Do you guys know a good horror movie?

[hybridial]

8 hours ago, Snark said:

The cabin in the woods is a VERY clever take

 

Parts of it are neat but I would say this would be way overly generous to the whole, it got gratingly meta and "clever" without being in anyway clever for me. Definitely not "intellectually" satisfying. 

[ducon]

15 hours ago, P41R47 said:

Midsommar by the same director is also good, not as good as Hereditary, but it shines for moments.

 

Yes, Midsommar.

There is no darkness, no cliché, no monster, no supernatural.

[UndeadRyker]

All VERY nice suggestions! Gonna stalk this thread for myself too.

+1 for The Thing (1982)

+1 for Halloween (1978)

+1 for The Evil Dead (both the 1981 classic and 2013 remake)

+1 for Night of the Living Dead (1968)

+1 for The Exorcist (1973)

+1 for The Shining (1980)

+1 for Halloween (2018) (although it is more slasher than horror, but one of the better recent horror movies out there)

+1 for The Lighthouse (2019) (it could be more of a shock movie rather than horror movie if its themes go over your head, similar to what I've heard about Midsommar, which is a movie I have yet to watch)

+1 for Hellraiser (1987)

 

As for things I haven't seen recommended yet in this thread, feel free to look at Pumpkinhead (1988), Silver Bullet (1985) and Scream (1996), the latter two can be irritating for similar reasons like what I mentioned about Cabin in the Woods below (specifically Scream), but it's wayy less forward about it. The latter two also both have small, but noticeable amounts of comedy unlike others I've +1'd. You should only check out Pumpkinhead as I suggested if comedy is to be shunned in your list.

 

If I had to recommend against a few things in here (for the sake of OP looking for scares), it'd probably be:

17 hours ago, Endless said:

Evil Dead 2 (It's safe to skip the first one IMO)

I think Evil Dead 2 is great. Also because of the way the film was produced, it gives a recap of what briefly happened in the first part. However, the mood has significantly changed to include a lot of action and comedy. Contrarily, Evil Dead 1 is mostly just pure horror. I would hate to see someone not watch the one that started it all.

 

12 hours ago, Snark said:

The cabin in the woods

HIGHLY recommend if you love horror movies but I don't really consider it horror, but rather a love-letter to horror itself as a genre. It does get, as someone else put it:

4 hours ago, hybridial said:

gratingly meta

 

 

12 hours ago, june gloom said:

Halloween Kills

Haven't watched Halloween 4 or 6 so I can't comment on those, but Halloween Kills was probably the only outright negative experience I had with any recent movie mentioned here unfortunately. It's a pure slasher. It was pretty heartbreaking to watch it disregard what happened in 2018, and the people in that movie were REALLY stupid, and it's full of plot holes and broken logic. Although if people like slashers, I won't stop them from enjoying it. :)

Keep the suggestions coming everyone!

Edited October 18, 2021 by UndeadRyker : cleaned up the list

[hybridial]

I mentioned it in another thread but I watched Lucio Fulci's The Psychic, AKA Sette Note in Nero or Seven Notes in Black recently, and I thought it was excellent, I thought it was very focused and effective, and clever. It relates the story of a premonition paradox. It's very creepy.

 

 

And last night I watched Brian Yuzna's Society

 

 

I enjoyed it, impressively gross stuff at the end.

 

And two impressive John Carpenter movies not mentioned so far are the other two in the Apocalypse trilogy, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. I love both of them and think they're highly underrated. 

 

@commanderkeen mentioned Exorcist 3, I will call it definitely flawed but fantastic anyway. I am kinda dreading the upcoming Exorcist movies by David Gordon Green because, William Peter Blatty is not a writer anyone can easily follow and those stories had more to them than standard horror fare. Those were his stories through and through. 

 

[P41R47]

3 hours ago, ducon said:

 

Yes, Midsommar.

There is no darkness, no cliché, no monster, no supernatural.

maybe its because i'm not an english native speaker, but was that a compliment or a criticism?

For me, Midsommar could been better. Its good already, but the acting for some reason didn't convinced me enough :/

Most of the movies that i listed are on the verge of being something else and almost not having anything of the usual on the horror tropes.
I used to like ''Hellraiser'', ''The Thing'', ''Event Horizon'' and most of the highly regarde horror films.
But after seeing the gore, the blood, over and over, a desensibility grew up on me to the point of not even registering it.
Thats why i prefer the subtle approach.
When blood or gore arise, it is actually shocking to see it.
For example, i watched ''The Void'' again a few months back because my ex didn't watched it the first time.
And seriously, it was boring and clicheé to the extreme.

One nobody mentioned that is actually good is ''Get Out''.
Thrilling as hell for sure.
I would risk to say that it was an answer to the film ''The Skelton Key''.
''Us'', by the same director of ''Get Out'' was cool, too. Not as good or thrilling as the previous film, but good non less.

 

Now, what do you prefer, guys?
The new IT or the old IT?

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, UndeadRyker said:

Haven't watched Halloween 4 or 6 so I can't comment on those, but Halloween Kills was probably the only outright negative experience I had with any recent movie mentioned here unfortunately. It's a pure slasher. It was pretty heartbreaking to watch it disregard what happened in 2018, and the people in that movie were REALLY stupid, and it's full of plot holes and broken logic.

Spoiler

Is it true that the climax involves Michael Myers single-handedly wiping out an entire mob?

 

[Grungore]

The Night of living dead from '68 is pretty good

[UndeadRyker]

23 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

  Hide contents

Is it true that the climax involves Michael Myers single-handedly wiping out an entire mob?

 

Spoiler

Yep. That was specifically one of the major grievances I had with it.

[Spoiler above]

Edit: @P41R47

24 minutes ago, P41R47 said:

I used to like ''Hellraiser'', ''The Thing'', ''Event Horizon'' and most of the highly regarde horror films.
But after seeing the gore, the blood, over and over, a desensibility grew up on me to the point of not even registering it.

Can't say anything about Event Horizon, but as someone who considers The Thing to be the greatest movie of all time and has rewatched it plenty of times to the point of desensitization, the gore isn't really what you should be looking for in a good horror movie. It's the ideas and themes it covers.

 

IMO the reason why The Thing is so terrifying has little to do with the gore. Good movies make you ask and fear answers to a lot of questions and give you more legitimate reasons to fear other concepts.

 

Specifically, [spoilers]

Spoiler

the implication that there is a virus out there that assimilates everyone and it makes me ask so many questions. Are people conscious when they're infected, or are they even aware? Are they conscious only when the virus allows them to be? What REALLY happened at the end? What happened to the aliens that got assimilated first? These people were completely isolated... And by God, it's terrifying to think that there is a virus capable of wiping out humanity as we know it.

 

ALSO, something I really liked about The Thing was that it lined up with the whole AIDS scare in 80's America, which was something transmitted through blood contact. That brilliance is lost in modern times as the film aged out of that era.

 

And that's VERY little of the iceberg regarding theories around The Thing.

I do hope you give it a rewatch someday with those questions applied. :)

Edited October 18, 2021 by UndeadRyker : Wanted to give my two cents on P41R47's thoughts

[P41R47]

19 minutes ago, UndeadRyker said:

Can't say anything about Event Horizon, but as someone who considers The Thing to be the greatest movie of all time and has rewatched it plenty of times to the point of desensitization, the gore isn't really what you should be looking for in a good horror movie. It's the ideas and themes it covers.

 

IMO the reason why The Thing is so terrifying has little to do with the gore. Good movies make you ask and fear answers to a lot of questions and give you more legitimate reasons to fear other concepts. 

 

Specifically,

  Reveal hidden contents

the implication that there is a virus out there that assimilates everyone and it makes me ask so many questions. Are people conscious when they're infected, or are they even aware? Are they conscious only when the virus allows them to be? What REALLY happened at the end? What happened to the aliens that got assimilated first? These people were completely isolated... And by God, it's terrifying to think that there is a virus capable of wiping out humanity as we know it.

 

ALSO, something I really liked about The Thing was that it lined up with the whole AIDS scare in 80's America, which was something transmitted through blood contact. That brilliance is lost in modern times as the film aged out of that era.

 

And that's VERY little of the iceberg regarding theories around The Thing.

I do hope you give it a rewatch someday with those questions applied. :)

oh, no, don't take me wrong.
I studied it long ago.
I have seen it more times than i can remember because i really liked the concept of it.
I even read the book it was based on to have different points of view about it.
Its just that i grow bored of that premise accompanied of blood and gore.
I grow bored of horror with blood and gore.
I crave for horror all the time, actually, but in other sense than vicesal and direct.

Thats all.
 

Now that you brought it, If you want a movie with a similar premise to ''The Thing'' but no gore or blood, search for ''It Follows''.
A neat concept along the actual fears of nowdays.

[Rudolph]

28 minutes ago, UndeadRyker said:

  Hide contents

Yep. That was specifically one of the major grievances I had with it.

 

I wish they had gone with their initial Halloween-themed anthology plan instead. I have not seen Halloween III and I hear it is flawed, but at least, they tried to do something else than just keep remaking the same movie over and over again.

[ducon]

38 minutes ago, P41R47 said:

maybe its because i'm not an english native speaker,

 

So do I.

 

38 minutes ago, P41R47 said:

but was that a compliment or a criticism?

 

A compliment. The film is refreshing because there is no cthonian monster, no alien, no spirit and no darkness.

 

Else: Fog (1980), Alien, but not It.

[Morpheus666]

Hereditary, Scariest film I've seen in recent years, It really gets under your skin and stays with you after the credits roll.

 

A second runner up would for me be The Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that film is also really creepy and scary, Not so much from jumpscares or the gore, but solely because of the frightening idea that at some point in history the events of the film COULD have happened IRL.

[magicsofa]

+1 for Hellraiser, it's got some campy bits but still holds up quite well. I like it because it has multiple antagonists and does a pretty good job with its hellish themes overall. It isn't just a straight-forward "something of pure evil" kind of story, it has a good mix of suspense, surrealism, and people getting iced, and it also includes one of the most iconic non-CGI body horror scenes ever made (I'm pretty sure it was a combination of stop-motion and reversing and speeding up film, if you appreciate technical tricks in filming then you'll like this part)

Lots of other great suggestion here too, but I have to pump my personal favorite and somewhat lesser-known horror movie, Session 9. Very suspenseful/psychological, keeps you guessing until the end (and even after), superb use of digital film on bright sunny days, great character dynamics, filmed in a real abandoned mental institution (I happen to live about half an hour away from the location), quite disturbing without trying too hard or relying on gory nonsense. The underlying plot is really dark and, despite hinting at something supernatural, is also pretty serious and realistic, dealing with themes like mental patient abuse. So I wouldn't go for it if people are wanting to watch something spooky but comfortable. However, it's just a really well done film that plays with your expectations in just the right way.

[Kyka]

Marvel's Black Widow is probably the best horror film I have seen recently. And by that I mean it was horrifying.

 

 

On the actual topic, The Ring scared me in a way that I still remember years later.

[Jacek Bourne]

Alien

[Morpheus666]

1 hour ago, magicsofa said:

+1 for Hellraiser

Just Hellraiser and maybe Hellraiser 5 lol, don't even bother with the rest

[Dexiaz]

Since everyone already mentioned all platinum classics, I'd mention an unusual:

 

[magicsofa]

2 hours ago, Morpheus666 said:

Just Hellraiser and maybe Hellraiser 5 lol, don't even bother with the rest

Yeah... honestly I didn't mind the second one, it's a different vibe though with more focus on just trippy hell adventures. I had to stop 20 minutes into the third movie because Pinhead in the city was just not doing it for me. Is 5 actually decent???

[P41R47]

3 hours ago, Morpheus666 said:

Just Hellraiser and maybe Hellraiser 5 lol, don't even bother with the rest

 

1 hour ago, magicsofa said:

Yeah... honestly I didn't mind the second one, it's a different vibe though with more focus on just trippy hell adventures. I had to stop 20 minutes into the third movie because Pinhead in the city was just not doing it for me. Is 5 actually decent???

oh, i actually kinda liked the second one.

The dimension where the Order of the Gash took their experiments was interesting.
And the eldritch abomination floating in the distance made for an interesting look for sure.
 

The third one... it just follow the premise and somewhat on the same tone as the previous films.

i did not watch further sequels.

But i do hear that some of the most recents are quite good (read: passable at least).

Its interesting to note that Clive Barker, literally, throw away all the mythology created by the films with ''The Scarlet Gospel'' the proper sequel to the original short novel, Hellbound Heart.

Barker mocked all during years about him writing a sequel, and even showed a few previews of it, with a really cool disscussion of Jesus of Nazareth and The Hell Priest in... well, in Hell.
And after all those years, people lapidated him because there was no disscussion in hell and the plot was really just simple, conservative and almost too christian, for the sake of someone that was called ''the future of horror''.
It is blasphemy to call Pinhead Pinhead, even.
He is just The Hell Priest...

[Morpheus666]

1 hour ago, magicsofa said:

Yeah... honestly I didn't mind the second one, it's a different vibe though with more focus on just trippy hell adventures. I had to stop 20 minutes into the third movie because Pinhead in the city was just not doing it for me. Is 5 actually decent???

5 is underrated imo, it's very different to the others, but in a good way.. It's not so much about Pinhead and the box but more the psychological damage that opening and seeing the horrors that the characters have seen. it's really good if you enjoy David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick's films.

[Robot J]

The Original Godzilla from 1954 (I think it's horror atleast)

[BigBoy91]

Just watched Game of Death on Shudder. The fiancée and I really like absurd concepts and over the top violence. It's only 73 minutes. Check it out! Tons of gore and surprisingly good acting for such a low budget movie. There's a super cool segment that feels like an 8-bit acid trip with some great tunes.

[Captain Keen]

15 hours ago, hybridial said:

I mentioned it in another thread but I watched Lucio Fulci's The Psychic, AKA Sette Note in Nero or Seven Notes in Black recently, and I thought it was excellent, I thought it was very focused and effective, and clever. It relates the story of a premonition paradox. It's very creepy.

 

Seven Notes in Black is an EXCELLENT horror film. I second this. Except for the opening scene, it's not at all a gore type of film. Very psychological horror, with a touch of Agatha Christie. Definitely a legit (at least minor) classic, with a brilliant ending, and an iconic score (which was later used in Kill Bill Volume 1; QT even wanted to remake the film at one point).

 

7 hours ago, Robot J said:

The Original Godzilla from 1954 (I think it's horror atleast) 

 

You know, the original Japanese Gojira is one of my favorite films, and I never really thought of it as horror. But you're right. It absolutely counts.

 

EDIT: I also like Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness, both upper tier Carpenter imo.

[vanilla_d00m]

The Ring (2002) 

 

I didn’t see the original ring movie which is from japan so I can’t say if it’s good or not.  (Ringu 1998)

[Zilch]

The Machinist (2004).

 

Watch this at night.  An excellent film!

[Zanieon]

Here's some underrated ones:

 

House on Haunted Hill (1999) ^{supernatural horror}

Signs (2002) ^{probably the most known one of the list}

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) ^{supernatural/psychological horror}

The Reaping (2007) ^{supernatural horror}

Pandorum (2009) ^{spacefaring horror}

Grave Encounters (2011) ^{supernatural horror}

Lights Out (2013) ^{supernatural horror}
As Above So Below (2014) ^{supernatural/claustrophobic horror}

The Ritual (2017)  ^{monster horror}

Annihilation (2018) ^{cosmic horror}

Color Out of Space (2019) ^{cosmic horror}
Underwater (2020) ^{thalassophobia horror}