Day 7: A Great Hero: Nancy Thompson

For me a great hero is someone who is willing to sacrifice themselves in order to save those around them. Especially the ones they love. My favorite hero is Nancy Thompson played by Heather Langenkamp from the Nightmare on Elm Street. Nancy is likable, smart, and resourceful. She feels like the door next door and she is someone that everyone can relate to. She gives her life in Nightmare on Elm Street 3 because of love. She can’t save those around her and she dies trying. BUT, she never gives up and she fights to the bitter end against Freddy. She’s fantastic!

Day 6: Your favorite movie by your favorite director: “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare”

To me, New Nightmare is that rare horror film in which everything works. The performances are pitch perfect, lead by a tour-de-force performance by the amazing Langenkamp (she has never been better than she is here). The script is full of twists and turns and the movie is quite possibly the best looking of the entire series. What starts out as a maze of mirrors becomes something much more than your typical nightmare. As I said before, the film brilliantly examines the role film plays on those who watch it. Something that Wes Craven’s Scream would play out to great effect two years later and something that I myself toyed with in writing Popularity Killer. I really can’t say enough about this film and homages to the original are expertly placed. I think about this film on a nearly daily basis and I hope one day to create a work on art that has the same merits of this film. It really is something special.

Picking a great horror doctor is difficult because the horror genre is filled with bad to awful ones. Even the best ones like Dr. Loomis have a tendency to use their patient as bait (see the Loomis-Lloyd relationship in Halloween 5) more than anything else. But, let’s take a look at Dr. Franken from Frankenhooker. Here is a doctor who is willing to do anything to save the woman he loves. Sure that might mean blow up some prostitutes but love does come at a price. He might not be a “good” doctor to some but he is to the love of his life and doesn’t that mean something?!

If ever there was a character in a slasher that you wanted to see die a slow and painful death, that character would be Dr. Crews. A monster of a doctor who uses his patient’s mom as a shield against Jason, he deserves everything that he has coming to him. Where did Jason find a circular weedwacker in the middle of the woods? Who knows but it has never been put to such good use.

My first encounter with the horror genre is just as vivid in my mind as ever before. I must have been in either 2nd or 3rd grade when I first saw the one and only Freddy Krueger terrorize Nancy on a 20″ tube TV. I was over at a friends house and after we were done listening to Sir Mix-a-Lot and raiding his big brothers awesome cassette collection, we stumbled upon a movie neither of us had seen before: A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Being young and relatively new to horror films, I didn’t really know what to expect. Needless to say, I loved the movie and found Freddy both scary and amazing. As we watched this, I couldn’t take my eyes off the blurry screen. I was in a trance and as my friends mom spotted what we were watching, she quickly told us to turn it off. Like all young kids would do, we completely ignored her.

We continued to watch this film and I obviously had no idea the impact this film would have on my future. This work by Wes Craven would be a huge influence on me in years to come. We went on to watch the rest of the film and ended the day with some NBA Jam on Sega Genesis. Not a bad day.

It’s finally October everyone and it is time to do our traditional thirty days of horror. Along with a horror review a day, we will also be featuring a theme each day. You can join in on the fun at Slasher Studios Horror Film Club.

Today we will be discussing our favorite memorable animal for a horror movie. For us, the title has to go to Clovis from “Sleepwalkers.” This lovable little guy is one of the few animals in a horror flick that turned out to be a hearing. Not only does Clovis save the day but, as leader of the pack, he also bands the other cats for a heroic final fight. The movie itself might not be the best horror movie ever made (hell, it’s not even the best Stephen King movie) but is sure is fun. Clovis to the rescue!

*Horr

Starting on October 1st, Slasher Studios we be featuring a different horror movie each day in the following catagories. Make sure to play along at the Slasher Studios Horror Film Club with your selections. It’s going to be an October to dismember.

Day 1: A memorable animal in a horror movie
Day 2: One of your earliest encounters with the horror genre
Day 3: A favorite saw or chainsaw scene
Day 4: A great horror movie doctor
Day 5: Favorite horror director
Day 6: Your favorite movie by your favorite director
Day 7: A great hero
Day 8: Best comedy-horror
Day 9: A boring horror movie
Day 10: Favorite classic horror movie
Day 11: Most psychotic killer
Day 12: The goriest movie you’ve seen
Day 13: Favorite foreign horror
Day 14: The cheesiest horror you’ve ever seen
Day 15: A great 80’s horror movie
Day 16: Great indie horror
Day 17: Favorite horror franchise
Day 18: A movie people hate that you love
Day 19: A movie that disappointed you
Day 20: A great twist ending
Day 21: A horrible/lame twist
Day 22: Best movie based on a book
Day 23: Scariest old person
Day 24: A movie you expected to be bad, but enjoyed
Day 25: A franchise you don’t like
Day 26: Worst sequel
Day 27: Favorite OR least favorite Stephen King movie
Day 28: A great zombie movie
Day 29: A movie you refuse to watch
Day 30: One you need to watch, a.s.a.p.