What are your top horror movies?

[gelfingboy]

Since it's halloween time, a time to watch scary flicks, what are your top faves in horror movies?

Here are my top 50 faves:

1. Psycho ( Original).
2. The Exorcist.
3. The Shining.
4. Dawn of the Dead ( 1978).
5. Evil Dead 1 & 2.
6. Re-Animator.
7. Night of the Living Dead ( 1968).
8. From Dusk Till Dawn.
9. Dead Alive ( a.k.a. Braindead).
10. Frankenstein ( 1931).
11. Dracula (1931).
12. Day of the Dead.
13. Zombie.
14. City of the Living Dead ( a.k.a. Gates of Hell).
15. House By The Cemetery.
16. American Werewolf In London.
17. The Wolf Man.
18. Demons.
19. Poltergeist.
20. The Others.
21. The Beyond.
22. Maniac ( 1980).
23. Suspiria.
24. Scream.
25. Inferno.
26. Tenebre.
27. Final Destination 1 & 2.
28. Scanners.
29. Urban Legend.
30. Phantasm.
31. Nightmare City ( a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead).
32. Magic ( 1978).
33. Saw.
34. Perfect Blue.
35. Interview with the Vampire.
36. Silence of the Lambs.
37. Se7en.
38. Halloween 1 & 2.
39. Hellraiser 1 & 2.
40. Vampire Hunter D ( 1985 and Bloodlust).
41. Jaws.
42. Land of the Dead.
43. Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 3.
44. Friday The 13th parts 1, 3, 4 and Jason Lives.
45. Freddy Vs. Jason.
46. Return of the Living Dead 1 & 3.
47. Dawn of the Dead ( 2004).
48. Ichi The Killer.
49. Shaun of the Dead.
50. Cannibal Holocaust.

[Laslo Hollyfeld]

Here's some of the movies that had the biggest "freak-out" effect on me when I first saw them (and , I might add, still do).

Jaws
The Shining (Kubrick's)
Alien
Aliens
An American Werewolf in London

Oddly enough, I don't find "Psycho" to be all that scary. When I take a shower, I'm never afraid to wash my hair...

[MsCali]

I think I did this further down, but my list tends to change from time to time, so here we go...

1. Rear Window
2. Psycho (although, it is my favorite Hitchcock movie and thus gets a place on my list, it really didn't scare me).
3. Jaws
4. The Others
5. The Ring
6. Identity

I post this link every so often, but if you like horror movies you should check out www.angryalien.com - great 30 second reenactments of some horror movies (and a few others...non-horror) featuring bunnies.

[flipmoot]

Hmm, this is harder then I expected...:

1. Event Horizon
2. The Others
3. The Ring
4. The Thing
5. Aliens
6. Se7en

... not nessessarely in that order.

[tangentgirl]

Here's some of the movies that had the biggest "freak-out" effect on me when I first saw them

Taking Lazlo's lead... here are a few movies that freaked me out as a kid:

1. Jaws (I saw this movie for the first time in England when I was about 4yrs. old. We tried to see Rocky, but it was considered too violent for young'uns in the Queen's Land; So we saw Jaws on the military base instead. Nice, eh?) I didn't venture past 1-2 feet of water in the ocean until I was in college.
So... that's about 15+ years of fear.

2. Alien --- I was probably 7 or 8 when I first saw this one; Not on the big screen though. It was scary enough on HBO. Too this day, I've been afraid to venture into space ;D. Okay, I'm just being silly, but it was nightmare inducing, nonetheless.

3. The Exorcist --- I'm not sure when I first saw this movie, but I don't think I ever made it all the way through it until I watched the remastered version several years back with friends. I can remember trying to watch it on t.v. (as in parts cut out of it) when I was in 8th or 9th grade. I was babysitting my little brother (who was around 5yrs old AND not in the room, btw. I have better sense than my parents when it comes to letting small children watch certain movies.) I kept having to change the channel sporadically throughout the movie. Then I had to stay up and watch Mary Poppins before going to bed so that I wouldn't be thinking about Demons before bed.

4. When A Stranger Calls (1979 version); My dad used to call me up and ask if I'd checked the children when I was babysitting.
Not so much funny. The beginning and ending of that film was extremely intense. I really don't remember the middle at all... just that I thought it was slow... blah, blah, blah.

5. Psycho & The Birds : Neither of these scared me too badly, but I was afraid to take showers for a short time when I was small. I'd only take baths and I'd always throw the shower curtain open before using the bathroom, just in case anyone was hiding in there. Birds do freak me out a little bit, not too badly. I'm not sure this movie is to blame for that though. My grandma used to have a pet bird that she always had out of its cage. It used to terrorize us.

6. The Legacy??? I think that's what it is called. I don't even think it's all that scary, but there was a scene where a girl was swimming underwater and when she tried to come up, she couldn't. I got the heebeejeebees for quite awhile after that as the only way I knew how to swim was underwater.

Okay... any other ones I think of will have to wait. My niece is beckoning me to play with her.

Hmm... She says the scariest movie she ever saw was:
Spiderman (referencing the Green Goblin; she's almost 4 yrs. old). My niece who's 8 can't think of any scary movies. Guess my sister had better sense than our father regarding scary movies and kids, too.

[MsCali]

I've seen Jaws so many times (according to Mr. C, it is the most perfect movie ever made, and his favorite, so I have sat through many a viewing), and there are still parts I can't watch. Mostly when they are on the boat, and I know the shark is about to appear out of nowhere.

I have never seen The Exorcist - I don't do scary movies, and I don't really think that one would scare me. I grew up in a church where demon possesion and exorcism was often discussed (and even practiced a couple times...the exorcism part, not the possession part...though, I guess whoever they were trying to exorcise the demons from would have had to been possessed, right?).

Anyway...a lot of it was overblown by the type of church I grew up in, but it's just never been scary to me.

However, it is the one horror movie Mr. C refuses to ever watch again. I won't watch it by myself, because even though I don't think it will scare me, I often scare myself in those types of movies. So I doubt I will ever see it.

I have not seen any of the others, except of course, the Hitchcock ones. I don't really do horror movies (see above reference to scaring myself during them) these days, but I love some of the classics (that I should have included on my original list!)

Anything by Hitchcock (Birds freak me out too, but The Birds didn't really have anything to do with that. That has more to do with the fact that birds are disgusting rats with wings. Rats that can peck you!).

Village of the d**ned (the original, not the Christopher Reeve/Kirsti Alley remake...that was dumb)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Mr. C has already seen a test screening of the remake "Invasion", and he says it is excellent...and very relevant to the times we live in).

Gremlins. Hee.

When I was your niece's age (maybe a year older), the scariest movie I ever saw was Ghost Busters. That's right...Gremlins I was fine with. Ghostbusters kept me awake for days. My mom was so mad at my dad for letting me watch that!

Stupidest horror movie I've ever seen? Freddy v. Jason. I haven't seen any of the other Freddy or Jason movies (except parts of the one where Jason was frozen and sent to space or something...I really couldn't watch it), but that was just stupid. Very, very stupid. Comically so - like Ghost Rider.

[The Movie Mark]

Nowadays, my favorites seem to be the ones that disturb me or creep me out now that I'm an adult. And by "adult" please note that I mean that in legal terms. I'm making no emotional/maturation declarations there.

Anyway, movies like Signs, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the new one, w/ Jessica Biel and her tight jeans), The Ring, The Others , Seven - these are ones I'd be willing to watch just about any time at someone's suggestion, or if I were in the mood to be freaked out.

I try not to rely on my memory of some of the older horror movies that I saw as a kid. I do think Jaws would hold up well. I haven't seen it in a long time, but it disturbed me quite a bit as a youngster. That's what happens when you're 12, you're watching TV at 2:00 AM on a Friday, you have the only bedroom downstairs, and there are woods behind the house - CREEPO!

But take the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example. That movie, even in its edited-for-network-TV form, gave me nightmares as a kid. I tried to watch it again a couple of years ago when the remake came out, and I found myself getting quite bored with it.

That's right, purists - I prefer the remake! Yes, Ms. Biel's presence plays a part in that, but the remake is much more tense and disturbing.

I remember Pirahna was another one of those 2:00 AM freak-outs, but I don't know how well it'd hold up today. Hmm, I just got an idea for a new thread...

[tangentgirl]

I prefer the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, too.

I remember Piranha, as well. Not all of it, but bits and pieces of it... I'm not sure it would hold up today. Do you remember The Swarm I think that's what it was called. Same type of genre, about killer bees.

Like the original Halloween might still scare me; as a kid, I liked the movie Prom Night (also w/ Jamie Lee Curtis). I saw it later in life and it was a farce. It did Not hold up well.

As cheesy as they are... I still like Happy Birthday to Me and April Fool's Day though.

[tangentgirl]

Oh... I just thought of a movie that is NOT a horror movie, but as far as "ghost story" movies go.... I have always liked The Lady in White w/ a young Lukas Haas.

Not a scary movie by today's standards, but it definitely was a classic movie in my childhood that my cousins and friends would watch fairly often. I still think it has enough suspenseful moments that give you that tense edge of your seat feeling every now and again in the movie. It was good because my little brothers and sisters could watch it, too.

[Huey N]

Dawn, Shaun and anything else that ends in "of the dead".

I am just a sucker for zombies, but I am not much for the new new stuff as in the past 3 or four years.

Hostel
Hostel 1
Saw 1
Saw 2
Saw 3

Do all these gruesome movies, that are generaly regarded as haveing bad plots and even if they don't the sequels are usualy horrible, point to a growingly violent america?

Not to be a soccer mom but these are 5 movies just about torture in the last 2 or 3 years I see a trend here.

[nikkibluejeans]

Oooh... Good thread.

The Amityville Horror (original - starring a dashing and creepy James Brolin, whose looks strangely resemble a scruffy Christian Bale...)
The Birds
Creepshow(s)
Cujo
Deep Blue Sea (Horror? Well, it scared me plenty.)
Frailty
Friday, the 13th
Jaws
Joy Ride
Misery
Night of the Living Dead (slow-moving undead mutants freak me out... call me crazy)
Nightmares (SOO scary as a kid! Remember that one???)
The Others
Pet Sematary
Planet Terror
Psycho
Scream (1 & 2)
Se7en
The Shining
Silence of the Lambs
Sleepaway Camp

I don't think I could handle The Exorcist. The memory of catching that clip of Linda Blair scooting up the stairs upside down and backwards gives me the chills even now...

[nikkibluejeans]

Oh, and I wouldn't call it a favorite, but A Nightmare on Elm Street really did the trick...

[wendymypooh]

Jaws
Pet Cemetary
Firestarter
Friday the Thirteenth
Halloween

[odb78]

I love all the horror classics

Nightmare of Elm Street
Firday the 13th


More recently I fell in love with this movie called the Tattooist. Its one of those CURSED "Something" movie. Where the cursed item causes the death of many people. This time it involves an ancient Samoan tattoo tool that everyone who gets Tattooed with causes DEATH. Really well done and put together.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjcL3PVTJ_w

[odb78]

Have you seen Brutal Massacre. It has actors from like every scary movie in it. I saw people from American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead, Texas CM, etc etc. I'm not sure who directed this film, but it is about a washed up horror director. THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMMM,,,,,,

www.movieweb.com/dvd/news/01/30101.php