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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

About the Top Ten lists...

I decided to start a series of Top Ten lists for each year covered on this blog, along with a discard pile for the films that didn't quite make the cut; some of which are still very good, but maybe not (in my humble opinion) good enough for the Top 10. Anything in that section I have starred will be a film that I have rated at least "good" (2 1/2 stars); meaning it's still worth watching. Naturally, these lists are just one man's opinion and will be subject to change as I watch (or rewatch) more films and do more reviews here. I'm only providing links for films I've done reviews for, though others should still be listed and rated here, and reviews for those will come eventually. Any comments are very much appreciated, as well as any recommendations for great films I haven't yet seen from any of the years listed. I'll make it a priority to watch anything that anyone recommends to me.

Some Notes and rules...

- I will be using IMDb release years for these lists, which may differ from the years I have some films listed under on this blog. I usually (but not always) pinch the production year from the end credits, which isn't always the actual year the film was released.
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- Even though I may love certain films I've listed and reviewed here doesn't mean I'll necessarily have it on my list. Why? Because I may not feel it's actually horror. I used both reference books (Creature Features, Terror on Tape, etc.) as well as IMDb classifications to come up with the complete horror list you see here. Some (but not many) of the films I've included simply aren't horror by my own personal standards. We all have those, and I don't feel it's my place to tell others what is and is not a horror film, so I've decided to use a variety of different opinions on what should be classed in this genre. That doesn't necessarily mean I think it's appropriate for my personal Top 10 horror lists.
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- Documentaries are not eligible for the Top 10 lists.
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- Short films are eligible for the Top 10.
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- Certain years, 1950 for example, are dry when it comes to horror. Sometimes I won't be able to actually do a Top 10 because there aren't ten horror films from that year. There are also a few times where I simply haven't seen ten yet or barely ten, so some less-than-great films may be on there for the time being until they get bumped off by something better.

Top Ten for 1986



Overview coming soon.
_______________________________________________________________________

1986
Top 5
* * * * * * * * * *
1. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
USA / John McNaughton / 
* * * * * * * * * *
2. In a Glass Cage (Tras el cristal)
Spain / Agustí Villaronga / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
3. Aliens
UKUSA / James Cameron / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
4. Little Shop of Horrors
USA / Frank Oz / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
5. The Fly
Canada, UK, USA / David Cronenberg / 
* * * * * * * * * *

_______________________________________________________________________

Rounding Out the Top 10:

6. Seventh Curse, The (Yuan Zhen-Xia yu Wei Si-Li) / Hong Kong / Ngai Choi Lam / 
7. From Beyond / USA / Stuart Gordon / 
8. Witchboard / USA / Kevin S. Tenney / 
9. Hitcher, The / USA / Robert Harmon / 
10. Dark of the Night (Mr. Wrong) / New Zealand / Gaylene Preston / 

_______________________________________________________________________

Also seen:

Abducted (Terror in the Forest) / Canada / Boon Collins / 1/2
- Abomination, The / USA / Bret McCormick / 
Alien Predator (Cosmos mortal; The Falling) / Spain, USA / Deran Sarafian / 1/2
Angel of the Night / USA [X] / Richard Mailer / 1/2
April Fool's Day / CanadaUSA / Fred Walton / 1/2
- Bad Girls Dormitory / USA / Tim Kincaid / SBIG
Beautiful Sisters: Flesh Slaves (Bishimai nikudorei) / Japan / Katsuhiko Fujii / 1/2
Beyond Death (Más allá de la muerte) / Spain / Sebastián D'Arbó / 1/2
- Blood Hook / USA / Jim Mallon / 
Bloody Mansion of Death (Lanetli Kadinlar) / Turkey / Kadir Akgün / 
- Blue Velvet / USA / David Lynch / 
- Body Count (Camping del terrore) / Italy, USA / Ruggero Deodato / 1/2
- Body Count (Bodycount) / Canada [TV] / Lionel Shenken / 1/2
- Breeders / USA / Tim Kincaid / 1/2
Burp! / Netherlands [short] / Will Wissink / 
Call Me Tonight (Koru mi tunaito) / Japan [anime] [short] / Tatsuya Okamoto / 
- Cassandra / Australia / Colin Eggleston / 
- Chopping Mall (Killbots; R.O.B.O.T.) / USA / Jim Wynorski / 
- Class of Nuke 'em High / USA / Richard W. Haines, Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman / 1/2
- Crawlspace / Italy, USA / David Schmoeller / 
- Critters / USA / Stephen Herek / 1/2
- Deadly Friend / USA / Wes Craven / 
Dead Things / USA [short] / Todd Sheets / 
- Deadtime Stories (Freaky Fairy Tales) / USA / Jeffrey Delman / 1/2
- Deliberate Stranger, The / USA [TV] / Marvin J. Chomsky / 
- Demented Death Farm Massacre... The Movie / USA / Donn Davison and Fred Olen Ray / 
- Demon Queen / USA / Donald Farmer / 
Demons 2 (Dèmoni 2... L'incubo ritorna) / Italy / Lamberto Bava / 1/2
- Dr. Sadismo's Theatre of the Macabre / USA [SOV] / Louis Ferriol / 1/2
- Double Heat / USA [X] / David Michel / 
- Dreamaniac / USA / David DeCoteau / 1/2
Dream Hunter Rem II: Dream Demon at Seibishinjo High School (Dorimu hanta Remu II: Seibishinjo Gakuen no Yomu) / Japan [anime] / Seiji Okuda / 
- Electric Blue 36 (Electric Blue: Young Vampires in Love) / UK, USA / Robert Veze / 
- Entrails of a Beautiful Woman (Bijo no harawata) / Japan / Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu / 
- Entrails of a Virgin (Shojo no harawata) / Japan / Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu / 1/2
- Escape from Coral Cove (Tiu chut san woo hoi) / Hong Kong / Terrance Cheung Ga-Jan / 
- Escape from the Insane Asylum (Night of Terror) / USA / Felix Girard / NO STARS!
- Escapes / USA / David Steensland / 1/2
- Evil in the Woods / USA / William J. Oates / 1/2
- Evil Laugh / USA / Dominick Brascia / 1/2
First Vampire in China, The (Mao shan xiao tang) / Hong Kong / Ying Wong / 1/2
- Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives / USA / Tom McLoughlin / 
Fright Night of the Living Dead / USA / Josh Eliot / 1/2
Gimme Shelter (Yôsei Mamiko: mashô no yobigoe) / Japan / Hisayasu Satô / 1/2
- Goremet: Zombie Chef from Hell / USA / Don Swan / 
- Gothic / UK / Ken Russell / 
Graveyard Shift (Central Park Drifter) / Canada / Gerard Ciccoritti / 1/2
- Guinea Pig: He Never Dies (Ginî piggu 3: Senritsu! Shinanai otoko) / Japan / Masayuki Kusumi /  
- Guzoo (Guzoo: Kami ni misuterareshi mono - Part I) / Japan / Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu / 
- Hallucinations / USA [SOV] / John Polonia, Mark Polonia, Todd Michael Smith / 
Hatchet (AxBalta) / Turkey / Cevat Okçugil / 
- Haunted Honeymoon / USA / Gene Wilder / 
- Horrible Horror / USA [doc] / David Bergman / 1/2
Hour of Fear, The (A Hora do Medo) / Brazil / Francisco Cavalcanti, José Mojica Marins / 1/2
- House / USA / Steve Miner / 1/2
- Hunter's Blood / USA / Robert C. Hughes / 
I Like Bats (Lubie nietoperze) / Poland / Grzegorz Warchol / 
- In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro / Kenya, UK / Raju Patel / 
Into the Darkness (The Mannequin Killer) / UK / David Kent-Watson / 
- Invaders from Mars / USA / Tobe Hooper / 
- Killer Party (The April Fool) / USA / William Fruet / 
- King Kong Lives / USA / John Guillerman / 
Las Vegas Serial Killer (Hollywood Strangler in Las Vegas) / USA / Ray Dennis Steckler / 
Lipstick and Blood / UK [SOV] / Lindsay Shonteff / 1/2
Little Master (Little AncestorXiao zu zong) / Taiwan / Li Kuo Yang / 1/2
- Magic of the Universe (Salamamgkero) / Philippines / Tata Esteban / 
- Mania / Canada / Paul Lynch, David M. Robertson and John Sheppard / 1/2
- Mark of Cain (Identity Crisis) / CanadaBruce Pittman / 1/2
- Maximum Overdrive / USA / Stephen King / 
- Midnight Horror (Midnight Killer; Morirai a mezzanotte) / Italy / Lamberto Bava / 
- Mr. Vampire II (Jiang shi jia zu: Jiang shi xian sheng xu ji) / Hong Kong / Ricky Lau / 
Momoco Wonderland: Strange House (Momoko wandârando sutorenji hausu) / Japan [short] / Hikari Hayakawa / 
- Mountaintop Motel Massacre (Mountain Top Motel) / USA / Jim McCullough Sr. / 
My Hobbies Include... Rape! (Hobby Mou... o viasmos!) / Greece / Dimitris Vogiatzis / 
- Neon Maniacs / USA / Joseph Mangine / 1/2
- Nightmare Weekend / France, UK, USA / Henry Sala / SBIG
Night of the Creeps USA / Fred Dekker / 
- Night Ripper! / USA / Jeff Hathcock / 1/2
- Nomads / USA / John McTiernan / 
- Ozone! Attack of the Red Redneck Mutants / USA / Matt Devlen / 1/2
- Poltergeist II: The Other Side / USA / Brian Gibson / 1/2
- Psycho III / USA / Anthony Perkins / 1/2
- Rawhead Rex / Ireland, UK, USA / George Pavlou / 1/2
- Roller Blade / USA / Donald G. Jackson / SBIG
Roots Search (Roots Search: Shokushin buttai X) / Japan [anime] / Hisashi Sugai / 
Satan's Bed (Batas Impian Renjang Setan) / Indonesia / H. Tjut Djalil / SBIG
- Scream Greats, Vol. 1 / USA [doc] / Damon Santostefano / 1/2
- Scream Greats, Vol. 2 / USA [doc] / Damon Santostefano / 
- Screamtime / UK, USA / Michael Armstrong and Stanley A. Long / 1/2
- Seven Vampires, The (As Sete Vampiras) / Brazil / Ivan Cardoso / 
- Sex with a Stranger / USA [X] / Chris Monte / 
- Shadows Run Black / USA / Howard Heard / 
- Slaughter High / UK / George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten / 1/2
- Sorority House Massacre / USA / Carol Frank / 1/2
- Spookies / USA / Thomas Doran, Brendan Faulkner and Eugenie Joseph / 1/2
Spooky Spooky (Gui meng jiao) / Hong Kong / Sammo Hung and Wei Don Lo / 
- Supernaturals, The / USA / Armand Mastroianni / 1/2
- Terror on Alcatraz / USA / Philip Marcus / 
- TerrorVision / USA / Ted Nicolaou / 
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2, The / USA / Tobe Hooper / 1/2
- Tomb, The / USA / Fred Olen Ray / 1/2
- Troll / Italy, USA / John Carl Buechler / 1/2
- Truth or Dare?... A Critical Madness / USA / Tim Ritter / 1/2
- Vamp / USA / Richard Wenk / 
- Vicious Lips (Lunar Madness; Pleasure Planet) / USA / Albert Pyun / 
Violence Jack: Slumking (Baiorensu jakku: haremu bonba) / Japan / Osamu Kamijô / 1/2
Virgins from Hell (Perawan di Sarang Sindikat) / Indonesia / Ackyl Anwari / SBIG
- Wraith, The (Interceptor; Phantom) / Canada, USA / Mike Marvin / 
- Zero Boys, The / USA / Nico Mastorakis / 
- Zombiethon / USA [partial compilation] / Ken Dixon / 1/2

_______________________________________________________________________

< Back to 1985                    Continue to 1987 >

Top Ten for 1987


Overview coming soon.
_______________________________________________________________________

1987
Top 5
* * * * * * * * * *

UK / Clive Barker / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
2. Evil Dead II
USA / Sam Raimi / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
3. Reflections (Deja vu; Vec vidjeno)
UK, Yugoslavia / Goran Markovic / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
4. Wolf's Hole (Vlci bouda; Wolf's Lair)
Czechoslovakia / Vera Chytilová / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
5. Heartbeat 100 (Xin tiao yi bai)
Hong Kong / Kent Cheng, Kin Lo / 1/2
* * * * * * * * * *
_______________________________________________________________________

Rounding Out the Top 10:

6. Last Theft, The (Poslední lup) / Czechoslovakia [short] / Jirí Barta / 1/2
7. Opera (Terror at the Opera) / Italy / Dario Argento / 
8. Confessions of a Serial Killer / USA / John Dwyer / 
9. Deranged / USA / Chuck Vincent / 
10. Anguish (Angustia) / Spain / Bigas Luna / 
_______________________________________________________________________

Also seen:

Adoration / Belgium, France [short] / Olivier Smolders / 1/2
- Aenigma / Italy, Yugoslavia / Lucio Fulci / 1/2
- American Gothic / Canada, UK / John Hough / 
- Backwoods (Geek) / USA / Dean Crow / 
- Bad Taste / New Zealand / Peter Jackson / 1/2
- Bates Motel / USA [TV] / Richard Rothstein / 
- Beaks: The Movie (El ataque de los pájaros) / Mexico, Spain / René Cardona Jr. / 1/2
Beast-Man (Wolf) (Za ryôjoku) / Japan / Shûji Kataoka / 
- Berserker (Berserker: The Nordic Curse) / USA / Jefferson Richard / 1/2
Beyond the Seventh Door / Canada / Bozidar D. Benedikt / 1/2
- Black Widow / USA / Bob Rafelson / 1/2
- Blood Diner / USA / Jackie Kong / 1/2
- Blood Frenzy / USA / Hal Freeman / 
Blood Harvest (The Marvelous MervoNightmare) / USA / Bill Rebane / 1/2
- Blood Harvest / USA / Bill Rebane / 
- Blood Lake / USA / Tim Boggs / NO STARS!
Blood of the Undead 3: The Unwanted / USA [short] / Todd Sheets / NO STARS!
Blood of the Undead 4: The Final Chapter / USA [short] / Todd Sheets / NO STARS!
- Blood Rage (Nightmare at Shadow Woods) / USA / John Grissmer / 
- Blood Sisters / USA / Roberta Findlay / 1/2
- Bloody Movie (Terror Night) / USA / Nick Marino / 1/2
- Bloody New Year (Time Warp Terror) / UK / Norman J. Warren / 1/2
- Cannibal Hookers (I Will Dance on Your Grave: Cannibal Hookers) / USA / Donald Farmer /
Child of Peach (Xing tao tai lang) / Taiwan / Chung-Hsing Chao, Chun-Liang Chen / 
Con Ton (Jûshin densetsu) / Japan / Takuro Fukuda / 
- Corpse Master (Jiang shi shao ye) / Hong Kong, Taiwan / Bing-chi Liu /
- Crazy Fat Ethel II (Criminally Insane 2) / USA / Nick Millard / 
- Creepozoids / USA / David DeCoteau / 
- Creepshow 2 / USA / Michael Gornick / 
- Creepy Classics / USA [documentary] / Pamela Page / 
- Cross of the Seven Jewels (La croce dalle sette pietre) / Italy / Marco Antonio Andolfi / 
- Crowley / Uruguay / Ricardo Islas / 1/2
- Curse, The (The Farm) / Italy, USA / David Keith / 
- Deadly Love / USA / Michael O'Rourke /
- Deadly Possession (Coda; Symphony of Evil) / Australia [TV] / Craig Lahiff / 
- Dead of Winter / USA / Arthur Penn / 
- Death Nurse / USA / Nick Millard / 
Death Run (Mutant City) / UK / Michael J. Murphy / 
- Demon of Paradise / Philippines, USA / Cirio H. Santiago / 1/2
Demon of Steel: Battle of the Great Demon Beasts (Daimajuu Gekitou: Hagane no Oni) / Japan [anime] / Toshiki Hirano / 1/2
- Devil Dynamite (Devil's Dynamite) / Hong Kong / "Joe Livingstone" /
Digital Devil Story (Dejitaru Debiru Monogatari Megami Tensei) / Japan / M. Nishikubo / 
- Doctor Bloodbath (Butcher Knife) / USA / Nick Millard / 
- Dolls / USA / Stuart Gordon / 1/2
Dream Hunter Rem III: Hidden Dream - Legend of the Headless Warrior (Dorimu hanta Remu III: Yumegakushi, Kubinashi Musha Densetsu) / Japan [anime] / Seiji Okuda / 1/2
- Drive-In Madness (Screen Scaries) / USA [documentary] / Tim Ferrante / 
- Evil Spawn (Deadly Sting) / USA / Kenneth J. Hall, Fred Olen Ray / 
- Evil Town / USA / Curtis Hanson, Mardi Rustam, Larry Spiegel, Larry S. Traynor / 
- Faceless (Les prédateurs de la nuit) / France, Spain / Jesus Franco / 
- Fatal Attraction / USA / Adrian Lyne / 
- Flowers in the Attic / USA / Jeffrey Bloom / 1/2
- Forever Evil / USA / Roger Evans /
- Friday the 13th: A Nude Beginning / USA [X] / Fred J. Lincoln / 
Gate, The / Canada, USA / Tibor Takács / 
- Ghost's Lover (Ge shi gui jian qing) / Hong Kong / Richard Yeung Kuen / 
Girl's Camp (Kizlar kampi) / Turkey / Kadir Akgün / 1/2
- Graveyard Disturbance (Brivido giallo: Una notte al cimitero) / Italy [TV] / Lamberto Bava / 
- Harpies (Arpie) / Italy [short] / Fabio Salerno /
Haunted Cop Shop, The (Meng gui cha guan) / Hong Kong / Jeffrey Lau /  1/2
- Hell Comes to Frogtown / USA / Donald G. Jackson, R.J. Kizer / 1/2
- Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II / Canada / Bruce Pittman / 
Hidden, The / USA / Jack Sholder / 
- House II: The Second Story / USA / Ethan Wiley / 
- Howling III: The Marsupials (The Marsupials) / Australia / Philippe Mora / 
- Howl of the Devil (El aullido del diablo) / Spain / Paul Naschy / 
- Hunter's Blood / USA / Robert C. Hughes /
- It's Alive III: Island of the Alive / USA / Larry Cohen / 1/2
- Jaws: The Revenge / USA / Joseph Sargent /
- Jokers Playing Games / Hong Kong / Kong Yeung, Yeung Tong-Mei / 
- Killer Workout (Aerobi-cide; Aerobic Killer) / USA / David A. Prior / SBIG
- Kindred, The / USA / Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow / 
Laughing Target, The (Rumik World: Warau hyôteki) / Japan / Motosuke Takahashi / 1/2
Lily C.A.T. / Japan / Hisayuki Toriumi / 1/2
- Lost Boys, The / USA / Joel Schumacher / 1/2
- Lunch Meat (Lunchmeat) / USA / Kirk Alex / 
- Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell / USA [compilation] / Jim Monaco /
Majorettes, The (American Killer; One by One) / USA / S. William Hinzman /
Marauders / Australia [SOV] / Mark Savage / 
- Masterblaster / USA / Glenn R. Wilder /
- Mind Killer (The Brain Creatures; Mindkiller) / USA / Michael Krueger / 
- Mr. Vampire III (Ling huan xian sheng) / Hong Kong / Ricky Lau / 
- Monster Squad, The / USA / Fred Dekker /
- Moon in Scorpio / USA / Gary Graver / 
Munchies / USA / Tina Hirsch / 1/2
- Mutilations / USA / Lawrence Thomas / 1/2
My Best Friend is a Vampire (I Was a Teenage Vampire) / USA / Jimmy Huston / 
My Cousin, the Ghost (Biao ge dao) / Hong Kong / Ma Wu / 
- My Demon Lover / USA / Charles Loventhal /
- Near Dark / USA / Kathryn Bigelow / 
- Nekromantik / West Germany / Jörg Buttgereit / 
- Nightflyers / USA / Robert Collector / 
Night Killer (Asesino nocturno) / Mexico / Fernando Durán Rojas / 1/2
- Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A / USA / Chuck Russell / 
- Night of the Living Babes / USA / Jon Valentine / 
- Night Screams / USA / Allen Plone / 
- Night Visitors / USA / David Fulk / 
- Offspring, The (From a Whisper to a Scream) / USA / Jeff Burr / 1/2
- Open House / USA / Jag Mundhra / 1/2
- Possession: Until Death Do You Part / Canada / Michael Mazo and Lloyd A. Simandl / 
Predator / USA / John McTiernan / 
- Primal Scream / USA / William Murray / 
- Prince of Darkness / USA / John Carpenter /
- Prison / USA / Renny Harlin / 
- Psychos in Love / USA / Gorman Bechard /
- Rest in Pieces (Descanse en piezas) / Spain, USA / José Ramón Larraz /
- Resurrection of Michael Myers, The (Beckman, Holm, Wadling)
- Retribution / USA / Guy Magar / 1/2
- Return of the Demon (Mo gao yi zhang) / Hong Kong / Wong Ying / 1/2
- Return to Horror High / USA / Bill Froehlich /
- Revenge of the Living Dead Girls (La revanche des mortes vivantes) / France / Pierre B. Reinhard / 1/2
- Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare (Arch Angel; The Edge of Hell) / Canada / John Fasano / SBIG
- Scared Stiff / USA / Richard Friedman / 
- Sexandroide / France / Michel Ricaud / 
- Shallow Grave / USA / Richard Styles / 
- Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 / USA / Lee Harry / SBIG
- Slaughterhouse (Pig Farm Massacre) / USA / Rick Roessler / 1/2
Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity / USA / Ken Dixon / 1/2
- Slumber Party Massacre II / USA / Deborah Brock / 
- Splatter Farm / USA / John Polonia, Mark Polonia and Todd Smith / 
- Stage Fright (Aquarius; Bloody Bird; Deliria) / Italy / Michele Soavi / 1/2
- Stay Awake, The / South Africa / John Bernard / NO STARS!
Stepfather, The / CanadaUKUSA / Joseph Ruben / 
- Stepford Children, The / USA [TV] / Alan J. Levi / 
- Street Trash / USA / Jim Muro / 1/2
- Stripped to Kill / USA / Katt Shea / 
- Surf Nazis Must Die / USA / Peter George / 
Talisman, The (Al-ta'weeza; AltawizaThe Curse) / Egypt / Mohammed Shebl / 
- Teen Wolf Too / USA / Christopher Leitch / NO STARS!
Tilbury / Iceland [TV] / Viðar Víkingsson / 
To Kill a Stranger (Secuestrada) / MexicoJuan López Moctezuma / 1/2
Until Death ("Brividio giallo" series; Per sempre) / Italy [TV] / Lamberto Bava / 1/2
- Venus Flytrap / USA / T. Michael /
- Vampire's Breakfast (Ling chen wan can) / Hong Kong / Chung Wang / 1/2
- Video Dead, The / USA / Robert Scott / 
- Video Violence / USA / Gary Cohen / 1/2
- Video Violence Part 2 / USA / Gary Cohen / 
- Vincent Price: The Sinister Image / USA [documentary] / Stanley Sheff / 
Visitants, The (Night of the Extraterrestrials) / USA / Rick Sloane / 
Werewolf (Jing jok phee singMnusy hmapa) / Thailand / Sommai Khamsorn / 
- Wicked, The (Outback Vampires) / Australia / Colin Eggleston / 
- Zombie Death House (Death House) / USA / John Saxon / 
- Zombie Nightmare / Canada / Jack Bravman, John Fasano / 1/2

_______________________________________________________________________

< Back to 1986                    Continue to 1988 >


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