Horror Films - the best

Necronomicon

Still haven't gotten around to seeing Part II :eek:

I'm a big fan of Roth. His movies aren't particularly scary but they're damn enjoyable. You're always guaranteed some black humour, and amidst all the blood and guts, a lot of fun. Cabin Fever was a very enjoyable movie, and Hostel was along the same lines.

Neo#

I think that end scene in the Ring is fantastic. I saw it in the cinema early in the day and it scared the **** out of me! I remember walking out of the cinema wired at about 3 in the day. Felt weird. Great stuff. Mind you I still havent seen the original ring so I cant compare.

I think peoples opinions on which ring is better might depend on which they saw first.

Karl Hungus

Neo# wrote: »

Nice one Karl. Im with ya! I love those films (in a sort of sick way!:D). The first one in particular. They are extremely well made. There is a menacing atmosphere throughout the first one. I was on edge the whole way through and nothing usually gets to me in films anymore.

Exactly!

I don't think there's anything particularly sick about the films either. People up in arms about them generally think that we're supposed to identify with the torturers, when that's not the point at all. Roth definitely has a firm grasp on tension, and I was definitely very on edge myself with both films.

Necromomicon wrote: »

Still haven't gotten around to seeing Part II :eek:

I'm a big fan of Roth. His movies aren't particularly scary but they're damn enjoyable. You're always guaranteed some black humour, and amidst all the blood and guts, a lot of fun. Cabin Fever was a very enjoyable movie, and Hostel was along the same lines.

Part II is probably better tbh, in a Godfather II kind of way, I'd really recommend it if you liked the first. Roth is just getting better as a director all the time. I think Hostel was a big step up, as Cabin Fever was just a big gross out, and didn't really have the atmosphere and tension of the Hostel films. I'm really going to be looking forward to what Roth is doing in the future, such as Cell.

There's a great quote from Stephen King on the subject as well:

"There's something going on in "Hostel II" that isn't torture porn, there's really something going on there that's interesting on an artistic basis. Sure it makes you uncomfortable, but good art should make you uncomfortable."

Absolutely hits the nail on the head for me.

kryptyk500

I'd also recommend Reanimator, From Beyond and Dagon - 3 HP Lovecraft adaptations by Stuart Gordon (a hugely underrated director, IMO). His two episodes for the Masters of Horror series are worth a look too - 'Dreams in the Witch House' and 'The Black Cat'.

Hostel part 2 is one of my favourite films from 2007 - apart from the gore etc, I think it's very well written and an improvement on part 1.

spooky donkey

you got me thinking there about my FAv horror of the year now and ive seen a lot over the year. I liked Rob Zomies halloween remake and I also enjoyed shrooms but im sure there was another film earlier on in the year im foegetting about. Ill have to go think about that now.

Fysh

Reanimator is good fun in a completely silly sort of way, but Dagon is a mixed bag. I remember liking it when I picked it up on DVD, but it's one of those films where it's a bit too good to be totally in B-Movie territory, but not quite good enough to escape it completely. I get the impression that with a bigger budget, better CGI and somewhat tweaked choreography for some of the action sequences, it could have been a seriously decent horror flick, but as it stands it doesn't quite do it. (Haven't seen From Beyond, it's one of the many on the list to be seen though...)

On the Hostel note, I have to disagree. (Can't comment on Hostel Pt 2 as I didn't watch it, but if it carries on from where the first left off I can't imagine I'm missing out...). The effects were well done and there were some tense moments, but tension doesn't work if you don't care about the characters on screen, and the characters weren't fleshed out beyond stereotypes. It could, and should, have been better, but I got the impression that the only parts of the film that Roth & co. put much effort into were the gory bits. Not that this makes it torture porn or anything like it; it just makes it a bad film, in my opinion.

Otis Driftwood

Firstly,American remakes compared to original Japanese movies - all completely inferior.

As for the best horrors.

Braindead
Bad Taste
The Fly-remake
The Beyond
Zombie Flesh Eaters
Hellraiser 1,2+3
Romeros Trilogy of the dead
Murder Set Pieces
Men Behind The Sun 1-4
August Underground trilogy
Nightmare on Elm Street
Evil Dead
Texas Chainsaw Massacre + its sequel-originals
The Blob-remake
Maniac
The Prowler
New York Ripper
Last House on The Left
Hills have Eyes-original
Nekromantik
The Devils Rejects
Street Trash
Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Ferox
Childs Play 1,2+3
Dr Butcher M.D.


Theres loads more but cant think of em just yet.

TerrorFirmer

Fysh wrote: »

Reanimator is good fun in a completely silly sort of way, but Dagon is a mixed bag. I remember liking it when I picked it up on DVD, but it's one of those films where it's a bit too good to be totally in B-Movie territory, but not quite good enough to escape it completely. I get the impression that with a bigger budget, better CGI and somewhat tweaked choreography for some of the action sequences, it could have been a seriously decent horror flick, but as it stands it doesn't quite do it. (Haven't seen From Beyond, it's one of the many on the list to be seen though...)

On the Hostel note, I have to disagree. (Can't comment on Hostel Pt 2 as I didn't watch it, but if it carries on from where the first left off I can't imagine I'm missing out...). The effects were well done and there were some tense moments, but tension doesn't work if you don't care about the characters on screen, and the characters weren't fleshed out beyond stereotypes. It could, and should, have been better, but I got the impression that the only parts of the film that Roth & co. put much effort into were the gory bits. Not that this makes it torture porn or anything like it; it just makes it a bad film, in my opinion.

Re-animator is excellent, though I haven't seen the sequels, are they any good, anyone? Before I go looking for them...

From Beyond.....is mediocre at best. Speaking of which, The Beyond, while also mediocre, had some brilliant, traditional Italian gore.

I liked Dagon, though I saw it so long ago I can barely remember anything beyond the first few minutes...and the ending.

Nekromantic is one I keep meaning to get too, but I've never gotten around to it...

Fysh

HavoK wrote: »

Re-animator is excellent, though I haven't seen the sequels, are they any good, anyone? Before I go looking for them...

From Beyond.....is mediocre at best. Speaking of which, The Beyond, while also mediocre, had some brilliant, traditional Italian gore.

I liked Dagon, though I saw it so long ago I can barely remember anything beyond the first few minutes...and the ending.

Nekromantic is one I keep meaning to get too, but I've never gotten around to it...

I haven't seen either of the sequels, though I've been told that I should seek them out for a couple of surreal sequences that I'd appreciate. (One apparently involves a fight between a reanimated cat and a giant mutated penis - make of that what you will).

If it's Fulci's The Beyond you're talking about then I concur - some great gory scenes, but the film itself was a bit meh. The plot, such as it was, was all over the shop. Still, I've seen worse.

MoominPapa

Two oldies which use lighting and sound effects to maximum effect
The Innocents from 1961 is really creepy, heavy influence on the Others (Nickole Kidmans character describes her children as "the innocents" in a nod to this movie), superb film based on the Turn of the Screw by Henry James
and The Haunting from 1963 (not the Liam Neeson/Catherine Zeta Jones pile of sh1te).

Otis Driftwood

Both of the re-animator sequels,while good fun are no where near as good as the first.
Both take a much more comedic approach than the first.
Bride is better than Beyond and there are some pretty surreal moments in it.

Its been over a year since ive watched Bride and cant recall the cat vs penis sequence mentioned but that may just be due to my ridiculously bad memory.
I must dust it off and throw it in tonight.

Try and get an unrated version.The one I have was released by (I think) umbrella entertainment,a German label and has some nice extras and deleted scenes.

There is one called the carnival scene and it is bonkers even for Gordan.

Slightly off topic but I watched Hostel 2 for the first time last night and I have to say I was hugely disappointed with it.
Im a Roth fan and really enjoyed Hostel and Cabin Fever but part 2 was pretty much a stinker.
I had heard quite alot of people saying it was much nastier and better than the first but IMHO it wasnt even close.
He appeared to take a comedic approach to it which annoyed me and as for upping the ante as regards gore and torture,meh,no.
Aside from the countess Bathory scene and the castration there was feck all in it.


Some other decent horrors IMO include

Society
Bone Sickness
Intruder
Black Christmas(original)
Last House on Dead End Street
House on the Edge of the Park

Jonesy3110

I seen a movie recently called ""The girl next door".Has anyone else seen it? The first film in ages that had me screaming at the tv "GET OUT GET OUT!!!" Very unnerving and tense at points :P I think its adapted from a Jack Ketchum book.
I saw Hatchet and was disappointed I thought with LEGENDS Kane Hodder and Robert Englund it might be cool but I thought it was lame

I saw "House on Haunted Hill" on tv the other night. I think its a reamake of a movie with Vincent Price. Am I the only person who thought this movie was good? I always get sppoked by that tv-static people walking around thing, like the Ring remake.

That and electrical appliances being plugged out but still working. THE HORROR!!!

Karl Hungus

nedtheshed wrote: »

Slightly off topic but I watched Hostel 2 for the first time last night and I have to say I was hugely disappointed with it.
Im a Roth fan and really enjoyed Hostel and Cabin Fever but part 2 was pretty much a stinker.
I had heard quite alot of people saying it was much nastier and better than the first but IMHO it wasnt even close.
He appeared to take a comedic approach to it which annoyed me and as for upping the ante as regards gore and torture,meh,no.
Aside from the countess Bathory scene and the castration there was feck all in it.

I don't think anyone said that Hostel II was gorier than the first. I thought most people would've said it was a lot less gory. I suppose if you're only in it for the gore, then you would be dissapointed.

TerrorFirmer

Jonesy3110 wrote: »

I seen a movie recently called ""The girl next door".Has anyone else seen it? The first film in ages that had me screaming at the tv "GET OUT GET OUT!!!" Very unnerving and tense at points :P I think its adapted from a Jack Ketchum book.
I saw Hatchet and was disappointed I thought with LEGENDS Kane Hodder and Robert Englund it might be cool but I thought it was lame

I saw "House on Haunted Hill" on tv the other night. I think its a reamake of a movie with Vincent Price. Am I the only person who thought this movie was good? I always get sppoked by that tv-static people walking around thing, like the Ring remake.

That and electrical appliances being plugged out but still working. THE HORROR!!!

Yeah it's really good, and yes it's Jack Ketchum. I'm glad someone else thought Hatchet was a pile of crap, I heard so many people raving about it...

House on Haunted Hill is OK but there's a sequel now - imaginatively titled 'Return to House on Haunted Hill', don't ya know. Utter dross.

I'll be watching 'The Mist' tonight, heard a lot of good things about it...

I have quite a lot of movies on the backburner actually, Bloodrayne 2, Rise Blood Hunter, The Devils Hound, Undead or Alive, and one I'm really looking forward to but never saw - The Dead Next Door

Otis Driftwood

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I don't think anyone said that Hostel II was gorier than the first. I thought most people would've said it was a lot less gory. I suppose if you're only in it for the gore, then you would be dissapointed.

Im not on about people on here,Im on about people in general.

Karl Hungus

nedtheshed wrote: »

Im not on about people on here,Im on about people in general.

I don't know, I've never come across people saying the second one was gorier, and on places like bloodydisgusting and imdb, most people seem to say it's less gory.

Otis Driftwood

Quite a few people I know said it was nastier but I guess their definition of nasty is very much different to mine.
Oh well.

Karl Hungus

nedtheshed wrote: »

Quite a few people I know said it was nastier but I guess their definition of nasty is very much different to mine.
Oh well.

Oh well indeed.

I find it's generally detrimental to the experience if you have the wrong expectations.

Anyway, back on the horrormobile...

Don't Look Now and The Changeling are two of the very finest horrors made, it has to be said.

adie1988

It's not so much a horrer flick, but Battle Royale is an amazing Asian film... watch it it's really good!

kryptyk500

More I'd recommend:

Martin - a (very) low-budget vampire flick by George Romero which is not 'full-on' horror, but fairly disturbing.

Creepshow - another Romero film based on the old comic series. Very entertaining.

Cronos - Guillermo Del Toro's first film. A different kind of vampire movie.

Calvaire (The Ordeal) - one of the best films I've seen in the last few years. Set in Belgium, if you like Texas Chainsaw/Deliverance/Wicker Man type films with deranged country folk, then you have to watch this.

Jack Sheehan

I'm a big fan of The Thing, Alien and Aliens.

I heard they are remaking The Thing recently, Jesus Wept.

N1njapirate

HavoK wrote: »

Everyone will probably crucify me for this but I think both the Grudge and The Ring, as well as their not as good but still watchable sequels are quite creepy. Pulse was another OK one. All remakes of Asian films, and although people will tell you that they're far inferior, I watched the originals and found them pathetic (in terms of scares, that is). I'm not saying that all Asian horror is pathetic, mind, there are some great ones. But in the case of the Ring and The Grudge I really don't understand how anyone could maintain that the originals are actually scarier. Pan's Labyrinth was a good one, not necessarily scary but some very creepy moments in there. Amityville Horror was quite good, again, the remake being infinitely more atmospheric and scary then the original. I'm sure you've already seen the Exorcist but that one, and the crab walk bit, will never get old. Not sure what exactly you mean by horror either, are you looking for a skin crawler, or merely anything that falls into the genre like zombie movies, slashers etc? I can think of absolutely bucket loads of the latter but no point if that's not what you're looking for. You've got Hellraiser, Hills have Eyes, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead I-V, Toxic Avenger, Final Destination trilogy, Hostel, Beyond the Limits, House of Wax, etc...you could go on forever, and that's just the newer common stuff. But none of them are really scary. Definitely another vote for The Thing too by the way, that one is brilliant. Also, while it's not a movie, check out Season 1 and 2 of Masters of Horror. Some dubious quality episodes, some plain stupid ones, but a lot of quality horror in there too.

ouch..Seriously Hostel? Your opinion is the opposite of mine.The Thing,The Shining,The Exorcist (The only movie series to effect me..??)
I thought the American versions of the Ring and the Grudge were a waste of space. I enjoyed the originals though! ALien and Aliens are fantastic movies!

MoominPapa

kryptyk500 wrote: »

More I'd recommend:

Martin - a (very) low-budget vampire flick by George Romero which is not 'full-on' horror, but fairly disturbing.

+1 Brilliant movie

kryptyk500

Another film that impressed me recently was 'Zombie Honeymoon'. Ignore the cheesy title. It's about a couple that go on honeymoon and the husband gets infected by a zombie... then his wife has to deal with it. Even though it has a tiny budget, it's well acted and has a better story than most straight to dvd zombie movies.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0399934/

Tusky

spooky donkey wrote: »

Even if they are better id rather not have to read the whole script if i can watch it in english. That said I watched infernal affairs and then watches that one with leo de craprio and mat deamon and thought the jap one was better.

!!!! Youd rather not have to read the whole script even if they are better ? Crazy.

Also, Infernal Affairs is not Japanese.

Pat Mustard

Jonesy3110 wrote: »

I seen a movie recently called ""The girl next door".Has anyone else seen it? The first film in ages that had me screaming at the tv "GET OUT GET OUT!!!" Very unnerving and tense at points :P I think its adapted from a Jack Ketchum book.
I saw Hatchet and was disappointed I thought with LEGENDS Kane Hodder and Robert Englund it might be cool but I thought it was lame

I saw "House on Haunted Hill" on tv the other night. I think its a reamake of a movie with Vincent Price. Am I the only person who thought this movie was good? I always get sppoked by that tv-static people walking around thing, like the Ring remake.

That and electrical appliances being plugged out but still working. THE HORROR!!!

On the topic of tv static and plugged out appliances still working, White Noise is a scary show.

The sequel, White Noise - The Light, is pretty dull fare, so don't bother.

I thought House on Haunted Hill was watchable enough, with Geoffrey Rush camping it up and Famke Janssen swanning around. Not classic horror perhaps, but entertaining I thought.

Jonesy3110

ouch..Seriously Hostel? Your opinion is the opposite of mine.The Thing,The Shining,The Exorcist (The only movie series to effect me..??)

The only movie ever to effect me was Tremors. You know those cadburys roses sweets with the orange in the middle? I can't eat those anymore.

hotspur

For genuine horror fans I want to recommend what I consider to be the best horror ever made, and many of you probably haven't heard of it. It's called Night of the Demon (1957). If you prefer gore horror then this isn't for you, but if you like intelligent understated horror then you will be very grateful to me if you get this film.

Here's the IMDB entry for it:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0050766/

You can pick it up only as an American region 1 DVD at the moment, if you do then watch the UK version on it called Night of the Demon not the shorter cut US Curse of the Demon. Here's the amazon link, at least you can read what people think of it:
http://www.amazon.com/Curse-Demon-Night-Dana-Andrews/dp/B0000694WH

Oh and I know of a working stream for it, but I cannot tell you in the open forum

Otis Driftwood

Seen it a couple of years ago.Its not too bad but as for being the best horror ever made.....

Opinions differ of course and I would consider myself a genuine horror fan,(Ive been watching em for over 20 years)but there seemed to be a bit of a snooty undertone to your above post

Quote - If you prefer gore horror then this isn't for you, but if you like intelligent understated horror then you will be very grateful to me if you get this film - Quote

I love and prefer the blood and guts horror personally but I also appreciate and enjoy the more understated eg Psycho,Peeping Tom,Nosferatu etc

To imply that loving one side of horror means you cant love another is a bit offensive to me TBH and makes you come across as a snob.

Its the same as saying if you love heavy metal you couldnt love Jeff Buckley or if you read Stephen King you wouldnt be able to enjoy Tolstoy for example.

DWCommuter

nedtheshed wrote: »

Some other decent horrors IMO include

Society
Bone Sickness
Intruder
Black Christmas(original)
Last House on Dead End Street
House on the Edge of the Park

Are you ****ing crazy Nedtheshed? BONE SICKNESS????? You actually rate that pile of crap, that is an abomination to filmmaking and decency? It is so badly made, acted and edited, that I laughed. Its utter ****e and an insult to the horror genre. Swamp Zombies was a similar sin against film. Have you seen that one? In fact there are many more similar examples. They look like films made by fans who don't know how to make films. They create a bad name for the genre.

SOCIETY was a good film. Yuzna is at least competent.