Scary Movies!

[Doria]

Most of today's horror movies get by with shock and gore and there's nothing wrong with that if that's your cup of tea, however I'll go for mood and atmosphere instead.

It's often what you don't see that will get the hair standing up on your neck rather than what you are actually shown.

One of the masters of mood and atmosphere was Val Lewton, give one of his movies a try on some dark, lonely night.

A lot of the RKO movies in general were pretty great, though I'm biased toward the Lewton or Tourneau ones. Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, Night of the Demon (that was another studio, but still great) spring to mind. I'm sure I'm forgetting some--and there are some good films that weren't horror, like Out of the Past etc.

[Doria]

Inspired by this thread, I decided to turn off the lights and watch a scary movie tonight. I chose The Conjuring. All I can say is, dammit Devilwin! Why? Why did you start this thread?

But you got to see a good movie, right? Still, I know how you feel having done that a few times in the past year. I wish the sequel weren't coming out so soon, but with all the summer movies, this might have to be a rental; I hope it'll be good, though I didn't even bother with the spin-off about the doll.

Reading Edouble's post about It (which I agree was scary, and did some interesting things to set up a general feeling of unpredictability and hence tension), I realized that I forgot The Shining. I didn't like it as an adaptation, and a bunch of technically proficient shots ended up being so artsy as to distract, but a lot of stuff in the movie was still plenty scary. I made my parents check the bathtub for me before baths for a while, and I wasn't even that young at the time.

Salem's Lot had some good moments, too, as someone mentioned. I love the book, and taught it for a gothic literature class (juxtaposed with Dracula), so I was a little disappointed by the adaptation, but it gets the big moments right. I feel much the same way as I did about Straub's Ghost Story. With the exception of the--at the time--ridiculously scary "gotcha" at the end of the original Carrie, I think those are the scariest King adaptations.

Well, now that I randomly have the main Candyman theme lodged firmly in my head, guess that's my hint to go to bed. I really hope I don't dream about Pennywise, sigh.

[kmspeaks]

I don't watch a ton of movies, I've never been able to sit still for that long, so I feel out of my league contributing to this thread but there are 3 which immediately come to mind.

1. The Birds - I was repeatedly attacked by a bird when walking home from elementary school so the creatures terrify me. I've never been able to finish the movie.

2. Darkness Falls - It's a twisted version of the tooth fairy story. I was 14 and had yet to lose all my teeth the first time I saw it...those baby teeth are still in there. Turns out keeping baby teeth into adulthood runs in the family but I like to blame it on that movie.

3. This probably shouldn't count but there's an episode of Tales of the Crypt I saw in elementary school that still comes back to occasionally haunt me. A woman is using the restroom at a bar when the lights are turned off. When she calls out to someone to turn the lights back on a man breaks open her stall and kills her. I remember nothing about the rest of the episode but every once in a while I'll walk into a public restroom and remind myself to be quiet and lift your feet up if the lights get turned off.

[Newton_14]

I am not one for blood and gore, so I'm going to concentrate on ones that are scary because they're suspenseful, not because I'd rather not see someone appear to get sliced to bits or whatever.

Scary:

1. Psycho
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. Cape Fear
4. The Game
5. Fatal Attraction

Honorary Mention

• Dead Again
• Witness
• Memento
• Argo
• LA Confidential
• The Usual Suspects

Not scary at all: The Blair Witch Project

Love your Top 5. Saw all of them except Number 4. Also saw LA Confidential. I will add "Sleeping with the Enemy". That one had me on edge several times. I also like "Safe Haven" but mainly because of being hopelessly awestruck by Julianne Hough. whew...

[luburch]

My top five scary movies based on what scared me and in the order of the visceral fright that I experienced.

1. The Babaduke
I'm putting this one at the top because I couldn't sleep after I watched it. I kept waking up all night. Scared the hell out of me. Creepy kids and monsters that you don't see, or only see briefly, scare the pants off of me. These are reoccurring themes on this list.

Whaaaatttt? I wanted to like this one. Heard all the great reviews for it, but then I watched it and was extremely disappointed. For me The Taking of Deborah Logan is by far the scariest film I've watched on Netflix. Up until the last 15 minutes or so that is, then it just goes off the rails.

[Doria]

A couple people here mentioned Val Lewton, the great RKO producer. I came across a duplicate DVD I have of Martin Scorsese's documentary Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows. It's still factory sealed (I think I had a copy already, and someone gave this one to me).

If anyone would like it, I am willing to mail it to you; please send me a PM. I am also giving away some other DVDs (mostly foreign-language films) and video games (all platforms); again, if anyone is interested, contact me by PM, and I'll send you a link to the list.

[weezie]

The Presidential Election Thread is scary enough for me.

Sacred Cow status and all.

[Reddevil]

Inspired by this thread, I decided to turn off the lights and watch a scary movie tonight. I chose The Conjuring. All I can say is, dammit Devilwin! Why? Why did you start this thread?

Yes, the Conjuring! I saw it in the theater and I think I was in the mood to be scarred. Sometimes you are and sometimes you are not.

Sinister is truly scary too.

The blob scared the crap out of me when I was about 6. I slept with the covers wrapped over my head for the next four years. Now it is funny of course, but then it was NOT.

[captmojo]

I thought this was about the TSA.

[Doria]

I just saw that the Criterion Collection is issuing a Blu-ray of the 1942 Cat People, if anyone else is interested. According to Amazon, it will be released September 20. Criterion almost always does great restoration work, so I'm eagerly anticipating this.

[captmojo]

"There ain't but two thangs I can't stand, and zombies iz bof of'em!"

[CameronBornAndBred]

Ok, one more thread. What's your top five movies that actually may have scared you a bit. I don't scare easily, but my five at least gave me a start, because I was a kid when they came out..lol
1. The Haunting.
The original with Julie Harris, Claire Bloom. Disembodied sounds and voices, pounding, doors that breathed in and out. My top scary flic can still give me the creeps all these years later!

What that movie does with minimal special effects and atmosphere, and the limited resources available to them in that era of film making, is still timeless and powerful. And wonderfully scary. It's one of those I am always on the lookout for on TCM to record.

FYI, The Haunting is on TCM on Halloween. (Along with a few other great scary classics.)

[CameronBornAndBred]

MSN has a list of 100 of the scariest movies up. (The Haunting comes in at 37.)

Many sequels show up (Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, etc), but only one series has two in the top 5. Any guesses which, without cheating and looking?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/gall...ime/ss-AAiUyZc

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

MSN has a list of 100 of the scariest movies up. (The Haunting comes in at 37.)

Many sequels show up (Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, etc), but only one series has two in the top 5. Any guesses which, without cheating and looking?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/gall...ime/ss-AAiUyZc

Alien/s?

They mostly come out at night. Mostly.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Alien/s?

And in that order. I'd assume you could make a list of top 100 sci-fi movies and see that episodes 4 and 5 of Star Wards do the same thing. (And Alien/s for that matter.)
And of course, the third outing of each could be left off the list entirely.

[Doria]

That was an interesting list, though I wasn't too sure about how they measured best and/or horror. Still, they had a number of overlooked films on that (e.g., Near Dark, which could be considered Aliens 1.5, since it's not at all related, but shares a core cast). I think, despite their preponderance in the top 20 or so, older films are still underrepresented; foreign-language films are arguably underrepresented, as well.

Still, no major objections with their choices, though there are obviously some I'd exclude in favor of different films. I'd probably factor scariness more heavily, too. Maybe influence on the genre, also.

Good read, though. Thanks for posting.

[chriso]

Ok, one more thread. What's your top five movies that actually may have scared you a bit. I don't scare easily, but my five at least gave me a start, because I was a kid when they came out..lol
1. The Haunting.
The original with Julie Harris, Claire Bloom. Disembodied sounds and voices, pounding, doors that breathed in and out. My top scary flic can still give me the creeps all these years later!
2. Salem's Lot.
The best vampire movie ever, in my humble opinion. Something about the kid floating at the window...
3. Them!
Giant radioactive mutant ants terrorize Los Angeles in this oldie but a goodie...
4. Jeepers Creepers.
The first one. Man eating demon that whistles an old tune while he carves you up. Weird, but a good one.
5. The Thing.
The second one, with Kurt Russell. Great special effects, good story line. One of the rare times the re-make is better than the original..

My top 5 scary movies. 1. Alien. 2. Halloween. 3. The Descent. 4. Insidious.(Yikes) 5. Nightmare on Elm St. Honorable mentions: Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead, Carnival of Souls, The Conjuring, Wrong Turn, Jaws(more of a thriller), and 28 Days Later.

[Udaman]

Top 5

5. The Ring

4. Alien

3. Jaws

2. The Exorcist

1. Halloween

(Nightmare on Elm Street would be #6)

[chriso]

Top 5

5. The Ring

4. Alien

3. Jaws

2. The Exorcist

1. Halloween

(Nightmare on Elm Street would be #6)

That's a good list. The Ring is creepy. I won't watch The Exorcist due to the fact that I'm Catholic and I actually want to sleep at night. Insidious really got under my skin.

[burnspbesq]

Anybody else remember "Duel," the Spielberg-directed made-for-TV film from around 1971?