Favorite horror movies?

[James Y]

Holy Hawkbill BATMAN!!!! James your not kidding. That old actress Olivia DeHavilland is still alive!!! :eek: and 102 years old at that :eek: A few years back I used to joke with my late mother ( GOD rest her soul) and I always told her that she would out-live me because she was in another paradigm and was just way too mean to die :rolleyes: >> of course I was just joking :D but with "Olivia DeHavilland" I'm not joking>> that's got to be one of the biggest reason's she's still alive. Holy Mackerel!! that gal even starred in "GONE WITH THE WIND" with Clark Gable back in the 1930s which was even considered an old movie even when I was a little kid and I just turned 65 last December :eek:

Not only all of that I just mentioned but to rub serious "insult into injury" she has a case pending in the USA Supreme Court at age 102 :eek: !!! and I'm sure they will rule in her favor out of pure fear if nothing else :rolleyes: I guess a lot of these old horror movie actresses don't die they just get meaner over time :D

Oops, sorry, I meant Olivia DeHavilland; why did I type 'Gloria'? The first time I heard her name, I was a little kid and it was in this cartoon, which was old by the time I saw it, LOL:
https://youtu.be/8CvfeUbpoFg

The fact that she was mentioned in a Bugs Bunny cartoon way back then and is still alive today is almost mind-blowing.

Jim

[James Y]

Now the 1960s and the "HORROR" genre had a lot of changes during that decade. One of the very first movies to ever give me literal nightmares was an old Vincent Price movie entitled "The Pit & The Pendulum" which I believe was an old Edgar Allen Poe story. But Vincent Price was truly ahead of his time. Again I was just a kid when I saw that film at our old Roxy Theatre in my home town and I wasn't even 10 years old yet. But that was truly the first film I ever remember giving me literal nightmares.

Another really creepy movie in the 70s that I just can't forget was an old Ray Milland movie entitled "Frogs". For a movie cast in the early 1970s I thought that film was another one somewhat ahead of it's time. There were several critics that believed they stole that plot from an old Alfred Hitchcock movie. I had mentioned some other movies in an earlier post from the early 70s and "Frogs" was another one I can't ever get out of my head.

And to grow up in an era where Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling were in their prime was most interesting to say the least. OK to add one more to that list was a film I first saw when I was in high school that had a lasting impact on me. I've probably viewed it more than about any other movie I had ever seen. The movie was entitled "The Blood Of The Vampire" and it was a 1958 release. It is most interesting how VCRs changed everything in the late 70s, early 80s.

Vincent Price was usually very entertaining, with his droll sense of humor. One movie where he played a vicious bad guy with none of his usual humor at all was Witchfinder General. Good movie.

I remember as a kid, seeing the TV ad for Frogs, but I've never seen it yet. I've also never seen The Pit and the Pendulum, but it sounds good.

The Twilight Zone was one of the things my big brother used to force me to watch to scare me when I was really little. The one episode that scared the **** out of me was the one with the evil ventriloquist dummy. Later, by the early '70s, I was watching horror on my own (often sneak-watching late at night on TV), and I remember some episodes of Night Gallery spooking me out, especially the one where the old lady is buried in her garden, then she sprouts and comes back, saying, "Everything I plant grows!" with a creepy smile on her face. Also another episode titled, "The Ghost in Tap Shoes". I recently rewatched several Night Gallery episodes, but they didn't affect me at all like they did back then.

I don't recall if I saw 'Blood of the Vampire', but another 1958 vampire release I used to love (and still like) is Horror of Dracula, starring Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. A lot of those old Hammer Films were great.

My favorite Hammer film, though, was 'The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas'. Unlike any other 'cryptid' movie I've ever seen, it showed the Yeti as highly advanced beings, with telepathic powers, and it was way ahead of its time in 1957 when it was originally released. It's actually more of a psychological movie than a monster movie.

Jim

[ChrisinHove]

Does Natural Born Killers (directors cut) count as a horror movie? Any goths in Spyderville? City of Lost Children, anyone?

I'm a Rob Zombie fan too, House of 1k, Devil's Rejects, 31.

Demon Knight was good. Cabin in the Woods.

Does Alien(s) count?

Not exactly a goth but I loved The Crow!

[James Y]

Does Natural Born Killers (directors cut) count as a horror movie? Any goths in Spyderville? City of Lost Children, anyone?

I'm a Rob Zombie fan too, House of 1k, Devil's Rejects, 31.

Demon Knight was good. Cabin in the Woods.

Does Alien(s) count?

Natural Born Killers might not be a horror film per se, but I suppose you could count it as such.

I think the Alien movies can count. They contain elements of both sci-fi and horror. Sometimes, there is a fine line between the two genres.

'Event Horizon' is another movie that straddles the line between sci-fi and horror, but it's actually a horror movie set on a spaceship. Although it's hard for any movie to creep me out, I found the concept in 'Event Horizon' to be terrifying...the idea that a spaceship using 'wormholes' for super-advanced space travel ends up accidentally crossing over into a hellish dimension of pure evil.

Jim

[ZrowsN1s]

Does Natural Born Killers (directors cut) count as a horror movie? Any goths in Spyderville? City of Lost Children, anyone?

I'm a Rob Zombie fan too, House of 1k, Devil's Rejects, 31.

Demon Knight was good. Cabin in the Woods.

Does Alien(s) count?

Not exactly a goth but I loved The Crow!

Me too.

[ZrowsN1s]

Does Natural Born Killers (directors cut) count as a horror movie? Any goths in Spyderville? City of Lost Children, anyone?

I'm a Rob Zombie fan too, House of 1k, Devil's Rejects, 31.

Demon Knight was good. Cabin in the Woods.

Does Alien(s) count?

Natural Born Killers might not be a horror film per se, but I suppose you could count it as such.

I think the Alien movies can count. They contain elements of both sci-fi and horror. Sometimes, there is a fine line between the two genres.

'Event Horizon' is another movie that straddles the line between sci-fi and horror, but it's actually a horror movie set on a spaceship. Although it's hard for any movie to creep me out, I found the concept in 'Event Horizon' to be terrifying...the idea that a spaceship using 'wormholes' for super-advanced space travel ends up accidentally crossing over into a hellish dimension of pure evil.

Jim

Good points. I forgot about event horizon, good movie. That reminds me, In the Mouth of Madness was a good horror flick too.

[Crux]

The Omen.

[Extra330SC]

The Shining
I saw it when I was fourteen with my rebellious older sister and her friends. I can still remember the "noises " Nicholson made as his character was freezing to death searching the maze for Danny! Awesome movie and a true classic by Kubrick.

James

[JD Spydo]

The Omen.

With Gregory Peck right? IF that is the same one I remember seeing it way back in the late 70s. Can't remember who the leading woman was in that movie or who played Anti-Christ Junior ( Damien). But you're right because that movie did have a special tone of wickedness to it.

That movie kind of set the stage for the AmittyVille Horror>> it seemed like there were a lot of those demonic movies toward the end of the 70s decade. It seems like I was going to some horror type movie about every two weeks back then. But those two movies I mentioned earlier were both way ahead of their time for early 70s i.e. "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" and "Asylum". Everyone I've gotten to watch those can't hardly believe that they were made in the early 70s.

[James Y]

The Omen.

The thing about The Omen (original 1970s version) that creeped me out the most was the soundtrack. Back in the '70s and '80s, the movie soundtracks (including horror movies) were truly original and unique.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

The Omen.

The thing about The Omen (original 1970s version) that creeped me out the most was the soundtrack. Back in the '70s and '80s, the movie soundtracks (including horror movies) were truly original and unique.

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Even that really eerie soundtrack music that Mike Oldfield did for the EXORCIST I also thought was super creepy and stuff I wouldn't forget even if I lived to be 200 years old I wouldn't forget it.
I just bought tickets today to see the brand new version of Pet Sematary out our local theatre here in Blue Springs, MO. I heard it's almost sold out for the first week showing. The original 1989 version of Pet Sematary was truly ahead of it's time and it's truly one of Stephen King's masterpieces.
Kind of strange for me to get excited over a newer movie because I really don't go to movies much anymore. Most of the movies I've seen in the past 8 to 10 years are truly trash

About 15 years ago they did a follow up of the 1975 classic movie ROLLERBALL and the new one stunk like roadkill. I couldn't even believe they had the gall to associate that new Rollerball movie to the ultra-classic 1975 version with James Caan which in my opinion was one of the top 5 best films of all time IMO. I heard that they lost some serious money on that newer Rollerball movie and they truly deserved it in my opinion. So I'm hoping this new Pet Sematary is going to be a good one. The people who run the movie house are sure excited about it so we'll see. My ticket is for Thursday, April 4, at 7:00pm and I can't wait.

[cycleguy]

Probably a bit generational and age related; but I was never big on horror films.

My two favorites - Freddie and Michael - are slasher movies. In order:
1) A Nightmare on Elm Street
2) Halloween

My most ever freaked out by a movie (and I saw movies like the Exorcist at the drive-in when I was in my early teens) goes to "THE RING"! Something about it and my first kid being a young girl of similar age around the time I saw it had my hair standing up on the back of my neck the entire night. Haven't had the stomach to watch it again or the second one....

CG

[James Y]

Probably a bit generational and age related; but I was never big on horror films.

My two favorites - Freddie and Michael - are slasher movies. In order:
1) A Nightmare on Elm Street
2) Halloween

My most ever freaked out by a movie (and I saw movies like the Exorcist at the drive-in when I was in my early teens) goes to "THE RING"! Something about it and my first kid being a young girl of similar age around the time I saw it had my hair standing up on the back of my neck the entire night. Haven't had the stomach to watch it again or the second one....

CG

'A Nightmare in Elm Street' and the original 'Halloween' are great movies. IMO, all the sequels ruined them, though the originals still hold up today as good as ever. I didn't like the remakes, either, especially the 'Elm Street' remake of the original. In most cases, remakes are terrible and unnecessary.

I did see the final 'Halloween' movie last year, where they erased all the sequels throughout the years and made it the one direct sequel to the original. It was pretty good, but predictably they made it WAY more violent and graphic than they needed to. IMO, the original 'Halloween' was good because of the characters, the suspense, and the looming threat of violence, and it depended on those, as opposed to graphic gore.

Jim

[James Y]

The Omen.

The thing about The Omen (original 1970s version) that creeped me out the most was the soundtrack. Back in the '70s and '80s, the movie soundtracks (including horror movies) were truly original and unique.

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Even that really eerie soundtrack music that Mike Oldfield did for the EXORCIST I also thought was super creepy and stuff I wouldn't forget even if I lived to be 200 years old I wouldn't forget it.
I just bought tickets today to see the brand new version of Pet Sematary out our local theatre here in Blue Springs, MO. I heard it's almost sold out for the first week showing. The original 1989 version of Pet Sematary was truly ahead of it's time and it's truly one of Stephen King's masterpieces.
Kind of strange for me to get excited over a newer movie because I really don't go to movies much anymore. Most of the movies I've seen in the past 8 to 10 years are truly trash

About 15 years ago they did a follow up of the 1975 classic movie ROLLERBALL and the new one stunk like roadkill. I couldn't even believe they had the gall to associate that new Rollerball movie to the ultra-classic 1975 version with James Caan which in my opinion was one of the top 5 best films of all time IMO. I heard that they lost some serious money on that newer Rollerball movie and they truly deserved it in my opinion. So I'm hoping this new Pet Sematary is going to be a good one. The people who run the movie house are sure excited about it so we'll see. My ticket is for Thursday, April 4, at 7:00pm and I can't wait.

I've been seeing TV ads about the new Pet Sematary movie, and being aware that you liked the original, was wondering if you were gonna see it. I did see the original way back when, but oddly, I remember little of it, other than that, IIRC, one of the actors was the guy who played Herman Munster. It came out when I was living in Taiwan, and that's where I saw it; not at a theater, but on a TV outside of an electronics store that used to show movies. :) I do remember reading the novel when it first came out.

Yeah, I've found that remakes, for the most part, are unnecessary and awful. Remakes of horror movies are almost always far more graphic and bloody (and less atmospheric and character-driven) than the originals, and in newer movies, the gory violence is usually CGI, which makes it look cartoonish.

Jim

[James Y]

The Omen.

The thing about The Omen (original 1970s version) that creeped me out the most was the soundtrack. Back in the '70s and '80s, the movie soundtracks (including horror movies) were truly original and unique.

Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Even that really eerie soundtrack music that Mike Oldfield did for the EXORCIST I also thought was super creepy and stuff I wouldn't forget even if I lived to be 200 years old I wouldn't forget it.
I just bought tickets today to see the brand new version of Pet Sematary out our local theatre here in Blue Springs, MO. I heard it's almost sold out for the first week showing. The original 1989 version of Pet Sematary was truly ahead of it's time and it's truly one of Stephen King's masterpieces.
Kind of strange for me to get excited over a newer movie because I really don't go to movies much anymore. Most of the movies I've seen in the past 8 to 10 years are truly trash

About 15 years ago they did a follow up of the 1975 classic movie ROLLERBALL and the new one stunk like roadkill. I couldn't even believe they had the gall to associate that new Rollerball movie to the ultra-classic 1975 version with James Caan which in my opinion was one of the top 5 best films of all time IMO. I heard that they lost some serious money on that newer Rollerball movie and they truly deserved it in my opinion. So I'm hoping this new Pet Sematary is going to be a good one. The people who run the movie house are sure excited about it so we'll see. My ticket is for Thursday, April 4, at 7:00pm and I can't wait.

I've been seeing TV ads about the new Pet Sematary movie, and being aware that you liked the original, was wondering if you were gonna see it. I did see the original way back when, but oddly, I remember little of it, other than that, IIRC, one of the actors was the guy who played Herman Munster. It came out when I was living in Taiwan, and that's where I saw it; not at a theater, but on a TV outside of an electronics store that used to show movies. :) I do remember reading the novel when it first came out.

Yeah, I've found that remakes, for the most part, are unnecessary and awful. Remakes of horror movies are almost always far more graphic and bloody (and less atmospheric and character-driven) than the originals, and in newer movies, the gory violence is usually CGI, which makes it look cartoonish.

Not horror-related, but believe it or not, there has been Hollywood talk of remaking 'Enter the Dragon'(!). Which is utterly ridiculous, because Bruce Lee WAS Enter the Dragon, and vice versa. There are no replacements, I don't care how fancy or athletic some actor may be, nobody will ever recapture that person or that moment in time. The story wouldn't work now, anyway. For years,the director of 'Enter the Dragon', Robert Clouse, tried to recapture its success by periodically directing other martial arts films, not realizing that ETD's success had far less to do with his directing than it did Bruce Lee's tremendous screen presence and creative input. None of Clouse's subsequent films made a dent, and all of them were awful, except for 'The Big Brawl', which was okay and introduced Jackie Chan to mainstream American audiences for the first time, but achieved little else; and it was far inferior to Chan's own work in his Hong Kong films.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

Well Jim you ought to check out the movie "FROGS" with Ray Milland. It was even creepier than Alfred Hitchcock's "The BIRDS" or "PSYCHO" for that matter. All of Alfred Hitchcock's 1950s and 1960s stuff was truly magnificent in the horror/suspense field. Hitchcock and Rod Serling were both on TV on different channels when I was growing up and they both made a huge impression on me when I was just a kid. I'm kind of surprised my parents allowed me to watch it because both shows were way ahead of their time>> however I had my own TV and they rarely came into my room. The TWILIGHT ZONE is still on reruns here in the KC area and I know a lot of people that still watch them and invite me to come over and watch with them. We also had another TV Show that competed with both of them called "The OUTER LIMITS" which also had some really spooky shows for that time period.
I'm not sure how many movies that Rod Serling did but I do know that Hitchcock did quite a few. Both I heard were really strange guys in real life>> I've heard even worse things about Stephen King. It truly makes you wonder how they ever even came up with all that weird stuff to begin with.

But do check out FROGS, ASYLUM, and even CLOCKWORK ORANGE if you've never seen it previously. Stanley Kubrick was such a unique film producer and I can't think of even one person in that trade I could compare him to. He was in a league of his own.

[James Y]

That Alfred Hitchcock show was one of the shows my brother made me watch back in the '60s, but the only thing I recall about that was the end credits when they showed the charicature of Hitchcock's profile and the music.

I don't know if Rod Serling made movies; all I know him for is Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.

I vaguely remember Outer Limits, but no episodes in particular.

I do remember Lost in Space, and in particular an episode with a giant cyclops. I loved that episode.

It's not unusual for creative people to be a bit (or sometimes a lot) strange, with eccentricities. A lot of good/great musicians, writers, actors, directors, artists, inventors, etc., are/were weird/eccentric/temperamental. It doesn't seem to negatively affect their genius in their field. In fact, I suspect that to be truly creative requires a person to be 'different' in certain ways from so-called 'normal', or less artistically-minded people. That doesn't always mean weird or strange, just different. I believe it allows such people to view and approach things from unique perspectives, and have the ability to bring that creative spark to life.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

That Alfred Hitchcock show was one of the shows my brother made me watch back in the '60s, but the only thing I recall about that was the end credits when they showed the charicature of Hitchcock's profile and the music.

I don't know if Rod Serling made movies; all I know him for is Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.

I vaguely remember Outer Limits, but no episodes in particular.

I do remember Lost in Space, and in particular an episode with a giant cyclops. I loved that episode.

It's not unusual for creative people to be a bit (or sometimes a lot) strange, with eccentricities. A lot of good/great musicians, writers, actors, directors, artists, inventors, etc., are/were weird/eccentric/temperamental. It doesn't seem to negatively affect their genius in their field. In fact, I suspect that to be truly creative requires a person to be 'different' in certain ways from so-called 'normal', or less artistically-minded people. That doesn't always mean weird or strange, just different. I believe it allows such people to view and approach things from unique perspectives, and have the ability to bring that creative spark to life.

Jim

Oh yeah the old "Lost In Space" Robot :rolleyes: and good old Dr. Smith :rolleyes: who could forget them :rolleyes: . Billy Mumy is still alive and well and still acting from what I'm told. I also think that Angela Cartwright is still alive. Wow!!! I just now seen that June Lockhart is still alive!! I remember her all the way back to the original LASSIE show in the late 50s early 60s. I was just a little squirt then but that was one of my childhood TV shows I dearly loved. The 60s truly had some of the better TV shows. I remember several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock's show and the Outer Limits both. They are still good shows even by today's standards.

I was told last night by a friend that they did a 1991 remake of the "Pit & The Pendulum". The original was done in the early 60s. Now the 70s changed the Horror movie paradigm forever. With the possible exception of JAWS most of the Horror Movies took on a satanic tone to them as well as a "dark scientific tone".

[James Y]

That Alfred Hitchcock show was one of the shows my brother made me watch back in the '60s, but the only thing I recall about that was the end credits when they showed the charicature of Hitchcock's profile and the music.

I don't know if Rod Serling made movies; all I know him for is Twilight Zone and Night Gallery.

I vaguely remember Outer Limits, but no episodes in particular.

I do remember Lost in Space, and in particular an episode with a giant cyclops. I loved that episode.

It's not unusual for creative people to be a bit (or sometimes a lot) strange, with eccentricities. A lot of good/great musicians, writers, actors, directors, artists, inventors, etc., are/were weird/eccentric/temperamental. It doesn't seem to negatively affect their genius in their field. In fact, I suspect that to be truly creative requires a person to be 'different' in certain ways from so-called 'normal', or less artistically-minded people. That doesn't always mean weird or strange, just different. I believe it allows such people to view and approach things from unique perspectives, and have the ability to bring that creative spark to life.

Jim

Oh yeah the old "Lost In Space" Robot :rolleyes: and good old Dr. Smith :rolleyes: who could forget them :rolleyes: . Billy Mumy is still alive and well and still acting from what I'm told. I also think that Angela Cartwright is still alive. Wow!!! I just now seen that June Lockhart is still alive!! I remember her all the way back to the original LASSIE show in the late 50s early 60s. I was just a little squirt then but that was one of my childhood TV shows I dearly loved. The 60s truly had some of the better TV shows. I remember several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock's show and the Outer Limits both. They are still good shows even by today's standards.

I was told last night by a friend that they did a 1991 remake of the "Pit & The Pendulum". The original was done in the early 60s. Now the 70s changed the Horror movie paradigm forever. With the possible exception of JAWS most of the Horror Movies took on a satanic tone to them as well as a "dark scientific tone".

One movie that was ahead of its time was 'Night of the Demon' (UK, 1957). It took both a satanic tone and a scientific tone. The scientific tone was the typical 1950s-era dry, skeptical tone of the main character. The villain, a satanist who curses his enemies with black magic, is actually a far more interesting and likeable character, which I've never been able to figure out why the filmmakers did it that way. The main scientific guy is so boring, and his skepticism (or rather, cynicism) verges on the obnoxious. IMO, the movie succeeds because of the villain and despite the lead character, but it does have atmosphere.

The robot in Lost in Soace was created by the same guys who earlier created Robbie the Robot for the movie 'Forbidden Planet'. And Bill Mumi was also in a Twilight Zone episode as a kid who has the power to create or destroy anything/anyone with his mind. That was one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes. I heard he plays in a band, and maybe hosts a radio show(?).

In the '70s was also when the slasher genre really took hold. Some were good and many were bad.

Jim

[Bloke]

I do remember Lost in Space, and in particular an episode with a giant cyclops. I loved that episode.