Horror journalist Joseph Perry mixes in some Thrills (He is certainly a big David Lynch fan) with his Scares in his top 25 list. And yes, he’s ready for “That’s Not a Horror Movie!” Hot take!
I fell in love with horror films as a preschooler when I first saw the Gill-Man swim across my TV screen in The Creature From the Black Lagoon and Mothra battle Godzilla in Godzilla vs. The Thing. My education in fright fare continued as a youngster in such TV series as “The Twilight Zone,” “The Outer Limits,” “Night Gallery,” and “Kolchak the Night Stalker,” along with legendary northern California horror host Bob Wilkins’ “Creature Features.”
I am a regular contributing writer to the print-only “Phantom of the Movies VideoScope” magazine. A staff writer for the print and online versions of Diabolique, Scream, and Gruesome Magazine; a staff writer for the websites Ghastly Grinning, That’s Not Current, and When it Was Cool; and one of the co-hosts of the podcasts Decades of Horror: The Classic Era and “Uphill Both Ways“. I occasionally proudly co-write articles with my son Cohen Perry, who is a film critic in his own right.
Please note that my list is subject to change daily.
#1 Favorite Movie of ALL TIME!: Blue Velvet (1986)
Movie #2: Jaws (1975)
Movie #3: Halloween (1978)
Movie #4: The Similars (2015)
Movie #5: Maneater of Hydra (AKA Island of the Doomed) (1967)
Movie #6: The Tenant (1976)
Movie #7: The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
Movie #8: Godzilla (1954)
Movie #9: The Love Witch (2016)
Movie #10: An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Movie #11: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Movie #12: Mulholland Drive (2001)
Movie #13: Lost Highway (1997)
Movie #14: Ringu (1998)
Movie #15: Twins of Evil (1971)
Movie #16: What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Movie #17: The Shining (1980)
Movie #18: Starry Eyes (2014)
Movie #19: Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Movie #20: Repulsion (1965)
Movie #21: The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
Movie #22: Hereditary (2018)
Movie #23: It’s Alive (1974)
Movie #24: The Housemaid (1960)
Movie #25: Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)