* B-Sol at Vault of Horror has posted the fruits of his latest labor: The Top 25 Horror Films of the Modern Era. Like his previous Top 50 of All Time list, it was culled from lists submitted by a wide variety of horror bloggers and website writers. There are some interesting selections on there, both good and bad, and I think once again the theory that films need a little time to percolate in our minds before we feel comfortable saying “it’s the best” is borne out.
* Bad law is bad law update: Tom Spurgeon calls our attention to the case of Dwight Whorley, whose child pornography conviction included charges related to cartoon imagery and prose fiction in addition to actual pornographic photographs of children. Given recent commentary about whether unseemly speech should be protected, this seems like an instructive case to me. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t think Whorley deserves to rot in prison for possessing the pornographic photos. On the other hand, the activities depicted in the cartoons and the fiction are imaginary, involving imaginary people. I don’t think that’s a crime, and I don’t think it should be classified as a crime, and I don’t think anyone, even a bastard like Whorley, should be convicted for it. Bad law is bad law.
* More grim news: The case of the murder of Adam Walsh, the young son of John Walsh, has long been a fascinating one to me, for a few reasons. First of all, John Walsh’s reaction to his son’s killing–creating America’s Most Wanted and thereby helping to capture countless murderers and other criminals–is the closest thing to a real-life superhero origin story I’ve ever seen. Secondly, Adam’s supposed killer is an infamous figure in serial-killer lore, Ottis Toole. Toole was the occasional partner in crime of Henry Lee Lucas; the two inspired the excellent, trailblazing horror film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and depending on how you credit their often altered or retracted confessions, they’re either among America’s most prolific murderers or its biggest bullshit artists. This article by the AP’s Matt Sedensky on the Hollywood, Florida authorities’ recent closing of the Adam Walsh case, officially pinning the blame on the long since executed Toole, points out the many lingering inconsistencies and flaws with the investigation, the confession, and the supposed case-closing. It also brings up something I either never heard or had forgotten about: the suspicion among some quarters that Jeffrey Dahmer, who lived in Florida at the time of Adam Walsh’s disappearance, might have been responsible for the murder.
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“I think once again the theory that films need a little time to percolate in our minds before we feel comfortable saying “it’s the best” is borne out.”
I couldn’t agree more (not just in relation to this list, but in relation to all such lists).
Meanwhile, I think some projects (films, comics, songs, etc.) can be so ground-breaking or monumentally amazing beyond its peers that it CAN be placed on a best of list, if not at the top of them. That’s not to say it should happen a lot, but I do think it’s possible.