ravenus
May 3rd, 2004, 11:41 PM
This thread is to post your list of what you think is essential viewing for the horror fan.
(No order of preference here)
1. The Living Dead series (George A. Romero) – I’m not intending to go into descriptions here but this is a brilliant series of anarchy movies, well worth the experience for anyone who doesn’t have a problem with seeing a lot of gore.
2. Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir) – a group of Victorian-era schoolgirls go out on a picnic to a site of volcanic rock strata and some of them disappear under mysterious circumstances. Witness accounts and investigation turn up nothing concrete and all the while an atmosphere of dark foreboding and suffocating tension is built up. The film can also takes a look at the psychological tortures on women induced by the corseted social values of the time.
3. Eraserhead (David Lynch) – one of the weirdest movies made. Of course a lot of it is done ‘for the effect’ so to say, but that takes nothing away from the brilliantly scary and dystopic atmosphere of this nightmarish vision.
4. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick) – one of the most high-profile adaptations of a Stephen King novel. Kubrick almost displaces King’s concept of the Haunted Hotel to make the film more of a what-if study into the effect of utter isolation on a family whose sanity is already in question. The absolutely fantastic set-design and cinematography are in themselves sufficient reason to see the film. The only sour note comes from a ridiculously hammy performance by the highly overrated Jack Nicholson.
5. The Evil Dead series (Sam Raimi) – OK, everyone has probably seen this so I’m not wasting time here. My personal favorite is the second film in the series Dead by Dawn whose combination of gory make-up and pitch-black humor (mixed with loads of spot-on slapstick, thanks to the marvelously energetic Bruce Campbell) makes for insane viewing.
6. The Exorcist 1 (William Friedkin) & Exorcist 2: The Heretic (John Boorman) – Everybody has seen the first part and frankly it doesn’t matter if you got cheated out on a few nasty scenes, because IMO the strength of this film is the wholly pragmatic and gritty approach that the film takes towards presenting it’s material. Stuff like the opening shots at the excavation, the relationship between father Karras and his invalid mother or Regan’s medical examination are brilliant in their palpable quality. In fact I lose interest in the film when it nears the splatter-happy climax.
The second part I recommend only as a flawed experiment. The main problem was that Boorman was, as I see it, trying to make a different kind of film, more a kind of Christianity v/s Paganism thing, and the film jars badly whenever it tries to connect with its predecessor, which is quite a lot. The screenplay is vague at best and hopelessly bad performances don’t help. But it still has curiosity value for the horror enthusiast.
7. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) and Psycho 2 (Richard Franklin) – again everybody knows the first movie, I’m not talking about it. I found the second film rather interesting, if flawed in execution. Here, Norman is released from the asylum, and is trying to gain acceptance as a normal person, while a second string of murders starts to occur at the Bates Motel. The best part of this movie was the warm and very credible portrayal of Norman by Anthony Perkins – there was a palpable sense of the character having matured since the last movie. The movie also has a very interesting ambiguous epilogue.
8. Haxan (Benjamin Christensen) – not really a horror film but an awesome docu-drama on witchcraft in the Middle Ages, which deals with both the superstitions regarding witches as well as the religious persecution and mass paranoia of the period. Some of the visual effects are so brilliant it’s hard to believe it was made in 1922.
9. The Innocents (Jack Clayton) - This 1961 British adaptation of Henry James' Turn of the Screw is one of the spookiest films I've ever seen. There are no outlandish visual effects or cheesy loud noise scares, just pure psychological terror that builds steadily every moment of the fim. Brilliant performances by entire cast and fantastic direction and cinematography.
10. Martin (George Romero) - A beautifully told tragic tale about a young vampire in a prosaic world.
(No order of preference here)
1. The Living Dead series (George A. Romero) – I’m not intending to go into descriptions here but this is a brilliant series of anarchy movies, well worth the experience for anyone who doesn’t have a problem with seeing a lot of gore.
2. Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir) – a group of Victorian-era schoolgirls go out on a picnic to a site of volcanic rock strata and some of them disappear under mysterious circumstances. Witness accounts and investigation turn up nothing concrete and all the while an atmosphere of dark foreboding and suffocating tension is built up. The film can also takes a look at the psychological tortures on women induced by the corseted social values of the time.
3. Eraserhead (David Lynch) – one of the weirdest movies made. Of course a lot of it is done ‘for the effect’ so to say, but that takes nothing away from the brilliantly scary and dystopic atmosphere of this nightmarish vision.
4. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick) – one of the most high-profile adaptations of a Stephen King novel. Kubrick almost displaces King’s concept of the Haunted Hotel to make the film more of a what-if study into the effect of utter isolation on a family whose sanity is already in question. The absolutely fantastic set-design and cinematography are in themselves sufficient reason to see the film. The only sour note comes from a ridiculously hammy performance by the highly overrated Jack Nicholson.
5. The Evil Dead series (Sam Raimi) – OK, everyone has probably seen this so I’m not wasting time here. My personal favorite is the second film in the series Dead by Dawn whose combination of gory make-up and pitch-black humor (mixed with loads of spot-on slapstick, thanks to the marvelously energetic Bruce Campbell) makes for insane viewing.
6. The Exorcist 1 (William Friedkin) & Exorcist 2: The Heretic (John Boorman) – Everybody has seen the first part and frankly it doesn’t matter if you got cheated out on a few nasty scenes, because IMO the strength of this film is the wholly pragmatic and gritty approach that the film takes towards presenting it’s material. Stuff like the opening shots at the excavation, the relationship between father Karras and his invalid mother or Regan’s medical examination are brilliant in their palpable quality. In fact I lose interest in the film when it nears the splatter-happy climax.
The second part I recommend only as a flawed experiment. The main problem was that Boorman was, as I see it, trying to make a different kind of film, more a kind of Christianity v/s Paganism thing, and the film jars badly whenever it tries to connect with its predecessor, which is quite a lot. The screenplay is vague at best and hopelessly bad performances don’t help. But it still has curiosity value for the horror enthusiast.
7. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) and Psycho 2 (Richard Franklin) – again everybody knows the first movie, I’m not talking about it. I found the second film rather interesting, if flawed in execution. Here, Norman is released from the asylum, and is trying to gain acceptance as a normal person, while a second string of murders starts to occur at the Bates Motel. The best part of this movie was the warm and very credible portrayal of Norman by Anthony Perkins – there was a palpable sense of the character having matured since the last movie. The movie also has a very interesting ambiguous epilogue.
8. Haxan (Benjamin Christensen) – not really a horror film but an awesome docu-drama on witchcraft in the Middle Ages, which deals with both the superstitions regarding witches as well as the religious persecution and mass paranoia of the period. Some of the visual effects are so brilliant it’s hard to believe it was made in 1922.
9. The Innocents (Jack Clayton) - This 1961 British adaptation of Henry James' Turn of the Screw is one of the spookiest films I've ever seen. There are no outlandish visual effects or cheesy loud noise scares, just pure psychological terror that builds steadily every moment of the fim. Brilliant performances by entire cast and fantastic direction and cinematography.
10. Martin (George Romero) - A beautifully told tragic tale about a young vampire in a prosaic world.