The Best Horror Films

[Mister Gold]

Normally I would've posted this in the Movies thread, but considering how it's the season of Halloween, I figured it'd be a good idea to open up a thread on our favorite horror films! No need to do a countdown, unless you want to, just feel free to join in and give your input on what your personal favorite horror movies are. If you think that there is a movie or two that no one else has mentioned yet and want to suggest it, by all means, go ahead!

As for yours truly...

John Carpenter's The Thing - As I mentioned in the Movie thread, I only just saw this movie for the first time the other day. Yet I can't stop thinking about this movie, despite my best efforts. I watched it again that same night, showing it to my friend and fellow film enthusiast and we both kept raving about it and analyzing it together the next day. I'm incredibly tempted to name The Thing as my new favorite horror film. There is very little, if anything, to criticize about this film. It's incredibly atmospheric, it's thought-provoking, it's incredibly well-made and it is truly and absolutely terrifying. The Thing is a masterwork of the genre.

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining - This film is right up there with The Thing and has been my personal favorite horror film for awhile now. A review snippet on the cover of my DVD described the film as the original horror epic and I couldn't agree more. This film, despite focusing primarily on only three or four characters, has a monolithic scope. That being said, I can understand and perhaps even agree with some complaints about the simplicity of the characters, or even that perhaps a character or two in the film is annoying. While Kubrick was undoubtedly an overall superior filmmaker over John Carpenter, I'm not entirely sure if The Shining beats out The Thing yet or not. I'll have watch it again sometime in the near future.

Ridley Scott's ALIEN - While I've recently come to realize and agree that James Cameron's Aliens is the smarter and overall better crafted film, the original ALIEN film remains unmatched by any other entry in the film franchise when it comes to the scare factor. Kane's Son truly feels like an unstoppable force of nature; a being of pure evil. There is a lot to love about this horror film.

That's my personal Top 3, with The Thing and The Shining currently duking it out for first place. What about everyone else?

[Nekov]

Those right there are very good. I'd add Event Horizon to the list. I still remember how much of an impact it had on me the first time I watched it. So well crafted, such a great story, pretty good special effects for it's time and great suspense buildup.

[hefdaddy42]

I guess I'm weird, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the old Universal B&W films like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, etc.

[Outcrier]

John Carpenter's The Thing
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
Ridley Scott's ALIEN

My favorite from these is The Thing too but they are all great movies.
Still, i'm not a expert in classic horror movies (for example, never watched Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion, the early Romero movies, etc).

[hefdaddy42]

I love The Thing.  Fantastic movie.

[ozzy554]

I love every movie on this thread so far.

I could spend all day listing my favorite horror movies but I'll try and make this list as short as I can.

The Phantasm series (can't wait for the fifth one that's coming soon)
Suspiria By Dario Argento
Dawn/Day of the dead By George Romero
Halloween's 1,2,3,4,H20 (I find Season of the witch Criminally underrated)
Friday the 13th's 1,2,4,6
Demons 1&2 By Lamberto Bava
Several of the Hammer Horror movies
The Beyond By lucio Fulci
Psycho By Alfred Hitchcock

[Mister Gold]

Those right there are very good. I'd add Event Horizon to the list. I still remember how much of an impact it had on me the first time I watched it. So well crafted, such a great story, pretty good special effects for it's time and great suspense buildup.

I'll just agree to disagree. I thought it could have been a fantastic film, but I really didn't like the execution.

I guess I'm weird, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the old Universal B&W films like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, etc.

Not at all! I grew up on those films! The Wolf Man was always my personal favorite of the lot.

I love The Thing.  Fantastic movie.

John Carpenter's The Thing
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
Ridley Scott's ALIEN

My favorite from these is The Thing too but they are all great movies.
Still, i'm not a expert in classic horror movies (for example, never watched Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion, the early Romero movies, etc).

Thanks! And yeah, I only recently saw Rosemary's Baby and the original Night of the Living Dead for the first time myself.

I love every movie on this thread so far.

I could spend all day listing my favorite horror movies but I'll try and make this list as short as I can.

The Phantasm series (can't wait for the fifth one that's coming soon)
Suspiria By Dario Argento
Dawn/Day of the dead By George Romero
Halloween's 1,2,3,4,H20 (I find Season of the witch Criminally underrated)
Friday the 13th's 1,2,4,6
Demons 1&2 By Lamberto Bava
Several of the Hammer Horror movies
The Beyond By lucio Fulci
Psycho By Alfred Hitchcock

Great suggestions!

[Outcrier]

Dawn/Day of the dead By George Romero

Not a fan of Night of the Living Dead?

[ozzy554]

Dawn/Day of the dead By George Romero

Not a fan of Night of the Living Dead?

I am but I just like dawn and day a lot more.

[Podaar]

All nice picks Mr. Gold and I don't disagree in any fashion.

It may be a personal thing, but the movie that has scared me the most, especially the first viewing was The Ring. It's not a masterpiece of film or anything but something about the pacing and the unconventional (at the time) monster effects was really startling and gave me a black feeling for days after.

Another one that really affected me, but I'm not sure it qualifies as horror, is Se7en.

Honorable mentions for some oldies but goodies: The Exorcist, The Omen (Damian was just...ick), and Rosemary's Baby.

[edit]Ninja'd on RB[/edit]

[Mister Gold]

All nice picks Mr. Gold and I don't disagree in any fashion.

It may be a personal thing, but the movie that has scared me the most, especially the first viewing was The Ring. It's not a masterpiece of film or anything but something about the pacing and the unconventional (at the time) monster effects was really startling and gave me a black feeling for days after.

I actually have yet to see The Ring in its entirety. I've heard plenty of good things about it though!

Another one that really affected me, but I'm not sure it qualifies as horror, is Se7en.

Honorable mentions for some oldies but goodies: The Exorcist, The Omen (Damian was just...ick), and Rosemary's Baby.

[edit]Ninja'd on RB[/edit]

I'd thought about including Se7en in a personal Top 25 list I made recently, but ended up not including it. I'd have to watch it again to be sure, but it feel more decisively like a detective film than it did a horror film.

[Podaar]

Oh, also, the Japanese horror industry has made some startlingly great movies. Ringu, the movie that inspired The Ring, is even better than the Hollywood version but you have to read subtitles. The original Dark Water is head and shoulders above the U.S. version too.

[Tick]

The following are my all time favorites!

The Conjuring - The modern day classic!
The Shining - Eerie, creepy, disturbing
The Exorcist - Gave me nightmares for months as a teen!
1408 - Suspenseful and very underrated gem!
Insidious - Genuinely creepy
The Omen - The devils son torments his adopted family
The Amityville Horror - Corny by today's standards but a 70's classic!
The Ring - Atmospheric and creepy
Poltergeist - Just a lot of fun to watch! Best quotable lines!

[Outcrier]

Ringu, the movie that inspired The Ring, is even better than the Hollywood version but you have to read subtitles.

As far as i know, it's a remake.

[Tick]

Ringu, the movie that inspired The Ring, is even better than the Hollywood version but you have to read subtitles.

As far as i know, it's a remake.

Nope, its the original. The Ring is the American remake of the Japanese film.

[Fluffy Lothario]

No movie has ever scared me on any real level other than The Blair Witch Project, so that is the only horror film I hold in very high regard.

Nosferatu is a fun piece of antique horror.

I couldn't get through ten minutes of The Shining.

[Podaar]

Ringu, the movie that inspired The Ring, is even better than the Hollywood version but you have to read subtitles.

As far as i know, it's a remake.

Nope, its the original. The Ring is the American remake of the Japanese film.

Correct. Ringu is from 1998 and The Ring is from 2002. Still, I didn't see the former until after seeing the later but I dearly wished it had been the other way around.

[Outcrier]

Nope, its the original. The Ring is the American remake of the Japanese film.

The Ring wasn't inspired by The Ringu, simply a remake. That was my point 

[Podaar]

I see, now. I should have worded my earlier post better. My apologies.

[T-ski]

No movie has ever scared me on any real level other than The Blair Witch Project, so that is the only horror film I hold in very high regard.

talk about right time, right place.  the addition of the backstory and website to make this seem as real as possible was beyond brilliant.  while I don't find a lot of the movie all that scary, it still is one of my all-time favorite scary movies.

"MIKE....MIKE!!!!!"

[Fluffy Lothario]

I've heard about the website and everything they made, but I didn't see it until about ten years after it came out. I managed to avoid any spoilers that whole time, went into it completely blind, other than it being "that horror movie everyone went nuts for for some reason years back".

The only time I can recall watching anything and having my heart beating in my chest and being literally on the edge of my seat like I was for Blair Witch was Hotel Rwanda. Totally different genres, but both movies brilliantly create a sense of sickening dread like nothing else I've ever seen.

[Phoenix87x]

John Carpenter's The Thing
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
Ridley Scott's ALIEN

Those actually are my favorite horror movies.

[Tick]

Am I the only one who thinks "Alien" is way overrated?

[Mister Gold]

Am I the only one who thinks "Alien" is way overrated?

I used to think it was absolutely perfect in every way, but I have recently come to see more fair criticisms towards the film. Aliens is definitely the stronger film overall, but as far as pure horror goes, Alien is still a masterpiece in that regard.

[jammindude]

The Exorcist never scared me...I just thought it was dumb and gross.   Trying too hard to be offensive.

The Omen was pretty creepy.

The Thing is a BIG TIME thrill ride, and I love the movie.   But it's not that terrifying to me.


Now...the original Halloween.    I get chills just thinking about it.   Easily the most terrifying movie I've ever seen.   That movie can still give me nightmares.   I seriously get just a little freaked out even THINKING about it.

The original Nightmare on Elm Street was pretty scary as well.  (before the whole series turned into a cartoon)

Friday the 13th never scared me at all.  They were all just totally stupid.   

[Zook]

Friday the 13th's 1,2,4,6

No love for Part VII? Regardless of the story, Jason looks his absolute best. Such a bad ass character design.

[adace]

Dark Skies: The ending to that film probably isn't that creepy to a lot of people, but for me it was one of the creepiest I've seen.

Apollo 18 and Europa Report are awesome. I absolutely love space/sci-fi horror films.

Pi is a really good film, though strictly speaking I'm not sure it's horror.

Beyond the Black Rainbow takes the creep factor up to 11 and keeps it there throughout the whole film. Brilliantly unsettling and disturbing.

[Dittomist]

I just got my first book published after many frustrating years of trying. It's called Pumpkin Cinema and it's all about the best movies (and TV episodes) to watch on Halloween. 
https://www.schifferbooks.com/pumpkin-cinema-the-best-movies-for-halloween-5572.html

You guys have mentioned some very good movies so far; 1408, The Exorcist, Friday the 13th Part 6, The Omen, The Blair Witch Project, The Conjuring, Poltergeist, Halloween (as well as part 2, 3, 4, 5 and H20), Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria, Nightmare on Elm Street, Insidious, and Frankenstein all made the cut

[jammindude]

I'm not sure exactly what it is.  But even if every horror "monster" in the cinema universe were real...Michael Myers would scare me more than anything.  Even more than Hannibal Lecter.   There's just something about that original incarnation.   I agree with the general consensus that by "getting more into the backstory" and "letting us in the mind" of Michael Myers, Rob Zombie ruined the character.     Heck, even though I still found 2 to be somewhat scary, I think making JLC's character his sister ruined some of the scare...because it gave him more of a singular purpose for coming after her.   In the original, there really wasn't a reason to target her specifically.   He was just completely blank, and coming after you, with absolutely no emotion and no purpose, and he wouldn't be stopped...for anything...

Now I'm just creeping myself out again.   **shudders**

[Phoenix87x]

Even though its technically not a horror movie and really more of a thriller, I do want to list Silence of the lambs. I bow down to that movie.

[ozzy554]

Friday the 13th's 1,2,4,6

No love for Part VII? Regardless of the story, Jason looks his absolute best. Such a bad ass character design.

New blood although it isn't one of my favorites I think is a good entry in the series. I will agree that the jason makeup in it is the best of the series. Too bad his face turned into a rubbery piece of crap for part VIII.

[Zook]

Friday the 13th's 1,2,4,6

No love for Part VII? Regardless of the story, Jason looks his absolute best. Such a bad ass character design.

New blood although it isn't one of my favorites I think is a good entry in the series. I will agree that the jason makeup in it is the best of the series. Too bad his face turned into a rubbery piece of crap for part VIII.

Yeah, a melting dinosaur wasn't a good look for him, but props to him for regenerating not only himself but his clothes as well.

I know each director has their own vision and say in the matter, but how could they ignore such important continuity like that? Do they even care? I guess not. Part 4 is set a day after 3, yet Jason somehow grew really long fingernails? His humpback has disappeared as well. Then in part 8, after being buried under rubble, he managed the find and put on a pair of biker gloves. The fuck? The only detail John Carl Buechler missed was the bullet hole in the hockey mask. He still gave a shit about the continuity, and even though the movie admittedly isn't that great, he put a lot of work into the continuity and for that he gets my respect. Plus he's a bad ass special effects artist.

[Rattlehead]

Cool idea for a thread, I'm a huge horror movie fan myself 

Some of my favorites are…

Dawn of the Dead
Hellraiser
The Shining
Halloween
Texas Chain Saw Massacre

I've been looking for good horror movies to watch lately and I stumbled upon one called The House Of The Devil on Netflix that I thought was awesome, definitely worth a shot for any horror movie fans here.

[jammindude]

I've gotten really burnt out on horror lately, and tend towards more classical stuff lately.   (old Hitchcock has become a favorite...Rope in particular)  Though it's not truly "horror".

I suppose more modern horror (to me anyway) misses the point.   I hate "gore porn" that passes for horror these days.   The scariest parts of some of my favorite "horror" movies (Halloween in particular) are when absolutely nothing is happening.   A shape standing in the backyard...but then he's gone...was he really there?   Someone watching you without your knowledge.   You see a shape across the street carrying a body.  Those types of things are infinitely more scary to me than throwing blood around.

I had heard that Joss Whedon's Cabin in the Woods was a new twist on the horror genre, but I have yet to take the plunge.  Was it really as "original" as I've heard?   Or was it just gore porn with a twist?

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Audition and Antichrist are my favourite horrors (even though Antichrist gets a lot of flak for being either misogynist or too symbolism-reliant). House/Hausu is another favourite, but it's moreso the campy humour factor of it. The vast majority of horrors disappoint me though.