Ah, whores. What’s even better about the Halloween apparel season (aside from B-level wardrobe accessories, obviously) is that for all the creativity I might put into an outfit along the lines of Freddy, Jason, or the Chain Man, drunken socialites and the classiest of sorority chicks will do the polar opposite: less equals more.

It’s as if their inner selves hid from perverted eyes for the previous 364 days of the year and came out on All Hallows Eve with pent-up anticipation and a penchant for promiscuity. If only you’re sloppy night could last for another twelve hours, preferably while you wear the Chain Man’s mask. Awards for the best costume won’t go to the guy with a head full of pins and 3 hours of makeup (a la the late 1980’s Hell raiser classic); no, they will go to a perverse ex-cheerleader sporting a mini skirt & thong combination, push-up bra and just enough Bacardi in her to prove to the room she can still do the splits, thus effectively saving all “Megan’s Law” members from having to use an expensive rufy. I love Halloween!

To learn more about Chain Letter,stop by the official site where you can find out all about the movie. Also visit Youtube and check out the official trailer.

Jeff Lynch 11 October 2010 Movies , , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments

Happy Halloween

It’s very common to find in the horror genre of films that the most visually appealing scenes cover empty spots in the script and changes in the actors’ abilities to act. Horror movies in the last 10 years have somewhat organized these secretly hiding techniques into two main areas steadily accepted by the mentally disturbed and sexually frustrated people: visceral death and steamy sex, and I watch.

For example, in 2005’s House of Wax, director Jaume Collet-Serra saved ears worldwide from Hilton’s dim line deliveries by…giving her a sex scene in a tent. She could have been educating film viewers on the positive sides of the Holocaust and it wouldn’t matter as long as all eyes were on the screen and hearts raced.

Director Deon Taylor’s recent release Chain Letter embraces the flip side by using gruesome, spine tingling, Mortal Combat-style deaths to cover up his writer’s flaws and welcome horror fans into the Halloween season with style. For example, in a key scene a stereotypical White jock lambasts his lack of college football scholarships while fatiguing after a 1 minute run on the treadmill and displaying the bench press skills of a quadriplegic. How to hide this? Hmm…break his arms and rip his face off (in a see-saw motion, of course). With no mouth, horror-loving audiences with the memories of gold fish forget he could ever talk in the first place. Problem solved.

Again in the Chain Letter movie, the quintessential nerdy, PC-loving brother of a sexy cheerleader buys a gun for self defense only to rely on the security of confusing soliloquies and solitary confinement in his room…with a huge glass wall and skylight and no gun in sight. How to mask the oversight of giving omitting character survival skills without fooling viewers into thinking he’s Bear Grills? Harpoon him and reel that fish in. No-brainer for everyone involved, right?

While few great movies have succeeded at pulling off both masking techniques successfully, I couldn’t imaging any audience that craves guts, gore, and elevating body counts not wanting to kick start their Halloween season with Chain Letter. There’s even a boob or two for the die hard trick o’ treaters.

Happy Halloween!

Looking to find out more about Chain Letter, then visit www.Chainletterthemovie.com to find cast bios,trailers and morekeyword #2 .

Mariam Azimi 1 October 2010 Movies , , , , , No Comments

Breaking Into The Business With Horror Movies

It is odd, is it not, how popular horror movies have always been? This means odd considering the fact that fear is not usually a very pleasant state of mind to be in outside of the theater. It is a survival mechanism, and a primal one at that, yet people like to pull the trigger on it in groups and even when they are home alone.

Maybe it is the adrenaline rush when the scary monster jumps onto the screen. Maybe it is the fact that folks can allow themselves to get frightened knowing all along that it is all make believe. Certainly it is the opportunity for a date to get closer together and maybe squeeze hands. Yeah, scary movies are fun indeed.

So when one is watching those things, does one ever wonder what kind of sick mind is putting them all together? Many do, and some to the point of fascination. There is a stereotypical type; they go to wacky conventions dressed up like ghouls and vampires on their time off. But those running those conventions know something that others do not.

The folks who produce this fare know that they are gold mines waiting to happen. And the directors get involve for the very same reason. So why not get involved as a business venture? Here is a little secret: these pictures are often so low budget that they will use anyone who can make it to the set to work. No, the pay will be not be good, but the experience will, and an artist can build their reputation.

Perhaps a makeup artist could use some help with all of that fake blood getting splashed all over the set. At the very least they will need someone to help clean it up. And those makeup people need a break too, so if that is what you are into, think about doing ghouls, ghosts, and creepy things. Many very famous makeup artists started out doing cheap B-films in their hungrier days.

And what about writing a script? It seems that a writer could distill the essence of every great scary film into a simple formula. It could probably be described in about four sentences. And that right there is the seed for a new film script. Just add in some new characters and locations and it may actually be on to something big. Again, all famous film folk started in the same basic way.

And as far as the acting goes, if an actor can scream really good, and if they are attractive enough, it should not be too hard to find a small role, in which the character gets killed off pretty early on in the film, and start building a resume reel thereby. Again, many of these types of films are very low budget, so the return in any work put into to them could be substantial.

So instead of paying the hard earned cash out of pocket to get scared by someone else, why not think about using some of that cash to do the scaring professionally? Many good, respectable careers have been started on the low budget B-film horror circuit. It is safe to say that others could, too, and could actually make a living with horror movies.

Looking for the best selection of vampire movies online? Then be sure to visit Frightflicks.com – offering a massive selection of horror movies, vampire movies and zombie movies.

Adriana Noton 22 August 2010 Movies , , , , , , , , , No Comments

Information On The History Of Horror Movies

Movies have been made for many years and horror movies have as well. When looking at the horror movie it is best to look at the horror literature that influenced it first. By understand that it is possible to understand the movies that were made from them.

Horror films would not have been as prominent if not for the horror literature. Horror literature is what made the horror film what it is today. It was in the 1764 book by Horace Walpole called The Castle of Otranto the term horror was first mentioned. Other great writers like Edgar Allan Poe helped this genre with timeless classics like The Raven. These old horror tales are what many iconic horror films are based on. Some of them will include the classics from the 1800’s like Dracula and Frankenstein.

At the beginning of horror movie history these movies were often ones that had the supernatural in there. In the late 1890’s short silent films was where these movies start. The Frenchman Georges Melies is thought to be the creator of the first horror film with his 1896 short silent Le Manior du diable. Around this time the Japanese also tried their hand at this genre with Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei.

The first full horror film was an adaptation of the hunchback of Notre-Dame. Many of these first horror films were created by German film makers as the early 1900’s were the time of the German expressionist films. These films have influenced horror film makers for decades to Tim Burton. During the 1920’s Hollywood started dabbling in the horror genre with Lon Chaney Sr. Becoming the first American horror star.

Hollywood started to popularize the horror film in the 1930’s. In this time the classic Gothic movies Frankenstein and Dracula were created. Other films mixed Gothic horror with the supernatural at this time as well. The iconic werewolf movie The Wolf Man was created in 1941 by Universal studios. It should be noted that this was not the first werewolf film but has become the most influential. B pictures like The Body Snatchers were made in 1945 as well.

Technological innovations in film making changed the face of horror films in the 1950’s. At this point horror films were classed into two categories. These two categories are demonic films and Armageddon films. Many of the social concerns and fears of the times were indirectly placed into the horror films of this era as well.

There were many iconic movies created in the 1960’s that changed the genre. The Birds made by Hitchcock was one of the first American Armageddon horror films set in modern times. Night of the Living Dead is one of the most iconic zombie films. This movie changed how people viewed zombies and changed horror films altogether.

The history of horror movies goes back to the beginning of movies. The long history shows how they changed from Gothic classics to what we know today.

When searching online for the largest selection of scary movies be sure to visit Frightflicks.com – providing a massive selection of the most popular horror movies, zombie movies and vampire movies.

Adriana Noton 11 August 2010 Movies , , No Comments

An Excellent Werewolf Film

In 2000, director John Fawcett released one of my favorite horror films, Ginger SugarSnaps. It is about two death obsessed sisters, Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald. The sisters are social outcasts who explore the realms of the macabre and are infatuated with suicide.

One night when planning to kidnap a bully’s dog Ginger gets her first period. Unfortunately, this attracts a local werewolf who promptly attacks her. Brigitte comes to the aid of her sister and the two run away while the werewolf is killed by Sam, a drug dealer, from his car.

Ginger and Brigitte now must deal with Ginger’s transformation. Ginger does not believe in werewolves at first and simply believes this to be a bad period. Brigitte starts to research cures with the help of Sam. Brigette, however, begins to grow a tail, which leads her to believe the curse may be true.

Ginger slowly gives in to her primordial instincts, even passing the werewolf curse while having sex. She transforms completely before Brigitte and Sam can help her. Brigitte decides to cut Ginger and herself and then mix their blood. She hopes to give the curse to herself and save her sister. This unfortunately fails. Ginger kills Sam and then is killed by Brigitte who cannot save her sister.

The key to Ginger SugarSnaps, I think, is its modest tone. It’s a low-budget Canadian werewolf movie and it has an ingenuity about it. It’s original, to a certain extent, even though the actual premise of werewolves has been used to death over the years. This is a fun movie because of its unique view of werewolves. It brings the legend of the mythical beasts closer to reality — it offers a perspective of what it may truly be like to acquire the abilities of the beast in today’s age. Sure, the overall premise may be ridiculous, as werewolves are works of fiction, but if you ever want to know what it may be like — just for fun — then check this one out for a good thrill. 4/5 stars.

Learn everything you need to know about Stonewashed Jeans !

James Cameroone 19 July 2010 Movies , , , , , , No Comments

A Look At Popular Zombie Movies

Horror movies are a driving force in the film industry. With that being said, zombie movies are a large section of the horror genre, providing a rich and exciting sub-genre to the industry. Audiences consistently flock to theaters to experience the thrills of these types of movies, indicating that they will be around for a long time.

These films have been successfully scaring audiences for decades. You will find zombies to be an interesting and prevalent part of our popular culture, taking many different forms and tackling many ideas. Typically, these zombies come in two forms, the reanimated corpse and the mindless living human. Some films depict them as slow and posing the greatest threat in large numbers, while others show them to be fast, agile, and psychotic flesh-eaters.

Although opinions are going to differ regarding which zombie films are the best, and what exactly makes a film great, there is a general consensus about many movies. Perhaps the most popular example of the genre is the 1968 black and white independent film called “Night of the Living Dead”. Widely considered the pioneering face of the genre, the movie was directed by George Romero. This movie served to revolutionized what the public’s view of zombie films should be.

As the second film in George Romero’s “Living Dead” series, “Dawn of the Dead” is another classic from the premiere voice of the genre. This film, released in 1978, showcases a group of survivors who hide from the zombie epidemic by barricading themselves in a shopping mall. This film is popular for it’s supposed critique of American consumerism, as well as serving as an interesting character piece.

Further exploring this formula of gore and social satire, the more recent 2003 release of “Shaun of the Dead” is considered a unique addition to the niche. Directed by Edgar Wright, this horror-comedy is somewhat unique to zombie films, but is largely considered one of the more entertaining movies in this spectrum.

The classic “Dawn of the Dead” film, by George Romero, was recently remade in 2004. Although it follows closely the formula of its predecessor, the film is considered to be a stylish and modern remake that pays tribute to the original while updating the genre. Like the original, it follows the plight of a group of survivors and their effort to survive a zombie apocalypse through hiding inside a mall.

Another recent film, dubbed an instant classic, is directed by Danny Boyle and released in 2002 with the title “28 Days Later”. This film, considered a commercial and critical success, focuses on the breakdown of society and social structures through an accidental spreading of a virus. Ravenous, insane zombies provide thrills while scenes of vacant cities provide a gloomy outlook on the future.

In the horror niche, zombie films are an established sub-genre that does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Not only do they provide us with thrills and chills, but often they approach many different topics in a subliminal fashion. Zombie films have been popular for decades, and will be successful for quite some time.

Looking online for the best selection of horror movies? Then be sure to visit Frightflicks.com – offering a massive selection of horror movies, zombie movies and vampire movies.

Adriana Noton 18 July 2010 Movies , , , , , , , , , No Comments