As we reach the end of another trip around the sun, most other reviewers are publishing their top 10 films of 2017. If you've been following this blog for any stretch of time, you know staying up on what's new isn't what interests me, but I'll give it my best shot.
Here we go:
10.) Death Race 2050 -- Yes, Roger Corman's Death Race 2000 has been remade before with a full reboot of the franchise featuring Jason Statham, but that sucked. This remake by G.J. Echternkamp remembers why the original was so funny in the first place, keeps with the essentials of story and tone, but offers up an all-new cast of currently relevant, satirical racers like Tammy the Terrorist, a religious nut who worships Elvis; rapper and black supremacist Minerva Jefferson; and interactive sex toy Dr. Creamer. For my money, this is the best splatter-comedy of 2017. It's still on Netflix.
9.) The Evil Within -- As heir to an oil fortune, writer-director Andrew Getty got to live out his dreams in a way many of you mortals will never realize. Getty was able to self-finance a film about a mentally retarded boy who finds advice about love and life in an antique mirror that doesn't have his best interests at heart, and he got to do it while addicted to methamphetamine. The film took 15 years to complete and Getty died during post-production. Hate on rich kids and meth heads all you want, the film is touching, trippy, scary and something altogether spectacular. Michael Berryman plays a demon. I predict that time will be kind to this sleeper and it will be revered as a one-of-a-kind classic. The Evil Within streams on Amazon Prime.
8.) The Void -- Technically, this Lovecraftian tale of bizarre sex rituals and human sacrifice by the writer/director team of Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski was released in 2016, but it didn't make it to Netflix until 2017, which is when I watched it and reviewed it. That is to say, I reviewed it in 2017, and that's how things get on this list.
7.) The Babadook -- Thanks to some epic shit-posting on Tumblr, the titular monster of this 2014 Jennifer Kent film enjoyed the renowned status of mascot for Gay Pride 2017. Sure, it doesn't make sense, but are you gonna deny the homosexuals their claim on an allegory about grief? What's wrong with you?
6.) Dog Soldiers -- For many, 2017 was a year of tragic loss and even I am included in that bunch. My favorite werewolf took a silver bullet in June and 2002's Dog Soldiers reminds me of him. You can find it on YouTube.
5.) Invaders from Mars -- In 1974, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was released on an unsuspecting public. It was original, intense and it changed the course of horror history. It was shot over a nasty, hot Texas summer by a bunch of hippies led by director Tobe Hooper, who shuffled off his mortal coil this past August. Amazon Prime no longer hosts The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, so the number five spot goes instead Hooper's Invaders from Mars. It is a 1986 remake of the 1953 original, and is frog-gulping, slime monster fun. It streams on YouTube.
4.) Night of the Living Dead -- Night of the Living Dead is the only movie I've reviewed twice. I wrote about the 1968 classic in February 2016 as part of my Black History Month celebration, but we have nasty mailer-daemons in Hell and they gobbled up every last byte, so I reviewed it again a year later. Little did I know at the time that auteur George A. Romero would cross over in July. Night of the Living Dead streams on Amazon Prime, Shudder and YouTube.
3.) Bride of Frankenstein -- We've established that I don't stay on top of what's new. That isn't among my purposes. One of my goals is to let you know when classics come available online, like six Universal monster films did on Shudder in October. Bride of Frankenstein from 1935 is my favorite of the batch, and you better get to it quickly if you haven't watched it yet as Shudder's got it listed in the "Last Chance to Watch" collection.
2.) Night of the Demons -- I think at this point we've covered that I suck at writing best-of-the-year lists, but my favorite thing to do when writing this blog is to rediscover forgotten gems, and you'll be hard pressed to find a movie as shiny as 1988's Night of the Demons. It's about a bunch of horny teenagers who break into a reputedly haunted house one Halloween to have a party and a seance. Disgusting things happen. It's still available on YouTube.
And that brings us down to number one. The best movie of 2017 is Abby from 1974.
1.) Abby -- Louisville native William Girdler directed this blaxploitation ripoff of The Exorcist. It stars Carol Speed as Abby, and Blacula himself, William Marshall, as the priest. Abby, a faithful wife and devout church-goer becomes possessed by a sex demon. It's funky, psychedelic and appears to have cost $12 to make. Abby streams on YouTube.
So there's the list, and what better way to wrap up 2017 and set the tone for 2018 than with an old slasher flick that takes place on New Year's Eve?
This week's Thursday Thriller is Terror Train.
This 1980 film by Roger Spottiswoode is about a bunch of college kids who played a prank gone awry. The members of Sigma Phi decided to haze a pledge by telling him to go upstairs and lay Jamie Lee Curtis, but when he got to bed, he found a medical school cadaver where she was supposed to be. Three years later, the fraternity throws its New Year's party on a train, and a masked killer starts picking them off one by one. The killer changes costume throughout the movie, and starts off in what's supposed to be a Groucho Marx getup, but looks a lot more like Gene Shalit.
David Copperfield is in it. Roger Ebert called it "gruesome stupidity," but it's definitely in my top 52 of the year. Its thin plot will make it a great background movie to play at your New Year's Party.
Terror Train streams on Amazon Prime.
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