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FPM C10 |
As is always the case with these threads, I agree with Steamboat Bill Jr. I never include "House of Frankenstein" in my list, though. That was the end of the franchise and it wasn't nearly as good as any of the preceding ones.
There were a couple things Steamy didn't include...I DEFINITELY have White Zombie (1932) close to the top of my list. Lugosi's finest moment.
And I liked Paul Wegener's Der Golem (1920)a lot.
Most disturbing film is still Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom. Can't believe it was made by the same guy who made The Gospel According to St. Matthew! |
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Dan |
quote: corgi37 wrote:
There are more, no doubt. But, i am getting wasted now. Its taken me nearly 2 hours to write this.
I really appreciate the effort. I think this is the first time I have ever been compelled to save an entire post. I might print it out and take it to the video store with me sometime.
I have Re-Animator. I almost always break it out whenever I have company. Most people have never heard of it. Saw The Hidden in the theatre when it first came out. Going to have to find that again.
I also really liked Twin Peaks and the last episode was very haunting. Well, it should have been the last episode, it lingered on a bit longer and I was never able to finish the series and that particular episode left me drained. |
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StickyFishFingers |
Does seeing Poison live in concert count?
But seriously - Nosferatu. Scariest Vampire onscreen.
I think Alice Cooper's Welcome to my nightmare would make a great horror/thriller especially if someone like Ben Elton wrote it.
[Edited by StickyFishFingers] |
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Highwire Rob |
quote: corgi37 wrote:
Ah, my specialty.
Without question, the "Dead" trilogy by George A. Romero are the greatest horror films ever. ...
Hey Corgi!
I’m visiting my parents this weekend in New Alexandria, PA and where I’m typing this now I’m only a few miles away from Evans City where Romero filmed the classic cemetery scene. I shit you not!
In fact, when my English cousin drove down my parents’ driveway for the first time some years ago she remarked how she felt as if she were in a “Dead” film. It’s the Pennsylvania old growth hardwood forest that complements that shadowy ominous feel. And that super mall in “Dawn” is Monroeville Mall just a half hour drive towards Pittsburgh from here.
Although it’s not strictly horror genre, you Australians scared the bejesus out of a younger impressionable me with the original Mad Max film. If I visit Down Under I still half expect to run in to bondage clad post-apocalyptic punks with bad attitudes. With today’s petrol pricing fiasco perhaps that film is not far from the truth
[Sad note to pass on: because you are so versed in Romero’s great horror films, I’m sure you’ve come across the name, Gene Saraceni, PhD. He worked with Romero on the originals and also played one of the zombies. In high school I took the same bus as his daughter, Elyse. She was such a beautiful and kind young woman and an exceptional talent in music and art. In 1988 returning from study abroad in London, she was murdered on Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.] |
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Gimme Shelter |
Friday the 13th series
Halloween series
Texas Chainsaw Massacre series
Hellraiser series
A Nightmare on Elm Street series
Child's Play series
Psycho series
House of 1000 Corpses
The Devil's Rejects
Last House on the Left
Hills Have Eyes series
I Spit On Your Grave
Hannibal series
House
Night Breed
Candyman
Pet Sematary
The Shining
Children of the Corn
Dracula
Hostel
Cujo
Willow Creek
The entire Dead series
etc. |
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MrPleasant |
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Dan |
Time shifting - recording a broadcast for future viewing. |
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MrPleasant |
quote: FPM C10 wrote:
Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom. Can't believe it was made by the same guy who made The Gospel According to St. Matthew!
It's Pasolini's take on capitalism. To the extreme. Peter Greenaway is fascinated by that one, and he's a smelly fruity pebble too.
Interesthongly, there are people who think that Pier Paolo actually knew that he was going to be killed. And there are clues scattered in his work which gives some food yoghurt.
Yoga is sexy.
And The Gospel is the best hippy film ever. |
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Nasty Habits |
This movie freaks me out:
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Highwire Rob |
What about Horror Express? From 1973 it's like Alien meets the Orient Express.
Your Non Stop Ride to Hell Boards at 8 P.M.
Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas (as a Cossack).
This scared the hell out of me when I was 12.
[Edited by Highwire Rob] |
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glencar |
The Ring was the only movie ever made me feel scared. |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
I didn't think Jailhouse Rock was a horror movie until they told that guy in the shower scene to bend over and pick up the soap. |
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glencar |
That was all that ever happened in Oz. |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
The Devils (1971)
Quite arguably this is Ken Russell's masterpiece. It is horrifying not only in content and realization, but it is horrifying because it so accurately captures the most depraved, most base, shadow side of humanity. "The Devils" is unparalleled in its delineation of the extremes people go to in order to preserve belief systems and in its exposure of abuse of power. Foucault and Bateson, eat your heart out.
The story, adapted from Aldous Huxley's "The Devils of Loudon" and loosely based on historical fact, centers around a rebel priest, Father Grandier, caught between his faith and his humanity. The monarchy of Inquistion-obsessed France seeks to destroy the Protestant-leaning town of Loudon. The only way the powers that be can destroy Loudon is to attack Father Grandier, whose liberalism threatens to steer Loudon farther away from Catholicism and thus from the influence of the throne. Cardinal Richeleau sends a troop of morally bankrupt, power hungry freaks to Loudon so that they might turn the citizens against Grandier. Through a series of diabolical manipulations and inescapable double binds, the Church successfully whips Loudon into a religious frenzy whose energy is directed against Grandier. In the end, Grandier--whose only sin is his own sexuality and pride--nobly sacrifices his life so as not to sacrifice his integrity.
The acting, sets, soundtrack, visuals, and direction come together to create a sadomasochistic mania. Russell wanted to depict that extreme boundary between pleasure and pain, beauty and depravity, and he succeeds brilliantly. Although Oliver Reed as Grandier delivers nearly every line at one hundred plus decibels, it is undoubtedly the finest performance of his career. Reed is finally up to the task of portraying a multidimensional complex character and succeeds in evoking sympathy for the predicament his character finds himself in. Vanessa Redgrave is positively wicked and twisted as the deformed Sister Jeanne. The supporting cast is equally up to the task of creating a warped sensibility. Of particular interest are Murray Melvin's androgyne whose facial expressions provide needed comic relief and the anachronistic (blue tinted shades in the 1600's??) exorcist (No, that's not Warren Zevon.) Peter Maxwell Davies's score is the musical equivalent of a Hieronymous Bosch painting--Dionysian, primal, and repulsive. Russell's imagination is in top form with numerous memorable sequences. Much of the visual credit might be given to Derek Jarman, the future director who was set designer for the film.
Those critics who chastised Russell for the film's decadence and perversity did not fully understand the work. For here Russell's extravagance is "spot on" for the material he is working on. With appropriate distance, it is certain that this film will achieve the classic status it so deserves.
Bottom Line: One of only a handful of films ever created that deservedly be called a horror film. A classic which improves with time. Russell succeeds triumphantly in capturing the extreme cruelty and depravity potential in humanity. Truly disturbing and unforgettable.
Scenes to Watch for:
(1) Opening scene
(2) Redgrave's Christ hallucination.
(3) Infamous "Bye-bye blackbird" scene
(4) Witches orgy (not available on most versions)
(5) exorcism of Redgrave
(6) Finale and credits
What the Critics Had to Say:
---"Despite undeniable technical proficiency, this is its writer-director's most outrageously sick film to date."---
Halliwell's Film and Video Guide.
---"Derek Jarman's sets, however, still look terrific."---Time Out Film Guide.
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Ten Thousand Motels |
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
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Bloozehound |
the grand daddy of them all
the texas chainsaw massacre
a few years ago I ran into that guy with the blue puzzels tattoed all over hisself "the enigma" in fry's electronics, we were both looking for the remastered DVD of chainsaw |
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nappyrags |
actually i thought the exorcist in "the devils" looked like
jack cassidy with thse shades...
my favorite is klute....oh,excuse me, i thought we were talking about whore flix...(an old cheech and chong joke, sorry....) |
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Highwire Rob |
quote: Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
The Devils (1971)
TTM, thanks for posting that. I was unfamiliar with that one and I've just done some Web searches. Looks great.
I liked Ken Russell's Altered States. Granted, some of it was a bit corny like when he looks down in the shower at his orangutan regressed feet.
But the special effects for the hallucinatory trips were (and still are) mind-blowing. The psychobabble intrigued me; the best suspense was had in that dark claustrophobic sensory deprivation tank: not knowing when and how hard the drug was going to burst upon the brain.
I haven't checked this out but the special effects team must be the same as American Werewolf in London. The mutation scenes are very similar--that "bubbling" muscle and skin effect. Plus they were made within a year or two of each other.
Evidently screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky credited himself under the pseudonym Sidney Aaron because he wasn't happy with the ambitious film vision of Russell. Chayefsky rather intended a more historical and pragmatic drama depicting the real life 1970s experiments of Dr. John Lilly. |
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CraigP |
The Shining is a masterpeice.
Dawn of the Dead is a good B-grade horror flick (The soundtrack by the band GOBLIN is good on it's own). Check 'em out. |
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CraigP |
The Shining is a masterpeice.
Dawn of the Dead is a good B-grade horror flick (The soundtrack by the band GOBLIN is good on it's own). Check 'em out. |
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IanBillen |
[quote]full moon wrote:
Night Of The Living Dead, Halloween., Carrie,
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Very nice choices! I especially may agree with the first.
The Hills Have Eyes (original version) is possibly my first for horror.Then, right behind it is NOTLD. It depends on the day. Those two are neck and neck for me.
But,
If I may,
Let us not forget
!!!!!!!!!!!!The Rocky Horror Picture Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aka "Rocky". What a fantastic classic. An absolute masterpiece and one of a kind. My all time fav for any film.
Ian |
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Highwire Rob |
quote: IanBillen wrote:
But,
If I may,
Let us not forget
!!!!!!!!!!!!The Rocky Horror Picture Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aka "Rocky". What a fantastic classic. An absolute masterpiece and one of a kind. My all time fav for any film.
Ian
Yes, that can get creepy when audience members are throwing things like cold spaghetti at one another. |
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IanBillen |
[quote]Highwire Rob wrote:
Yes, that can get creepy when audience members are throwing things like cold spaghetti at one another.
____________________________________________________________
That ain't spaghetti. Those are worms!
Ian
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Dan |
quote: CraigP wrote:
The Shining is a masterpeice.
Dawn of the Dead is a good B-grade horror flick (The soundtrack by the band GOBLIN is good on it's own). Check 'em out.
Return Of The Living Dead is a great movie. And it has a great soundtrack, by former member of the Stones touring band Matt Clifford. Wonder if he was chosen because his musical output and talent far surpasses anything the Stones have done since? |
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corgi37 |
Hey, i didnt know that! I love that film and only recently bought the dvd. The script was written by John Russo, who co-wrote the original Night of the living dead script. I think its a top movie. Played for laughs, but good in its own way. I read in Fangoria way back when ROTLD came out, that the FX team used heaps of joke names on the grave stones. It's impossible to really see though. But names like Rhett Butler, John Wayne, George Romero and even Jimi Hendrix are "etched" on the polystyrene tomb stones.
I tell you another i really enjoyed. The 1988 re-make of the Blob. Some fantastic FX there, but more groan worthy than scary.
I dont consider Poltergeist scary in the slightest, or even a true horror film, but by God, Jo Beth Williams was the sexiest damn screen Mom i'd ever laid eyes on! |
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monkey_man |
Sam Raimi's Evil Dead |
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Steamboat Bill, Jr. |
quote: MrPleasant wrote:
I'm not so into the horror genre, but there are some gems lying there; B movies which are even more poetic and sometimes misterious than the regular "avant garde" thing.
Absolutely, B-movies from the '30's through the '50's (and the '40's really had the best) are my favorite types of films to watch; and I take them "seriously," I may laugh WITH them but I certainly don't laugh AT them.
quote: FPM wrote:
As is always the case with these threads, I agree with Steamboat Bill Jr. I never include "House of Frankenstein" in my list, though. That was the end of the franchise and it wasn't nearly as good as any of the preceding ones.
There were a couple things Steamy didn't include...I DEFINITELY have White Zombie (1932) close to the top of my list. Lugosi's finest moment.
And I liked Paul Wegener's Der Golem (1920)a lot.
I LOVE the later '40's Universals, even though they get ridiculous. But really, House of Frankenstein isn't all that bad; Karloff is great as the mad scientist and...well I guess I can't really think of anything else. It's still great though, even if it is one of the all-time wasted oppurtunities in film (Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Monster in the same film and they never clash, WTF?). At least they got it right at the end of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man the year before, even if Lugosi is kinda pathetic as the monster.
And you're right, I blew it with White Zombie, totally forgot that one. Still haven't seen The Golem yet, but I'm getting there.
[Edited by Steamboat Bill, Jr.] |
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Dan |
Bad news:
http://joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=4236
Source: Arrow in the Head by: The Arrow
The way I see it, now that THE OMEN has been remade (and badly at that...word on the street), all bets are off, no film is freaking safe.
Well add the classic Zombie flick and one of my personal fav RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD to the remake hit list.
I heard via a very reliable source that Producer Anatoly Fradis, who brought us the lackluster ROTLD 4 and 5 is now aiming to remake the original. Why? $$$! What else? Urg...when will it end...
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DJAsh |
"Night of the Demon" ( 1957) based on MR James "Casting the Runes" ghost story.
MR James stories are well worth reading. |