I'm going to come straight out and say this - one of my favorite guilty pleasures is the whole "______ from hell" sub-genre, where some everyday person (be it your Stepfather, Paperboy, colleague, roommate, ex, etc.) ends up being completely batshit crazy. With the genre receiving another tweeny offering with THE ROOMMATE this Super Bowl weekend, let's maybe reflect on the better ones...and give me some suggestions on some others I should check out!
In terms of sheer quality film making I would vote for The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, even though The Crush was very enjoyable too. I just saw The Roommate about an hour ago and it feels like an episode of Dawson's Creek with a psycho roomie thrown in, the teen girls in the audience seemed to get a kick out of it but I found it a little dull and very predictable. Probably best for big fans of Minka Kelly, just recently found out she's the daughter of former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay.
I'm a sucker for this sub-genre as well. Some great stuff listed, including some underrated gems like Mikey! I went with The Paperboy! I love that movie, I own the VHS and I used to watch it constantly on USA when I was younger. Though I was tempted to vote for Hand That Rocks The Cradle or Poison Ivy (which is another guilty pleasure favorite I used to watch constantly on TBS as a kid).
A lot of fun movies on that list but I've got to go with Bette Davis as the sister from hell in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Gotta go with Eastwood's PLAY MISTY FOR ME,the blueprint for FATAL ATTRACTION.Jessica Walters is great in that one.
Lots of favorites on that list but I had to go with the original child from hell - THE BAD SEED. Sure it's campy and dated but Patty McCormack is still damn chilling as the little girl with no conscience. Without Rhoda there would have been no Esther. And that annoying piano tune she plays is as embedded in my brain as The Twilight Zone theme.
My personal favorite - stylistically, I know it rather sucks - is Poison Ivy. If they had had a better story but all of the same style and music (except for that one sorta-Nelson sounding song, I would like it every bit as much.
Play Misty,but I also an enjoy two selections that aren't posted: Malicious,featuring a topless Molly Ringwald, nautical themed woman-on-top bondage,and so many direct rips offs from "Misty" that Clint Eastwood shoulda sued....and cheese-tastic Rob Malenfant classic,The Landlady,featuring Rocky Balboa's main squeeze as an aging inheritor of an apartment building full of ne'er-do-wells she feels she must kill in comical ways, (fridge door, candlestick bludgeoning/pimp frame-up,etc) when they don't meet her skewed sense of moral standard.When she sets her sights on a single male tenant who makes the mistake of being nice to her,the fun really begins. LL feels like a TV movie,with some seriously hilarious dialogue,but Talia rocks it on the cheap with what she's given.
I've always had a soft spot for The Good Son; I guess because I watched it when I was a kid and have viewed it with rose colored glasses since? I dunno, it will always be a guilty pleasure..
Went for Misery, but if the above had been on the list, I'd have voted for it. Some classics have yet to be topped, and this one does so wrong so right. Admit it, you just like seeing Rebecca De Mornay's rack.
