SHOCKtober: 32-21

It's almost over. Can you believe it? Dry your tears, friendos- I said "almost"! I'm dragging out your Top 30 Favorites because none of us wants to let go. It's understandable. What will we do? It's been a long journey through hundreds of movies, and I feel like we're all one big cyber-Donner Party because of it. Who will survive, and what will be left of them? Once again, the bold number represents the number of votes the film received.

32. Friday the 13th -- 1980, Sean Cunningham -- 30
31. Dead Alive -- 1992, Peter Jackson -- 30
30. The Ring -- 2002, Gore Verbinski -- 30
29. Candyman -- 1992, Bernard Rose -- 31
28. [REC] -- 2007, Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza -- 34
27. The Blair Witch Project -- 1999, Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez -- 35
26. The Fog -- 1980, John Carpenter -- 35
25. Re-Animator -- 1985, Stuart Gordon -- 37
24. The Haunting -- 1963, Robert Wise -- 39
23. Rosemary's Baby -- 1968, Roman Polanski -- 40
22. Let the Right One In -- 2008, Tomas Alfredson -- 42
21. 28 Days Later -- 2002, Danny Boyle -- 43

• Folks, the next time Platinum Dunes poops out a terrible remake or someone partakes in the completely fresh idea of bitching about Twilight, take a look at, oh, let's say your Top 100 favorites from this list. I get down about "the state of horror", but then I really look at the state of things and I have to punch myself in the face because you know what? It really ain't so effing bad. In fact, horror is about as strong as it's ever been, and the last decade has seen some new classics emerge- hell, 1/3 of this chunk o' list comprises films made since 2000. The biggest difference between "then" and "now", I think, is that no new directors have really been considered a voice for the genre- it's more about the films themselves, if that makes sense. When you think about how awesome old-school horror is, you think about names like John Carpenter, George Romero, and Tobe Hooper because out of the gate, man, these guys knocked out amazing horror movie after amazing horror movie. They had time to build up a body of work, and despite whatever Masters of fucking Horror tried to convince us, it's really too soon yet to know who will truly become...well, a master of unlocking horror. The point is, don't get down. We're doing just fine.