Four Best Horror Films

[coconuts1977]

In response to some of the comments I read in a previous thread about bad films, I decided to make this one. Forgive me if it has already been done before. Before I share mine I have to say that I am picking them on their overall quality, which includes story, characters, acting, directing, and and some piss-in-your-pants horror. It can all be pretty subjective though, so I'm expecting responses (if any) to cover a broad range. Anyways, here are mine:

[b]1. The Silence of the Lambs [/b]

I know some people are going to say that this isn't horror, that it fits in the suspense/drama/ (heaven forbid) comedy department, but this film had the direction, acting, story, and shock value to make it one of my favorites. There are horror films that just use 'jump put at you' shocks, while others use tension and scenery to add the horror. I had goosebumps the whole time watching this film, the first time and everytime.

[b]2. Scream & Nightmare on Elm Street [/b]

I think Wes Craven is one of the true horror masters. Scream was clever and witty, but at the same time had some genuine chills. The opening has got to be one of the best horror film beginnings of all time. Scream makes the list mostly because of it's clever script, but everything else about it was good.

Nightmare on Elm Street is a great 'slasher' flick. It really toyed with something interesting, the whole killin in your nightmares thing. (I assume most everyone is familiar with the story) The directing was a bit crude at some points, but the special effects (esp. for the small budget it had and the time it was made ...I'm assuming) The lead actress, Heather something, I thought did a great job and Johnny Depp did fairly well too.

[b]3. The Shining [/b]

I seriously like, shat my pants (Ew, okay, well not [i]seriously[/i]) when I first saw this at the tender age of 9. Then it shocked me with it's horror, when I viewed it recently it not only freaked me out with it's horror again but also by the direction and acting. I think the direction verges on genius (like all Kubrick films, I think) and the isolation bit REALLY adds to the tension. This, like the first film I mentioned, builds up rather than just having shock after shock.

[b]4. Fatal Attraction [/b]

This one goes especially to the guys out there. There is nothing freakier than having an affair (which, you probably shouldn't have done/do in the first place) and having that psycho ***** stalk you, [spoiler] boil your kid's rabbit, and try to kill you. [/spoiler] It contained taut direction, wonderful acting (especially the deliciously devilish Glenn Close), and some really tense moments. There aren't really any shocks, [spoiler] save the ending scene in the bathroom [/spoiler] but it did something else. I'm actually finding it hard to describe right now, I'm actually in my mind relating the horror in the film to having your balls kicked. (Sorry if I offend anyone by that)


Well, that's my list. It seems to change frequently, but that's my list as of this moment.

AH! WAIT! Let me insert a few honorable mentions: Halloween (the 1978 original), Carrie (Sissy Spacek rocks), Hush Hush Sweet Charolotte, and Misery.

[Vicky]

[SIZE=1][B]I only have one favourite; The Shinning. I watched the 100 greatest horror movies on Channel 4, and it was voted best, so I don't blame them. The Shinning was just great, I think I had a nightmare after it. I jumped over the couch after some parts, literally. Great film, best film. Though Scream and The Birds come pretty close. The Shinning, well I just loved it, though I never watched it again for some reason... I think my mum wouldn't let me because I smashed half of the stuff in the house while jumping over the couch.[/SIZE][/B]

[Transtic Nerve]

Silence of the Lambs is more of a psychological thriller than a horror

The Halloween series
The Ring series
Candyman
Blair Witch Project

[vegeta rocker]

Transtic Nerve is talking about the Ringu series i assume.
I haven't seen that, but the amercian one was alright. Not scary though.

Movies don't scare me since i have been watching them since i was about 5.
I don't jump or stuff, i just get startled inside, my heart jumps but you can't tell if you're just looking at me.
My older half brother just told me one thing and i haven't been scared since.
" It's all inside a box (television set)"

But there are a few that i have seen that creeped me out pretty well.

1. Jaws
Saw this before i had the "box" talk and this movie scared the bejesus out of me.
I mean think about it; sharks are REAL, they live in deep WATER. I know they don't just attack like that, and that they usually mistake us for seals if we are on a surf board. But yikes!

2. Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory
I know the book is titled a bit diffrently and that it's darker than the movie.
But the flick just creeped me out; i mean, how can it not?
Little orange people.....
Lickable wallpaper...

3. Anatomy
Way cool.
Autopsy done on live patients.....'nough said.

4.Cube
Haven't seen it? See it.
Imagine waking up in a cube shaped room with a bunch of strangers.
You are in a cube shaped room and any room you go to is also the same shape.
Some are full of gas.
Some are wired for booby traps.
Watch it.

[Semjaza]

This is hard. I'll try and mix it up some. I don't want to name just old stuff, but I probably will lol.

I should say right out that I'm very particular with my interest in horror movies. I do not like new teen-aimed crap that is everywhere lately. I also like a nice mix of gore and humor. I'm generally not into things that are nothing but violence and boring deaths like that awful Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake.

Anyway.

[B]Evil Dead Trilogy [/B]- While I'm not as fond of Army of Darkness as the two Evil Dead films before it, they're all pretty great. Evil Dead, obviously very b-movie-ish at this point, was rather influential in many ways. There's a lot of cool angles and subtle effects in it that really heighten the film for me, such as that part where the camera zooms past the rafters in the cabin.

Evil Dead II is basically just Evil Dead remade with a better budget and some slapstick. It really is the better of the two. Definitely worth seeing if you haven't already.

[B]Suspiria [/B]- I believe this was made in the 70s. A really nice special edition of this was put on DVD recently... Only $25 and it's two discs plus the soundtrack. Totally worth getting and one of the best horror films out there. I've not seen it in a very long time, but it's still a fond horror memory you could say heh. I really want to get the DVD set lol.

[B]Cabin Fever [/B]- This is a really recent one. Most people at the theater hated it, but I loved it. I still think it was the best horror film of its year. It's humorous, but also extremely morbid. If it wasn't for some of the goofiness, I think it would have come off a lot darker than it did. I really enjoyed it.

[B]Dawn of the Dead[/B] - I thought the remake was great, but I'm talking the original. I think it's the best of the three. It does a great job of conveying how insane everything had become... Meanwhile, Day of the Dead takes a more serious approach for quite some time until it becomes a crazy, kill-all-zombies movie. Dawn of the Dead just has a better balance of the drama and the violence.

Plus, even to this day, that movie (and Day) had better gore effects than half the crap I see around now.

There's stuff like Near Dark that could be considered "horror" I suppose, in the fact that it deals with vampires. Horror doesn't have to be overly violent, really. It's worth seeing if you've not seen it before. I really enjoyed it.

Others I like... Final Destination 2 (WAY better than the first, you'd be surprised), Lost Boys (I suppose that's horror), Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Vampire Hunter D (animated horror? lol), House of 1,000 Corpses, The Thing, Cube (not the second one), Freddy vs. Jason, a few of the Nightmare films (1, Dream Warriors, New Nightmare), etc.

I also am very fond of the Hellraiser movies.

[Muad'Dib]

OOooohh... fun topic.

Alien series:
Anyone who's seen it has to admit, this movie scared the crap out of them. The first one wasn't exactly top-quality, but like many other films of it's time, it was revolutionary. Being stranded on a virtualy motionless mineral-ore freighter (in space that is) with a nine foot alien with acid for blood stalking you is enough to make anyone run for a flamethrower.

The Ring:
A lot of people said this movie wasn't that great, but it scared the sh** outta me. The concept was so orignal too... I mean, c'mon, where else have you seen a [spoiler]depressed ghost-girl walk out of a television screen?[/spoiler]

Ummm... I can't think of anymore. Oh well... it was fun while it lasted! lol

[Shwa]

I's have to agree with the Shinning and the Ring that everyone else voted for, that was some scary stuff right there. Here's two I though were really scary:

Texas Chainsaw Massacare- The movie made me jump so much at the movie theater it was crazy! My brother and I were suppose to see "Kill Bill", but we snuck into this movie and watched the whole thing. Let me tell you I couldn't sleep all that night an I was soo tired Monday when i went back to school.

Wrong Turn- This movie was super freaky, virginia mutnts killing ppl. for the hell of it...(like most horror movies) but man we're these guys smart in killing people.

Thats about it ^.^

[Genkai]

Not big on horror flicks, I don't find them all that scary.. The Ring was pretty creepy, but the scariest EVER is The Eye.

[coconuts1977]

The EYE was pretty intense. I thought the American Ring was more shocking and scary than the original Japanese one. In Japanese Ringu the people that died from the video looked TERRIBLE. They just had their mouths open and thats it.

I also agree with you Semjaza about Cabin Fever. It was a delightful new twist to the teen horror movie. It wasn't so much shocking, it just made me think. The only point where I got scared was when I imagined if I were to ever be in that situation. It was very well done though, I especially enjoyed seeing 'Sean' from Boy Meets World all grown up.

[Transtic Nerve]

[quote name='coconuts1977']In Japanese Ringu the people that died from the video looked TERRIBLE. They just had their mouths open and thats it.[/quote]

Thats what they were supposed to look like. They added all those effects in the American one beause of two reasons:
a) They had more money
b) Because it was their own ideal to make them look like the girl.

The japanese Ring was on a limited budget of not more than 1 million dollars, which isn't much in movies. There was no need to have any special effects on the people who simply died because of fear.... the American version added effects like they were decaying.... which simply isn't true... The American version changed alot of things...

I think Samara or whatever her name was in the American one looked alot scarier, but thats again due to the effect.... I personally think when she walked out of the TV in the Japanese one was the creepiest thing I've seen in a while... I was not expecting that.

[James]

[color=#707875]For god's sake people, let's use some spoiler tags. People who haven't seen The Ring/Ring are getting the most pivotal part of the movie spoiled for them. Geeze.

[i]Anyway...[/i]

I don't really watch a lot of horror movies, mostly because I just never find them terribly interesting or worthwhile. Sometimes I don't mind watching dumb horror flicks for fun (ie: Halloween or Scream, for example). Those movies are not really scary in a truly frightening way...they are just gory and filled with teen angst or something, usually. I wouldn't put them on the same level as Ring or something like that.

I've seen Ring/The Ring so many times now that it doesn't scare me at all, but when I [i]first [/i]saw it I definitely found it frightening. I think this was simply because I had no idea what to expect. I walked in expecting something like Scream, but what I got was very different (and very original).

The Japanese series is far more subtle than the American remake, though I preferred the ending to the Japanese original [spoiler]Sadako's emergence at the end was far more scary than Samara's, which was too quick and sloppy[/spoiler].

Although Japanese horror films don't have nearly as much money put into them as American ones, I find that they often seem to be more frightening, on a very basic level.

For example, has anyone here seen The Grudge? It's [i]relatively [/i]new on the scene, and it was apparently written by the scriptwriter who did Ring. Although Hideo Nakata did not direct it, nor was it derived from the original author's story.

In some ways, The Grudge mimmicked techniques from Ring. And I didn't find it to be nearly as scary. However, it certainly had some genuinely frightening/surprising moments.

[spoiler]The idea that you can hide in your bed -- a place that should be safe -- only to have a freaky looking dead person come up under the covers and kill you, is an example of how the movie plays on some basic fears.[/spoiler]

Generally speaking, I think that these movies demonstrate what you can do with clever design and a low budget.

My favourite moment from Ring 2 is when [spoiler]they are at the Yammamura Inn and the tape is "manifest" into real-life, where we see Shizuko and Sadako standing there in the room...and the scene keeps repeating itself, as if it's on a loop. And then, when Shizuko actually breaks free from the loop and turns around to look at the people in the doorway -- it's one of the coolest and most subtle scenes I've come across in a horror film. I thought it was really clever and worked very well.[/spoiler]

If you haven't seen Ring 2, you should see it just for that part, I think. Hehe. ~_^

I'm also a fan of the Hannibal movies...although I don't particularly find them to be scary, they are "horrific", I guess. For the most part I just like the dialogue (Hannibals interviews with the various other characters are awesome) and the movie has some genuinely beautiful moments (particularly "Hannibal", the second movie). It's an odd mix of beauty and depravity or something...I think that's part of the attraction.

Also, coconuts mentioned The Eye. That's one I'm interested in seeing. I think it's a Hong Kong film, isn't it? The site looks pretty interesting and I like the concept. So I'm interested to see how that came out.

In general, when it comes to horror, I don't find outright gore/carnage to be scary or anything. It just does nothing for me.

For me, I prefer more of a psychological horror -- something that really sits in the back of my mind and won't go away. Even a movie like The Mothman Prophecies somewhat had this effect; it wasn't really a horror movie, but it certainly had a psychological element to it, which I enjoyed.

This is also why I like games such as Silent Hill. It's not the gore or the violence that is scary (because there really isn't a [i]huge [/i]amount of violence compared to similar games), it's the unnerving aspect to it...the confusion and paranoia, etc...

Anyway, I haven't listed four...I made mine more of a discussion than a point-list or whatever. ^_^;[/color]

[Guest silfo]

[QUOTE=Semjaza Azazel]
[B]Evil Dead Trilogy [/B]- While I'm not as fond of Army of Darkness as the two Evil Dead films before it, they're all pretty great. Evil Dead, obviously very b-movie-ish at this point, was rather influential in many ways. There's a lot of cool angles and subtle effects in it that really heighten the film for me, such as that part where the camera zooms past the rafters in the cabin.

Evil Dead II is basically just Evil Dead remade with a better budget and some slapstick. It really is the better of the two. Definitely worth seeing if you haven't already.

[B]Suspiria [/B]- I believe this was made in the 70s. A really nice special edition of this was put on DVD recently... Only $25 and it's two discs plus the soundtrack. Totally worth getting and one of the best horror films out there. I've not seen it in a very long time, but it's still a fond horror memory you could say heh. I really want to get the DVD set lol.

[B]Dawn of the Dead[/B] - I thought the remake was great, but I'm talking the original. I think it's the best of the three. It does a great job of conveying how insane everything had become... Meanwhile, Day of the Dead takes a more serious approach for quite some time until it becomes a crazy, kill-all-zombies movie. Dawn of the Dead just has a better balance of the drama and the violence.

Plus, even to this day, that movie (and Day) had better gore effects than half the crap I see around now.

There's stuff like Near Dark that could be considered "horror" I suppose, in the fact that it deals with vampires. Horror doesn't have to be overly violent, really. It's worth seeing if you've not seen it before. I really enjoyed it.

I also am very fond of the Hellraiser movies.[/QUOTE]

nice selection.. i'd choose those too

[Mitch]

[size=1][color=red] James, if you like the Hannibal movies, you'd like the books. I've only read [i]Silence of the Lambs[/i], but it was pretty much the movie, only better. From what I could tell, they used the exact dialogue from the book in the movie.

Just a difference of opinion on this point, too. [i]Hannibal[/i] deviates from the norm of the Hannibal series, and I didn't enjoy it as much at all. The way the story was told--the story itself--and the entire movie's way--was just boring, farfetched, and a step [i]far[/i] down from the greater movies of [i]The Silence of the Lambs[/i] and [i]Red Dragon[/i]. The way the story was told was rather boring. The actor who plays Clarice was an obivious absence in this movie, making the movie far less of a fun ride in all its aspects. That's what I'd say, anyway, in response to you Jamesy. Just my opinion, as always. But the other two movies in the Hannibal series were great. I don't see how someone couldn't at least like Hannibal's character in some grotesque, bizarre way. The man's just like that. I think he shows what a real genius is--someone that's out of their right mind and tells what's on their mind.

I'm not really well-suited to give a worth-it list of my top five best horror movies. I haven't seen many. I have yet to see [i]Dawn of the Dead[/i], have yet to see so many other plethoras of horror movies.

For the sake of keeping this post pertinent, I shall digress nonetheless.

[i]The Shining[/i] stands out to me as probably one of the scariest books I've ever read. Scaring by way of the written word is hard in itself, but Stephen King managed it. Reading the book, it's obvious to tell King was numbed with drugs, because some of the stuff in this book is just so unreal it's amazing. It takes your breath away in the way that it's beautiful but doesn't allow you to scream.

There's one point in the book where King's talking about how it appears like the fire extinguishers are just going to slither and choke Danny (is that the boy's name in the book? Not sure). That part was just amazing and scary and all that stuff. Then there's a point in the book where the animal-looking clipped bushes look like they're stalking our fellow characters stuck at Overlook hotel. That was scary too.

Now, the first make of this book is amazingly tense and scary. I think it's rightful to say it deserves to be on my top five.

As for the rest of my top five. . .I guess I'm just gonna cut it short. I don't know enough about the genre of horror movie-wise to give anything else accurate. I'll save it for people like Tony.[/size][/color]

[PWNED]

I don't watch many Horror movies so these are the three best ones that I have seen

1) Resident Evil because it is so graphic yet so very cool
2)From Hell, I find things based on Jack the Ripper interesting.
3)Sleepy Hollow, I swear I couldn't fall asleep that night and so slammed my head against the wall and fell asleep (I like headless horsemen, They get the horror job done).

[coconuts1977]

Well, I think we've come to a concensus that The Shining really stands out among horror films. What's sad is that it was bashed by critics and Stephen King himself when it was first released. In fact, it was nominated for severl Golden Rasberry Awards.

I think it might be just that Kubrick was ahead of his time.

[Semjaza]

[quote name='James][color=#707875']Also, coconuts mentioned The Eye. That's one I'm interested in seeing. I think it's a Hong Kong film, isn't it? The site looks pretty interesting and I like the concept. So I'm interested to see how that came out.[/color][/quote]

I had wanted to see this for awhile and finally did a few days ago. I found it rather disappointing, especially in comparison to The Ring. There were so many comparisons made between the two when The Eye was first being brought over here, but they really aren't all that similiar. It reminds me more of a lighter Sixth Sense.

I think I've talked to you about this movie way in the past... It's not quite as scary as that led me to believe. There were some jump-out sections in the film, but nothing all that disturbing.

The movie itself is good. I did enjoy it.

[Transtic Nerve]

[quote name='Semjaza Azazel']I had wanted to see this for awhile and finally did a few days ago. I found it rather disappointing, especially in comparison to The Ring. There were so many comparisons made between the two when The Eye was first being brought over here, but they really aren't all that similiar. It reminds me more of a lighter Sixth Sense.[/quote]

Yeah, absolutely. The movie that came to mind when I watched The Eye was the Sixth Sense. Very similar. However, when they brought The Eye to America, they compared it to The Ring because the Ring had phenomenal success both fromt he original and the remake, and they were hopeing to achieve the same effect. However, it isn't the same type of movie, so it hasn't quite porduced the same effect. Great movie though.

I couldn't figure out why it was marketed as this horror film that rocked China or whatever. It wasn't so much of a horror than it was a psychological thriller. That one scene when she's sitting with the caligraphy teacher is kinda scary but thats really the only one that made me jump. Kinda reminded me of Ring 2 if any movie besides Sixth Sense.

[Albane]

Here's my 4 favorite horror movies of all time:

1) Resident Evil
2) Pet Cemetary
3) The Shining
4) 28 Days Later

My reasons for liking these movies are simply that I've played almost all of the Resident Evil games and I feel that the movie followed them nicely and didn't disapoint Resident Evil fans.
I liked Pet Cemetary just because I think it was so stupid it was good. Like Kingdom Hospital, if I see something such as pet Cemetary once I'll hate it but if I sit through it 2 or 3 times It grinds it's way into my memory and I find myself thinking "wow...that's relly good".
The Shining is just a classic as most people already know.
28 Days Later is just like Resident Evil except the fact that the enemies are diseased in such a way that they're totally insane...not living dead.

[coconuts1977]

[QUOTE=Semjaza Azazel]
[B]Cabin Fever [/B]- This is a really recent one. Most people at the theater hated it, but I loved it. I still think it was the best horror film of its year. It's humorous, but also extremely morbid. If it wasn't for some of the goofiness, I think it would have come off a lot darker than it did. I really enjoyed it.
[/QUOTE]


I actually think the comedy added an edge of creepiness to it, much like the places of 'comedy' made the Shining even creepier. Like when Shelly Duvall, 'Wendy Torrence,' is walking up the stairs with the baseball bat** and Jack goes [spoiler] 'I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to bash your ******* brains in' [/spoiler]. And of course the old 'Heeeeree's Johnny' line. I think that well placed comedic points can really aid in the eerie setting of a horror movie.

**- just an interesting tid-bit: this scene required the most takes out of any other film ever made. It was well over 100, but I'm not certain on the exact amount.

[TheShinje]

[QUOTE=Albane]
My reasons for liking these movies are simply that I've played almost all of the Resident Evil games and I feel that the movie followed them nicely and didn't disapoint Resident Evil fans.[/QUOTE]
Interesting, I am a hard core RE fan and I felt the movie did not even come close to that of the games series. It had zombies and and evil Umbrella corporation and that's it. The movie failed to re-create the magic of the game, so to speak.

The monster at the end, a Tyrant? perhaps the Nemesis? no, it's a [spoiler] common licker, Lickers are a common enemy in RE2 that don't compare with Tyrant, Nemesis or even the mutated Dr. Birkin.[/spoiler]

My 3 favourite horror mives are as follows.

1) Blair Witch Project; This movie kicks ***, I didn't find it all too scary, it was just the idea of an unseen, terrifying menace that couldn't be stopped that kept me in suspense.

If you don't know your enemy, how can you defeat it? Blair With

[coconuts1977]

[QUOTE=Shinji]

My 3 favourite horror mives are as follows.

1) Blair Witch Project; This movie kicks ***, I didn't find it all too scary, it was just the idea of an unseen, terrifying menace that couldn't be stopped that kept me in suspense.

If you don't know your enemy, how can you defeat it? Blair With[/QUOTE]


Was there something else you wanted to say?

[Xyandar]

1.Any Barbie Movies
2.Any Prep movies
3.Any Emotional Movies
4.Any Religious movies...

All I gotta say. They all scare the crap outa me

[friday 13]

[COLOR=DarkRed]the four best horror movie's have to be [/COLOR]:

1:[COLOR=DarkRed]the exocist[/COLOR]

2:[COLOR=DarkRed]texas chainsaw massacre[/COLOR]

3:[COLOR=DarkRed]house on haunted hill[/COLOR]

[COLOR=DarkRed]and 4: night of the living dead 1[/COLOR]

[Guest Tessai]

The old Dawn of the Dead was a good film, but i've seen a bit of the new one and can't really warm to it. Shawn of the Dead is a great film though.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=darkviolet]I don't really watch horror movies because most of them are so bloody and gory. Or just over the top stupid. But of the few that I've seen:

[b]Silence of the Lambs[/b]-Anthony Hopkins was positively creepy and he had the best lines: I'd like his liver, with a glass of Chianti is chillingly funny in an oddly disturbing way. and the way he said 'Hello Clarice' I couldn't sleep for a few nights after watching it once. It's very psychologically terrifying.

[b]The Birds[/b]- Alfred Hitchcock has done something nobody else has managed to do to me or my mom...make us deathly afraid of flocks of birds. This movie was delightfully terrifying. Imagine if you will, flocks of birds, wreaking havock on a small town. Then imagine them trapping you in a phonebooth and then pecking your eyes out. It still makes my skin tingle

[b]Rear Window[/b]-Another Hitchcock movie. I haven't seen this in a while, but I mean to go out and rent it again. More on it later.

[b]Charlie and The Chocolate Factory[/b]-My cousin would never let me live this down if she knew that the Oompa Loompa guys scared me. [spoiler]Then there was that one boy who was stuck in the chocolate tubes for a while[/spoiler] Yes, it wasn't really a horror movie, but sometimes I can even freak myself out.[/color]