Favorite Horror/Scary Movies

[bundabergdevil]

We're going to be watching a few scary movies in the coming days in honor of Halloween. Any suggestions? All-time favorites? Recent goodies that slid under the radar? Secret Netflix finds? Tonight we're watching Hereditary, which has received very strong reviews for the genre. Looking forward to some comfort food and pissing myself a little!

And please, no puns about how the current state of politics and the 2020 election is enough of a horror show...

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

We're going to be watching a few scary movies in the coming days in honor of Halloween. Any suggestions? All-time favorites? Recent goodies that slid under the radar? Secret Netflix finds? Tonight we're watching Hereditary, which has received very strong reviews for the genre. Looking forward to some comfort food and pissing myself a little!

And please, no puns about how the current state of politics and the 2020 election is enough of a horror show...

Alien and Jaws stand the test of time.

[Devilwin]

The Haunting (Original, with Julie Harris) Poltergeist , Salem's Lot , The Birds , The Mist , It

[Cormac]

Hereditary, Midsommar, Apostle, The Witch, Hold the Dark, Haunting of Hill House if you want a series. Rosemary’s Baby (original), Let the Right One In (original film), The Ritual.


Oops, you’re already watching Hereditary.

[left_hook_lacey]

Jeepers Creepers.

The shining.

The saw series. Some are better than others.

Signs.

[Rich]

Oldies but goodies:

The Shining
Carrie
Blair Witch Project (which I don't think gets enough credit, but was groundbreaking in how it was filmed)
Evil Dead (for a little gory fun)

[bundabergdevil]

Hereditary, Midsommar, Apostle, The Witch, Hold the Dark, Haunting of Hill House if you want a series. Rosemary’s Baby (original), Let the Right One In (original film), The Ritual.


Oops, you’re already watching Hereditary.

Yes, we watched Hereditary tonight. It was very good, some genuinely horrifying and unsettling moments. Toni Collette was wonderful as usual. Hail Paimon!

I've heard Midsommar is good and that's on the list. I've also heard it's brutally violent. I don't mind violence or even extreme violence in a film with an interesting story but I haven't particularly enjoyed the films where the story is a sidebar to the gore/shock like Saw, Hostel, and such. Would you put it in that category or does it have a pretty good premise and story to go along with the blood and guts?

Oldies but goodies:

The Shining
Carrie
Blair Witch Project (which I don't think gets enough credit, but was groundbreaking in how it was filmed)
Evil Dead (for a little gory fun)

I agree. I was a good age when it came out and the marketing had me and my friends hook, line, and sinker. It doesn't get enough credit for executing a novel idea well. It maybe wasn't the first found footage movie in history but it sure as heck mainstreamed it. Upon re-watch, the acting is pretty darn good and I believed those kids were terrified in the woods. It's also an awful lot smarter than most horror flicks --- what we don't see is scarier than what we see. It's also one of the most profitable movies of all time (measured in ROI) so that's got to count for something!

[Cormac]

Yes, we watched Hereditary tonight. It was very good, some genuinely horrifying and unsettling moments. Toni Collette was wonderful as usual. Hail Paimon!

I've heard Midsommar is good and that's on the list. I've also heard it's brutally violent. I don't mind violence or even extreme violence in a film with an interesting story but I haven't particularly enjoyed the films where the story is a sidebar to the gore/shock like Saw, Hostel, and such. Would you put it in that category or does it have a pretty good premise and story to go along with the blood and guts?

Midsommar is nothing like the saw style torture porn movies (I can enjoy some of those, not a knock). It’s a very slow burn. There aren’t that many violent scenes, but when they come, hoooo boy do they come on. It’s 2.5 hours so you have to be able to enjoy a dialogue heavy/atmospheric type film. I think I’d call it a character study horror film more than anything else. It doesn’t have any jump scares. But it has some downright weird scenes. Florence Pugh is phenomenal. I really enjoyed it.

[bundabergdevil]

Midsommar is nothing like the saw style torture porn movies (I can enjoy some of those, not a knock). It’s a very slow burn. There aren’t that many violent scenes, but when they come, hoooo boy do they come on. It’s 2.5 hours so you have to be able to enjoy a dialogue heavy/atmospheric type film. I think I’d call it a character study horror film more than anything else. It doesn’t have any jump scares. But it has some downright weird scenes. Florence Pugh is phenomenal. I really enjoyed it.

Good deal, thanks. Sounds like Midsommar will be coming to screen in the bundaberg household soon!

The wife and I watched As Above So Below tonight, which is like a totally found footage version of The Descent. We enjoyed it, though not as much as we did The Descent. The Parisian catacombs was a brilliant stroke for a setting and the movie had a nice slow build to the horror. I particularly liked some of their more claustrophobic moments, which had their intended effect on me. A couple of great scares. Fairly formulaic but executed well. All in all, a fun night of our pre-Halloween scary movie binge fest.

[CameronBlue]

The Exorcist is the scariest movie I've ever seen. It was a cultural phenomenon upon its release, really nothing else quite like it. The acting was superb and the film was cut together very well IMHO. The possession/exorcism scenes may even be superceded by a realistic depiction of cerebral angiography which some critics felt was excessive (please, it's a horror film, it's all about excess). Here's the scene for those who haven't seen the movie. Record it, project it on your garage door on a loop for Halloween. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okd4ISkI8mg

Exorcist III may also have given us the single best horror scene of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5OGQr3xdfM

[Reddevil]

Lots of good suggestions here.
I found Sinister to be downright scary.
I watch a bunch of these and that one got me just as The Conjuring and The Exercist did.

[Edouble]

Scary:
The Shining
The Exorcist
Alien
The Omen
Rosemary's Baby
Insidious
The Ring
Halloween
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Conjuring
The Babadok
Jaws (scary, not seasonally appropriate IMO)

*Please do not watch The Witch... it was just awful DO NOT WATCH, no point*

Funny, not too scary:
Evil Dead II
The Lost Boys
Beetlejuice

Campy 80s stuff that I like because they tried really hard and has sentimental value:
Hellraiser
First eight Friday the 13th movies
All ANOES movies except #2
Child's Play
Candyman

[BD80]

Do Gigli, From Justin to Kelly, Battlefield Earth, Green Lantern and Catwoman belong on this thread? They were truly scary, but not anyone's favorite.

[Acymetric]

Scary:
Jaws (scary, not seasonally appropriate IMO)

I agree with this, and would submit that Alien also lacks a seasonally appropriate feel.

[bundabergdevil]

Scary:
The Shining
The Exorcist
Alien
The Omen
Rosemary's Baby
Insidious
The Ring
Halloween
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Conjuring
The Babadok
Jaws (scary, not seasonally appropriate IMO)

*Please do not watch The Witch... it was just awful DO NOT WATCH, no point*

Funny, not too scary:
Evil Dead II
The Lost Boys
Beetlejuice

Campy 80s stuff that I like because they tried really hard and has sentimental value:
Hellraiser
First eight Friday the 13th movies
All ANOES movies except #2
Child's Play
Candyman

We watched The Conjuring last night and really enjoyed it. Made us both jump a couple of times. I didn't realize it has spun out several movies that take place in the same horror universe...additional Conjurings, Annabelle, The Nun, etc. Pretty interesting. Also went down the true story worm hole.

The possession/speaking in tongues thing has always interested me. I dated a girl in high school who's family was way backwoods TN. The grandma of the family had a series of mental breakdowns and would sometimes go into trances and speak in strange languages or talk about things that nobody understood like the "seven old spirits" (if memory serves). Her entire body would go rigid and her legs would shoot out in front of her and lock into place so that no one could push them down. Over the years, they had tape recorded her sessions and my girlfriend's father had some at their house. She let me listen to one of them and it wasn't psychotic yelling or anything, more a very odd croak talking about very odd things. Anyway, I don't think she was "possessed" and that there is some medical basis for whatever her condition was but damn if it wasn't creepy and could easily be thought of as being possessed.

[rsvman]

Could somebody please explain to me the appeal of horror movies? I've never quite understood why people enjoy these. I don't remember ever seeing a horror movie that I enjoyed (granted, I haven't made an effort to see them because they don't appeal to me).

What's the reason you watch horror movies?

[Highlander]

Could somebody please explain to me the appeal of horror movies? I've never quite understood why people enjoy these. I don't remember ever seeing a horror movie that I enjoyed (granted, I haven't made an effort to see them because they don't appeal to me).

What's the reason you watch horror movies?

My mom has always hated horror movies, and as such basically refused to rent them for us to watch as kids. That, coupled with a ban on all R rated movies severely limited what I was allowed to see. So, as a teenage boy, every Halloween I naturally wanted to watch whatever "edited for television" horror movies I could get my hands on every Halloween. And I loved every minute of it.

I think today I personally enjoy Horror because I like being scared when I know nothing is real. It's kind of akin to watching a sport on TV - you don't know what's going to happen or how it will end, and that's exciting. I don't like slasher movies as much as monster/supernatural thrillers (Evil Dead, Aliens, The Ring, The Grudge, etc.). But a well done slasher that keeps you guessing like Scream is great. I stink at figuring out who the killer is tho.

[bundabergdevil]

Could somebody please explain to me the appeal of horror movies? I've never quite understood why people enjoy these. I don't remember ever seeing a horror movie that I enjoyed (granted, I haven't made an effort to see them because they don't appeal to me).

What's the reason you watch horror movies?

Because movies about death by diabetes take too long and my back won't abide roller coasters anymore?

Demons and ghosts and monsters have been around in our stories as long as humans have been able to tell them, they're how we explained a lot of things we didn't understand. So, I think we're wired for it. We tell stories about every aspect of the human experience - love, war, success, redemption, etc - so why not fear? And, I'm only partly joking about the diabetes and the roller coasters. We obviously self-titillate in a number of ways. Watching a scary movie seems no different to me than a good work out, doing a drug, mountain biking, etc. Just another way to activate our internal stimulants.

When my children are of age, I plan to show them all the horror movies because the best ones are mostly warnings to teenagers not to have sex in cars. Or campgrounds. Or ever.

[CameronBlue]

Depends how you define "horror" I guess. A true "horror film" by my definition conjures up images of the B-movie slasher films from the 60s with thin scripts and little subtext and sophomoric humor...and no they are not appealing. They're just frequently gross to no real lasting effect.

"Horror" films that tread in the territory of spirituality, life after death, good and evil (or Good and Evil), etc etc...have the advantage that most humans have a macabre fascination about such themes--you know, the whole "what happens after you die" thing. In the hands of a capable director and screenwriter such films tend to have a lot of meat on the bone. The Exorcist, Poltergeist and others fall into that category for my money. They're not horror films but they have the potential to be a LOT more disturbing.

William Friedkin who directed The Exorcist called his film a "theological thriller". When it premiered in 1973 I was a teenager. I had heard of exorcisms but really knew nothing about the ritual. Being pretty involved in the Episcopal Church at the time I went to the opening weekend curious about the differences between Episcopalian and Catholic doctrine. I got a whole lot more than I bargained for; the film left me scared to fall asleep for about 5 months. Today it's my favorite film in the genre, in large measure because it's so well crafted.

[Devilwin]

After watching the Haunting (original, not the stupid remake), I didn't sleep much for a couple of days. It did not show a single ghost, but the sounds were enough to keep the covers over your head. Scariest flic ever in my estimation..