Favorite horror movies?

[James Y]

I finally got to watch "A Clockwork Orange". After hearing about it for the past 40-plus years!

It's really not a horror film, but more of a dystopian satire. I loved it. My favorite part was the scene with the cat lady. That scene cracked me up.

This certainly was a very physically demanding role for Malcolm McDowell. I'd mostly seen him in later films, and had never seen him show any hint of physicality as in this film. After watching it, I read online that he went blind for a couple days due to corneal injury(s) suffered while filming that scene where his eyelids were forcibly kept open.

Jim

[The Mastiff]

Andromeda Strain was and is a great movie. I loved it. I will never forget the scene where they cut open the guy's wrist and the blood poured out like sand.

Yep. That was one of the parts I always think about when that movie comes up. The jet's oxygen mask coming apart was another. I remember watching the astronauts returning from the moon and going straight into quarantine upon their getting out of the capsules. In my Sci Fi watching little mind I had pictures in my head of space plagues. :)

We had a drive in close to my Northfield Ohio house and saw movies like "**** House", and "Frenzy" among others. The Drive in movie is one thing I miss. It was a real treat going to those.

Joe

[JD Spydo]

I finally got to watch "A Clockwork Orange". After hearing about it for the past 40-plus years!

It's really not a horror film, but more of a dystopian satire. I loved it. My favorite part was the scene with the cat lady. That scene cracked me up.

This certainly was a very physically demanding role for Malcolm McDowell. I'd mostly seen him in later films, and had never seen him show any hint of physicality as in this film. After watching it, I read online that he went blind for a couple days due to corneal injury(s) suffered while filming that scene where his eyelids were forcibly kept open.

I saw that film when I was a senior in high school (71-72 era). That film had a traumatic effect on me at that time because I had never seen raw ultra-violence to that degree at age 18. Oh sure there have been dozens of the films since then that have been just as shocking. Not only was Clockwork Orange one of the first films to feature what Kubrick then called "Ultra-Violence'. But that was one Stanley Kubrick film that had so many prophetic overtones to it. It's so eerie to me as to how they depicted what society was going to turn into over time.

Just look at a lot of the women's hair styles with the wild colors that are now commonplace as they were in CLOCKWORK ORANGE. There were also several other things in the movie that proved to be prophetic and way ahead of it's time. It was also extremely strange the choice of music they used in that film ( Beethoven). To me the film was a type of horror film because of the ultra-violence that was vividly displayed in the film repeatedly. There were six of us that went and I thought that two of the girls we were with were going to lose it. But do keep in mind that film was way ahead of it's time for something of that particular genre. But most of Stanley Kubrick's films had aspects of prophetic predictions of our society or they depict extremely grim reality as was seen in his movie FULL METAL JACKET. Kubrick was truly one of a kind and arguably the best movie director of all time IMO.

[JD Spydo]

OFFICIAL pet sematary MOVIE REVIEW:: OK!! OK!! already I finally got to go see the New PET SEMATARY movie. But I'm gonna tell you all right up front that I personally still like the original 1989 version a whole lot better. The original had a much better acting cast and the original also had a much easier plot to follow.
Now I will say that this new one does have a bit more intensity and the gore factor is a bit more substantial but overall I still think that the first rendition of PET SEMATARY was significantly better for a lot of reasons.
Having CHURCH the cat as a "TabbY" instead of being a British Shorthair as he was in the original was just an outright disappointment. The British Shorthair in the original movie was far more classy and it made me want to get one of those cats until I found out the price of a kitten to be around $600 :eek:.
Denise Crosby who played Rachel Creed in the first movie was ten times as hot looking as the gal that played in this new one :rolleyes: But like I said the entire acting cast of the first movie was much better all the way around.
But to get to the bottom line it's still a top caliber horror film and if you like horror films it's still one well worth going to see. I just caught an afternoon matinee for $5 and the popcorn only costs me $2.75 ( almost 1980's prices :rolleyes: ). But it was just a bit of a minor letdown with all the hype that surrounded this new one>> and the plot on the new one was so far removed from King's original book it's as though it's a completely new creation all together. OK I told I would give you all a review and there it is. But I'll also be glad to take questions if any of you are curious and maybe trying to decide whether or not you want to see it.
I think the next one I'll try to see will by "US"

[shunsui]

+1 the first 45 minutes of Andromeda Strain were outstanding. Then the movie died a horrible death. Gee, let's disarm the bomb before the movie ends.

[JD Spydo]

+1 the first 45 minutes of Andromeda Strain were outstanding. Then the movie died a horrible death. Gee, let's disarm the bomb before the movie ends.

To the best of my memory the "Andromeda Strain" movie came out either in 1969 or 1970 I'm not sure. But I do find it interesting that so many really good horror classics came out from 1969 to 1975. Probably 3/4ths of the ones I've already listed came out in that time period. I'll go ahead and re-list a few of them: Frogs, The Birds, Asylum, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, The Exoricist, Jaws, The OMEN ( the original), Both the Andy Warhol classics i.e. "Flesh For Frankenstein & Blood For Dracula" and there were at least a dozen more I could list throughout that time period in the "HORROR" genre.

If my memory is correct I believe that the "Andromeda Strain" was about a potential biological warfare that had the potential to wipe out the entire planet. There was another movie in that time period that was similar to the Andromeda Strain and it was called "The Satan Bug". Again I do find it quite strange that so many super horror classics were released during that six year time period.

[James Y]

My memories of 'The Andromeda Strain' are a bit hazy for some reason, but I do recall the beginning as having a true air of menace about it. And that it was an early movie showing computer effects.

Movies, whether sci-fi or horror, about contagions/diseases, bug me (pun intended). A post-2K movie that I hated was 'Cabin Fever', because it was just extremely graphic and gross. And while 'The Ruins' (also post-2K) was not specifically about a disease, I'd put it in a similar category.

The only movie I can think of off-hand that dealt with infections that I do like is the Japanese movie 'Infection', and that was more supernatural in nature than biological.

I would actually expand on the golden era of horror movies beyond 1969-'75, and say 1962-1977, and even that could be expanded upon. There were a ton of good horror movies made during those years.

Possibly my favorite horror film of 1971 is still 'Let's Scare Jessica to Death'. It's about some hippie types who rent a house in a small New England town...a town that might or might not be populated by vampires. While definitely slow-paced by today's standards, it's chock-full of atmosphere, the kind of movie that today is rarely if ever made.

The most atmospheric American horror movie I've seen that's come out recently is 'Hereditary'. However, if the subject of possession and covens are upsetting to you, I would avoid it. While I don't 'scare' watching movies, 'Hereditary' is disturbing, and the acting is outstanding. I thought that star Toni Collette should have at least been nominated for an academy award.

'Suspiria' (1977) is an Italian-made movie that is full of surrealistic atmosphere. There is some disturbing violence, but the movie isn't based around gore, but more the creepy mood. The entire movie is filmed in a dreamlike manner.

I remember seeing 'Jaws' during its original theatrical run back in 1975, and never found it scary at all. If anything, I found the mechanical shark a bit funny. And that was at a time when I went to the beach every single day. Now, a shark attack would of course be terrifying, but to me, 'Jaws' simply wasn't scary, nor did it ever give me pause when going into the water. Years ago, some survey concluded that 'Jaws' was the scariest horror movie ever made. I have absolutely no idea how the survey came to that conclusion.

Jim

[James Y]

The Man Who Kille Hitler And Then The Bigfoot.

It's hard to classify this as a horror film, or any specific genre. This will be either a good movie or an awful one, depending on your expectations based on the title. The main story is set sometime in the 1980s, and stars Sam Elliott as a fictional American legend that nobody has ever heard of, who infiltrated a Nazi compound during WWII and assassinated Hitler. By the 1980s, the character is living a quiet life alone with his dog in a small town, his closest friend his younger brother who's also his barber. The gov't seeks him out to go to the Canadian wilderness to track and kill a Bigfoot that carries a disease deadly to all animals and humans alike.

Anybody movie to be a comedy will be sorely disappointed. Anybody expecting an action movie will also be disappointed. While Sam Elliot's character is shown to still be physically formidable in his old age when absolutely necessary, he eschews killing and violence, and when gov't agents mention his assassination of Hitler, he downplays the importance of his own achievement and the good it has done ("I killed Hitler but his ideas continued without him"). The pace is slow, just like ?Sam Elliott's aged character has slowed down in his old age.

The Bigfoot itself, when finally shown, is not impressive, and looks more like a hairy zombie not much bigger than a man.

I didn't find the movie great, but as a study of Sam Elliott's character, I gave it a tentative thumbs up. Sam Elliott is one of my favorite character actors; one of those guys who always looked older than he was, but who's seemed to remain a constant over the decades. I personally found his character in this movie relatable for a few reasons I won't go into. The movie switches between the current (1980s) times and flashbacks to his character during WWII. Aidan Turner certainly could pass for a younger version of Sam Elliott.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

I kind of see a lot of what you're trying to get across Jim. But I still maintain that there was something special about that time period from about 1968 to maybe even 1978 for horror movies. Actually you could add the "Amityville Horror" to that list as well as "The Omen". Like I mentioned earlier about movies like Asylum for instance>> everyone I've gotten to watch that movie have all raved about how good it was especially for 1972. I saw it while still in high school and it played with my head for a few days probably about as much as the EXORCIST did. And just look at the EXORCIST it's still considered to be a "hall of fame" caliber movie even after all these years.

I bet I could list at least 30 movies in the horror genre that I saw during that era that were in many cases "head & shoulders" above a lot of the crap they are putting out now a days. This recent disappointment of the new Pet Sematary movie is something I'm continuing to shake my head over because there is just no excuse at all for that movie to not at least be as good as the original>> but it's not even close and I'm thinking it's about as much of a disappointment as Pet Sematary 2 was in the early 90s. I literally walked out of that one with about a half hour of the movie remaining.

I do think that Brother Yablanowitz nailed it on that other thread>> They are to the point to where they are relying on high technology to replace the talents of the actors and it just isn't working at all IMO. I quit going to movies for a long time but for some reason I got really hyped over the new Pet Sematary>> it will probably be a 100 degree day in Antarctica before I go back to another movie in the foreseeable future. Yeah it turned me off that bad. Not to mention the outrageous costs of the food and drinks at these movie houses. They are even worse than the prices at ARROWHEAD stadium ( The KC CHIEFS stadium). It seems like the more expensive this stuff is getting the worse it's getting. For that reason alone I do hope they find "time travel" technology because truly I'm longing for the "GOOD OLD DAYS"

[shunsui]

I still maintain that there was something special about that time period from about 1968 to maybe even 1978 for horror movies.

What I noticed back in those days is there was a lot of gratuitous sex and nudity in the 70's movies; and that got toned way down when Ronald Reagan got elected in 1980. I suspect the same political influences may have affected the horror directors. Edgy probably wasn't popular with the studio execs.

[James Y]

These days, the big selling points of most current horror movies are: jump scares and screaming/roaring ghosts/demons.

In the old-school horror movies, the 'jump scare' was only used occasionally and more understated. That also made it more effective when it WAS used, if at all. Most horror movies today depend on cheap, overdone jump scares, which aren't scary at all, especially when they're so predictable they fail to elicit a startle reflex in anyone but the most jumpy.

Screaming and roaring ghosts. IMO, this trend is simply lazy filmmaking. Old movies, like "The Legend of **** House", relied on mood and atmosphere, with very rare jump scares, and no screaming monsters or ghosts. The ghostly phenomena were portrayed more realistically in **** House, which had a brooding atmosphere of menace throughout. As a kid, I found the creepiest part of "**** House" to be the beginning and opening credits of the movie, with the anticipation of the investigative team members' arrival to the house, described by Roddy McDowell's character as "The Mount Everest of haunted houses."

There are a rare few current horror movies that are well-made, like "Hereditary" which I've mentioned before.

Jim

[shunsui]

In the old-school horror movies, the 'jump scare' was only used occasionally and more understated. That also made it more effective when it WAS used, if at all. Most horror movies today depend on cheap, overdone jump scares, which aren't scary at all, especially when they're so predictable they fail to elicit a startle reflex in anyone but the most jumpy.

I saw an interesting comment on an audio/video forum. The fellow was a vocal proponent of HUGE subwoofers for home theater. He maintained modern horror movies need massive reproduction of exaggerated surround sound low frequency effects. A door slamming needed to rock the room in his opinion. There's something to say for all that, but most of us don't want to annoy the neighbors that much.

[emanuel]

I really enjoyed Hereditary, saw it last week. Good amount of suspense, almost as good as Woman in Black. Jumpscares and gore got old for me pretty fast.

[JD Spydo]

I still maintain that there was something special about that time period from about 1968 to maybe even 1978 for horror movies.

What I noticed back in those days is there was a lot of gratuitous sex and nudity in the 70's movies; and that got toned way down when Ronald Reagan got elected in 1980. I suspect the same political influences may have affected the horror directors. Edgy probably wasn't popular with the studio execs.

You know I never even considered that. But now that you've mentioned it there was a profound change of sorts in the 80s>> because the 70s truly got wild in many different aspects. Oh how I've longed to go back to the 70s on more than one occasion I can assure you. But I still find it kind of strange that so many horror classics were made in that time period. Never really was that much of an X rated movie fan or hard core porn either >> even though I had a couple of buddies I grew up with that were wild about it :o :D

But if you guys get a chance to check out those Andy Warhol movies of the mid 70s I've told you about I think you'll find them intriguing. They had originally did Warhol's Frankenstein in 3D which was quite interesting and was the first 3D horror movie I ever saw. But the movie Asylum was truly one that stuck with me for years ( 1972).

That is an interesting observation because you're right about that era of horror movies slowing down after Reagan got elected. It seemed like a lot of things changed during that time. The 80s were so different from the 70s in so many respects. However there was one really shocking movie of the 80s that did have an impact on me at the time. The movie was called "The Day After">> it wasn't a spook movie at all. "The Day After" was a movie that depicted what the world was going to be like in the aftermath of a nuclear war. In one sense I guess you could say that it had some horror aspects to it.

[James Y]

I still maintain that there was something special about that time period from about 1968 to maybe even 1978 for horror movies.

What I noticed back in those days is there was a lot of gratuitous sex and nudity in the 70's movies; and that got toned way down when Ronald Reagan got elected in 1980. I suspect the same political influences may have affected the horror directors. Edgy probably wasn't popular with the studio execs.

I had noticed that, too. I'm not sure if it had to do with Reagan or not, or simply changing trends. There was still some edgy stuff in the '80s. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking of one scene in particular in Reanimator(1985), involving a man's reanimated severed head and a woman. While it's not "sex" per se, that scene is 'sexual', and still is uncomfortable to watch. Plus, I've seen enough non-horror '80s Hollywood movies that had gratuitous sex in them.

Jim

[James Y]

In the old-school horror movies, the 'jump scare' was only used occasionally and more understated. That also made it more effective when it WAS used, if at all. Most horror movies today depend on cheap, overdone jump scares, which aren't scary at all, especially when they're so predictable they fail to elicit a startle reflex in anyone but the most jumpy.

I saw an interesting comment on an audio/video forum. The fellow was a vocal proponent of HUGE subwoofers for home theater. He maintained modern horror movies need massive reproduction of exaggerated surround sound low frequency effects. A door slamming needed to rock the room in his opinion. There's something to say for all that, but most of us don't want to annoy the neighbors that much.

Some movie theaters have a feature (for an extra charge, of course), where certain seats shake and rock at key moments in the movie, such as explosions, crashes, jump scares, etc. I've never seen the use for that, and IMO, any need for it is to mask whatever is lacking in the movie. If the movie is good and effective, all of that is unnecessary.

I really enjoyed Hereditary, saw it last week. Good amount of suspense, almost as good as Woman in Black. Jumpscares and gore got old for me pretty fast.

I consider Hereditary more akin to an old-school horror movie than a current one.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

Also concerning the horror movies of the 70s/80s is that there were many sequels to some of those movies. Even the EXORCIST had a sequel to it>> although it was a let down from the first one.

I think it's fair to say that Stephen King truly changed the horror genre to a large degree during that time of the late 80s and 90s. One you might laugh at but I thought it was kind of cool was those ALIEN movies with Sogourney Weaver. For the 80s I truly thought they had some really great special effects in those ALIEN movies>> I guess you could argue that they were more science fiction than they were horror but truthfully I think those ALIEN movies could be put in either category.

And speaking of STEPHEN KING>> his movies "CUJO" and "The SHINING" are super classics in the horror field. Not to mention that "THE SHINING" was also a "Stanley Kubrick" movie as well. There was always something unique and very special about Stanley Kubrick's movies. In my humble opinion I believe he was probably the best movie maker of all time.

[James Y]

I like the first two Alien movies, especially the second one, Aliens. IMO, that's one of the few instances of a sequel outdoing the original.

No doubt Kubrick was a great director. After seeing A Clockwork Orange, that is my favorite Kubrick movie. I thought The Shining was okay, but not as good as the book. I've never been able to sit the whole way through 2001: A Space Odyssey in one fell swoop. I am curious about Eyes Wide Shut but haven't seen that, either. I'm thinking that Eyes Wide Shut probably straddles the line between horror and suspense.

TBH, I don't mind if Stephen King movie adaptations differ a bit from the book or short story, so long as the movie is good. My favorite Stephen King cinematic adaptations are:
Carrie (original 1976 version)
Stand By Me
Salem's Lot (1979 TV movie)
Christine
The Mist
Maybe some others, but I can't really think of any more. One issue I have with many of King's novels is that (for me), many end up being a let down. Oftentimes, if there is a 'monster', it ends up being a bit lame at the end. My favorite King novel is Under The Dome, which is an excellent character study of the townspeople, but I never watched the mini-series from a few years ago.

Another fun horror movie is the original Phantasm (1978). The sequels aren't worth watching, IMO.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

I like the first two Alien movies, especially the second one, Aliens. IMO, that's one of the few instances of a sequel outdoing the original.

No doubt Kubrick was a great director. After seeing A Clockwork Orange, that is my favorite Kubrick movie. I thought The Shining was okay, but not as good as the book. I've never been able to sit the whole way through 2001: A Space Odyssey in one fell swoop. I am curious about Eyes Wide Shut but haven't seen that, either. I'm thinking that Eyes Wide Shut probably straddles the line between horror and suspense.

TBH, I don't mind if Stephen King movie adaptations differ a bit from the book or short story, so long as the movie is good. My favorite Stephen King cinematic adaptations are:
Carrie (original 1976 version)
Stand By Me
Salem's Lot (1979 TV movie)
Christine
The Mist
Maybe some others, but I can't really think of any more. One issue I have with many of King's novels is that (for me), many end up being a let down. Oftentimes, if there is a 'monster', it ends up being a bit lame at the end. My favorite King novel is Under The Dome, which is an excellent character study of the townspeople, but I never watched the mini-series from a few years ago.

Another fun horror movie is the original Phantasm (1978). The sequels aren't worth watching, IMO.

Jim

Stanley Kubrick's movies regardless of the ones I've seen have all had a lasting effect on me and my overall belief system. No he didn't destroy my personal religious beliefs but his movies truly have made me question a lot of things that the mainstream media tries to sell us on.

I do believe that "Eyes Wide Shut" was his final movie before he passed away. His daughter has done some most interesting interviews and his widow won't talk to anyone about anything. Clockwork Orange was so far ahead of it's time that it took me about 3 viewings to totally figure it out. But do keep in mind it first came out at the box office in late 1971 and I was only 17 at the time. I had two buddies walk out of the movie because they said it messed with their heads very badly. Up till then I had never seen a movie with that intense of violence before. And that's what was great about Kubrick's movies they seemed so "real life" for some reason. That's especially true with his movie FULL METAL JACKET.

I've often wondered what it would have been like had Kubrick gotten together with either Rod Serling ( Twilight Zone fame) or Alfred Hitchcock ( super classic horror/mystery writer).

[JD Spydo]

We've been speaking a lot of the 1960s/1970s era of horror movies. There is one very big horror movie that had a huge satanic theme to it>> I'm speaking of "Rosemary's Baby". I saw that movie only a couple of months after it was released. Now I was just a teenager when I first saw it and it truly gave me nightmares for almost a week or so after I seen it. It's one of the very few horror movies that did actually cause me to have nightmares and that movie just gave me the creeps from several aspects.

Roman Polanski who produced that movie was Sharon Tate's husband at the time >> Sharon Tate and her friends were the victims of the Charles Manson family murders in case some of you newer/younger Spyderville members haven't yet been aware of the dark history of the Charles Manson Family. Anton Szandor Levey ( the founder of the "Church of Satan") was a consultant in the making of that movie as well as being a friend of Roman Polanski's and he was also friends with Charles Manson as well. Also the prestigious "Dakota" apartment building in New York City where that movie was filmed has had a very dark history over the years and was the site of John Lennon's assassination in December of 1980. His widow Yoko Ono still lives in that building.

I was told that the main actress "Mia Farrow" suffered a lot of emotional problems from the making of that movie along with a couple of the other actors. Also that "Dakota" apartment building has a most interesting and dark history over the years. It was probably one of the most accurate movies of a Satanic coven ever made. Also Roman Polanski has had a very troublesome life since he made that movie. He's also still wanted in the USA for the statutory rape of a 14 year old girl which allegedly took place in that time period. Also it's most interesting to still see all the information come forward to this day regarding aspects of that film even as long ago as that movie was originally made.

As far as a horror movie>> yeah I rank it up there in my all time top 10