Any other horror fans out there?

[Kirsten]

yup, that is where I watch all mine

[Brakkart]

Not really a fan of horror in general but I love gothic horror. To me horror set in the modern world just isn't that scary I suppose. There's something about dealing with monsters with a trusty revolver, lantern and things like telegraphs and steam trains that makes the stakes so much more real. I also have a real loathing of black and white movies, because the world isn't black & white, seeing a story in that medium is a constant reminder to me that it is a story, so I never get properly drawn into it. To that end I love modern gothic horror films like The Wolfman, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Sleepy Hollow, the tv series Penny Dreadful and so on. I've watched the Alien movies a few times and only the second one ever really entertains me. Event Horizon though is a really good "haunted house in space" movie, and also a Warhammer 2k movie when you think about the ship as having made a warp jump without a gellar field (even if no-one had any idea that that is what they were doing with their experimental engine).

Despite my love of Victorian era horror movies, my favourite horror movie is the exception to that: The Relic, a film that because it's set in a museum has a real gothic horror vibe too it, even though its firmly set in the late 20th century.

[Kirsten]

I like The Relic, watched that a few times

[YorkNecromancer]

So this is the list of horror films that I think are worth watching. They are in rank order, top being the best, bottom being least. That doesn't mean 'bad', just 'not as good as the others'. If a film isn't on the list, I either haven't seen it, I've forgotten to add it, or I just don't like it. I've also deliberately left horror comedies (for example, the superb 'Cabin In The Woods') off the list because those are comedies.

1. 'The Fly', dir David Cronenberg, 1986
2. 'Martyrs', dir Pascal Laugier, 2008
3. 'The Wicker Man', dir Robin Hardy, 1973
4. 'Battle Royale', dir Kinji Fukasaku, 2000
5. 'Ring', dir Hideo Nakata, 1998 (And anyone who calls it 'Ringu' is a pretentious dick)
6. 'Videodrome', dir David Cronenberg, 1983
7. 'Lake Mungo', dir Joel Anderson, 2008
8. 'The Silence of The Lambs', dir Jonathon Demme, 1990
9. 'Prince of Darkness', dir John Carpenter, 1987
10. 'The Thing', dir John Carpenter, 1982
11. '8mm', dir Joel Schumacher, 1999 (and I can't believe a film by this bellend is on my list!)
12. 'The Devil Rides Out', dir Terence Fisher, 1968
13. 'IT', dir Tommy Lee Wallace, 1990 (Part 1 only)
14. 'The Mist', dir Frank Darabont, 2007
15. 'Excision', dir Richard Bates, Jr., 2012
16. 'The Bay', dir Barry Levinson, 2012
17. 'Saw', dir James Wan, 2004
18. 'Dead Silence', dir James Wan 2007
19. 'Jaws', dir Steven Spielberg, 1975
20. 'The Omen', dir Richard Donner, 1976
21. 'Candyman', dir Bernard Rose, 1992
22. 'The Orphanage', dir Juan Antonio Bayona, 2007
23. 'In the Mouth of Madness', dir John Carpenter, 1995
24. 'The People Under the Stairs', dir Wes Craven, 1991
25. 'Le Yeux Sans Visage', dir Georges Franju, 1960
26. 'Dagon'. dir Stuart Gordon, 2001
27. 'The Shining', dir Stanley Kubrick, 1980
28. 'Poltergeist', dir Tobe Hooper, 1982
29. 'The Sixth Sense', dir M. Night Shyamalan, 1999
30. 'Jacob's Ladder', dir Adrian Lyne, 1990
31. 'Angel Heart', dir Alan Parker, 1987
32. '.REC', dirs Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, 2007
33. 'Evil Dead', dir Fede Alvarez, 2013 (not the original; I despise Sam Raimi's 'horror' work)
34. 'It Follows', dir David Robert Mitchell, 2014
35. 'Never Let Me Go', dir Mark Romanek, 2010
36. 'Exam', dir Stuart Hazeldine, 2009
37. 'Creep', dir Christopher Smith, 2004
38. 'Black Death', dir Christopher Smith, 2010
39. 'Alien', dir Ridley Scott, 1979
40. 'Hostel: part III', dir Scott Spiegel, 2011
41. 'Hostel', dir Eli Roth, 2005
42. 'V/H/S' dir Radio Silence, 2012
43. 'Child's Play', dir Tom Holland, 1988
44. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', dir Tobe Hooper, 1974
45. 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors', dir Chuck Russell, 1987

If a horror film isn't on this list? I don't think it's worth watching. There are a few that come close ('Paperhouse', 'V/H/S 2', and a couple more) but mostly, these are the ones I would recommend. Which is deeply frustrating to me, because horror is my favourite genre. I like it more than anything else (to the point I have what is functionally a Bachelor's degree in it - I did my dissertation on Peter Jackson back in 1999 when no-one knew who he was and he was best known for 'Heavenly Creatures' - still his best film, in my opinion), but only 5% of it is really worth watching. I don't think I like it the way other horror fans do; they always seem to love 'so bad it's good' films. I think they've been disappointed so many times by so many bad films, they've just given in and decided to laugh along. I don't work that way. I just can't f**king stand it, because I don't watch horror to laugh. If I'm laughing, it's not a horror film, so I'm not interested.

I also want to leave horror films deeply, deeply traumatised. I want to have the horrible things I saw going round my head for the next few days, leaving me shaken and profoundly distressed, and most horror films just won't do that. Jump scares are cheap, so I'm not a fan of them. Gore is often used in lieu of anything actually frightening. Effective gore is easily the most difficult thing to do well, but very few directors can pull it off. I do enjoy torture porn films - mostly because at least there the gore isn't presented as a joke - and unlike many, I'm not against the current fashion for 'found footage'. No, what I think is ruining horror are these cheap films filled - FILLED - WITH long, slow shots of people walking through shadows, that go on for ages, and then... nothing happens. And that ends up being the film the film. No monsters, no gore, just endless boring corridors and the director saying 'Oh, but the audience's imagination makes it scarier'.

No it doesn't. There needs to be the suggestion of something there, otherwise it's just a bad actor gurning in the dark. Otherwise, it's poor, lazy storytelling. I've sat through enough shots of people walking through shadows to last me a lifetime, and I won't put up with any more. I'm with 'The Thing' era John Carpenter: show me the monster.

'But your imagination is scarier...'

John Carpenter's 'The Thing' proves you wrong. The climax of 'Martyrs' proves you wrong. Cronenberg's 'The Fly' proves you wrong. Yes, the audience's imagination can work wonders... But Nothing's isn't as effective as Something done well.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

You should really check out my movie props project blog if you want to see my bizarre horror film creatures I'm making:

[url]http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?59780-Eldritch-Abomination-puppets[/url]

[Arkhan Land]

tight!

[Mr Mystery]

Blarg! GRIBBLE! And somehow, I think trying to kill it with fire would only make matters worse!

Yorkie - interesting that you've got Hostel part III on there. I thought it was pretty terrible overall, particularly compared to Hostel Part II, which I felt added to the mythos, and gave us glimpse (not necessary a competent glimpse, but a glimpse all the same) at the kind of people who might avail themselves of the facilities.

III however was just daft. I mean, dump Cockroaches on a living person, and they'll swarm the mouth? Utter nonsense. An entertaining death, but very, very silly.

[YorkNecromancer]

Yorkie - interesting that you've got Hostel part III on there. I thought it was pretty terrible overall, particularly compared to Hostel Part II, which I felt added to the mythos, and gave us glimpse (not necessary a competent glimpse, but a glimpse all the same) at the kind of people who might avail themselves of the facilities.

III however was just daft. I mean, dump Cockroaches on a living person, and they'll swarm the mouth? Utter nonsense. An entertaining death, but very, very silly.

I could forgive it its silliness largely because the core idea was entirely horrible. Yes, the cockroach death was stupid, but the build up to it was horribly atmospheric - as were all the others. Not to mention: American villains for once! That always wins points with me, because American villains in films are rarer than black people in sci-fi. Especially given that the concept wouldn't have worked anywhere except America; the thing was tied into that 'Vegas' culture. 'Hostel' 1 was all about that American fear of the Otherness of the rest of the world outside its own empire, much like 'Dracula' was all about the English fear of that same Otherness. 3 on the other hand, was much more about the fear of the wealthy, which is much closer to home, and in many ways, grimmer, because it's about one's own culture.

It wasn't remotely the best horror film I've seen, but it did stay with me. I think I like the 'Hostel' series, because the 'torture porn' label, well, it's bollocks. What they are, is the natural successor to the Victorian 'penny dreadful'. Just cheaply produced, revolting stories, designed for a quick thrill, but with enough atmosphere that you actually care about what's going on.

That was the reason 2 was off the list - it was just a retread of 'Hostel', did nothing new with the formula, and didn't have enough innovative sadism to make it engaging. 'Hostel but with chicks!' isn't enough to be a good film, because I've already seen 1, and 'Martyrs' exists, which does everything 'Hostel 2' tried to do, only on f**king steroids.

'The Fly' is my top horror film, but I suspect 'Martyrs' will always be the most horrifying film. If you can get to the end of that and not just be emotionally destroyed, well. Something is very, very wrong with you and you should probably seek help.

[Mr Mystery]

I'll have to check out Martyrs. It's managed to fly under my radar so far.

Until I have, I can't reasonably contribute back to your points about Hostel II - though I maintain that I liked how it showed the other side of the process more.

Martyrs now ordered, arriving tomorrow. Yes, I love Amazon Prime!

[Kirsten]

watched Mimic 1, 2, and 3 this evening. 2 was the weakest I think, I like the fact that 3 did something totally different.