Horror movies that work.
Submitted by Cardiac on Fri, 01/07/2005 - 09:11
Tags:
- 1) Excorcist - If this movie does not creep you out a little bit - you either don't get it, or you are lying.
- 2) Event Horizon - went in with low expectations and actually managed to get creeped out. Very satisfying.
- 3) Halloween I - The disappearing act on the last few seconds of the movie - very nice and that theme...very haunting.
- 4)Salems Lot - (the original with David Saul) yes I know, David Saul - but when the 'master' crushes the cross - a new fear of vampires went through America. I posit that this allowed for the creation of Lestat and the flexibility that now flows through Hollywood vampires.
- 5)The Howling (1 and ONLY part 1): "Let me give you a piece of my mind." brilliant movie - on the edge. The last scene does ruin it a bit (note to would be werewolf directors - Cocker Spaniels are not scary.)
- 6)Omen - Some would say that this is a lot of movie about nothing - but I say look deeper - and the soundtrack - the visuals - truly great. I also liked Damien -but not enough to list it.
- 7)The Hitcher - You may like joy ride or something similar - but if you haven't seen this one - Rutger Hauer is pretty believable in this "road trip hitchhiker from hell" genre horror.
- 8)Nightmare on Elmstreet - (some would say part 3 as well - but I disagree) The distortion effect of Freddy coming out with his elongated arms and those claws. This with the new suggestion of "what if your nightmares came true?"
- 9)Night of the Living Dead - Low production values, bad acting, but the foremost zombie movie ever made. Truly horrific from it's inception to conclusion. Shame Romero couldn't duplicate his success here in any other film.
- 10)Psycho - frame by frame a perfect movie. Hitchcock at his best. The shower murder is truly one of the most enduring scenes in horror/slasher cinema. It highlights the defenselessness we all feel behind that thin plastic curtain.
Author Comments:
I have a love for the horror genre and there are several different subgenres:
1) parodies/comedies
2) Monster
3) slasher
4) Demonic
5) Psychological
I shall make lists of each.
Great list. I agree with all of them (well, that means with those I have seen). Yet, I'm missing Kubrick's The Shining. Have you seen it?
I've seen it, and it does work, if I had gone to 11 it would have made it. I may edit this to 15 and include a few others.
OK. Do not forget Polanski's great Rosemary's Baby then.
I don't understand what you mean by "work"?
Maybe it's just the last comment, because I can't see how Rosemary's baby fits in. I assumed you meant work as in "could be plausible, given certain leaps of faith (ie vampires could exist)"
This is a great list. However, I disagree with your comments on The Exorcist . Though I think it's quite well made, I personally don't like it, precisely because it didn't creep me out, not even a little bit. I did get it, and I'm not lying. I'm just very, very un-religious, and could find no reason to care about demon-possession. I was unable to suspend my disbelief about it because I thought it was a load of religious clap-trap.
Hear hear! It is probably the most overrated movies of all time. Me and my pals were viewing it and all along we were wondering,"Is it time yet to get scared?". The fabled green puke scene just made us laugh. Heh.
The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), Rosemary's Baby (1968) - chick horror flicks, but they worked for me :-)