It's Only A Movie

Attention those of you who live in New York and would like to curry favor with yours truly: Starting on June 16th and running through July, there will be a retrospective of 70's-era and modern horror films showing at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Now, I'll be the first to admit that not every movie they're showing is worth seeing (a couple are just flat-out terrible), but there's still enough good things here that everyone should be able to find something that they want to see. Film festivals like this, kids, are why it's awesome to live in NYC and it's also the kind of thing that needs to be supported, so the awesomeness will continue unabated. If you in any way can, please check this out. C-dog thanks you!

Here, now, is the list of what's showing. I've added my own comments on the movie selection, because as we all know, there's nothing I like better than passing judgement on the hard work of others:

IT'S ONLY A MOVIE: HORROR FILMS FROM THE 1970s AND TODAY / JUNE 16-JULY 22, 2007

NOTE: See the website linked above for dates, times, etc. because putting them here smacks of too much work.

The American Nightmare - Excellent documentary on the horror boom of the 70's
A Clockwork Orange - If you went to college, you probably watched this movie with a lot of stoned people at least once. A little overrated, if you ask me, but still worth seeing for Malcolm McDowell's performance alone.
Saw 2 - Er... wha...? The first one I could maybe understand, but the sequel's hardly in the same league as everything else here. It isn't, however, the worst movie at the fest. More on that in a bit.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - One of my favorite movies of all time; an art film masquerading as cheap horror. Gets better every time I see it.
The Devil's Rejects - Considering how much I hated House of a 1000 Corpses, I was surprised how much I liked this one. Still, with all the other good stuff around, this wouldn't be my pick to go see.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - I've always liked this movie, but most people find it deadly boring. Maybe I just like mutants?
The Hills Have Eyes (2006) - They're showing this back-to-back with the original, which is weird because they don't really deviate much from each other (except for this one is nasty gory).
The Host - I've heard this is excellent, but I haven't seen it.
The Bird With Crystal Plumage - This is one that I will definitely be catching. It's Dario Argento's first successful movie and it's what would have happened if Hitchcock had been born Italian. I've only seen this on DVD, so I'm totally jazzed about getting to check it out on the big screen.
Haute Tension - Incredible movie until, in the last 10 minutes, it goes completely and tragically off the rails. Haute Tension is everything that's wrong with the concept of the "twist ending."
Hostel - An great movie, but not really worth making the effort since you can find it everywhere on DVD.
It's Alive - I'll never understand why this movie isn't more of a cult classic than it already is. It's about a killer, mutant infant, for fuck's sake!!! Funny, scary and gross; worth checking out, for sure.
Rabid - One of David Cronenberg's first movies. Not the one I'd have picked to represent his work, but it's still pretty good, as is anything that contains sex-starved parasites.
Bug - I've heard very mixed things about this, but I haven't seen it.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) - I don't care what anyone says, I totally dug this remake; the original Dawn of the Dead is a classic, yes, but it's also a complete snooze. As a bonus, they're showing this along with the entire, 15-minute Thriller video, which is always fun.
Dead of Night - A zombie movie with political overtones directed by Bob Clark, who also directed A Christmas Story. Very weird, and not something you'll find playing just anywhere; worth your valuable time, for sure.
Homecoming - Everyone seemed to really like this when it aired as part of Showtime's Masters of Horror series, but I missed it.
George A. Romero's Martin - Fucking fabulous vampire movie. Tends to get overshadowed by Romero's other work, and that's a shame.
28 Weeks Later - Still kicking myself for not having caught this already.
Head Trauma - This is the only new thing showing at the festival. I know nothing about it.
The House By The Cemetery - Gory, strange haunted house movie. Directed by Lucio Fulci who also directed a little movie that featured a zombie fighting a shark.
Ichi the Killer - Not a horror movie, exactly, but disturbing nonetheless. Warning: Extremely misogynistic and unpleasant.
Wolf Creek - Australia's entry into the "survival horror" genre. Quite good, but slightly marred by the presence of a too-jokey killer along the same lines as the late-era Freddy Krueger.
Carrie - I'm going to this one because A) it's a great movie, and B) Girlfriend's never seen it. Sissy Spacek's best work as an actress, I think, and it's got an absolutely killer ending
Final Destination 3 - This would be the worst movie here. Can't even imagine why they picked up this turd, especially since the first Final Destination was actually a great, quirky little flick.
Halloween - Oh yeah! One of the greats; I'm so there, even though I've seen this a million times.
The Last House on the Left - Not a particularly good movie, though interesting in a historical context: It was Wes Craven's first film.
The Descent - The best horror film of last year, shown for the first time in America with its original ending intact. If you missed it when it was in the theaters, it's so worth the effort to go see it.