Good Horror Movies?

Cafe Society
41

I like to recommend the basics-

First, add in the Silents wherever you want. I suggest doing so after seeing the basic Universal classics. The essential silents are Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney, Nosferatu & perhaps The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

The Universal Must-Sees (1930-49?):
Frankenstein & The Bride of Frankenstein (these must be seen as close together as possible), both starring Boris Karloff
Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi
The Mummy- Karloff
The Wolf Man- Lon Chaney Jr.

after those, add Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (the first monster fight movie) and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (the first big monster comedy).

Then the Hammer Studios era (1958-1970s)~
Horror of Dracula- Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing
The Curse of Frankenstein- the same
The Curse of the Werewolf- Oliver Reed
Phantom of the Opera- Herbert Lom
Brides of Dracula- Cushing

There were a lot more Hammer Dracula & Frankensteins, also some Mummy films, but those are the cream of Hammer.

The best of American International Pictures (1960s)~
The Masque of the Red Death,
The Pit and the Pendulum,
The House of Usher,
Tales of Terror (trilogy),
The Raven (horror comedy)~
all of the above starring Vincent Price & based on/inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
The Haunted Palace (with Price),
The Dunwich Horror (starring Dean Stockwell)~
both based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft

I also recommend-
the original B&W Night of the Living Dead
a European B&W listed as either ‘Black Sunday’ or ‘Mask of the Demon’ starring Barbara Steele
a US B&W that looks like it was made for $100 but is total nightmare fuel- 'Carnival of Souls"

Those three can be watched for free on the Net, probably at YouTube

Other Vincent Price classics-
The Fly
The Abominable Doctor Phibes
Dr. Phibes Rises Again
Theater of Blood

The original The Wicker Man starring Christopher Lee & Edward Woodward

More modern horror-
the original 1970s Texas Chainsaw Masscre & its superior sequel TCM II (starring Dennis Hopper)
Poltergeist
the original Halloween & II starring Jamie Lee Curtis & Donald Pleasance
Nightmare on Elm Street
Return of the Living Dead & ROTLD II
The Blair Witch Project

and when you turn 18…

David Cronenberg’s The Fly
Re-Animator
Bride of Re-Animator
From Beyond
Basket Case
Brain Damage
Henry: Portrait of A Serial Killer
The Silence of the Lambs
House of 1000 Corpses
The Devil’s Rejects
Rob Zombie’s Halloween & II
The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre & TCM II

42

Night of The Creeps is kind of a “fun” sci-fi horror flick with more than a few nods to the movies that inspired it. If you’re into listening to commentary tracks, the cast was reunited to do the commentary, and they clearly loved getting together and have some pretty funny stories.

As far a “classics” go, I’ll put in a recommendation forNight(/Curse) of The Demon.

43

I just remembered Killer Klowns from Outer Space. It’s sort of an invasion horror parody. It’s good in an MST3K way. Watch some of the 50s stuff recommended in the thread first and then watch it.

Also see Dead Alive. Very gory, but like, to an insane cartoon level. Also a Peter Jackson flick, and also intended as comedy (in the Evil Dead vein).

Check with the folks first before going for either of these, but neither is really scary. They play with the concept of horror movies for laughs.

Edit: both are better when watched in groups.

44

I think the American version is better in every way except the Samara / Sadako character. Granted, Samara looked more like one who has been underwater but Sadako’ creepy ass eyes freaked me the hell out. I’ve watched The Ring dozens of times but one viewing of Ringu was more than enough for me. I can’t even bring myself to link to the Ringu site for fear of seeing that freaky face.

But enough about that. More suggestions:

Skeleton Key
Ghost Story
Burnt Offerings (older but very effective, imo)
The Woman in Black (if you can find it. It may be only on VHS)
The Gift
And another vote for Session 9, the most atmospheric movie I can think of.

45

If we are allowing “Giant Killer Something” movies to be a subcategory of Horror, I have to recommend **Tremors **as the best of that subgenre.

46

Good call, and a good movie.

Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus was not a good movie, but is very much worth seeing. Again, better with friends.

Check the trailer!

And if these types of movies are in, King Kong (almost any version), and **Godzilla ** and the follow ups have to be on the list, but those might be straying too far from the genre.

I like talking about movies and sometimes I get carried away.

47

I’ve just been looking at what’s available On Demand (Comcast) right now, and choosing a short list of what I want to see.
First, 1408, a fairly recent haunted house movie based on a Stephen King short story. I’ve seen it before and really liked it.
Second…well, I haven’t picked a second one yet. I’m don’t like gore, don’t like grossout, don’t like dumb, so it’s a little hard to find something I really like.
I might try Three Extremes, although I think it’s going to be gory for my tastes.
Have fun with your exploration!

48

Not quite. King’s categories were “Terror”, “Horror”, and “Gross-Out”. A small, but significant difference, esp. as “Thriller” is also a movie category, but a whole different genre.

Anyway, King said (paraphrasing), “If I can, I will terrorize. If I can’t terrorize, I will horrify. If I can’t do that, I will go for the gross-out. I’m not proud.”

49

He means it. What was the book where everyone farted and then pooped out an alien or something? Man that was disgusting.

50

This is what I came here to say. The English version, Let Me In, is also good, though not as good as the original.

If you like classic film at all, I’d highly recommend the RKO pictures from 1942-1946 (particularly I Walked with a Zombie, The Body Snatcher, Isle of the Dead, and Cat People) as well as the Universal films from 1931-1946 (such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, and Dracula’s Daughter). Great stuff.

51

That would be Dreamcatcher. I actually sort of liked that book, though I had to skim over some of the descriptions. And this is coming from a Graham Masterton fan who loves gross-out horror novels.

52

Not a movie, but since you mentioned Zombies, someone on the boards recently pointed out the We’re Alive podcast to me, which is a radio play (sort of) broadcast in podcast form. It’s really well done. You may want to have your folks check out a few episodes first, but it’s probably ok.

53

That was Dreamcatcher.

I have another recommendation- Night of the Hunter.

54

Ah, yes! King thought highly of that one and I rented it. (There’s a bit in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing that will make more sense to you if you’ve seen Night of the Hunter first.) It’s more of a crime than a “horror” story (and arguably more of a Depression story than either), but it features two children fleeing a murderous fiend across the open countryside, and what’s more horrible than that?

Also the source of my personal favorite Cinematic Moment of Zen! :slight_smile:

55

And then hit the Hammer films of the late fifties through early seventies: The Quatermass Experiment, The Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, The Curse of the Werewolf, The Gorgon, The Devil Rides Out, Fanatic, The Plague Of The Zombies, The Vampire Lovers, To The Devil A Daughter.

56

My dad saw The Ring with my uncle whenever it was in theaters, which I think was at least 10 years ago or so, I really don’t know. They were terrified then, but to this day, I still accidentally terrify my dad when I have just-out-of-the-shower wet hair - he mistakes me for the little dripping girl from the ring. I’ve taken to wearing a towel, because the novelty of terrifying him has worn off and now it’s just kind of annoying :rolleyes: I know that The Ring shouldn’t be a scary movie since it’s about haunted video tapes or some such thing (I don’t know, having never seen it, though it is on my list of movies to see, along with all of these suggestions)… but HE seems scarred for life.

57

Agreed. A brutal, distrubing and completely nihilistic movie, but also a very good one.

The American version is decent enough and pretty true to the original, and thus pretty much unnecessary.

58

First, thanks for starting this thread, Cheerleading Dropout. I’ve seen a lot of these movies, but there are a lot more that I haven’t seen which I will be adding to my Netflix queue.

Second, be sure to come back and tell us what you think of the movies you watch. As you can see by the number of replies, there are a lot of people here who like horror movies (and like talking about them).

Third, to add a suggestion that should meet your criteria (a funny horror movie without much gore) I recommend the musical version of Little Shop Of Horrors (I don’t think it has been mentioned yet).

59

Well in terms of lighter Zombie movies you can’t go wrong with Shaun (Sean? Shawn? of the Dead) and the unofficial sequel “Fido”. Neither really counts as horror though.

For movies that are actually scary, but enjoyable on some other level, I recommend “The Ring” which has a really interesting story and mystery, and “The Forgotten” for the same reasons.

I’ll also recommend as slightly cheesy when not viewed in it’s time “In the Mouth of Madness”.

“Shallow Grave” is great, although I’m not sure how to categorize it other than perhaps “maybe I should kill you because I’m afraid you might kill me even though we used to be besties”. Alternately “money came between us”.

OK checking my favorite movies list, and picking anything vaguely horror related, I also find:

Cube (and sequels)
Alien (and Sequels)
Donnie Darko (and sequel)
The Cell

more Thriller or Suspense or Mind Bender than Horror per se:
Limitless
Memento
The Game
Jacob’s Ladder
Vanilla Sky
Se7en
12 Monkeys

dark fantasies:
Hellboy + sequel
Pan’s Labryinth
The Fall

I guess we should also consider TV series, since those that were completed are on DVD. Things like Twin Peaks, Happytown, American Gothic. Although, it’s hard to find any that had an actual resolution for a series finale.

I tend not to like slasher franchises, but I did enjoy the “Dream Warriors” and the final “meta” (before reboot) Nightmare on Elm Street. Also, for it’s both meta-ness and Quentin-ness, Dusk til Dawn.

Oh, also, for it’s “meta”-ness, the Scream series.

60

OK so I did my virgin post, now for one after reading the entire thread. Films I should have thought of that others mentioned:

Classics from my childhood:
Poltergeist
Amityville Horror
Gremlins
Lost Boys
The Fly
Silence of the Lambs (and the original Manhunter and remake under a different name).
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (and the similar one where people get implanted on their necks by aliens after a field trip to a sand field both original and remake)
Not really scary but has monsters:
The Mummy

Genre changers:
The Blair Witch Project
paranormal Activity

Other:
The Sixth Sense (and other M Night films, though they slowly drop off in quality - with everyone drawing their own line at which they find him no longer worthwhile - personally I feel they are all OK overall, until Lady in the Water and The Happening, although those latter two still have some good scenes outside of the things that make them ridiculous).
Let the Right One In (And Let Me In - but not to be confused with Never Let Me Go)
Slither - very funny and under appreciated movie about alien slugs starring Nathon Fillion

For some reason, although my friend understood it easily, I had trouble understanding this movie without asking her a lot of questions. Plus, who wants to watch a movie with that guy from NYPD Blue? The same with the “Christina Ricci may or may not be a dead body movie”.

Yeah, this movie seriously scarred me. In a “might happen in real life” sort of way. The Ring scarred me in a “might happen even though it’s supernatural way”. I was legitimately wary seven days after seeing that movie, especially after encountering similar “signs of doom” as the protagonist such as random ladders.

I loved both! Although not very horror. I think I liked the US version slightly more (unusual for me) just because Dermot Mulroony.

Also see Dead Alive. Very gory, but like, to an insane cartoon level. Also a Peter Jackson flick, and also intended as comedy (in the Evil Dead vein).

Classic, and very funny sort of zombie film! Might follow up with the equally irreverent Jackson film about Furries before Furries existed, Meet the Feebles!