For many of us, October marks the start of a month-long spree of cozying up with a series of scary movies. Always looking to expand our horizons – and help you expand yours, too – we’ve reached out to five local film buffs to get their takes on their favorite horror movies. From gory B-movies to intense psychological thrillers, read on to get some inspiration for your next horror movie session!
Larry Joe Treadway (aka Tread)
Larry Joe Treadway (known to many as “Tread”) serves as media services manager for University of Kentucky HealthCare and is also the former co-host of “Brains on Film” (a public access show dedicated to bad movies that first aired in 1989) and co-producer of “Dusk til Dawn: Kentucky’s Rural Drive-In Theaters.” He is currently producing/directing the documentary “A Critical Madness” about director Tim Ritter, who made and sold his first horror feature at age 17 in Florida in 1985.
“Killing Spree” (1987; directed by Tim Ritter). Tom has to pick up extra hours at his airport job to keep his stay-at-home wife happy and away from lecherous men. Before long, his exhausted state and paranoid, jealous mind have him thinking she’s sleeping with the whole neighborhood. A manic leading-man performance from Asbestos Felt (you read that right) makes this a fun outing with ’80s-style gore effects and more than a few head-scratching moments. This third feature from the mind of the teenaged Tim Ritter (who now resides in Lexington) will have you longing for the good ol’ days of VCRs and New Coke – and just might give you a couple of bad ideas on how to handle nosy neighbors.
Tread’s honorable mentions:
“Phantasm” (1979; directed by Don Coscarelli)
“The Brood” (1979; directed by David Cronenberg)
“Martyrs” (2008; directed by Pascal Laugier)
“Nightmares in a Damaged Brain” (1981; directed by Romano Scavolini)
Lucy Jones
Lucy Jones is an avid local film buff, director of the Lexington Film League and founder of the Harry Dean Stanton Festival.
”Basket Case” (1982; directed by Frank Henelotter). Whatever you do [and I need you to trust me on this], go into this one cold. Don’t Google it. Don’t so much as read the tagline on IMDB. If you aren’t already familiar with “Basket Case,” then part of the joy of watching it is the slow and steady reveal of what exactly is lurking in protagonist Duane Bradley’s basket. And once you know...oh boy! I lucked into this one blindly working my way through the horror section of the Paris, Kentucky, video store Movieland — if I had read the back of the VHS case then I would have missed out on half the fun.
Lucy’s honorable mentions:
“The Devil’s Daughter” (1973; directed by Jeannot Szwarc)
”Halloween III: Season of the Witch” (1983; directed by Tommy Lee Wallace)
“Burnt Offerings” (1976; directed by Robert Marasco)
“Messiah of Evil” (1973; directed by Willard Hyuck and Gloria Katz)
Dylan Coleman Blount
Dylan Coleman Blount is a Kentucky filmmaker, born and raised in Lexington, who has worked in the film industry for the past eight years. His latest TV pilot “Tyrannosaurus Kincaid,” about a ronin fighting injustice in the deep Kentucky wilderness, is available on Amazon Prime. This winter Dylan and his film crew (Hyena Silver Films) will tackle their second feature film, “The Occasion,” about an awkward dinner party gone awry after some nonhumans from a parallel world invite themselves to be a part of the festivities.
“The Tenant” (1976; directed by Roman Polanski). Before Stanley Kubrick made “The Shining,” he saw “The Tenant” and was so frightened he chose to adapt Stephen King’s masterpiece four years later. Polanski, a director stained with his notorious misdeeds, is the star of his own film. Of all his films, this may be his most terrifying as it delves deep into his own psychological terror of isolation, sexual frustration and identity crisis. Considered part of his “Apartment Trilogy” (the other two being “Repulsion” and “Rosemary’s Baby”), the scariest parts of “The Tenant” aren’t the people looking in, but the person looking out.
Dylan’s honorable mentions:
“Here Comes the Devil” (2012; directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano)
“Suspiria” (2018; directed by Luca Guadagnino)
“Return of the Living Dead” (1986; directed by Dan O’Bannon)
“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” (1982; directed by Tommy Lee Wallace)
Rob Theakston
Rob Theakston is a city boy, born and raised in West Detroit. He arrived in Lexington 12 years ago and is just now adventuring outside city limits. A former editor at allmusic.com and winner of the WC Calcutt Media Studies fellowship, he currently serves as the director of the Gatton Student Center Cinema at the University of Kentucky. In his free time he writes about whiskey as an editor for drinkhacker.com and obsesses over Turner Movie Classics.
“Dracula” (1958; directed by Terence Fisher). This film sees Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing both starring in career-defining roles before they were seduced by George Lucas and The Dark Side. Bela Lugosi (star of the 1931 version of the film) may own the character of Dracula, but Christopher Lee makes a hard case for best Dracula ever. Essential viewing for anyone wanting to get into the genre.
Rob’s honorable mentions:
“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968; directed by Roman Polanski)
“Halloween” (1978; directed by John Carpenter)
“Evil Dead” (1981; directed by Sam Raimi)
“Ringu” (1998; directed by Hideo Nakata)
“Chopping Mall” (1986; directed by Jim Wynorski)
Kenn Minter
Kenn Minter is the longtime DJ behind the Monday night radio show The Percy Trout Hour (WRFL), a graphic designer, comic book creator and curator of the Cult Film Series, a monthly series taking place at The Farish Theater at Lexington Public Library’s Central Branch.
“Evil Dead II” (1987; directed by Sam Raimi). One night when I was still in high school in the late 1980s, my older brother invited me over to his apartment to watch a horror film that he couldn’t stop raving about. The film was “Evil Dead 2” directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell. He popped the VHS cassette into his VCR ... and the movie quickly made me realize that I was watching something quite unlike anything I had seen before. The camera work was frenetic, the action hyperactive, and the dialogue was hilarious. It was like a Tex Avery cartoon come to life ... with the addition of lots and lots of blood and gore.
Kenn’s honorable mentions:
“It Follows” (2014; directed by David Robert Mitchell)
“Bride of Frankenstein” (1935; directed by James Whale)
“An American Werewolf in London” (1981; directed by John Landis)