Horror Movies

jodiebean

I'm a huge, huge, huge horror movie freak and always on the lookout for some awesome horror movies. Suggest your favourites! I need to get back into my movie watching groove. The more obscure the movie the better. Also I'm not into gore. I must prefer a movie with an atmosphere instead of *JUMP, BOO* stuff. I love Asian horrors because they just have such a creepy build up and subtlety to them.

Also, can anyone recommend some scary tv series? Cheers

homerun_homer

I love the Descent, very scary in the cinema. I own the DVD but the DVD player acted up when playing it so I've not successfully watched it fully again.

Shining is a classic but it didn't scare me, then I read an essay disecting what it all could mean or allude to and the next time I watched it I couldn't sleep!

jodiebean

I've seen The Descent. I thought it was alright.. The idea of little creatures in a cave seemed silly to me though!

I loved The Shining, but it didn't have a pick on the original book. One of the scariest things in the book that they left out was when the kid was in the pipe.. Oh lordy!

patch

The Thing is as good as it gets IMO.
Session 9 is great.
Cannibal holocaust is the best of the 70's lesser seen horrors.

jodiebean

I have The Thing and Session 9 on my hard drive but haven't gotten around to watching them. I don't know anything about Session 9! My mams boyfriend added to my hard drive because he said it was good.

Sanjuro

Hmmm.... in no particular order...

The Shining
Ringu (the Japanese version)
Don't Look Now
Audition
Paranormal Activity
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 version ONLY)
The Thing
The Exorcist
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Dawn Of The Dead (1978, although the remake is pretty good)
Hallowe'en
The Birds
Psycho
Eyes Without A Face
The Wicker Man (for the love of god, not the one with Nic Cage)
[REC] (the Spanish version, not the remake)
The Omen
The Evil Dead (and The Evil Dead II)
The Mist
The Descent


They're some of the horror films I really enjoyed. Purposely stayed away from the gore-type films. Although you should definately check out Peter Jackson's Braindead. It's freakin' awesome.

As for TV series... The X Files had it's moments. Twin Peaks is very freaky and so very, very good.

faceman

Folks, we'll leave the thread open as long as people dont post lists and give reasons for their choices. Remember this is a discussion board! Thanks.

j1974

jodiebean wrote: »

I'm a huge, huge, huge horror movie freak and always on the lookout for some awesome horror movies. Suggest your favourites! I need to get back into my movie watching groove. The more obscure the movie the better. Also I'm not into gore. I must prefer a movie with an atmosphere instead of *JUMP, BOO* stuff. I love Asian horrors because they just have such a creepy build up and subtlety to them.

Also, can anyone recommend some scary tv series? Cheers

I dunno bout actual TV series, but I often find myself watching the discovery channel spooky stories , especially "a haunting" and it ****s me up. The witness stories and all that, just add to the atmosphere. I thought blair witch was crap until mid way, then the end just gave me the ****s!! what could be so horrible as to make the kid keep his back turned in the corner, very creepy. can trealy think of anything creepy, but I know what you mean by atmospheric horror without gore. Anyone can watch a slasher movie... It's what you dont actually see, makes for the best scare cos the imagination can be the scariest special effect there is.

j1974

Sanjuro wrote: »

Hmmm.... in no particular order...

The Shining
Ringu (the Japanese version)
Don't Look Now
Audition
Paranormal Activity
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 version ONLY)
The Thing
The Exorcist
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Dawn Of The Dead (1978, although the remake is pretty good)
Hallowe'en
The Birds
Psycho
Eyes Without A Face
The Wicker Man (for the love of god, not the one with Nic Cage)
[REC] (the Spanish version, not the remake)
The Omen
The Evil Dead (and The Evil Dead II)
The Mist
The Descent


They're some of the horror films I really enjoyed. Purposely stayed away from the gore-type films. Although you should definately check out Peter Jackson's Braindead. It's freakin' awesome.

As for TV series... The X Files had it's moments. Twin Peaks is very freaky and so very, very good.

remember the shot near the end of Physcho where you see the detective/sherif being attacked from above, as if you're on the ceiling, brilliant. Also I see you mentioned the wicker man, well id heard about that for years and one night I watched it channel 4, thinking, this is not scary, just freaky. Cut to the last scene and "unsettling" is an understatement. It's absolutely horrible, because you can actually imagine this kinda thing happening. "oh jesus christ, oh lord nooooooooo" eeeeew horrible!!!

jodiebean

I've seen all of those films bar The Mist, Don't Look Now and Eyes Without A Face. My mam made me watch Braindead when I was a kid hahaha I've introduced so many people to that movie. Even though I'm really squeamish, I love that film.

What is Twin Peakes about?

Also I found Paranormal Activity to be the most boring film I have ever seen. It's a whole film of basically nothing happening. I was so excited to see it too! What a let down.

Also also! When I was in Madrid last year we stayed in a hostel that looked exactly like the apartments for [REC]. Just thought that was cool!

jodiebean

j1974 wrote: »

I dunno bout actual TV series, but I often find myself watching the discovery channel spooky stories , especially "a haunting" and it ****s me up. The witness stories and all that, just add to the atmosphere. I thought blair witch was crap until mid way, then the end just gave me the ****s!! what could be so horrible as to make the kid keep his back turned in the corner, very creepy. can trealy think of anything creepy, but I know what you mean by atmospheric horror without gore. Anyone can watch a slasher movie... It's what you dont actually see, makes for the best scare cos the imagination can be the scariest special effect there is.

I love those shows. I have a whole load of DVD documentaries about ghosts and witchcraft from all over the world. It's real cheesy, hear-say kinda stuff but I love it!!

Yeah I also loved Blair Witch (I'm embarrassed to admit, but I even liked the second one!) I totally agree. It's all about things being left to your imagination that make it so much scarier. That's why I love reading books. The things in my head are so much scarier than what I could watch on TV haha!

indough

the thing is by far my favourite horror, i suppose one of the reasons is that not only is the thing itself so disgusting and such a frightening concept, but paranoia and the dynamic between the characters also plays a massive part in the story, as does the extreme unforgiving setting

also it has a morricone soundtrack influenced by carpenters own usual electronic style and some great acting to boot

jodiebean

Okay well awesome I'll watch that tonight. I have it I just haven't bothered watching it!

losthorizon

Attention all you Horror fans. Saw this ad on BBC 4 TV last night. It looked good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/history-of-horror-with-mark-gatiss/

Warper

As a child I found the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" the scariest. It scared the hell out of me. Also a very good one is "Candyman". The end of "The Fury" is also brilliant.
"Scanners" is worth a look as well but its not that scary.

jodiebean

Warper wrote: »

As a child I found the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" the scariest. It scared the hell out of me. Also a very good one is "Candyman". The end of "The Fury" is also brilliant.
"Scanners" is worth a look as well but its not that scary.

A Nightmare On Elm Street was the first movie I ever saw (well, first movie in my conscious years of 3+). No joke. Probably why I have an incredibly deep rooted fear of the dark! I have never once in my 22 years of life have I slept in the dark haha.

Warper

jodiebean wrote: »

A Nightmare On Elm Street was the first movie I ever saw. No joke. Probably why I have an incredibly deep rooted fear of the dark! I have never once in my 22 years of life have I slept in the dark haha.

Ya I remember the night I watched it, took me ages to get to sleep, its what horror films are all about I suppose.

jodiebean

I was bought all 7 movies for Christmas one year and watched them all in a row. I swear I was getting messed up between reality and the movie!! I was terrified to sleep. There is something so insanely scary about a man who can murder you in your dreams.

homerun_homer

jodiebean wrote: »

I loved The Shining, but it didn't have a pick on the original book. One of the scariest things in the book that they left out was when the kid was in the pipe.. Oh lordy!

I've not read the book but what I understand is that Kubrick's film is a whole different beast to the book. The book contains more obvious horror (nothing wrong with that, it's a book) while Kubrick works on the mind rather than throwing cats and loud noises at you to make you jump.

jodiebean

What I found between watching the movie and reading the book..

I saw the movie before I read the book, and I found a lot of stuff didn't really fit together or make sense. Then I read the book and I was like.. Ahh! It was like he left out important things that explained a lot more. Or maybe I'm just too dumb to get the subtlety in Kubricks film! Stephen King himself didn't actually like the movie and there is another version of the Shining which King had input in and actually enjoyed.

saintsaltynuts

The Exorcist,The Shining,Halloween,Paranormal Activity,Carrie,Dawn Of The Dead (1978),28 Days Later,The Last Broadcast(1998),The Fly(1986),The Exorcism Of Emily Rose.The Exorcist part 3 was pretty decent also.

patch

Switchblade romance has some nice freaky moments.
If you like a bit of tension, personally I dont think you can beat arachnaphobia.

Sanjuro

jodiebean wrote: »

What is Twin Peakes about?

Oh man, Twin Peaks is awesome. To sum it up in one sentence, it's about an FBI agent who travels to a small mountain town to investigate the murder of a high-school girl. But that's to do the show an injustice. It's so much more.

It's actually one of those shows that divides audiences. It mixes a hell of a lot of genres. It's very, very weird. Full of characters that are quite unlike real life. And it rambles in a way that some people hated, but I quite liked. But it also becomes incredibly creepy at times. And despite the way it ended (it was cancelled mid-season 2 and ends somewhat abruptly), I found it thoroughly satisfying. I highly recommend it. Even if you hate it, it'll leave a mark.

Oh, and Sherilyn Fenn plays one of the sexiest television characters of all time. Bonus point.

And since this is a movie forum, and not a television one, there is a movie prequel called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me which is worth checking out if, for nothing more, David Bowie.

liah

Tale of Two Sisters and Epitaph are two pretty atmospheric Korean psychological horror/thrillers. Beautiful to watch, too.

Definitely recommend them.

Otis Driftwood

TV show wise Id recommend Masters of Horror.There are a few stinkers but also some wonderful episodes such as Cigarette Burns,Family and Incident on a Mountain Road.Movie wise,apart from what has already mentioned try Martyrs - a truly epic French horror flick that disturbed a horror fan as jaded as I am.The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a super little low budget American flick with some superbly creepy moments.The Abandoned is a wonderfully atmospheric Spanish take on the haunted house genre.For over the top cheesey gore try The Beyond,City of The Living Dead,House by the Cemetary or Cannibal Ferox.Ive loads more recommendations depending on what you are after.

Goldstein

Dead End is cheesy as hell but it's one of those so bad it's great movies. Fantastic concept too.

Noroi is a Japanese documentary style movie about a reporter investigating a Djinn type demon called kagutaba. They were very creative with the array of story telling devices they used to keep you interested throughout it's 2 hour running time.

The Objective is brilliant. A clever understated, cerebral, atypical horror movie about a team of commandos in Afghanistan. Although it tends to be a marmite film so it's not for everyone.

The Legend of Hell House is an enjoyable old-school haunted house type movie from 1973 with a memorable score.

fergisimo

jodiebean wrote: »

I've seen The Descent. I thought it was alright.. The idea of little creatures in a cave seemed silly to me though!

I loved The Shining, but it didn't have a pick on the original book. One of the scariest things in the book that they left out was when the kid was in the pipe.. Oh lordy!

Stuff like this pisses me off. First off, how can anything in The Descent seem even remotely silly? It's one of the best Horror films of the last decade. You said you like atmospheric, frightening movies...well, there you go.

Secondly, I doubly despise when people give a glowing review for a film, then tarnish it by saying, "Ah, well it wasn't as good as the book, now was it?". NOT EVERY FRIKKIN' BOOK IS BETTER THAN THE ADAPTATION!!! *Ahem* And certainly not in this case.

Edit: Also, Sanjuro hits the nail on the head. Twin Peaks is incredible.

indough

fergisimo wrote: »

EVERY FRIKKIN' BOOK IS BETTER THAN THE ADAPTATION!!!.

fight club, the prestige and the godfather are just a few examples of how this statement is incorrect

Warper

nedtheshed wrote: »

TV show wise Id recommend Masters of Horror.There are a few stinkers but also some wonderful episodes such as Cigarette Burns,Family and Incident on a Mountain Road.Movie wise,apart from what has already mentioned try Martyrs - a truly epic French horror flick that disturbed a horror fan as jaded as I am.The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a super little low budget American flick with some superbly creepy moments.The Abandoned is a wonderfully atmospheric Spanish take on the haunted house genre.For over the top cheesey gore try The Beyond,City of The Living Dead,House by the Cemetary or Cannibal Ferox.Ive loads more recommendations depending on what you are after.

Cheers, must look into that one, never heard of it but googled it there and saw the trailer and it does look good. 7 quid on play.com. Read too that the same director is making a new Hellraiser movie due out next year.

jodiebean

patch wrote: »

Switchblade romance has some nice freaky moments.
If you like a bit of tension, personally I dont think you can beat arachnaphobia.

Can't watch it. I get 10 minutes into the film and have to turn it off.

jodiebean

Sanjuro wrote: »

Oh man, Twin Peaks is awesome. To sum it up in one sentence, it's about an FBI agent who travels to a small mountain town to investigate the murder of a high-school girl. But that's to do the show an injustice. It's so much more.

It's actually one of those shows that divides audiences. It mixes a hell of a lot of genres. It's very, very weird. Full of characters that are quite unlike real life. And it rambles in a way that some people hated, but I quite liked. But it also becomes incredibly creepy at times. And despite the way it ended (it was cancelled mid-season 2 and ends somewhat abruptly), I found it thoroughly satisfying. I highly recommend it. Even if you hate it, it'll leave a mark.

Oh, and Sherilyn Fenn plays one of the sexiest television characters of all time. Bonus point.

And since this is a movie forum, and not a television one, there is a movie prequel called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me which is worth checking out if, for nothing more, David Bowie.

Mmmm.. David Bowie.

Sounds strange. I must check it out!

jodiebean

nedtheshed wrote: »

TV show wise Id recommend Masters of Horror.There are a few stinkers but also some wonderful episodes such as Cigarette Burns,Family and Incident on a Mountain Road.Movie wise,apart from what has already mentioned try Martyrs - a truly epic French horror flick that disturbed a horror fan as jaded as I am.The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a super little low budget American flick with some superbly creepy moments.The Abandoned is a wonderfully atmospheric Spanish take on the haunted house genre.For over the top cheesey gore try The Beyond,City of The Living Dead,House by the Cemetary or Cannibal Ferox.Ive loads more recommendations depending on what you are after.

Awesome I haven't heard of a lot of them. I'll put them on my growing list of movies to download.

jodiebean

fergisimo wrote: »

Stuff like this pisses me off. First off, how can anything in The Descent seem even remotely silly? It's one of the best Horror films of the last decade. You said you like atmospheric, frightening movies...well, there you go.

Secondly, I doubly despise when people give a glowing review for a film, then tarnish it by saying, "Ah, well it wasn't as good as the book, now was it?". NOT EVERY FRIKKIN' BOOK IS BETTER THAN THE ADAPTATION!!! *Ahem* And certainly not in this case.

Sometimes you like movies and sometimes you don't. I enjoyed The Descent up until those ridiculous little creatures came along. I really didn't think it was one of the best horror films of the last decade, but that's just my opinion.

Second, A lot of books I've read that have turned into movies, the books are just better as they can cover more things and go more in depth with characters and situations. Things that they can't really convey or show right in movies. And movies tend to leave stuff out that would either make the movie too long/too difficult to film/whatever, that was included in the book.

Honestly I'm not great at trying to explain things. I know what I want to say but it never comes out right... I'm sure you can understand what I mean though.

Dr.Giggles

Although not a typical horror movie, the first time I saw Rosemary's Baby, I found it really tense. You are on edge for almost the entire film. Love it. The Tenant would be another one for me.

Maybe I'm just scared of Roman Polanski.

Shows.. I second Twin Peaks, and while we are on it, I think Eraser Head is probably the scariest thing I have ever seen ! All Lynch stuff has that errieness about them

jodiebean

When I first saw Eraserhead a few years ago, I never in a million years would have put it down to a horror. It was just the weirdest thing I have ever seen, but it didn't scare me. I don't know my mam introduced me to it and didn't explain it like a horror so I never saw it that way!

I have The Tenant but have yet to watch it. I have a tendancy to download loads of films but not actually watch them. I think I just like the idea of a little collection haha.

Rosemarys Baby was another film I watched as a kid, and it terrified me to the point of not sleeping. Watching it as an adult too has a very different effect.

I really felt for Rosemary and how scary it must have felt to have everyone around her that she trusted and relied on turn out to be insane!!

Dr.Giggles

Eraserhead is a horror for me, I don't get scared by bloody stuff, its weird stuff that stays with me and freaks me out and makes me go whahaahwhahawrhurihhidhusfhu

jodiebean

Haha yeah I feel that way about gore. Seriously I'm so squemish it's a joke!

If your a fan of weird movies and you liked Eraserhead you should check out Un Chien Andalou and Begotten. Begotten is the strangest experimental film but the imagery stuck with me for so long afterwards. It's incredibly creepy. You can watch the whole film here. Even just the first minute is enough to stick in your brain.

Mike Litoris

Did you get around to watching Session 9 yet? For me thats the best horror for years. The Exorcist and The Thing are hard to beat.

jodiebean

No I didn't even have time to sit down when I went home. I was told to get dressed up and was brought out for dinner. Awesome haha

Magic Eight Ball

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Did you get around to watching Session 9 yet? For me thats the best horror for years. The Exorcist and The Thing are hard to beat.

As much as I enjoyed Session 9 I'd hardly rate it as the best horror film in years.
I must sit down and re-watch it soon.

Dr. Dodger

Love a good horror movie but some of the best scares I've got have been playing games on the xbox or pc. Lights off with headphones playing something like Dead Space is enough to make the toughest cack their pants!

jaykhunter

Magic Eight Ball wrote: »

As much as I enjoyed Session 9 I'd hardly rate it as the best horror film in years.
I must sit down and re-watch it soon.

Jaysus, the one with CSI's Horatio? Thought it was pretty bog-standard, left no impression on me. Better than the usual crap but nothing worth recommending imo

Babooshka

Hi you sound like you would like; El orfanato or in English, "The Orphanage" directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. It's very moody and spooky with a good story to it that I won't ruin for you!! I guarantee you won't regret watching it. It is Spanish with subtitles. Guillermo del Toro is a producer, incidentally his movie "Pan's Labrynth" while it may be more fantasy than horror had me on the edge of my seat I dunno if you've ever heard of it.

jodiebean

Babooshka wrote: »

Hi you sound like you would like; El orfanato or in English, "The Orphanage" directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. It's very moody and spooky with a good story to it that I won't ruin for you!! I guarantee you won't regret watching it. It is Spanish with subtitles. Guillermo del Toro is a producer, incidentally his movie "Pan's Labrynth" while it may be more fantasy than horror had me on the edge of my seat I dunno if you've ever heard of it.

Ah I've seen them both. Two amazing films. I really love del Toro's movies. Have you ever seen The Devils Backbone? That's another one of his in the same vein as Pan's Labrynth. It's very sad but also quite scary and creepy at times.

Babooshka

jodiebean wrote: »

Ah I've seen them both. Two amazing films. I really love del Toro's movies. Have you ever seen The Devils Backbone? That's another one of his in the same vein as Pan's Labrynth. It's very sad but also quite scary and creepy at times.

I sure have I was trying to think of the name of that one too. There is almost a beautiful sadness to his movies which is very rare in film making IMO..anyway sorry I didn't offer you anything new!! Hopefully he'll have more to offer soon!

jodiebean

I've noticed in this thread that people have awesome taste in films..

losthorizon

jodiebean wrote: »

Ah I've seen them both. Two amazing films. I really love del Toro's movies. Have you ever seen The Devils Backbone? That's another one of his in the same vein as Pan's Labrynth. It's very sad but also quite scary and creepy at times.

Never heard of The Devils Backbone but Pans Labyrinth is one of my favourite films. Although, to be honest, I wouldn't call it a horror film. To me it's a fantasy film. Thats me being pedantic though.

Mike Litoris

Dr. Dodger wrote: »

Love a good horror movie but some of the best scares I've got have been playing games on the xbox or pc. Lights off with headphones playing something like Dead Space is enough to make the toughest cack their pants!

Big time. I think games far surpass horror fliks for scares. I've often had to stop playing because the tension got too much...lol.

jodiebean

losthorizon wrote: »

Never heard of The Devils Backbone but Pans Labyrinth is one of my favourite films. Although, to be honest, I wouldn't call it a horror film. To me it's a fantasy film. Thats me being pedantic though.

Well The Devils Backbone is absolutely less fantasy and it's set in Spain during the civil war. Really you should check it out. I don't think Pan's Labyrnth was a horror, I just mentioned it in order to gush about del Toro haha.

jodiebean

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Big time. I think games far surpass horror fliks for scares. I've often had to stop playing because the tension got too much...lol.

I'm actually too wussy to play horror games. I was playing F.E.A.R. one night in my mams while I was waiting for my dinner to be cooked (hell yes, home for mammies cooking) and something jumped out and stabbed me and I got such a fright I screamed. Hahahaha.

I like to watch people playing them. I always get my friends to play Resident Evil and Silent Hill so I can watch them.

candy-gal1

This

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfZItov1BUo