Horror movies

[Silence]

Hey all.

An year before, I used to watch especially comedy, and I was SCARED of horror films. The trailer of Saw I was enough to creep me out. I thought it out and decided I should watch it. And I did it at midnight, cause I'm awesome
Then my obsession to horror started. I was amazed. That will remain my favorite movie for a very long time. Since then I've watched many horror movies and I believe it's the awesomest genre there is.
I love being scared.

I mainly like psychological thrillers, movies that make you think. I just love it when what you watch can actually happen(Saw, The Strangers). Other than that I'm a huge fan of ghost stories, especially those who deal with children. For example, Dark Alessa from Silent Hill and Thomas from The Orphanage. I find it terrifying.

What are your favorite horror movies?

 

[jedidia]

Not so much into horror, and especially not into torture-porn like "Saw". I admitt that the first was fairly entertaining, but then releasing the basically same movie just with more and more sick torturescenes proves nothing other than the guys making it are getting more and more sick...

I enjoyed a few, but somehow their names never really get stuck in my head...

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I don't know if they even make any really good horror films any more. Saw was pretty good (the first one), it seems now all they want to do is take the 'gross-out' factor over the top and try to out gross the previous movies. My daughter nearly got thrown out of the theater for laughing during one of the Saw movies. It's violence and gore take to the point of ludicrousness.
@jedidia "torture porn", ha, I like that description. Very fitting.

I agree with about psycho-thrillers, a good one that sticks in my mind is Gothica (with major-babe Halle Barry). Silence of the Lambs was good too, but of course, as with the whole series of Hannibal Lecter, the books were much better.

 

[Silence]

Saw isn't porn. Other than that, I agree. I LOVED the first one. The rest were interesting, but not even close. They became rather predictable.

 

[orbekler]

...Other than that I'm a huge fan of ghost stories, especially those who deal with children. For example, Dark Alessa from Silent Hill and Thomas from The Orphanage...

Well, for The Orphanage, at first I was tired of the classical cliché (haunted house, the children with the mask, etc.).
But then I must admit, I found the ending moving and satisfying, terribly sad, even sadder than The Others. So basically I liked it.

...Saw...proves nothing other than the guys making it are getting more and more sick...

I liked Saw too, it was well engineered.
The problem today with that kind of films is that if you do not provide enough splatter, a horror movie is not considered by fans "realistic" enough (provided a horror movie could be considered realistic), in some way not worthy to be seen.

"In space, no one can hear you scream"
If I think of a really scaring movie, I always fall, guess what , on Scott's Alien, 1979.
Also, I find pretty feasible in (a far) future, that human space pioneers could be infected by unknown alien species.

 

[iamwearingpants]

I don't watch horror. There's really no point in staring guts for 2 hours, or freaking yourself out. I also avoid them because of my cardiophobia. (I almost had a heart attack in a Michio Kaku lecture when they were speaking of growing organs and this guys artificial heart)

I prefer movies that make me think and not vomit.

 

[Coolhand]

"In space, no one can hear you scream"
If I think of a really scaring movie, I always fall, guess what , on Scott's Alien, 1979.
Also, I find pretty feasible in (a far) future, that human space pioneers could be infected by unknown alien species.

Alien is a horror movie that did nearly everything right, unfortunately when they try something like this today, they show too much of the monster, pace it too fast or do really well but then destroy the tension with an ill thought out comedy moment (event horizon)

i think a lot of subconscious themes run through it just because of the strange and sexual imagery that comes with the Giger designs. Also the themes of rape, birth, body horror and so on... Its a nasty film but beautifully made - the idea apparently came from a wasp that lays eggs inside caterpillars.

 

[Notebook]

One that scared the doo-dah out of me, I think I was about 10/12, and it was on the telly. BBC had a Japanese film series on and we had watched the original Seven Samurai, caught my parents by surprise...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onibaba_(film)

Probably a bit tame by modern standards.
Haven't been to a film for years, I find the audio levels ridiculous.

N.

 

[Quick_Nick]

I don't care for horror. It hasn't scared me in years. I just get bored. (honestly, anything but comedy gets a little boring to me)

 

[Star Voyager]

1. Evil Dead
2. Evil Dead II
3. Army of Darkness

 

[Silence]

Isn't Evil Dead the movie where the guy cut off his hand with a chainsaw and then it was crawling around and gave him the finger?
Honestly, I almost peed my pants while watching this. It's funnier than Bruce Almighty.

And how about slashers? The Hills Have Eyes was a little creepy, but mainly because of the faces they had.

 

[dbeachy1]

I find horror movies where you can't see the [insert type of evil entity here] to be much scarier than any special effects could be. My favorites:

1. Paranormal Activity
2. The Blair Witch Project
3. The Fourth Kind (Yes, I know it's not a true story but I loved that you couldn't see what was wrecking havoc. Plus Milla Jovovich is win.)

And for a fun pseudo-horror flick, Army of Darkness.

 

[dgatsoulis]

I love horror films, they are my favourite genre.

My top 10 of classic films :

10. An American Werewolf in London (1981, written and directed by John Landis)

9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, directed by Tobe Hooper)

8. Psycho (1960, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, directed by Wes Craven)

6. The Shining (1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick)

5. Night of the Living Dead (1968, directed by Dean Lachiusa & George Romero)

4. The Thing (1982, directed by John Carpenter)

3. Dawn of the Dead (1978, written and directed by George A. Romero)

2. Alien (1979, directed by Ridley Scott)

1. The Exorcist (1973, directed by William Freidkin)

Honourable mentions:

Hellraiser (1987, directed by Clive Barker)

Hellraiser 3 (1992, directed by Anthony Hickox) -For that amazing church scene.

Jacobs' Ladder (1990, directed by Adrian Lyne)

From more recent horror movies, i liked these:

The Midnight Meat Train (2008, directed by Ryûhei Kitamura)

Hostel (2005, written and directed by Eli Roth)

Planet Terror (2007, written and directed by Robert Rodriquez)

 

[JEL]

Alien is a horror movie that did nearly everything right

It's a terrific movie

i think a lot of subconscious themes run through it just because of the strange and sexual imagery that comes with the Giger designs.

They actually played on that in the 2nd Starwars movie to (a bit over-done in my opinion):

In Alien (they also do it in Aliens, the 2nd movie) it's more subtle:

 

[Tex]

I love horror films, they are my favourite genre.

My top 10 of classic films :

10. An American Werewolf in London (1981, written and directed by John Landis)

9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, directed by Tobe Hooper)

8. Psycho (1960, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, directed by Wes Craven)

6. The Shining (1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick)

5. Night of the Living Dead (1968, directed by Dean Lachiusa & George Romero)

4. The Thing (1982, directed by John Carpenter)

3. Dawn of the Dead (1978, written and directed by George A. Romero)

2. Alien (1979, directed by Ridley Scott)

1. The Exorcist (1973, directed by William Freidkin)

Honourable mentions:

Hellraiser (1987, directed by Clive Barker)

Hellraiser 3 (1992, directed by Anthony Hickox) -For that amazing church scene.

Jacobs' Ladder (1990, directed by Adrian Lyne)

From more recent horror movies, i liked these:

The Midnight Meat Train (2008, directed by Ryûhei Kitamura)

Hostel (2005, written and directed by Eli Roth)

Planet Terror (2007, written and directed by Robert Rodriquez)

Great list, but no Halloween by John Carpenter?

I dunno, but I love his classic Halloween film. I remember seeing that when I was younger and something about that mask was creepy! Of course not anymore, but I would still include it on my all time classics list.

The only newer horror film I like, which I saw for the first time last year, was "1408" with John Cusack.

 

[martins]

I liked Naked Lunch - drugs and bugs are a nasty mixture. If you think the film is hard to digest, try the book.

 

[Pyromaniac605]

The Strangers

Oh no... I hated that movie, I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch through that... but that's just me.

Personally I like Zombie horror movies (Dawn of the Dead etc.) and Sci-Fi/Horror movies (AVP etc.) Also the occasional horror anime. :thumbup:

 

[RichWall]

This movie more than any, set my hairs on end. I'm sure by todays standards quite tame.

Lots of movies with Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the 60s and early 70s.

As for dgatsoulis list, I've seen is Alien, Psycho and The Thing( both versions).

Not much other than these since 1980.

 

[bujin]

Great list, but no Halloween by John Carpenter?

If we're talking John Carpenter, how about The Thing?

I like horror films, but I am yet to find one that actually scares me. I watched The Thing and films like A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was about 8 years old. Some of them gave me nightmares, but I found ANoES just funny! :lol:

The Shining is one of my favourites though.

Other than that, dbeachy1 has pretty much done my list for me. Films where you don't get to see what is scaring (and usually killing) the characters are the best. When they resort to a load of fancy special effects, the film is usually ruined!

I watched Paranormal Activity 2 a few weeks ago. Not quite as good as the first one - including a known actress in the lead role (even someone as relatively unknown as Sprague Grayden) was a bad move. Still had some decent moments in it though. Of course, having done the whole "paranormal investigation" thing (from a highly sceptical point of view, I must add, and to the point where the idea of ghosts seems utterly ridiculous to me now), even these films have no real "scare" effect on me!

 

[jedidia]

Saw isn't porn.

Of course it isn't, but there's a striking similarity in how they work. After all, porn is rarely watched for its interesting story or detailed character developement. It's watched because of the one act it plays over and over in a multitude of ways.

Movies like Saw (after you saw the first one and know therefore how the story will go anyways), Hostel etc. Work pretty much the same way. Except the act is a different one...