Reviews by Matt

Halloween is right around the corner and soon costume stores will be flooded with children looking for whatever the hot costume is this year. Another sequel to the mediocre “Saw” will be released keeping up the lame and pointless tradition that has made me want to punch a hole in the wall the past four years. Look at any news medium and you can find a list of the top horror movies of all time. Seeing as that is way to cliché and, more importantly, that I scare like a five year old, I bring you the top five horror/comedies of all time.

5-“Gremlins”



After Randall Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) brings his son Billy (Zach Galligan) a Mogwai named Gizmo for a gift, things turn bad when he breaks the three rules (do not get it wet, no bright lights, and absolutely no food after midnight) things turn bad. When Gizmo gets wet, he multiplies and when the new gremlins eat after midnight, they turn evil. The town is over run with evil gremlins causing all sorts of problems and reeking havoc. Now it is up to Zach, his friend Kate (Phoebe Cates) and cute little Gizmo to stop them before they take over.

What makes “Gremlins” so good is that it is a horror movie that the entire family can watch. Cute little monsters turn into green troublemakers when the rules get broken. Take out Gizmo’s cute and fluffiness and make the offspring a little meaner and this could have been a classic 80s horror movie. The movie has a lot of very funny moments, the best of which take place in the toy store near the end of the movie. Watch it, you will see what I mean.

4-“Evil Dead” and “Evil Dead 2”





I combine these two because they are essentially the same movie. Both plots boil down to the same thing. In “Evil Dead,” five friends travel to a cabin in the woods. There they discover the Book of the Dead. When one of them finds and plays a tape of the professor who lived in the cabin speaking the Candarian resurrection passages from the book, one by one the friends begin to turn into demons. Soon Ash (Bruce Campbell) is the only one left and finds that the only way to kill a Candarian demon is total body dismemberment. Blood and gore ensue.

“Evil Dead II” is the same thing except this time Ash and his girlfriend are in the cabin the same thing happens. Hilarity along with blood and gore ensue.

If you have not seen these movies yet, then I just have one question. Why? These were the movies that gave the world the B-movie god, Bruce Campbell. “Evil Dead” is the more serious of the two. It is as if Sam Rami was trying to make a real horror movie. “Evil Dead II” is flat out hilarious. In one of the most memorable scenes, Ash’s hand becomes possessed and fights with it. After cutting it off and trapping it in a bucket, he replaces it with a chainsaw. (Now you know you are watching a great B-movie.)

3-“Shaun of the Dead”


Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a 29-year old store clerk who has nothing going in this life. His girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashford) has just left him because she wants more then he is giving her. His best friend Ed (Nick Frost,) is a slacker who spends his days on the couch playing video games. The day he decides to get his life back together is the same day as the living dead invade. He must now fight off zombies and save Liz and his mother (Penelope Wilton) form the undead.

“A romantic comedy. With zombies” is how the poster describes it and there is really in no better way to describe it. The movie is just flat out hilarious. Shaun goes around killing zombies with a cricket bat, pool cues and even throws records at a few zombies. There is one scene that best sums up the craziness of the movie. Shaun and Ed are throwing records at two zombies. Shaun tells Ed to be careful, some of the records are rare. Ed begins to flip through and has to ask Shaun about every record "Purple Rain"? “No.” "Sign o' the Times?" “Definitely not.” “The "Batman" soundtrack?” “Throw it.” All the while the zombies are getting closer and closer. Zombie movie king, George Romero, was so impressed that he gave Pegg and director, Edgar Wright, roles as zombies in “Land of the Dead.”

2-“Grindhouse”



This is another two-movie entry. Thought this time, the movies were released at the same time and were shown back to back.

“Planet Terror” is first up on the bill. In a small town in Texas, after a deal gone wrong, zombie like creatures called “Sickos” get loose and begin infecting the rest of the town. Now those not infected, including El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and Cherry Darling (Rose McGowaen), must fight their way out of town and to safety.

In the stronger, “Death Proof,” Kurt Russell plays Stuntman Mike. He is a man with a car that is death proof. The only problem is you have to be sitting in his seat to get the full effect. He stalks and kills attractive women with his car.

America, I have to say, you missed the boat on this one. This was the most fun I have had at a movie in my entire life. These are a tribute to the 70s B-movies. They are supposed to be stupid, funny, gross and outrageous. The two movies combined for over three hours and not once did I check the time that is how much fun these movies are. Cannot say that about some 90-minute movies.

No. 1 is-DRUM ROLL PLEASE-

1-“Army of Darkness”


In the end of “Evil Dead II,” Ash is sucked into a time vortex and ends up in the 1300s. He is captured because he is thought to be a spy for a rival kingdom and as punishment he is thrown into a pit at the bottom of which lives a Candarian demon. After Ash kills the demon and escapes, he is seen as the one to find the Book of the Dead and save the kingdom from the Deadites.

This had to be my No. 1. It was the movie that got me into “Evil Dead” and the horror/comedy genre. The movie keeps the humor of the second alive and delivers claymation that is so bad, it is good. It is the classic example of a 80s B-movie. If you have seen the first two, then chances are you have seen this one and know just how awesome it is. How many other movies are there where the hero is responsible for raising the dead? “Shop smart. Shop S Mart.”

It takes almost noting to scare people. There have been tried and true methods that have been used since MGM’s monster movies in the 1930s. To make someone laugh takes real talent. This Halloween put down your copy of “Friday the 13th” or “Nightmare on Elm Street” and take a look at some of the best horror/comedies of all time.