Top films of 2017!

 Top films of 2017!

Every year since I started this blog I always try to narrow down my top favorite films I either saw for the first time in the passing year or that I found myself re-watching constantly. Here I'm narrowing down my top choices!

Day Of The Dead (1985)

- Ah, Day Of The Dead. This film has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. I adore George A Romero films, and this film played a huge part in my love of horror and horror makeup. As much as I adore Dawn, Day has always been my favorite. Between the bleak storyline, the beautiful music, the over the top gore, zombie makeup, acting, and of course the greatest villain to ever grace the silver screen...Captain Rhodes. This film has it all. In my eyes as much as I enjoyed Land, Day completes the trilogy, and is the strongest entry in the entire series. I LOVE this one. I re-discovered my love for this movie this past summer, and I seriously must have watched it over a 100 times. Strange how I find this movie comforting as people are torn to pieces...go figure! I was even lucky enough to watch this movie at a screening at my friend Chris' place where he watched it outside and ate ribs durning the big massacre. Truly an awesome experience! In fact, I watched this movie so much in 2017 I plan on watching instead the ball dropping...I'm going to watch the platform filled with zombies lower to ring in the new year!

Slumber Party Massacre III

- I've always been a big fan of the Slumber Party Massacre movies. It wasn't until last winer that they released both part 2 and 3 on blu-ray thanks to ShoutFactory. Having loved the first two movies in the series, I knew I instantly needed to check this movie out the second I read a review that said that this was mean spirited, and had quite the bodycount. This movie is late 80's/early 90's cheese at it's best. It actually vaguely has a pretty decent disturbing backstory, and a group load of teens getting murdered by a crazed killer with a drill. I thought this film was a complete riot, mostly the fact that the girls were all "trapped" inside the house. I'm not even joking, the killer drags a table in front of a giant doorway and somehow the girls just can't quite figure out how to crawl over or under it. Filled with gore, awesome music, and laughable acting this is a huge guilty pleasure movie of mine now and I watched it over and over again this year. Hands down one of my favorite slashers.

Love Is Now

- If I had to pick my favorite film on this list, Love Is Now with be the winner. This past summer I watched Twin Peaks The Return, where I discovered the character of Richard Horne, played by the very talented Eamon Farren. Wanting to see what else this guy was in, I stumbled upon Love Is Now. A tragic romance made in Australia. It's about a young photographer Dean (Farren) who just recently lost his father, and moves out to try his stab at photography. While in the city, he meets a beautiful young girl named Audrey who shares the same passion of photography as him. The two hit it off, and it's love at first sight. Here Audrey convinces him to join her on a summer trip through the outback following the harvest trail. She made the same trip two summers ago, and feels the experience will make Dean a better photographer. Durning this trip, Dean suddenly notices a drastic change in Audrey. She seems distant, as well as interested in other guys. Becoming unnerved, not quite understanding the sudden change, Dean begins to suffer from blackouts. Without spoiling anything, hands down this was one of the most tragic, beautiful, and shocking endings I've ever seen. Truly floored by the end of this film.

Spring Break

- This past winer I discovered Sean S. Cunningham's sex comedy Spring Break. This movie is seriously the perfect beach flick and I can't believe it took me this long to end up watching. It tells the story of a group of guys who head to Florida for Spring Break for a week filled with booze, girls, and fun. Along the way they have to compete in wet T-shirt contests, cannonballs, nightclubs, the motel they are staying at closing, and finding love. This is a cheesy awesome movie with GREAT soundtrack. I watched this movie several times in the middle of the winter trying my best to beat the blizzard blues.

Split

- I really didn't make it out to the movies that much this year (I'm still yet to see Star Wars) so I was pretty pumped after enjoying M. Night Shyamalan latest film. I'll be the first to admit, this man got way too cocky and after The Village I honestly didn't enjoy one single film he made. Finally he redeemed himself with this film. Split tells the story of a group of girls who are kidnapped by a deeply disturbed man named Dennis who suffers from multiple personality disorder. The movie is truly one big display of what an amazing actor James McAvoy is. This film is everything that's good about a M. Night Shyamalan film. The ending is what really packs the punch. Let's just say I'll be counting down the days until Glass is released.

Gerald's Game

- For years I had heard about Stephen King novel. Rumor had it that there was no way this movie could ever be made for the content. Basically it's about this middle aged couple who want to spice things up in their failing marriage. they head up to their isolated cabin to decide to take part in a sex game. He handcuffs her to the bedposts, and that's when the husband suffers a fatal heart attack. With her spouse dead on top of her, and no way to free herself, the woman suddenly remembers that they didn't tell anyone they were coming up there. It's off season, so nobody is around, and surprise surprise they didn't properly close the front door so a wild dog comes on it...and he's hungry. I wasn't exactly sure since this was going to be a Netflix original movie. I now know this was the perfect way to release a story like this. Mike Flanagan was the right director for the job, and basicaly told a haunting story with two amazing actors all in one room. The entire time I was on the edge of my seat, screaming, and feeling like I was actually her. Carla Gugino plays the lead Jessie, and in my eyes she gave the strongest performance of 2017. One of the best moments had to be her meeting the Moonlight Man and saying this simple yet powerful sentence. "Your so much smaller than I remember..." 

Chained

- I discovered this film yet again thanks to Twin Peaks The Return where as I've said above I noticed Eamon Farren playing Richard Horne. I saw that a few years before working in The Return he appeared in Lynch's daughter's film Chained. I'm a huge fan of Jennifer Lynch thanks to her amazing work in the highly underrated work Boxing Helena. Buying it blind, I honestly haven't been this truly disturbed seeing a film in years. It tells the story of a mother and son who are kidnapped one afternoon after taking a cab ride back home after going to the movies. The driver, a deeply disturbed man, takes them to his isolated farm house, murders the mother, and decides to keep the terrified young boy as his slave. He chains him to the wall, and teaches him to clean up after him whenever he "Brings one home." It appears that he's a crazed psychopath who's been raping and murdering women for years. The boy grows into a meek frightened teenage boy, when suddenly his captor decides it's time for him to start following in his footsteps. I can't rave about this movie enough. It's such a tragic, beauitfuil movie, with haunting performances by both Vincent D' Onofrio, and Eamon Farren. The movie has one HELL of a twist ending, and makes you truly feel so horrible for this poor boy who was made to believe he was forgotten, and that this was his only choice in living. You will seriously root for this young man right until the very end. Bravo Jennifer Lynch, bravo.

You Better Watch Out

- This was a blind buy for me. I bought it after hearing several people online rave about it. A young babysitter right before she's set the move before the holidays agrees to watch a 12 year old boy she's been watching for years one last time. Knowing absolutely nothing about it (which I feel is the best way to watch this movie) It starts off with setting the Christmas mood perfectly. We have plenty of dark humor, and what looks like the typical home invasion movies quickly switches gears with not one twist, but two. I seriously gasped when the focus of the plot shifted, and sat back on the edge of my seat the whole time. Like I said before to friends, it's like Home Alone meets Funny Games. The movie has plenty of laughs, with mixes perfectly with how truly unsettling and disturbing some of the moments are. I really don't want to go too far into it, but this film is a really fun watch and now a must in my holiday rotation. 

Red Christmas 

- I discovered this movie just a few weeks ago when it hit Netflix. My mission this past month was trying to cram in as many holiday movies as I could in this brief space of time. I watched it, and was super surprised by how much I really truly loved it. I'm a huge Dee Wallace fan, so seeing her play the mother character in this movie was great. It's a very disturbing slasher movie with pretty rich backstory. Sure some of it is a little far fetched, but this is a very dark family drama that shows how the past can honestly come back and bite you in the ass. Set in Australia, we meet a mother who's holding the last annual family Christmas at her home with her adult children. With plans on selling the house off and moving to Europe, the mother tries everything she can to make this last holiday together memorable. Sadly, she gets exactly what she wishes. A tall stranger, dressed in a dark cloak arrives at the doorstep wishing to meet his mother. Here we watch the horrifying truth behind this as the mother and her children need to work together to survive the night.

Knightriders 

- I honestly can't believe it took me this long to finally discover this beyond amazing hidden gem by George A Romero. Durning the summer as I've stated above, I re-discovered my love for Romero's films (most of all his 1985 epic Day Of The Dead) I've been a fan of George's for years now, his films have always held a special place in my heart. While re-watching his films throughout the summer, I stumbled upon a film I had always heard about, but never got around to looking into. This film was quite the experience. It's basically a modern day re-telling of King Arthur and his court of knights. It shows a traveling group that perform shows at a renaissance fair all year long. These actors take part in a pretty dangerous take on jostling where instead of riding horses, they ride motorcycles, all competing for the crown. The group is very much like a family, and their leader the King holds them all together. Fighting against the modern world, the temptation of fame, and relationships, we watch as the group do everything they can to try and hold it together, all the while as the King slowly leads up to his destiny. I really liked this movie. Sure it was cheesy at times (That Tom Savini tho...) but it was packed full of talented Romero regulars, and the ending really packed a punch. I'll never forget, the morning that Romero passed away, I was tanning on my back deck and actually reading up on this production and for some unknown reason getting choked up reading about how close this project had been to Romero's heart. Without spoiling anything, there's a funeral scene at the end of the film involving a character we grow to care about, and after hearing of George's passing, I re-watched this scene and not afraid at all to admit I was sobbing like an infant.

3 cheers to 2017! Here's to 2018!