I caught The House of the Devil tonight and mostly I liked it. The first 70 minutes or so, were fantastic but it started to fall apart after that, for me. Overall, I liked it and now I'm thinking of watching The Innkeepers, would anyone recommend that? I saw V/H/S last night and totally hated it. I didn't even realize until later that both of these movies, and the Innkeepers have the same director.
BTW, I read some of the IMDB reviews for THOTD, and anyone in those reviews who say the first hour consists of filler, are total idiots.
Another enjoyable thriller with interesting characters and premise. "Pi meets Cube with a dash of Saw" is actually a pretty good summary of what to expect.
Holy shit, someone had watched this! I've seen it on cable randomly one night and watched it from less than half way from there. It was so good! But finally, thank you for giving me the name of this film!
I kind of like the horror genre... since we're looking for unique, I'll put down a list with a few thoughts on each.
Dark Water (Original Japanese Version) - This one I recommend, although the US one is good too. The best horror stories are about people who don't deserve it.
3 Extremes - CUT - This was my favorite of these stories. The whole package is only okay, but CUT is my favorite segment and it crams in everything that movies like SAW and Funny Games do in about 30 minutes. It's also from the director of JSA, Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, and others.
Black Sheep - Horror Comedy, Zombie Sheep. Pretty fun movie.
Bubba Ho Tep - Horror Comedy.. but also kind of sad too. I liked it.
Irreversible - I don't really know if you can call this a horror movie... but it is a "trigger" film and that can lead people to have a bad time...
Strange Circus - I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. If not this one, then check out Suicide Circle (Suicide Club) and that one's "sequel/prequel" Noriko's Dinner Table. But yeah. You need Sion Sono in your life.
The Host - A monster movie that actually is a lot of fun. I haven't seen the sequel yet, but I rather liked this. There is a sci fi movie with the same name. Don't be fooled by that one. The one you want has a giant fish monster thing.
If no one mentioned it, I suggest watching The Mist (Especially in Black & White) and "Them." The movie "Them" is a cheesy, black and white film about giant ants and is one of my favorites. I just.. like it.
But yeah, if you're looking for messed up cinema.. may I recommend "El Topo" or "Holy Mountain" Pretty much anything from Alejandro Jodorowsky. Or (if you can track it down) "Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle 3: The Order." Actually, if you get to see the whole Cremaster Cycle set, do it.
I could also recommend some disturbing documentaries.. I'll dig through my boxes.
But also, the list of things earlier.. Jacob's Ladder is excellent, everyone should see Let The Right One In, The Troll Hunter, The Devil's Backbone.. and so forth. All great!
A flawed masterpiece. One of the few movies in recent years that I wanted to just rewatch it instantly once the credits started rolling (you'll understand why when you watch it).
There's a lot of weird and awesome stuff going on but I don't want to spoil anything, just check it out if you get a chance.
Very enjoyable time-travelling thriller. Somewhat hesitant to call this "horror" but it was definitely unsettling.
A very unsettling, dark and disturbing horror movie with a really unique atmosphere.
Another enjoyable thriller with interesting characters and premise. "Pi meets Cube with a dash of Saw" is actually a pretty good summary of what to expect.
The Host - A monster movie that actually is a lot of fun. I haven't seen the sequel yet, but I rather liked this. There is a sci fi movie with the same name. Don't be fooled by that one. The one you want has a giant fish monster thing.
Aftermath by Nacho Cerdá (i cannot even post a picture, it's just too explicit).
It's a shocking short movie about necrophilia: it's like 20 minutes long, with no dialogue whatsover and gregorian chants as soundtrack.
It's not for everyone, but it's seriously crazy good.
Watched "You're Next" on the weekend. Not the greatest horror movie ever but pretty entertaining and ended up being pretty different to what I expected.
I really liked Citadel. It's about a young couple expecting a child when the wife is attacked by hooded gangsters. Raising the child the father deals with his agoraphobia which grows increasingly worse.
Some very educated choices in this thread; HorrorGAF has better taste imho than a lot of genre-specific websites/boards.
Some picks that I don't believe have come up yet:
Sleep Tight (2011): A seriously twisted psychodrama from Spain's Jaume Balagueró. Luis Tosar's performance is a standout as the hotel employee from hell. What makes the movie so special is its slow escalation; Cesar isn't just another serial killer hiding in plain sight. He's much more human than your average bogeyman, and that's scary.
Quatermass & The Pit (1967): Easily the best of Hammer's adaptations of Nigel Kneale's TV serials, and a story that combines SF with demonology in a really clever and compelling manner. This movie traumatized me as a kid, the climactic resurrection of "hob" looks somewhat hokey by modern standards, but its an image that's been burned into my brain for over (shit...) 40 years!
Uzumaki (2000): There is nothing, NOTHING, else quite like this Junji Ito adaptation. Spirals... everywhere...
ok so i thought the first like 2/3's of that movie was awesome
great setup, nice slow burn, amazing soundtrack, etc etc
like you know something is not right but they dont just start throwing stuff at you right away
then all of a sudden oh hey the pizza has roofies in it wake up in attic oh satanic worship quick she escapes and takes out everyone but the leader and then BAM shot herself in the head to beat the bad guy (ouch) but the twist oh shit she survived and now has babby
Like im fine with the overall story arc of it, but its like he did such a good job of setting up everything and then realized oh crap this movie can only be 2 hours lets wrap this up quick
one of the few movies that i would have appreciated a directors cut with some fleshing out once the curtains are pulled back with whats going on
I thought it was completely by the numbers and not scary. All the "scares" were horrible in your face loud sounds stuff. Sure The Conjuring had some of that but at least it was actually well made and wasn't reliant on it. Sinister was a bunch of boo! scares with a generic looking ghost thing and the ending was drawn out and convoluted as hell. Don't even get me started on how lame that attic scene was with the girls with the fakeup on and then the demon's face SUDDENLY APPEARING
The only promise the movie had were those admittedly bizarre home video clips, of which I liked the atmosphere but only one of them worked for me.
Not insulting you. I just don't see it, but we can agree to disagree. All I was saying was that we had different opinions about Sinister; for me it was almost everything I hate about horror movies.
yeah, everything you're saying is true. also, dont forget the "suddenly appearing" gag actually happenedtwice. how lame. like he was waiting off to the side for the right moment.
That's for sure. I still to this day don't understand that film. Is the manga required reading before hand, because that would have been helpful back in high school when I saw it.
Nice little movie. Not that special but it certainly made an impression on me, especially how you don't get to see most of the horror. It also puts a nice twist on the whole zombie infection thing.
I'd recommend to just dive into it without watching the trailer
Watched this earlier. I really liked the first 40 or 45 minutes, kinda lost it's way a bit once the "true horror" stuff started coming in. Still it gave a lot to chew on.
I'm holding this DVD in my hands right now. It is in my banker box of films I haven't watched yet, so.. I'm going to move it to the "watch later today" pile.
Despite some generic jump scares, plot holes, stupid main characters, and the masked killers, I thought The Strangers was really tense and focused more on establishing an unsettling ominous tone. For most of the movie, you know the killers are there, well before the main characters do, so you're just on edge for most of the film.
That's for sure. I still to this day don't understand that film. Is the manga required reading before hand, because that would have been helpful back in high school when I saw it.
Seeing it cold really is a head-spinner! Being honest though I kind of liked the lack of exposition, because what you don't know or understand has a lot of power.
I mean, I never quite understood the significance of the red-taped door in Kiyoshi Kurasawa's Kairo (aka Pulse), but that creeped the hell out of me too.
Got to say that I absolutely adored that whole mini-boom of asian horror following the breakout success of Ring back in 1998/99. Shame the long-haired ghost ended up being so played-out, but glorious oddities like this made it all worthwhile.
One of my favorite films of all time. A Japanese riff on eighties slasher cinema, filtered through Argento-like visuals and featuring some quite frankly disturbing amounts of sexual sadism spread through. It eventually loses it's mind completely for the bing finale. We are talking about a whodunit mystery thriller that decides to
get into Cronenberg style body horror, and more.
There's nothing quite like it. It oozes dread and quirkiness for every pore.
ok so i thought the first like 2/3's of that movie was awesome
great setup, nice slow burn, amazing soundtrack, etc etc
like you know something is not right but they dont just start throwing stuff at you right away
then all of a sudden oh hey the pizza has roofies in it wake up in attic oh satanic worship quick she escapes and takes out everyone but the leader and then BAM shot herself in the head to beat the bad guy (ouch) but the twist oh shit she survived and now has babby
Like im fine with the overall story arc of it, but its like he did such a good job of setting up everything and then realized oh crap this movie can only be 2 hours lets wrap this up quick
one of the few movies that i would have appreciated a directors cut with some fleshing out once the curtains are pulled back with whats going on
Fantastic list right there, OP - those are some of my absolute favorite horror films!
Here are a couple others I'd say are quite unique (or at least were unique at the time): The Gate - it's an older film but I saw it for the first time just a few years ago and it quickly became one of my favorites. I really like the whole concept of kids accidentally unleashing ancient demons into the world. The Monster Squad - it's not exactly a horror movie but it's still a really unique mash-up of classic movie monsters and the Goonies. Pitch Black - obviously the Riddick franchise changed over time, but this first film was pure horror goodness. I loved the night-vision effects, the (mostly) original story, and the creature designs. The Relic - this one really resonated with me because it was filmed at the Museum of Natural History in Chicago - a place I'd visited several times as a kid.
Some very educated choices in this thread; HorrorGAF has better taste imho than a lot of genre-specific websites/boards.
Some picks that I don't believe have come up yet:
Sleep Tight (2011): A seriously twisted psychodrama from Spain's Jaume Balagueró. Luis Tosar's performance is a standout as the hotel employee from hell. What makes the movie so special is its slow escalation; Cesar isn't just another serial killer hiding in plain sight. He's much more human than your average bogeyman, and that's scary.
Quatermass & The Pit (1967): Easily the best of Hammer's adaptations of Nigel Kneale's TV serials, and a story that combines SF with demonology in a really clever and compelling manner. This movie traumatized me as a kid, the climactic resurrection of "hob" looks somewhat hokey by modern standards, but its an image that's been burned into my brain for over (shit...) 40 years!
Uzumaki (2000): There is nothing, NOTHING, else quite like this Junji Ito adaptation. Spirals... everywhere...
Sleep Tight is a good one. Saw it last year at the local Night Visions horror festival. I have to say though, that I like Balaguero's other films better, particularly The Nameless & REC. I also thought it's more of a thriller, than a horror film.
I used to adore Uzumaki, when the Japanese movies started to dribble into the western regions, after the success of Ringu. I haven't watched it in ten years.
supposedly the original cut of phantasm was about 3 hours long (theatrical cut is 90 min). a woman on another message board i post on claimed her boyfriend/husband was in the film industry or was connected to it and had a copy of this longer cut and that she saw it, but wasn't a horror movie fan and didn't pay the best attention. i offered to buy it for $50 with the intent of dumping it online but she couldn't find it.
OP - I love your taste...it mirrors mine so well, I love almost every movie you mentioned.
In the Mouth of Madness has a special place in my heart. I saw the movie when I was about 12, long before I read any HP Lovecraft or anything of the sort. Something about it grabbed me, I mostly forgot about the movie for at least 15 years. I assumed it was some B movie that I would never see again that just had some powerful scenes.
I finally re-watched it as an adult last night. It really is quite good, captured the HP Lovecraft style so well. It was interesting, creepy and the monsters were fantastic. Its weird knowing that I was drawn to that style of story even as a young man. I ended up being introduced to HP Lovecraft in my mid 20s and really fell in love with is work.
I think the scene I remembered most as a kid is the church or the ending of the movie. So few things scare me...I guess I prefer the feeling of being unsettled and intrigued more than I like being scared. A good horror movie, for me, presents articles of mystery and horror rather than shock and scare. I look forward to seeing some of the movies mentioned in the thread.
Over the past few days, I watched some of the horror films recommended in this thread. Here are my opinions/thoughts:
Kill List -
While the third act had some genuinely intense moments, the beginning and most of the middle portion of this movie were too much of a slog to get through. Like most horror movies, the ending made little sense and was inserted to evoke an emotional response from the viewer.
Eden Lake -
This was an improvement over Kill List in terms of story flow. However, I found it really difficult to be scared by a bunch of 12 year-olds running around in the woods. Michael Fassbender was frustratingly pacifistic in this. Main female lead was hot as hell though.
Martyrs -
The first half of this film was pretty amazing. There were a few moments where I was genuinely engaged (albeit shocked). Some really scary moments with the naked demon girl that chases her around the house. Second half, however, is bogged down by existential religious garbage. What a letdown.
Excision -
This one was just okay. Not bad. Main character was a bit of twat -- hard to empathize with. Ending seemed abrupt and a bit unearned. Traci Lords was great as the mother though. I guess that family should have ponied up for a shrink a lot sooner!
Triangle -
I was surprised how much I liked this one. Brilliant time travel film with clever twists and turns. Loved how it all tied together in the end. Will probably watch again and again.
I watched Eyes Without A Face tonight and really liked it. The PQ on the BD was excellent too. Dead Weight is tomorrow and Friday is Peeping Tom, probably.
I watched Eyes Without A Face tonight and really liked it. The PQ on the BD was excellent too. Dead Weight is tomorrow and Friday is Peeping Tom, probably.
Thanks to the praise in this thread I watched "cabin in the woods" yesterday.
Sorry but I didn't like it at all. It did feel unique but only for the sake of being unique(if that makes any sense).
The dreadful acting(couldn't they really find any better actors for the teenie gang??) and terrible CGI were just the bad-tasting icing on the rancid cake.
Thanks to the praise in this thread I watched "cabin in the woods" yesterday.
Sorry but I didn't like it at all. It did feel unique but only for the sake of being unique(if that makes any sense).
The dreadful acting(couldn't they really find any better actors for the teenie gang??) and terrible CGI were just the bad-tasting icing on the rancid cake.
speaking of Eden Lake...
I also recommend "Who Can Kill a Child?"; the first "evil kids" movie. unique for it's time(1976 I think) with a pretty creepy atmosphere
Subscribed. Love the genre but there still tons of stuff I still need to see. About to watch Jacob's Ladder for the first time...debating whether to grab some more booze first.
I found this film while going through Clock DVA's music discography recently,
The track cycom contained heavy sampled usage of the film
that had a sinister yet zen like quality that drew my curiosity, I present to you
Demon seed
An Artificial Intelligent computer called Proteus decides to imprison and forcibly impregnate a woman,
not a slasher horror film though it has its moments, more psychological terror and torture then anything else,
was a pretty uncomfortable movie to sit through.
I enjoyed The Fourth Kind. Found it more interesting than scary. Watch it at night and I think you'll be pretty satisfied, though that applies to any horror movie I guess.
Horror fans might like to try out the old-fashioned "portmanteau" movies. (Sorry if someone already mentioned them, but I didn't read the thread too thoroughly) These are movies which tell a handful of smaller spooky stories during the course of a feature film. I'd say the most famous portmanteau movies are Creepshow and Twilight Zone movie.
I'd recommend From Beyond The Grave. It has a cool little framing story, there's a small store called "Temptations", and the story for each character is tempered by how they behaved in that store (i.e. rude to the proprietor(Peter Cushing!), stealing an item).
Dead of Night is another good one, as well as Asylum.
Actually I came here to post this. I'd imagine at the time, Saw was quite a different thing - the twisted morals of Jigsaw and the idea of "testing" people regarding their human weakness is pretty cool IMO. Then mix it in with the fact that the first film was insanely low budget, and the ingenious traps... I think it's a winner.
I mean yeah, they did 7 of them in the end... I've watched 'em all, not quite marathoned but in a short space of time with my Mum and sometimes we just both have to say "What." - it gets so convoluted and insane. I don't know if it was explicitly explained in the first film(s) but I kind of like (spoilers for most of the other films)
the whole fact that Jigsaw has terminal brain cancer, and when his wife was pregnant, some junkie was running away from their clinic and smashed her into the wall and they lost their baby... So it gives some context to why he wants to make people feel grateful for every scrap of life they live. Not to mention Amanda, who is like his "follower" (because she was a junkie and escaped one of Jigsaw's traps early on) and jesus let's not get into the whole Hoffman thing, what the fuck.
There was kind of a cool plot thread in I think the sixth one, where a guy was telling his story of surviving a Jigsaw trap, but it was all a lie. He made a living from that lie, wrote a book.. and fucking Jigsaw visits his book signing and subsequently kidnaps him, putting him into a real series of traps. I don't think his wife deserved to die, tho... she wasn't in on the scam, so... ya know!
Oh wow, they did a movie of that? I must try and obtain that. I read the entire manga and it's fantastically creepy.
Actually, on that, if you're a horror fan and you don't mind reading manga, definitely look up Junji Ito's work. It runs the gamut from psychological horror to body horror and most of his work incorporates one or both of those things. I know it's already very famous, but "The Enigma of Amigara Fault" is amazingly creepy if you haven't encountered it in the past.
One of the short stories, called "Glyceride", is, I think, the most repulsive one of them all (and that is saying something!). I won't spoil it though. You can find most of 'em online to see what you think, but they're worth buying.
I'd always like the idea of seeing the game, Splatterhouse, turned into hardcore horror movie. A man that has turn into a massive brute killer from a mask, fucking up shit and killing other monsters in a mansion to save his gf.
All I was saying was that we had different opinions about Sinister; for me it was almost everything I hate about horror movies.
