The wankers at the American Film Institute just released their lists of top ten films by “genre” (full lists after the jump). Everyone loves to quibble with lists, and there’s plenty weird with theirs. First off, “Animation” is a medium, not a genre. That’s like calling comic books a genre, or TV a genre. But whatever. Also, Shrek on anyone’s top ten is always a bad sign–still, they give Blue Velvet its due and give Groundhog Day some props). What I thought was really odd was that AFI finds room to recognize a “Sports” genre (and on that end, are Raging Bull and Caddyshack really sports movies?), and even a “Courtroom Drama” genre, but doesn’t make a list of the great horror films. Why?
Here’s our list of the great American horror films. We’re sure we’re forgetting a bunch. This blog has been a slapdash affair lately.
1. Night of the Living Dead (the original)
2. Psycho (clearly, not Van Sant’s remake)
3. Alien
4. The Shining
5. Dawn of the Dead (the original)
6. Rosemary’s Baby
7. Re-animator
8. The Thing (John Carpenter)
9. Evil Dead 2
10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original)
Biblioklept 