# Please recommend a scary horror movie!



## Pedro Del Mar (Feb 6, 2012)

Hi all,

This weekend I watched The Strangers - in the dark and expecting to be scared outta my pants!

Unfortunately it was as scary as a cotton lined wicker basket full of labrador puppies in a soft light.

The weekend before I watched the 1982 version of The Thing - now thats a scary movie!

I've seen all the classics so preferrably something new. Any suggestions?

Cheers
Crooksy


----------



## AnyaKimlin (Feb 6, 2012)

A new adaptation of Woman in Black appeared in the cinema on Friday.


----------



## Foxbat (Feb 6, 2012)

I thought the original Japanese *Ring *was quite scary. Can't say the same for the Hollywood rehash though.


----------



## HoopyFrood (Feb 6, 2012)

The remake tended to rely more on, as Hollywood does, jumpiness rather than atmosphere. 

If you are looking for more creepiness, then East Asian horror is awesome for that. Like *Ringu*, *Ju-on*, *Doll Master*, *Dark Water*, *Audition*... 

Try watching *Paranormal Activity* in the dark with no interruptions. It's so subtle it has you on the edge of your seat, watching for the smallest movements (and thus freaking right out when something does occur). 

If you liked the craziness of *The Thing* (80s body horror for the win) then have you seen the *Evil Deads*? *Evil Dead II* is scary and hilarious in equal measure. There's also the 1988 version of *The Blob* which is prothes-tastic. *American Werewolf in London*? Hands down, best use of prosthetics and animatronics in any film. That transformation scene...

I had a spate of watching pretty much every new horror film that was released 2004-2006. Most was a giant load of rubbish (*Hide and Seek*? *Skeleton Key*? Good gods...). However, *Amityville Horror* (yeah, the remake!) impressed me enough to see it twice. And *Mirrors* and *White Noise* were both films that combined creepy with jumpiness and were doing very well -- until the endings. Sometimes I think scriptwriters panic and think "Gah! We can't end this film! Let's just go crazy!"


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Feb 6, 2012)

Thanks for the recommendations guys.

HoopyFrood - I watched Paranormal Activity in the dark a couple of months ago and to be honest it didn't do it for me. My wife was jumping but I just found it comical.

American Werewolf in London - absolute classic and incredibly scary!

Seen the Evil Deads, and may give the East Asian horror a go but I didn't enjoy the Ring.

The original Amytyville is a real nail biter so I'll give the remake a go as I've not seen it yet

Cheers

Crooksy


----------



## HoopyFrood (Feb 6, 2012)

*Paranormal Activity* has definitely been one of the only films to actually scare me in recent years! 

Anything you particularly looking for? Scary differs from person to person.


----------



## AnyaKimlin (Feb 6, 2012)

By classics how far back do you go>?  Some very early late 30s-late 50s adaptions are really good. Most my horror films tend to fall between those dates


----------



## Moonbat (Feb 6, 2012)

Hi

I'd like to add that Spanish horror is also pretty good at the moment

There is the movie [Rec] which is pretty good, but much better would be things like
*Orphanage*, *Devil's backbone*, (both Guillermo Del Toro) or *Julia's eyes* (really rate this one) known as *Los Ojos De Julia*


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Feb 6, 2012)

The following are what I'd say are classics:

Halloween
Nightmare on Elm Street
Poltergeist
The Omen
The Exorcist
Alien
Friday the 13th
American Werewolf in London
The Thing
The Fog
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Jaws
Psycho
Hellraiser
Nightbreed
Children of the corn
The hitcher

More recently I've enjoyed:

Let me In/Let the right one in
Rec/Rec 2
The devils backbone
The orphanage
The dark hour
The Hills have eyes (2006)
The Descent (Now that's a scary film when watched alone in the dark!!!)
Old Boy
Wolf Creek

Thanks Moonbat, will check out Julia's Eyes


----------



## Toby Frost (Feb 6, 2012)

The Shining
Dead of Night (stick with it: the dummy sequence is superb)
Don't Look Now (a bit arty, but very unsettling)
The Wicker Man (the original of course - very strange indeed!)
Carnival of Souls
Dawn of the Dead (less so Night of the Living Dead but it's still good)
Pan's Labyrinth and Marathon Man aren't technically horror but come pretty close for different reasons.


----------



## AnyaKimlin (Feb 6, 2012)

I'm guessing you've tried Hitchcock and Hammer Horror ?

I'd recommend 
Originals of:
Village of the Dammed
Wicker Man   (Both the Hollywood renderings are weird)

Hands of Orlac
Asylum
The Ghoul
Turn of the Screw (1970s version and The Innocents from the 1960s)
Roman Polanski's MacBeth


More recent
Chimera 
The Fall of the Louse of Usher


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Feb 6, 2012)

The Wicker Man - classic! the remake was awful!


----------



## AnyaKimlin (Feb 6, 2012)

A tourist attraction near where I live does a Wicker Man every year near Halloween - I can't visit when it is there, freaks me out too much.


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Feb 6, 2012)

It's worth watching for Britt Ekland!


----------



## Warren_Paul (Feb 6, 2012)

The scariest movie I've watched I found to be, *The Grudge*, only the first one though. 

Although being the only person in an entire theater watching the second one kinda helped make it a bit scarier than it was. 

I also found *Event Horizon* quite scary the first time I watched it. Its also worth watching just for being a good sci-fi.


----------



## Toby Frost (Feb 6, 2012)

Triangle is an interesting recent film. Although some of the blurb makes it look like another crappy slasher, it's actually much more interesting and unsettling than that, and I think very well structured.


----------



## Boneman (Feb 6, 2012)

There's some excellent 'jumps' in The Sixth Sense, though it settles down quickly...


----------



## Starbeast (Feb 8, 2012)

Check out the 1977 shocker *Suspiria*


----------



## Christopher Lee (Feb 8, 2012)

Here's a few:

The Mist
1408
Pan's Labyrinth
The Mothman Prophecies
28 Days Later
The Jacket
Last House on the Left
Blair Witch


----------



## Lilmizflashythang (Feb 8, 2012)

You liked "Wolf Creek" and, it appears, some monster animal flicks. I think I've got a few for you.

Rogue--from the director of Wolf Creek
Blackwater--based on a true story
The Thing 2011--A prequel to the '82 version, pretty jumpy. Watched just a week ago.


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Feb 8, 2012)

Thanks Lilmizflashythang, had the 2011 remake of The Thing in my sights despite some of the disparaging reviews. A few friends have seen it and they said it's definitely worth watching. Both Blackwater and Rogue have decent reviews so thanks for these I'll check them out.

Thanks for the other recommends guys


----------



## steve12553 (Feb 11, 2012)

Scariest one I ever saw was the original *The Haunting*. Moddy, black and white, very little special effects. All the fear was in year imagination. Great film.


----------



## kd5 (Feb 11, 2012)

I typically enjoy horror movies that creep me out, preferably _without_ a happy ending. *Jeepers Creepers *fits those requirements for me. *Event Horizon* was good, as was *The Descent* (Original Unrated Cut), *The Entity*, *Hellraiser *& *Hellbound:  Hellraiser II*, I thought *Silent Hill *was pretty creepy too. -kd5-


----------



## Warren_Paul (Feb 14, 2012)

kd5 said:


> I thought *Silent Hill *was pretty creepy too. -kd5-



Silent Hill was great, not scary, but definitely had that creeps you out feeling to it. Very gory. I just wish they would make the sequel already, but I don't think its ever going to happen. been too long now.


----------



## CyBeR (Feb 14, 2012)

I quite enjoyed *Quarantine*, an American remake after *Rec*. As far as scares go...this film did everything completely right. My girlfriend was screaming throughout the whole thing to the point I was expecting neighbors at my door asking if I'm abusing her in some way. She screamed so loud at one point that she startled me and we both kinda screamed . Amusing experience, even with friends around. 
One of the very rare jump-out-scares films that I really enjoyed watching. It's rare to see something that actually uses quiet moments in a really scary way.



> Thanks Lilmizflashythang, had the 2011 remake of The Thing in my sights  despite some of the disparaging reviews. A few friends have seen it and  they said it's definitely worth watching. Both Blackwater and Rogue have  decent reviews so thanks for these I'll check them out.


I wouldn't recommend the 2011 *The Thing*. The whole film is just lazy lazy lazy on top of lazy with a side order of lazy. The CGI is just...ugh...and the only actually creepy moment of the film was extremely short lived (it involved one of the transformed characters). In my opinion they spent way too much time on outlandish CGI design instead of just doing something that reaches deep into the uncanny valley.


----------



## Droflet (Feb 19, 2012)

The original, and I emphasise the original When a Stranger Calls. Scared the )(**^%# out of me in the early eighties. Very tense but with minimal violence; that's not heard of these days but this is a classic. Enjoy.


----------



## Starbeast (Feb 19, 2012)

telford said:


> The original, and I emphasise the original When a Stranger Calls. Scared the )(**^%# out of me in the early eighties. Very tense but with minimal violence; that's not heard of these days but this is a classic. Enjoy.


 
That was a freaky film with unexpected thrills. I remember people screaming in the theater, "Get out of the house!" "AAAAAaaahh!"




*Dead Snow* (2009) - Wild Zombie flick. Warning: Gory

*Outpost* (2007) - An underground bunker is an old site for a WW2 German secret experiment. Warning: Violent


----------



## Diggler (Feb 19, 2012)

Hoopyfrood is spot on with Asian Horror's. Especially Japanese and Korean efforts. 

Another couple that might not have been mentioned is 
*Shutter* from Thailand, 
*R-Point *from Korea, 
*Schramm* by Jorge Buttgereit, *
The Bunker* (2001), *
The Children* (2008), *
Irreversible* (if the opening sequence does not scre you, you are officially dead), *Eden Lake* (2008).


----------



## Wish (Feb 20, 2012)

Toby Frost said:


> Triangle is an interesting recent film. Although some of the blurb makes it look like another crappy slasher, it's actually much more interesting and unsettling than that, and I think very well structured.



That movie was totally unfair. So full of holes and absurdity, yet I loved it to death anyway. To be fair, you can't really do a silly premise like that and make it airtight. That Christopher Smith has some style, though. Black Plague was good too, if you like him as a director. But I second Triangle - it didn't seem to get much marketing, but despite its many flaws, it's pretty memorable. It's got one of those good, minimalist horror soundtracks that sticks with you, and you never fail to associate the music with the movie. 

As for recommending fine horror movies, I'll go with the generic greats: 

Alien, The Thing, The Exorcist, the first two old-timey Romero zombie ones, Halloween, etc. 

If you want to get more recent, the standard has to go down, but off the top of my head, there's Pandorum, 1408, and The Mist at the very least. 

The horror genre's been thin lately - though not for lack of trying, with The Thing remake and some pseudo-Alien stuff from Ridley on the way. People got hype for The Descent, but it's just a remake of a better film, though that director's previous movie, Dog Soldiers, is a little bit slept on. People got hype for paranormal activity, but that found footage stuff only works for certain types of people. We had quite a run of exorcism-themed movies there, but none of them were particularly good. There was a sci-fi found footage movie that nobody liked. It's just not a great time to be looking for quality horror at the theater.


----------



## Sorceress (Mar 3, 2012)

Here are a few I personally think were good for starters.

An american werewolf inlondon
Carrie
Evil Dead
The Descent
Open Water
Halloween (older version)
The Exorcist
Salems Lot


----------



## RJM Corbet (Apr 24, 2012)

Blair Witch 2 ...


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Apr 25, 2012)

Anyone seen The Cabin in the Woods?


----------



## Diggler (Apr 26, 2012)

Not yet... Doesn't get released here for another 2 months or so.


----------



## dask (Apr 26, 2012)

steve12553 said:


> Scariest one I ever saw was the original *The Haunting*. Moddy, black and white, very little special effects. All the fear was in year imagination. Great film.


 
I agree 100%. The bulging door was sfx enough for me, and when the main character's wife suddenly appeared out of nowhere I almost fainted. (That's a little nicer way of saying what almost happened!)


----------



## Patrick Mahon (May 14, 2012)

I missed 'The Cabin in the Woods' in cinemas last month, but have just read the companion book which includes the screenplay and lots of background info. It looks like a very interesting twist on the standard 'teens in the woods' horror movie, and given the reviews that it's had, I think I'll be getting the DVD when it comes out.


----------



## Moonbat (May 14, 2012)

I saw _*cabin in the woods*_ at the weekend and thought it was very good. As Patrick said, an interesting twist on the standard teens in the woods horror. It was part cliche part homage part parody with an added twist, all the way through it is obvious there is something else happening, but the last third really picked up and changed the tone/genre of the film. Well worth a watch, but not too scary.


----------



## Phyrebrat (Jun 23, 2012)

I am always on the look out for new horrors. My preference however is for supernatural chillers than gore.

Can I recommend the following:

*Session 9* - one of my all time favourite films. Incredibly creepy  and atmospheric. The setup is an asbestos-cleaning company (with the  excellent Peter Mullan) pitches successfully to clean the local derelict  mental institution. One of the workers finds 9 tape reels from one of  the patients and the film runs two stories side by side; that of the  cleaners, and that of the patient. The climax as tape 9 is revealed is  delightful and the last lines in the movie are some of my all time  favourites. Seriously underrated movie.

*In the Mouth of Madness* - a Lovecratian tale with some truly unsettling moments, and general end-of-the-world fun with the superb Sam Neill.

*Paperhouse* - A British film from 1988 which was described as 'The  thinking man's Nightmare on Elm St.' It's very English and very 80s -  and the Mother is not the best actress in the world, but it captures the  dream state so effectively. There are some really horrible moments,  too. This is definitely one to check out.

*Man Bites Dog* - a very troubling film where a film crew follow a  serial killer around. An incredible take on Cinema Verite and with some  very disturbing concepts. Predates Blair Witch (which I loved but am not  mentioning in detail as it has already been mentioned)

*The Jersey Devil *- the film that people claim inspired the idea of the _Blair Witch Project. _Compelling and quite chilly, the troubling ending is also daft as a brush as well as scary.

*Lake Mungo* - An amazingly put together little movie from  Australia. It is a wonderful comment on the Human Condition, whilst also  having some incredibly terrifying moments. It will have you second  guessing until the end. It will also leave you feeling really very sad.   

*Yellow Brick Road *- Loosely based on the Roanoke vanishings. Atmospheric and indie.

*Carnivale* - Okay this is a 2-season TV show but I loved the  darkness and elements of terror in it. There is a great mythology. Sadly  it was cancelled like so many other thoughtful shows in favour of  specious cr*p. It is a very slow build up but well worth it.

and whilst we're on TV shows.....Anyone who has an interest in horror should be made to watch......

*Twin Peaks* - another 2-series wonder from superman David Lynch.  It is hilarious, scary and human. You will never want to leave TP. I  would give the prequel film - Fire Walk With Me - a miss though  (certainly until you have seen the series) as it is a bit unnecessary  and only shows explicitly what we learned in the series. BOB is truly  one of the most scary villains on TV.


I would advise you to avoid remakes in general and anything that is  cashing in on the zeitgeist of recent films, especially those of the  Cinema Verite/Found Footage genres. This would include the following  turkeys; *Grave Encounters, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark *(Del Torroreally messed this one up with the most pedestrian screenplay and stupid critters), *Intruders*  with Clive Owen (unless you want to count how many times they say  'face' or 'hollowface' in the script haha), and many more copycat  movies; I had the misfortune of watching *The Amityville Haunting *last week. What a hopeless pile of toss!

pH


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Jun 24, 2012)

Watched The Crazies last night, quite enjoyable and a couple of little jumps but not really scary and terribly far fetched!


----------



## biodroid (Jun 24, 2012)

I would recommend The Exorcist, the 70's version and Paranormal Activity 1


----------



## Anathem (Jul 3, 2012)

I would highly recommend *30 Days of Night (2007)*, and I hear *The Cabin in the Woods (2011)* is pretty good too. I hate zombie movies/shows, but for some reason I quite liked Season 1 of *The Walking Dead (TV Series)*


----------



## Fairytale Jane (Jul 3, 2012)

If you want flat out madness inducing films then have a go at The Human Centipede, I Spit On Your Grave, Midnight Meat Train, and Zombie Lake. 

These are not for the faint hearted as they contain gruesome imagery.


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Jul 3, 2012)

Human Centipede was bonkers! ha ha


----------



## Pedro Del Mar (Jul 3, 2012)

30 Days of Night (parts 1 and 2) - enjoyed both

The Exorcist (70's version) is the SCARIEST film I've ever seen. I went to the cinema to watch a late night viewing of it in the early 90's and it scared the crap out of me. It's the only film I've ever seen that I vowed never to watch ever again!


----------

