The "recommend a scary movie" for Halloween thread

[VinnieJones]

I found Eraserhead just as disturbing. Requiem for a Dream, Blue Velvet and Irreversible were pretty disturbing as well.

Requiem for a dream is still one of my longstanding favorites. Thoroughly and depressingly haunting.

[VinnieJones]

Halloween is just around the corner and I love horror films. I thought it might be fruitful for us horror fans to recommend some great movies for the occasion.

I'd like to avoid people just posting a list of random horror movies, so please limit the recommendations to 1 movie per post. Please add a brief description and an IMDb link. If you want to recommend multiple films, please do so in separate posts.

My recommendation is Event Horizon, starring Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne. Youtube trailer

When I first saw the trailers for Event Horizon, I thought it was just another sci-fi film. I'm a big fan of sci-fi, so I went and saw it. Event Horizon is not a sci-fi movie. It is a horror film dressed in sci-fi clothes. There is some truly disturbing stuff in there. The basic premise is that a ship is created featuring an experimental propulsion system. They should have left this one on the drawing board, because the crew aboard the prototype ship never knew what was in store for them.

As a forewarning, I'm going to slap the first personw ho suggests one of the SAW movies. I somehow stomached 2 and 3, and can definitely say they rank in the top 10 worst movies I"ve ever seen.

[Jester]

People who are actually familiar with the written version of Dune know that the real story is not the action but the mental processes of the actors, a thing that is near impossible to convey in a movie.

My mental processes exactly. :lol:

Plus, the complete butchery of a handful of critical points doesn't really help either.

-Jester

[kandrathe]

Hi,
While your speculation is possible, I think that a simpler explanation might be more correct. For years, the western was a major staple of the movies. As they became more and more common, they became less well done, or rather, their flaws became more obvious. In addition, people started to get satiated by the large number turned out. They had a brief resurgence thanks to the spaghetti westerns, but for a long time now, the western has been a rarity.

Much the same cycle has been the case for war movies, for detective/cop stories, for spy stories. They each had a heyday, they each 'oversold' the market, and they each have mostly disappeared except for the occasional reappearance. And all of them share the characteristic that in their heyday they became formalistic, repetitive, and that most damning thing for entertainment: boring.

I suspect that the horror film has gone through the same phases, and the "Jason and Freddie" sub-genre was largely to blame.

Obligatory link: Cat's Eye is a pretty good 'scary' movie based on S. King's work.

--Pete

I wonder too if it is inevitable that a genre becomes a caricature/parody of itself, and polluted with cliche's. For example, Batman, in his original comic form was a ruthless vigilante who killed criminals without remorse, which was a far cry from the TV show. Then, after the publication of Frank Miller's gothic novel, "The Dark Night Returns" there was interest in making a movie based on this darker version. Yet, while the first Batman with Michael Keaton tried to remain true it was over processed enough to tempt the sequels (Batman Returns(92) by Tim Burton, Batman Forever(95) by Joel Schumacher, and Batman & Robin(97) by Joel Schumacher, to stray far into the comedic cliche' that derailed the entire genre in the first place. Keaton, Kilmer, and even Clooney were not brooding enough and believable as a ruthless vigilante for justice, and the villains were even more so joke material. The latest movies have done much better at presenting the twisted soul and tortured psyche that defines the character of Batman, and truly evil and malevolent bad guys that deserve the death that only Batman can deliver.

Another example would be Bond movies. They started out staying as true as could be done in that time to bring pretty violent and sexual pulp novels to the screen, but the latter Roger Moore, and latest Pierce Brosnan versions are more comedies, special effects, and tired old cliche's than they are spy adventures.

[kandrathe]

I'd say the original Hellraiser would also be on this list. It was nominated in '88 for the Saturn, but lost to Beetlejuice. >barfs<

[LennyLen]

I'd say the original Hellraiser would also be on this list.

It is.;)

[--Pete]

Hi,

Another example would be Bond movies. They started out staying as true as could be done in that time to bring pretty violent and sexual pulp novels to the screen, but the latter Roger Moore, and latest Pierce Brosnan versions are more comedies, special effects, and tired old cliche's than they are spy adventures.

I agree, but have you seen Casino Royale? I was impressed. It felt very much like the real Bond or at least pre On Her Majesty's Secret Service cold blooded killer Bond. Though it may be heresy to say so, but I think Daniel Craig may be a better Bond than Sean Connery. I'm looking forward to the next one.

O.L.: Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a pretty good flick, and one of the rare cases where a remake is better than the original. Then again, I'm partial to <strike>Hawkeye</strike> Donald Sutherland.:)

--Pete

[VinnieJones]

My mental processes exactly. :lol:

Plus, the complete butchery of a handful of critical points doesn't really help either.

-Jester

Argh, you got me thinking about that piece of crap agian. BOTH, I repeat BOTH versions of dune were terrible, absolutely valueless pieces of crap. They couldn't even getting the god damn house colors right in the new mini-series. And the ending to the movie from way back?? ARRRGH! Dammit who brought this up, I'm going to suffer a coronary here and it will be your fault!

[Kevin]

If you want scary, time to pull out the japanese movies. The are some truly incredible horror directors producing films in Japan, here are some I've personally seen:

I'm with you on that, and I actually enjoyed The Grudge, which was the Americanized version of Ju-on by Takashi Shimizu. I have not seen Ju-on yet, but I've talked to other folks who say that it is better and worse than the American version. Less in your face but much worse with the time clues. Better story telling in the Japenesse version but better atmosphere in the American. It makes me think I'll enjoy it but that I'll enjoy it differently.

I liked Rinne as well. Translates to Reincarnation. It's another Takashi Shimizu film and it delves into his life after death haunting thoughts in a different way from The Grudge. I've seen a few other Japanesse films and shows that deal with photography, death, the soul and haunting and it's a subjet that intrigues me about their culture so any film that works on those angles like Rinne does is going to have another hook for me.

It's funny that so many people here have named Event Horizon. I thought it was terrible enough to be funny, except for the gore factor, when I first watched it. This spaceship's going to hell? Please. Mind you, that means that it's been 10 years since I watched it, but it made enough of an impression that I remember how awful it was.

I wasn't that down on it but I'm more with you on the review. There was a lot of predictability to it that made some of it feel forced. There were some chilling parts and there was some psychological horror (which is way way way more effective on me that gore and startle tactics). So I'm with you on the surprise of so many folks rating it so high here. I liked it but it's down on my list and I'm a Sci-Fi fan and a horror fan, but it just seemed to fail to deliver.

[VinnieJones]

I wasn't that down on it but I'm more with you on the review. There was a lot of predictability to it that made some of it feel forced. There were some chilling parts and there was some psychological horror (which is way way way more effective on me that gore and startle tactics). So I'm with you on the surprise of so many folks rating it so high here. I liked it but it's down on my list and I'm a Sci-Fi fan and a horror fan, but it just seemed to fail to deliver.

I'm easy to please. I like Sam Neil, and I like Lawrence Fishbourn, and space, and ships. Also, I don't really like horror, so even if that part wasn't all that convincing, I'm still good. But then again, I also like stuff like the original "Black Hole" mwhahahaha

[Kevin]

I'm easy to please. I like Sam Neil, and I like Lawrence Fishbourn, and space, and ships. Also, I don't really like horror, so even if that part wasn't all that convincing, I'm still good. But then again, I also like stuff like the original "Black Hole" mwhahahaha

The original Black Hole is actually a pretty decent flick in my book too. Has a cheese factor for sure, but I actually enjoy watching it. :)

[--Pete]

Hi,

The original Black Hole is actually a pretty decent flick in my book too. Has a cheese factor for sure, but Iactually enjoy watching it. :)

Say it ain't so.

Sorry, but Black Hole was pure crap in my opinion. Lousy plot, lousy acting, lousy science. By the "no socially redeaming value" test, it would have qualified as pornography had it been a bit more interesting. As it was, it wasn't bad enough to be campy (like Dark Star :w00t:) and it wasn't good enough to be good.

O.L.: Speaking of campy, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! is a movie to raise the hair on the back of your neck. Or maybe that's the little jap in the air?

--Pete

[eppie]

My recommendation is Event Horizon, starring Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne. Youtube trailer

Saw it once and indeed was quite disturbing. But if it is disturbing you want check out cannibal holocaust http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078935/
it was this movie that gave them the idea for blairwitch project. Many of the disturbing things have been really done (e.g. the killing of the animals).

[NuurAbSaal]

My my, forgot bout this thread /shame:(

Hm, interesting how you perceive Stephen King novels, haven't seen a movie based on on of his stories except Shining and It I liked (man, can't believe I forgot to mention It! Tim Curry! /fear), but Hearts in Atlantis and The Dark Tower were great, in my opinion. Nightmares and Dreamscapes also had some good stuff, oddly enough I liked the baseball story about his son the most, even though it is rather "Mighty Duckish";).

I'll have to think about your view on King, not sure I understand exactly what you mean by "obvious manipulation", the weird mingling of stories in the Dark Tower story-line for example was pure win (I should probably try to get back to proper English. Too. much. WoW.). I might be on the wrong trail there though.

[NuurAbSaal]

cannibal holocaust http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078935/

Haven't seen it, but some nice background stories on Wikipedia. I disapprove of the killings of the animals though. Just show some PETA footage (like in Seed, from his Unholiness Uwe Boll).

take care
Tarabulus