Best Horror Movies of All Time

[Guest 85555]

Just saw Late Night with the Devil. I rather enjoyed it but am still thinking about it (feel like this one may need a rewatch to settle my opinion). I found most of the 70s show stuff very engaging, I think some of the material outside that (the prologue and the trippy ending) took me out of the movie a bit (but I am trying to think how the movie would feel without those elements). The guy who played the talk show host was phenomenal (he really carries the movie). And the characters in general all felt perfect for the 70s vibe of the film. I think the movie was scariest before it went full special effects with the demon (so at the initial appearance of Mr. Wiggles). Even though I am on the fence with the ending, the movie has a psychological component that I think may make that work more on repeat viewings. I do recommend it.

 

[TiQuinn]

Just saw Late Night with the Devil. I rather enjoyed it but am still thinking about it (feel like this one may need a rewatch to settle my opinion). I found most of the 70s show stuff very engaging, I think some of the material outside that (the prologue and the trippy ending) took me out of the movie a bit (but I am trying to think how the movie would feel without those elements). The guy who played the talk show host was phenomenal (he really carries the movie). And the characters in general all felt perfect for the 70s vibe of the film. I think the movie was scariest before it went full special effects with the demon (so at the initial appearance of Mr. Wiggles). Even though I am on the fence with the ending, the movie has a psychological component that I think may make that work more on repeat viewings. I do recommend it.

I saw this in the theater on a lark, and really enjoyed it as well. They did a great job making the show feel like a 70s variety talk show a la Dick Cavett or one of those guys. I agree on the special effects - the cheesiness was at times perfectly in line with a 70s horror movie budget but because it was also supposed to be "live", some of them ended up being a bit too silly. But, solid horror entry all things considered, and I'd watch this one again.

 

[Clint_L]

What about documentaries? True crime, nuclear disasters, astornomical phenomena that could end the earth in the blink of an eye, that sort of thing

We were talking earlier about ultimate horror films that haven't been made yet and I think the ultimate ultimate just might be if the pop science book The Selfish Gene was eventually turned into a documentary. It's probably the scariest thing I've ever read.

Probably not the the thread for it, but I wouldn't refer to The Selfish Gene as either pop science or scary. Its hypothesis - that natural selection happens primarily at the level of the gene rather than the whole organism - is pretty standard biology.

When I think of pop science, I think of books like Sapiens - i.e. books that most experts in the field look askance at.

There are a lot of great biology-oriented horror films, though, of which my favourites are probably Cronenberg's remake of The Fly, 28 Days Later, and Alien.

 

[Guest 85555]

There are a lot of great biology-oriented horror films, though, of which my favourites are probably Cronenberg's remake of The Fly, 28 Days Later, and Alien.

The Fly and Alien are great body horror movies (anything by Cronenberg is usually good for that but the fly is extremely well executed IMO). For Alien, apparently Dan O'Bannon based the idea of the chest burster on his experience with Crohn's disease. Which I think has got to be one of the most effective ways of conveying that. Alien is firmly my favorite film in that franchise because it is a proper horror movie (I like Aliens as well, just enjoy Alien more)

 

[Deset Gled]

Have you seen his other show, Japanese Tales of the Macabre (on Netflix)

I have. It's pretty hit or miss. For starters, the source material isn't pulling from his best stuff all the time. Ito definitely has a "lets try this and see how it goes" method, and some things hit better than others. For another, the short format works well with some stories but not with others. For example, I think the show did a good job with Hanging Ballons, but missed the mark on it's version of Tomie.

What about documentaries? True crime, nuclear disasters, astornomical phenomena that could end the earth in the blink of an eye, that sort of thing

We were talking earlier about ultimate horror films that haven't been made yet and I think the ultimate ultimate just might be if the pop science book The Selfish Gene was eventually turned into a documentary. It's probably the scariest thing I've ever read.

I'd be open to a discussion on, but most of the examples I can think of are series rather than movies. In practice, documentary-as-horror often ends up being propaganda, which isn't an area worth getting into.

The Nic Cage version, or the black and white german version where only the color is in color

There's a lot of versions of The Color out of Space, but I haven't seen any versions I'd consider great. My favorite version is the Stephen King section from Creepshow, but that's really about appreciating the b-movie style a la @Dannyalcatraz. The Nic Cage version was pretty good. Annihilation, OTOH, is another movie in my "highly overrated" list; I was very disappointed after some of the good reviews I read about it.

The Fly and Alien are great body horror movies (anything by Cronenberg is usually good for that but the fly is extremely well executed IMO).

For body horror, you can go the hyper-realistic route or the over-the-top route. I would say Martys (French) and Dumplings (China) are the extreme end for the realistic route. The Thing, The Fly, and Hellraiser (various) would be my top recomendations the other. Society and Re-Animator are also really fun, but that's starting to move into the "camp" direction.

 

[Clint_L]

The Fly and Alien are great body horror movies (anything by Cronenberg is usually good for that but the fly is extremely well executed IMO). For Alien, apparently Dan O'Bannon based the idea of the chest burster on his experience with Crohn's disease. Which I think has got to be one of the most effective ways of conveying that. Alien is firmly my favorite film in that franchise because it is a proper horror movie (I like Aliens as well, just enjoy Alien more)

For me that choice is a bit like choosing a favourite child! I probably lean a bit more towards Aliens but I have seen both many, many times and just rewatched the original a few weeks ago with my boy - what a masterpiece!

This weekend we watched The Shining. It's such a great slow burn horror film, and the score is exceptionally effective at complemented the growing sense of unease and nightmare. And that set design - the entire mise en scene is just fantastic at making the Overlook feel like a character in its own right.

 

[Bohandas]

Probably not the the thread for it, but I wouldn't refer to The Selfish Gene as either pop science or scary. Its hypothesis - that natural selection happens primarily at the level of the gene rather than the whole organism - is pretty standard biology.

Not pop science in a bad way. Pop science in the way A Brief History of Time is pop science. It's not written for a formal technical audience.

Anyway, I'm a nihilist metalhead with a bachelors degree in biology and that book was a little bit bleak and dark even for me. And I'm not the only one. In the introduction to the 30th anniversary edition Dawkins discusses people's reactions to the book and it sounds like he's describing the Necronomicon. Here's an excerpt:

"A foreign publisher of my first book confessed that he could not sleep for three nights after reading it, so troubled was he by what he saw as its cold, bleak message. Others have asked me how I can bear to get up in the mornings. A teacher from a distant country wrote to me reproachfully that a pupil had come to him in tears after reading the same book, because it had persuaded her that life was empty and purposeless. He advised her not to show the book to any of her friends, for fear of contaminating them with the same nihilistic pessimism"

 

[Guest 85555]

For body horror, you can go the hyper-realistic route or the over-the-top route. I would say Martys (French) and Dumplings (China) are the extreme end for the realistic route. The Thing, The Fly, and Hellraiser (various) would be my top recomendations the other. Society and Re-Animator are also really fun, but that's starting to move into the "camp" direction.

Dumplings is incredible. Which version do you like? (there is the shorter version from the anthology movie and there is the full length version). Hellraiser is also one of my favorites too

When I first saw the re-Animator that intestines scene really bugged me out. That is definitely a classic

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not pop science in a bad way. Pop science in the way A Brief History of Time is pop science. It's not written for a formal technical audience.

Anyway, I'm a nihilist metalhead with a bachelors degree in biology and that book was a little bit bleak and dark even for me. And I'm not the only one. In the introduction to the 30th anniversary edition Dawkins discusses people's reactions to the book and it sounds like he's describing the Necronomicon. Here's an excerpt:

"A foreign publisher of my first book confessed that he could not sleep for three nights after reading it, so troubled was he by what he saw as its cold, bleak message. Others have asked me how I can bear to get up in the mornings. A teacher from a distant country wrote to me reproachfully that a pupil had come to him in tears after reading the same book, because it had persuaded her that life was empty and purposeless. He advised her not to show the book to any of her friends, for fear of contaminating them with the same nihilistic pessimism"

But Lovecraft got it wrong. Humans are very good at dealing with the knowledge that the universe is much bigger and stranger than they can imagine, and that their place in it is insignificant. They don’t go mad, they just compartmentalise the knowledge and get on with their lives.

 

[payn]

But Lovecraft got it wrong. Humans are very good at dealing with the knowledge that the universe is much bigger and stranger than they can imagine, and that their place in it is insignificant. They don’t go mad, they just compartmentalise the knowledge and get on with their lives.

Insanity often seems reasonable.