Good horror movies

[DooM_RO]

So I want to shit my pants in fear because I'm bored. Problem is I'm not a horror movie buff because they don't often have an effect on me because I know that what I'm seeing is not real. I've seen some pretty fucked up shit in my life but I want to see the weirdest, most depraved and shit-my-pants worthy horror you can think of. The movies can be anything from mainstream to obscure but I prefer obscure. I also want to watch horror movies that are more about atmosphere than straight up scaring me.

So, got any good titles?

[Patrol1985]

"The Orphanage" is the movie that scared me the most out of those I have seen in my life.

[Deleted_Account]

Off the top of my head;

The Shining
The Exorcist
The Thing
The Fog
Halloween
Jacob's Ladder
The Changeling

[Patrol1985]

I second "The Thing" (the one by John Carpenter of course, from 1982)

[Snakes]

I was pretty impressed with The Babadook, surprisingly. It's pretty divisive, though.

[Looper]

Piper Maru said:

The Shining

I don't know how many have seen the 1997 version of The Shining but IMO it is a lot more creepy/scary than the 1980 version. Of course the acting isn't as good but it's still worth to watch it once.

[geo]

The Thing is always a classic. Stuck in the snow, no way out and one of you is a metamorphic monster. Its so good the X-Files even did their own version.

Lovely Molly is like the Donnie Darko of horror films, you won't know what's going on and it gets insane. Curling up with a dear carcass insane.

Oculus is more of a mind fuck with a laughable plot. Two grown orphans take on a mirror that killed their parents, but the mirror is in everyone's mind and will kill you. Its a lot better than it sounds.

There's some other indie horror movie I can't remember the name of about a film crew in an asylum and it all goes bat shit. I watched it at a party and we originally watched it to laugh at it, but it ended up being really captivating and creepy when sanity goes off the rails. We watched it due to its melty face trailer.

The Conjuring comes to mind, but chances are you've seen it.

I've got others in mind, I just can't remember their names. The tough thing is I watch so many straight to DVD releases they all kind of blur together. Some are scary or supernatural.... but not horrific.

Oh yeah there was one movie that I watched while I had the flu with a really high fever and I went insane watching it. Like I believed it. Its not one of my brighter moments, but I ran out of the house wearing a comforter I was so terrified because of the movie. I wish I was kidding. Watching it now I'd probably laugh at it. I just can't remember what it was.

[Kontra Kommando]

The Shining and the Exorcist used to terrify me when I was younger. Hellrasier was very good, as well.

EDIT: This was a hilarious re-cut.

[Kontra Kommando]

Snakes said:

I was pretty impressed with The Babadook, surprisingly. It's pretty divisive, though.

I have to say, that trailer did look promising. I will probably check it out.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

The Descent was pretty good, I thought.

[Caffeine Freak]

Piper Maru said:

Off the top of my head;

The Shining
The Exorcist

I second this. Also, 'Alien' and 'Seven'. All classics.

[SFoZ911]

The Ring(2002) and Ringu(japanese version) are both great horror films imo.

[Ribbiks]

past a certain age it seems impossible for me to say I find any movie genuinely scary, best I can usually hope for is mildly unnerved/disturbed. Brooding atmosphere is usually key, failing that it seems plenty of films abuse the shit out of predictable jump-scares. yawn.

anyhow, some recommendations:

- The Babadook and It Follows were recent releases that I thought were decent
- Ringu and Ju-on aren't half bad
- More japanese goodness: Check out Takashi Miike films (Ichi the Killer, Audition, Visitor Q are among my favorites)
- Even more japanese goodness: Guinea Pig (6-part series)
- if you want gore-a-palooza check out french extreme horror (i.e. High Tension, Frontieres, Inside, Martyrs)
- oldschool Italian horror is pretty boss (check out popular films by Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci)
- The Devil's Backbone is a great film, solid atmosphere
- Funny Games is probably my favorite movie. watch the 1997 version. the english remake is good, but notably worse than the original
- Salo if you're into rape and coprophagia. not a particularly good film


the movies that frequently appear on "most disturbing/violent/whatever" lists (e.g. Hostel, Cannibal Holocaust, Human Centipede, Antichrist, A Serbian Film) are usually trite shit. But if you want to be super-edgy maybe watch a few of those.

[Jaxxoon R]

Haunter is a haunted house movie from the perspective of the ghosts. It's rather surreal I guess. I dunno, I don't really watch movies anymore so there's little I can think of.

[Merry Widow]

Dracula Untold and Annabelle are good.If you want something silly,Bubba Hotep,Frankenstein's Army,Nazis At The Center of The Earth.Sawney,Flesh Of Man,The Elizabeth Bathory movies.The Grudge 1 and 2.

[Kirby]

geo said:

There's some other indie horror movie I can't remember the name of about a film crew in an asylum and it all goes bat shit. I watched it at a party and we originally watched it to laugh at it, but it ended up being really captivating and creepy when sanity goes off the rails. We watched it due to its melty face trailer.

That sounds like Grave Encounters if I am not mistaken.

Poltergeist is a great classic. Not so obscure, but a great horror film.

Drag me to Hell was interesting. Not the scariest I've seen but there are some strange/interesting encounters in that one if you want to check it out.

I'll akso toss my vote in for The Thing as well. A classic and I do admittedly fucking love it.

I haven't seen it yet but the Japanese film A Tale of Two Sisters (had a US version called The Uninvited) is supposed to be quite good as well.

We had one of these on Doomworld before, have to see if I can find the thread....


EDIT: This thread just reminded me that I saw Puppet Master 3 & 4 last night at a bar with no sounds. Makes for some very incomprehensible films, though I'm sure the beer didn't help

[Captain Red]

ETTiNGRiNDER said:

The Descent was pretty good, I thought.

Yes it is though:

Spoiler

The film is is far, far more terrifying when the characters just spelunking and getting stuck then when they are being hunted by humanoid bat monsters.

[pablogener]

I'll chip in with "Rec", dare to watch the original spanish movie, think "out-of-the-box" for once and be not-US and watch a movie that is not from your own country and bare with the subtitles. I promise you won't regret it.

[DoomUK]

DooM_RO said:

I also want to watch horror movies that are more about atmosphere than straight up scaring me.

Lake Mungo (2008)
Antichrist (2009)
Session 9 (2001)
Under the Skin (2013)
Honeymoon (2014)
A Field in England (2013)

Requiem for a Dream (2000) also qualifies as an atmospheric horror imo, though it's about a gang of heroin addicts and not a conventional horror movie subject.

And I'm probably going to get burned for mentioning it, but you should watch The Blair Witch Project (1999) if you've haven't already done so. It's a classic "weird shit is going on but I can't see what it is" sort of movie. Ignore the haters.

[MFG38]

Good horror movies stopped existing in the 90s.

[Waffenak]

Event horizon

[FireFish]

It is not easy anymore to call something horror. To me it all seems to be fading into a slaughterfest or just something with a depressing atmosphere... but these two remain nice ;

The fly, just because of the old school special effects and their abillity to make things realisticly gross. (see the trailer its nail removal part.)

Silent hill, it has a functional atmosphere and some damn creepy creatures.

[Maes]

These are not really horror movies (they are social dramas) but everyone I showed it to them (especially women) were disturbed/shocked/frightened, exactly because they were based, more or less, on real life tragedies, realistic situations, or on grotesque allegory.

• Bure Baruta (The Powder Keg)
  
• Lamerica
  
• Midnight Express
  
• Stories of ordinary madness (biographical about Charles Bukowski, easily the most tragic of movies about him)
  
• The 120 days of Sodom
  
• Bread and Chocolate
  
• Death Of A Salesman (there are plenty of versions, all good)
  

I guarantee that if you watch all of them, in the end you'll want to take refuge in a magical fairyland with enchanted happy unicorns taking ecstasy pills for the rest of your life, hugging your safety blanket.

[Krispy]

Event horizon and Bubba Hotep were mentioned earlier and I second them. Event Horizon is a very creepy horror-sci-fi movie that takes place on a spaceship and it has Lawrence Fishburne. Bubba Hotep is a hilarious mummy movie where a mummy appears at a retirement home and Elvis Presley (or at least an old guy who thinks he's Elvis) has to stop him with his buddy.

[david_a]

Ti West directed two pretty good ones; House of the Devil and The Innkeepers. House is a homage to the weird vibe of 80s horror while Innkeepers is a more straight-forward ghost tale. Both do a wonderful job of slowly raising the tension level before the actual horror parts start.

For a more realistic take with no supernatural stuff, there is Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's loosely based on Henry Lee Lucas. It's more disturbing than scary, but the fact that people very much like the characters actually existed is very unsettling. One of the few horror movies that Roger Ebert liked.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Captain Red said:

Yes it is though:

Spoiler

The film is is far, far more terrifying when the characters just spelunking and getting stuck then when they are being hunted by humanoid bat monsters.

Spoiler

It's been a long time, but I thought it was sufficiently vague that you could still interpret it as them hallucinating and killing each other if you preferred that. Maybe the book's more explicit.

[Pencil of Doom]

Evil Dead, The Shining, Japanese movies specially Takashi Miike movies and Blade II.

[Coraline]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Re-Animator or its sequels yet :/

[Maes]

The Blair Witch Project, if you can get past the hype.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Chu said:

Surprised nobody has mentioned Re-Animator or its sequels yet :/

My brother showed me two of these recently. They certainly weren't "I want to shit my pants in fear" scary, they were way too hokey for that. I'm not even sure I'd call them horror.