Ranking Every Year of
Cinemassacre’s Monster Madness
I’m switching things up today. Instead of doing a countdown
of movies, I’m taking a look at one of my sources of inspiration for starting
Creepy Cinema, and my entire blog, in the first place: Cinemassacre’s Monster Madness!
Monster Madness is
a series of video reviews that first started in 2007, created by Cinemassacre.com
founder James Rolfe as a way to introduce people to the essentials of horror
cinema, but it quickly gained popularity and became a yearly tradition for ten
consecutive years. Every October, he reviewed 31 horror films (with the
exception of 2012, which only had a review every other day, because he was
working on Angry Video Game Nerd: The
Movie at that time), and introduced many internet-goers, including myself,
to a wide variety of genre films, from the Universal classic monsters to Godzilla,
and everything in between.
Obviously, I recommend checking out every video James has
made, but let’s face it: there are upwards of 300 videos in the Monster Madness library. It may be
overwhelming for someone who has never watched any before. So, I’m going to
rank all the years, talk a bit about each of them, and give three personal
recommendations.
10. 80’s-A-Thon (2012)
This was the one year James cut down the number of videos. Let
me make it clear that I love every year of Monster
Madness, but some years were definitely stronger than others. 80’s-A-Thon had a great theme, he
reviewed a number of lesser-known flicks, like the giant monster movie Q: The Winged Serpent, plus the huge fan
request Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Not all of the reviews are as in-depth or enthusiastic as previous years, and
overall, I found the variety a bit lacking, and the reviews themselves weren’t as
memorable as previous years. Still, it’s a fun and nostalgic glimpse into one
of the best decades of horror.
Must-see reviews:
-Pumpkinhead: an
underrated creature feature with great effects
-Teen Wolf: rarely
are pure comedies looked at in Monster
Madness, making this review unique
-Toxic Avenger:
great review and great intro to what the studio Troma is all about
9. Monster Madness X (2016)
The final year for Monster
Madness was a bitter sweet one. It was the first time there was a new theme
every day, which was cool, but a couple of the themes (namely “Blood Thirsty
Thursdays” and “Franken Fridays”) didn’t feature what I felt were very good
films. James appeared in front of the camera in every review, but to allow the
videos to exist on YouTube, only screen caps were used, not video. It was clear
to me that Monster Madness had taken
its toll on James. But, for entry-level viewers, this might be one of the best marathons
to check out, simply for the top ten lists, as well as “Modern Mondays”,
because Monster Madness typically did
not focus on newer films.
Must-see reviews:
-“Top Ten Tuesdays”: recaps of some of the best films
reviewed in the past, and more
-Tusk: just the
kind of fun, absurd horror movie that always makes for a great review
-House: a weird,
foreign flick that’s the kind of thing James can only attempt to describe
instead of review conventionally, which is always funny
8. Monster Madness 9 (2015)
I wasn’t surprised to find out Monster Madness X would be the final marathon after the way Monster Madness 9 turned out. Again, I
still liked it, but I could sense James was no longer able to invest in it like
he once did—and that’s completely understandable. He brought collaborator Mike
Matei in for the first time (in front of the camera, Mike had helped behind the
scenes years prior) for 11 of the 31 videos, in which the two of them simply
talked about films and/or general topics. Those videos didn’t feel like
traditional Monster Madness, but were
still enjoyable.
Monster Madness
existed in two different forms in 2015: on YouTube for the first time, and his
website Cinemassacre.com as always, with old reviews re-edited to remove
footage (to avoid copyright infringement) uploaded to YouTube on the days that
the old style of reviews featuring James talking over clips of the films were
uploaded on the website. There was no theme, some of the movies were very
mainstream, and the coverage wasn’t consistently in-depth, but the old style
reviews were great, and felt like classic Monster
Madness.
Must-see Reviews:
-Night of the Lepus:
something I reviewed in the second year of Clayton’s Creepy Cinema, a
classic-style review from James with hints of nostalgia for this bizarre and
hilarious film
-Poultrygeist:
James and Mike talking about one of the craziest films from Troma
-“How to Celebrate Halloween”: James and Mike talking for
over half an hour about a range of topics
7. Camp Cult (2010)
The theme for the fourth year of Monster Madness was a bit of a departure from previous years. Camp Cult was all about “digging into
the devil’s asshole,” in James’ words, “to bring out some of the shittier
movies.” Though he covered some straight-up bad movies, he did uncover some
campy gems, like Infra-Man and Reptilian, and there was a pretty good
variety, with some of the reviews being straight-up hilarious. James often
appeared in the intro or outro of the reviews, sitting around a camp fire with
an old film projector, which was a new element to Monster Madness, but the reviews still retained their typical
format. You can tell he had fun with it that year, which makes it even easier
to have fun watching.
Must-see Reviews:
-Exorcist 2: The
Heretic: a crazy movie, with extremely funny coverage and a James Earl
Jones gag for the ages
-Night of the Demon:
insane low-budget Bigfoot flick, really funny jokes and comments
-Monkey Shines: no
one could do this movie justice like James does, a laugh-out-loud review
6. Sequel-A-Thon (2011)
I really liked the theme for the fifth Monster Madness, and I think a lot of fans felt the same, because
James was able to delve deep into some of the ongoing franchises that he had
only touched upon in previous years. This was one of the first review marathons
that I marathon-watched (I didn’t start watching Monster Madness when the videos were new until 2012), and it was
where I first learned about the Hammer horror films. He covered a classic
Universal monster (Frankenstein
series) plus two classic slasher villains (Nightmare
on Elm Street and Halloween), and
talked about the films in a spoiler-filled way, which some viewers might not
appreciate, but I found it made the reviews more engaging and exciting to
watch.
Must-see Reviews:
-Nightmare on Elm
Street: it’s tough to pick specific reviews from this year, but of all the Nightmare reviews, the original film
gets the most coverage, and it sets up the sequel reviews nicely
-Halloween:
Resurrection: a real bad sequel, but a real good review
-Horror of Dracula:
again, this review is thoughtful, sets you up for the full series of Hammer Dracula reviews, plus James offers insight
into the production, and Hammer Studios as a whole
5. History of Horror (2007)
This was the one that started it all. In the context of all Monster Madness marathons, History of Horror pales in comparison
somewhat, simply because the reviews are more straight forward and the theme is
designed like an introductory class for those just getting started in the genre.
However, elements that make Monster
Madness great are already present here, like James’ casual, funny, and
engaging narration, or his choice to review a goofy-yet-fun low key flick. He
covered a wide variety of films, praising some and criticizing others, and
though many of the films from the first year were covered in more detail in later
years, the reviews are still fun to re-watch even today.
Must-see Reviews:
-The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre: an often misunderstood proto-slasher with great insights as to
why it’s scary
-The Evil Dead: a
perfect summary of the 3 original Evil
Dead films, humorous and thoughtful
-Bubba Ho-Tep: the
month ends with a funny review of a cult horror-comedy many viewers (including
myself) had never heard of at the time
4. Monster Madness 3 (2009)
The third marathon of reviews is a nice combination of what
made the first year great and what would make subsequent years great, with a
blend of classic films reviewed, as well as lesser-known ones. It’s similar to History of Horror, but with more
variety. Most are great movies, like An
American Werewolf in London, Return
of the Living Dead, and the original The
Fly, but a few silly ones are thrown in, like Leprechaun and The Giant Claw.
The marathon ends with a more contemporary film, The Devil’s Rejects, which James felt was one of the only good
original horror films to come out in the 2000’s.
Must-see Reviews:
-Re-Animator:
where I first heard about this film, a fun and informative review
-King Kong: one of
the greatest films of all-time, discussed by a true fan, with insight into the production
-Coffin Joe: a
series of underrated Brazilian horror films, a real eye-opening review
3. Monster Madness 8 (2014)
This was the unofficially titled
“whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it-athon”, which spans films from 1922 to
2012. There was no order, which was a departure from previous years. Typically,
James reviewed films in order of their release dates, starting with the oldest,
but this year he said it “was random as shit”, which I thought worked. It was
one of the most-fun marathons to keep up with each day of October. Every day
was unexpected. One night, I watched Insidious
just for the hell of it, and the next day, guess what movie James reviewed? Insidious. Seriously, it freaked me out.
What a weird coincidence. He surprised everyone by reviewing Cabin in the Woods on October 1st,
instead of the 31st, as many had anticipated, but he ended the
marathon with an awesome film choice, Trick
r’ Treat, and covered numerous flicks I had wanted to know his opinion on
for years.
Must-see Reviews:
-Stephen King’s IT:
a contemporary look at something from James’ childhood (plus a look at how bullshit
the DVD is)
-The Black Cat: a prime
example of a lesser-known-but-great horror film from the past, with brief
coverage of other movies called The Black
Cat as a bonus
-Haxan: back to
the roots of horror, as James likes to do
2. Godzilla-thon (2008)
Coming in at a close second is the sophomore year of Monster Madness, the first marathon to
have “athon” as part of the title—something that became almost a tradition
within itself. I was already a Godzilla
fan before I found James’ reviews, but I became a huge fan after watching them all. The reviews are hilarious, most
are short and to the point, and the moments he highlights are perfect. A few moments
that stand out in my mind include a line from Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla where it sounds like a guy says
“Godzilla suck dick”, when Godzilla flies in Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (Also James perfectly sums up the
film in one line: “it’s for people on drugs”) and when Godzilla jumps for joy
in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. It also
really says something that one of the best reviews is for one of the worst
movies, Godzilla’s Revenge. Godzilla
is the longest-running monster movie franchise ever, and James gave a perfect
recap.
Must-see Reviews:
-Godzilla vs.
Destoroyah: hilarious comments, and the way James says the villain’s name
has gone down in Cinemassacre history as one of the funniest things he has ever
said
-Godzilla 1998: a
bit more in-depth than the others, explaining why the Tri-Star remake is not
worthy of the Godzilla name
-Godzilla: Final Wars:
a very enthusiastic review, plus a top ten Godzilla films as a bonus at the end
1. Sequel-A-Thon 2 (2013)
For me, Sequel-A-Thon
2 has everything I love about Monster
Madness all in one marathon. First off, the returning theme. This time,
though, James covered even more franchises, with reviews that were longer and
more in-depth than ever before. It was clear he put a lot of effort into it—whether
it was to make up for only having 15 reviews the previous year or if that’s
just how it worked out, I don’t know. He appeared in front of the camera,
surrounded by his video collection, as well as in the traditional method of
narrating over video footage, and covered one of the best Universal monsters (The Mummy), another great Hammer series
(Frankenstein), and another favourite
giant monster franchise (Gamera).
He also covered the Alien
franchise, one of my all-time favourite series of films. For those solely
seeking new films to watch, it may be disappointing for some horror buffs to hear
him talk about films that are so well-known, but for me, I’m such a fan of him, I just wanted to hear what James thought
of some of my personal favourites, so hearing his take on the franchise was a
real treat. Finally, he ended the marathon with George Romero’s series of
zombie films, which I wasn’t very familiar with at the time. It served well to
educate me, and the marathon ended on a unique note: a full commentary of the
original Night of the Living Dead. I
can’t pick just three favourites, all 31 videos are awesome.
I’m sure every Monster
Madness fan has a different favourite year, but for me, 2013’s Sequel-A-Thon 2 was the pinnacle of Monster Madness. It’s a tradition I
enjoyed for a number of years, but thankfully, James Rolfe hasn’t gone
anywhere, and Monster Madness lives
on at Cinemassacre, with this year’s Son
of Monster Madness. Be sure to check it out!
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