[QUOTE=Sage Rat]
The Hammer version of The Phantom of the Opera (1962) was actually pretty good if I recall correctly.
[/QUOTE]
I enjoyed it- Herbert Lom was a pretty good Phantom.
RE the above listing of “The Wicker Man”- the new goreless, PG-13 one with Nicholas Cage is NOT a good movie, and definitely shouldn’t be seen by anyone who has not seen
the fantastic R-for-nudity-but-spiritually-deep original dour-Christian-policeman vs Pagan-enjoyable/secretive-community version. Edward Woodward vs. Christopher Lee rocks!
Nicholas Cage vs. Ellen Burstyn does not.
I second “Night of the Hunter”- creepy & atmospheric BUT with bits of goofiness.
Oh- and to add a not-at-all-scary Nostalgia trip- the Rankin-Bass “Mad Monster Party” should be in the Halloween DVD section of your local big-box store.
The R rating thing isn’t my call – if it were completely up to me and my coworkers, we’d watch something rated R with no qualms, but our boss is not negotiating that one. Which axes a number of great suggestions – I’ve seen and love a lot of films that have been suggested.
I’ll have to throw Tremors into the mix, as well, which is a lot of fun.
Bayard, Night of the Hunter eternally fights with Rear Window to be my favorite film of all time.
And the films don’t have to be goofy/cheesy, but I know no one’s really going to be sitting and giving the film undivided attention – I expect snarking and catcalls no matter what the film, and anything slow will just encourage visits to the pizza box.
A lot of these suggestions I’ll be watching at home, though.
[QUOTE=lissener]
The scariest movie ever made is rated G.
[/QUOTE]
Good call; that was my first thought. No violence, no profanity, no nudity, no sex (except some fairly subtle suggestions in a few scenes), and that movie scared the hell out of me.
[QUOTE=Interrobang!?]
Current front runner in the office: Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I’ll let you know what we finally decide.
[/QUOTE]
Something of a cult classic there.
Re Fright Night, please trust my early-teen libido, there are actual, honest to god, not covered by negligee, real naked boobies in it. (The scene where our hero is spying on his neighbor with binoculars has Chris Sarandon as the vampire standing behind a topless woman.)
If you want heckling, you have to go with the Nicolas Cage Wicker Man. Trust me, in ten years it will be a high-camp comedy classic.
[QUOTE=Sitnam] Frighteners was one of those rare movies that was funny and scary at the same time and not because it’s cheesy. I think it’s PG-13.
[/QUOTE]
The Frighteners is rated R. Fun movie though. I vote for Poltergeist. I bet a lot of the people at the party have seen it, but maybe not for a long time, so that could be fun.
Scariest ever? That would be a close tie with The Legend Of Hell House {1973}, which is also G: cheesy title, no violence, nudity or bad language, but utterly, utterly terrifying.
[QUOTE=Scissorjack]
Scariest ever? That would be a close tie with The Legend Of Hell House {1973}, which is also G: cheesy title, no violence, nudity or bad language, but utterly, utterly terrifying.
[/QUOTE]
Roddy McDowell is the unscariest person ever; his presence pretty much nullifies any fright that movie might have contained for me. If fear were stomach acid, he’d be Rolaids.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
If you want heckling, you have to go with the Nicolas Cage Wicker Man. Trust me, in ten years it will be a high-camp comedy classic.
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely. I half believe LaBute just gave up on trying to take it seriously and put Cage in a bear suit for the camp value.
[QUOTE=lissener]
Roddy McDowell is the unscariest person ever; his presence pretty much nullifies any fright that movie might have contained for me. If fear were stomach acid, he’d be Rolaids.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=lissener]
Absolutely. I half believe LaBute just gave up on trying to take it seriously and put Cage in a bear suit for the camp value.
[/QUOTE]
hehheh, perfect description. Having just seen that Wicker Man remake a few days ago, I’d say that Eight Legged Freaks is a much better snark-from-the-crowd type movie. The Wicker Man is flat-out bad, though certainly funny in parts. Eight Legged Freaks is funny and good.
[QUOTE=spoke-]
I think you are mistaken about the breasts thing, though. Weren’t breasts an automatic R back in the day? I can’t remember a PG movie from that era with exposed breasts.
[/QUOTE]
A very cursory search brings Can’t Stop the Music, Circle of Two, and Midnight Madness from before the PG-13 era and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and European Vacation from after, none rated R. Disclaimer: Of these, I have only actually seen European Vacation to be able to attest that it has actual bare breasts. For the others, I’m at the mercy of IMDb’s keyword search feature, and I can certainly imagine that Elvira, especially, could easily be on that list by presentation, not by actual visualization.
At any rate, it is clear to me based on the results that bare breasts in sub-R-rated films are considerably less commonplace than my memories of a misspent youth would have me believe, so I will concede the point and stand corrected.
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow]
AAt any rate, it is clear to me based on the results that bare breasts in sub-R-rated films are considerably less commonplace than my memories of a misspent youth would have me believe, so I will concede the point and stand corrected.
[/QUOTE]
No, you were right to begin with. As an example, anybody remember the jello scene in Airplane? Clear shot of bouncing naked breasts, yet the movie was rated PG. Back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon to see brief tit shots in PG movies.
