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October/Halloween/Horror Recommendations

El Duda

Its October which means Halloween is fast approaching, so I've decided to watch through all the horror films I've bought over the years but not got round to watching.

I'm looking to compile a list which is a mix of essential horror and lesser known greats. Any input is much appreciated.

So far on my watch list...

Films I own on blu-ray/DVD but haven't watched yet;

The Devils Backbone
Salems Lot
Videodrome
Candyman
Evil dead trilogy
Confessions (horror?)
Ichi the Killer
Shrooms

Recommendations from over the years;

The Brood
You're Next
Possession
Audition
Purge 2

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El Duda

I much preferred Midsommar to Hereditary.

El Duda

On Amazon Prime...

The Gate – 6/10

Childhood nightmare fuel. Can’t believe that I had never heard of this until recently as it’s the sort of thing I would’ve loved as a kid. It’s another mid-eighties, kids on bikes film that Stranger Things clearly took a lot of inspiration from. Here two of the youngsters accidentally discover an opening to a dark dimension at the bottom of the garden, unleashing a host of stop-motion creatures and demons. The final act plods along but up until then its very entertaining. Fans of old school special effects and classic camera trickery will enjoy this a lot and there's an impressive performance from a very young Stephen Dorff.

Cuttlefish

Loved this road trip horror movie - I can watch this once or twice a year and never tire of it

Also 30 days of night Josh Hartnett versus some serious vampires !

Ally Dick

El Duda wrote: »

I much preferred Midsommar to Hereditary.

Christ of almight

El Duda

Ally Dick wrote: »

Christ of almight

My review is in the Midsommar thread. I explain why I preffered it.

I loved how in your face Midsommar was with the set up.

mrcheez

Not sure if psychological thrillers go here but I found The Killing of a Sacred Deer to be well worth a watch. Highly disturbing.

Ally Dick

Best horror series on TV I have seen in years was "Penny Dreadful". I thought it was amazing. So well written

Fysh

F you want a recent film with the kind of crawling dread that The Babadook was full of, Possum is well worth a look. One Cut Of The Dead, already mentioned upthread, is one of the best horror comedy films in years and best approached blind.

For a TV series, Channel Zero is very good - only 6 episodes per story and some creepy ideas & images that will stick with you. Even bettet than it, however, is Inside No. 9, an IMO excellent anthology series that has managed by turns to be some of the most hysterically funny black comedy and the most pitch-black-grim horror in years.

Mike Guide 69

Some of my personal recommendations:

Candyman - Classic urban legend horror flick, brilliant editing in it and a creepy film score from Philip Glass

Jacobs Ladder - Amazing psychological horror film , Tim Robbins is excellent playing the part of the tortured Vietnam veteran experiencing scary flashbacks.
Directed by Ardrian Lynne who went onto direct an even more frightening film (Indecent Proposal)!!!!

Session 9 - I mean seriously ,this film is a major head ****, very sinister in places and the tension just builds and builds. Terrific cast with Peter Mullan and David Caruso who star as health and safety workers who are tasked with cleaning up asbestos in an old abandoned mental institution ,where one of the workers finds old recordings of patients tapes and starts listening to each individual session and that’s where things start to get weird,has an ending that is equally disturbing yet brilliant

[Deleted User]

El Duda wrote: »

One Cut of the Dead – 9/10

Possibly the most fun and entertaining film of the year and certainly the smartest. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible but I can guarantee this is the most fun you’ve had watching a Zombie film since Shaun of the Dead. Of all the films I’ve seen in recent years that demand repeat viewing, this is top of the list. Actual genius.

Great recommendation, thanks! I'm not sure I'd even call it a horror movie but it certainly is brilliant. As someone else said, worth going into completely blind to truly enjoy the twists and turns

Space Dog wrote: »

Willow Creek - Another good and suspenseful found footage film

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this! It doesn't add anything particularly new to the genre but it was very tense. The long one-shot scene in the tent was excellent.

mrcheez wrote: »

Sinister is also essential. The intro totally took me by surprise, Ethan Hawke is superb too.

When it originally came out, Sinister was completely ruined for me by a tell-all trailer. Seven years on and I gave it another go and it was much more enjoyable … clever and very creepy.

If you have the time, there's a French 8 part horror series called Marianne on Netflix. I won't lie, it's far too long and could easily have been done in 4-6 episodes, but if you can push through the flat bits it's worth it.

In the vein of Session 9 (mental institution haunting) I can recommend Grave Encounters about a team of ghost hunters spending the night in an abandoned asylum, horror ensues

El Duda

LOVE Grave Encounters.

That location is scary as hell

mrcheez

El Duda wrote: »

LOVE Grave Encounters.

That location is scary as hell

Nice. One to check out this weekend.

In other news I saw the new Netflix flick: In the Tall Grass

Worth a watch I think as there are some good surprises, but there are some slow sections that take away from it.

El Duda

Some more i've watched in the last week...

Boar – 4/10

A cliché ridden, Australian giant hog film with lots of gore and practical effects. It appears to know how ridiculous and silly it is, but it just isn’t that much fun. The relentless Hog attacks get very tiresome and they don’t spend any time trying to flesh out the characters, so you end up not caring about anything that’s happening. The best moments come from the Aussie locals regaling us with tales of giant Hog sightings and from Bernie, a retarded man-mountain who enjoys rapping along to Vanilla Ice.

There are better, low budget creature features out there.

Hannibal – 5.75/10

I don’t think Ridley Scott was the best choice of director for a sequel to such a perfect film. Scott tends to bloat his films out with needless guff. The first hour here is extremely slow and dull. Whilst he uses the gothic setting of Florence very well, what should be a very simple set up is convoluted.

Although the second hour is a vast improvement, it still feels oddly lacking. Julianne Moore is nowhere near as good as Jodie Foster and Ray Liotta is completely wasted. The choices they make for Lecter don’t seem to chime with the original film. At times it feels he is reduced to the role of pantomime villain and Scott seems to think he is cool rather than scary.

There’s a couple of interesting set piece towards the end and seeing Oldman acting under layers of prosthetics is always enjoyable, but this is a film that I could’ve done without. It left my nipples feeling soft and unused.

Tigers Are Not Afraid – 8/10

A Guilermo Del Toro-esque modern fairy-tale set against the harsh backdrop of Cartel ridden Mexico. The story follows 5 young orphaned children who are struggling to get through each day as they try to evade the local drug cartel. Much like Pan’s Labyrinth and Devil’s Backbone, this film uses real life atrocities to balance out the fantastical elements.

Every now and then a film will come along and completely catch me off guard. Seeing as I was streaming this on the horror site Shudder, I was expecting big scares but was surprised by how moving it was. The film does have scary moments but they’re a little bit too tame for me. It more than makes up for it by having huge heart and affection towards the children and their plight.

This is film that deserves more attention. A rare gem. It's worth noting that all of the children are first time actors and they are all terrific.

Not horror but rewatched Blue Ruin last night. Such a brilliant and brutal film. It's great to see a revenge thriller starring a human being, rather than a movie star. Grounded and gripping.

adox

Another classic, in the b movie genre really, is Bubba Ho Tep.

A comedy horror with a warm heart.

Bruce Campbell is brilliant as the aging Elvis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa9331xmvhg

Bobby Baccala

The lighthouse are screening The Shining, Scream, I know what you did last summer and Hocus Pocus in the run up to Halloween. Gonna go in to see The Shining before Doctor Sleep comes out on the 30th.

Went to see It 2 the other night, don't bother.

mrcheez

Bobby Baccala wrote: »

The lighthouse are screening The Shining, Scream, I know what you did last summer and Hocus Pocus in the run up to Halloween. Gonna go in to see The Shining before Doctor Sleep comes out on the 30th.

Went to see It 2 the other night, don't bother.

Ooh nice didn't know they made a flick for Doctor Sleep

Bobby Baccala

mrcheez wrote: »

Ooh nice didn't know they made a flick for Doctor Sleep

Saw a trailer for it last week when I saw the joker it looked pretty creepy, Ewan McGregor starring

Space Dog

Deleted User wrote: »

Great recommendation, thanks! I'm not sure I'd even call it a horror movie but it certainly is brilliant. As someone else said, worth going into completely blind to truly enjoy the twists and turns

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this! It doesn't add anything particularly new to the genre but it was very tense. The long one-shot scene in the tent was excellent.

When it originally came out, Sinister was completely ruined for me by a tell-all trailer. Seven years on and I gave it another go and it was much more enjoyable … clever and very creepy.

If you have the time, there's a French 8 part horror series called Marianne on Netflix. I won't lie, it's far too long and could easily have been done in 4-6 episodes, but if you can push through the flat bits it's worth it.

In the vein of Session 9 (mental institution haunting) I can recommend Grave Encounters about a team of ghost hunters spending the night in an abandoned asylum, horror ensues

Glad you liked Willow Creek. That tent sequence is so good. I also love how the details in the background make sense in the end (like the

poster with the missing woman

[Deleted User]

The Babadook (2014)

Drag me to hell (2009)

mrcheez

Watched Grave Encounters last night. It's actually a lot better than I thought it would be. Probably on par with Rec.

Autopsy of Jane Doe tonight (again). This is so damned good, it's better 2nd time round. Still a little freaked

Wedwood

A few oldies/comedies

Young Frankenstein
Carry On Screaming
Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein
Gremlins

Jurgen The German

Watched the remake of The Hills Have Eyes last night for the first time since it came out. For my money up there with the best as far as modern day remakes go. Visceral, bloody, some super make up effects, the only thing that annoyed me was the CGI for the full body burn scene. If you are going to do FBB then keep the camera at a distance, going up close to see skin blistering but doing so with very noticeable CGI is jarring and completely renders the scene redundant. Still, an enjoyable enough slice of meanness.

[Deleted User]

Jurgen The German wrote: »

Watched the remake of The Hills Have Eyes last night for the first time since it came out. For my money up there with the best as far as modern day remakes go. Visceral, bloody, some super make up effects, the only thing that annoyed me was the CGI for the full body burn scene. If you are going to do FBB then keep the camera at a distance, going up close to see skin blistering but doing so with very noticeable CGI is jarring and completely renders the scene redundant. Still, an enjoyable enough slice of meanness.

The MANIAC remake with Elijah Wood was made by the same guys and is really good too.

Birneybau

Bobby Baccala wrote: »

The lighthouse are screening The Shining, Scream, I know what you did last summer and Hocus Pocus in the run up to Halloween. Gonna go in to see The Shining before Doctor Sleep comes out on the 30th.

Went to see It 2 the other night, don't bother.

It's genuinely one of the worst films I've ever seen. The tone is all over the place.

notobtuse

Creature from the Black Lagoon
Frankenstein
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Blob
Re-Animator
Zombieland
Lifeforce

adox

notobtuse wrote: »

Creature from the Black Lagoon
Frankenstein
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Blob
Re-Animator
Zombieland
Lifeforce

An absolute classic!

Jurgen The German

jh79 wrote: »

The MANIAC remake with Elijah Wood was made by the same guys and is really good too.

Yep, really enjoyed that too. I'm a huge fan of the original and was horrified at the thoughts of EW in Joe Spinells role but he was great in it.

bladespin

Hostel, for any adventurer's out there.

Man Vs ManUre

bladespin wrote: »

Hostel, for any adventurer's out there.

The Green Inferno is another example of extreme shock horror in similar style. I really enjoyed it.

Man Vs ManUre

Am a big horror fan but 1 film I would struggle to watch a 2nd viewing is the human centipede. Not because it’s a bad film, it’s not and it’s a true original. But it’s just so extreme, depraved, horrific and hard to watch. I haven’t watched any of its sequels.