The Ten Best TV Horror Shows of All time

As promised we're back with another one of our Top Ten Lists for Halloween - this one is the Top 10 Best Horror shows on TV. While television isn't know for creating a lot of Horror-focused programming, it has over the years produced some truly memorable shows that compete fairly well with the best Cinema has to offer (which is saying a lot considering the sheer number of Horror films created since the dawn of Cinema). Anyway, here's the list...


# 1 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - American Horror Story:  Some may argue whether this program belongs on the top of the list considering it only just aired last year - but then again, have you all watched it? The first season boasted a tremendous all-star cast headed by Jessica Lange in what might be the single best role of her career. American Horror story treads across a variety of boundaries for television horror with its many inter-linked and somewhat depraved stories. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the show is its decision to pick a new location and cast every year. Season one is gone forever although we're left to believe that the entire cast of ghosts will remain in that house for enternity as the show shifts directions starting this November 30 (too bad it wasn't in time for Halloween).

This house collects,  families...

# 2 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - Kolchak: The Night Stalker : This show doesn't seem as scary as it did back in the 1970's, yet it was a groundbreaking television event in that it was dedicated solely to the horror genre and brought that genre mainstream. House of Dark Shadows had been on TV a few years before but that was more like a Soap Opera - Night Stalker was pure prime time horror and Darren McGavin's hard-nosed Chicago reporter was perhaps the proto-type for (yet much funnier than) Fox Mulder.

Kolchak was definitely NOT part of the mainstream media

# 3 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - Rod Serling's Night Gallery: This was a short-lived (mainly because Rod Serling passed away - well, actually the show was cancelled before he died but it was close) attempt to shift the Twilight Zone format to pure horror. So, it did somewhat preview what Night Stalker would do a few years later - but through the use of an unconnected anthology of horror tales. Just a note, we haven't included Twilight Zone or Outer Limits (either version of the two) because those shows weren't 100% focused on the horror genre, otherwise they would certainly merit inclusion here.

# 4 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - Tales from the Crypt: This HBO series was in some ways like a resurrection of Night Gallery, just without Rod Serling. It marked the first time that the new cable channels began developing original horror content. We might as well throw in Tales from the Darkside here as well given the similarity in format (and the one interesting thing Darkside had was a connection to Zombie tycoon, George Romero). These shows made sure that there was horror to watch on TV across many periods when no horror shows appeared on prime time.

# 5 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: We have somewhat mixed feelings about Buffy, but without a doubt it helped to created a new interest in the horror genre on television and may very well be responsible for the current vampire trend that has paralyzed popular culture. The other thing we like about Buffy was the fact that it gave Joss Whedon his real start in Hollywood (Waterworld doesn't count, enough said).

# 6 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television -  The X-Files: Ok, so there were lot's of aliens, but Aliens are scary too right? It's impossible to have this list without having the X-files on it. This was the show that made a shrine to paranoia of all sorts - both the paranormal type and extraterrestrial. The truth is that we loved to be pulled into its twisted world and heck they even wrote songs about watching this show with the lights turned off during the 1990's. What more could you ask for?

We want to believe - that David D. didn't chase every girl on the X-Files set...

# 7 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - House of Dark Shadows: This show was the one attempt ever of mixing horror with soap operas. Although, there are many people who think those two genres may be linked by default anyway. Despite that, this black and white show was compelling enough to warrant a film remake this year from director Tim Burton - no doubt this was one of his early influences.

The original Barney was neither purple nor lovable.

# 8 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - The Walking Dead: Zombies of course represent a fairly narrow sliver of the overall Horror genre, yet the Walking Dead has been so superb that it requires a place on this list. It's a real testament to the makers of this show that they took a topic that seemed to have been done to death (pun alert) and breathed new life into it. We like it, we love it we want some more of it. Let's all go to the Waffle Hell - ooops... got carried away.

# 9 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - Millennium: For the folks who couldn't get enough of X-files paranoia - the show spun off two series, The Lone Gunman and Millennium. Millennium took Y2K and added the X-Files with a bit of the Omen for good measure. It all came together to provide us with a profound sense of foreboding for the new millennium. Of course, by the time 2001 rolled around we had other things to worry about and pretty much forgot about this show. No matter how spooky Lance Henriksen looked, he just couldn't compete.

#10 Best Horror Show of All Time on Television - Scooby Doo: So, there may be some of you who find this choice surprising being a cartoon and all. But why? Think about it. Nearly every kid in America over a thirty period grew up watching Shaggy and Scooby chasing and being chased by spooks and monsters and solving mysteries - and more often than not - debunking the scary stuff and making us feel better. No other horror show on TV covered this much ground - it all starts with Scooby. Heck they even had they own soundtracks with such memorable hits as "Zoinks!" and "Those Meddlin' Kids" - we've still got old cassette tapes laying around. Time for a Scooby snack - gotta run 

Scooby taught us all how to cope with terror...

  

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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The Top 10 Horror Films that Need to be Made

Just when you may have thought we ran out of ideas for Halloween Top 10 lists, we're back... Anyway, we thought it was important to explore frightening concepts that Hollywood has otherwise overlooked up until now. We certainly understand that not everyone has the same tastes when it comes to what does or doesn't scare them - we've tried our best to settle upon some universal themes. And BTW - we will have another list coming up after this - the Top 10 Scariest TV shows ever.

# 1 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Frontier Psychiatrist: Besides already having a very catchy soundtrack, we really want to know the rest of story...

This could have only come from... Down Under. Ever wonder about that nickname?

# 2 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Blood Cycle, The Lance Armstrong Story: You've only heard the tip of the iceberg, Lance got blood transfusions during races yes, but from whom and was it willingly given? This is the story that exposes Lance as the blood sucking, organ stealing fiend that seemed somehow superhuman - now we know why. Dracula, Frankenstein and Arnold all rolled into one - he was the true Hell on the Wheels.

What's that you're sipping, Count Spokula?

# 3 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Kardashian Chaos (AKA Sister Hacks): What happens when a gaggle of no-talent bimbos finally get kicked out of the spotlight - they get homicidal, that's what. The high fashion reality TV, fashion model babes wreak havoc on Hollywood - marrying unsuspecting athletes, jamming their high heels into the eye sockets of reporters and generally refusing to be ignored. The ultimate outcome of this film is too hideous to even contemplate - as the world is forced to watch them age much like the Rolling Stones.

You must watch us, forever and ever.........

# 4 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Preservatives: Everyone thinks the end times will come from some horrible virus, but what if - the Zombie Apocalypse started elsewhere - say perhaps at your local supermarket. This is the story of how junk-food preservatives changed our body chemistry and allowed the dead to last and live on - forever. A.K.A. - Revenge of the Twinkies.

You are ,what you eat....

# 5 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Foreclosure: This film idea asks the question what happens when you foreclose on a Haunted House? We think it might go something like this - homeowners get screwed by the bank and the house wreaks revenge on its neighbors by falling apart, failing to mow its yard and generally lowering property values. Eventually the house invites squatters and drug dealers to move in and must be demolished. Pretty scary huh?  

# 6 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Sushi: The ultimate slasher er slicer movie. There is nothing more disgusting and creepy than people eating raw meats. Let's make a movie about it; it'll probably be banned.

This used to be alive, have the decency to cook it at least will you!

 # 7 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Revenge of the Teens: This is usually only frightening to middle aged parents although there is plenty here to scare the wits out of just about anyone. The whole process is a little like the Alien movie franchise. 

 # 8 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Attack of the Sub-woofers: They move from town to town, following some really lousy bands waiting - waiting to be turned up just to the right level - that level where you can no longer distinguish noise from music - and then - booom - everyone heads' explode. Taking bad entertainment to the limit...

# 9 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Windows 8: Just when you thought you had finally worked out all your operating system issues, Microsoft introduces another one.  

The Horror, ... the... horror...

# 10 Horror Film that Needs to be Made - Waffle Hell: Imagine if you can, arriving late at night somewhere in the deep South, into a strange, dirty dank restaurant late - you're just looking for some food (and no it's not Denny's even though it might qualify as purgatory). And then, the jukebox starts playing and all the patrons start singing country tunes (Dolly, Garth Brooks even some Bluegrass) and you can never ever leave. "I got friends in low places..."   AHHHHHHHHHH  This is the Waffle Hell...

Cholesterol and country music equal eternal suffering at the Waffle Hell

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

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The 10 Worst Horror Films of All Time

Some movies are so scary that you never truly recover from them (like say the Sentinel); on the other hand some movies are just scary bad - so truly horrible, that you can never quite forget them either (no matter how much you may want to). Today's Halloween Top 10 list is dedicated to the absolute worst Horror films ever created. You may be curious how we separate "Least Scary" horror films from the "Worst" horror films. Here's our criteria:

• The worst horror are generally not scary but have other attributes besides that;
• Attribute 1 - truly dumb premise
• Attribute 2 - truly bad acting
• Attribute 3 - truly awful script
• Attribute 4 - generally rotten special effects
• Attribute 5 - total lack of continuity or common sense

Having said all of that, some of these films were at least, original...

Everybody loves Trolls, right? Well maybe not so much. We used to think that Trolls were the ones who took money when you want to cross the bridge - this may have prejudiced our opinions against them.

#1 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Troll & Troll 2: Rule of thumb, most horror movies made regarding trolls, elves, leprechauns and other dwarfs (real or imaginary) have been truly awful. A decent Horror film director could avoid alot of risk by skipping this genre altogether. Troll 2 is often considered to be one of the worst films ever made, although we think Birdemic gives it a good run for its money. They even made a documentary film about how bad this movie was which is high praise, sort of.

#2 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Birdemic: This movie has no redeeming qualities whatsoever; although we did eat in the Double-decker bus restaurant in Half Moon Bay where much of the movie was filmed and that was at least half-way cool.  So, anyway this film - if you can call it that - follows a Silicon Valley executive and his dim-witted girlfriend as they battle poorly rendered CG eagles who are really pissed about Global Warming or something. Lot's of clever shots of cars backing up and parking add to the suspense and action.

The entire Internet has joined together in mocking this film - unfortunately the film's producers got the wrong impression from this and are making a sequel.

#3 Worst Horror Film of All Time - The Happening: Painfully stupid, hard to watch - a waste of talent and several years after seeing it we're still not sure what it's about. Something may have happened but we really don't care what and we hope what will happen in the future is that M. Night never makes another Horror film as this is only one in about 4 awful stinkers he's dropped in a row. We think the title ought to be changed to "The Nothingening," or Not Happening.  

M Night, you really didn't make the Sixth Sense did you - that kid, Haley what's his name directed it, right?

#4 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Eyes Without a Face: We've always wondered whether Billy Idol's Eyes Without a Face hit from the 1980's was in any way linked to this cult French horror film from the 1960's. Several problems here; 1 - It's French, name one scary French movie. 2 - Oddly enough Face surgery is pretty common now - not so scary, 3 - They're all speaking French which sounds oddly not scary. 4 - Billy Idol is nowhere to be found in this film and the soundtrack sucks. Granted the girl looks a little bit like Michael Myers (from Halloween) older sister - or maybe it was the French Exchange student who stayed with them for the Summer?

Attack of the Mademoiselle ! 

 

#5 Worst Horror Film of All Time - GingerDead Man: What happens when you mix Gary Busey with flour, brown sugar and lot's of ginger and cinnamon? Well, perhaps the craziest premise for a movie ever with one of the looniest actors in Hollywood. Maybe not such a good recipe after all. It seems as though the folks who made this film did so with the deliberate intention of creating one of the stupidest movies ever - something to outrank Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and  Killer Klowns etc. This is hardly an achievement worth acknowledging except for here on lists of the worst movies ever made. Gary at least had an excuse for doing this (he fell off of his motorcycle a lot), the producers likely have no such excuse.

Talk about your junk food!

#6 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Rabid Grannies: Here's a good one word review for this movie - Yuk! We're not sure exactly what sort of repressed childhood issues the makers of the film were working out - or whether they simply wanted to transfer their psychosis to the audience.

Come here Dearheart, nana is ever so hungry.

#7 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood: Very little commentary is needed here. What do you get when you mix killer Leprechauns with Crack Cocaine ? We'll, let's just say no...

The Racial Stereotypes are hard to escape in this film - Irish people may never recover from it

#8 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Dr. Giggles: We actually paid money in a theater to see this one - we can't remember why. Anyway, we think this film did a lot to undermine our healthcare system in America and it really, really sucked.

Let's give a big hand or two to Dr. Giggles ! or not...

#9 Worst Horror Film of All Time - feardotcom: We asked the question about the Ring, what would happen if it were uploaded to Youtube? This movie just put it on a website without the proper streaming technology so it reached a relatively small number of victims who had to wait forever for the video to buffer. If an internet borne computer virus is ever capable of boring people to death it should be named after this movie.

#10 Worst Horror Film of All Time - Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus: We weren't sure if this movie belongs on a Horror film list but it's close enough. This movie makes no attempt to hide how bad it can be - it seems to revel in its own low budget absurdities; from reusing the same pair of sunglasses to re-purposing what seems to be a large broom closet as the set for half its locations. At the very least though they come up a with a new attraction to compete with Shamu at Sea World.

Mega Shark can catch jumbo jets in mid-air; take that Shamu!

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