Best Horror Movies of All Time

[Autumnal]

It’s like Barker is really good or something.

 

[Bedrockgames]

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.

I agree it can do both. I have been on both sides of this world view over the course of my life (I was raised religious but went through a period of deep skepticism in my 20s like a lot of people). I will say even when I shared your view of things, I still found it unsettling to consider that the universe might be not just disinterested in inhumanity but that the answer to the problem of evil may be that the universe itself is evil (which is how I tended to see the cenobites)-----of course that could have been a product of having been raised to view ultimate reality as good (which for clarity I do currently believe it is)

 

[Bedrockgames]

It’s like Barker is really good or something.

I love his writing. Just been re-reading the books of blood to get ready for another viewing of Candyman

 

[Clint_L]

I agree it can do both. I have been on both sides of this world view over the course of my life (I was raised religious but went through a period of deep skepticism in my 20s like a lot of people). I will say even when I shared your view of things, I still found it unsettling to consider that the universe might be not just disinterested in inhumanity but that the answer to the problem of evil may be that the universe itself is evil (which is how I tended to see the cenobites)-----of course that could have been a product of having been raised to view ultimate reality as good (which for clarity I do currently believe it is)

For me, there is no problem of evil because evil, like good, is a subjective interpretation of events, not a thing in itself. Choices, not forces. And the universe isn't actually disinterested in humanity, even though I might use that expression, because it's a bunch of stuff happening, not an entity with a subjective interpretation of events. So for me, cosmic horror comes not from inherent good or evil but from lack of understanding. That an unthinkably vast universe might (probably does?) contain entities to whom we are no more significant than a dust mite is unsettling. Or that our ability to interpret reality is so narrowly confined by the teeny tiny range of our sense perceptions and our brains that we walk about totally oblivious to most of what is out there (which is demonstrably true)...

So the horror that really gets me falls into that range of the inexplicable, not because it is supernatural but because we can't wrap our brains around it. This is also why a good psychopath horror film gets me - I don't understand how people can think like that, but there is no doubt that they can. Michael Meyers is a far scarier character to me when he is a human psychopath than when he is The Shape, a supernatural embodiment of evil. At that point, the film just becomes slasher porn.

This is why, for example, the recent attempts by Ridley Scott to explain the xenomorphs in the Alien films irritated me. They are far, far less horrifying once given an understandable, rather prosaic origin and frame of reference.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So the horror that really gets me falls into that range of the inexplicable, not because it is supernatural but because we can't wrap our brains around it. This is also why a good psychopath horror film gets me - I don't understand how people can think like that, but there is no doubt that they can.

Arguably, The Zone of Interest is one of the best horror films I've seen recently.

But it's not exactly the "horror genre" that people think about. Still, it is definitely horror.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Re: Jacob’s Ladder

I know I’ve seen it. And because I usually don’t drink while watching films, I was probably sober. But my recollection of this movie is shockingly vague.

Re: Clive Barker

He’s seriously good. I’m waiting for him to complete the Art Trilogy and would love to see a movie/miniseries based on Imajica.

 

[Clint_L]

Re: Jacob’s Ladder

I know I’ve seen it. And because I usually don’t drink while watching films, I was probably sober. But my recollection of this movie is shockingly vague.

Re: Clive Barker

He’s seriously good. I’m waiting for him to complete the Art Trilogy and would love to see a movie/miniseries based on Imajica.

I haven't read as much of him as I probably should, but that's because whenever I do, I'm scared enough that I don't wanna go back for awhile. He's definitely got it.

What horror novels would folks love to see get a film adaptation? I read The September House last year, and I really hope it gets a good film adaptation. It's a super cinematic novel.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Re: Jacob’s Ladder

I know I’ve seen it. And because I usually don’t drink while watching films, I was probably sober. But my recollection of this movie is shockingly vague.

I first saw it when it came out on video and couldn't stop thinking about it for years. So I needed to watch it again. That pattern has held pretty consistently for me, for some reason.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I haven't read as much of him as I probably should, but that's because whenever I do, I'm scared enough that I don't wanna go back for awhile. He's definitely got it.

You might like Imajica if you haven't read it yet

What horror novels would folks love to see get a film adaptation? I read The September House last year, and I really hope it gets a good film adaptation. It's a super cinematic novel.

I think I'd like to see Harvest Home turned into a proper film (not just a TV miniseries). And I would love to see Lovecraft's The Festival made into a film (I like when film makers take shorter material and expand it into a movie (I think this has worked very well with writers like Poe and Pu Songling). But the Festival is the first Lovecraft story I remember reading, and I knew exactly what part of New England he was alluding to.

Also an accurate version of Frankenstein that is also good (I've seen more accurate versions but they are never as good as the ones that take complete liberty)

 

[Bedrockgames]

So the horror that really gets me falls into that range of the inexplicable, not because it is supernatural but because we can't wrap our brains around it. This is also why a good psychopath horror film gets me - I don't understand how people can think like that, but there is no doubt that they can. Michael Meyers is a far scarier character to me when he is a human psychopath than when he is The Shape, a supernatural embodiment of evil. At that point, the film just becomes slasher porn.

I guess I tend to think of Michael Myers, at least in the first film, as more of a bogie man type figure than a proper psycho (I mean he is from a mental ward, he clearly has psychological issues lol, but the whole speech about his eyes and they way he is always just sort of lingering in a menacing way, give it kind of an evil supernatural heft. But with these sorts of movies, I don't really question my reasons for being afraid. Both supernatural and psychopathic threats seem equally terrifying to me if done right. If I had to really break it down, I think above all, good film making is really what it boils down to. Black Christmas and the first Halloween both work really well for me in that respect because of how they are shot, how they cloud the killers in mystery. But I also connect to your point about the inexplicable. What makes the moaner scary is he is this gibbering monstrosity that is never fully explained. I think I mentioned before he shares certain traits with the Scorpio character in Dirty Harry who I think is also effective for that reason. But I would say any of these slasher characters are scary when done right. Leatherface is quite scary, and he is just some deranged man with a chainsaw. I think where a lot of slashers become less scary, but for me at least remain entertaining, is they start being more about inventive and memorable deaths, and less about the build up