Movie Meme...Horror

Hannah has finally unleashed the greatest genre into the Blogosphere with this week's theme for Metal Mummy's Movie Meme....Horror!

I could write pages about my love of horror films.  From the psychological to the supernatural to the slasher to the downright nasty...horror films encompass the same thrills as a scary ass roller coaster.  The increased heart rate, the adrenalin and the gut churning thrills are all very similar!

The film I am choosing isn't necessarily the best in terms of story, effects or acting.  However, it is the film that saw the rise of one of the most iconic horror characters and the subsequent inspiration for the naming of my baby boy.  Yes, predictably maybe, but my choice is "A Nightmare on Elm Street".

Released in 1984, I was 15 and it made such an impression on me.  The character of Freddy Krueger was pure genius...he personified the terror of nightmares with an added dash of comedy, which served to make him all the more sinister!

He stalked the teenagers of Elm Street in their sleep, wreaking revenge on the parents who had burned him alive in his boiler house for being a child killer.

I saw it at the cinema back in 1984.  My friends and I were literally huddled together screaming and laughing and loving every minute of this film.  The part where Freddy's tongue comes out of the telephone had us squirming in disgust at a time in our lives when we were just discovering boys and snogging!!  Wes Craven pitched this film perfectly to the intended audience.  We empathized with Nancy as she tried to make the disbelieving adults help her and her friends who were being picked off one by one by Krueger.  It was just horror gold!

Johnny Depp makes an early appearance as one of the teens who meets a gruesome end at the razor fingered hands of Freddy Krueger.  Robert Englund played the lead brilliantly with the perfect blend of terror and humour.  The iconic gloves, hat and jumper make him instantly recognisable.  The NOES franchise produced a series of excellent sequels.  The third one was my favourite "Dream Warriors" which was released in 1987.  I liked how the story was padded out with more background on Krueger whilst remaining true to the original. The character was embellished allowing a degree of humanity without ruining his horror credentials!

To this day, I still don't like having my wardrobe door open when I go to bed...not even a crack...in case Freddy Krueger decides to come through while I'm asleep!  The spectral killer is certainly the stuff of nightmares...and I for one, love it!!

Listography...5 Favourite Films

Fresh off the back of the BAFTAs and of course Kate's 15 minutes of fame on Irish TV (get her...she'll be way too famous to talk to the likes of us soon!! hehe) our Listography challenge for this week is five favourite films.  This is such a tricky one!!  When I start thinking of movies I love, I'm reminded of other favourites until I have a list a mile long covering every genre and mood known to celluloid!  So I've reined in my prolific film loving tendencies and whittled it down to this:

Se7en I love Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.  I love the dark, atmospheric cinematography and the gritty storyline.  I love evil Kevin Spacey and his crazy killing spree.  Sadly I hate Gwyneth Paltrow, but because she ends up with her decapitated head in a box, her appearance in this film does not ruin it for me!

I saw Grease at the cinema and the projector broke, leaving a theatre full of pre-pubescent cinema goers sobbing into our popcorn because we'd been queueing around the block just to get in to see it.  It became the first film of my youth where I could recite every line.  We used to re-enact it line by line on the 2 mile walk back from school.  We knew every appearance of the geek Eugene and every dance move.  However, as a big Boomtown Rats fan, I cheered when Bob Geldof's Don't Like Mondays knocked Summer Nights off of the number one spot in the charts and he ripped up a pic of John and Liv on Top of the Pops.  Proper anarchy!!

I adore Disney films and I could easily list them all as favourites but I have a huge soft spot for Beauty and the Beast.  The brunette bookish Belle proves that you don't have to be a vacuous princess to land your man, and her dismissal of the popular hunk Gaston in favour of the hirsute beast shows real girl power!  The songs are fab and I love the kiss at the end. X

No list would be complete without Nightmare on Elm Street.  The whole franchise just lends itself perfectly to feeding my fears!  I can't sleep with my wardrobe doors open or with my feet poking out from under the duvet....lest the nightmare monster comes a calling!!  As everyone knows my baby son is named after Freddy Krueger, such is my love of this movie.  I saw it at the cinema as a teenager and we sat screaming and squirming in our seats as the knifed gloved slashed and sliced at his snoozing victims.  Proper iconic horror...brilliant!

Calamity Jane is representative of all the musicals that I love.  My dad was a big Howard Keel fan and we were brought up on the old musicals.  I love the all singing, all dancing extravaganzas.  Calamity Jane has some brilliant songs...Whip, Crack, Away...you've got to love it! The love story of a tom boy cowgirl who falls in love is just charming.  Old school romance, Doris Day and a cracking lot of songs.  Unbeatable!


Apologies to Saw, Dirty Dancing, ET, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Notebook, Toy Story, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Freaks, Fight Club, Terminator, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Con Air for omitting you.