List your favorite horror movies!

The one scene in the former that freaked me out was when Winslow Leach was in jail, and it became clear that they were going to…perform DENTISTRY on him.

As for DRACULA, I agree with you about the Philip Glass score. Do what I did…just buy the CD and don’t bother with the movie, which was one of the lowest points in the great Universal 1930s horror cycle.

Check out the “Spanish DRACULA,” though…the one that was made with an all-Mexican cast on the same sets as the Lugosi one, at night, when the American actors and crew were home in bed. It’s available on video, same price as the Lugosi DRAC, and a MUCH better flick!

Ike-

You mentioned Polanski in an earlier response and I’ll pass along a story about Rosemary’s Baby.

In the movie there’s a scene where Ruth Gordon is talking on the telephone in Rosemary and Guy’s apartment - I believe she’s talking to the Dr. who’s a member of the coven and Rosemary is trying to overhear the conversation. The scene is framed so that you are looking into the room and you just see the end of hte bed and Gordon’s legs (she sitting on the bed using the phone). The prinicpal photographer kept trying to correct the setup of the shot (trying to frame the shot so that you looked through the door and saw all of Gordon) and Polanski kept telling him that he knew what he wanted.

At the first screening Polanski and the photographer sat in the back of the theater and when that scene came up everyone in the audience physically shifted over in their seats in an effort to see around the door jam. Polanski supposedly turned to the photographer and said, “See, I told you I knew what I was doing.”

Showing up late again, I see most of my favourites have been mentioned. However, I have to second Eve on The Vanishing) (not to be confused with the awful Hollywood remake). It’s absolutely chilling.

Hellraiser and Hellbound were great, the rest of the series was mediocre, or worse, mundane.

I loved both versions of The Thing.

I highly recommend The Innocents. Its a very creepy ghost story based on Henry James’ short story Turn of the Screw about about a woman looking after 2 children alone in an English Manor house. Anyone who loved The Haunting (1963), The Shining, or The Changeling will love this one as well.

I’ve also got a weakness for Italian guignol. Dario Argento’s Suspiria is a good one.

mrvisible said:

I think you meant The Hunger, a so-so movie with a great lesbian scene between Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.

Cheers,
Hodge

Dario Argento’s ** Inferno **.

  1. I agree with detop’s nomination of the 50’s Hammer Films. I especially like the Dracula series.
  2. Nosferatu (silent version) is truly terrifying. For a different experience, I occassionally watch this classic while playing the soundtrack from the movie SINGLES, though I suppose any grunge compilation would do. Any other soundtrack would be better than the crappy pseudo-organ music that plays on the only version of this great movie available to me locally (grrrrr…no ranting, no anger, peace love and flowers).
  3. I haven’t seen it in over ten years, but I remember The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari to be a particularly disturbing (albeit confusing) film. This is yet another example of cinematic art that is unavailable locally; however, fans of PORKY’S REVENGE have much to cheer about, but that’s okay.
  4. House By The Cemetary had a groovy enough concept, creative use of gore, and is a foreign flick. If you like creepy movies and can stand a little hack-&-slash, you might like this one.

Thanks for letting me spend my two cents.

Poltergeist as a grown up
The Tingler as a kid—a Saturday-afternoon-on-local-TV old movie that scared me to hysterics while my older sisters said “What?”

Thank you mrvisible.

That movie really disturbed me. I remember so little about it that I was almost convinced that I dreamed it. (I think that I just dreamed about it a few times.)

Man yof my favorites have already been mentioned (Evil Dead films, The Exorcist, etc) so instead of running through all those again, I just want to add:

American Werewolf in London - great effects and make-up (the first film to win the Best Makeup Oscar, IIRC) and a sharp sense of humor.

And I don’t believe Psycho was mentioned, or did I miss that somewhere?

Most of mine have been mentioned but I’ll mention them again.

Evil Dead Trilogy -Evil Dead II being the best and also the movie I have seen more times than any other movie…lost count.
Tremors -I don’t know why I love it but I do.
Return of the Living Dead “Send more paramedics.”
The Thing
Suspiria -I just saw this recently and it is the first movie in a long time to creep me out.
Dead Alive “You’re mother ate my dog!”
The Lost Boys -So 80’s chic.
The Tenant
Andy Warhol’s Dracula -Source of many great Skinny Puppy samples.
A Nightmare On Elmstreet -Johnny Depp gets liquefied.
Friday The 13th -Kevin Bacon gets a knife through the throat.
The Shining -I don’t care if Stephen King hates it.

I don’t know if anyone else has heard of it but there’s this Japanese horror flick called ‘The Ring’ that really scared the bejesus out of me. It’s about a woman on the trail of a mysterious cursed videotape. It’s done ‘X-Files’ style, slow-moving, surreal and downright spooky.

Yes I have. I’ve read numerous raves amongst cult film fans but have had zero luck in tracking it down. Dodge, do you know if it’s available anywhere in North America? DVD or Tape? This has become a quest for me. BTW, I hear a sequel is in the works.

Hodge

No one’s mentioned two of my favorites yet – Near Dark – it’s got Lance Hanriksen and a great vampire line – “I hate it when they ain’t shaved.”

The other is The Hidden with Kyle MacLachlan. Lots of heart in that one.

Does Them! count as horror? Or is it more science fiction? I still watch that one every chance I get.

I like The Mummy remake with Brendon Fraser. It is a classic of stupid movie making that I recommend it to laugh at. One of the few stupid movies that doesn’t plod along, but you can’t get into because it changes tone every scene, from slapstick to horror to special effects, with plot holes the size of a minor tomb.

There were in fact several sequels. I think there were like 12 in a series or something (I could be wrong). But they don’t scare as much as the original. I can’t say if it’s available in N.America because I’m on the other side of the world :slight_smile: But if your VCR is a multisystem player, I could try to see if the video is still available here. (Good copies with English subtitles are pretty hard to find). I’m not sure if there’s a DVD out yet. Will check for you.

Maybe I browsed too quickly, but did anyone say Halloween? - The first movie to really scare me. Also, JAWS is a classic.

Wow! No mention yet of The Sixth Sense?

My favorites (in no particular order):[ul][li]The Sixth Sense.[/li][li]The Thing. I like both Thing 1 and Thing 2. John Carpenter’s Thing is more true to the short story, tho.[/li][li]The Omen.[/li][li]Salem’s Lot.[/li][li]Alien.[/li][li]Depending on your definition, you could also classify Jaws as a horror movie.[/li][li]The Shining[/li][li]The Exorcist, though I never liked it as much as most do. It’s pretty far down on my list.[/li][li]The Hitcher. I still say Rutger Hauer’s character was a figment of the psychotic imagination of C. Thomas Howell’s character.[/ul][/li]I’m still waiting for the first great film version of Dracula.

Most of my favorites (Alien, The Thing, Psycho, The Exorcist), but I have to give a rave to In the Mouth of Madness I think it does a great job of evoking the insanity of Lovecraft’s work, without using the names (cthulllu, ect). I know most people hate this movie, but I dig it. Good original music, too. The best thing I’ve seen of John Carpenter’s, though that’s not saying a lot.:wink:

I hate horro movies myself.
Too scary.
I saw that one (I forget the name, where a spiked ball flies through the air) but it was kindof boring!
My fave would be one I rented called Demonic Toys.
It had a great ending.

A couple more:

Fanny and Alexander. Not just horror but christmas, adventure, love story. A holiday epic. Horrific way to get rid of the evil stepfather.

1900 Tell me it’s not horrifying when they are carting the burnt bodies down the street, or when DeNiro has finished pleasing himself with the epileptic prostitute. Another sprawling epic.

Hmmm, I thought Japan used NTSC just like North America. Or are you in PAL territory? I’d be grateful for any info you can send my way re: VHS, DVD, or VCD. Feel free to email me or post here.

Thanks,
Hodge