Musings in the Dark: Horror 101: My Favorite Slashers

10/12/2019

Horror 101: My Favorite Slashers

For the past couple of years, I've been cogitating on my favorite slasher movie villains.  I struggled with this for a long time, obviously, because there are so many to choose from.  I consulted with my dear friend and fellow horror head Noob, but still it was a struggle trying to figure out my faves and why.  I mean, I love the genre so much that this was quite difficult.

Recently I watched Chiller's 13 Great American Slashers and it was a revelation.  The hour-long show runs down 13 classic horror movie villains and it was here where I was able to gather enough data to construct my Slasher Villain Mount Rushmore.  God bless YouTube.  


So, here we go, in alphabetical order...my favorite slashers.



Candyman.  The first time I watched this movie, I was totally captivated by His Pimpness Tony Todd.  His voice was unbelievable and the way he used it to seduce Helen was the stuff of my (admittedly) dark dreams. The horror of Candyman's genesis still sticks with me, even after 27 years.  That damn hook...



Freddy Krueger.  Let me be clear: I am referring to the Freddy Krueger of NOES 1-3, the only NOES movies that exist.  No, there are no other NOES movies, not even a reboot.  I fell in love with Freddy damn near on sight.  It was the hat, the glove and the delicious portrayal by His Awesomeness Robert Englund.  I was a little girl and clearly had chosen my side of the hero/villain line even if I was too young to understand why.  I had posters of Freddy on my walls while my friends had New Edition posters and shit like that...no shade to NE because I love them.  Just not the way I loved Freddy.  It is what it is.





Hannibal Lecter.  Even though Hannibal Lecter has been portrayed by Brian Cox and Gaspard Ulliel on the big screen, my love affair with him began in 1991 with Sir Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs.  Sir Anthony was on screen for a whole 17 minutes and got an Academy Award for his performance.  I became a Lecterphile and wrote a whole bunch of fanfic as a result.  Good times.

My love affair was renewed some years back when NBC launched the TV show Hannibal.  I was apprehensive about the casting of His Sexiness Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal, but Noob assured me I would be pleased with the portrayal. I addressed this in a previous post.  Boy, was I!  Mads made Hannibal sexy as hell and I was all in by episode 3.  Pissed me off that NBC canceled it after three spectacular seasons.



Michael MyersHalloween is my favorite horror movie.  Saw it when I was a little girl and Michael scared the complete fuck out of me.  The way he moved was scary enough, but it was that mask that kept me up at night.  Pale, white, with black eyeholes (this was back when you couldn't see Michael's eyes; later sequels fucked this all up)...everything I was ever afraid of was reflected in that damn mask.



Honorable Mention: PinheadHellraiser was a film that I didn't find scary, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Pinhead, played by Doug Bradley, had my complete attention the moment he showed up on screen.  I'd never before seen such a character and the things he spoke of and hinted at had me asking all kinds of questions my mother did not (and maybe could not) answer.  Pinhead's fuckin' awesome.

So, now you know my Slasher Villain Mount Rushmore.  What's yours?

2 comments:

  1. I loved Candyman as a kid. Scared the crap outta me. Too bad he fell in love with a white lady.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...and see what happened. They gonna learn one day.

      Delete

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