Saturday, September 02, 2006

BEST “GENRE” FILMS OF ALL TIME (PT 2)


7. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: I was going to put the Thing in this spot, but after thinking about it – I just couldn’t bring myself to leave this thrice-made masterpiece of paranoia sci-fi off the list. Especially since its themes and devices made Carpenter’s film possible in the first place. With source material so strong it’s been produced to great effect each time it’s been attempted. Creepy as all hell.

6. SUPERMAN – THE MOVIE: Not the most influential film on this list, which isn’t to say that there would be a comic-book film boom to be had at the moment if actors didn’t think they could potentially wind up in something as good as this was by doing one, but it’s definitely the best cast, obviously a grand and appropriately mythic piece of work. About as much fun as films get.

5. THEM: This is one of those cinematic rarities that genre-dom, not just genre-filmdom, simply couldn’t have done without. Subtract it, and not only wouldn’t we have Godzilla but we’d have to kiss all those other children of an out of control atomic age (Read: The X-Men!) goodbye as well. It’s not only a truly terrific and almost completely original piece of entertainment, (How can you not love all that Dracula style mood lighting – even Alien copied it) it established so many of genre’s archetypes (the brave but not so bright soldier, the aging scientist with the beautiful apprentice daughter) that there should be a statue named after it at the Saturn Awards.

Posted by Peter Collinson at 3:19 PM | | Comments

Friday, September 01, 2006

BEST “GENRE” FILMS OF ALL TIME (PT 1)



10. STAR WARS -- THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Probably the best single example of that whole “Flash Gordon,” fantasy with lasers, school of sci-fi. So funny, fun, cool and exciting at every turn that it actually doesn’t matter that Lucas quickly proceeded to try and ruin the whole thing with every other film in the series.

9. THE ROAD WARRIOR: The ultimate “if things go bad” science fiction future film – period!

8. JOHN CARPENTER’S HALLOWEEN: There are not now and there never were a whole truck load of actually scary horror films around, but this was one of the best of them. I wouldn’t have taken a walk down a quiet suburban street at night on a bet after seeing it that first time. (of course I was like 8 so that probably would’ve been inappropriate at any rate) And, if it weren’t for the flick in the number one spot, it would be the obvious choice for most copied genre-film of all time.

Posted by Peter Collinson at 7:57 PM | | Comments