. . . scared the bejabbers out of me watching it on TV as a little kid.
Posted on 11/23/2004 9:31:31 PM PST by John Robertson
What's your favorite horror movie...and why? What fried your hair, and still makes it jump if you get a little too tired and you remember a sequence or two from something that scared the stuff out of you.
I've always dismissed horror movies as a waste of time, but the older I get, the more I realize they must serve some function--some cathartic function--because they are an enduring genre, and each generation likes to find its own favorite scary movies. Heard a commentator saying the other day, the reason the country is so preoccuppied with horror films right now is, it's a horror we can "handle," versus the real, terrorist kind of horror.
ALIEN - true Gothic horror with a space twist...an awesome monster, and tension so thick it sings like a guitar string.
HELLRAISER - Excellent horror in all ways, truly disturbing.
THE "DEAD" SERIES - "Night", Dawn", and "Day of The Dead" - George Romero's zombie trilogy is a benchmark of modern horror, at all times brutal, serious, and nihlistic.
ZOMBIE - Lucio Fulci's response to Romero. Vicious gore, creeping fear, and terrifying atmosphere.
THE BEYOND - Fulci's supernatural thriller whose tension and fear never let up, with enough shocking, close-your-eyes moments to really stick.
JUNGLE HOLOCAUST - Ruggero Deodato's first cannibal flick, still one of the best, with a truly disturbing descent of a man into savagery as a means of survival, and with gore that must be seen to be believed. Some Jump-Out-Of-Your seat moments, as well. A great prelude to his penultimate...
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST - Without doubt, one of the most violent, disturbing, and vicious movies ever filmed. Also, incisive in its portrayal of documentary filmmakers, over two decades before Mikey Moore. In this one, the villains are all too scary...they are "normal people", not some masked murderer. Do NOT see this if you are easily offended, under 18, or have a weak stomach. Serious gorehounds avoid this one. It's that vicious.
MEN BEHIND THE SUN - This movie depicts the ACTUAL horrors inflicted by the Japanese during WWII at their infamous Camp 731 bio-weapons research labs. Mengele would blanch.
IMHO, the finest horror of the latter 20th century can be found by checking the films made from about 1969-1985. They were serious, and vicious in their assault upon the senses. Few movies of the '90s come close. I'm off to read the rest of the thread!
Horror, thriller. I don't care. That movie creeped me out. Particularly Alan Arkin.
When they made The Rocketeer a few years ago, Alan Arkin played the older, techie friend of the hero, 'Peevy' Peabody. The guy playing Howard Hughes in that movie found out Alan Arkin was to play some scenes with him and he was a little scared to actually meet him, after seeing him in Wait Until Dark.
When the guy finally met Arkin he was shocked to find out that Arkin felt the same way about him. Hughes was played by Terry O'Quinn, who had played the creepy bad guy in Stepfather and Stepfather II.
They're both good actors.
Scariest movie I ever saw, horror or not, was the original Alien. I saw it at an afternoon showing when it first came out at a theater in San Francisco down near Fisherman's Wharf.
My wife was at a class that evening when I got home. When she got home from her class later she asked "why are all the lights on?" Without thinking about it, I had turned on lights in our apartment that we had never turned on.
The original EVIL DEAD is another classic. Why is it that Italian directors consistently put out such scary stuff?
Carnival of Souls. No violence of the body, just of the spirit.
Feh. BLAIR WITCH was ripped off directly from CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Except, in CH, you SAW what happened to the filmmakers. And what they did to cause it.
. . . scared the bejabbers out of me watching it on TV as a little kid.
A movie with Rosie O'Doughnuts in leather lingerie has to take the horror category
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HAA! I'll tell ya how worthless I am:
I have the registration number of the Nostromo memorized.
108niner, 2460niner
Pathetic, huh?
I think that if a film's intent is to induce fear, terror, or revulsion in the audience, as well as disturb them for a while afterwards, the movie qualifies as horror. The "classic" elements (monsters, slashers, etc.) need not be physically present for this to occur.
My husband and I decided that are kids are old enough to enjoy some horror movies. So a few weeks ago, we rented "The Birds". It was a lot of fun, and my kids were dutifully scared.
We're not ready to let them see "Psycho", but that's another great horror movie.
I just thought of the spookiest one that I won't let my kids see any time soon, "The Ring". It's really creepy. It's definitely one of my all time favorite horror movies.
I see you've missed this thread. Have at it. :-)
Alien - directed by Ridley Scott: Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down
Aliens - Directed by James Cameron (any questions?)
Totally different directorial style.
I loved "Sixth Sense"! I thought "The Others" was also good.
I get it. I read binary.
The scene is just insane, as poor ol' chubby Ned is squealing while getting poked from behind. VERY SCARY!
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