My local video store is renting all its horror movies for $1 tomorrow and Monday in honour of Halloween. If you could rent any horror movie, what would it be?
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Weeeelll, I’ve heard that ‘Suspiria’ by Dario Argento is a very, very, very scary movie, so if I were to rent a horror movie for All Hallow’s Eve, that’d be it.
Otherwise, I think ‘28 Days Later’ is quite good. You could also go for Cronenberg’s ‘Videodrome’ or maybe even ‘Alien’.
Shaun of the Dead. Not particularly scary, but piss-funny.
Gigli. Oh wait, wrong sort of horror.
If they have the original Japanese version of ‘The Ring’ get that. The creaping sense of dread in that movie is outstanding.
Or go zombiefied with the original “Dawn of The Dead.’ Even better go back to the beginning with ‘Night Of The Living Dead.’
For vampires “Dusk To Dawn’ is a good representative of the Tarantino/Clooney/Selma Hayek/heist/road movie/vampire genre. Lots of vampiric action. And Selma Hayek.
Having thought about it properly, Dr. Strangelove. Comedy about nuclear war. But then, I’d hire that any night….
Halloween is slowly making inroads here, isn’t it? I think it’s a fun celebration or festivity or whatever.
The Shining still scares me stupid. (Not that that’s such a long distance to travel, especially on a day when I’ve marked twentynine essays)
If anyone hasn’t seen the brilliant, brilliant remixed “trailer” that changes The Shining into a romantic comedy, oh you’re missing out:
http://waxy.org/random/view.php?type=video&filename=shining_redux.mov
Sometimes these memey-linky things are a bit of a bore, but this is really worth the broadband.
Suspiria is crap, Kate. The Stendhal Syndrome is better, but nastier.
I’d like to see two Wes Craven movies again - The Serpent and the Rainbow, that was shot in Haiti and then moved to the Dominican Republic due to unrest - Zombies meets Papa Doc. And also the People Under the Stairs - Some black kids from de hood, held by white supremacist cannibal/serial killers. Saw both when released in the late 80’s, early 90’s - I remember them being a good combo of horror, politics and bad taste in the George A. Romero school. May have aged.
Meet the Feebles. Once again, not particularly scary but genuinely horrifying.
“Meet the feebles, meet the feebles, they’re not your average, ordinary people…”
The Wicker Man. And Quetzlcoatl:The Winged Serpent. Larry Cohen is woefully underrated.
The Britt Eckland dance scene in the Wicker Man is grrrrrrrowl. (apparently not her though)
Rosemary’s Baby is my favourite creepy horror movie. The fragility of reality lingers. Evil Dead always struck me as a particularly bad rural acid adventure. Alien for the shock value. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the music and the proto-Scooby Doo references. For IwishIcouldjusterasewhatIsawfrommymind it would have to be Audition by the Japanese director Miike. I really wouldn’t want to recommend it. Nasty.
Cat People.
The Island of Dr Moreau. For laugh value only. There are 3 versions: one was filmed 10 years ago on the Atherton Tablelands. It starred Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, and by all accounts was a major disaster (not just the finished product, which tanked). Brando platys a mad scientist but ends up being part drag-queen and part-Mother Theresa. It’s hilarious. I’ve also seen the 1970-something version, which is equally silly and good. But haven’t seen the 1933 version—couldn’t find it anywhere. Anyone seen it?
Didn’t mind the 70s one for kitsch value. Anything with Val Kilmer in it is bad!
Yeah. He’s terrible in this one. Just an oiled, toned and buffed boof. How does that man get work?
Anything with Val Kilmer in it is bad!
Helllooooo?
Willow.
What’s Willow?
While steering clear a Val is a good rule, Thunderheart is an exception, IMHO. Very good film.
The Saint spoiled him for me forever. However, Elisabeth Shue put in a very convincing performance as a Cambridge physicist.
And the hotness factor Mark?
Very hot!
The Shining is so horribly spooky I had to leave the husbang to watch it so I could finish watching it in daylight, and I already knew what was going to happen.
Halloween is a genuinely spooky movie. I would get out Halloween, and The Shining, and then I would make everyone stay up and watch Clueless and Tank Girl. Then there would be cones and decent whiskey and Withnail & I, the only proper end to a film night.
No-one would have to go to work the next day, and we would have BLTs and proper coffee for breakfast and be happy.
Agreed, with interest. Waxly hot.
As for truly scary, I cant beat that one with Bruce Dern, about the house that a group of friends stay over in, only one escaping its evil clutches. On constant telly repeat through the 80s. Cant remember the name of it, but then, I never remember film names, only the actors in it.
Val did make a better Jim Morrison than Jim Morrison.
Ooh horror movies! I like horror movies I do.
And I have strong opinions. Strong and horrible opinions.
In no particular order.
Suspiria - plotless and misogynistic (which doesn’t narrow the field admittedly) but a haunting and delirious gothic fairy tale anyway. Best theme song ever. The moment Jessica Harper’s hair flies up as she walks through the sliding hissing airport doors, you just know it‚Äôs another world out there.
The Innocents - anticipated Japanese ambient concrete horror by forty years. Who knew a flock of birds suddenly taking off into the sun could be so fucking chilling?
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - sunlit prosaic settings, completely unpredictable mise en scenes and queasy black humour. Even today it’s still like nothing around else around.
I Walked With A Zombie - Newton/Tourner’s “Cat People ” had the sexy dark glamour but this other masterwork had the utterly haunting walk through the wind-whispering and zombie-haunted cane fields towards a voudon ceremony that didn’t seem that staged.
which leads me to…
The Serpent And The Rainbow - the final showdown was ludicrous but the buried alive sequence was really chilling. Also, having grown up in a black third-world country not dissimilar to Haiti in some ways, I have to say the overall ambience seemed spot on.
Night Of The Living Dead - so obvious it gets overlooked but definitely worth revisiting. There’s no plausible explanation, the skies are always grey and the humans are just as dangerous as the zombies. No reason, no mercy, no sense, just random terror. The first horror film to just completely throw away outside logic and hand you over to whatever happens next.
The Shining - Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed. Well yes. And yes indeed.
The Ring - Scared the shit out of me, ’specially when she crawled out of the TV. Trust the Japanese to find true terror in videocassettes and extravagant hair.
Ju-On - Not to mention toddlers with depthless eyes turning up in your bed.
Whoooh! Pass it on.
The Village - OK just kidding. Now wasn’t that an enormous turkey that should have stayed penned up in its bosky pen?
The Vanishing — The 1988 original and not the crappy remake. Buried alive is appalling enough but to be unwillingly interred by a Dutch burgher on some weirdo existential trip somehow makes it seem even worse.
Dead Ringers - Seen it three times now and it gets darker and weirder each time. Not sure what me creeps out more. The “instruments” or the brothers pathetically wondering (sic) around their apartment mumbling to eachother about the next round of drugs.
These Are The Damned - rather clunky and dated in many ways but the core premise is utterly chilling (even more so ‘cos those responsible are doing the best by their own lights) and the ending is so completely nihilistic.
The Pledge - When you realise what Nicholson’s character is really up to, your blood will really run cold. Almost cold as his. And the ending was even more appallingly futile than Durrenmatt’s original.
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer — horrifying precisely because it isn‚Äôt suspenseful.
And honourable scene mentions to:
- the alive alive-o fog stealing in across the bay in John Carpenter‚Äôs “The Fog”;
- the haunted necropolis in “Phantasm” (before the ballsedup balls turning up);
- the freakout sequence in “Jacob‚Äôs Ladder; and
- Zuni Doll time! in “Trilogy Of Terror”.
And here’s a related blog meme thing.
http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2005/10/most_disturbing_death_scene.html
One word, Mark: Braindead.
Peter Jackson’s zombie masterpiece, from before he sold out to make that LOTR shite.
Scariest movie I remember seeing - Alfred Hitchcock - The Birds.
But I will be sitting by the front door with a basket of sweets for all the little kiddies, so I won’t have time to watch movies tonight.
The Haunting, a terrific ghost movie. Also, the 1933 Island of Lost Souls” (Dr. Moreau) with Charles Laughton was very good, as most Laughton films are. Night of the Hunter, the only film he ever directed, while not strictly horror, is damned creepy, too.