I have been searching the internet for the TOP classic horror movies and its incredible the (lack of) consistency I see.
When I say the TOP CLASSIC HORROR…I am referring to movies and characters that you could never forget. For instance…THE SHINING. Jack Nicolson…who could ever forget that one? Or PSYCHO. Tony Perkins. What other HORROR movies can you think of that are CLASSICS?
Frankenstein, Boris Karloff
Dracula, Bela Lugosi
Horror of Dracula, Christopher Lee
Curse of Frankenstein, Peter Cushing
The Wolfman, Lon Chaney Jr
Should I go on ?
Dracula. For all its faults, the original Tod Browning/Bela Lugosi version. I once spent an evening watching every version of Dracula I could get my hands on, and Bela was far and away the best. He’s been impersonated and parodied so much that he’s become a cliche, but he’s really the only one who convinced me that he really was an ancient Eastern European Undead Count. Lugosi didnm’t originate the role, even in the Deane/Balderston play, but he made it his own.
I watched this version again just a couple of days ago, and I have to give Browning more credit than I used to – his camera isn’t as staic and dull as I’d recalled (although he could’ve been more aggressive – see the Spanish-language version, shot at th same time on the same sets). I’m even willing to forgive him for his on-set opossums and armadillos.
A very influential and important film, and an entertaining one.
frankenstein – not even close to the book, but the James Whale/Boris Karloff version has been monumentally important and influential, and a good flick entirely on its own. and you have to include the first sequel, Bride of Frankenstein as well.
I disagree with your choices…I don’t think these are “CLASSICS” with the exception of Frankenstine with Boris. That was a good one to mention.
What about Soylent Green or The Blob? Would you consider these to be Sci-Fi or HORROR?
For the IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Genres/Horror/average-vote
Myself:
Chronologically:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – one of the first pure horror films, and one which still packs a punch today.
Bride of Frankenstein – Better than the original, which was good enough, but a bit slow. The sense of humor and religious images (including monster = Christ) really makes this one work.
Dead of Night – First-class anthology film. The frame tale is subtle, but shocking.
Les Diaboliques – Definitely a great shocker. But stay away from the remake!!!
The Creature from the Black Lagoon – subtle and atmospheric horror. Jack
Arnold is a forgotten genius of SF/horror cinema. See it in 3D for best effect.
Psycho – the grandfather of all slasher films, and still the best by far.
The Tenant – Wierd little psychological horror film by Roman Polanski. Polansky also deserves mention for Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby (which you need to see before you see The Tenant – they aren’t sequels, but seeing Rosemary will make the other film more enjoyable and scary).
Snot-rag Cookes writes:
> I have been searching the internet for the TOP classic horror movies and its
> incredible the (lack of) consistency I see.
Why should this be surprising? There is always a lot of variation in the choice of the best for something where that choice is a matter of opinion. Horror movies are no different. We can recommend our own favorites in this thread, but they will still be our own choices and may not match your tastes.
> I disagree with your choices.
There isn’t much point in our giving you our personal favorites if you’re just going to say that you disagree with them.
Alien (1979)
The Birds (1963)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Carrie (1976)
Cat People (1942)
Dracula (1931)
Eraserhead (1978)
The Exorcist (1973)
Eyes Without a Face (1959)
Faust (1926)
Frankenstein (1931)
Freaks (1932)
House of Usher (1960)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Island of Lost Souls (1933)
I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
Jaws (1975)
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Mad Love (1935)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Psycho (1960)
Repulsion (1965)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
The Shining (1980)
The Tell-Tale Heart (1953)
The Thing From Another World (1951)
The Tingler (1959)
Vampyr (1932)
Then there are those movies that lie on the borderline between horror, science fiction, and fantasy:
Blade Runner (1982)
King Kong (1933)
The Lost World (1925)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Gojira.
Not with Raymond Burr.
Got to see it on the big screen, at our local Arthouse cinema.
Sweet, and really creepy.
Friday the 13th? Nightmare on Elm Street?
I guess we will have to agree that we disagree. The two Hammer movies ARE classics, because when they came out, horror movies were lower than whale shit as a genre. Hammer studios (and more especially director Terence Fisher) reinvented the genre. As for The Wolfman, it supplied the best known image of the werewolf today. If you ask the average Joe to describe you a werewolf, it probably will be something along the lines of Lon Chaney Jr’s Larry Talbot.
In regard to your questions, Soylent Green is science-fiction, more precisely a dystopic version of the future. As for The Blob it is a mix of horror and SF.
Really, you have to be more specific. There’s people like me, who think Freddy Krueger and the like shouldn’t even be counted as real horror, but maybe under a new subcategory called “gore”. There’s very little plot and most of the story revolves around cheap scare tactics.
I prefer what is called suspense, and thus my list would be filled with suspenseful movies where the whole movie is one big mindfuck (sorry - the best word I could think of) and blood and gore is kept to a minimum. Too much blood and gore can inure you, too.
Then there’s the old Boris Karloff ones that many people think are classics of all time that I just think are boring and unmemorable.
So no matter what the list is it’s subject to opinon! If you broke it down a little more:
10 Most Classic
Top 10 Gore
Top 10 Horror
Top 10 Suspense
Top 10 Science Fiction/Horror
Maybe it would work. But you see how much more work it becomes!
Although Lon Chaney Jr.'s Larry Talbot was the best-known, the modern image of the Werewolf/wolfman as a hairy guy with wolf-like features (rather than someone who turns into a wolf) dates back to the earlier Universal film The Werewolf of London, with Henry Hull (and Warner Oland) playing wolfmen.
You and I know that Cal. 
But for the average Joe, the classic werewolf is the one by Lon Chaney Jr, even if he doesn’t know the name of the actor or the title of the movie.
:rolleyes: I speak good Engrish.