Best Horror Movies of All Time

[Bedrockgames]

It was scary when original published in 1897 with at least one reviewer arguing it included too much horror. In some ways, I think horror is a bit like comedy in that it ages poorly. There are still some old comedic gems out there, 600 hundred years later and "The Miller's Tale" by Chaucer is still hilarious for example. But Dracula has never been particularly frightening to me because I don't have the same anxieties Victorians did. Plus it's hard to be frightened by something when it's so familiar. Freddy Krueger used to be scary, but by the third movie he was just a burnt up bad comedian.

I still find Dracula to be a scary book. And I still find Nosferatu to the be the most frightening horror movie ever made. So I think a lot of this comes down to personal preference, what cinematic techniques are effective on you, how familiar you are with the media in question (obviously the first time I read Dracula it was more scary because I didn't know how it turned out for example). And I tend to find a lot of newer horror movies less scary than say films made in the 70s. Though I found The Witch quite scary and The Conjuring was pretty scary as well I thought (the first one). And recently saw Late Night with the Devil, which I found effective too. So not saying modern horror movies aren't also scary. Just something about movies in the 70s are the ones that tend to be most upsetting to me in terms of having a horror impact (Black Christmas is still an absolutely terrifying film IMO for instance, as is Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the Exorcist. I just rewatched the Omen and that one still bugs me out).

On Dracula, I've never found the 1931 Dracula in particular all that scary though (as much as I love the visuals of that movie, I always get bored, even though I usually like films from that era: I'd rather watch Dracula's Daughter than Dracula most days). There are plenty of Universal Movies that make more effective horror for me (like the Mummy or even the Invisible Man. And some, like Bride of Frankenstein, are maybe not especially scary but they are still in my top five of greatest horror movies of all time (because the atmosphere, the wit, the strangeness of it, the performances, the emotional weight of it, etc).

 

[Bedrockgames]

T h e difference being that there doesn’t appear to be any joy beyond the Schism, where the Cenobites live. The pain of the angels in Jacob’s Ladder lasts only until you accept the reality of where you are; in the Labyrinth, that’s more like the beginning of torment. (I’d have to check, but I don’t think there’s endless torment in Meister Eckhart, not that the movie would be obligated to use it if there were.) So they’re almost mirror images. Which is interesting.

I'm struck with the (probably meaningless) concordance between the speech about Hell from Jacob's Ladder and some of the tenets of the Hellraiser universe, with the whole demons-to-some0angels-to-others thing and the idea of the distinction between torment and bliss being a matter of perspective

It is an interesting comparison. I am pretty sure Jacob's Ladder takes a lot of liberties with Eckhart (I remember reading up on him the last time I watched it, and while I can't recall all the details now, I seem to remember the quotes were quite loose with his meaning). But that doesn't particularly matter, it was still brilliant use of the ideas and of Dante as well. On the Cenobites vs. The Angels/Demons in Jacob's ladder, I think the cenobites are more crushing existentially for me because they imply a universe that isn't governed by an ultimate good. Whereas in Jacob's Ladder, ultimate reality is still ultimately good, it is just his perception of what is happening to himself that is misreading the nature of his situation. It is almost implied that there is no hell in Jacob's Ladder, but I suppose you could imagine one where he

Spoiler: spoilers

is in hell and forever condemned rather than purgatory or some purgatory/hell hybrid before you move on

. But the thing that always frightened me about cenobites is that sense you kind of get reading Lovecraft, where it's like "Nope, the universe doesn't care about you, and there is no good at the end of the day". Kind of how some horror is effective when it says "You are nothing but fragile meat". Of course I could be forgetting some crucial detail of Hellraiser lore. I haven't seen the second one in a while (and I am not as familiar with the later sequels)

EDIT: Here is an overview on Eckhart and Jacob's Ladder:

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You are nothing but fragile meat

I find it comforting to know there is plenty of universe that humans can’t screw up.

 

[Autumnal]

Thanks, @Bedrockgames ! And yes, I agree a lot about the cosmic horror of the Cenobites. It’s not just that you don’t know the answers. You don’t even know what the questions are, or what an answer might be - we’re ignorant of the fundamental categories, like trying to do math without knowing about numbers. Except that numbers are things we can learn, while it’s not at all clear we can even learn the basics while retaining a human mind when it comes to the Labyrinth. And that’s great fodder for a certain kind of horror I enjoy a lot.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Thanks, @Bedrockgames ! And yes, I agree a lot about the cosmic horror of the Cenobites. It’s not just that you don’t know the answers. You don’t even know what the questions are, or what an answer might be - we’re ignorant of the fundamental categories, like trying to do math without knowing about numbers. Except that numbers are things we can learn, while it’s not at all clear we can even learn the basics while retaining a human mind when it comes to the Labyrinth. And that’s great fodder for a certain kind of horror I enjoy a lot.

Just do particle physics if you enjoy that stuff.

 

[Autumnal]

Just do particle physics if you enjoy that stuff.

Oh, sure. [sneers] if you like countable dimensions…

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Oh, sure. [sneers] if you like countable dimensions…

Countable?

I only work with imaginary numbers and imaginary dimensions.

 

[MGibster]

I've never seen any of the Hellraiser movies. Or a Fast & Furious movie...but that's nor horror I guess.

 

[Older Beholder]

Maybe not best of all time, but I wanted to mention one of the more unique horror/drama films I’ve seen in recent years…

You won’t be alone.

If you like original/experimental films, I would recommend checking it out.

 

[Clint_L]

But the thing that always frightened me about cenobites is that sense you kind of get reading Lovecraft, where it's like "Nope, the universe doesn't care about you, and there is no good at the end of the day".

I don't believe the universe cares about me (or anything else) or that good or evil are anything but subjective interpretations, and I think that is liberating and positive. But I still find the Hellraiser films disturbing because of the implication that, given freedom to choose who they will be, some people might choose that. Which is, looking at the range of human behaviour, pretty believable. To me, that's way more disturbing than people doing horrible things because a demon tempts them or whatever.

So that's how good the Hellraiser films are - they can disturb you if you come at them from an essentialist or an existentialist perspective.