Greatest Horror of All Time - where to begin?

[jaedmc]

This one is going to be crazy for me because I can't decide on if or how I should tweak my criteria for it.

For example THE SHINING is one of my favorite FILMS EVER. It's an easy call for this list.. HOWEVER I find myself more frightened watching the original BLACK CHRISTMAS. Now all of a sudden I'm thinking I have to deduct points from The Shining for not being as scary as Black Christmas. And next thing you know I feel like this asshole:

 

On the topic of Horror Comedy, my preference are for movies where the horror is taken a little more seriously in terms of stakes. Like Gremlins. It's a silly movie, but it has tension and stakes and it just so happens to have humor around it.

[OSJ]

49 minutes ago, jaedmc said:

On the topic of Horror Comedy, my preference are for movies where the horror is taken a little more seriously in terms of stakes. Like Gremlins. It's a silly movie, but it has tension and stakes and it just so happens to have humor around it.

Gremlins is not only horror, it is one of the most mean-spirited and nasty films ever made. Read Harlan Ellison's essay on it if you find my opinion odd.

[Curt McGirt]

This one's gonna be purely subjective on my part, not what's scariest or whatnot. Zombie and Inferno are gonna be in my top 10-15, like em or not.

[OSJ]

6 hours ago, jaedmc said:

This one is going to be crazy for me because I can't decide on if or how I should tweak my criteria for it.

For example THE SHINING is one of my favorite FILMS EVER. It's an easy call for this list.. HOWEVER I find myself more frightened watching the original BLACK CHRISTMAS. Now all of a sudden I'm thinking I have to deduct points from The Shining for not being as scary as Black Christmas. SNIPPAGE>>>

Wow, THE SHINING has to head my list of films that have aged very, very badly, and much of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Jack Nicholson, who just can't control himself one iota during the film and in what seems to be a cocaine-induced frenzy chews the scenery of every single scene (even before the weird shit starts). At the time it was tolerable and Jack's one of my favorites when he exhibits some control (THE DEPARTED, A FEW GOOD MEN, etc.), left to his own devices by a director that seems to think he's "emoting", he ruins otherwise good films. 

[J.T.]

My issues with The Shining are pretty basic.  Nicholson is a wonderful actor but he's horribly miscast in this movie.  Jack Torrence is supposed to be a man that is going crazy and Jack Nicholson already looks and acts fucking bonkers from the get go.

I'll vent more when we actually get this thing off of the ground.

[Curt McGirt]

Re: Contentious films

I thought about this at work tonight. The horror-comedy thing is one thing, but let's consider something else and let me give some examples. 

The Devils by Ken Russell could easily, IMO, fall under the horror category. It features disgusting dead bodies from the jump, scenes of excruciating torture, hallucinations, mad revelries, is a story about a man getting crushed under an oppressive government and religion for no reason except he stands alone and has a measure of personal power. Truly, a horrifying thing. The film is set during the time of the Spanish Inquisition and is based on a real person. It's horrifying (and blasphemous enough to STILL be banned from re-release by Warner Bros. decades later), yet it's an Art Film (TM), and technically an Historical Drama. 

BUT! What about Witchfinder General? Set in the warring days of Cromwell-era England and of the witch trials when Matthew Hopkins was riding high, it shares a similar theme. Also ostensibly an Historical Drama, and also a solid Revenge Film, it is also bleak, horrifying, incredibly intense, bloody, and to top it all off has one of the great horror actors and indeed great actors ever in Vincent Price playing Matthew Hopkins. In the days of the video store, this would be filed under Horror for that last fact alone, though it never got a proper video release to my knowledge. 

And a third argument: Mark of the Devil. This time we're in 18th Century Austria and people are still hunting and killing "witches". Another Historical Drama, but far, far lower-brow. Extreme scenes of torture abound, some of which are quite infamous. The name value of Herbert Lom and actual talent of him, Reggie Nalder, and a very young Udo Kier aren't enough to save this from being dumped right under Horror because that's what it is: Horrible. 

Do all of these count? They technically fall under the genre of something like Barry Lyndon, but their extremity takes them elsewhere. To make further comparison, because Straw Dogs freaks out and sickens you is that horror? Nobody is probably willing to make that argument. Psycho is a "Psychological Thriller" (studio code term for Horror/Suspense) but in the video stores if it wasn't under Horror it was in the Classics section, only because it was Hitchcock and in black and white. Silence is a "Psychological Thriller" yet it's full of utterly terrifying villains, skinned people, a head in a jar, a disembowelment, etc. which means it's as much of a Physical Horror Film as a "Psychological Thriller". 

Anyway, I'm rambling now, but these were some thoughts on the subject. I still say we should go for whatever floats everyone's boat and argue about it later. 

[J.T.]

15 hours ago, OSJ said:

That's fair. Just don't blame me when Killer Clowns from Outer Space makes the top five.

My ballot will be 100 movies and Killer Klowns is EASILY in my Top 50.

When the one alien clown vampire thing is feeding off of the victim in the cotton candy cocoon with that fucking silly straw.  Ugh...

I think we may have to go with the Jason / Michael Myers rule when it comes to psychological thrillers in that if it has a crazy person in it and the movie scared the living shit out of you, it counts as a horror movie.

[odessasteps]

Then, bob roberts can be a horror movie, i guess.

[caley]

Last time I voted in a horror film poll, I ended up with 'Requiem For A Dream' on my list.  And, no, I did not use the line "the horrors of drug abuse"!  I probably wouldn't vote for it again, but I thought I had some very compelling arguments that backed up my pick back then.

I think you have to include horror-comedies, though.  I mean, something like 'Evil Dead' is a far bit silly but also you can't really not include it in a horror poll.

Horror is not really my jam.  Though I have watched and enjoyed a fair amount of horror films.  So I might make a list.  I might not.

 

[OSJ]

22 minutes ago, J.T. said:

My ballot will be 100 movies and Killer Klowns is EASILY in my Top 50.

Maybe even in my top 25. Street Trash ands Basket Case have to be way up there too...

[J.T.]

5 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Then, bob roberts can be a horror movie, i guess.

You have terrible opinions about horror movies.

[OSJ]

5 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Then, bob roberts can be a horror movie, i guess.

Mark, can I have some of whatever it is you're smoking right now?

[J.T.]

39 minutes ago, caley said:

Last time I voted in a horror film poll, I ended up with 'Requiem For A Dream' on my list.  And, no, I did not use the line "the horrors of drug abuse"!  I probably wouldn't vote for it again, but I thought I had some very compelling arguments that backed up my pick back then.

I personally don't consider Requiem to be a horror film prima facea, but I can see why the argument would be made and it is not a far fetched one.

It definitely falls into that black netherworld of surreal scared straight material like Unedited Footage Of A Bear that is designed to educate and inform you about something disconcerting by terrifying the living shit out of you with a cautionary tale.

Not terribly unlike the old school Grimm's Fairy Tales where the kid that didn't obey his parents died a grisly death.

[J.T.]

i hate bringing up things with no context, so in response to the Requiem For A Dream dealie, here is the video for Unedited Footage Of A Bear for those of you who have never watched the Infomercials block on Adult Swim.

Here is the answer to the question of WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH~? from the awesome dudes at Night Mind.

Horror?  Maybe.   Frightening?  You bet your ass it is.

[OSJ]

17 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Snippage>>

Not terribly unlike the old school Grimm's Fairy Tales where the kid that didn't obey his parent died a grisly death.

Which let's not forget were originally written for adults as they were so grisly.

[J.T.]

Yep, which is why those things evolve into creepy folk tales which turn into scary urban legends which in turn transformed into creepypasta.

What is the best way to correct bad behavior?  With a horrible death as the consequence, naturally.

Terror is the grand deterrent so if you want to warn people about something, you make a scary movie about it.

Concerned about dependence on technology?  Make something like Colossus: The Forbin Project or Demon Seed.

Worried about the loss of social liberty or personal identity?  Make a zombie movie or a body horror film.

This is why The Stuff will also be in my Top 50.  What other movie addresses the evils of rampant consumerism by having people be consumed by the product that they're consuming? It is absolutely fucking brilliant!

 

[Curt McGirt]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

I think we may have to go with the Jason / Michael Myers rule when it comes to psychological thrillers in that if it has a crazy person in it and the movie scared the living shit out of you, it counts as a horror movie.

The first thing that came to mind when I read that was Polanski's Repulsion. 

[OSJ]

3 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Yep, which is why those things evolve into creepy folk tales which turn into scary urban legends which in turn transformed into creepypasta.

What is the best way to correct bad behavior?  With a horrible death as the consequence, naturally.

Terror is the grand deterrent so if you want to warn people about something, you make a scary movie about it.

Concerned about dependence on technology?  Make something like Colossus: The Forbin Project or Demon Seed.

Worried about the loss of social liberty or personal identity?  Make a zombie movie or a body horror film.

This is why The Stuff will also be in my Top 50.  What other movie addresses the evils of rampant consumerism by having people be consumed by the product that they're consuming? It is absolutely fucking brilliant!

 

Odd, The Stuff will also be high on my list. Probably the best thing Garrett Morris ever did and that covers lots of ground.

[J.T.]

10 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

The first thing that came to mind when I read that was Polanski's Repulsion. 

I've always liked Repulsion because it goes from ho hum i am so bored foreign art house movie to WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK IS GOING ON~? in no time flat.

All with barely ten minutes of spoken dialogue.

You can argue the finer points of whether or not it is a horror film, but only an idiot would deny that watching it is a pretty creepy experience.

[OSJ]

On 4/6/2017 at 11:27 PM, J.T. said:

Here is Unedited Footage Of A Bear for those of you who have never watched the Infomercials block on Adult Swim.

Here is the answer to the question of WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH~? from the awesome dudes at Night Mind.

Horror?  Maybe.   Frightening?  You bet your ass it is.

Bears are fucking terrifying. When I lived in Rio Rancho a young black bear wandered down from the hills and was sniffing about the dumpster at the grocery store we were shopping at. A good many idiots were "Oh, he's so cute!" and getting way too close. I yelled "That thing will rip your fucking faces off and eat them for lunch." Then I heard the bullhorn, "That's guy's right, stay the hell away from that bear." Rio Rancho PD on hand with a tranq gun, knocked him out and took him back up in the hills where he belonged. How stupid do you have to be to get within striking distance of a bear, even a small one can eviscerate a person quite handily. Those fucking claws aren't for show, I have a bear claw necklace I wear once in awhile and the damn thing has cut me on more than one occasion.  

[Curt McGirt]

I haven't seen it in so long that The Stuff would have probably been an afterthought. Need to rewatch it (and oh guess what just so happens to be on Youtube?)

 

[OSJ]

You have done a fine public service Curt, well done! If it weren't for the great shit that El Rey is about to show, I'd watch it right now. 

[J.T.]

The awesome thing about Unedited Footage is that it taps into a common experience. 

We've all seen those drug commercials on television and have laughed off the notion that the fucking side effects of the drug are worse than the condition the drug is trying to address.

Then comes along the guys at Wham City that take that idea and turn it into nightmare fuel.

That's the way horror works.  By tapping into primal fears and common misgivings. 

That's probably why there are so many personal and subjective definitions of what constitutes a horror movie.  We're not all frightened by the same things, but we do share some social phobias.

[Curt McGirt]

Man they just dropkicked some fool's head off at the end of Ten Tigers of Kwangtung! JT, is this sequel as good? I'd seen most of Ten Tigers already and had it on mute while I was dicking around on here. 

So as to not derail the discussion, any Chinese horror that might creep onto the 100? Something by Tsui Hark?

Yeah two minutes in, I can tell this sequel isn't gonna be as good. But I still laugh when these films used British accented dubbing.

[OSJ]

2 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Man they just dropkicked some fool's head off at the end of Ten Tigers of Kwangtung! JT, is this sequel as good? I'd seen most of Ten Tigers already and had it on mute while I was dicking around on here. 

So as to not derail the discussion, any Chinese horror that might creep onto the 100? Something by Tsui Hark?

Yeah two minutes in, I can tell this sequel isn't gonna be as good. But I still laugh when these films used British accented dubbing.

A Chinese Ghost Story will certainly be on my list!