FRANKENSTEINS BLOODY TOP 10

John R. Hand says Halloween as a child typically meant running wild in the streets with no adult supervision. In fact, most of his trick-or-treating was done flying solo dressed as a generic “axe murderer.” The writer, director, producer, editor and star of the outstanding film “Frankensteins Bloody Nightmare” would gear up with a plastic cleaver and a cheap glow-in-the-dark plastic hockey mask (aka Jason Voorhees) before terrorizing his neighborhood in Northwest Florida.

“I guess it made sense that I was by myself because axe murders are probably lonely fellows,” said John. “Anyways, one time as an axe murderer it was getting dark and I accidentally fell into this gigantic pond in front of this lady’s house. The rest of the night I was a wet axe murderer, which also makes sense because I’m sure axe murderers could be wet as well.”

The 28-year-old independent filmmaker said the holiday has probably changed a lot since those days. “When I was a kid, we’d actually go out into the streets to get the candy and get run over by cars or kidnapped,” John said jokingly. “I’m sure kids can do all this stuff over the internet now.”

John was born in the same hospital Martha Beck worked in as a nurse before she went on a mass murdering spree with Raymond Fernandez. The bizarre couple, who were dubbed the “Lonely Hearts Killers” by the media, are said to have lured in and killed as many as 17 sex-starved women in the late 1940s.

Not far from the hospital, at the bottom of Berry Hill in Milton, Florida, Martha’s old house still stands. John never ventured there on any dark Halloween nights, but that’s probably because he didn’t know about it until recently. “I actually only found out when someone working on my little film told me,” John said. “But that’s kind of what this town is like - there’s creepy stuff lurking around every corner.”

And speaking of creepy, John’s recommended “best of” horror list for guaranteed scares this All Hallow’s Eve is filled with not only a handful of classics, but a few off-beat picks as well. Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) tops the list, followed by George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” (1978). “I can watch these two films over and over,” John said. “There’s just too many superlatives to hurl at them. They are both masterpieces.”

Stuart Gordon’s 1985 telling of a H.P. Lovecraft story in the form of “Re-Animator” finds itself at number three on John’s recommendations. “Yet another classic,” John said. “Incredible performances all the way around and some stellar special effects, which were destined to haunt the back pages of Fangoria for years to come, setting fire to little children’s imaginations unlike any other horror film of its era… or at least that’s how I feel about it.” John says the film, starring Jeffrey Combs as Professor Herbert West experimenting on the reanimation of the dead, was to the horror genre in the eighties what Don Chaffey and Ray Harryhausen’s “Jason and the Argonauts” was to fantasy films of the sixties.

Fourth for John is 1979’s “Buio Omega,” which is often called the ultimate Joe D’Amato film, filled with lots of blood and sleaze. “There’s something about this movie which I’m obsessed with,” John said. “Beyond all the Italian gore stuff there’s something weird and heartbreaking going on.”

Sam Raimi’s 1987 classic “Evil Dead 2: Dead Before Dawn” reluctantly possesses the number five spot on John’s list. “This one should probably be a little higher, but what the hell,” John said. “It’s a rollercoaster ride of a film, Raimi’s best work and probably one of the best sequels aside from ‘Aliens’ and the second ‘Godfather.’”

At number six, John calls Lucio Fulci’s “Zombi 2” one of his favorite pieces of Italian zombie cinema. The title of the 1979 film alludes to Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead,” which was released in Europe as “Zombi,” but the films share no plot or character connection. “Zombi 2” centers around an island that is infested with blood thirsty zombies and features a legendary shark attack scene. “Topless girls scuba diving, topless girls getting big spikes rammed through their eyes and zombies attacking sharks,” John said. “That’s a night of entertainment.”

Another Hooper film nabs the number seven slot with “Eaten Alive.” Hooper’s 1977 follow-up to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” took its inspiration from Texas serial killer Joe Ball, who ran a saloon with a pond full of alligators in the back. Often called “The Alligator Man,” “The Butcher of Elmendorf” and “The Bluebeard of South Texas,” Ball is said to have killed twenty women and fed them to his gators in the 1930s.

“I’m sure most horror fans you ask would probably put almost any Hooper film above this one, but every time I watch it there’s some weird magic surrounding ‘Eaten Alive,’” John said. “There’s this strange theatricality about the film because it’s almost completely shots on sets, even the exteriors, and everyone’s wearing bad wigs, but below the surface there’s this sick weirdness. Also, Robert Englund pops up for a moment, playing that regional stereotype role he was known for in little films like ‘Dead and Buried.’”

Fulci’s underrated and often hated 1984 film “Murder Rock” dances its way to number eight. “I suppose you could pick a million of other great Fulci movies, but ‘Murder Rock’ has a great poster, some incredible cinematography and it’s one of those giallos where the killer’s motivation is completely nonsensical and insane.”

Seemingly inspired by all the dance crazes of the eighties – “Fame” (’80),“Flashdance” (’83), “Breakin’” (’84), “Footloose” (’84) – Fulci set a murder mystery in a dance studio, toned down the gore and threw a sizable part of this movie’s budget into the soundtrack.

“The soundtrack by Keith Emerson isn’t exactly the best,” John admits. “His ‘Inferno’ soundtrack is much better, but the CD had a nice cover. Speaking of Emerson and ‘Inferno,’ why didn’t I pick ‘Suspiria’? I needed to leave open a space for ‘Murder Rock,’ that’s why.”

Though not completely sold on the “Murder Rock” soundtrack, Tim Krog’s score for “The Boogey Man” helped seal its spot at number nine. John said the 1980 movie about a shattered mirror freeing a revenge-seeking evil spirit is probably Ulli Lommel’s best work. Aside from the electronic soundtrack, John gives a thumbs up to the “weird psycho bondage opening sequence.”

Lastly on John’s top 10 is yet another Hooper film – “The Mangler.” Based on a short story of Stephen King’s, this 1995 movie features a possessed laundry press and stars Robert Englund, aka Freddy Krueger, in another great “tons of makeup” role.

“This is a fun movie that most horror fans have forgotten,” John said. “There’s something that keeps me revisiting the old Laserdisc copy I own for some strange reason. I guess it’s not a very true adaptation of the King story that it’s based on, but somehow it manages to communicate the creepiness and dread of this horrible gothic factory far better than other King adaptations.”

“Also, there’s something visually about this film which drives me crazy with the wide lenses and smooth tracking shots,” John added. “They somehow harken back to ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’ Obviously, this is a much lesser film, but visually you could see the progression unlike some of Hooper’s other films which are a little more workman-like and faceless.”

“Frankensteins Bloody Nightmare” is available on DVD from Unearthed Films. For more information, check out John’s official site.