Bruce Campbell names his five favourite horror movies
Serving as the face of one of horror’s most eccentric and iconic franchises, Evil Dead’s Bruce Campbell resides as a horror legend. The actor is known for playing Ash Williams in Sam Raimi’s acclaimed and vibrant 1980s franchise about demonic entities that arise and mutate their victims into distorted creatures with a thirst for blood. With a chainsaw on his arm and a twisted look on his face, Campbell’s appearance as Williams is one of horror’s most timeless.
The actor has also appeared in the cult classics Maniac Cop and Bubba Ho-Tep, becoming a staple figure in cult horror filmmaking that cares little for boundaries and guidelines. Following this, Campbell has developed a thorough and dynamic appreciation for various routes and eras of the horror genre, acknowledging the greats before Evil Dead as crucial and revolutionary pieces of genre filmmaking.
Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, the actor shared his top five horror films and what it is about their style or concepts that garner endless watches and enjoyment from him. This list includes the pinnacle horrors that have remained cited as some of its most brilliant decades after release, telling stories that branch between spine-chilling supernaturals and queasy slashers.
Opening his list with one of horror’s greatest contributions that laid out a conceptual blueprint the genre follows to this day, Campbell mentions one of horror’s maestros at his finest. Night of the Living Dead is George A. Romero’s timeless and insightful socio-political horror that blends visual terror with a societal inspection. It follows a group of survivors who take refuge in an abandoned farmhouse after the dead rise from their graves to feast on human flesh. Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea star in this groundbreaking and terrifying genre masterpiece.
“The granddaddy of them all. A landmark achievement in technical innovation, social awareness, and sheer terror. The handheld look so many filmmakers use today was very new in the ’60s, when visual styles were very ‘locked down,'” the actor explains. “It was my first experience watching someone get disembowelled, and you don’t easily forget that.”
Campbell keeps up his celebration of horror masters and their masterpieces by adding the innovative Tobe Hooper to his favourite horror filmmakers. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a brilliant slasher film that allows the imagination to run wild with some effective tension-building and horrifying characterisation. It stars Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail and Teri McMinn as a group of teenagers stalked and murdered by Leatherface, a chainsaw-wielding killer who dons a mask made from the flesh of his victims.
“The (film’s) opening scene was almost enough to make me not watch the rest of it,” Campbell shares. “Images of illegally exhumed corpses, grotesquely draped over their own tombstones, set the tone for this classic.”
He adds: “What I really like about this movie, in particular, is its relentlessness. Once the horror starts, it never lets up, and that’s something we kept in mind when shooting the original Evil Dead.”
The Exorcist is another example of horror’s compelling and dynamic artistry. William Friedkin adapts William Peter Blatty’s original 1971 novel of the same name in this chilling and astounding 1973 supernatural story about a girl possessed by a sinister demon. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, Jason Miller and Linda Blair.
The actor reveals his insight on the award-winning horror: “Director William Friedkin cast strong actors, giving entirely credible performances. Linda Blair is a revelation. What’s cool is how the characters in the flick treat possession like it’s a clinical disorder.”
When discussing M. Night Shyamalan’s supernatural and twisted The Sixth Sense, Campbell explains: “This movie proves that horror can also be cerebral. You know a film is good if it messes with your mind, and this one does a great job of it. It’s virtually bloodless, which is also unique in horror, and the twist ending, for me, is easily top five.”
This 1999 mother of plot twists stars Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams and Haley Joel Osment, telling the chilling story of a child psychiatrist whose latest patient claims he can communicate with the dead.
Bruce Campbell’s five favourite horrors:
- Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
- The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
- The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Chares Barton, 1948)
The actor ends his list with a lesser-known horror that blends comedy into its tone and style. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was directed by Charles Barton and was released in 1948. It stars Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange, Lenore Aubert and Jane Randolph. Lugosi reprises his iconic role as Count Dracula, who searches for a brain to reactivate Frankenstein’s Monster, played by Stange and discovers the ideal candidate belongs to Costello.
When discussing Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’s balance of horror and humour, Campbell states: “This movie is also an interesting example of early ‘cross-pollination,’ where a studio takes two popular movie personalities and puts them together.”
