I feel like this film was a serious underachiever in its attempt to remain context-free because of the way context kept seeping in through the story.

We all know it. We all love it. The Halloween season is upon us and, appropriately, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is playing on many of our televisions. Some consider it to be the epitome of horror films. Seriously. Look up any list of the greatest horror films of all time, and this one is likely to be on the list, if not at the very top. It's an adaptation of a book written by the master of horror himself, Stephen King. So why is it that King has never been fond of the film?

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

I had already seen the Hollywood version of this film with Jennifer Connolly when I was on my way to watch this film on my laptop. However, I didn’t really like the Hollywood production of it and felt like it was a little over the top. The acting was not very good and the way in which it interpreted the story and its atmosphere wasn’t great. This is something I find a lot with Hollywood versions of Japanese films - that they fail to provide the same atmosphere and character intensity as their predecessors. I went on to watch the Japanese version of “Dark Water” (2002) and honestly, it was about a hundred times better than the Hollywood version.

Oh, it’s the special time of year again when there’s that feeling in the air, a familiar crispy coolness bringing on the reoccurring wonders of what may lurk behind the veil which appears to be at its thinnest. Oh how I love the way that the fall season brings on one of my favorite Halloween traditions of curling up and getting cozy with a hot drink, some roasted pumpkin seeds and slipping into the world of the wondrously eerie, the macabre, and captivating haunts right from my TV screen. Back in the day, it was from VHS rentals. (Yes, I’m that old)

It’s movie night and you’re kind of lost looking for a movie worth your while. You can push those romantic, comedy and action movies to the side for now. A little further. That’s enough. Enough space for you to have your mind blown and taken away by these spellbinding psychological thriller movies on Netflix.

I was not expecting to get chased by zombies when you invited me to your cabin.

Admittedly, the sole reason I was interested in watching The Pale Door was that Joe R. Lansdale’s name was on the poster. If you’ve never heard of him, stop reading and check out some of his stuff now. He has a wealth of literary outputs, stories pertaining to different genres, including horror, Western, crime, science-fiction, coming-of-age drama. Some of these stories are absurdist pulp, others are genuinely moving. Usually, they are both. These stories can involve a melancholic King Kong, a soul-sucking mummy, zombies with Mickey Mouse ears, and so much more. If that doesn’t make you interested in giving his work a gander, I don’t know what will.

I was actually watching this film when I was supposed to be working and thus, I got nothing done. The film was, at first primitive and slightly odd so I thought about turning it off, but then I saw tarot cards and then I was absolutely sold. The film is about a man who can tell the fortunes of each and every man in his carriage with the only way out for each of them being death. There is a twist that I don’t want to tell you because it gives the game away but Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are both in it, so you know it’s good.

It is incredibly reductive that when many people think of David Cronenberg they think of Scanners. Scanners isn’t a bad movie, per se, but it should not be the first movie or even the second movie that people think of when they think of a master such as Cronenberg. With movies like The Brood, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence and Videodrome, it says something sad about our culture that people just want to remember an exploding head.

The Bad Seed is a black and white 1956 American psychological horror-thriller film. It stars Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones, and Eileen Heckart. The film is based upon the 1954 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. Patty McCormick portrays eight year old Rhoda who has blonde pigtails and is always wearing a dress and patent leather shoes. She comes across as sugar and spice but she is definitely not everything nice. Rhoda becomes enraged when a classmate named Claude wins a medal that she believes she deserves and this is the beginning of all the trouble.

Arguments such as this have been going on since the beginning of time. Whether they be about political, religious or literary staples, there seems to be a silent agreement to disagree. While I’m unqualified to weigh in on those centuries-old debates, I like to consider myself qualified to lead the charge in one decades-old argument.