Sunday, September 11, 2016

Oh hey we're here again.

Hi there.  I'm Gilbert.  If you're one of the people who followed NethulazonRandomized - which likely means you're a family member or a really nice friend who came from my Facebook - then you know I'm a fan of movies.  A big enough fan that I set up a blog to review movies I randomly selected from the streaming services I have access to.  Around this time last year, I stopped updating the blog because my mental issues in combination with my schoolwork became overwhelming enough that I felt it was better to try and focus on them rather than continue running it.  Now, three days before the anniversary of my giving up on the old blog, I'm back to try again, only this time while in a master's program and doing practicum work.

As you may have sussed out, I am not exactly the smartest person on the planet.

But then, we don't need to get into my personal life to figure that one out.  Why, you can just look at the blog you're on right this moment, and tell I don't have a lick of common sense in my head.  "Gilbert," you're probably saying, "I, being a hypothetical viewer who reads as much about movies as you do online, have heard of the popular list aggregation site They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?, where dozens of lists from all around the filmmaking community-slash-the internet are compiled together to create a supposedly definitive list of the 1000 greatest movies of all time, with updates on a yearly basis.  But what the heck is They Shoot ZOMBIES, Don't They?  And more importantly, why are you focusing on websites whose names are formatted in such a way as to make them really awkward to insert into sentences due to the inclusion of punctuation?"

First of all, I'm a stickler for getting the name right.  Secondly, just as TSPDT is a website run by Billy Georgaris and Vicki Platt dedicated to aggregating the 1000 best films ever made, TSZDT is a site run by Reddit user MightySparks dedicated to doing the same in the genre of horror.  Based off of upwards of 1200 lists, the site is the single largest organized aggregation of horror movie rankings you're liable to find on the web.  That's an incredibly specific denomination, but until you find me a better one, it's what I'm going with.  As of this writing, they're currently on their second version of the list, as like TSPDT it updates once a year as the lists used to create it change.

Now, I've seen quite a few blogs make a run at reviewing every single movie featured on TSPDT, and I can respect the effort.  Why wouldn't you want to sit down and watch some of the finest films ever released, possibly educating yourself in the arts of cinema and storytelling in the process?  However, due to the relative newness and obscurity of TSZDT, I have yet to see any blog tackle the 1000 greatest horror movies of all time.  In addition to those factors, there is likely also the fact that there aren't really 1000 GREAT horror movies.  Speaking frankly, I'm not even sure there are 1000 GOOD horror movies.  Sure, we've got such classics as the Thing or the Exorcist to get through, but horror has gotten a bit of a bad rap over the years for a reason.  When you're placing such films as Blood Diner, Chopping Mall, and multiple Final Destination sequels* onto your list and calling them "good" without rolling your eyes straight out of your head, you know you're working in a genre that takes a very certain kind of taste to enjoy once you get out of the upper echelons.  To sit down and spend the money required to get through every last film, you'd have to have some kind of natural aversion to good ideas.

Fortunately, as already established, I suffer from just such an affliction.

So here we are.  Over the next however long it takes to power through these films while still trying to be an actual productive member of society and not flunk out of school/lose any employment opportunities, I'm going to be providing you with reviews on every single film They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? has featured on their list of the 1000 greatest horror films of all time.  Given that 45 films have already dropped off the list, and 45 more have entered to take their place, there's likely going to be a LOT more than just 1000 by the time I'm done, so...

Oh?  Did I not mention?  "All" doesn't just mean all the films on the current version of the list.  "All" means A L L.

Thank god for Letterboxd.

(*Someone's going to take my head off over at least one of those opinions, I just know it.)

2 comments:

  1. Hey, nice to see someone getting some use out of this list :D I've seen all the films on the list myself so I can warn you that there are a fair number of duds, but there is also some great stuff. But I think it's a pretty interesting mix - unlike stuff like TSPDT (which I completed a couple of years ago) which all feels very samey. Horror is kind of a weird mixed genre like that though.

    Anyway, hope you enjoy the list and I look forward to more reviews :)

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    1. Hoy, just noticed the comment! Thanks a lot for the words of support.

      Yeah, four films in, and I can already tell this is gonna be a long haul, but it'll just make the chance to see those top 100 movies and being able to compare them to everything else all the sweeter.

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