Horror Movie Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Kevin M]

I love horror films...can you tell?....and on top of my list is one that get's to the very core of my instincts.

The Birds (1963), I don't trust the little bastards, I never did. Even in their most friendly form there is an underlying sense of aggression coming from these creatures & our good buddy Alfred tapped into a primal fear when he made this film, what if "they" just decided to attack us in mass for no reason? What could we do? We are very comfortable in our supremacy of the world and how we have altered it to our will, but in the end we are at the whim of nature & it wouldn't take much for an all out surprise assault from these "lesser" creatures to wipe out civilization as we know it.

They might even shit on Mel Brooks.

The acting seems to be a bit fluffy and "60's" cocktail at first but this is a trick, it is setting up the mundane self assurance of the little social games we play as dangerous since, while getting self absorbed in our daily distractions, we fail to pay attention to the world around us and respect it. It forces us to respect it.
The FX, the cinematography & the sound design are fantastic, and of course the direction is superb.
Boy that sound design...I still get chills from the electronic bird screeches and screams in this film, unnatural yet familiar.

And then there is the last shot of the film......it isn't "your" world, you just think it is.

 

[Matt Stone]

Okay. Your right about that version being able to get an R. I'd doubt it, because the gore/intensity quotient is still pretty damn high. It was the over the top moments (Father's decapitation) that really hooked me.

Dubbed and cut, it may have a chance at mass-appeal, but I still doubt it. I can't think of any big successful foreign horror films in the states. But, I do agree that Lion's Gate is doing great work with the horror genre and I hope that trend continues. Saw only had a ~37% drop at the BO this week, which is a good sign.

 

[Matt Stone]

Just watched the Marc Evans (My Little Eye) crapfest, Trauma. Colin Firth is pretty solid in the movie, and it's shot well, but it falls in to the too many twists camp. It seemed much longer than it actually was. Very drawn out and boring. Only a few creepy moments...mostly just talking heads.

2.5/5

 

[ChuckSolo]

I have almost 1000 movies in my DVD collection and about two thirds are in the Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller genres (to my wife's dismay). I love horror films and have since I was a kid. My recent additons are "Dawn of the Dead" 2004 version and the recently released collectors edition of John Carpenter's "The Thing." Once film that I have been dying to get on DVD is a little '50s-'60s era British gem titled "Burn Witch, Burn." I have never seen this on DVD and had it on VHS a long time ago, but it was lent out and NEVER returned. My most anticipated acquisitions are "Shaun of the Dead" and next year, George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead" scheduled for release in October of 2005 and hopfully on DVD soon thereafter.

 

[Seth Paxton]

So I guess we are still discussing general horror films here and new release info/schedules in Scott's thread?

Anyway, post 2 for me is another bash...freaking Saw, puke. My 2004 film thread post on it covers it all I think. Horrible writing, horrible acting, only the story idea is worth anything here and in many ways its just ripped off from Se7en, Usual Suspects, The Game, etc, except with hella more plot weaknesses.

It makes it into my recent "I wanted to punch this film in the face" category. To be fair I had to move House of the Dead into my even newer "I wanted to kick this film in the balls and then shove a hot poker up its rear" category to make room for Saw in the other section.

Seriously, I did feel anger toward most of Saw. Since when did Elwes and Glover forget how to act?


I was less annoyed and more bored by Cold Creek Manor (5.5 of 10). Acting was decent and many scenes were written with smart characters in mind, people that actually mention things and ask questions rather than letting problems unfold with unrealistic inattention. But for the most part it was just too simple-minded and occassionally directed in such a way as to suggest red-herrings when I don't think it really intended to. Not to mention one of the worst endings (denouement, not end of villain) in recent years, a series of shots that left me asking "why?"


I finished The Mummy which is a totally different story. Isn't it amazing how good horror films were able to be despite CGI? What part of "good script/good cast" don't some of these producers understand? To be fair, I always defend the modern stinkers by pointing out that many B-film producers put out the same sort of crap back then.

I guess what I really am complaining about is that the era when horror films could be treated and produced as prestige films is long gone. I suppose things like The Ring or The Others are well cast and directed, but they weren't major studio tentpoles.

And another great Karloff film I finally caught was Son of Frankenstein. Beleive it or not I had never seen this film. Karloff, Legosi, Rathbone - all great. And they kept the expressionistic art direction from the first 2 Frank films. Its also quite well written, both in character motivation and in plot setup. My only criticism is that despite the art direction, Rowland Lee fails to make the most of it with his very plain, industry standard direction. If only Whale could have been behind the camera for this film also. Almost as good as the first 2, but not quite.


Lion's Gate
I was going to mention it in the release thread but since Matt just mentioned them I'll put it here. I really noticed all the LG trailers in from of Saw. I didn't realize LG was putting so much of an effort into horror, though horror films are perhaps the most potentionally profitable for low budget releases so it makes sense. It feels like LG is working on cornering the market.

 

[DanielM]

truly offbeat and not sure why it was/is classified by imdb as horror. Even Dwarves Started Small...another little known very odd one Death Bed:The Bed That Eats...

 

[Jack Briggs]

Hmmm. No one's mention The Haunting (1963)?

 

[Kevin M]

No......we haven't. Give us your impressions of it Jack.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I thought the remake was a lot better than the original.



kidding


I watched this for the first time last year via Warner's DVD and while I liked the movie, I was really letdown. I had gone into the film with such hype that there was no way the film could live up to it so I really need a second viewing. I was expecting your typical "ghost" story when in fact, it's totally different from that. Looking back, I like the approach that we don't actually "see" the ghosts but their presence is felt in other ways.

I gave the film a three-star rating but a second (and possibly third) viewing is needed to fully get what the film offers. I plan on viewing it in next years Scary Movie Challenge.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Since this is a discussion thread....

I'm just curious to know what you guys think is the

1. Greatest horror film
2. Scariest horror film
3. Favorite horror film

For me, I still think the greatest is BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN due to it being able to take the greatness of the first film and make it a lot better. Karloff gives one of the greatest performances ever caught on screen. Not even Brando could have done a better job. The scene with the blind man is also one of the greatest in film history and the ending is very nice with the monster once again having his heart broken.

I'm always amazed at how young kids really connect to these two films. I've shown this film to a lot of kids and it's rather amazing seeing them "understand" the monster. In the first film, I always saw the monster as just being born, and like a real kid, he's trying to figure out life. Of course it doesn't help when your father turns his back on you at the start of life. In the second film the kid learns how to talk and once again sets out to find love and friends only to see how brutal the world can be.


The scariest horror film would have to be THE SHINING. I really hated this film the first few times I saw it. The biggest reason was Nicholson's performance, which is very much over the top but I read an interview with Kubrick, which cleared this up for me. While the performance might be over the top, it's a performance we've never seen before so that in its own makes it scary. Plus, those two little girls are without a doubt the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. Not to mention the woman in the bathtub. The ending is also very effective due to the wonderful editing and that certain scene with the animal.

Kubrick is my favorite director and the main reason is that each time you view one of his films, it could be the second viewing or the 20th, you're going to notice something different each and every time. I always try to piece the clues together and a couple years ago I spent a month researching this film trying to put the clues down for a little article. I watched the film dozens of times for this and each time I found myself writing something different. However, each time with those two girls, it left my hair standing up. I knew the exact moment they were going to pop up but they still get me.


As for favorite...I'd say ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN because I love A&C and I love the monsters. The story is a lot better than Universal's previous HOUSE films plus you got A&C doing brilliant work, especially Costello. Many of the gags are from previous A&C films but they seem fresh and work the best here. The work between Chaney and Costello is wonderful as well. Lugosi is a lot better here than he was in DRACULA, which is another plus.

Many people say the monsters are made fun of here but I don't agree at all. In fact, if you really look, the monsters are a lot more violent here than in any other film in the series.

 

[Matt Stone]

Interesting, Michael. My gut reaction is to list Halloween for all three categories

Greatest Horror Film - Halloween
Scariest Horror Film - Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Favorite Horror Film - Halloween or The Thing

I'll post some thoughts later.

 

[ChuckSolo]

Greatest Horror Film - Night of the Living Dead -1968
Scariest Horror Film - Zombie - Lucio Fulci
Favorite Horror Film - Dawn of the Dead - 2004

Michael Elliot, interesting insight into the "Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein" film. I have a few books on the Horror Film genre and most acknowledege that that film signaled the death of the era of the Universal monster films. Happily the mantle was passed to Hammer which remade and improved on a lot of the great Universal monster films.

 

[Matt Stone]

BTW, as far as Bride of Frankenstein is concerned...I agree with Michael. I may not rate is as the best horror film, but it's certainly up there. I had seen it when I was a little kid, but never gained any appreciation for it. I watched it for the challenge this year and it blew me away. Great story, and an amazing performance from Karloff. Hell of a film. I'm going to have to get the Universal Legacy Frankenstein set.

I think Halloween is the greatest horror film made as a result of story, atmosphere, and pacing. The story itself may not be interesting, but that's what makes it stand out in my mind. It seems that all slasher films done in the style of Halloween have come up with complex plots. Even Halloween 2 introduces the sister-plot that mucks up things. Friday the 13th had Jason's drowning and revenge plot-lines. The first Halloween film used simplicity to its advantage. There aren't any plot twists, and none are needed. The setting is realistic, as are the killings themselves. Carpenter's camera movement gives it that strange hyper-real feel (slightly floaty dream, slightly real). Color is used to well. Washed out colors for the outdoor fall scenes, sharp blues for nighttime scenes...the memorable shot of MM coming out of the shadow behind Laurie. Masterful lighting. The story moves along at a slow pace for the first 3 quarters or so. Laurie catching glimpses of MM occasionally out of the corner of her eye...etc. Carpenter then ratchets up the tension to insane proportions during the final 15 or 20 minutes. From the moment Laurie leaves the house the pace picks up steam like a rolling snowball. Finally Loomis comes in and disposes of the boogyman only to find that the boogyman is eternal. He always exists in the places we inhabit...in living rooms, behind trees, in the street. Carpenter still hasn't topped this effort. A superb film...horror or otherwise.

As for TCM, I find it to be the scariest as a result of the sadism involved. It's a film that gets scarier every time I watch it. Especially when the old man is poking Sally through the bag, laughing, and telling her it will be alright. These people seem realistic, but their actions are the stuff of nightmares. Sally being mocked to the point of insanity scares the crap out of me on some primitive level...deep in my subconscious. The film doesn't make me jump out of my seat, but it also doesn't make me anxious to talk to anyone. I always feel hungover after watching it.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I agree with Michael on a few points, especially regarding the greatness of ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. It's a comedy, but the monsters are treated with more respect and are given more to do and better woven together within the plot than in either "serious" HOUSE film. Take out the comedy and you've still got a good, solid monster movie - Dracula revives Frankenstein's Monster and wants to give it a new brain, but the Wolf Man is hot on his trail to stop him. When Chuck said that books say this film marked the "death" of the monsters, well it was their last film together. But they went out with one grand last hurrah and were well-served.

Greatest Horror Film:
This is tough. I'm inclined to say BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN for its fairytale-like storybook quality but ROSEMARY'S BABY also leaps immediately to mind because I think it's as close to sheer perfection as a film can get. And it's very scary without showing all that much.

Scariest Horror Film:
No hesitation from me - THE EXORCIST all the way. I've always loved all sorts of horror films over the decades but the only two that made me tense or affected me at all were THE EXORCIST and TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (the original). With TEXAS, I'd call it the most "disturbing" film I've seen, but THE EXORCIST is the "scariest". I was too young to see it in 1973, but I saw it in theatres in a 1979 revival. It may feel less powerful today to younger people, but in the 1970s on a huge theater screen before we became too jaded, it was devastating. It has not so much to do with in-your-face vomit and head-spinning as it does great direction. It's always intense and frightening, no matter how many times I see it and how well I know each frame of film. Even things as simple as the first time the doctors arrive at the girl's home and the camera tracks them rushing up the staircase with Sharon - amidst the girl's cries and screams from her room - is unnerving. It's all in how it's paced and shot.

Favorite Horror Film:
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN - Just a personal favorite, having grown up with the Universal classics on television in the early 70s.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

The first time I saw TCM wasn't until around 1985, when I rented a very dark and dupey VHS cassette from my local video store. I found it very disturbing and unrelenting, and a masterpiece. I think the main power of TEXAS lies in the feeling that you're watching someone's home movies, or an actual, real snuff film. These are not actors - these are real people out of the "Faces of Death" videos or some illegaly obtained police crime scene videos. The fact that the film looked so dupey and primitive when I first saw it only added to this - but since then, every time I revisit it on a beautiful DVD, it always loses a little more power. I still think it's a great horror film, but unlike Matt, for me it doesn't retain the shock and vile atmosphere I felt so acutely that first time.

Part of the weakening for me in the years since, was that we had some lousy sequels which more or less copied the exact same idea. If there is one film that should never have had a sequel, it should have been TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. It worked much better as a stand-alone isolated incident. I mean, we had some of the bizarre family members returning for the God-awful (IMO) "comedy" sequel that was TEXAS CHAINSAW PART 2. I think that when you bring these cast members back again, and especially for a laugh, you're killing that unique quality of the original. Part of the power of the original was that these lunatics were supposed to be "unknowns" and real killers. Once you parade them like celebrities and so forth, and they appear at horror conventions and things, it takes away part of the anonymous nature or "random-ness" of the 1974 film.

 

[Rick Spruill]

I'll just post a list, I don't have any time for comments:

Best- Black Sunday
Scariest- Night of the Living Dead
Favorite- Black Sunday

 

[Jack Briggs]

Best, Scariest, Fave: The Haunting (that is, 1963).

 

[Malcolm R]

I'm worried about you, JB. :wink:

Greatest = Jaws. The fear of being food for another creature is very primal. Spielberg's shooting style, on purpose or by accident, is very effective. Very well-drawn, well-acted characters, especially the three leads.

Scariest = Poltergeist. The only horror film to ever give me nightmares. Though I don't believe in ghosts/poltergeists, for some reason this film just freaks me out (especially the scene with the tree eating the kid). In fact, I've purchased it on both Laserdisc and DVD, but I've yet to dare to watch either. Haven't seen it in years, yet it still makes me shiver just thinking about it.

Favorite = Candyman. Man, what a hard choice to pick one film. This is another atmospheric fave and also another that while I don't believe in spirits/ghosts/etc., seems to give me the heebie jeebies anyway. I would not dare say "Candyman" in front of a mirror...ever! Tony Todd's voice, Philip Glass's score, interesting story.

 

[Matt Stone]

Anybody know if the Haute Tension trailer that played in front of Saw is up anywhere? I'd really like to watch it again.

...the same goes for The Devil's Rejects.

 

[ChrisDixon]

Just found this thread, so I'll post on a few things. Concerning Argento's films: I have Suspiria and Inferno from IFC on my Tivo, and I was very anxious to watch them. However, about 1/3 of the way into Suspiria, I quit because I was afraid it might be butchered. Several of the early killing scenes looked edited to me. Is this Argento's editing, or does IFC show a cut version? This would surprise me considering the fact that I saw what appeared to be a totally uncut version of Jackson's Dead Alive on IFC, which is about as gory as you can get.

Concerning Last House on the Left, I see it as three distinct parts: beginning, middle, and end. The beginning (including the folky score) is not great, but it works in a way... kind of putting you at ease before really socking it to you. The middle section is very good (see spoiler), but the end is predictable and fairly weak.

The torture and deaths of the girls may be the most memorable and disturbing of any that I've seen. The whole thing is so raw and unstylized. Almost like a snuff movie. Also, the numb, "in shock" look on the second girl's face while walking into the water gave me the shivers.


It is very rare that I find any horror movie disturbing, but LHotL is one of the few, if only for the middle section.

Did anyone see the Bravo 100 scariest scenes marathon on Halloween? I was pleasantly surprised to so many obscure and foreign films in the list. I expected it to be mostly mainstream, but it really was aimed at the fanatics. Most of the top 10 was spot on, but I wouldn't have put Alien and Jaws as the top 2.

Hmmmm this is really hard:

greatest: Tie - Night of the Living Dead and Psycho. These two movies helped to set the foundation for the horror genre that we know today.

scariest: This is very hard to pick. I've seen many of the usual suspects (Exorcist, Chainsaw, etc.) as an adult, and I guess I'm just numb to the scare factor. Movies that scared me as a child were usually due to age and circumstances. I remeber seeing Altered States alone at night in a house that wasn't mine. I was creeped out by it back then. I also remember The Changeling freaking me out too.

favorite: Jacob's Ladder. Not sure if this is a horror film, but it was on Bravo's list at #21. Tense, intelligent, surreal, and really challenging. All aspects I love in movies. This is near the top of my favorite movie list, regardless of genre.

Interesting... looking at this list, my choices are primarily psychological horror rather than blood and gore. That is probably accurate for my tastes, though I do like a good slasher film too!

Chris