Best horror films?
 

I've been watching a marathon of the top 100 best horror moments on Bravo and it got me to thinking of the best horror films?

My favorites (in no particular order):

1. The Karloff Frankensteins.

2. Aliens (SCARY).

3. Exorcist.

4. E.T. (don't ask, but it freaked me out at the age of 6, and still haunts me).

5. The Thing (1982).

6. An American Werewolf in London and The Howling.

7. Jaws (it had horror elements).

8. New York Minute with the Olsen Twins (shudder).

9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original).

10. The 1970s Invasion of the Body Snatchers with that scary scream at the end!

11. Blade and Blade 2.

12. Dead Alive.

13. The Fly (1986).

14. The Exorcist 3.

And so many more...What about you guys and gals?

heath

Boris Karloff once complained that "horror" means "physical revulsion"---better, he thought, to refer to scary movies as "terror films."

Stephen King has observed how easy it is to gross someone out---that's what he resorts to (he said in an interview) when he can't summon his deeper desire: the fine, singing fear the best scary storytelling is capable of instilling.

The Alien is scary because he jumps out at you, but I much prefer what is derided as "psychological" horror. Thus my favorites:

1. "The Haunting" (1963), a near-perfect version of Shirley Jackson's novel.

2. "The Innocents" (1961), the only good adaptation of H.James's shockingly frank "The Turn of the Screw."

3. "The Haunting of M" (1980) an out-of-circulation ghost story by Anna Thomas (shot by Gregory Nava), which I saw in its first theatrical release. This movie has the most frightening reveal of an apparition I've ever seen.

I agree with Heath about "The Exorcist III"---an overlooked picture. There's a gag with a bedsheeted apparition in a hospital lobby that invariably makes audiences gasp; it's an expert set-up.

There are moments in the last half-hour of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (when the kids are walking through the forest alone) that I'll never forget.

I'd include "The Blair Witch Project"; that last shot---the payoff of the shaggy-witch tale---made me jump. But like a dirty joke, it's only effective the first time.

I should add what I think is the scariest non-supernatural movie: "Glengarry Glen Ross," James Foley's adaptation of D.Mamet's play. Watching those desperate salesmen wake to their fates is like crawling past a traffic fatality.

JS

I meant to write the original Haunting. How about The Changling? SCARY!

heath

Hands Down!
 

The Exorcist-Good against Pure Evil!

RB

Great choices all! Here are some I love in no particular order:

The Evil Dead
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
PSYCHO
THE EXORCIST
Bride of Frankenstein
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Remake with Sutherland)
The Birds
The Omen
The Romero Dead Films
Halloween
The Fog
The Last Man on Earth
SCREAM
SE7EN
SLEEPY HOLLOW
The UNIVERSAL Horror Films (Not the one's by S. Sommers)

Here's a few worth contention.

1. Dracula (Bela Lugosi)

2. Carnival of Souls

3. The Exorcist

4. The Legend of Hell House

5. A Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one)

I read The Legend of Hell House five years ago--SCARY! Movie was good, but not quite as scary.

heath

Boy, yeah, I'd forgotten about "The Changeling."

And "The Fog"---there's a moment when Tom Atkins hears someone knock on the front door of his bungalow. Goes to the door---through the glass we see a shadow figure slip out of sight---he sticks his head out into the mist and says "Hello ...?"

Carpenter HOLDS the angle for just a beat longer than we want to watch, to really screw down the tension ... and nothing happens.

I remember letting out my breath in the theater; I forgot to breathe!

JS

I saw "The Fog" twice.

Hi
Never saw "pet sematary" but the book was scary enough for Me.
Does the movie live up to the book?

Peter.....

Pet Semetary--never read it, movie scared me bad.

The Fog--I need to see it, and now they're remaking it.

heath

My pics:
Night Of The Living Dead
both Dawn Of The Deads
Karloff's The Mummy
Alien
Jaws
The Others
the original Haunting
Tremors isn't really a horror movie, but I love it so much I have to add it in.
Wow, so many others... I'll leave it at that.

Oh yeah, even though it is sci-fi, Event Horizon scared the shit out of me in the theater.

Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" - classic 5 stars. I forgot about that one. Savini's remake? ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz!

I hate to say this, but the original Mummy was a yawner for me...

heath

"Mummy was a yawner"
 

Yeah, it's pretty dated--but the photography! Karl Freund (who also shot Peter Lorre in "Mad Love") got this amazing pearlescent glow from things ... that CU where Karloff's staring into a magic water-bowl, and they have an eye-light on him, is like a painting.

I was scared by the first hour of Alejandro Amenábar's "The Others"---the moonlit mansion interiors were beautifully shot---but the last half-hour was just ... predictable.

And I loved "The Sixth Sense," even before the twist ending.

JS