There is just no substitute for good cinema. Whether it be Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Romance, or even Horror, a good flick is a good flick. Just ask a seasoned actress like Amelia Kinkade and she can rattle off a ton of movies she simply adores. In fact, she happily did just that for Cryptic Rock with a detailed list of all her favorite films broken down into her own personalized categories.
Kinkade, from a family of artistic talent, is considered an icon by many in the Horror community thanks to her memorable role as Angela in 1988’s Night of the Demons, as well as its sequels in 1994 and 1997. One of the first female monsters ever to grace the silver screen in Horror cinema, Kinkade has devoted her life to the welfare of animals and has traveled the globe throughout the years in her efforts.
Most recently preparing for Hawaiian Paradise Retreat for animal communications, scheduled for February 20th through 28th, Kinkade is excited for 2020. Despite her busy schedule, she took the time to offer up a lengthy list of films she cannot get enough of.
Favorite movies in general:
A Guy Called Joe (1974): This was Steven Spielberg’s favorite film, which he later re-made starring Richard Dreyfuss. The original was one of the most inspired movies about revolutionary ideas way ahead of their time that this generation ever produced.
All of Buster Keaton’s movies: Because he—like me—did his own stunts! These include The General (1926) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948): Quite possibly the funniest Cary Grant movie of all time. This stars Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. If you are in your 20s or 30s, you may have heard of Cary Grant, but not of Myrna Loy. Myrna Loy is a goddess and one of the original Queens of Comedy, even before Lucille Ball took her rightful crown. If you’ve never seen Myrna Loy and Cary Grant in action, you will laugh until you cry. Watch the scene where she’s picking out paint for the kitchen and you will laugh until you pee in your pants.
Bringing up Baby (1938): Another hilarious Cary Grant movie with Katharine Hepburn at her best.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952): Gene Kelly can dance his arse off, but the “The Make ‘Em Laugh” dance sequence is perhaps the most brilliant dance number ever filmed—or performed for that matter.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988): It’s a creative visual feast.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988): It’s a sexual visual feast.
Favorite movies about outcasts that touch my heart:
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
Little Man Tate (1991)
The Dead Poets Society (1989)
Good Will Hunting (1997): I wish my childhood had been a little bit more like Little Man Tate’s, which Jodie Foster identified with herself. Unfortunately, mine was a lot more like Good Will Hunting’s.
Creepy brilliant supernatural enlightenment movies that will blow your mind:
The Matrix (1999): Uncompromising, undiluted truth. Pure genius.
What Dreams May Come (1998)
Contact (1997): Jodie Foster is a genius in front of and behind the camera.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016): My favorite filmmaker doing what he does best.
Favorite chick flicks of all time:
Holiday (2018): For obvious reasons to every woman on earth. If the British widow with two irresistible little girls doesn’t melt your heart, the Hollywood musical genius will lure you in. Which one is my type? Guess!
Serendipity (2001): John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Look at the cast. Need I say more?
Favorite Comedies:
The Producers (1967): The original by Mel Brooks is unbeatable, but the remake is stellar too.
The Young Frankenstein (1974)
Best in Show (2000): This is the best improv comedy troupe on earth. I was in an improv comedy troupe in Hollywood for four years, so I know what it’s like to face terror and hope for laughter. This group wins every single time!
Beetlejuice (1988): Of course!
Favorites of all time:
All That Jazz (1979): The dance number “Take Off With Us,” choreographed by Bob Fosse, was such a turn-on it made a little Southern hay-seed girl in Louisiana set her sites for Hollywood, come hell or high water, to be a hot, sexy Jazz dancer. And that little Southern hay-seed was me!
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Ghostbusters (1984)
My favorite classics:
Field of Dreams (1989)
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014): I love them all but this is still my favorite.
The Little Prince (2015): It’s supposed to be a children’s movie, but it’s just so gosh-darn profound, you know it was never written for children. My children’s novel, The Winged One, is the same.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Now you all know movies:
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Titanic (1997)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): If you’re in your twenties or thirties you might now know this grandfather of all supernatural movies which is pure genius.
Favorite Disney Movies:
Lady and the Tramp (1955): No competition. The spaghetti eating scene is the sexiest scene of all time—and it’s between two dogs!
Pinocchio (1940): “Got no strings on me!”
The Jungle Book (1967): Run from the little human girl, Mogli! The only civilized place to be is in the jungle with the animals!
Favorite Sci-Fi Movies:
Men in Black (1997): Obviously.
Dragonfly (2002)
Dreamscape (1984)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982): Pure genius and the grandfather of them all. Being an alien myself, I love to see them portrayed as the good guys.
Starman (1984)
Star Wars (1977): All of the movies, but the first is still my favorite.
Cocoon (1985)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Favorite Horror Movies:
Cat-Women of the Moon (1953): This starred my mother-in-law, Marie Windsor, who starred in 72 B-films alongside the likes of Abbot and Costello, and was usually the loud, brawling, busty saloon marm carrying a rifle next to John Wayne and Ronnie Reagan. She also starred in The Killing, a 1956 Stanley Kubrick movie that is so highly regarded it’s used in film schools all over the world to demonstrate what a good script looks like. I got to see it in that context when I was taking advanced screenplay writing at UCLA.
The Killing (1956): This a must see classic too. At the age of 24 when Marie Windsor filmed it, she was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood and was often compared to Liz Taylor, what with the 38D girls and big green eyes you could dive into and swim in for days. But my bawdy, potty-mouthed mother-in-law is now in heaven, drinking martinis and ordering Louis B. Mayer around (like she did when she was alive), so I need to put her at the top of my list.
An American Werewolf in London (1981): This was the crossover movie that made us all love Horror as children. With the stellar special effects and stunning performances, how could it not?
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): We all cut our teeth on this movie and continue to as we scream “Thrust your hips to the left,” and jump up and dance in the isles of the movie theater. We throw rice, we pretend to be Tim Curry, and some of us—like me—actually grow up to be Tim Curry.
Night of the Demons Part 2 (1994): I was in special effects make-up for 27 and a half hours as the iguana-snake, and I still hold the Hollywood record for amount of time being tortured in special effects. I love that scene and am very proud I survived it!
Night of the Demons (1988): I shamelessly love my dance scene, and I think the performances of every member of the cast are stellar!
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955): My mother-in-law, Marie Windsor, who is now in heaven, was the only woman in the film.
Favorite newer movies:
Wonder Woman (2017): What a triumph and a spectacle, and from a woman director!
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
No comment