Ryan McNeil
This is dedicated to those of you who love scary movies: Y’all are becoming a bad influence on me.
For three years running now, I’ve put out the call for horror film suggestions in an effort to grow a pair and get over my fear of that which goes bump in the night. Know what subjecting myself to all of these freaky films has done? It’s actually given me an appetite for it! Can you believe that shit?
Lo and behold, I even have a preference, and my preference is for the old and eerie more than it is for the violent and gory. Still, I’m willing to take on most comers.
That’s where you folks come in. I still have gaping gaps in my horror vocabulary.
How bad is it? Consider that I haven’t seen any of the following…
Any Friday the 13th chapter.
Any Nightmare on Elm Street besides 1 and 3.
Any Saw chapter
The original WOLFMAN, MUMMY, and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
and the only time I’ve seen AMITYVILLE HORROR was the edited version on AMC
When I mentioned this over the last two years, my faithful readers were good enough to suggest the long list you see here. While i was able to get to a few of them in over the last two autumns (CAT PEOPLE, ROSEMARY’S BABY, both EVIL DEADS, THE FLY, HALLOWEEN, THE DESCENT, and [REC] amongst others) there is a vast number of scary movies left untouched. So dear readers – once again I put this to you.
I wouldn’t really call it a horror, but from your list I love The Host, and the original Saw is a damn good thriller. The sequels get convoluted and messy, so I wouldn’t go any further than part 1. I think you’d dig Peeping Tom as well and…. oh my word, you haven’t seen The Wicker Man?!?!? That right there’s your starting point.
And I’m right with you on Friday the 13th, I haven’t seen any either. And I wouldn’t recommend the rest of the Elm Street series.
Start with two of Jay’s recommendations – Peeping Tom is one of my favourites from the 60s and The Wicker Man is strange, always keeping you off-centre and has a “whoa” ending (don’t read a damn thing about it).
I’ve most of your list except the two Rob Zombie films, “Cold Prey” and a couple of classics I’ll be rectifying this year. Just that first row of The Abominable Dr. Phibes (wonderful set design, fun and just a bit goofy), Audition (if you’ve managed not to read or see anything about this movie, keep it that way – just dive in), The Bad Seed (creepy child! creepy child!), Black Sabbath (possibly my favourite Bava film with three gorgeously shot and colourful stories) and Black Sunday (or is this my favourite Bava? Just as gorgeous in black and white) would make a great way to spend your month.
Additional ones from your list (I’ll pick one per row):
The Changeling – A classic ghost story.
Deep Red – My favourite Argento (it even has a plot that sort of makes sense!).
Eyes Without A Face – One of the best French horrors (that blank mask alone is disturbing).
The Haunting – Also a classic ghost story. Like being lost in a big, dark cemetery with unseen owls hooting around you and then walking into a big dew covered spider web.
Horror Of Dracula – My first and still favourite Hammer Horror. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee each giving 200%.
I Walked With A Zombie – Another of those Val Lewton 40s horror films that paint with their shadows.
Kwaidan – My Twitter background comes from this, so you have no excuse.
Near Dark – Surprised you haven’t caught up with this yet. One of the better modern retellings of the vampire mythology and loads of fun to boot.
Onibaba – Wheat fields at night are freaking terrifying.
Sleepaway Camp – OK, I’m not really recommending this, but it’s so damn goofy with moments of “did they really mean to keep that take?” that you’ll want to see it at some point. And that ending…Oh geez. “Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders” is gloriously good and possibly one of the best and scariest artistic interpretations of, ahem, “becoming a woman” (though it has competition via “Ginger Snaps”) that exists. Of course I’m guessing…
And possibly most important of all:
The Vanishing – Look, you need to see this…As much as I agree with the fact that you can’t ruin a movie by revealing its surprises, see this before you find out any more about it. It’ll make it that much harder to shake afterwards.
I’m probably going to go see The Changeling when it plays at the Lightbox on Halloween night.
I highly recommend Peeping Tom as well, really enjoyed that one. I also agree that The Vanishing is a must see.
I picked up a copy of Audition while in Montreal this past summer. Think I might finally crack it open and see what all the fuss is about this month (seems fitting).
I just watched Wicker Man for the first time, and I definitely think you should give it a go. It’s very different from the average horror film. And as I did last year, I’ll again recommend Audition, as like Wicker Man, it takes a very different approach to the genre than is usually seen.
The Universal films were my foundation of loving horror, and Wolf Man and The Mummy were the two I owned and watched over and over. Great films. Onibaba is also great, and very “old and eerie.” And I’d love to read your take on Eraserhead. Such a strange, boring, interesting, unforgettable movie.
You really should check out Marina De Van’s “Dark Touch”. It just came out on vod and is one of the best horrors I’ve seen in years.
If you watch the Friday the 13th films, it’s okay to stop at Part IV. They get a bit ridiculous after that.
I’ll get back to you with further recommendations.
Posted a comment on your Letterboxed list, but I’ll repeat it here:
Ginger Snaps and The Changeling will both be playing at the Bell Lightbox on Halloween Night (I’ve only seen the former).
Other films from I recommend are:
– The Blob
– The Brood (prepare to be grossed out)
– Friday the 13th (try to find the uncut version)
– The Haunting (haven’t seen it, but heard it’s good)
– Insidious
– Jeepers Creepers
– Saw (watching this myself for the first time tonight)
I can’t fault any of Bob’s choices above (except, perhaps Sleepaway Camp). Not knowing what you’ve seen/not seen, here are a few others that are worth a peek:
Ravenous–A cannibal Western. Great one-liners, great soundtrack.
The Devil’s Backbone–A favorite of mine. Early del Toro, with a lot of similarities to Pan’s Labyrinth.
The Orphanage (El Orfanto)–Terrifying and beautiful (and del Toro-produced).
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer–Unbelievably disturbing.
The Wicker Man–if you’ve never seen the original, see the original.
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht–this is the Herzog remake with Klaus Kinski. It’s far better than you might expect.
Creepshow–Goofy fun. Not scary, except “The Crate” gets close.
Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve)–one of the original slashers. Friday the 13th stole some scenes shot-for-shot from this.
The Legend of Hell House–Little known and underseen.
Abre los Ojos–if you’ve seen Vanilla Sky, you should see the original.
The Serpent and the Rainbow–Voodoo zombies. No flesh eating. Just really scary stuff.
I can’t really disagree with any of yours either Stephen…I was one of the few who didn’t really love The Orphanage though – I should revisit, but the jump scares in that film never felt deserved (ie. they didn’t come from properly built up tension) and I still hold against it its final premise that only a mother would make that kind of sacrifice (just as there are a bunch of “only the father can save the teenage child” stories, there are just as many “only a mother would sacrifice herself for her young child”. Both stick in my craw…
The only two on your list I still haven’t seen are Ravenous and Serpent And The Rainbow – both are already queued up for this October.
Hey Steve – there’s a link to click (“the long list”) that runs down some of my modt glaring omissions. Give it a look?
I did, I did. Your most glaring omissions have some glaring omissions.
Indeed, but they could be omitted because I’ve already seen them (as is the case with both Orphanage and Rainbow)
CHANGELING is more spooky than scary, but it’s still a very good movie.
THE BLOB, THE HAUNTING and HORROR OF DRACULA for sure.
RE-ANIMATOR is more goofy scary than actually scary, but it’s a lot of fun to watch.
THE WICKER MAN and THE WOLF MAN are also musts.
The Universal horrors are absolutely, positively, 100% a must, in my opinion. The 1930s Frankenstein and Bride of, Dracula, Wolf Man, Invisible Man, and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
They’re less about scares and more about awesome awesome awesome filmmaking.
From that list I’d stress THIRST, RE-ANIMATOR, THE BAD SEED, ONI-BABA, NEAR DARK, and THE HOST. Have you already seen POLTERGEIST, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, and THE ORPHANAGE? Because I’d recommend those also.
Never seen A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, but I have seen the other two.
THE ORPHANAGE was a somewhat notorious TIFF screening, where during a quiet part in the film, I made our whole row laugh by saying to my friend (a little too loud) “Hold me?”
Hmmm from that list, I think you should check out Audition, Friday the 13th, The Bad Seed, and Saw. I would avoid The Last House on the Left and House of 1000 Corpses like the plague. I tell everyone that watches Audition this – it starts out really slow, but stick around. It’s worth it.
Just so we’re clear, that’s the original “HOUSE/LEFT” that I put on the list, not the remake from 2009. Would you still say avoid it?
Going to suggest a few Asian horror movies for ya, I’m a big fan of the Eye 2, Re-Cycle, One Missed Call, and while some don’t like it as much, I enjoy the English Ju-On: The Grudge.
I’m not a huge horror fan, but I’ve seen almost all of the first movies of the big franchises, except a couple.
Hey Bubba – I’ve seen EYE 2 and JU-ON. Anything off that list I linked to that jumps out at ya?
Honestly I haven’t seen much off that list either, and what I have seen I either wasn’t much of a fan of (Near Dark, House of 1,000 Corpses) or don’t think is much of a horror movie (Thirst). I will toss another vote for the first Friday the 13th at least.
Did you catch the first Eye or the English remake too? I know one of the things I remember most about the Eye 2 is the fall from the roof.
I caught the Hong Kong version of THE EYE – in a theatre no less!
I’ll mark you down for FRIDAY THE 13th…suddenly that one is picking up some momentum.
Running through the comments so far, some of the most likely candidates seem to be
THE HOST, SAW, PEEPING TOM, THE WICKER MAN, THE CHANGELING, EYES WITHOUT A FACE, THE HAUNTING, HORROR OF DRACULA, NEAR DARK, ONIBABA, AUDITION, THE WOLFMAN, THE BLOB, FRIDAY THE 13th, and RE-ANIMATOR.
I’ll be giving this a few more days for a bit more consensus, but thanks for all of the recommendations so far gang!
Old and creepy? Try some Mario Bava stuff. I just watched “Black Sunday” last night and I’ve heard “Twitch of the Death Nerve” is good. Great atmosphere and imagery. Just great, classic tonal feeling as you watch.
As for the movies on your list, I think the Nightmare and F13th movies are only must watches just to say you’ve seen them. At this point I don’t know that they’re actually worth watching for anything of substance – though some elements in the Elm Street series are interesting.
But if you have not seen the original “Saw” (Saw 1), definitely check that out, it’s a great movie. Then disregard all the lame sequels that just turn into a messy way of showing complicated on-screen kills.
As mentioned above, Bay Of Blood (Twitch Of The Death Nerve) is really one of the main antecedents of the slasher films – Friday The 13th in particular. If you do watch Friday Ryan, catch up with Bay shortly thereafter to see the lineage.
Other Bava horrors to see beyond those already discussed would be “The Whip And The Body” and “Kill, Baby, Kill” – the first containing some glorious colour lighting that creates the mood and setting. Also try to see “Danger: Diabolik” – not horror, but gobs and gobs of fun.
Paranormal Activity 3 is another film that would be enjoyable as Halloween rolls near. It’s the third film, but it takes place before all the previous flicks so not knowing anything about it will be fine.
My personal Halloween marathon consists of: The Exorcist, The Shining, The Thing and The Blair Witch Project.
I loved the first PA with a capital L, but I can’t but feel that the barrage of sequels have only watered down the brand.
The second and fourth film for sure, but I would feel confident in doing the taste test with the first and third films.
Well it would appear as though PA3 is on Netflix Instant, so that might well get a look from me after all.
If I don’t like it – I blame you!
Although they aren’t the *best* films on your list, Friday the 13th and Saw should be mandatory viewing this month. I would also recommend Audition and Eraserhead off that list.
Thanks for all the suggestions crew!
Here are the consensus eight (also cobbled from places like Twitter and facebook) that I will try to watch before All Hallows Eve…
AUDITION
EYES WITHOUT A FACE
FRIDAY THE 13TH
THE HOST
PEEPING TOM
SAW
THE WICKER MAN
THE WOLFMAN