[psmith2.0]

Seems like a timely, and fun, thread.

I'm not a huge horror/thriller fan (they scare me, oddly enough ), but there are a handful of movies out there in this genre that I enjoy.

What are the movies that give you a genuine jolt or scare, and that you like to check out this time of year?

I'll have my annual "The Exorcist" viewing at some point in the next few days, and maybe a couple of others. There are tons of "classics" I've never seen, believe it or not: "Halloween"(!), a few of the Romero zombie flicks, the "28 Days/Weeks Later" entries, "The Omen", "Rosemary's Baby", "Psycho"(!)...I know, I know.



So list your creepy faves (and why), and any cool, funny or interesting stories associated with them!

Boo!

[Argento]

Alien. Scariest movie I have ever seen.

[psmith2.0]

Yes, very creepy and eerie.

And quite a cool cast! Although, at the time, I didn't know any of these people. Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright and John Hurt! But now? We've seen then all in tons of things since, of course (Sigourney too).

"Aliens", the second one, is similar...Paul Reiser, MIchael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen all went on to bigger things and more fame.

[psmith2.0]

BTW, feel free to treat this thread like a virtual campfire...if you've got any good creepy stories to share, have at it! This can just be an all-purpose "weird, scary crap thread" for Halloween, over the next couple of days.

[turbulentfurball]

I remember the network premiere of The Exorcist. I think I was about 16 at the time, and a friend came round to watch it with me. We were both prepared to be terrified by it. However, we actually spent most of the film laughing. A young girl shouting 'Your mother sucks cocks in hell' was just too much.

[ShadowOfGed]

I have this urge to be a punk and make some cracked-up political commentary under the guise of Halloween, but I think I'll pass.

That said, I'm short on scary films; they don't really interest me.

[Banana]

I have been looking for Village of Damned- the one with Reeves in. Would sure like to get the original so can do a comparison. I remember enjoying the Reeves' version immensely, quite impressed that they pulled off a fairly scary film without having to resort to gore.

[Swox]

I find psychological horror to be the most terrifying - not one's where it's all creepy things jumping out at you, but ones where they seriously mess with your head and warp your sense of reality.

My favorite of that sub-genre is "In the Mouth of Madness". That movie is messed up.

[Banana]

Ooo, thanks, Swox!

I prefer this kind of stuff over teen slasher movies but finding this sort of thing that's good is pretty hard.

[AWR]

pscates2.0, I can't believe you haven't seen Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis!! It's my favorite Horror genre film. I saw it when I was about 13/14 and man did it scare the friggin shit out of me. Try it on this weekend, maybe after you th lights out on the trick-or-treaters.

I also really enjoyed the Exorcist.

[Swox]

Originally Posted by Banana Ooo, thanks, Swox! I prefer this kind of stuff over teen slasher movies but finding this sort of thing that's good is pretty hard.

I should see it again sometime... I watched it over a decade ago a few times... and I'm not sure I was ever sober. I only add that because sometimes the films or books we liked in our earlier years don't seem to stand up when we're older, which is my lame way of saying don't blame me if it sucks .

[ezkcdude]

The Shining. Or did nobody else notice the eyes at the top here?

[Kohoutek]

I'm not a huge horror fan either but I love 'Don't Look Now'. Great film, scary but not gory, I haven't seen it for a while but I seem to remember the score being brilliant.

The original version of 'The Wicker Man', with Edward Woodward, is also great especially the ending.

[Argento]

Originally Posted by Kohoutek The original version of 'The Wicker Man', with Edward Woodward, is also great especially the ending.

If you're ever compelled to get the Nicholas Cage one either make sure you're Rifftraxing it, or that you're prepared to kill yourself during the movie. It is terrible.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by ShadowOfGed I have this urge to be a punk and make some cracked-up political commentary under the guise of Halloween, but I think I'll pass.

Um, yeah...

Don't.



There's enough of that stuff here lately; let's try to have one thread that doesn't "go there", okay? Thanks.

[tomoe]

The Brood by Cronenberg is a pretty freaky flick. Halloween is a pretty awesome slasher, and Friday the 13th 1-4 (basically up until the one with Corey Feldman, IIRC)--before he gets "resurrected" and turned into a zombie.

[ezkcdude]

I love Cronenberg. I just saw Videodrome a few months ago. That would make a good Halloween movie.

[kretara]

I'm planning on watching Jurassic Park. That movie scares the pooh out of me. I have this phobia about being hunted and eaten alive by something.

Jaws does it for me too.

[709]

I don't go for the slash/horror thing so much, but a couple of films in the last few years come to mind. Both Wolf Creek and The Descent gave me the absolute willies for days, and it takes a lot to get to me in that way.

Old-school, I'd go with Pet Sematary. That little resurrected kid gives me nightmares, and I think I might have passed out during the Achilles tendon scene.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by Swox My favorite of that sub-genre is "In the Mouth of Madness". That movie is messed up.

Oh yas. Although I prefer his Prince of Darkness for creepy epic. Best. Ending. Ever.

A Nightmare on Elm Street still stands up as one of the best teen slasher flicks - it's genuinely creepy. (And hey, watching Johnny Depp get turned into hamburger = win. )

I blame Return of the Living Dead III for my affinity for chicks with piercings. Mmmm... Melinda Clarke...

The Stuff has some great messed up fx in it, but it's otherwise pretty hokey.

But really... for sheer terror... you can't beat The Killer Condom.

[alcimedes]

When a Stranger Calls Back.

Scary/creepy fucking movie. That being said, the original "When a Stranger Calls" is terrible. If you see the second one you're going to go ahead and watch the first one, assuming it can't be that bad when the second one was awesome. You'll be wrong.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Kickaha I blame Return of the Living Dead III for my affinity for chicks with piercings. Mmmm... Melinda Clarke...

Oh my. I just looked her up. She played that dominatrix vixen on a few episodes of "CSI". I think she's unbelievably sexy, and I had no idea who she was...cool connection.

Rawwwwrrr...those eyes.

[SKMDC]

Man I'm at a loss here.

I do remember seeing the Charles Bronson movie Death Wish with my father back in the 70's on a vacation in New York City, and as we walked back to the Waldorf Astoria I was scared shitless, I was a kid from Iowa, just seen an ultra violent film and now was walking through a scary place. New York City in the 70's? Anyone remember?

The same Trip we saw "Girl from Petrovka" with Goldie Hawn and my mom got her thigh rubbed from some dude in a trench coat sitting next to her, She's whispering to me "MOVE DOWN, MOVE DOWN!" Finally I get the gist of what's going on and get up to pound this creep but he's is like the wind, no doubt on to his next victim. My Mom would probably list that one as her scariest.

The Shining is good but you know it bombed when it came out, it was when the slasher movies first hit, Halloween, Friday the 13th, it was more psyche terror than gore, but The Shining is a one of a long list of good movies that did poorly at the box-office, but were saved by HBO Showtime etc. I think AFI did a list of scariest actors and Nicholson was in the top 10, largely due to that movie. Unless you thought he was scary in Witches of Eastwick or that werewolf movie.

Carrie was scary but hasn't aged well, Jaws to me is still scary. The Birds, Psycho, and Rear Window. The Excorsist is still creepy, but The Omen not so much anymore. Blair Witch Project was good, I think that's the latest movie that has scared me. (I haven't read the comments in the thread yet because I don't want to be influenced)
The scariest thing out of Hollywood these days are those shitty movies Matthew McConaughey is being allowed to make. What a waste of celluloid.
Keep On Livin! (Matthew's life motto....what an asshat!)

[SKMDC]

(after reading thread)

Yeah the first Alien.....woah, still effective!
When a Stranger Calls is that the one where the caller is coming from inside the house? That was scary but unfortunately it was at the beginning of the movie and was bad after that.

It made me think of three scary ones involving the telephone (back when they had dials) "Sorry, Wrong Number" where Barbara Stanwyck is a bed ridden wife of a millionaire industrialist and overhears a murder plot on the phone. She calls the police and tries to convince them that this murder is about to go down but as she doesn't know specifics they pay her no head, little does she know thay SHE is the intended victim.

Also "I Saw What You Did" with Joan Crawford, kids making prank calls saying "I know who you are, and I saw what you did" unfortunately pull this on Crawford who just comitted a murder!! Mayhem ensues.

Last, "Dial M, for Murder" not the remake with Michael Douglas but the original with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland directed by Hitchcock.

[psmith2.0]

It's cool, man...

[alcimedes]

Originally Posted by SKMDC (after reading thread) When a Stranger Calls is that the one where the caller is coming from inside the house? That was scary but unfortunately it was at the beginning of the movie and was bad after that.

No, the second one is scary, per my post, the first one "when a stranger calls" sucks.

[psmith2.0]

"The Silence of the Lambs", still, to me, is about as eerie as they come. It's just so natural and "there". Nothing big or shocking, no jolts, no elaborate sequences or over-the-top "kills" or scenarios. Just quiet and creepy, and unsettling throughout.

Hopkins' Lecter, naturally, gets all the praise and attention for his role, but I found him more amusing (and actually kinda likable) and he never really scared me at all. But I remember sitting in the theater and literally grimacing and shifting in my seat at Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill character, every time he was on screen.

And when Clarice went to that small town and was going through the victim's bedroom, that was just so grim and eerie, that entire sequence. Just the matter-of-fact way Scott Glenn and others approached it all made it seem so grounded and real, almost like a documentary in places, that it really gave me the heebie-jeebies when I first saw it. And to this day a few scenes make me squirm (when that girl gets duped into helping him load the couch into his van, when she's in the hole and kidnaps his dog, etc.). I imagined how that hole, and the room in general, must have smelled and what it felt like for her, him looking down at her and being such an unreasonable nutbag.

Terrifying.

Just the little touches, about how he chose his victims as plump so he could use their skin better, etc. When Starling visited that storage facility gave me the shivers because I just knew she was going to find something weird...



Yep.

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by alcimedes No, the second one is scary, per my post, the first one "when a stranger calls" sucks.

That's what I said, The part where the caller is inside the house was good but the rest of the movie was bad. I didn't know about the remake, I really like Carol Kane I'll have to find it.

[709]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Rawwwwrrr...those eyes.

Nandi!

[Souflay123]

Halloween (the remake)
Freddy v. Jason
Nightmare on elm st.
Saw I-V (only because of the gore did i find them eww) but overall it is a decent series
White Noise
The mirrors

The strangers, That move scared the shit out of me. I am freaked out to be home alone now.

The Mist
Prom Night
The Ruins
The Eye, It was unexpectedly good
Shutter, that was soo well done
Rungu
JU-ON
The Orphanage, one of my all time favorites
and 30 days of night

And not to solicit: Fuelthefear.com (more updates, reviews, and forums)