UKC

Any suggestions what horror movies I should watch to get into the Halloween spirit on Thursday?

Got to admit that blood and guts movies or ones where teens run around till they die horribly bore me rigid. So I'd appreciate suggestions that play more on the mind rather than fill the screen with decapitated limbs.

Zombie and vampire flicks would be most welcome too, even the funny varieties any of the above, as long as they are horror in spirit.

Cheers muchly.

In reply to The Lemming:

Have you seen Identity?

In reply to The Lemming:

OK its blood and guts but the evil dead films are great

In reply to The Lemming:

Halloween III Season of the Witch.

Ok, not a classic but it is suitably creepy for All Hallows Eve. It has nothing to do with the first two installments of the franchise which is what caught me off guard and makes it interesting. I was expecting a Micheal Myers slash-em-up, but got ....

youtube.com/watch?v=zKNIqG9J2KU&

In reply to sbc_10:

Lol, has nothing to do with any of the other Halloween films

In reply to The Lemming:

Enjoyed the Cabin in the Woods recently, was a typical Wheedon amusing take on the genre. Worth it even though you could be forgiven for thinking it is just a typical teens run around job...

In reply to The Lemming:

Haven't you done this thread before, just a bit earlier this year, not Hallowe'en-related but asking in general about horror films? I am sure you did and I am sure I suggested a load, and you never even gave any feedback, so I suppose I'll have to regurgitate my list.
The Devil Rides Out
Poltergeist
Silent Hill
Pontypool
Thirst (the late 70s Aussie one)
The Ring (the 2002 American remake)
Sinister (Ethan Hawke thing from last year)
The Serpent and the Rainbow

Switchblade romance is a great Halloween film. It is very gory but in a truly psychologically disturbing way rather than a saw 1/2/3/4/100/101/1000 type cheese fest.

In reply to Milesy:

I was really let down by that film, it was nowhere near as "psychologically disturbing" as I'd been led to believe.
Also no good for The Lemming as he won't be able to keep up with the subtitles due to dyslexia.
Cecile de France's performance was astounding though - I will agree with The Whole of the Sane World on that point

In reply to Blue Straggler:

And the 'twist' made the whole film up to that point pretty much redundant. Shame.

In reply to The Lemming:

Ringu, the original and best.

In reply to The Lemming:

Switchblade Romance was great up until the twist which was dumb.

My all time favourite halloween film is:

Trick 'r Treat - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862856/?ref_=nv_sr_1

For a funny zombie film I'd recommend Juan of the Dead if you're good with subtitles:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1838571/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

(It's absolutely hilarious).

For a nice tense, slow burning, low budget horror I'd say:

Marianne - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1756615/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

If you're up for more Anthologies (and honestly, why wouldn't you be?) there's always VHS which was ok, SVHS (aka VHS2) which was apparently better but I haven't seen it, ABCs of Death which was more miss than hit and then the classics like Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt, Creepshow 2, etc which are great.

I'm also quite fond of Insidious, though don't expect a straight up horror film (which is how it starts) it goes almost...camp horror at the end. I thought it was brilliant.

In reply to The Lemming:

Oh, also if you're good with sub-titles and like zombies and haven't seen it then give [REC] a shot.

Also Devil's Backbone and The Orphanage are spooky, I'd say The Orphanage is more 'halloween' though.

And whomever suggested Halloween III, that's one of my favourite terrible movies. A film about *SPOILERS!!!!*

evil clockwork robots, stealing pieces of stonehenge which are chipped away and placed in to Halloween masks for kids. When a certain song is then played on TV these bits of stonehenge cause the child's head to explode in a shower of bugs.

Surprisingly it's actually a lot duller than it sounds.

In reply to patrick_b:

It broke a major rule of cinematic storytelling, and not in a good way. Hitchcock did it once (in "Stage Fright") and regretted it, even publicly apologising for it.

The rule being that you shouldn't con the audience in such a way, as it's no longer even a "twist" by the time you've done that - it's bare-faced lying.

In reply to The Lemming:

If you want disturbing try
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

In reply to artif:

Not really a horror film though, is it.

In reply to The Lemming:

Vampire:
30 days of Night
Near Dark
Let the Right One In
Salems Lot

Zombie:
28 Days Later
Dead Snow


E

In reply to The Lemming:

Oooh, I'll second Let the Right One In!

In reply to Kieran_John:

Let Me In is probably a better bet for The Lemming. And I thought it the slightly better film

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I disagree with it being a better film, but only because I was disappointed it was a remake of the Swedish film and not a remake of the book.

The original film differed considerably from the book and I was hoping Let me In would add back in some of what was missing. Given that obviously wasn't the intention I think it was doomed to fail with me from the outset. Beautifully filmed though, I just found it entirely unnecessary.

(Don't let me come off as a 'I've read the book and it was MUCH better than the film' snob, I really enjoyed both films as much as I enjoyed the book, I was just hoping for something different)

In reply to The Lemming:
IMO these are the top of the genre
The conjuring
Paranormal Activity 1 & 2
VHS 1 & 2
Blair Witch
The Others
Insideous

enjoy

In reply to Kieran_John:

Fair answer.
I never read the book but I know what you are saying.
I thought the Swedish film had some glaring bad points, most notably the lady neighbour / friend and some poorly rendered special effects on a load of cats and then her silly demise (again poorly done - I assume budgetary constraints given that the same director worked wonders on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy).

Didn't they just jettison that character in the American version as she adds nothing to the story? Or am I imagining this?

In reply to Blue Straggler: It's been a while since I've seen it, but I think you're right, they just got rid, again, they had more of a purpose in the book but it just felt a bit tagged on in the film.

In the book there's a whole sub-plot about (again, spoilers, BIG spoilers about the ending of the film!)...

... her 'protector', when she bites him and throws him out the window at the hospital, he actual survives and turns but due to his injuries and his fall he's a horribly twisted, malformed, deranged creature. There's also more about Eli actually being a boy (it's hinted at in the swedish version and removed entirely from Let me In, in the Swedish version you get a quick 'full frontal' where you can see stitching around the genitals) and a bit more about his back story where he was castrated prior to being turned.

If I'd seen Let Me In first I'd probably have preferred it, it does have better pacing and you're right, the effects really are lacking in places in Let the Right One In.

One thing I much prefer in the original though is how the final scene in the swimming pool is shot.

....Spoilers over and apologies for getting this very off topic.

In reply to Kieran_John:

One of my favourite recent(ish) films of the genre is The Descent. Bold, brutal straight-up horror filmmaking. Well worth a watch.

For a more light-hearted horror, his previous film Dog Soldiers is great fun. Some genuine laugh-out-loud moments!

In reply to The Lemming:

Thanks for the replies, as there are some good ones that I forgot about and would make for a good night's entertainment.

I have to admit that the film which scared me most in recent years, is Room 1408. I'm also quite partial to I sell the dead, which is quite a funny film.

I may also watch Young Frankensteine as well.

In reply to The Lemming:

Go Asian. Some of my favourites:

ring trilogy
Eye trilogy
A Tale of Two sisters
Doll master
High school quartet
Cello
R Point
Acacia
Dark water
Pulse
One missed call 1 and 2
Grudge
Phone
Inner senses
wig
Into the mirror
Battle royale 1 and 2

Much creepier and way Scarier than all that American garbage.

However, for comedy horror:

Evil Dead trilogy
Fido
Cockneys vs zombies
Bubba ho tep
My name is Bruce

In reply to Choss:

I have already explained on this thread that The Lemming isn't able to enjoy subtitled films due to dyslexia which means that he just can't keep up with the subtitles at typical movie pace.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

As i had already noted. Im not a Cretin

7;^P

Some come With English dub. No reading Required.

In reply to Choss:

Some but not all. I thought it was "being a troll" that you'd denied? :-P

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yes, but ive Decided Cretinism isnt for me, so im off to have me goitre lopped off.

In reply to The Lemming:

I think the English dubbing on most Asian Horrors is probably more terrifying than the film itself.

And writing off all American horrors as garbage is like saying all Asian horrors are about is creepy girls with jet black hair, often with large wide-open mouths.

Much like any sub-section of film, there are good ones and bad ones (for instance critically acclaimed as it is, I actually much preferred the American remake of The Ring over the Asian originals).

In reply to Kieran_John:

True but I don't think anyone on this thread has written off all American horrors.

I agree about The Ring remake. I never saw the Asian sequels though. But the American Ring 2 (directed by the chap who'd made the Asian original) was awful.

In reply to Kieran_John:

But i think modern American made horror is rubbish. Its trite, Cliched, formulaic, rehashed, unoriginal, very very unscary tosh.

It was ok Back in the days of George Romero (Legend) evil Dead, exorcist, Halloween et al. Fun, original, scary Shit.

Last US horror i felt actually added anything worthwhile was Blair witch.

US horror now falls into 3 camps

Utter Drivel torture porn. Saw hostel etc. not Scary, not Witty.

The tiresome Bilge that Tries to emulate found footage Flicks. Paranormal activity and its Copiers. As mark Kermode says theyre just quiet, quiet, LOUD BANG, quiet, quiet, another BANG.

And lastly really bad and wholly unnecessary Americanised Remakes of very high quality Asian horror. Ring grudge etc. And of quality European films rec etc. And you Know why, because they have no good new ideas of their own.

Not only in horror either. Hollywoods output across genres is stagnant, formulaic, Tedious, and repetitive, and has been for some Time.

Thats why more and more people are Turning their Backs on it.

The defence rests your honour

In reply to Choss:

Watch Pontypool, OK it's Canadian not American, but it is not Asian or European. Seemed original to me.

Watch the 2008 remake of The Crazies. OK it's not original, but it's ace.

I rather liked The Dark, too

You would write all these films off.

There is a lot of dull horror coming out of Europe, which gets praised too highly just for having bloody subtitles. e.g. The Orphanage.

In reply to The Lemming: the George A. Romero Night of the Living dead has a real strong lead character. Definitely a classic zombie flick

In reply to The Lemming:

Film4 has one called "AntiChrist" as its witching hour special tonight...wonder what it's about?

Any film critics on here to give us a low-down? <cough, cough!!>

In reply to sbc_10:

Its either the documentary following cliff Richard while Making his last Christmas Album

Or

A US&A film by the tea party and the NRA about Obamacare and gun control

In reply to sbc_10:

It's a Lars Von Trier so it will be unbearably depressing...

I plan to stack up the following when I get in tonight:

Phantasm
Amityville Horror
Hellraiser
The Omen
The Exorcist

Followed by the TV series Apparitions if there is still time until dawn.

In reply to The Lemming:

Two films I have not seen but which I am reliably informed (by many sources) are surprisingly scary:
Psycho II
The Changeling.

The latter provided huge amounts of inspiration for The Others

In reply to The Lemming:

Candyman!

In reply to sbc_10:

Nicely shot, but with several extremely nasty bits.

In reply to Blue Straggler:
hope no-one else except me wasted their time watching "Drag Me To Hell" the other night.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I'm the opposite, I hope lots of people spent their time watching Drag me to Hell last night. I saw it a few times at the cinema, it felt very 80s horror to me. And it was bloody funny too. (I'll agree it's a very polarising film though).

And regarding the comment about all American horrors falling in to three categories, you could lump all Asian horrors in to categories too. They pretty much all contain the same motifs. There are as many bad Asian horrors as there are bad American horrors.

I ended up watching The Conjuring last night, which I really enjoyed. It didn't do anything new but what it did, it did pretty well. Then again I really enjoyed Insidious by the same director, starting like a fairly standard horror it developed in to a camp 'house of horrors' film - lots of fun.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a great recent-ish 'American' horror too and Cabin in the Woods is fantastic. I could probably list a fair few more.

Anyway, let's forget about arguing between Asian and American horror, it's clear the Spanish have it all wrapped up ([REC], The Orphanage, Devil's Backbone)

And back to the op- What did you settle on in the end?

In reply to Kieran_John:

Drag Me to Hell left me cold. I wanted to love it, but I barely even LIKED it. A good cheap laugh when the goat starts talking but the whole thing was trying so hard to be an 80s throwback that it ended up looking like a 2008 film trying hard to be an 80s throwback (as opposed to, say, Tarantino's Death Proof which really felt like a 70s film, but I digress).
The Devil's Backbone was rather disappointing too, I only got around to seeing it early this year so maybe 10 years of build-up were bound to end in disappointment. See earlier comment about The Orphanage too.
I think I prefer French horror to Spanish. La Horde, Martyrs, and despite its aforementioned big flaw, Haute Tension.

Last night I delved into the Hammer collection and watched "The Nanny"

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I was with you until you started slagging off The Orphanage! It's a great film! One of the best old-school horror films I've seen for a long time.

There's been a bit of a comedy horror boom happening in the US recently which don't fit into Choss's 3 categories. Stuff like Zombieland, Tucker & Dale vs Evil, Cabin in the Woods, all well worth a watch.

If you want to branch out to South America, the Uraguayan single-take haunted house horror The Silent House is interesting.

In reply to patrick_b:


I heard mixed reviews about that one, the main upshot being that if you remove the "gimmick" there's not much left. But I will reserve judgement.
The Orphanage...maybe I just expected too much from it? But I was pretty bored during the second half. And I went to the cinema for it so it's not like I was lazily half-watching it at home and being distracted by stuff.

Martyrs is NASTY but still compelling.

In reply to patrick_b:

I would not class Zombieland as horror at all despite it having, er, zombies. It's simply a comedy, isn't it?

(as an aside I always thought that if you took the comedy away from Ghostbusters, there's still a pretty good horror film in there)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

It's got a nice atmosphere. Good use of lighting too.. The funny thing is they shot it on the Canon 5D which only takes 12 minute videos anyway, so the gimmick is pretty much blown out of the water straight away!

Wow, Martyrs IS nasty. I went through a French new wave horror phase a few years ago (Frontiers, Inside, etc) and that was the only film that shocked me! Maybe it was seeing it on the big screen that did it.

Another one for the OP - Kill List. Not strictly horror, but a good weird sense of dread.

In reply to patrick_b:

Now then, if were Drifting into the Heavy Menace genre, i offer

In Bruges
Kevin smiths red state
Psycho, original, not Remake

In reply to patrick_b:

I know, half the reviews focused on this aspect so I had to sort the wheat from the chaff 9review-wise) and even eschewing those who whinged that it wasn't REALLY a single-shot, people were saying that it is still just a gimmick film. But as I say, I will give it a go some day!

In reply to Euge:


Best horror film ever, in my opinion.

I grew up with horror films as my gran owned a video store when I was a child and my mother was obsessed by Stephen King books. I had watched all the classics - Evil Deads, George A Romeros, American Werewolf, Scanners etc before I was ten years old but the best of the lot was Salems Lot - also a Stephen King and arguably his best.

I remember as a child, the part when the newly created vampire was sitting in the squeaky rocking chair in the study and he then opened his eyes. Truly eerie and terrifying for a young child - great. David Soul's best performance too.

I'm kinda numb to horror films nowadays, they dont really scare me, so I'd be keen to hear of good ones that I might not have seen.

In reply to patrick_b:
Anyone watch Stake Land recently? I'd recommend it. Like Zombieland crossed with The Road & The Walking Dead.

In reply to Flinticus:

I agree. I liked the zombies dropping out of the helicopters!

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:
Have you seen The Mist? More a monster (and human drama) than horror movie. Part of the sound track is by Dead Can Dance and works very well. I think I watched the ending sequence 5 or 6 times. The noise and nature of the creatures!

In reply to The Lemming:

Not forgetting the excellent John Carpenters the fog.

Original, not Remake.

In reply to Flinticus:

I havent seen this, is it a new film?

In reply to Blue Straggler:
The Changeling has always been my favourite ghost film; unfortunately my copy won't play on DVD, only on my PC.

In reply to Flinticus:

Brilliant film, Especially for fans of the Novella.

The acting is tip top Fantastic.

I felt the cgi was Largely pants Though.

And the Second Dead can Dance related thread this week