Your favorite Horrormovie?

Dead of Night (1945)

Edited by Svetonio - April 13 2014 at 23:17

Thanks Drew - nice to see someone admitting that occasionally a remake is superior to the original (the Japanese original was very good, but the US remake was better - sorry)

A lot of nods here to German expressionist cinema from the 1920ssszzzzzzz - pah! Good for its time, perhaps, but given the choice of seeing a 1920s 10 minute short against a well made modern chiller which pushes every button, I know which way my preference lies.

A couple more modern good'uns:

The Possession
Unborn

The above 2 will sink without trace, as do most movies these days, but I'd advise giving these 2 a look (Gary Oldman's performance in Unborn is worth it alone)

Prog 74 wrote: Those old films have nothing on modern horror movies

Absolutely - modern film-makers have access to so much technology which assists in the atmospheric side. This is nothing to do with CGI, but lighting, makeup & especially sound all add up to enhance & genuinely scare the modern viewer when used correctly.

Of course, none of this means a thing if the story doesn't stack up or if the acting itself isn't up to scratch (and let's face it, no matter how inventive & innovative the silent horrors were, in the absence of sound, the acting had to be over the top & cheesier than a cheesy thing in a cheese shop).

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Incidentally, before the flak comes my way for having the audacity to criticise the classics, I'm not criticising them - I dare say they put the willies up audiences in their day, audiences who'd never seen a horror film. But my point is that's exactly the context in which they should be seen - good for their time but now...

Edited by Jim Garten - April 14 2014 at 11:22

The Omen part I with Peck........brrrrrrrrrrr

^ That is terrifying -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Look_Now Always liked this one...loads of atmosphere and an unusual storyline.

I watched "The Ninth Gate" for the third time. Just returning to a film can change perspective and but..my issue is the frustration I feel from the representation of witchcraft which is connected to the basis of a story/script, done perfectly, but later transforms into ridiculous scenes. Roman Polanski includes all the twists and turns, role model personalities of wealthy cult members and the duel personality changes within them. He seems to have personal knowledge of the so called secret society. It feels as if he may have experienced exposure to this world ..more so..than personal research into the subject matter. He gets everything exact for 75 percent of the movie. Then he lets you down with some ridiculous scenes. He did the same in Rosemary's Baby. Although in fact most horror related films about witchcraft hardly EVER touch upon the lifestyle/environment of a witch that is evident in the real world and mostly, only if you are exposed to the high society of it. Roman Polanski is one of the few directors who gets it right , but unfortunately has ridiculous endings. A film on witchcraft should be done in a more serious vain like "The Name Of The Rose".

TODDLER wrote: I watched "The Ninth Gate" for the third time. Just returning to a film can change perspective and but..my issue is the frustration I feel from the representation of witchcraft which is connected to the basis of a story/script, done perfectly, but later transforms into ridiculous scenes. Roman Polanski includes all the twists and turns, role model personalities of wealthy cult members and the duel personality changes within them. He seems to have personal knowledge of the so called secret society. It feels as if he may have experienced exposure to this world ..more so..than personal research into the subject matter. He gets everything exact for 75 percent of the movie. Then he lets you down with some ridiculous scenes. He did the same in Rosemary's Baby. Although in fact most horror related films about witchcraft hardly EVER touch upon the lifestyle/environment of a witch that is evident in the real world and mostly, only if you are exposed to the high society of it. Roman Polanski is one of the few directors who gets it right , but unfortunately has ridiculous endings. A film on witchcraft should be done in a more serious vain like "The Name Of The Rose".

I liked the 9th Gate and have also watched it several times. I agree that the ending is a bit of a let down but I'm not sure how I would have ended it either. I enjoy atmospheric films like that concerning the occult.

Religulous, scares the crap out of me every time.   Ah the stupidity!!!

Depends on how broadly or narrowly you define whore or movie...

I like John Carpenters stuff.  Prince Of Darkness comes to mind.  Also Alien.  Nice sci-fi horror.

Also The Crawling Hand, but not in it's original form, this way -




Edited by Slartibartfast - April 16 2014 at 20:46

dr wu23 wrote: TODDLER wrote: I watched "The Ninth Gate" for the third time. Just returning to a film can change perspective and but..my issue is the frustration I feel from the representation of witchcraft which is connected to the basis of a story/script, done perfectly, but later transforms into ridiculous scenes. Roman Polanski includes all the twists and turns, role model personalities of wealthy cult members and the duel personality changes within them. He seems to have personal knowledge of the so called secret society. It feels as if he may have experienced exposure to this world ..more so..than personal research into the subject matter. He gets everything exact for 75 percent of the movie. Then he lets you down with some ridiculous scenes. He did the same in Rosemary's Baby. Although in fact most horror related films about witchcraft hardly EVER touch upon the lifestyle/environment of a witch that is evident in the real world and mostly, only if you are exposed to the high society of it. Roman Polanski is one of the few directors who gets it right , but unfortunately has ridiculous endings. A film on witchcraft should be done in a more serious vain like "The Name Of The Rose". I liked the 9th Gate and have also watched it several times. I agree that the ending is a bit of a let down but I'm not sure how I would have ended it either. I enjoy atmospheric films like that concerning the occult. BTW...the Name Of The Rose really has nothing to do with 'witchcraft'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_name_of_the_rose If you like Eco novels  I recommend Foucault's Pendulum.

I actually loved the Ninth Gate and have also watched it several times.  Films about the occult really appeal to me, and I have an interest in antiquarian books. 

It was based on Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas, which I found worth reading. 

Foucalt's Pendulum was my favourite Eco read, by the way.