[Closed] Horror Films.

Last horror film that scared the bejesus out of me was The woman in black...

The Fog.

The 70s one with Adrienne Barbeau.

Because Adrienne Barbeau.

I love horror films, they generally fall into two categories, ones that are actually scary which tend to be more psychological than gory, and comedy gore fests.

Actually there's a third which are just gratuitous 'torture porn' for shock value like saw/hostel which I don't particularly like watching.

Brain dead (think that still holds the record for the most fake blood ever used in the finale scene where the protagonist works his way through a very large room full of zombies with a lawnmower) , evil dead 1 and 2 and dawn of the dead are must watches, more comedy, but absolute classics.

I am an utter wuss when it comes to horror films. Woman in Black was way too jumpy and I lasted all of 30 minutes of Insidious before leaving the room. Loved the Halloween films in my teens. Evil Dead 2 and 3 are brilliant, but more like slapstick comedy interspersed with great one liners. Any zombie film too as I just don’t find them scary.

Remember renting Event Horizon one night when I was in by myself. Honestly thought it would be a sci-fi romp. Slept with the lights on for three nights straight.

Last one I watched, and walked out of, was SeVen with Brad Pitt in..

Chuffing hate em’

I have never liked horror films.
I just don't get the attraction of scaring yourself stupid or watching blood and Gore.
Each to their own though.

I can't stand proper horror films-especially anything with creepy kids in-freaks me right out. I prefer the comedy horror-Zombieland & Tucker & Dale are about my level.

Scanners.
Omen.
Poltergeist.
Nightmare on Elm Street.

More recently, quite liked the Saw movies.

Hocus Pocus, obvs

I’d argue The Omen and it’s run of films aren’t Horror, more psychological rather than pure gore for gores sake.

Good thread OP. But unfortunately I don't think I find horror films scary, although I've possibly not watched any decent ones.

The last one I watched was called The Witch. I'd read reviews/word of mouth, but it was absolutely rubbish.

There was two films I watched as a child that were truly terrifying: Texas Chainsaw Massacre and A Fire in the Sky.

I watched one about five years ago called Rec (i think) and that was a bit edgy.

If anyone can recommend some truly scary ones, it'd be appreciated.

davidtaylforth - Member

The last one I watched was called The Witch. I'd read reviews/word of mouth, but it was absolutely rubbish.

You and me....outside....now.

Forgot about Tucker and Dale. That’s a great film. Supernatural and gorenography films are definitely not for me. Don’t mind old school slasher flicks though.

I remember the first time I saw Texas Chsinsaw Massacre and laughing at it. Man with chainsaw chasing you? Just jog a bit until he gets tired or the saw runs out of fuel. Then, whilst leatherface recuperates, go and push that old fella out of his wheelchair and hold him hostage. 70’s movie tennagers were gormless buggers 🙂

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That'll make sure your Googie Withers.

davidtaylforth - Member

If anyone can recommend some truly scary ones, it'd be appreciated.

Check out Audition. We all have different triggers I guess but that film, while not really a horror, and not really gory is just....indescribable.

The ring - 15 years later I still haven't got over it. I seem to be a bit squeamish - probably why I gave the Gunpowder play a wide berth.

You and me....outside....now.

😳

TBF, I googled something like "reddit scary films" and it came highly recommended so was expecting great things. I just found it really slow going, although the goat was a bit creepy.

davidtaylforth - Member

You and me....outside....now.

TBF, I googled something like "reddit scary films" and it came highly recommended so was expecting great things. I just found it really slow going, although the goat was a bit creepy.

Well that's where it gets interesting. I wouldn't describe it as scary, but certainly creepy. Relentlessly so. I loved it, and I loved the ambiguity of whether it was psychosis or witchcraft, or even whether for people in that time whether there was even a difference.

I loved everything about it apart from the thickness of the lead actor's voice which made it difficult for me to catch all of his dialogue.

The original Japanese versions of The Ring, & Dark Water are good. (Not the Hollywood remakes)

Well that's where it gets interesting. I wouldn't describe it as scary, but certainly creepy. Relentlessly so. I loved it, and I loved the ambiguity of whether it was psychosis or witchcraft, or even whether for people in that time whether there was even a difference.

Yes, probably a "thinking man's" horror film. Unfortunately that's not me, I prefer a film where I can switch off my brain almost completely.

Se7en wasn’t a horror movie.

I used to love them - The Exorcist especially shit me up, but Poltergeist, Omen, and before them, things like Tales of the Unexpected and Hammer House of Horror scared me. For me it was the suspense rather than anything else that got me, not gore.

Not seen a horror film for years actually at the cinema. Went to watch that Annabelle creation. **** me I had a few moments in there. Very well made film.

The best ever..

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Too wide a genre I think (more so than most others) to get any kind of concensus.

Modern horror/porn stuff (Saw, etc.) just doesn't interest me so not seen any of them.

Quite like 'classic' body horror (The Thing, The Fly, etc.) but don't generally find them scary beyond the odd 'jump'.

Sucker for 'knowing' or comedy horror - American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Bad Taste, Dog Soldiers (second best B movie of all time), etc.

I'm another one who found Event Horizon a bit disturbing, so I guess psychological horror films come closest to pushing my buttons - the only horror film I remember REALLY bothering me was one that I think is actually quite tame. Went to see The Serpent and The Rainbow at the cinema years ago and it's stuck uncomfortably with me. No idea why.

The Woman in Black is very well constructed and effective but not particularly original.

Another vote for Audition. It's a slow burner but boy does it deliver at the end.

The original Dawn of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre also.

Se7en wasn’t a horror movie

It was a bit gross :/ Same with Event Horizon, for me.

The only film that's made me feel genuinely uneasy was Ring. Quite like the original Halloween and H2O for a bit of jumpiness, otherwise I share the dislike of others here of the sick/twisted stuff.

By the time I was about 10 or 11 I'd seen all the Nightmare on Elm street films, my dad used to hire them for me from the local video shop 😆

I prefer the more physcological ones though which get your brain imagining things without necessarily seeing it, I've watched all the film's like saw & hostel but think they're just made to shock people with out & out gore rather than being scary.

Then there's the plain weird ones like the human centipede etc 😆

Grew up with Hammer House of Horror and various vampire, mummy, werewolf films on the TV, and a shelf-fulll of Stephen King, James Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Poe and Pan Ghost Story anthologies. Gobbled any supernatural/horror book, series or film I could either buy, borrow or persuade my parents allowed me to watch. My bedside book was 'Horror Films' - a history of horror on the silver screen. By 13yrs I had memorised every film and film and factoid contained therein. Some great B/W stills in that book. Became interested in black and white photography via the 'golden age of cinema'.

Then the home video age kicked in and watched the 'video nasties' and other low budget horror films with friends who constantly looked to find ever gorier and 'sicker' viewing material. A lot of which involved killng and dismembering naked or semi-clothed women with a fair bit of actual animal cruelty IIRC. It all left a bad/sad taste in my mouth at that point. I then sought instead to further satisfy my taste for gothic horror and supernatural/psychological thrillers and so spent more time hunting down books and films of that genre.

I too very much enjoyed 'VVitch' last year, I think it's the first horror DVD I've purchased for over a decade.

Films in my small collection from the past are few, and that probably says most about what I tend to like

Cat People (1942)
The Tenant
Repulsion
Dance Of The Vampires (charming horror/comedy)
Whistle And Ill Come To You (1968 - Jonathan Miller)
The Haunting (Robert Wise)
Psycho
The Birds
The Eye (Nakata)
Dark Water (Nakata)
The Signalman
The Woman In Black (1998)
The Descent
The Others
The Innocents
Misery
30 Days Of Night
Deliverance

I prefer the more physcological ones though which get your brain imagining things without necessarily seeing it

While not a horror film in the usual sense, the implication of rape and psychological terror of the original Cape Fear was quite disturbing for me.

*error - by 19 yrs I had memorised every film and factoid therein!

Just goes to show how flawed my memory is, could have sworn I had that book in my early teens but Google says it was published in 1986. I wonder did anyone else here 'of a certain age' have the same book?

if in the mood I also enjoy really cheesy horror romps such as Final Destination, Anaconda, Lake Placid, The Hills Have Eyes, etc.

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Argh the shutter just blew in the wind and clacked against the window frame. Near shat me'sen thinking about this little film:

The Hills Have Eyes,

Is that the one with the cannibals in the desert? If so, all I recall is that the dog was an utter bad arse and had the highest body count 🙂

I like films that spark a severe reaction, either laugh, cry or shit my pants!! So I do enjoy horror. There are not many I find genuinely scary tho, I saw the IT recently, I loved it but the scares just make me giggle.

The last film to really creep me out tho was Get Out!!
It Follows and Dont Breath were two more recent favourites...

The Shining - perfectly sustained atmosphere of pure dread.

Ring - can't forget Mark Kermode's apt description of Sadako's first appearance: "Sheer balletic awfulness".

The Orphanage - Spanish movie. Like all proper ghost stories, it's horribly sad. Has a real emotional core.

Best I've seen recently is It Follows - Underplayed, not over-explained and genuinely unsettling.

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The original Saw is a really good film IMO. Thereafter it just became a race to the bottom of torture porn and they’re increasingly dire.

I found “Shrooms” quite scary actually, although it’s a terrible film, I quite like it!

I had my foray into extreme cinema at uni, with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Driller Killer etc., but these days I prefer proper ghost stories: the Japanese films (the Ring, The Grudge etc) are terrifying, and their more recent remakes are pretty good as well.

I agree the original Saw, before it became an exploitation series, was actually very good. More recent ones I thought were decent are Sinister and Insidious. However, the best of the more recent ones are the first 2 Paranormal Activity films, IMO.

Although not strictly horror, I'd also give Guillermo del Toro's films a look: the Devil's Backbone is a particularly affecting one. I would also suggest Pans Labyrinth borders on the horror genre.

Personally, despite my great affection for them, the likes of Seven and Alien don't class as horror, for me: I think true horror should contain an element of the supernatural. If it doesn't, it's a dark thriller. By that mark, the likes of Halloween barely scrape into being horror with the faint suggestion that Michael has a supernatural element and cannot be killed.

Similarly, Cape Fear (the remake) only starts becoming horror towards the end when he almost seems indestructible.

Although not strictly horror, I'd also give Guillermo del Toro's films a look: the Devil's Backbone is a particularly affecting one. I would also suggest Pans Labyrinth borders on the horror genre.

See also: The Strain - Vampire themed TV series by Guillermo del Toro which is way more fun and entertaining than I thought it was going to be.

I'm another one who found Event Horizon a bit disturbing, so I guess psychological horror films come closest to pushing my buttons - the only horror film I remember REALLY bothering me was one that I think is actually quite tame. Went to see The Serpent and The Rainbow at the cinema years ago and it's stuck uncomfortably with me. No idea why.

Agree with this above completely.

serpent and the rainbow is just an absolutely awesome movie...

Event Horizon is mind bendingly freaky.

LAst for me on my top 3 is the Devil Rides Out.... Love that !

^mikey74 that touched upon somethign I was mulling over last night. The definition of 'Horror' (as a film-genre) has certainly narrowed in the last 30 years (going by my aforementioned Horror Encyclopedia)

+1 for The Ring, its the first film I remember using that fast/slow motion effect thing...

+1 for Event Horizon. Now that is a horror in space.

Ooooo and how could I forget, one of my favourite films: The Masque of the Red Death. Vincent Price at his best.

Not into horror films at all..
I saw the Exorcist as a 16 year old in Newcastle with two different girlfriends which at the time was the ultimate in horror / scary movies ..why the hell I went back a second time is beyond me as I was scared shitless the first time ..

Yes, there can't be a horror film thread without mention of The Exorcist. I'd also throw The Exorcist III out there as well, albeit not as good as the first one.

I've always avoided the genre like the plague because I thought horror films were (1) fairly rubbish and (2) stressful.

My partner watches them constantly. I think I'm right, but she only gives whatever she's watching a fraction of her attention so she doesn't notice. 🙂

A lot of the classics don't age well despite my affection for them.

It's hard to argue with the French Horror new wave though such as Martyrs and Haute Tension.

I did quite enjoy the Conjuring and its sequels though.

Yes, there can't be a horror film thread without mention of The Exorcist

Love Hellraiser and even Nightbreed, flawed as it is.

The slasher stuff never really grabbed me

As I love sci-fi films like a
Alien much better.

Event horizon is brilliant.

I think what makes it scarier is that you only see flashes of the other dimension- full scenes there were shot but the studio cut them, that left almost subliminal glimpses of detailed & well realised horror that your mind can easily be extrapolate out.

I suppose it's stuff like that gets into your imagination.

Sometimes With horror less is more
The scene in the mostly pants Fire In The Sky is a great one

I think I like this the best, no model perfect young starlets & hunks,just a bunch of bearded blokes in long John's at the bottom of the world unable to trust anyone

James Gunn just put his list of 50 fave horror films on Facebook, worth a squiz, all good

Similarly, Cape Fear (the remake) only starts becoming [s]farcical[/s]horror towards the end when he almost seems indestructible.

FTFY 😉

But to make a point about subjectivity and genre - to my mind the 'true horror' of Cape Fear (for me) was captured best (by both Gregory Peck and De Niro) much earlier in the story. ie the horrifying smarmy-sociopathic/amoral surety with which Max Cady openly stalked the lawyer and his family. The slightly twisted, falsely- smiling look in his eye. The grandiose pseudo-politeness that foretold his intent. A look that said - 'I'm not 'threatening' you and your family. I'm inevitable. Your safety is an illusion'. Chilling.

So, for me, those early sunny scenes on the lawn and in the neighbourhood were far more horrific than the murderous raging-muscle-fest-in-the-rainstorm ending of the remake. ymmv.

Torture porn films I find boring.
Comedy horrors have potential, Final Destination, Evil Dead type of thing.
The best horror films work psychologically.

Either way I don't watch many these days. The most recent good one I've seen is Let the Right One In.

Event horizon is brilliant.

I think what makes it scarier is that you only see flashes of the other dimension- full scenes there were shot but the studio cut them, that left almost subliminal glimpses of detailed & well realised horror that your mind can easily be extrapolate out.

Event Horizon was so very very nearly genius. The single flaw was that it should have left the short cuts of the 'other place' out entirely. It worked really well on the suspense level alone.

IIRC it got critically panned on release. But one of my most watched DVDs.

One that really got to me but shouldn't have (given it was on rated 12) was The Others with Nicole Kidman. Saying that, the BBFC did admit to getting it wrong by rating it 12 and it should have been a 15.

The Fog (old one)

Bunch of us watching the film late at night and it was really fogging outside. Just as the fog started eveloping the house and pirates bashing on the window scene a real life fox decided to crash into the patio window, then started pawing it....that scared the shit out of us.

Zombie Fox

Looking back, what a bunch of wimpey pansies.

Ps My Dad reckons he heard our girly screaming....we did'nt btw.... but it was a long time ago ...........

Just reminded me of watching Cannibal Holocaust at a friend's house. 14-15yrs old. His older brother and friend ambushed me from a hiding-place in the bushes on my way home in the dark. They got me to the ground bit my neck and I subsequently stank of tom sauce. How I laughed! It was a weird sort of laugh IIRC, with a rising tone that was almost indistinguishable from terror. 😆

I've only watched Event Horizon once, when it came out. I don't imagine it'll have aged well but I did think it was good at the time - I liked the premise and the haunted house in space scenario works when it's done well.

As for Se7en I wouldn't consider it a horror at all. Certainly as a black as a cop thriller could go, and it used plenty of horror tropes. I think it's more horrific because it's set in a recognizably real world. There are other films that are also set in the real world that kind of step over the line and are more "horror" than not. I think Green Room does that quite well. Calvaire would be another, Haute Tension maybe straying further across the line. I guess it's a blurry line sometimes.

Broader question: When do you think a thriller becomes a horror?

At which point?

I would've put Se7en in the horror category for instance. It's just that it's plot is very much thriller.

I think Sicario is almost horror too. The feel of the film and the dread; the outcomes are pretty awful. Again, sits in the thriller camp by plot.

rone - Member

Broader question: When do you think a thriller becomes a horror?

At which point?

I would've put Se7en in the horror category for instance.

Well aside from obvious ques like supernatural or monstrous elements I think it would have to be when the horror, either through violence, gore or sustained terror becomes a primary theme or driving force of the narrative. There's obviously a lot of subjectivity involved there, and to further muddy the waters there's an issue that our real world can be as horrific or even more horrific than a fantasy when accurately depicted.

Seven is a good example of this because it never focuses on gore or ever really shows you anything gratuitous or horrible (sloth scene aside and even then, that's just a guy). All of the horror is built up in your mind, and then flashed at or hinted at. People will tell you about the horrific things they saw in Seven that simply aren't in the film.

Same with Silence of the Lambs, Manhunter etc.

The real drive of Seven is the relationship between Pitt and Freeman and their investigation - that is the film.

If you compare Seven with something like Haute Tension/Switchblade romance it's also set in the real world but the it's a constant an relentless escape/pursuit with a very murderous and implausibly persistent killer.

Or another good film which skirts that line is Green Room. A group of friends trapped in a room by bad people. But the tension and the assualt on the main characters is constant, the violence is extreme and the depiction of it in some instances is incredibly graphic and explicit. It's 90 minutes of tension, pain and suffering basically, although it's all (almost) realistic, plausible and based in our world.

imo

The original Japanese versions of The Ring, & Dark Water are good. (Not the Hollywood remakes)

I actually thought they did quite a good job on The Ring remake. Dark water was OK as well.

There's obviously a lot of subjectivity involved there, and to further muddy the waters there's an issue that our real world can be as horrific or even more horrific than a fantasy when accurately depicted

Absolutely.

I also think the correct ending says a lot about a horror film. Too many films (for commercial reasons) tie things up far too neatly. Seven is great example of why, in my book - it's true horror.

rone - Member

Seven is great example of why, in my book - it's true horror.

Well here's a thought, the most horrific book I ever read was a documentary account of real world serial killers who were cannibals (I can't remember why I was reading it, I think part of a film script I was writing). An even more horrific book which my wife read was a book about Fred and Rose West. I tried to read that book and the sheer bleak, mundane ordinariness of it horrified me so much I couldn't read the book. There's no way I will go back and try to read that book.

And yet it's not a Stephen King, or a Clive Barker.

^ I thought about just this a fair bit.

'True' horror - defining example of the movie genre
True horror - real life horrific events.

Long may they stay apart.

I'd maybe happier in a world that chose to contribute to/enjoy neither, And say that as a long-time fan of 'horror' films.

Malvern Rider - Member

^ I thought about just this a fair bit.

'True' horror - defining example of the movie genre
True horror - real life horrific events.

Long may they stay apart.

Yes agreed. I think that's why I have zero interest in Hostel or similar. While they aren't exactly real, they are based in our reality and offer nothing other than the worst real things imaginable.

I'd of course be happier in a world that chose to contribute neither, And say that as a long-time fan of horror films.

For drama you need peril, and for peril to be real you need the threat of violence and to contextualise that violence you need, well, violence. So I don't mind fantastic depictions of violence. It's also what makes something like Pan's Labyrinth so compelling. There are monsters, and there are horrors but obviously, the real monsters are very real humans and the violence they commit.

I grew up on a diet of horror and things like The Fly and the Thing when my age was in single digits and do have a thing for a good horror, two things that really freaked me out back then although not horror were The Elephant Man, and The Invisible Man series on BBC1.

Has anyone watched the Syfy Channel Zero series?

I think 'Disturbing' as another genre all together, i love watching all the horror classics mentioned but stuff like Irreversible, Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom, or Martyrs etc are just horrible to watch. no fun at all.

Funny Games (Haneke original) is another one that really had an impact on me!!

I think when it boils down to raw human cruelty rather than ghosts and vampires, that reality can be chilling! Snowtown was another!

anyone mentioned blair witch yet?

very original in its day and I cant think of any other horror flick in recent times that had such a huge media coverage (because it was so good)

mahalo - Member

I think 'Disturbing' as another genre all together,

Psychological horror I guess.

Other than those mentioned:

Drag me to hell - Comedy genius,
The Descent
The Cabin in the Woods
REC
Get Out
A tale of two sisters
The Conjuring - I love a horror but had to take a break during this one.

Bone Tomahawk is an odd one. A standard western with a constant tension and building sense of dread with one truely horrific scene. I’d still class it as a western though.

anyone mentioned blair witch yet?

I hope not, cos it's crap 😉

I liked Silent Hill. Even though it was based on a, very good, game I thought they did a fair job of it.

Bone Tomahawk is an odd one. A standard western with a constant tension and building sense of dread with one truely horrific scene. I’d still class it as a western though.

That's a great example.

By the end - I saw it more as horror than Western.

I hope not, cos it's crap

Would have to disagree on that one. As mentioned above the fact it shows you very little and all the "scary" stuff is built up in your own head makes it a good movie IMHO. Then the fact it created a new genre of "found footage" films. How many movies can you say have created an entirely new genre of film?

trailwagger - Member

I hope not, cos it's crap

Would have to disagree on that one. As mentioned above the fact it shows you very little and all the "scary" stuff is built up in your own head makes it a good movie IMHO. Then the fact it created a new genre of "found footage" films. How many movies can you say have created an entirely new genre of film?

I don't think you can really credit it with creating an entirely new genre - the found footage premise wasn't invented by Blair Witch. I think at best you could credit its success to the rise of a horror sub genre, something many films have done (and in the case of [i]Found Footage[/i] I'm not sure what sort of legacy that really is).

I don't think you can really credit it with creating an entirely new genre - the found footage premise wasn't invented by Blair Witch. I think at best you could credit its success to the rise of a horror sub genre, something many films have done (and in the case of Found Footage I'm not sure what sort of legacy that really is).

True, but its first one anyone has ever heard off.

trailwagger - Member

True, but its first one anyone has ever heard off.

If Take That* had a massive hit with an obscure 60s B side no one had ever heard do you credit Take That or the original artist for the song's qualities?

I had certainly seen Cannibal Holocaust and Man Bites Dog, and other mocumentarys before Blair Witch. I think the real master stroke that Blair Witch pulled was its marketing campaign - iirc it was the first big online stealth marketing for a film and it used the medium perfectly to obfuscate whether the film was fiction or documentary. In that respect the style of the film and the marketing campaign were uniquely of their time and complemented each other perfectly.
[i]
*I don't listen to popular music so I couldn't think of a more relevant example than Take That. [/i]

Is Cannibal Holocaust the one where they have to buy back the film reels which turn out to be the film maker setting up the tribal war?

I'm not sure what sort of legacy that really is

Cloverfield. Unfortunately.

Sorry, started an argument and then wandered off!

Blair Witch (IMO) as a film was garbage, but it really managed to create this myth about whether it was real or not. That, and not the film itself, is it's biggest coup.

Anyway, fan of the foreign stuff myself. Spanish directors seem to be the fave at the moment. Recently enjoyed:

Timecrimes
Mama
The Orphanage
Sleep Tight

Not really a horror, but The Similars was also pretty good.

The Babadouk is surprisingly good for a modern horror. No slashers just weird spookiness.

Blair Witch was great when it came out. It trendy to dismiss it now, but it was very different and original.

Just noticed - the Babadook is on Film4, tonight 1:20am

DezB - Member

Blair Witch was great when it came out. It trendy to dismiss it now, but it was very different and original.

Well I dismissed it then too, what do I win? It was 79 minutes of nauseating camera shake and 2 minutes of creepy cabin at the end. That part was pretty good. But jesus christ the rest of it.

I haven't watched since the cinema.