@Santino: I agree. When it comes to films with body counts, I usually throw them into horror if: A. The audience sees more than one of these deaths occur, rather than only see or hear about the aftermath (although I’m much more lenient on films pre 1965 when it comes to this one. and B. The deaths are not the result of a gunshot, back alley grab and stab (like a robbery gone awry) or an explosion (especially a helicopter or boat explosion). One or two of the deaths could happen this way, but at least one or two more must be from a chainsaw, machete, knife glove or some other unique murder device.
Should contain numerous consecutive scenes of characters effecting a terrifying and/or repugnant narrative throughout the title.
I don’t feel like Rosemary’s Baby does this, but given its subject matter, I see no other suitable genre category.
Repulsion is “psychological horror” in my book. Sub-genre!
@Loveroflecinema: The time out new york list counted videodrome.
Oh, and to clarify, my statement (where I gave A and B definitions of horror) was in response to the film Seven, and is generally the way I classify a film as strict thriller or thriller/horror.
The Evil Dead 1&2 (dont you DARE make me chose which one I love more)
Pshhh! Evil Dead 2 sucks!! It was waaaay too self-aware and jokey. That’s where Raimi succeeds in Evil Dead 1 and Drag Me to Hell – they’re both jokey, but they’re firmly grounded in horror and are both fairly scary. The latter two are more horror-comedy where the former is more comedy-horror.
….IMHO…
HOW DARE YOU INSULT EVIL DEAD 2!!!
haha I can see why you didn’t like it. For what it was, I thought it was brilliant.
lol @ Nathan
Yeah…I much preferred Evil Dead 2. The first one was an interesting but sorta average horror movie in my mind. I’d rather just watch Halloween or Friday the 13th if I want that sort of thing. But Evil Dead 2 had a fresh approach to the material and was tons of fun.
Just watching a guy’s hand kick the crap out of him for half an hour had me laughing friggin hard. The way Cambell resolved that situation was dripping with awesomeness.
@Nathan
I loved the first one because I was expecting much less. It ended up terrifying me and making my stomach turn at a few moments.
I’m doin’ it…abd not in order of course.
Nisferatu (original)
This Night I Shall Possess Your Corpse
The Hills Have Eyes (original)
Ghost Story of Yotsuya
Friday the 13th part 2
Night of the Creeps
The New Kids
Frankenstein (original)
Horrors of Malformed Men
The Witchfinder General
@Tommy: I almost put Friday the 13th 2 over one. I always go back and forth between which one I like better.
Number two is so good. I used to believe the first was always the best and usually in most cases it is. But with that and This Night I Shall Possess Your Corpse are two great follow ups in any horror series.
Tommy – There have been a few Yotsuya movies. Which one are you referring to?
1. The Shining
2. The Birds
3. Prince of Darkness
4. The Thing
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
6. Day of the Dead
7. Halloween II (Zombie)
8. Deep Red
9. The Host
10. Tenebrae
1. Psycho
2. The Shining
3. The Silence of the Lambs
4. Halloween
5. Scream
6. Alien
7. Jaws
8. Rosemary’s Baby
9. The Birds
10. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Is there any defense on the credibility of the Friday the 13th series as great horror? Give me one because I am spiteful of the pointless and one-note series.
I was gonna add Tetsuo, The Iron Man on my #11 spot, but is it considered horror or just plain cyberpunk?
Dude : do I have to defend the entire series or just one or two films from it??
@bijoux alexanderplatz: Well, you could yourself, but are there published works defending the Friday the 13th series as great horror? If you are to defend it, I must first ask you if you like the whole series.
Nice wordplay on the name, btw.
Thanks!! I must say I enjoyed the entire series, although I’d probably only consider the first two great. I can’t think of a book that defends them.
1) The Shining
2) Rosemary’s Baby
3) Exorcist
4) Psycho
5) Suspiria
6) Audition
7) Peeping Tom
8) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
9) The Brood
10) Don’t Look Now
11) Lair Of The White Worm
12) Dawn Of The Dead
13) Night Of The Living Dead
14) Tenebrae
15) Profondo Rosso
16) Possession
17)Repulsion
18) Day Of The Dead
19) Haxan
20) Martyrs
1) I Walked with a Zombie (Tourneur)
2) Lisa e il Diavolo (Bava)
3) Prince of Darkness (Carpenter)
4) Black Sabbath (Bava)
5) L’aldilà (Fulci)
6) In the Mouth of Madness (Carpenter)
7) La Sindrome di Stendhal (Argento)
8) Profondo Rosso (Argento)
9) The Thing (Carpenter)
10) The Brood (Cronenberg)
@Nathan – the Nobuo Nakagawa film.
And all of the Friday films are great I their own way up to Jason Takes Manhattan. Stop before that and you should be alright.
Actually I’d say you should watch Jason Takes Manhattan to see the guy get his head punched off.
all originals (xcept The Fly)
HALLOWEEN
then…in no particular order
The Fly
The Brood
Rosemary’s Baby
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Jeepers Creepers
Psycho
The Wicker Man
The Vanishing
1. Alien
2. The Innocents
3. The Fly
4. The Exorcist
5. The Night of the Eagle (Burn, Witch, Burn!)
6. Poltergeist
7. Martyrs
8. The Blair Witch Project
9. Kuroneko
10. In The Mouth of Madness
@JLC: Is The Vanishing really a horror movie? The ending sure is horrific, but the rest of the movie doesn’t feel that way.
Order is meaningless here, but
1. Alien
2. The Thing
3. An American Werewolf in London
4. Martyrs
5. The Howling
6. Poltergeist
7. The Fly (Cronenberg)
8. Irreversible
9. Possession
10. The Shining
Also, I see some love for Friday the 13th Part 2 above. My personal favorite is Part 4.
Honorable mentions:
Texas Chainsaw
Prophecy (Frankenheimer)
Day of the Dead (and Night)
Rosemary’s Baby
The Brood
Exorcist
Diabel
Return of the Living Dead
Blair Witch
Halloween
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Also, props to Nathan for including Altered States.
The definition of “horror” I am going for here should not be understood in the limits of the “horror genre”, but understood in the sense that these films manage to inspire a feeling of horror within me or have made me reconsider what is really horrific in a film of that sort, or if a horror film should really aim to inspire critical thought merely than immediate emotional shock.
The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973)
Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, 1968)
The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
Don’t Look Now (Roeg, 1973)
Eraserhead (Lynch, 1977)
Cat People (Schrader, 1982)
The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986)
Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
The Sacrifice (Tarkovsky, 1986)
Funny Games (Haneke, 1997)
Antichrist (von Trier, 2009)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
I agree with your inclusion of Funny Games and Eyes Wide Shut, and I’d also include Seventh Continent and Piano Teacher.
LoverofLeCinema
I am no horror buff, but I’ll try and throw my two cents worth in.
In no order:
Halloween
The Hills Have Eyes (original)
The Fly
Alien
Jaws
Misery
The Exorcist
Funny Games (original)
The Evil Dead 1&2 (dont you DARE make me chose which one I love more)
I Saw The Devil
question: do you guys think Videodrome counts? If it does I’ll probably pull out I Saw The Devil and shove that in.