Phantasm 2 definitely (it is the best of the series and has never had a US release). It also seems that everyone forgot Slither. The Thing would be a good addition.
Rosemary’s Baby
They Live
The Howling should be a shoe-in
I would also like to see Hellraiser and its sequel get some Criterion love
Whoops…for clarification: Only the first Hellraiser sequel. All the other ones simply are not worthy.
The expect The Host might get Criterion treatment.
Personally, I like when Criterion releases films that haven’t been put on DVD. A lot of these already have terrific DVD releases. Personally, I’d like to see “The Devils” finally get a release date. Either by Universal or Criterion, it matters none to me as long as it’s finally released.
because of how good they looked when they were made and how well they still stand up (even if special effects have gotten light years better) then i’d say The Thing by Carpenter and The Fly by Cronenberg are the two stand-outs among those people have mentioned.
Devils Rejects would be good, but its availability already means it probably won’t get considered ever. some popular films can sneak in, but this one seems TOO loved among mainstream audiences. still, i think it would be a good addition.
Blair Witch was good when it came out…i saw it twice. once with my sister, once with a girlfriend. both times was good, and it tried something that was different for the time. i haven’t seen it since then, though. some movies don’t age like fine wine, not sure this one would.
Pet Sematary
Halloween
The Brood by David Cronenberg
gotta agree with the comments on blair witch. but for sure, it has a place in history now. maybe not criterion history though.
carpenter would be great for a criterion release.
can’t really see rob zombie though.
Halloween (1978)
The Others
The Sixth Sence
Seven
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Thing
Saw
Halloween
Dressed To Kill
Devil’s Rejects
Please Matheiu. The Saw films are horrible.
‘The Haunting’ from 1963. Adapted from Shirley Jackson’s ‘The House on Haunted Hill’, it’s hands down the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. No loud shocks, nothing jumping out at you, no special effects, just a big, old house that I swear is alive and evil to the core. I loved the way in which Hill House itself becomes a character rather than a setting.
Rebecca-Good choice. Good performances and direction from Robert Wise an underrated director who goes back to the Val Lewton era of RKO(Curse of the Cat People, Body Snatchers were his-I forgive him for the Sound of Music. It’s also very faithful to the Shirley Jackson novel.
Rosemary’s Baby – Holds up well still
The Sixth Sense – This one was a phenomenon, a household name
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Pop culture mainstay to this day
Dressed to Kill
Lastly, I would agree Halloween is worthy, but so many anniversary editions, with great special features have already been released it would seem almost pointless for Criterion to release one.
Henry: Portait of a Serial Killer . . . for sure!
White Of The Eye
Eyes Of Fire
Frailty
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Lucky Mckee’s MAY. That movie is most definitely an overlooked classic. The movie was given a pathetic limited release back in 2002, despite garnering mountains of acclaim including a 4-star review from Roger Ebert.
May Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuTwG-NMU4A&feature=related
His follow-up film, The Woods, was relegated to a straight to video release. It is not as good as May though is a great genera picture that features a level of style and characterization that far outweighs any recent theatrical horror releases.
The Woods Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt6pusXSbKg&feature=related
hmm modern day there is some good movies on here.
i will say
American Werewolf in London
Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th
Henry serial killer
Creepshow definitve
Waxworks (if u have seen it i mean its good)
Re-Animator
the Fly
Texas Chainsaw Massacre o.g.
the newest contenders..
The Orphanage
The Others
House of 1000 corpses…Zombie really painted a wonderful homage to the genre and the dialogue is fun as hell.
….ok i see what people are saying about the shift that it cause Blair Witch but i will say no because it does not stand the test of time it is a fascinating one trick pony.
if we are going there then …
Scream because it’s created by Wes Craven which we know is the man and he cleverly re-wrote the genre and changed it since maybe not for the best but new that for commercial success in horror he had to do that.
Has anyone mentioned Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness? I scrolled through and didn’t see it. That’s a brilliant take on the Lovecraft universe that is also a metacommentary on authorship, media, and film noir. It’s sadly undervalued.
“Rosemary’s Baby” and John Carpenters “The Thing”. I also think “Frailty” would fit good in the collection, such an underrated movie.
Begotten
Am I the only one to think Henry is extremely overrated? I just didn’t get it.
My votes:
The Thing (1980)
The Fly (1986)
An American Werewolf in London
The Howling
The Shining
Creepshow
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
By the way, head over to this thread to see some of my fake Criterion covers for a few of these. I just finished The Fly.
http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/2132/comments?page=40
I wrote to Criterion about a year ago about picking up Night of the Living Dead, but thats not gonna happen. I don’t see why not every other film co. has that film. Also Re-Animator would be sweet.
>>I don’t see why not every other film co. has that film.<<
That’s probably why.
Stuart Gordon definitely deserves to be on Criterion, but I think his horror work is well-represented on DVD … aside, maybe, from some of his sci-fi filmns, which are not his best in any case.
Night of the Living Dead has long been in public domain, however, Romero released an approved version with a ton of special features at a pretty decent price (15 bucks here in Canada), so there’s no necessity for another release.
Blaire Witch and 28 Days Later
I’d vote Scream for the kick start it gave 90’s horror. Its use of genre conventions was unique (sadly for a very short while…) and exposed how formulaic horror had become, forcing it to reinvent itself in the late 90s (Blair Witch, etc.). It was the natural successor to New Nightmare and it was a shame that after Wes Craven had poked fun at this form of horror, he didn’t move on to create a new wave but flogged his new franchise and I Know What You Did Last Summer as further examples of the old method.
The Shining lives on as one of my favourite films of any genre. Glorious filmmaking.
Also, does Videodrome count as horror? I love that film too.
Alex Urie
Im gonna stick with a couple within the past 5 or 6 years as i feel that deserving ones of the past 3-4 decades have all been well represented. Had Saw been a one movie series id say Saw along with the following, as it is now id say All The Boys Love Mandy Lane and the first Hostel.