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30) Night of the Demons (1988)
In this movie, a cast of miscreant teens celebrate Halloween in a spooky abandoned funeral parlor. As per usual, the Goth girl performs a séance, which unleashes a malevolent demon. This demon possesses her and her BFF… and the slaughter ensues! Night of the Demon is one of those movies where everything wrong with it comes together to make it so very right. Bad acting, silly dialogue, gratuitous sex, interesting gore, and best of all, an interpretive dance to Bauhaus’ “Stigmata Martyr”. It’s campy, and way more funny than actually scary. Definitely for fans of Troll 2 and The Ghoulies!

29) Wishmaster (1997)
Wishmaster is one of those movies I’m sure you’ve seen at the video store and wondered how (and when) it managed to spawn three sequels of itself. It obviously has a following (but who’s following it, you might not have been sure). The character of Wishmaster is an evil genie trying to ply his three wishes on any poor soul who’ll take them, which will allow him to gain human form. Now, I’m sure you’ve seen enough Twilight Zones or Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horrors to know never to take a genie up on his offer… your wishes never quite turn out how you wish them! Wishmaster (and all the sequels) are excellent watches, if only for the gory and humorous results of all the misguided wishes. That, and the hilarious acting, and of course Robert Englund!


28) People Under the Stairs (1991)
What starts off as an urban horror movie (a genre very popular in the early 90’s) quickly shifts gears into a comedic and campy tale of a seriously dysfunctional family, their creepy house, it’s trapped inhabitants and one poor kid’s attempt to escape its clutches with some gold coins! Wes Craven casts Big Ed Hurley (Everett McGill) and Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) of Twin Peaks fame as the demented Ma & Pa. Not really so much scary as just weird, demented and amusing.

27) Vault of Horror (1973)
Amicus made lots of these anthology films in the 70’s. All have the same basic premise: 4 or 5 men meet or are trapped somewhere, and each begins recounting a tale of horror that somehow relates to them. Tales from the Crypt and The Torture Garden are Amicus’ two most well known of these, but Vault of Horror is my absolute favorite! Vampires, dismemberment, a painter with a voodoo curse! It’s a shame that this style of horror movie seems to have died out. These movies were always enjoyable, because no tale would last longer than 15-20 minutes, so if one sucked, it didn’t kill the whole movie! The best part about Vault of Horror is that the DVD also comes packaged with the excellent Tales from the Crypt!

26) Once Bitten (1985)
Before Jim Carrey was on In Living Color and a mega star, he acted in this little comedic gem about a vampire countess (Lauren Hutton) who requires the blood of virgins to stay young. And the next virgin she needs, of course, is the bumbling Jim Carey! It’s way more comedic then horrific, but I’m going to fudge the lines here because it’s about vampires. This film has kind of been forgotten, but it merged two things perfectly that the 80’s did so well: the sexual comedy and the horror flick.

25) Cube (1997)
Cube must have had one of the smallest budgets ever for ANY movie! Every set is basically the same set with different lighting: a small four-wall cell. The basic premise is that people wake up alone in these cells, with no clue why they’re there. Escaping from one cell only leads to another cell. Eventually they discover that there are other people trapped, too, but they don’t know what their relation is to each other. And some of the cells are booby-trapped! (The Saw series seems to have tried to take a lot from this movie.) Cube is a terrific conceptual film that appreciates the mystery it creates. More often than not, films ruin themselves when they remove the curtain on the big secret or twist, but The Cube never does that. You keep wondering even when the movie ends.

24) TerrorVision (1986)
TerrorVision is exactly why we have lists like this! Prolly (one of my fellow Bloglins) has been going off about this movie for a year now. I had no clue what he was talking about until I saw a clip and it all came rushing back from childhood. An alien race begins beaming down their trash as an energy signal, which eventually hits a family’s satellite dish. Soon the family has their very own trash monster to deal with. This is movie is trashy, campy overkill and, unfortunately, not in print on DVD.

23) House (1986)
A Vietnam vet/Author’s psycho trip out of the jungle and into a haunted house where his son disappeared! House is up there with Evil Dead 2 and Dead-Alive (No. 50) in combining horror with comedy. Excellent gore, directing and comedic timing. From writer Fred Drekker, who also wrote and directed the cult favorite Monster Squad as well as another film you’ll have to wait for until we hit the top 10!

22) The Gate (1987)
With the help of some Black Metal, two kids help release an ungodly evil from a hole in their backyard. We’ve borrowed so heavily and blatantly from this film, we should offer it a job at Mishka. One of my all-time favorite movies starring a young Stephen Dorff and an army of 2 foot tall stop-motion demons! This movie was definatly geared towards a younger audience, but it holds up well and is just as enjoyable because of it’s camp value as an a adult.

21) Pet Sematary II (1992)
Man, was this movie ever panned when it came out! (It still is!) I guess that’s kind of to be expected, considering it followed the excellent and scary Pet Sematary. But much like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s sequel, the follow-up here went in a totally different direction that I felt just went over the top and over too many people’s heads. Eddie Furlong stars in this beyond absurd, satirical, and campy sequel to one of horror’s truly creepy films. Spoofing the first movie in the second installment is probably not the best way to create a franchise, but… If you’re looking to be creeped out, rent the popular original… but those looking for some laughs and something along the lines of Lost Boys, please go here.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part IV, No. 20-11. And maybe, just maybe someone else will chip in with a companion list!