# Favorite horror flick?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I nominate: Curse of the Demon (Night of the Demon in the UK release). 1958, directed by Jacques Tourneur. The excellent Niall MacGinnis plays a genteel British occultist who has learned to summon a vicious demon to serve him, but who lacks that last ounce of control. An American psychologist investigates, refusing to believe at all in the supernatural. He learns otherwise! Scary.

The uncut British release is the one to have. Both releases are available on a single DVD:

http://www.amazon.com/Curse-Demon-N...1366602332&sr=1-1&keywords=curse+of+the+demon


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

I liked the original Japanese version of Ring.

And Seven, I liked that too.

I'm a bit of a (blood) sucker for old Hammer movies.

Don't like slasher flicks, though. I prefer suspense to outright startled nausea...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

The truly most terrifying film I've seen, with nothing else yet having topped it?

Roman Polanski ~ _Repulsion._

... because losing your mind is about the most frightening thing I can think of, and that is what the central character (played by Catherine Deneuve) does. The audience goes through this with her, unrelentingly, as she sees / perceives it. Almost all of action takes place within the interior of an apartment -- that containment / constraint of 'the normal environment' making it that much more....

Shudder, twitch....


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The Shining. Original version.


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## sugarlry (May 1, 2013)

I think all of horror movies that I have watched were all my favorites no comparison.


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## sugarlry (May 1, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> The Shining. Original version.


I like the shining too.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

One I saw recently that was a total hoot: Cabin in the Woods. See this!


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## TrevBus (Jun 6, 2013)

The Haunting. Original w/ Robert Wise directing. Hardly any SFX but just great acting, tight directing, wonderful script, suspenseful situations and some of the most chilling atmosphere I have seen on screen


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Antichrist or the Shining


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

KenOC said:


> One I saw recently that was a total hoot: Cabin in the Woods. See this!


That film surprised me! I liked it a lot.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

There was already a topic
http://www.talkclassical.com/20035-your-favorite-horror-thriller-2.html


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Jack Clayton's "The Innocents", Mario Bava's "Black Sabbath"


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

bigshot said:


> Jack Clayton's "The Innocents", Mario Bava's "Black Sabbath"


The innocents is a total masterpiece.
Black sabbath is not a masterpiece (except for the third episode), but even in movies that were not that great Bava was a stunning talent if we consider only the visual aspect.
My favorites horror/thriller of him are:
the third episode from Black sabbath
Kill, Baby... Kill!
Six Women for the Murderer
The Girl Who Knew Too Much 
Bay of Blood
Five Dolls for an August Moon


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

The Wasp Woman...........


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Kieran said:


> I liked the original Japanese version of Ring.


I never got to see it, but I saw the western version. Usually horror flicks don't scare me in the least. For some reason I can't quite explain, _The Ring_ not merely scared me, it completely and utterly creeped me out like no movie has ever done. So I guess you could say it should be my fav horror flick then. 

What I liked about it is that it is scary rather than merely startling. Many horror flicks use the cheap trick of making sudden noises to make the audience jump. I dislike that; I want a horror movie to be scary rather than merely now and then startling me. At least for me, _The Ring_ achieved that.

Not sure whether one can consider _The Sixth Sense_ a horror movie, but I very much liked that one too.

And the first two _Alien_ movies.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I liked most of the Hammer films. Many of them nowadays may seem campy and/or b-grade but they were usually scary enough when I was young. I liked the 1930s US horrors as well. I read that the 1931 Frankenstein had a scene where Fritz was lynched (or strangled?) by the monster for tormenting him but the UK censors cut it out - to this day I've still never seen that bit on TV. On the other hand, the movie was far more heavily censored in the US at the time. Also, some copies were made with a green tinge to make it seem more creepy when watching it in a darkened theatre.


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## Oreb (Aug 8, 2013)

I'm a fan of horror movies but find blood and gore annoying. I prefer chills to disgust!

My favourites:

The Innocents - still frightening.

Kaido - this is a stunning Japanese movie remade in the USA as 'Pulse'. The remake completely misses the tone and sense of the original.

Kwaidan - another Japanese classic; a compilation of ghost stories that's absolutely beautiful to look at.

The Blair Witch Project - yes, I know there has been a back-lash, but IMO this stands up as a classic.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Oreb said:


> I'm a fan of horror movies but find blood and gore annoying. I prefer chills to disgust!
> 
> My favourites:
> 
> ...


Kairo, not Kaido, anyway this one is really scary (at least for me).
The innocents is a masterpiece, Kwaidan is great movie... and I agree also on BWP, a lot of people say that it was just great marketing. I don't want to say that it's a masterpiece but it's a very effective horror movie, and an influential one too (it suffices to think of movies like rec or cloverfield)


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## Oreb (Aug 8, 2013)

norman bates said:


> Kairo, not Kaido, anyway this one is really scary (at least for me).


 D'oh!  It's the mood isn't it? Gets under your skin like not too many others.

I have to also admit that _Insidious_ scared the crap out of me.

The first time I saw the original of _The Grudge_ I thought it was brilliant. I watched it later and realised it's almost completely incoherent! Still scary


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Some of my favourites:

- The Evil Dead Trilogy: Classics. Bruce Campbell is certainly unique, in the greatest possible sense.
- I have just picked up the latest reboot/remake, hopefully it will maintain the standards of the original trilogy. I missed this at the cinema so it will make for interesting viewing.

- Dracula - Particularly the Lugosi version though I am also a fan of the first Hammer film with Cushing and Lee.

- Can A Clockwork Orange be classed as a horror?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I was impressed by "The Shining", But most scared by "Psycho".


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

City of the Dead, Carnival of Souls, Rosemary's Baby, The Tingler, Night of the Living Dead


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" - now that's horror!
OK, then, seriously, "Diabolique." It scared me more than any film before or since. I remember grabbing the arm of the person sitting next to me, _whom I did not even know_, I was so terrified! And he didn't object, I think he was equally scared. And it holds up even today. Brrrr!

ETA: Needless to say, I'm talking about the original 1955 film.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Isn't there enough horror in he world today without creating it on the screen?


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

CypressWillow said:


> "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" - now that's horror!
> OK, then, seriously, "Diabolique." It scared me more than any film before or since. I remember grabbing the arm of the person sitting next to me, _whom I did not even know_, I was so terrified! And he didn't object, I think he was equally scared. And it holds up even today. Brrrr!
> 
> ETA: Needless to say, I'm talking about the original 1955 film.


THAT is a great movie--good call! I also think Night of the Hunter--another one from 1955--holds up well.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> The Shining. Original version.


The Shining? Huh--doesn't seem that scary to me. A bit cheesy, if anything.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Blancrocher said:


> THAT is a great movie--good call! I also think Night of the Hunter--another one from 1955--holds up well.


Night of the hunter is a masterpiece and one of my very favorite movies, but I wouldn't call it horror. 
Unless you were thinking of Tourneur's Night of the demon, that is a great horror indeed, probably one of the best of the fifties.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

norman bates said:


> Night of the hunter is a masterpiece and one of my very favorite movies, but I wouldn't call it horror.
> Unless you were thinking of Tourneur's Night of the demon, that is a great horror indeed, probably one of the best of the fifties.


And with that, we've come full circle from the OP!


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Evil Dead II. Irresistibly charming and humorous.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

DavidA said:


> Isn't there enough horror in he world today without creating it on the screen?


I agree, there are so many ghosts, zombies, werewolves, aliens, demons and serial killers out there that these films are kind of redundant.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Crudblud said:


> I agree, there are so many ghosts, zombies, werewolves, aliens, demons and serial killers out there that these films are kind of redundant.


you could just say that you don't like horror movies


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

norman bates said:


> you could just say that you don't like horror movies


Do I really have to explain the joke?


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Don't forget the undead now


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Isn't there enough horror in he world today without creating it on the screen?


Well, I guess it is a good question why we like horror movies. But it's not just adults: many fairy tales for children are pretty scary and horrific as well, or at least they used to be before the armies of the politically correct decided that children need to be wrapped in cotton wool.

So why do we like such tales? Perhaps as a way of dealing with real horror in a controlled and safe environment? And because in fictional horror, there is often a sense of meaning to it all, while real life horror frequently seems utterly meaningless?


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

DavidA said:


> Isn't there enough horror in he world today without creating it on the screen?


Apparently not since there's always been demand for it.

It's like explaining sports or eating red meat. Either you get it or you don't.


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## BlackDahlia (Aug 12, 2013)

Still a big fan of The Amityville Horror (1979).


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Another 60s Hammer production, 'The Reptile', used to scare seven shades out of me when I was a kid.


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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

I was watching Fear Itself several months back on Netflix streaming, it was a short lived horror series from years ago. I blinked and it was gone, too bad, I was enjoying it.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

I nominate The Giant Claw.
WARNING! Do not watch video with the lights off...very scary anti-matter bird thingamy!


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

For me, 1920s German Expressionistic Silent Movies are still the best and only artistic examples of horror films. 

Der Student von Prag (Paul Wegener) 
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene)
Der müde Tod (Fritz Lang)
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Friedrich Murnau) 
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (Paul Leni)
Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (Paul Wegenr)
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Fritz Lang)
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried/ Kriemhilds Rache (Fritz Lang) 
Metropolis (Fritz Lang)
Faust (Friedrich Murnau)

There is also a non-German and non-silent 1932 Vampyr directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, which is still on my list.


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## LancsMan (Oct 28, 2013)

KenOC said:


> I nominate: Curse of the Demon (Night of the Demon in the UK release). 1958, directed by Jacques Tourneur. The excellent Niall MacGinnis plays a genteel British occultist who has learned to summon a vicious demon to serve him, but who lacks that last ounce of control. An American psychologist investigates, refusing to believe at all in the supernatural. He learns otherwise! Scary.
> 
> The uncut British release is the one to have. Both releases are available on a single DVD:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Curse-Demon-N...1366602332&sr=1-1&keywords=curse+of+the+demon


Yes this is a pretty good film that seems to be overlooked these days, and it scared me as a kid when it seemed to get a more regular airing on TV. I'm a sucker for the old steam trains atmospherically shot at the climactic ending of the film. Did they really need to show us the demon at this point? Would have been better left to our imagination methinks. The only weakness of the film maybe.


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## LancsMan (Oct 28, 2013)

No one appears to have mentioned The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer, starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee (not hamming it up so much here).

Edward Woodward is a strait-laced police officer investigating a girls disappearance on a remote Scottish island dominated by a cult led by Christopher Lee. They turn out not to be quite as nice and peace loving as they first appear. 

Quite good I think, but it's years since I saw it last.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

House on Haunted Hill (1959)


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## Rackon (Apr 9, 2013)

Il Penseroso, great list! Although Vampyr is a sound film, it's almost a silent , very little dialogue..very beautiful... moody...quite creepy and unsettling, like all Dreyer's films Vampyr is visually stunning. Caligari, Mabuse, Nosferatu, Metropolis...all icons of German Expressionism, although I don't think of Metropolis as "horror".

I love ghost stories and prefer suggestion and atmosphere over gore - my imagination can conjure plenty of dread all on its own, thank you very much!
.
I absolutely love Guiermo Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone; with Pan's Labyrinth, the high point of his career. I always thought these two Spanish civil war films were going to be part of a (loose) trilogy, but no word recently on a third movie.

Here's a Sweet Sixteen of some of my other fave creepy movies (in no particular order):

The Innocents
The Haunting (1963)
Onibaba
Peeping Tom
Repulsion
Rosemary's Baby
The Wicker Man
Night Of The Hunter
Bride of Frankenstein
Carnival of Souls
The Uninvited
Night of the Demons
Haxan
Videodrome
Freaks
The Others


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## Gilberto (Sep 12, 2013)




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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

regressivetransphobe said:


> Apparently not since there's always been demand for it.
> 
> It's like explaining sports or eating red meat. Either you get it or you don't.


Orestes by Euripides was the most popular Greek play in its day primarily if not solely because of all the bloodshed throughout.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Its hard to decide many horrors i have loved before are now a no-no, but one stands up




Much more creepier and diabolical then ''Rosemary's baby'' for example...:devil:Stays with you long time when you watch it...


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## Wandering (Feb 27, 2012)

^ Commonsense tells me, if I were a women, Rosemary's Baby would have been far creepier, a definite precursor to the body horror genre.

_Don't think I've seen The Sentinel, it's now not only on my watch list, but watch a.s.a.p. list!!!_


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

I always loved the originals of The Haunting and The Changeling. Subtle scares always do it for me. I'm very tired of the recent trend where a little ghoulish girl jumping out of the dark is considered scary.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

John Carpenter's THE THING


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