So, halloween is my most favorite time of year and every year it gets "kiddified" Because my children are not old enough to do the real fun scary stuff yet. This weekend it's just me and my kids and they go to bed fairly early.... I need a goos scary movie to watch. Do you prefer the classics or the more modern scary?
I don't like old scary movies (and by old, I mean anything that came out before I was born). Movies like Night of the Living Dead and Friday the 13th (1980) just aren't my thing. Then again, I don't like gore in general. Scream, the Halloween movies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre... Nope. I like psychological and paranormal thrillers. --The Cube (though it has some gore) is one of my favorites. A little old so it's hard to find, but it's good. A bunch of people are trapped inside a massive cube divided into rooms. Some rooms have traps, so they have to figure out how to find the exit and escape. --Case 39. Renee Zellweger. Bradley Cooper. It's about demons and such, and to me, it's wonderful. They never actually "show" any demons, so it relies 100% on the acting and camera tricks to make it scary. And to me, it's scary. But I also have a weird taste in movies apparently. --Paranormal Activity 3 is good, too. I hate the first, don't mind the second, but loved the third. The camera tricks they used were genius, and the characters are pretty good too. --Devil. #2 pick of all time. It's a paranormal thriller, where a bunch of people are trapped in an elevator. Then the people inside it start dying. The detective is amazing -- probably one of my favorite characters in any movie. Some gore, some twists, but mostly just a good movie. --Sinister. #1 pick of all time. My favorite scary movie ever, but I can't even explain why. I just remember that this is the first scary movie I've seen in a long time that actually scared me. And that's hard to do these days. Most of them just make me laugh. (Insidious? Puhhh-lease.)
Alien. Also, while it's technically a horror movie but probably won't scare you, you'll be glad you watched The Cabin in the Woods.
I will second the original Alien. Saw it as a 9-year-old in 1979 when it premiered in theaters and it remains as watchable today as way back then. A masterpiece.
Personally, I love the old horror classics. Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney and Lon Chaney Jr. The classics may seem hokey by today's standards, where films are judged on the quality of their special effects, but they can be really scary if you allow yourself to be absorbed by the story. And, they actually have a story, which makes them different from today's horror movies. The absolute scariest movies I've ever seen were Nosferatu, Vampyr, House on Haunted Hill, and Night of the Living Dead. For something more modern, though, I'd recommend 28 Days Later and the Exorcist.
The Orphanage was pretty good. I also liked The Ring as well as the original Ringu and its prequel Ringu 0. The original The Eye was also enjoyable.
I checked this out on a whim after reading your post. I just finished watching it. While you're right that it's not scary in any traditional sense, it certainly was a unique story. I love how the title is complete mislead. Oh, yet another cabin in the woods story. Nope.
Halloween (1978). It is just sooooooooooooooo GOOOOOOOD! Not a lot of gore or violence event but its so unsettling so creepy just those scenes of Micheal Myers watching, always standing there even when you didn't know plus he was just called The Shape in the script which makes it all the more scary. Ignoring all the continuity and madness added on to the later films makes this one so much better. I think its the best slasher movie. The Exorcist and Audrey Rose also freaked me out a lot......still do. Alien is a great horror movie. The first Child's Play movie freaked me out a lot when I was little. Horror comedies like Evil Dead 2 (and anything related to Evil Dead), Braindead (also known as Dead Alive) and all sorts. I can keep going but I suppose I prefer 70s-80s horror movies. 70s stuff was much more psychological and methodical it seems to me and 80s while it had tons of crazy gore it gave us some of the most memorable horror icons in pop culture.....whom I spent many a day and night watching after school. Still like some of the newer stuff to like Trick R Treat, It Follows, The Visit (hilarious and creepy or well at least surreal enough), Babadook and such being some recent favorites.
The (British) classics (60s, 70s - Hammer, Amicus) hands down. I loath modern horror films with an unbridled passion. I will be spending the night of the 31st with the likes of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
I love Aliens. Scariest movie I've ever seen is Birds. But that one only gets me because I'm actually terrified of birds.
Personally, I don't think old (pre-70s) horror movies have aged well so I prefer the more modern ones. Some of my favourites: Severance (brilliant English black comedy where a team are sent on a corporate event in the middle of a forest and are greeted by a pie with a human tooth in the middle) I Spit on Your Grave Dead Girl (very disturbing. Some teenage boys find a zombie-like woman tied up in a hospital and...) Martyrs (another one that's not for the faint hearted. Woman is captured by a strange cult) Insidious The Descent (English movie where a group of friends go into an unexplored cave system, but they are not alone!) The Cabin in the Woods A Nightmare on Elm Street Sinister Paranormal Activity 28 Days Later I could go on...
I'm not really a horror fan, and I'm not well versed on traditional scary movies or even newer ones. But I do like psychological stuff, or things that are just creepy. The Silence of the Lambs is fantastic. I'm not usually a Stephen King film-adaptation fan, but Secret Window was pretty well done if I remember correctly. Coraline was delightfully creepy, though that might just be the Neil Gaiman fan in me. I'm much more of a fan of weird things that should be normal but aren't, or demented mind-screw kinds of things, rather than blood and jump scares. Subtlety makes all the difference.
Ooooh, Tenderiser... and we seem to have had so much in common up until now. No issue with the 'pre-70s' element, as I don't watch that much pre-70s stuff anyway, but your list - with the odd exception - disappoints me.
I'd second these, except I haven't seen the remake of I Spit on Your Grave. The original is absolutely harrowing. I actually think it's a quite feminist piece although I'm sure plenty of third wave feminists would disagree. Martyrs also left me deeply unsettled. I don't get scared, but I do get disturbed. When movies do that, move me in some way (no pun intended), I think they've done their job. The Descent is the only one I'd classify as traditional horror here. I recoiled a couple of times. Everyone I've made watch this film has absolutely loved it. One movie that had a really cool beginning but fell flat pretty soon was Ghost Ship. I can still watch it for the beginning, though, 'cause I find abandoned ships particularly creepy.
I've only seen the remake but I loved it. I didn't think too deeply about the feminist aspects but I thought she was a good female character.
One of the very few modern horrors worthy of merit. A brilliant film! Ooh, I dunno... go and worship at the grave of Peter Cushing?
Favourite horror movies: - Alien Jaws Scariest/ most disturbing horror movies: - The Ring (Original) Audition The rest: - The Shining The Exorcist The Thing (Original) The Descent Night of the Living Dead Day of the Dead (Remake) Psycho (Original) Battle Royale Let the Right One In (Original) The Wicker Man (Original) Comedy Horror: - Shaun of the Dead Scream 1&2 Evil Dead 2 & 3 Tucker & Dale vs Evil The Wicker Man (Remake- this is unintentional comedy but it is hilarious)
John Carpenter's The Thing. Saw it for the first time on HBO when I was 14 and it scared the crap out of me.
Does Evil Dead 2 count? Among others, I liked Sinister, the Babadook, the old version of The Haunting of Hill House, Alien, The Wicker Man, Let the Right One In, Dead Girl, Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, Carrie (original), Stir of Echoes...
Audition (A Japanese Psychological/Torture film with Eng. Subtitles. Not for the squeamish) Grotesque (A Japanese body horror/Torture) Jacobs Ladder Alien Neighbor The Girl Next Door The Shining Hellraiser Anatomy 1-2 (German Horror, Eng. Subs)
Salo, Cannibal Holocaust, Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer are all good among your family and your friends. No, of course not, have not seen Salo. My son and I googled 'most terrifying, grotesque films in world history.' Salo popped up, number one selection, worldwide. Lad viewed Salo immediately, silly sod - I pleaded, reminded how I could never close his bedroom door after Exorcist, after school. For one, I said, I do not want a twenty year old in my bed, not really, I said. Myself...was most frightened by David Soul, dead kids hovered at his window pane, but watched the film more recently, was less disturbed. Nothing frightens me asides from 'I Was Mengele's Assistant,' most distressing read of my life, but mentioned it before, sense of voyeur creeps over you, too dreadful book.
But why do people enjoy being scared? I just end up spending ages rethinking and re-imagining every last scary thing and hope I don't get nightmares (used to have them everyday as a kid to the point where I'd wake up and think "Oh another one.") Just never quite understood it...? (by the by, I have never been on a roller coaster either and never will - the idea of any thrill-sports or such rides don't appeal to me - goes back to my idea of: just why would you wanna be scared?)
