You like scary movies, don't you?

Well our kiddoes have been sick the past few days, so I thought I'd watch a horror flick last night, why not? It turned out pretty impressive, meaning, my fingernails are gone and I still have cramps in my legs from the tension this flick gave me! I had read back around Halloween time about this little film that could called "The Descent", no not "The Decent", and the review was so well written that I figured I would place the reminder in the back of mind to watch said goodness one day. Well I was at the blue store this weekend getting way too many groceries and it was there for $5! Don't do it, I thought. It might suck and then it will be sitting there with the other outcast films you've purchased like "The Doors" and "Dude, Where's My Car?" (seriously though, the commentary makes Dude really funny). But for $5, which is how much it costs to rent now a days sadly, I figured why not? So I bought it along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" causing the checker to give me a creepy run through with her eyes. Just put them in the bag, ma'am, and be careful with my bananas.

"The Descent" was freaking creepy, claustrophobic and gorey with an excellent splash of light humor (or humour). But what made this film anything miles from the catastrophy that the trailer and film poster made me believe it was was the great direction, including the acting, script and use of cinematography. Horror films have lost that edge from the 70's and early 80's thanks to Scream and the nonsense that's flung into our theaters the last 10 years, but a few have risen, in my opinion, (since this is my blog and I still don't know what that word means or why I feel the need to write one) above and sadly hidden behind the more known films. The story goes as follows: 6 women get trapped in a cave they are spelunking (spelling?) in (and why does that sound dirty?) and mutants attack them while they try to find their way out. Sounds lame, huh? Honestly, that really does, minus the funny I tossed in. But thankfully, the team that created it really sells it off to be quite awesome and everything I hoped for it to be. This film is disgusting at times, but keeps you hooked on the suspense. I love how you can never really see what's going on in the film thanks to the low-lit cave they are in, really pulled that off well. I give "The Descent" an 8 out of 10.

So here's 25 of my other favorite (or favourite) Horror films worth checking out:

25. The Evil Dead - I know, I know. It's a cheesy b-movie, but it's such a horror/gore classic! Much like C.H.U.D. (which would have been #26) this film from the early 80's did what it could on the budget that Sam Raimi had. The gore, comedy and off the wall camera work really helped move horror films in a different direction... and Bruce Campbell's film career is born.

24. The Grudge - Most people I talk to really thought this film fell flat, though I enjoyed it. Sure SMG isn't the greatest actress, but you don't have to be as long as the direction is done right. Was Atreyu all that great in Never Ending Story? No... but I do find myself saying Artex, stupid horse quite often because the scene where Artex sinks in the swamp of sadness was directed so well. This film deserves a spot on my 20 just because it actually creeped me out, but of course was plagued with sequels. What is it with sequels and remakes to horror classics?

23. Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - This shouldn't have been remade, but I have yet to see the remake so I will stop myself right there. The original Hills is incredible and pretty terrifying, much like the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Wes Craven pulls out all the stops here much like he did on "The Last House on the Left (1972)" (#27, if you are wondering, on my enormous horror list) with the torture stuff that I usually turn my giant Girolanose up at (Saw, Hostel, Hellraiser, etc.). This movie is nuts and the 'bad guys/rednecks' are well cast.

22. Amityville Horror (2005) - I had a tough time deciding if I wanted to go original 1979 version or the remake from '05 and decided that the remake is more of a conglomeration of a few of the originals, and since it was done really well, I'll take '05 for $500, Alex. Ryan Reynolds, known for pretty much getting all the 'cute funny guy' roles that should have gone to Zack Morris or even Jason Lee if he wasn't so old by now. But this film separated him for good. Very impressive direction, acting and all-over well done remake, and that means a lot since I despise remakes.

21. The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) - Not to be confused with "A Haunting in Connecticut", this turned out great for modern horror films. Supposedly based on a true story (right) this creepy film has a decent cast, though the Julian Moore wannabe mom is a bit much, it does have the awesome Casey Jones from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) Elias Koteas in it. It keeps you guessing the whole way through and turned out pretty good.

20. 28 Days Later - This film was nuts! It wasn't exactly great, but mindless zombies and all the chaos definitely put this one up there. There was a good level of lite humor to keep you from grossing out, but a pretty cool idea all together and very well done.

19. I Am Legend - First off, I really don't like Will Smith. Seriously, he ruins movies for me because he's just too, well, Will Smithish. You can't really take him seriously other than like 3 films! So when I saw he was going to be in this, I thought, greeeaaat... Well I missed out on seeing it at the theater because of this reason and regret it. It was pretty moving, on top of well directed and full of awesome freak-out moments. The zombies were excellent and believe it or not, Will Smith pulled this one off with nothing left behind.

18. The Others - Another individual that I would like to 'retire' is Nicole Kidman. Seriously, what has she been in that was ever really great and deserving of 30 more films? Exactly. So she lost a ton of weight and did The Others, an excellent move on her part. From start to finish, this movie was dark and moving, keeping you pretty clueless to the twist in the end.

17. Stir of Echoes - Everyone needs at least 1 Kevin Bacon flick in their top 20, right? And since Tremors and Friday the 13th are further up (or down?) the list, here's Stir of Echoes. What a crazy idea and great ending to a stand up job in direction and acting from some Bacon.

16. Cloverfield - Much like The Grudge, you either loved this or hated it. I was seriously losing attention since the first 30 minutes seemed like I was watching a bad 90210 episode and then the choas ensues! The trick here, having you never really knowing what's going on, either annoyed you, made you nauseous or made you love the film. It over-achieved in this 'hand held' type of horror that spawned with Blair Witch and the ending was perfect.

15. War of the Worlds (2005) - Hey, it's Tom Cruise! At this point in his career, I was still beaming off of Magnolia and Minority Report, so Tom could do no wrong, especially since he left that giraffe woman of his behind, Penelope Cruz, not Nicole Kidman, though that was good too. But wouldn't it have been great to be able to say Penelope Cruz-Cruise? Cruz-Cruise... Okay, so this film obviously had a mega bank account attached to it thanks to Mr. Spielberg, but it turned out fantastic. Everything about this was unbelievable and really came out at the right time to move big blockbuster horror/diaster films along. The CGI was hauntingly real and 'most' of the acting played out well. (when his kid joins the military and disappears I think I was the only one in the theater that stood up and applauded, what a terrible actor)

14. What Lies Beneath (2000) - AWESOME. Indiana Jones and Cat Woman make a much needed comeback in this very well put together film. At a time when horror films were leaning heavy on comedy and big names to carry them, What Lies Beneath went in a different direction and pulled out a couple of semi-retired actors to help give life to an eery and plot twisting story.

13. Darkness - No it's not the evil Tooth Fairy movie that came out around the same time. Darkness stars Anna Paquin (Piano, anyone?) and for some reason this movie really stuck with me even after a third watch. I think the ending (not to give it away) really sold this movie to me. Great acting and really awesome idea.

12. The Ring - Only because it couldn't be in my top 10, and the fact that it totally freaked me out in the theater. Shock value returned with this film in a mystery setting and it worked out great in my Girolablogpinion.

11. Interview with a Vampire - Is this a horror flick? I guess it is since it deals with Vampires and lots of gore but who knows? This is such a classic though. I don't think vampire films even know where to go or what they are doing any more. If you've somehow missed this one, check it out. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and a talented Kirsten Dunst when she was like 10 or something.

10. The Mist (2007) - No not the Fog. But it is the return of Stephen King, in my opinion. Incredible idea through and through and well acted out along with the direction. The CGI and the unbelievable ending to this film will leave you talking about this film forever. Horror films are slowly getting better and this is one the newer one that is giving the flooded genre a good punch in the beans.

9. Halloween (1978) - John Carpenter's original Halloween is to this day one of the greatest horror films ever made. Not only was it the largest independant film success, it helped create a hug new wave of horror films dawning the 'masked serial killer' age of horror. It's a shame there were so many sequels, but the original is still the best.

8. Pitch Black - Black. Easy now... I know Vin Diesel isn't the greatest of actors, but he fits in well here. To be honest, it took a lot of coaching for me to finally sit down and watch this a while back and i was hooked to the screen from start to the surprising ending. If you missed this one, check it out. It is more of a horror/sci-fi, but along the lines of The Descent, it uses the 'darkness' as an excellent visual tool to keep your next craning and your eyes buldging as things are constantly darting out at you. One of the most overlooked films, period.

7. Bram Stoker's Dracula - Tom Waits! Seriously though. One of the few horror films that actually won Oscars (3). With an unbelievable cast, direction, screenplay and visual effects that hadn't been successfully accomplished before, Dracula was an unbelievable achievement for horror films. Sure Keenu and Winona were close to awful, but thankfully the talented Cary Elwes, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Waits and Gary Oldman kept this film barreling in style. I don't think there will ever be a vampire film as amazing as this for another 10 years.

6. The Sixth Sense - Let's just say the mid 80's to late 90's pretty much almost sunk the whole horror genre, right? Well one filmmaker realized what had been missing from all those terrible Elm Street, Halloween, Candyman and Friday sequels... Hitchcock. M. Knight Shamaramadingdong used old school Hitchcock scare tactics, mystery and suspense with a little help from Donnie Wahlberg and a creepy kid to create as close to a modern horror masterpiece as possible. I don't know if this was up for best picture or not with the Academy Awards, but I think it should have been. It's a staple in everyone's horror memory and blew the socks off of that Blair Witch garbage. With an almost unexpecting twist and amazing debut direction, this one easily has a 9 out of 10 stars from the Girolagorilla.

5. Alien - I know what you're thinking. "Alien is sci-fi!" Or you could be thinking, "why am I still readin this?" Either way, it is sci-fi, but in a horror/suspense side like the monster/alien films of the 50's and 60's though done up fancy like. With several successful sequels and the original having plenty to offer, this was a landmark film for the horror genre and even won a rare Oscar for it's incredible visual effects.

4. The Exorcist - You knew it had to be on here. Almost everyone's sat through it, my sister and I having been those weird kids that watched it all the time like The Princess Bride and Goonies. It's just insanity. Amazing direction, acting oh and it's terrifyingly nasty.

3. Poltergeist - Most people don't really think this was scary, but somehow it's always freaked me out. Ghost movies were usually pretty lame other than the Amityville films, but Poltergeist changed that idea for good I believe. It had all the right things going for it and unfortunately a supposed curse to go along with it. Not many films really embedded nightmares into me as a kid, but I still have thoughts of how it made me feel nowadays, so that's a pretty awesome impact from a little ghost movie that could. Oh and Coach was in it, sweet.

2. Stanley Kubrick's The Shining - Not to discredit Mr. King, but we all purposely forgot his disaster made for tv version of the The Shining. Kubrick took Stephen King's whacked out book and turned it into an unbelievable masterpiece for horror and suspense. How Jack Nicholson didn't get best actor for the entire 80's because of this one performance blows my mind! Easily my favorite Kubrick film and my favorite King story.

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - What a terrifying film. If you can find a good remastered copy of it, watch it over and over again. You will see different things every time you watch and it's unbelievable that a movie could be so entrancing and shocking even to this day. Now I refuse to watch the remakes, and they could be good, but there will never be anything like the original.

(honorable mention) The Village - This movie could have been the best freaky monster in the woods film to date, but if you've seen it, you know why I was let down. What a shame from the good movie that could of been great. I grant thee an honorable mention, Joaquin!

(honorable mention) Stephen King's IT - Clowns. Tim Curry. Balloons. Stephen King. Gave me shell shock as a kid. I grant thee an honorable mention, Pennywise!

(honorable mention) Silence of the Lambs - more of a psychological thriller than horror, otherwise it would have made the top 15 for sure. Great acting and amazing suspense. I grant thee an honorable mention, Mr. Hopkins and talks like a man Jodie 'Candleshoe' Foster!

(honorable mention) Robo-Cop - it's so border-line action/adult super hero/sci-fi that I didn't know if I could get away with putting Robo-Cop in here, but it deserves to have something, so I grant thee an honorable mention, "I'd buy that for a dollar" Guy!

So there ya have it. Thanks for reading and go get some fun horror flicks for the holidays. Oh, and yeah, Jaws was pretty flippin awesome too.