Gonna buy some horror movies....suggestions... (1 Viewer)

[Alan Erceg]

ok well not the best thread for the title...but oh well.


I've never gotten around to buying the classic horror movie Dawn of the Dead...and was wondering out of the 3 or so versions ive seen listed which is the best to get??

Are any completley uncut? extras(not assuming there are alot anyways), picutre quality?

Ive always thought that this is one of the greatest horror flicks ever made...and really want to buy it but make sure i get the correct version.

I believe the version i saw on dvd was the us theatrical cut, i think released by anchor bay.

So if anyone could help me out it would be greatly appreciated, and any more suggestions on other good horror flicks to pick up...would be cool as well.

Thanks
Alan

 

[Adam_WM]

Wait till next year... super duper version coming out...

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Upcoming releases...


AUGUST 5

Halloween: Special Edition (Anchor Bay)
The Haunting (1963) (Warner)
The Omega Man (Warner)
Soylent Green (Warner)
The Thing From Another World (Warner)
House Of Wax (Warner)
Dead And Buried: Special Edition (Blue Underground)


AUGUST 26

Burnt Offerings (MGM)
The Comedy of Terrors / The Raven (MGM)
The Haunted Palace / Tower of London (MGM)
Tomb of Ligeia / An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe (MGM)
The Howling: SE (MGM)
Q: The Winged Serpent (Blue Underground)
God Told Me To (Blue Underground)


As Adam says, wait until February and get the hopefully definitive boxed set of Dawn Of The Dead.

What kinds of horror movies do you like, Alan?

Silent?
Black & White 1930s-1940s?
B-Movies/Exploitation?
Horror/sci-fi?
Gorefests?
Well-made 'slasher' films? - Halloween, etc?
Foreign?

'Cause I like all that stuff!


Gordy

 

[Jeff_HR]

Right off the top of my head I can recommend these 5:

Silence of the Lambs
Rosemary's Baby
The Omen
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Exorcist

 

[Jonny R]

Day of the Dead is out on 8/19. Dawn early next year.

 

[Matt Stone]

If you like John Carpenter's stuff...I'd pick up:

Assault on Precinct 13 (Not really horror, but still)
Halloween (August 5 - 25th Anniversary Edition)
The Thing
The Fog
Prince of Darkness (October)
They Live (October)
In the Mouth of Madness

I second Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Others:
Evil Dead: Book of the Dead
Evil Dead 2
I Spit on Your Grave: Millennium Edition
Re-Animator: Millennium Edition
Last House on the Left

As far as Dawn of the Dead, Adam is right. Anchor Bay is releasing a new special edition next year that is going to be loaded. Here's the blurb from the Anchor Bay website:

DAWN OF THE DEAD - February 2004
George Romero's masterpiece is coming back to DVD in a big way. Featuring newly re-mastered widescreen transfers (16x9 enhanced), new DTS & Dolby EX Surround Sound, all-new cast & crew interviews, all-new audio commentary tracks, trailers, poster & still galleries and more! Available separately will be the original Theatrical Version and the Extended (Director's Cut) Version. Also available will be a special multi-disc box set including an exclusive presentation of the ZOMBI version of the film from Europe. Expect more announcements in the coming months, and please note all features at this point are tentative and subject to change. Closed Captioned for the Hearing Impaired.

Also, since you mention liking Dawn, I'd also suggest the new Anchor Bay SE of Day of the Dead. It comes out on August 19th. There appear to be a few audio dubbing problems stemming from using the Japanese LD transfer as the master...but it will be hard to pass up.

 

[Gary Rhine]

The Scream movies. All three of them.

 

[Jon Robertson]

I'd like to reiterate the recommendations for Dead and Buried and The Silence of the Lambs, and add Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (an incredibly atmospheric and beautifully paced zombie film), The Toolbox Murders (a film which is about five times better than it has any right to be and one of the great underrated horror films of the 1970s), Sisters (an absolute delightful slasher-mystery) and the original Carnival of Souls (spooky as all hell - get the Criterion!)

 

[Terry Hickey]

"The Curse of Frankenstein" a Hammer classic issued by Warner Brothers.

 

[Justin_S]

Dead and Buried does not come out August 5th. It comes out July 29th. I just got my copy in the mail today, and seeing how it one of my top 20 favroite films, I couldn't be happier!

Anyways, here are a few recommendations:

Dead and Buried
The Hitcher
Black Christmas
The Sentinel
Prince of Darkness
Lord of Illusions
Rosemary's Baby
Se7en- don't care what anyone says. Its horror in my book.
The Blair Witch Project
Ginger Snaps
Session 9
Audition
Evil Dead Trap
The Vanishing
Carnival of Souls
Suspiria
Society
Near Dark
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Any David Cronenberg films

Here are some upcoming DVDs that I also highly recommend:

The Hills Have Eyes
Identity
Targets
The Howling SE
The Haunting
Of Unknown Origin
God Told Me To

There are a few great recommendations. Hell, look at my DVD collection and see several titles I can highly recommend too.

 

[Holadem]

Office Space

--
Holadem

 

[John Berggren]

Is Prince of Darkness going to be a new edition in October? I can't find any information on whether it'll be anamorphic, or have special features. That film freaked me out as a teenager.

Also, does anyone know where a good price can be had on the Nightmare on Elm Street Collection? I only really loved the first, 3rd and Last, but I think it'd be a fun collection to have.

 

[Justin_S]

The new Prince of Darkness DVD will be anamorphic with only a trailer as far as extras go. Me, I'm gonna stick with my excellent Region 2 SE unless the transfer somehow winds up being better, in which case I'd have two DVDs of the film, but this classic is more than worth it.

 

[Todd Robertson]

I'm sorry...but NO horror collection will be complete until you add Black Sunday from Mario Bava. check my collection...I suggest all I have.

 

[Matt Stone]

Same goes for the new version of They Live...anamorphic and trailers.

As for the Nightmare on Elm Street Collection, it is indeed a good set to have. I bought mine from Amazon.ca about 10 months ago for ~52 bucks. They don't appear to have it anymore, so I don't know what the best deal is. DDD has it for ~70.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

John B,

Beware of purchasing the Elm Street set at this time... Possibly if Freddy vs Jason does good theatrical numbers, New Line might look into releasing possible uncut versions of the movies with the deleted scenes...

Paramount has already greenlit the reissue of Friday the 13th special editions, so I wouldnt put it past New Line to do the same thing with the Elm Street series...

Nightmare 1 has an uncut workprint that exists as well as a slew of deleted scenes... The deleted scenes were on the old 1994 laserdisc...

All the other movies have deleted scenes too... Some others such as Nightmare 5 also have uncut versions too...

The set that is out now is a good set, but it's 4 years old now... So, New Line may poissibly reissue... So beware of that...

 

[Alan Erceg]

Thanks for all the replies guys...

looks like i have some research/buying to do...

 

[Bill Burns]

I've just noticed Navarre Corporation DVDs of The Devil Bat and Bowery at Midnight at a local retailer -- these are Bela Lugosi "poverty row" horror flicks usually seen in lousy PD quality, but these discs are reportedly "Authorized by the Estate of Bela Lugosi," mastered from 35mm film materials, and include commentaries by Bela's son, Bela Lugosi Jr., along with a vintage radio production per release and other select supplements. This seems to be a numbered series, of which these are the first two discs.

On-line response has been very favorable, from what I've just read in a quick search at google, but somehow these releases snuck up on me -- I hadn't heard a word about them prior to spying them on the store shelf. Fans of low budget horror from this period might do well to give 'em a look (the spines could be better, but I like the cover art), and again, these are "Authorized by the Estate of Bela Lugosi" and taken from original film materials -- other editions on disc may not, and in fact almost certainly will not, offer the quality found here. The company, again, is Navarre Corporation (I hadn't heard of them before). If anyone here has seen these, or if anyone has any word on when additional releases in the series might be forthcoming, they might share a few additional thoughts.

 

[PhilipG]

The Devil Rides Out
Curse of the Demon / Night of the Demon
The Wicker Man

 

[Jack_TN]

The Shining (Jack Nicholson version)