Ok aside from Carpenters original Halloween, which horror films should I watch until Halloween?
I need a top 15 to got through over teh next few days. Which films would you recomend? I will take the suggestions based on number of votes and ranks to determine my list.
Please help.
Thanks
The Thing (John Carpenter’s 1982 version)
In the Mouth of Madness (Carpenter again)
28 Days Later
Dawn of the Dead (the excellent 2004 version)
Shaun of the Dead (British romantic comedy that happens to also be a zombie movie)
Session 9 (super-creepy and atmospheric)
Silent Hill (falls apart near the end, but nice and creepy up until then)
The Vanishing (the original Dutch version; not a “horror” movie, but the end will haunt you long after you see it)
Angel Heart (great noir film that turns out to be horror; makes a great double-feature with the decent Constantine)
Slither (gory horror-comedy)
Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness (classic horror-comedy double-feature with the great Bruce Campbell, but I’ve never been able to get through Evil Dead 1)
The Machinist (again, not horror per se, but harrowing and nightmarish)
My votes, in no particular order-
Rosemary’s Baby
Angel Heart
Salem’s Lot
the Reflecting Skin (not a horror movie per se, but weird & disturbing in a visceral, David Lynchian way.)
Nosferatu (the underappreciated '79 Werner Herzog version, not as groundbreaking as the silent original, but still creepy.)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78 version)
Odishon (a.k.a. “Audition”)
Das Vampyr (You know that great SFX in ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ of the count’s shadow moving autonomously of the body? This is the film from which Coppola ripped off that idea.)
M (again, more of a thriller than actual “horror” film, but scary, scary, scary nonetheless.)
In the Mouth of Madness.
My favorites, in no order:
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The Haunting (1963 version)
The Innocents (1961 version)
The Last Horror Movie
The Descent
The Shining (Kubrick version)
The Howling
An American Werewolf in London
The Silence of the Lambs
The Hills Have Eyes (Aja remake)
Repulsion
The Ring (I personally prefer the American remake over the original Japanese Ringu)
Nosferatu (Werner Herzog version)
The Wicker Man (for the love of all that is holy or unholy, watch the original not the remake)
The Devil’s Backbone
Tale of Two Sisters
The Exorcist
Seconding the above (the rest are all fine films as well, but I don’t know if I’d suggest them as “Halloween” movies, per se). I’d add:
Re-animator
Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one, of course)
Evil Dead (I’ve always found the first one very creepy)
The Exorcist
Idle Hands (fun gore, and it’s set during Halloween as well!)
The Changeling
I know I’ll think of more in a bit…
I’ll second the original Wicker Man and add Se7en, Eyes without a Face, Bride of Frankenstein and just about anything from David Cronenberg.
Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers- the humor is very European and not everyones cup of tea, but the sets are to die for.
Oh and Mario Bava’s Black Sunday.
My picks, in no particular order:
Rosemary’s Baby
Salem’s Lot
Suspiria
Night of the Demons
Hellraiser
Phantasm
Pumpkinhead
Re-animator
Evil Dead
Evil Dead II
Army of Darkness
Fright Night
Creepshow
The Exorcist
A NIghtmare on Elm Street
Thanks! Good lists so far… PS thanks SkipMagic for fixing the title typo!
Seventies favorites…
*The Other
Tourist Trap
Who Slew Auntie Roo? (more creepy than anything, with a terrific scenery chomping turn by Ms. Winters)
Burnt Offerings
Black Christmas (the original)
Magic
Werewolves…
*Dog Soldiers
Wolfen (not really scary, but entertainingly stylistic)
From the Extremely Out There camp…
*The Entity
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Puppet Master
Homicidal (1961 – Castle)
More recent…
Shallow Ground
Stay Alive (somewhat of a take on the Elizabeth Bathory legend)
Dark Water
And I’ll also second the recommendations for Phantasm (my all-time most favorite horror movie) and Spoorloos. The latter, for anyone claustrophobic, has to be the most painful thing I’ve ever watched. It was yummy!
[*Denotes my Top Three.]
Just for the benefit of most people, Spoorloos is the original Dutch title for The Vanishing, which is awesome (and awesomely terrifying).
There’s a lot here that I’d second but I’ll just add unnamed (AFAIK) ones…
THE MUMMY w/Boris Karloff
THE WOLF MAN w/Lon Chaney Jr & Claude Rains
HORROR OF DRACULA and CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN- both w/Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing
BRIDES OF DRACULA w/Peter Cushing
CARNIVAL OF SOULS- the b&W no-budget original!
MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, PIT AND THE PENDULUM- Vincent Price
THEATRE OF BLOOD- Vincent Price, Diana Riggs, Robert Morley
DEAD-ALIVE- Peter Jackson’s ZomRomCom
BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR
THE DUNWICH HORROR w/Dean Stockwell, Sandra Dee, Ed Begley Sr, & Talia Coppola (Yo, Adrian!)
THE RESURRECTED w/Chris Sarandon (H.P. Lovecraft’s “Case of Charles Dexter Ward”)
Again, seconded! Also, along the same lines as Carnival of Souls, ie: creepy, lovely black & white, I’ve also always been fond of Spider Baby.
My favorite Halloween ghost story, bar none, is The Changeling. Good, old fashioned haunting.
Goddamn, those two freaked me out as a kid (I was born in '70). I’ll second them.
No love for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? The original is better, of course, but the remake is still a good choice; the difference is, do you want to be horrified and repulsed and say “oh Jesus” a lot (original) or do you want to jump a lot (remake)? Don’t bother with any of the sequels, though, they’re all pure crap.
Seconds for Audition, Dead Alive, Suspiria, The Descent, The Ring, The Exorcist, The Thing, the new Dawn of the Dead, Session 9, and others too numerous to mention in this thread.
If you’re wanting the ultimate in gore, if you think you can stomach it, seek ye the August Underground series. There are three: August Underground, August Underground: Mordum, and August Underground: Penance. Of the three, Mordum is probably the harshest; watching it is pretty much an endurance test. All three are “simulated snuff”, shot as though you’re watching the escapades of a serial killer and his buddies. The effects are very, very good.
I just saw Final Destination this weekend - now THAT was a cool movie. Gory, but cool. If you like gory cool stuff.
This reminds me-
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II- a Golan-Globus horror-comedy with Dennis Hopper as a Marshall avenging his nephew, the wheelchaired boy who got killed in the first. The Plate-head guy in the Family is Otis in Rob Zombie’s Firefly Clan films. I agree that III & IV are crap, but I love this one.
Another Golan-Globus production- LifeForce, alien vampires arriving to Earth via Halley’s Comet. With a hot naked Mathilda May as the main vampire.
For a realistic serial-killer film- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
This film (the Dutch version, of course) stayed with me for a long time. You’ll never be able to look at a good upstanding family man without wondering what is really below the surface…
Another vote for Angel Heart. I don’t know if it stands up to a second viewing, but the first one makes it worthwhile. Ditto for Don’t Look Now.
From a list I read once of good horror films (sorry, didn’t write down who made the list):
Carnival of Souls (looks like a lot of votes for this)
Near Dark
Step Father
Black Christmas
White of the Eye
Company of Wolves
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Peeping Tom
Alien or Aliens - both good. Aliens is more thrilling and faster paced, but Alien is the beginning of the story.
Child’s Play - “Hi, I’m Chucky - and I’m your friend till the end. Hidey-ho.”
Frankenstein - from 1931. Although it’s better to read the book, the movie is still a classic.
Jaws - “I think you’re going to just ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass.”
Night of the Living Dead - the 1968 version in black and white
Poltergeist - “They’re here.”
Psycho
I’ll second Hellraiser and Phantasm as well.