Horror Films: S and D

Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
The Black Cat (obviously, Goddard was a fan.)
Bride of Frankenstein.
Metropolis (seemingly SF, not to a great degree.)

For starters.

Search:
The Old Dark House (1932, James Whale) (Underrated classic horror romp... part lunatic comedy, part unstable, slightly eerie drama... a fantastic brew all set to simmer in the ulimate Haunted House.)

The Wolf Man (1941, ?) (Nearly entirely comical... absurdly enjoyable and vice-versa.)

The Invisible Man (1933, James Whale) (Dark and gleefully humorous at the same time... strange, splendid film in the Whale ouevre.)

Frankenstein (1931, James Whale) (No introduction needed, surely?)

Dracula (1931, Tod Browning) (Flawed, but brilliant at times... not quite as good as "Freaks" overall. Helped by Philip Glass' score definitely...)

The Shout (1978, J. Skolimowski IIRC) (The late and grate Alan Bates plays it profoundly creepy here... Based on a Robert Graves story; a line is trod perfectly between off-the-wall, disturbing strangeness and very black comedy. Rather neglected film; some lovely, wistful filming of North Devon.)

Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau) (of course... though "Sunrise", a film that left me absolutely awestruck in the cinema, is his masterpiece.)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale) (I concur heartily; makes a lot of sense when one looks at "The Old Dark House" and "The Invisible Man"...)

The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971, Robert Fuest) (Splendid Basil Kirchin IIRC score, and Price on top cold form. This is a rare post-Universal instance of a perfect blend between the macabre and the humorous.)

The Shining (1979, Stanley Kubrick) (Lives very well in the memory, though it's years since I've seen it. One of his better post-"Dr Strangelove" films.)

The Sorcerers (1967, Michael Reeves) (Crazed, roller-coaster ride with a fine logic to it.)

Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) (Ages since I saw it, but certain macabre elements burrow themselves into one's mind. A bleak character study.)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964, Roger Corman) (Best Corman Poe film I've seen... aims for a Bergmanesque quality, and this pays off, as a very gloomy, atmospheric, gorgeously lit - all in rich, deep reds, blues and greens - film. Genuinely unsettling, as well as deliciously melodramatic at times. Price at his best. "Tomb of Ligeia" is possibly excellent in a similar vein, though I've not yet seen that.)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936, ?) (Oh, I have to include an old horror-melodrama in here! Tod Slaughter is deliciously of the Nineteenth Century theatre here... Generally, a cardboard production, but fascinating to see how different styles were.)

He Who Gets Slapped (1924, Victor Sjostrom) (Nightmarish silent circus melodrama, with much poignancy and delirious imagery... Lon Chaney, staggeringly moving and uncanny.)

Freaks (1932, Tod Browning) (Only 'horror' in one sense...)

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967, Roman Polanski) (Gorgeously filmed horror-comedy. Not always that funny, but very, very winning all the way.)

Witchfinder General (1968, Michael Reeves) (Historical horror-melodrama-tragedy-comedy-travelogue...! Generally very grim yet boldly vivid and colourful; so much period life is sketched in a relative minimum of brushstrokes. Vincent Price again instrumental.)

The Wicker Man (1973, Robin Hardy) (Seminal, as I'm sure most will agree... so many levels to this one; beautifully achieved.)

Don't Look Now (1973, Nic Roeg) (Was apparently shown alongside the above in some countries... wow, what a combination!)

Eraserhead (1977, D. Lynch) (Because I say so! Sheer gall, and an feel like no other, not even in his oeuvre.)

Dead of Night (1945, various) (Wonderful Ealing anthology of around 4 parts... especially the framing parts and the Redgrave-dummy chiller.)

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971, ?) (I think a Hammer... very solid, effective Egyptian hokum, with a really stunning lead actress playing an awakened empress or such like... :))

The Mummy (1932, ?) (Karloff magnificent... not quite as good as some of the other early-30s horrors all the way through, but pretty seminal in part.)

Rosemary's Baby (1968, Roman Polanski) (Everyone'll know why and how this is good...)

Psycho (1960, Alf Hitchcock) (Such precision... shame about the cop-out coda.)

Night of the Living Dead (1968, G.A. Romero) (Can't be denied; this is a smashing film. The oddly amateurish acting actually adds to the not-quite-right aura of this film. The pay-off is difficult to top.)

The Hour of the Wolf (1968, Ingmar Bergman) (Not a classic, and not always that memorable, but very well handled atmosphere generally...)

Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer) (More horrific than horror... and on a psychological, claustrophobic level. Brilliantly crushed, solemn John Randolph enters into a deal that gives him a new body - that of Rock Hudson... and well, it's all mindblowing and *genuinely* disturbing, as it looks into a certain mindset, and into society.)

As well as these, things like "Mad Love", "The Innocents", "The Curse of the Demon", the Paul Leni "The Man Who Laughs" and virtually all Val Lewton films for RKO in the 1940s are very highly rated... ("Cat People" is on late Saturday night on BBC2, folks...) Hopefully I'll get to see these, someday.
I'd like also to see some 60s Barbara Steele horror films; she seems like she'd be quite something...

Somewhere inbetween:
Horror Express (an early 1970s Hammer) (This was by all rates a poor film, yet compulsively watchable, and kepy afloat by Lee & Cushing. A bizarre, seemingly drugged Telly Savalas wanders in and much absurdity ensues... I seem to recall!)

Scanners (1981, D. Cronenberg) (Nice, electronic music, gore and a sense of low-tech oddity about it... yet, adds up to what exactly?)

Mask of Fu Manchu (1932, ?) (See Karloff in a slightly weaker vehicle here... much crusty stiff-upper-lip silliness amongst the British/American characters. Not as effective as "The Mummy", but maybe worth a watch.)

The Ninth Gate (1999, Roman Polanski) (He coasts it a bit here, though I enjoyed this film.)

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) (All very competent, but lacks spirit somehow... not a patch on the novel, despite there being good things in it.)

The Raven (1963, Roger Corman) (Comedy that falls flat some of the time... but what a cast! Splendidly buxom, flashing-eyed Hazel Court, weaselling Peter Lorre, hawkish Karloff, Price playing it for laughs... a goofball Jack Nicholson...)

Videodrome (1983, D. Cronenberg) (Like "Scanners", I just didn't find this appealing in any concrete way. Some oddball Debbie Harry action, and generally an engaging first half, but the end part just didn't grab me at all.)

Destroy:
The Mutations (1973, Jack Cardiff) (Appalling abomination of a film I saw in the summer on Sky Cinema... uses actual sideshow 'freaks' and unlike the excellent, humanistic "Freaks", actually shows a Freak Show almost in its entirety, which is horrible viewing. The only saving grace is Basil Kirchin's sublime score, which is partly drawn from other projects of his anyway...)

Dracula (1992, Coppola) (Below-par effort, though it avoids being a complete misfire. Tom Waits is amusing/effective as the perennial Renfield.)

The Haunting (1999, de Bont) (Appalling clatter of noise and sfx. Nothing else whatsoever really.)

Demon Seed (1977, Donald Cammell) (Maybe more SF, but whatever, this is a poor, dull film, with an irritating, over-egged scenario.)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola): A terrible film from the man who helmed some of my fave films ever. A total misfire of an adaptation with horrific acting.

The Silence of the Lambs: For all the hype it really is nothing more than a relatively tepid slasher flick.

Ring: The Japanese original is sooo dull it barely even needs further discussion. The yank remake was miles better, oddly enough (and, yes, I ADORE Japanese and Hong Kong horror, but Jeez there is so much better than this out there).

Rosemary's Baby: Yup, I'm continuing to slaughter the classics here. Just doesn't do much for me.

The Shining: See the "Rough Guide" thread for my opinion on this.

Mondo films: Fairly self explanatory. We'll stop with the classics now.

Italian cannibal movies: Animal cruelty, rape galore = highly offensive and not very good.

Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Joking aside this really is as bad as it's made out to be.

All underground horror movies shot on tape: If you've ever suffered through one you know what I mean.

I Spit on Your Grave: Really, it is pretty damn unwatchable at the end of the day...

Have many people seen "The Innocents"? Another on my to-see list. Same era as TH. Peter Wyngarde I believe, and Deborah Kerr. And all based on Henry James. Interesting mixture...

"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1931, Rouben Mamoulian) (with Fredric March...)
Have many actually seen this...? I was bowled over and surprised by it in a way only comparable maybe to seeing Murnau's "Sunrise" in a cinema or the first time I saw a Powell & Pressburger, or maybe "Mulholland Dr." in the cinema when it was first out...

Also, great list Tom May.

Calum, I haven't seen the American Ring, but I thought Ringu was pretty good. Yes, it is slow, but that's the whole point: it slowly builds it's tension instead of using shock scenes like most of American horror flicks. Dark Water might've been even better, but the ending was a bit conventional compared to the unconventionality of the rest of the flick.

Anyway, search (besides the films already mentioned here):

The Tenant: not as good as as Repulsion, but better than Rosemary's Baby. Great claustrophobic and surreal scenes, with Roman Polanski himself playing the lead role.

Audition: Takashi Miike's best film which builds slowly to a gruesome ending.

Alien: no comments necessary.

The Thing: John Carpenter's best horror flick, better than the good but overrated Halloween.

Birds: apart from Psycho, Hitchcock's only venture to pure horror. Great use of sound, one of the scariest scenes is one where the birds aren't even seen.

Interview with the Vampire: a lot of people might disagree, but I thought the film was actually better than the book, which was a bit dull at times.

World Apartment Horror: Katsuhiro Otomo's only live action flick, a funny B-budget horror comedy with a message.

Destroy:

Nosferatu: one of those silent films that haven't aged well. A couple of pretty scenes there, but nothing else.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: yes, it is a bit more relentless than your usual slasher flick, and the characters are refreshingly unlikable, but I still can't find anything particularly good about this supposed classic.

The Hills Have Eyes: kinda like the previous, but even worse. What's so scary about fuckin' cavemen?

Mother's Day: yet another overrated cult classic. The only good thing about it is the unconventional plot turn where the stereotypical screaming horror flick ladies decide to take revenge.

But I'm surprised nobody mentioned Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead - both classics.

Also:

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Spoorloos (The Vanishing)

i think maybe the separation between "suspense" and "horror" might not even be necessary, but i can't think of an alternative off of the top of my head.

i was driving to the video store to return some movies yesterday, and i started thinking what it must of been like in the old days when you simply went to see "a movie". you could call it a "scary" movie or a "funny" movie or a "serious" movie, but that was about it. these days there are a million genres and a billion subgenres, and it all just gets so damn confusing and pointless to have to categorize everything. i kind of like the view of most avant-garde directors, who refuse to label their work "experimental" or "underground" or "avant-garde" and instead simply call them "films".

Given that horror (or "scary") is probably my favorite genre, I put damn near everything I like into it somehow. From God Told Me To to Autopsy to Irréversible to The Tenant to Crash to Deep Red to Dressed to Kill to Paperhouse to The Company of Wolves and so on... All could easily be "protected" from the classification of horror, but all of them contain scenes or elements that best represent the strengths of that genre.

Add supernatural to it and there you have it.
Call me conservative, but I think that's the right distinction

Then what about "Science Fiction?"

I guess i'm with Eric H--I never considered myself a horror fan, but if you broaden the criteria a bit, i guess i do.

Does shock value constitute "scary" as well? Could you possibly classify "Julian Donkey-Boy" or "Pink Flamingos" as horrific films (among other qualities)? Just seeing how far we can push it in order to help define the boundaries.

It's a look into the future, it has scientific, rational scources. (excuse my poor English) Well at least the serious sci-fi movies. Of course you have scary sci-fi movies with monsters.
And those, like Alien, I would call horror too. Here it gets slippery: demons, ghosts and monsters don't excist in our time, you can never be certain ofcourse;-) but I don't believe in them anyway.
Maybe they do in the future, but serious: will they?
So you can call those... ehm ...Sci-fi horror....not that convincing is it? ;-)

Does shock value constitute "scary" as well?

What do you mean by that?
(Of course it does): shock value and scary things you'll find in both horror and thriller.
Horror with elements that don't excist (monsters, ghosts etc.) Thriller with things that do excist:
freaks, serial kilers, jealous lovers etc.

Could you possibly classify "Julian Donkey-Boy" or "Pink Flamingos" as horrific films (among other qualities)?

I'm terribly sorry, I haven't seen these movies. What are they about? Would you recommend these movies?

the innocents is the scariest b/w film that i've ever seen. seriously, it gave me the creeps.

scorsese picks his eleven favourite horror movies (its a very odd list):

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-28/martin-scorseses-top-11-horror-films-of-all-time/full/

#1 otm. don't really know anything about 2-6 - The Entity reads like a sexploitation Exorcist.

That Exorcist clip wasn't in the original release. Just watched it, one of the v few I've seen anything to do with the film since it shit me up so badly 15 years ago. Still gives me shudders even tho it looks kinda ridiculous.

the entity has almost the same exact pot structure as poltergeist but with 10 times the ghost rape

plot structure

haw

'The Innocents' is excellent.
Angel Heart
Don't Look Now
INLAND EMPIRE
The Stand, tv mini-series
Carnivale, cable series

Wbout Lord of Illusions? Easily top 5 of the 90's I'd say

POSSESSION

i'd never consider myself a horror fan but looking at this page I realize I've seen a shitload of horror movies and i AM a big fan. Spoorloos is one fantastic movie EVERYONE shld see. would arrivé près de chez vous (man bites dog) be considered a horror movie? my fave belgian movie. lol

also, i'm a (ahum) sucker for coppola's dracula. i know it's shit but i can't help liking it.

It isn't shit at all - there are a lot of wobbly performances, but it looks fabulous throughout, and gets over more of the novel than most adaptations bother with, using an array of wonderful old-school effects and visual devices. Compare it with Interview With The Vampire or Underworld, rather than Apocalypse Now or The Godfather.

As much as I ADORE Man Bites Dog, I strongly disagree that it is a movie EVERYONE should see :P Are people calling it a horror film? It's a straight up black comedy, isn't it?

wait Spoorloos nvm

haven't seen MBD since it came out, but yes i'd call it black comedy.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse is the one great horror film I've seen in the last ten years. (no blood that I can recall, but totally unnerving)

Thinking of having a bash at writing a horror screenplay, I have what I think is quite a good idea. Does anyone know of any worthwhile structural analyses of the genre?

Has anyone seen this?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/zarpafilms/RoD6702.jpg

There were some clips from it on the horror movie themed episode of See Hear that I just watched and it looked AMAZING

First BSL horror film apparently

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/51484#.UnGoA_kvWcY

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/zarpafilms/RoD6703.jpg