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The timed-for-Halloween obligatory annual horror movie thread

Thomas Veil

Thomas Veil

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 14, 2004
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Much greener pastures
No particular subject this time, e.g., best horror movie and such. Just an open topic on scary movies.

For my part, I flipped past AMC last night and caught a little bit of one of the "Hellraiser" movies, and I've gotta tell you: I often wonder about the mental stability of the people who write those things.

Understand, I am a horror and sci-fi movie fan. But I think even my tolerance for gruesomeness and violence ends at something like the "Cube" movies (which are pretty gruesome in themselves). I find the "Hellraiser" movies pretty disturbing. I've yet to be able to sit through an entire one, though not for lack of trying. I'm not sure what kind of mind comes up with the ways to kill people, as horribly and painfully as possible, that are displayed in those films...not to mention the baddies (Pinhead & co.) and the horrid environments.

One or two of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies affected me the same way. I thought the first was pretty innovative, but then the series seemed to descend into an unusually masochistic frame of mind.

OTOH, I'm not too bothered by movies like "The Ring". Scary, yes, but a little more restrained. I even liked "The Blair Witch Project". Sometimes the scariest movies are those which make you uneasy, not those that jump out and go "Boo!" And though it's not nearly as scary as modern films, I love the original "Night Stalker" film, for its sense of realism and its humor.

I'm anxious to see the re-make of "The Fog". I thought the original was pretty good, actually, and I'm curious to see if they've managed to improve on it.
 
Thomas Veil said:
No particular subject this time, e.g., best horror movie and such. Just an open topic on scary movies.

For my part, I flipped past AMC last night and caught a little bit of one of the "Hellraiser" movies, and I've gotta tell you: I often wonder about the mental stability of the people who write those things.

Understand, I am a horror and sci-fi movie fan. But I think even my tolerance for gruesomeness and violence ends at something like the "Cube" movies (which are pretty gruesome in themselves). I find the "Hellraiser" movies pretty disturbing. I've yet to be able to sit through an entire one, though not for lack of trying. I'm not sure what kind of mind comes up with the ways to kill people, as horribly and painfully as possible, that are displayed in those films...not to mention the baddies (Pinhead & co.) and the horrid environments.

One or two of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies affected me the same way. I thought the first was pretty innovative, but then the series seemed to descend into an unusually masochistic frame of mind.

OTOH, I'm not too bothered by movies like "The Ring". Scary, yes, but a little more restrained. I even liked "The Blair Witch Project". Sometimes the scariest movies are those which make you uneasy, not those that jump out and go "Boo!" And though it's not nearly as scary as modern films, I love the original "Night Stalker" film, for its sense of realism and its humor.

I'm anxious to see the re-make of "The Fog". I thought the original was pretty good, actually, and I'm curious to see if they've managed to improve on it.
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I don't see how you thought The Ring was Ok but like movies that make you uneasy. Unless you were watching the pants Hollywood remake. The Japanese original scared the c*** out of me. Like you I love horror films, but most leave me relatively unfrightened. I feel that it helps if you watch a scary film with someone who is easily scared - it sort of becomes contagious.
I hadn't realised they were remaking The Fog but I guess it was inevitable given the dearth of interesting movies coming out of Hollywood these days. Personally, and this will sound snobbish, I much prefer the originals to a remake, of any genre.
For me, films that play with the imagination are far scarier than any on-screen horrors special effects artist can reproduce, so my choices are:
The Wicker Man - a very cheesy cult movie but blessed with Edward Woodwards finest moments.
Nattevagten - The Danish original, not the one with Ewan McGregor, nor the travesty in the cinemas at the moment.
The Ring - original Japanese version
Audition - can you watch the acupuncture bit without squirming?
The Descent - the best horror film recently - captures the fear and claustrophobia beautifully (and it's British ;) )
 
Are we limiting this to your traditional slasher-style horror movies? Or can scary (suspenseful) movies be included?

I was fourteen years old when "A Nightmare on Elm Street" came out (in 1984) so that is, more or less, my age group's standard-bearer for the slasher-style genre. However, I've never really gotten into those movies. Sure, there were a few "jump" scenes in that movie, but it's certainly not in the category of "creeped me out for a long time". I guess I'm more a fan of thrillers like "Wait Until Dark", or maybe "The Birds".

P.S. OK, I know. "Poltergeist" did in fact really mess me up. I don't remember if I was scared of clowns before that movie, but I definitely am now thanks to one key scene in that movie. ;)
 
I am not big into the slasher type of horror film, but I did really enjoy 13 Ghosts and Ghost Ship. The 13 Ghosts DVD had a history of all the Ghosts as an extra which I thought added to the story. I tend to like the horror movies that keep you tense and on the edge of your seat the whole time. I would say that Silence of the Lambs did this as well as War of the Worlds. While mostly unbelievable, there were some concepts in WotW that seemed very intense to me. I thought Hide and Seek was pretty good too - somehow I never saw that ending coming. 6th Sense was the same way, and I didn't manage to see that ending coming either. Usually I am pretty good at guessing an ending. Any other good horror movies that should be seen?
 
Lyle said:
Are we limiting this to your traditional slasher-style horror movies? Or can scary (suspenseful) movies be included?
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I intended this to be very open-ended. Though there are some good slasher movies ("Halloween", for example), they're not the be-all and end-all of horror movies.
 
The horror genre does seem to encourage some great story telling. I really liked the remake of The Ring - I loved the way it was shot and the core ghost story was cool. The original Japanese version of The Grudge (Ju-on: The Grudge) was a lot better than the remake though - that was one where the introduction of CGI took the edge off the frights.

I'm a massive fan of The Descent: started a thread on it, which died a quick death. Going to be buying and watching it a week on Monday - with the lights off.

Not into biblical horror (The Exorcist and the like) or survival horror (either version of a Texas Chainsaw, Wolf Creek, etc. - the sound of constant, terrified screaming really winds me up). I'm a child of the eighties, so Freddy and Jason were my favourites. Poltergiest is an all-time classic that will never lose its ability to scare the hell out of me.

As for Saw, I just didn't get it. I don't intend to flame or be flamed, as I know a LOT of people loved the film, but there were too many plot holes. I'd really been looking forward to it, but got to the end and thought: "eh? That just didn't make any sense." If someone can explain it to me and paper over the cracks, by all means do. I feel I must be missing something. :confused:
 
Badradio said:
As for Saw, I just didn't get it. I don't intend to flame or be flamed, as I know a LOT of people loved the film, but there were too many plot holes. I'd really been looking forward to it, but got to the end and thought: "eh? That just didn't make any sense." If someone can explain it to me and paper over the cracks, by all means do. I feel I must be missing something. :confused:
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"Jigsaw", the guy who started the entire thing, did it because he thought people weren't grateful enough for being alive. So he puts them into traps, and they have to get themselves out through crazy ways. But most people don't figure it out in time. Zep, the guy who put the 2 guys into that bathroom, did it because he had a virus/desease in him and he had to murder this guy's family basically to get the vaccine from the main dude....

That was probably a bad explanation. Just try watching it again. The first time I watched it, I was a little confused, but it all makes sense.

I'm not sure how good the 2nd one will be. I'm not counting on it, since it's basically 8 people stuck in a room this time, instead of 2... but it'll still be sweet.

I have yet to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but I heard it was really freaky. That and Session 9 are on my horror to-do list :D
 
Great: Alien, The Exorcist, The Omen, The Birds, Silence of the Lambs, the Shining
Good: The Ring, Final Destination, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Poltergeist
Bleh: Jason, Halloween, The Grudge, Scary Movie, I Saw What you Did Last Summer
 
kainjow said:
"Jigsaw", the guy who started the entire thing, did it because he thought people weren't grateful enough for being alive.
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Yeah, that was the bit I didn't get. If you only had X months left, would you waste them orchestrating these nasty little scenarios? Seemed a strange motivation. And not wanting to ruin the twist for anyone who hasn't seen it, but (and I'm far from any kind of expert on this) I assume that his situation would involve a degree of constant pain - not something that would be conducive to long periods of inactivity. Like you said, I think I need to watch it again and try to be a bit less cynical.
 
Badradio said:
Yeah, that was the bit I didn't get. If you only had X months left, would you waste them orchestrating these nasty little scenarios? Seemed a strange motivation. And not wanting to ruin the twist for anyone who hasn't seen it, but (and I'm far from any kind of expert on this) I assume that his situation would involve a degree of constant pain - not something that would be conducive to long periods of inactivity. Like you said, I think I need to watch it again and try to be a bit less cynical.
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Well obviously he was a psycho, just like every person in horror movies :)
 
kainjow said:
Well obviously he was a psycho, just like every person in horror movies :)
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Ahhhh... that explains it :p
Not wanting to hijack the thread, I'll throw in Stephen King's IT tv mini-series. Any phobia of clowns I had from watching Poltergeist, that pretty much put the red nose on it.
 
Nickygoat said:
Fortunately you're not the one. Nor the first ;) .
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No way!!! I searched everywhere to see if someone had posted. Was just looking for somewhere to discuss it.
Nickygoat said:
I'm wondering if it will have the same impact at home as at the cinema. Hmmm we'll see :D
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I can't think of anything that will take the edge off that film, except maybe valium. I use a camcorder for iChat AV, and the night-vision mode still freaks people out who have seen the film :D
 
I was just watching "Haunting of Hill House" Sunday night. When I was a little kid it scared the daylights out of me. I really like this movie for the reason that you never ever saw the ghosts, you only heard them banging on the walls and doors.
 
kainjow said:
Saw 2 comes out today... w00t! I watched Saw 1 yesterday in preparation :D
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I have that sitting at home from Lovefilm.com (subscription DVD).

Feel like watching some cheesy horror tonight...
 
Blue Velvet said:
I have that sitting at home from Lovefilm.com (subscription DVD).

Feel like watching some cheesy horror tonight...
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I wouldn't say it was cheesy but I thought it was a good horror movie. Good (or should that be bad?) atmosphere.

Nobody has mentioned the original Evil Dead movie yet... scared the hell out of me when I saw it in the 80s. Special effects look awful nowadays but it's still one of my favourites.

I love a lot of Italian horror movies...particularly Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Fulci just tends to shovel the gore on but Argento is classier.

Anyone seen the original (black and white) Carnival of Souls? Saw that years ago and thought it was really creepy.
 
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