Another thread about favorite horror movies

Cafe Society
21

I’m a big fan of the zombie genre, and there have been a couple of decent entries into the genre recently, specifically in the “fast zombie” sub-genre:

Quarantine - excellent remake of the Spanish movie [rec]. Shot from a first person perspective a la Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project, so careful if you’re prone to motion sickness

28 Days Later - Scary virus gives its victims excellent cardio to chase hapless Cillian Murphy. Followed by the not too bad 28 Weeks Later.

Dawn of the Dead - Zack Snyder’s excellent remake. Make sure to watch through the credits.

22

Seven is one of my favorites. There are some fairly strong gory or otherwise “body horror”-type scenes but a lot of it is just these two detectives (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, with great performances by them) examining these frightening, complex crime scenes and trying to figure out how in the world they can stop the killer behind them. Plus, listening to the commentary track by the actors really was when I first appreciated Pitt’s acting abilities; he did a great job of dissecting how much of his work in the film was very intentional and to what end.

23

The Descent is probably the best horror I’ve seen in a decade. Gory at times but not really a slasher. The premise: group of spelunkers travel through an unexplored cave and find it inhabited by quasi-humans who have evolved to live in the dark, but honestly it is terrifying before they even encounter the eyeless albino creatures. Especially if you’re claustrophobic.

I don’t normally care for vampires, but save for one ridiculous scene involving a cat, Let The Right One In is creepy and gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve met a single person who’s seen it, horror fan or not, who hasn’t adored it.

24

Oooh, Skeleton Key–how could I have forgotten that on my favorites list? Love that one! And Quarantine was right up there too.

Do any of you remember one called Dark Night of the Scarecrow? I saw it on TV when I was a kid, and it scared the hell out of me. But I was pretty little, so it may have been that more than the quality of the movie that made it scary.

25

I recently watched The Devils Rejects not knowing it was a sequel.So then I watched The House of 1000 Corpses…Both very good movies.I am going to rent all the rest of Rob Zombies stuff.

26

I think I remember this from my youth. Is this the one that’s very creepy and gothic where a severed arm takes a little walk across the floor and acid is poured on it dissolving the flesh? It was very effective and frightening to me as a kid.

27

It’s the most wonderful time of the year . . .

Just because I love when people agree with me, I’d like to second the following recommendations:

moonstarssun - The Others was surprisingly good. The whole sequence where her husband comes back is just so dark and chilling. I saw it when it was in the theater and haven’t forgotten it.

BrainGlutton - Curse of the Demon was so creepy! Those older horror movies don’t usually do it for me, but this one really gave me the heebie jeebies.

Tangent - I’m glad that I’m not the only one on earth who liked Warlock. I had a huge crush on Julian Sands throughout my teen years.

Not Dennis - Prince of Darkness is one of my faves. The group dream they have, and that thing coming through the doorway? GAH!

Friar Ted - I love Freaks. I get to watch it this weekend as part of my homework for a class I’m taking on horror.

Dante - I’ve not seen Quarantine, but I thought [REC] was fantastic. I watched it at work and was afraid to walk to my car at 4:00 in the afternoon, afterwards.

And now for mine:
Rosemary’s Baby - Kinda slow in the middle, but if you let what’s going on sink in . . . so, so wrong.

Hellraiser - creepy box, creepy monsters, creepy family members.

Jacob’s Ladder - this never gets filed as “horror” but hands-down one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. There are some images in this that I wish I could un-see.

Amityville Horror - The original one. Pretty damn scary, especially if you suspend your disbelief and forget when it came out that this didn’t really happen.

Poltergeist

Evil Dead - the whole series for the whole effect, but II is the best mix of scary and fun, IMO.

Don’t Look Now - Just plain weird, dark, and sad. Then there’s that sex scene.

The Exorcist - Well, duh.

Jaws - I just re-watched this for the first time since I was a kid. Made me not want to take a bath.

High Tension - It’s a gory slasher, but not gratuitously so. Great tension (hence the name) and acting.

28

“Sometimes I bleed.”

One of the best lines from that movie. So creepy, and Christopher Eccleston just nailed the delivery of it.

My to-watch list is going to be long enough to fill a decade of Octobers–I’m so excited! :slight_smile:

29

The original **Nightmare on Elm Street **is actually a very good movie.

30

Me too me too!

31

I haven’t seen this in years, but I remember finding it delightfully creepy.

Taught me the word “cwm”

32

I got to second The Descent. At a point where I’d pretty much given up on Hollywood actually scaring me with a movie, this one came along under the radar and :eek:.

I felt a constriction in my chest and found myself breathing strange before anything “bad” actually even happens in the movie. Then when the “bad” starts… whoa-boy!!!

33

They’re making a sequel to The Descent, based on the American ending. I’m conflicted because I really prefer the UK ending.

34

I love Slither. It’s hilarious, and has great special effects, and a great cast.

The special features on the DVD are great, too.

35

Two more:

Exorcist III - again fits the OP’s request perfectly. Eminently creepy, and one definite “jump out your seat” moment. Has very little to do with the original, though the main character is a police detective who appeared in the first one.

Arachnophobia - loads of suspense and humor, involving killer spiders in a small town. Not recommended for true arachnophobes.

36

My chest constricts just thinking about the movie, and I haven’t seen it. I better not try!

37

except for the deer. But it’s such fun listening to the commentary where they rag on themselves for that, it’s totally worth it.

Another vote for The Descent. I’m not claustrophobic, really. Elevators, hiding a closet during hide & seek, that kind of thing doesn’t bother me. But just watching the spelunking scenes - no supernatural horror stuff required - I was practically hyperventilating. Layer on monsters, and it’s perfect.

**[REC] **is high on my Netflix queue - looking forward to that one.

**Fido **isn’t really scary at all, but it is about zombies, and it’s a lot of fun.

38

I have to say, Anna Paquin’s Darkness is the only horror movie (or the only one that comes to mind) that ever actually scared me. And it’s not really that great of a movie, either.

After that…

•Dog Soldiers
British Soldiers vs Werewolves. Basically comes across as Zulu meets Black Hawk Down the Wolfman. Inexplicibly awesome, and has a great sense of fun.

•The Return of the Living Dead movies. At least the first two—the third has it’s moments, though not a lot of the charm. The last two need to be beaten to death with a crowbar and buried in a disused crawl space. But the first two—classics. Not only of horror and zombie films, but very possibly of western culture itself. Watch them now. “BRAINS!”

•When Good Ghouls Go Bad
This one’s a kid’s movie, actually, but it’s weirdly quirky enough to be enjoyable. A sentimental favorite of mine. Kinda like what Tim Burton movies would be like if he were a little more mainstream, and took more Prozac.

•The Abominable Doctor Phibes and Doctor Phibes Rises Again
Vincent Price as a brilliant, crazed, horribly maimed organist/theologian on a themed revenge mission. It just goes to prove there’s gruesome revenge fantasies, and there’s gruesome fiendish revenge fantasies with style. “No one’s ever got the better of Phibes, sir!”

•SS Doomtrooper
One of those “Sci-Fi Channel Original Movies,” from a couple of years back. It’s basically “Wolfenstein: The Movie.” It doesn’t try to be anything else, and it revels in it. :cool:

•Witch’s Night Out
Weirdo 70s animated Halloween special, formerly a staple on the Disney channel before the rise of tweener singing sensations. I recently acquired a copy through completely legitimate commercial channels, and I’m planning to check it out again soon, for old time’s sake. It’s probably lousy, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy every minute of it. I’ll let y’all know. :slight_smile:

39

We saw Zombieland this afternoon. It definitely doesn’t fall into the “creepy, not so much gory” category, but it was gooood! Good old zombie-dispatching fun. With a banjo.

40

Phantasm 2 I found to be much better than the first, personally, but they’re both quite good.

I cannot believe no one has mentioned Black Sheep yet. It’s funny and gory and a little sad and just awesome. NOT THE CHRIS FARLEY MOVIE.

Below- a supernatural murder mystery on an American sub during WW2. Creepy and fun-also has good commentary. It has Bruce Greenwood in it, one of my favorite actors.

Evil Dead-all of them. Good good good stuff.

Night of the Creeps- “Thrill me.”

Deadly Spawn