Craig Zablo’s Zone

I have to say that I was surprised by some of the movies that made the grade. I was expecting more classic horror films to appear on the list [Dracula, Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon] as well as some lesser known, but still very good horror movies like Them! or Frailty.

Ok… we have what we have. Taking their list of the top 50, I whittled it down to my top 20 and here they are in alphabetical order with some comments:

Alien (1979): Saw it on its original theatrical run and enjoyed it. A haunted house in outer space!
Aliens (1986): Even better than Alien… as much a war movie as a horror movie. Love it!
Birds, The (1963): One of the scariest movies I ever saw as a kid. Still a favorite.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935): Even better than Frankenstein. A true classic.
Dawn of the Dead (1978): Saw it in a theater the 2nd time [my date couldn't take it the 1st time]
Exorcist, The (1973): the scariest movie I ever saw as an adult.
Frankenstein (1931): A classic!
Freaks (1932): It makes the list, but wouldn’t be near the top.
Halloween (1978): Saw it in a drive-in and it was scary without sound! LOL!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Another classic from [before] my childhood.
Invisible Man, The (1933): I didn’t appreciate it until I was an adult!
Jaws (1975): Horror? Okay… it is a fun and scary movie.
King Kong (1933): Another classic.
Night of the Hunter, The (1955): A great film… maybe Mitchum’s best performance ever.
Night of the Living Dead (1968): One of my favorites!
Psycho (1960): Some pretty scary scenes the first time around.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968): I saw it in a drive-in as a kid…. creepy stuff.
Shining, The (1980): redrum…redrum… redrum…
Thing, The (1982): Not as good as the original, but still good. LOL!
Unknown, The (1927): Never cut off your arms for a lover.

Comments?

Another buddy of mine, Steve Meyers, owner of World of Comics [where I've gotten my comics for the last 20+ years] is putting on a small show which will feature two big guests! Legendary comic artist Dick Giordano will be on hand along with Big John Beatty! You can learn more by clicking HERE.

I’m not sure I’m diggin’ the Predien… Aliator?? Whatever they want to call it.

And I was really looking forward to AVP: Requiem.

Today I turned 49. Whew! It’s hard to believe that I’m in my last year before the half century mark. Seems like it came so fast… and each year goes by a bit faster.

The photo above was brought to me out of the blue early this morning. A student at the high school where I’m an assistant principal brought it in to show me. I attended a party for his mother when we were both in high school and this picture was taken there. I’d never seen it before today. [That's me, 2nd person in the front row.] It was strange seeing a picture of me for the first time over 30 years after it was taken. And this is the second time in less than a month that it’s happened.

Maybe on my 79th birthday someone will bring in a photo of me taken this decade that I’ve never before seen. My guess is that it would be a similarly strange experience and that I would end my blog post by saying, I don’t feel 79.

I don’t feel 49.

The Good: The relationship between Cassie Affleck and Michelle Monaaghan. The bar scene. The mean streets of Boston. The real people from these streets given cameos and speaking parts. Ed Harris. The screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard. The direction by Ben Affleck. The ending.

The Bad: The house with the ex-con child molesters [well done, but bad stuff].

The Ugly: The handsome woman… the choices that have to be made.

Gone, Baby, Gone is a Good, Baby, Good.