Making the horror lists: Why I deplore this annual trend

It is that annoying time of year again


I love Halloween.. don’t get me wrong. But I disdain when we get yearly “lists” of the best horror girls, the best horror movies, the best victims in horror movies, the best kills, and now the newest from Entertainment WEEKLY: THE BEST SLASHER FLICKS..

First off, let’s get real.. anyone who promotes these lists does it at times when the iron is hot: Halloween is when you’d most likely click on a link that will purport to tell you what the ‘best’ slashers are.. And typically, at least in this case, you’re going to get any new information. What you will read is going to be regurgitated sameness. The movies that make the list are predictable..

The only reason lists like these are promoted is for web hits and, from the site’s perspective, schmucks who will accidentally click on banner ads populated throughout the website..

So what are EW’s slasher flicks featured?

FRIDAY the 13th.. No big shock.. SCREAM.. nothing new. PSYCHO.. yawn.. TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE…sigh.. And of course HALLOWEEN, because it’s HALLOWEEN and EW knows that posting a few shots of Michael Myers near the end of October will get hits.

So often when it comes to lists like this—not just about horror but, say, lists of Jennifer Anniston’s hair style on the anniversary date of FRIENDS first airing—we realize that nothing online is new.. pop culture trends escape the big sites.. Instead they hope that lists of this nature will fill the void of reporting..

I especially hate the sites that make you continuously click arrows to get more of the list. I give up after one click..

Not EW didn’t do that. Instead a sub par attempt was made at new content.



It just seems to be that we get the same old thing over and over and over and over and over again….

HISTORY