Celebrity Picks: Ryan Spindell (“Scared Stiff”)!!
Hello Grue-Lings,
Today for Celebrity Picks we have writer and director of Scared Stiff, Ryan Spindell. Scared Stiff stars James Ransone, and Emily Hampshire. The film is about: Oregon Part 1: Taxidermy can be a real killer. Oregon Part 2: Some things weren’t meant to be taxidermied.
Ryan wrote and directed numerous films including: The Return, Kirksdale, The Window, Bully, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, The Root of the Problem, Bundle of Nerves, The Babysitter Murders, Hell Hole: Dark Harvest, and The Mortuary Collection. He directed two series including: Two Sentence Horror Stories: Second Skin, and 50 States of Fright: Scared Stiff. Here is Celebrity Picks with Ryan Spindell:
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EVIL DEAD 2:
As a kid, I was always too scared to watch horror movies and avoided them like the plague. I guess I was worried that mindless blood and guts would somehow emotionally scar me for life. But in high school, I went to a sleepover and someone showed up with a bootleg copy of EVIL DEAD 2. I reluctantly watched it, and my life would never be the same. It was as scary as I expected, but it was also funny and weird and so much fun. For the first time I could see the filmmaker working behind the camera, sometimes quite literally, and I could tell he was having a blast. I knew from that moment that I wanted to do that too!
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DEAD ALIVE:
This film is a companion piece with EVIL DEAD 2 as the movies that that made me want to make movies. DEAD ALIVE (aka BRAINDEAD) is the closest thing I can imagine to a live-action cartoon, and it’s so jammed packed with sheer creativity and pulpy fun that even after seeing it a million times it still manages to surprise me on every viewing. Mark my words, that Peter Jackson is going places.
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POLTERGEIST:
I love how much heart this film has. The movie takes its time to really let the audience fall in love with this family before opening up the Pandora’s box of spooky insanity that follows. That cinematic Spielberg flavor combined with Tobe Hoopers’ brilliantly macabre sensibilities is a perfect recipe for “fun horror” and it’s exactly what I’d love to see more of in the genre space.
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RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD:
Oh man, I was obsessed with zombies as a kid (once I got over my horror movie phobia) and while I loved the original Romero trilogy, this film was just the anti-establishment, punk-rock, tongue-firmly-in-cheek dose of madness my teenage heart needed. It’s somehow both hilarious, and deeply dread-inducing, and that is a nearly impossible thing to pull off. Long live Dan O’Bannon, he was one of a kind!
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THE FRIGHTENERS:
This is a criminally underrated / under seen film that I feel is a master class in all things genre. It’s funny, spooky, thoughtful, action-packed and wildly entertaining and I believe a showcase of Peter Jackson working at the top of his game. I can’t express how much I love this film and I watch it all the time.
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JAWS:
I mean, what more is there to say. It’s quite possibly the best film ever made. Period.
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THE RING:
When people ask me what’s the scariest film I’ve ever seen, this is the easy answer. I vividly remember white-knuckle gripping the armrests in the theatre the first time I saw this film, and it might have been even scarier watching it as home on VHS. Some people may write this one off as a slick Hollywood remake, but they’re just haters. This movie is so, so, so damn good!
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THE FLY:
I mean, this is another absolute classic. Amazing practical effects, dynamite actors and a story that’s so creepy and deeply tragic, that it really gets under your skin… literally. I miss this kind of creature feature in mainstream horror and would love to see more of it.
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