What's Your Favorite Horror Movie?

[GoetzManor]

I haven't seen a thread for this topic in my travels on the boards, so I figured I'd start one. Horror movies have long been seen as a lesser genre of film because they are relatively cheap to make and can be continuously churned out.

My personal old favorite is Nosferatu. The atmosphere and cinematography are fantastic, and the special effects are phenomenal for the time. Max Schreck is truly a force in the film. A more contemporary favorite of mine is Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street. Well, you know how that franchise went.

Since today's most panned film genre has no original ideas anymore, it only makes sense to go back to the classics. This thread asks you: What is your favorite horror film? It can be from any era (Universal, Poverty Row, 50s giant monster); what made it your favorite and do you think it would do well being remade with a large budget?

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
It would be a smash hit, with maybe Madonna in the lead role?

 

[ButteMT61]

Can't possibly choose. Certainly the classics such as Psycho are there at the top, but I'm a horror freak and it's just too hard to choose one.
Great question, but for me, no answer

 

[GoetzManor]

Can't possibly choose. Certainly the classics such as Psycho are there at the top, but I'm a horror freak and it's just too hard to choose one.
Great question, but for me, no answer

I completely agree with you. I am also a horror freak and I figured there would be others on the board as well. I noticed that once you bring up the topic, the fans start to come out of the woodwork.

 

[ButteMT61]

I completely agree with you. I am also a horror freak and I figured there would be others on the board as well. I noticed that once you bring up the topic, the fans start to come out of the woodwork.

Some people won't admit to it for some odd reason. I've been a horror freak since childhood - even though I scared myself to death all the time and had to hide under the covers lolMany newer movies are just gore, which is not my favorite sub-genre, but I watch almost all the horror movies that come out.

 

[Worf]

Two and both TV Movies...

"The Night Stalker" - Scary Vampire number one.

"Salem's Lot" - The original Mini-series that caused so many nightmares amongst children nationwide they almost didn't air the finale.

"The Exorcist" and "The Omen" for big screen horror at it's finest.

Worf

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Ghost Story (1980)
The Shining (1980)
The Thing (John Carpenter version) (1982)

 

[jamespowers]

Army of Darkness.

 

[bulldog1935]

The Changeling. (1980 - ghost story with George C. Scott, not to be confused with a more recent movie using the same title)

 

[Hunter_aka_Scotty]

I couldn't begin to pick a single favorite but among them
Frankenstein 1931
Bride of Frankenstein 1935
Dracula 1931
Nosferatu 1922
The Old Dark house 1932
Dog Soldiers 2002
The Underworld Series
Pretty much ANYTHING Vincent Price starred in. There's no such thing as too much Vincent Price.
All three versions of THE THING
THEM! 1954

 

[davidraphael]

The Shining
The Innocents
The Exorcist
Psycho
Rosemary's Baby
28 Days Later
All the classic Universals
The Thing (from another world) (ie, versions 1 & 2)
Alien
Come and See (a war film, but really truly horrific)

Is it possible to make a truly scary horror movie nowadays? I seem to have become desensitised.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Scary yes, gory no.
I don't think any of the newer directors would even know HOW to make a scary picture.
In my mind, it's not being desensitized, it's the fast paced "microwave" society we've become.
Unless there is action now, the crowd might walk out, forget building up to a climax in the film.

 

[GoetzManor]

Pretty much ANYTHING Vincent Price starred in. There's no such thing as too much Vincent Price.

I couldn't agree more with you! I'm in the process of planning a Vincent Price-a-thon. I'll create a facebook event but most likely I'll be the only one in attendance.

 

[GoetzManor]

Scary yes, gory no.
I don't think any of the newer directors would even know HOW to make a scary picture.
In my mind, it's not being desensitized, it's the fast paced "microwave" society we've become.
Unless there is action now, the crowd might walk out, forget building up to a climax in the film.

That is true. In today's mainstream cinema, its all about the Mtv style jumpcuts and throw away scares.

Even though he has had a few bombs recently, I still think Wes Craven is one of the best horror directors still making films. New directors do need to take look at the classics to feel how a horror film is supposed to feel: that dread and sense of impending doom.

 

[penates]

I'll have to add a vote for the John Carpenter version of The Thing.

 

[jamespowers]

I should add Plan 9 too.

 

[KY Gentleman]

I recently watched Shock Waves and Near Dark again. I really liked those. The Evil Dead was an all time favorite as well!

 

[Matt Crunk]

Next to Noir, I'd have to say horror is my favorite film genre (followed by spaghetti westerns). I love and appreciate all the classic B&W horror films from the Universals up through the B-Movie Horrors of the 50s and 60s. I also love all the Hammer horror films. But I'd have to say my very favorites would have to be The Exorcist and The Sentinel (1977) mainly because those are the only two films that have ever truly scared me. JAWS tops my list too, if you can count it as horror.

Among the more contemporary horror, I really love Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses, mainly because of the way it pays such homage to all the films that inspired it. And also because I've actually met most of it's cast members.

 

[DesertDan]

J.C's "The Thing" is probably my favorite movie of all time.
"Alien" probably not considered very frightening now but when it first came out it was astounding. absolutely terrifying.
I love zombie and vampire movies (real vampire movies not that Twilight garbage)
One that I saw recently that I thought was outstanding was "Let The Right One In" one of the best vampire movies I have seen in a very long time. Truly disturbing.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Hm I like horror but the sub genres are rather hard to compare.
The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" because it is so raw and direct. The first hit with the hammer... oh my.
Universals "Frankenstein" and also "Frankensteins Bride". I really enjoy them (even more than Dracula.)

I like funny gore and zombie movies. Evil Dead 2- dead by dawn!
[video=youtube;7EWY7OYUcB0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EWY7OYUcB0[/video]

Or the early Peter Jackson stuff (Braindead, bad taste...)
Modern horror movies can be good too. The french "High Tension" was great.