Since we don't happen to have a movie theater in our house, we set up a make-shift movie studio in our biggest room by attaching a DVD-playing laptop to a desktop projector (iPod speakers to amplify the sound) and projecting the picture onto a huge sheet. Bet it would be even more fun to project it onto one of those blow-up outdoor movie screens you can rent these days!
Without further ado, here's a list of suitable movies (with food accompaniment) to inspire your event. May I respectfully suggest choosing one from each category?
Genuine attempts at horror that went terribly, terribly wrong:
- Plan 9 From Outer Space. "Future Events such as these will impact your future!" intones the narrator ... and it just gets better from there! Watch as scenes mysteriously alternate between daylight and nighttime; enjoy as aliens arrive in spaceships that clearly dangle from strings (their cockpit just as clearly constructed from chairs turned backwards and a shower curtain); wonder at cardboard gravestones that sway everytime someone walks by them; ponder the fear inspired by zombies that move at a rate slower than geologic time. Best of all, admire the way that the director, undetered by the death of his film's star, substitutes his dentist (why not his barber? we'll never know) by the clever contrivance of having the guy hold a cape over his face everytime he appears in a scene. So bad and yet so good! [For hors devours, serve devilled egg zombie eyes]
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. "That's not blood, that's ... tomato juice!" Rarely has a more improbable line been spoken in movie history. By the way, the movie really is about mutant killer tomatoes, and was filmed in the 1970s as a parody of B horror movies in general. My favorite scene is when a school of tomatoes attack a swimmer, a la Jaws. Wait - it's when our heroes, intent upon saving the world, infiltrate the bad guys disguised as giant killer tomatoes. No, wait - it's when the tomato rises out of the trash compactor and kills the woman. Drat! I just can't decide - the whole movie is just so memorable! [For hors devours, serve - what else? - hamburger sliders and french fries with ketchup!]
- Army of Darkness. An intentional send-up of both the horror and action/fantasy genres that succeeds brilliantly at both. The movie stars legendary B-actor Bruce Campbell as a mild-mannered S-Mart clerk who is transported back in time to a medieval kingdom where, in the process of fighting an army of the dead and retrieving a magic book, he becomes a bad-ass action hero. The plot is wholly preposterous, the genre references outrageously campy, the dialog clever and hilarious, but it's the delightfully cheesy special effects that will leave you cheering and wanting more! [For hors devours, serve thigh bones made out of meringue]
- Godzilla vs. King Kong. Because what could possibly be better than watching a monster destroy Tokyo? Answer: watching TWO monsters destroy Tokyo! Guaranteed to stimulate howls of disbelief and lots of thoroughly enjoyable heckling. [For hors devours, serve sushi and bananas]
- Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. Actually, this is a monster trifecta, in which Dracula (played by Bela Lugosi) is trying to resurrect Frankenstein's monster using Costello's brain, but the Wolfman (played by Lon Chaney) is trying to stop them. It's worth noting that Quentin Tarantino loves this movie and cites it as one of the great examples of a mixed genre film. However, I don't feel that this prevents me from adding to to my list of really awful horror movies. [Fors hors devours, serve anything that can be skewered with a wooden stake (toothpick or bamboo stick)]
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