Almost a Hundred Years of Horror Cinema

In less than two weeks time, we’re running a Spooky Special edition of our Neurodivergent Cabaret Night, Organised Fun. As a break from me philosophising about neurodiversity, disability and work (which, let’s face it, won’t be a long break), I decided to ask my collaborator, Gary Paradiso, to list ten of his favourite horror films.

As with whenever I’ve asked Gary to do anything, he ended up doing something slightly different but possibly better. He’s decided to take people through a hundred years of horror cinema, listing one of his favourites from each decade.

Read his list below.

1930s - The Old Dark House

Love Rocky Horror? Then check out this queer-coded horror classic which inspired Richard O’Brien’s legendary musical. James Whale, the openly-gay filmmaker, not only made this masterpiece but he is also directed the Universal Monster movies Frankenstein, Bride Of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man.

1940s - Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein

Speaking of the Universal Monsters, this is my favourite Frankenstein flick. It’s got both the original Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) and the original Dracula (Bela Lugosi). And if that’s not enough, there’s also an uncredited voice-performance by Vincent Price as The Invisible Man. Controversially, I also think Lugosi’s performance as Dracula is better in this film than in the Count’s own feature.

1950s - Plan 9 From Outer Space

Not every entry in Bela Lugosi’s filmography is legendary. However, this one is, but for the wrong reasons. For years this was the so-bad-it’s-good movie, and its director, Ed Wood, was considered the Worst Director Of All Time. Can Ed Wood direct? Not really. Is this film worth watching? Definitely. Over the years there’s become a cult around Ed Wood’s films, of which I am a dedicated member. For all their flaws (of which there are many) there’s a charm to them. He was a man who was determined to be a filmmaker, and he refused to let his utter lack of abilities prevent him from doing so - a lesson we should all take to heart. For more on his life and work, watch Tim Burton’s (best) film, Ed Wood.

1960s - What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

Did you know there’s a horror sub-genre called psycho-biddy? Well you do now, and this is by far the best example of it. Fuelled by the real life bitter Hollywood rivalry of its two stars, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, this film is quite simply a masterpiece. The screen legends try their best to outdo each other in every single scene, and it is a thrill to watch. The film is both a psychological thriller and a campy black-comedy. It’s horrific, hilarious and heartbreaking.

1970s - Jaws

The 1970s birthed so many genre-defining classics I could’ve chosen for this list. In fact, getting it down to ten films from this decade would’ve been a difficult task. However, it felt only right to choose my all-time favourite film. No shark film has ever topped it. No one has ever dared to even think about remaking it. It’s the film that created the Summer blockbuster and terrified countless people. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it and it still scares me after all these years. At our debut event, we had Katie Overstall (from the Underground Clown Club) perform a poetic reimagining of the film, which was full of homoeroticism and gingerbread deaths.

1980s - The Thing

The 1980s is the golden age of horror cinema. But for me, there could only be one film to choose: John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing From Another World. Both films are adaptations of the same novella (John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There?) and both are amazing, but Carpenter’s is easily one of the greatest films ever made. The special effects have never been beaten, Ennio Morricone’s score is flawless, the cast are incredible, and the whole film is a tense, paranoid, beautiful nightmare. If you’ve never seen it, stop reading this list right now and put it on. You will not be disappointed.

1990s- Braindead (AKA Dead Alive)

Before he won Academy Awards for films about hobbits, Peter Jackson made really weird, low-budget horror-comedies - this is the best of them. It’s a gory, gonzo romp about love and zombies. It’s so very, very weird and very, very funny. Yes, his Beatles documentary was incredible, but it doesn’t feature a priest using martial arts to beat up a gang of undead punks whilst shouting “I kick arse for the Lord!”

2000s - Bubba Ho-Tep

Joe R. Lansdale is one of my favourite authors. This film is based on one of his short stories, in which Elvis Presley switched places with an Elvis impersonator and is now dying in a Texan retirement home. His best friend is JFK (played by legendary civil rights activist, Ossie Davis) and together they have to defeat a 3000 year old cowboy-mummy who’s sucking people’s souls out of their arseholes. I wish I’d written this film so badly. Also, Elvis is played by Bruce Campbell, who is famous for playing Ash Williams in the Evil Dead franchise - my all-time favourite horror franchise. Watch this film, then go watch Evil Dead II. Both films are groovy.

2010s - One Cut Of The Dead

This Japanese movie is not so much a zombie movie as a movie about people making a zombie movie. It’s one of those films where you need to go into it with as little knowledge as possible. With that in mind, I’ll do my best to avoid any spoilers by only saying that it’s separated into three parts: in the first you see the movie, in the second you see the pre-production for the movie, and in the third you see the events of the movie from a different point of view. What seems strange in the first part turns out to be the set-ups for brilliant gags in the last. This is one of the most enjoyable and weirdly heartwarming films I’ve seen in years…with zombies.

2020s - X/Pearl

Technically, I’m cheating as this is two films but they’re essentially two halves of a whole, so we’ll allow it. X takes inspiration from Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and then creates this feminist-slasher film about sexual politics, pornography, stardom, religious dogmatism, the fleetingness of youth, the frailty of old age, and the boundaries and limitations of love. Pearl explores many of the same themes, whilst also kinda feeling like a demented Disney movie. The latter is a prequel to the former, and I’d recommend watching them in the order which they came out as Pearl features nice nods to the events of X. Mia Goth gives career-defining performances in both of them, and I can’t wait to see what she does in the third instalment of the trilogy: MaXXXine.

Organised Fun takes place on Weds 1 November at Jamboree, Kings Cross, featuring Loose Willis, the Underground Clown Club, Jean Vincent Price and the Awkward Silences

Buy tickets at: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/594477

See the access information at: https://theawkwardsilences.com/organised-fun-access-information