If you watched the Academy Awards last night you may have noticed a number of nods to the horror genre, some subtle, some overt. But for a genre that is so often snubbed by Oscar it was refreshing to see nods at all.
First there was an honorary Oscar for Mr. Roger Corman. For those who don’t know who Roger Corman is: after William Castle but before Troma–there was Roger Corman. The man directed over 50 films and produced more than 300. Not to mention starting the careers of such folk as: Jack Nicholson (duh), Gale Anne Hurd (Producer Aliens), Joe Dante (Director Gremlins, The Howling), Jonathan Demme (Director The Silence of the Lambs… in which Roger has a cameo), James Horner (Composer Avatar, Aliens), Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, etc. etc.
If you’ve never read How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime by Roger it’s an educational and entertaining must-read for anybody interested in the filmmaking business (link to Amazon is below). You’ll get some great anecdotes about some classic B movies like Deathrace 2000.
It was good to see Mr. Corman get some recognition for not only being a consistently successful filmmaker, B-movies or not, but starting the careers of many who have gone on to continue to make magic.
Then there was the “Tribute to Horror Movies.” It began with a parody of Paranormal Activity featuring Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.
The bit wasn’t bad.
It didn’t pull an SNL and go on too long and got out when it got its biggest laugh (A sleep-walking Steve slapping an asleep Alec Baldwin). Oh: Spoiler alert.
Then they waltzed in the kiddies: Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner from Twilight. Kristen was her usual ticky self even turning her head to hack in the middle of her shpiel. And the shpiel went something like this:
“It’s been 37 long years since horror had its place on this show when The Exorcist picked up two Academy Awards…”
Whoah. Wait.
I guess they’re forgetting The Silence of the Lambs which, like it or not, IS a horror film.
Sure they’ll call it an “adult thriller” but what’s the movie really about?
A cannibalistic serial killer who is used to track another serial killer.
Hell, the 3rd Act of the film is a frightened woman trapped in a darkened basement with a killer.
Guess what my friend… that’s a horror movie.
And to further drive home my point, clips from Silence of the Lambs were featured in the Horror Tribute!
The defense rests, your Honor.
Well maybe the fact checker was asleep when it came time for intros, but how was the tribute itself?
I was pretty happy.
(There’s a few I don’t recognize and I’ve thrown screen-grabs next to them so chime in if you know what 35, 51, 57, 65, and 90 are from. UPDATE: All mysteries are solved. Thanks to all who chimed in and set me straight.)
Here’s a run down of the 100+ shots included in the piece:
1) The opening scene of Jaws with the female swimmer.
Then… the ‘shadow’ montage:
2) A Nightmare on Elm Street – Shadow of Freddy on the wall.
3) Child’s Play – Shadow of Chucky on the floor with knife.
4) The Exorcist – Iconic image of a silhouetted Father Merrin in front of the house with light coming out of the window.
5) Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Shadow of Vlad on wall.
Then there was the ‘Knife’ montage…
6) The shower scene from Psycho.
7) Halloween – Michael raises his knife.
8) Knife glinting in the night from Scream.
9) Poltergeist: Carol Anne in front of a snowy TV “They’re heeeere.”
10) Johnny Depp from A Nightmare on Elm Street giving ‘scary hands.’ This shot doesn’t make any sense but, hey, everybody loves Johnny Depp, right?
Then the ‘Haunted Houses’ montage…
11) House on the hill from Pscyho.
12) Bates Motel from Psycho.
13) Eyes of The Amityville Horror house.
14) The Shining hotel in the night snow.
15) Jack swinging the axe into the door from The Shining “Wendy. I’m home.”
Then the ‘Faces of Horror’ montage…
16) Ghostface from Scream.
17) Pinhead from Hellraiser.
18) Jason from Friday the 13th Part 3. (A good choice. It was when he first got the hockey mask. The red stripes are bright. No axe gouge in the head yet. And he certainly was not yet back from the dead.)
19) Jigsaw puppet on TV from Saw.
20) Hannibal Lecter restrained with mask and straight jacket from The Silence of the Lambs. (Seeeee??? HORROR MOVIE!)
21) Michael Myers walking in the dark from Halloween. (It seems like any Halloween shots were so dark you could barely make out it was The Shape at all.)
22) The Queen alien hissing from Aliens.
23) Leprechaun. Why include THIS? Ummm… I’m guessing so they can include Jennifer Aniston later in the ‘stars of horror montage’… just wait…
24) Chucky with knife raised from Child’s Play.
Then the ‘Running away’ montage…
25) Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. One of THE worst TCM’s ever. EVER. EEEEEVER. Why include this one? See Leprechaun above.
26) Ash running from unseen forces The Evil Dead. Yay! Ash!
27) Wendy running toward elevator from The Shining.
28) Danny running through hedge maze from The Shining.
29) Tina running from Freddy –into Freddy’s arms! Blammo! A Nightmare on Elm Street.
30) Freddy close-up from A Nightmare on Elm Street. They cut right before he says “THIS is god.”
31) Anthony Perkins as Mother in the dress. Psycho
32) Samara looks through her hair from The Ring.
33) Rosemary’s Baby “What have you done to him you maniacs!”
34) Misery: Kathy Bates says “It’s for the best.” Then she swings that sledge hammer. Oof. Gets me every time.
‘Old school horror’ montage…
35) Black and White film with a dead rat on a silver platter.
Somebody help! What’s this from?! I got nothin’!
UPDATE: Thanks to Frog Queen for letting me know this is Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Which I still need to see.
36) Nosferatu
37) Phantom of the Opera
38) The Hunchback of Notre Dame
39) Dracula
40) The Wolfman
41) The Mummy
Then the ‘Frankenstein’ montage…
42) Dr. Frankenstein “It’s alive!” from Frankenstein.
43) Frankenstein’s monster from Frankenstein.
44) Bride of Frankenstein
45) Deniro as Frankenstein’s monster from Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein.
46) Peter Boyle as the monster from Young Frankenstein.
47) Clooney punches Tarantino in the face from From Dusk Till Dawn. Clip seems weird to feature. I’m sure it’s just because both were in attendance from nominations.
48) Beetlejuice – Keaton says “What do you think of this?” Blargh!
49) Sleepy Hollow – The Headless Horseman rides through forest.
50) Tippy and kids run from the schoolhouse. The Birds
51) Blood on walls and stairs. I got nothin’ on this too. Is it Amityville? Help!
UPDATE: Anonymous commenter confirmed this is from The Amityville Horror.
51) Vlad laughing. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
52) Night of the Living Dead – zombies on the lawn.
‘And then the screaming starts’-montage…
53) Mom surfacing with corpses. Poltergeist
54) Katrina Van Tassel screaming. Sleepy Hollow
55) Psycho – The shower scream.
56) Naomi Watts screaming. The Ring
57) What is this? Dark haired, wet woman screaming in front of a broken mirror. Got nothin’…
UPDATE: The Mike let me know this is from Dark Water. I always thought the trailer looked cool, but it didn’t get very good reviews. Still may see it someday.
58) Drew Barrymore screams while holding the phone. Scream
59) Courtney Cox screams. Scream
60) Halloween – Jamie Lee Curtis screams
61) The blood bed geyser from A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The ‘Dentists Are Horrible People’ montage…
62) Steve Martin looking at shiny dentist tools from Little Shop of Horrors.
63) Jack Nicholson “No novacaine. it dulls the senses” from Roger Corman’s original Little Shop of Horrors.
64) Dustin Hoffman squirming in the chair from Marathon Man.
65) Some woman looking through slices of light. I got nothin’ on this too. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
UPDATE: Anonymous commenter says this is Renee Zellweger from Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation or The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Different titles for the same crappy movie.
The ‘We All Gotta Start Somewhere’ or ‘Stars of Horror’ montage…
66) Steve McQueen The Blob
67) Kristen Stewart Twilight – Booooo! Not needed!
68) Matthew McConaughey – Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Seriously this film is bad. AND to add to the travesty? The only TCM movie I’ve seen in the theater. Holy crap.
69) Jennifer Aniston – Leprechaun.
70) Winona Ryder – Beetlejuice Um… sayyyyy whatever happened to Winona Ryder? Oh right she was Spock’s mom. Riiiiight.
71) Tom Cruise – Interview with the Vampire Whatever happened to THAT guy, huh?
72) Brad Pitt – Interview with the Vampire
73) Sigourney Weaver – Aliens
74) Johnny Depp – Edward Scissorhands Edward Scissorhands? That’s not a horror movie, dude. Is it because you used the boogey-boogey hands clip from Nightmare on Elm Street earlier?
75) Kevin Bacon – Friday the 13th Because everything is better with Bacon.
The ‘horror catch phrase’ montage…
76) Danny riding his Big Wheel into the twins “Come play with us Danny. Forever.”
77) Haley Joel Osment saying “I see dead people” – The Sixth Sense I don’t care what happened to M. Night… this is a superb movie. Even when you know the twist.
78) Paranormal Activity – The final shot. Isn’t it bad enough they spoiled this in the trailer? Jeeeeeez.
79) Zoom on ‘Murder’ in the mirror from The Shining.
80) Knife raised from Friday the 13th Part 2.
The ‘surprise’ montage…
81) Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Girl looks afraid on the bed when a were-bat drops down in front of camera.
82) Alien – The chest burst.
83) Friday the 13th Part 2 window burst.
84) Leatherface with chainsaw from what I can only guess is TCM: NG. Cripes that movie is bad.
85) Salma Hayek morphs into a snake-woman in From Dusk Till Dawn.
86) Body spin in chair at the end of Psycho.
87) The Exorcist – Regan flops back and forth on the bed.
88) Carrie gets the bucket of blood dropped on her in Carrie.
89) Blood pours out of the elevator in The Shining.
90) Centipede crawling out of woman’s mouth. What’s this? The Ring? I can’t tell!
UPDATE: Stacie “Final Girl” Ponder nailed this first: it’s from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Centipede coming out of dead Tina’s mouth.
91) The theatre exodus from The Blob.
92) Rats fleeing through the tunnel in 28 Days Later.
93) Iconic Heather Donahue close-up shot from The Blair Witch Project.
94) Clarice starling opens a door slowly from The Silence of the Lambs.
95) Bruce Willis lays shot on the bed. The Sixth Sense What’s the statute of limitations on spoilers?
96) Gregory Peck about to stab. The Omen
97) Scream – Randy, Gale and Sidney stand over a body. Randy: “This is the moment when the supposedly dead killer comes back to life.”
‘Lurching forward jump-scare’ montage…
98) Skeet Ulrich lurches forward. – Scream
99) Hannibal Lecter charges with his teeth bared – The Silence of the Lambs
100) Bruce the shark jumps out of the water – Jaws
So they ended as they came in.
Jaws to Jaws.
The circle of life.
Not a bad little piece. I certainly think they hit the major milestone classics. I should also mention that the Tribute contained the iconic music tracks from the following films:
1) Jaws theme by John Williams
2) Psycho by Bernard Herrman.
3) Tubular bells from The Exorcist.
4) Halloween by John Carpenter.
It was pretty neat. Just look at the reaction shot of Quentin Tarantino after it ended. He looks pleased.
I can’t think of any other soundtrack I would have NEEDED in that montage. Except maybe Friday the 13th‘s by Mancini.
Didn’t see the Oscars?
Well stop punching yourself in the face and go HERE to the YouTube video as long as the link lasts.
