Hey, I'm looking for some recommendations on good horror films. I love horror movies, but hate most of the ones that are out there. I'm not into movies that just feature a group of slutty college kids getting killed off by hilariously-corny mutants or ax killers...think "Lake Dead," "Ruins" etc...it's just not scary and really cheesy... I also don't like torture porn films like "Saw," "Hostel" etc...I mean they're not scary and just make me feel bad the whole time... I like movies that are actually scary because they're about chilling/disturbing things that leave you on edge and set your imagination going. I know this might sound lame to many, but I like movies like "Blair Witch Project," "Paranormal Activity," etc because you know something horrible is out there but you have to use your imagination on what it is. Can anyone think of movies that I might like based on this? Things where the horror is constant, supernatural-ish and not spelled out to the point of eradicating the power of the imagination. Something that'll keep me up at night. Or, any really disturbing alien movies? (I saw "Alien" with Sigourney Weaver, didn't find it that scary) Thanks!!
A Tale of Two Sisters. Session 9. It is very bloody in the end, but you might like The Devil's Chair. It's a tricky little movie. It's very dated now, but the original The Wicker Man does a wonderful job building up a sense of wrongness, paranoia, and of course the ending is... special. The soundtrack is also a source of horror, though in a much different way.
Awesome, thanks. To clarify: I don't mind violence or gore. I just don't like movies where that is the entire point of the movie, just someone getting tortured in a basement or whatever, with none of the suspense/"OMG what is that" factor. You know? But I don't mind violence/gore when it's in the right spots where it's effective.
If you liked Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project,you should take a look at The Last Exorcism, and the Spanish film [Rec]. They are the same sort of found-footage/documentary style. Also, The Hauning in Connecticut was quite good too.
Dark Water is a good, 2005 horror movie by Jennifer Connelly and Tim Roth. It's a good movie. I only saw it once and wish I could see it again.
If you like thinking, Watchmen. It's not really horror, it's more dystopia, but there are some pretty scary things in it. And it has a fantastic message. There's also a lot of Stephen King movie adaptations. Those tend to be pretty good and pretty terrifying on a psychological level. I, personally, found The Shining to be the single scariest movie ever. The Resident Evil movies are mostly Zombie Gore, but they do make you jump, a lot. And when you start thinking about them you stop sleeping for about a week. But that might just be me.
OK in all of these I mean the original British or Japanese with subtitles versions and not the Hollywood remake. The Wickerman The Ring The Village of the Damned Birds Taste of Fear The Nanny Quatermass and the Pit And if you haven't seen it Roman Polanski's Macbeth is pretty good it has Lady Macbeth as a coquette rather than fishwife. Bollywood and Hong Kong also do a nice line in horror films.
Definitely check out The Poughkeepsie Tapes. It's tough to find, you may have to search online, but it's really good. It suffers a bit from some poor acting at times, but the killer and victims are all really solid. I usually don't get scared or disturbed watching movies, but this one made me feel uneasy while I watched it.
Thanks so much guys! + rep to everyone and I'll check those films out for sure. I saw "Haunting in Conneticut" - certain parts were way, awesomely disturbing...the two creepiest parts for me were 1) when the guy is doing situps and he's coming back up and there's that ... thing sitting there. 2) when there's a space in the boards of the wall outside near the porch with a bunch of rotted goo in it. I'll check out Watchmen if it's dystopia....I love dystopia of all kinds, it's what I write.... Thanks again and feel free to keep it coming
I hate horror, but I studied the horror genre in sixth form, although the only two I can remember we did were Rosemary's Baby (1968), and Psycho (1960). I don't know whether you'll like them, but you could look them up.
Perhaps the prototype for the sort of horror movie you dislike - gore, teenagers, no great suspense - is the Evil Dead. But still, I think you should watch it because it is tremendous fun.
First off, The Shining if you haven't seen it. But I think you have. There's a scary alien movie on the tip of my tongue but I can't think what it is... I've heard The Thing is a good alien horror movie but i haven't seen it. There are some good J-Horror films you'd appreciate (Japanese-style horror). An excellent one is the original version of The Eye (not the American remake)--it's in Chinese (with subtitles), but it actually makes the ghosts sound creepier cause you don't understand their mumbling. And take a look at The Ring, which is very good too--but for that, take the American one. The Exorcist is a classic, though I wasn't that scared by it. I live near D.C., so I've seen all the places where the movie was filmed (it was filmed in Georgetown, which is part of D.C.). Psycho is also a classic. I know I've got other movies for you but I can't think of them right now, I'll give you a list later.
Ringu/The Ring - I must disagree with Aeschylus, I liked the Japanese one better, although the US remake had a better beginning. Check out both though. Ju-On/The Grudge Shutter Phone ...and other such movies of recent Asian horror. I find them incredibly creepy, chilling and scary. Also, check out a DVD called Three Extremes which contains three shorter horror movies by three Asian directors. And also, The Uninvited (original title: 4 Inyong shiktak). Descent - Great British movie. There is gore but it's more than that. Cube - Sci-fi/horror in a bizarre setting. Really good. Wind Chill - More of the supernatural kind. Magic - Anthony Hopkins as a ventriloquist, from 1978.
Hm. I can't really think of any horror movies that are actually scary. And I love horror, so I've seen a lot of them. But as was said earlier, if you want to laugh your ass off, Shark Attack III. I watched that with my cousins. And we had a blast. Ha, ha. I think the only movie that scared me, and this is going to sound stupid because I watched again later, and I'm like... Why the hell did that scare me? Anyway, it was The Strangers. A lot of people found it boring and pointless. But I remember watching it for the first time, and just all the quiet... It completely freaked me out. Of course, it didn't help my little sister walked outside in the middle of the night just to bang on my window... And that my friend Eric that I saw it with dropped me off at home, waited five minutes after I was inside, then started banging on my door. Ha, ha.
Thanks guys! I'll check those out....I've seen "The Ring" and "The Shining," will check out others. I saw a preview for "The Descent"and now I plan on renting it. Aesch, when you say "The Eye," do you mean "My Little Eye"? Because that was a really disturbing/scary one too, but if "The Eye" is something different, I'll go look it up on IMDb and check. I'll watch Shark Attack and Evil Dead, too....I mean, I enjoyed the scream movies...those are the kinds you can just have fun and laugh with....because they're almost more like comedy
It's already been mentioned, but The Shining is one of my favorite movies and also one of the scariest movies ever made. I would also recommend The Exorcist.
You might like Dark Corners. I am apparently the only person in the world who likes this movie, but I love it. As with Jacob's Ladder, Silent Hill, and A Tale of Two Sisters, it has a certain other-worldliness to it. Speaking of which, though inferior in almost every way to its source material, I do still think the Silent Hill movie is good. It has a few moments of perfection, most especially the ending.
I've seen Silent Hill - also the part of Jacob's Ladder with the hospital scene. Really good. Scary in a way that other types of horror films don't match. I'll look up Dark Corners....
Jacob's Ladder is something extraordinary indeed. I very much recommend sitting down and watching the whole film. As for Silent Hill, I'm split on it. If it was a straight, original horror film, I'd probably be lauding it as an excellent horror (Sean Bean scenes aside). But as good as it was, it pales next to the utter terror of the games (Silent Hill 2 and 3).
An excellent ghost story is an old movie called The Changeling. It's the one made in 1980 and not the newer one. It is so somber and has the perfect ambiance for a truly depressing, horrific story that will stay with you long afterwards.
