Favorite Horror Movies

[bendk]

What are some of your favorite horror movies? Ten of my favorites, in no particular order, are:

Alien
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Psycho (1960)
Curse of the Demon
The Wicker Man
Carnival of Souls
King Kong (1933)
Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Halloween

A few others I would add are:

Aguirre, The Wrath of God (This is horror in the existential mode similar to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Great Movie!)

Manhunter (Based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon. One of the creepiest villain's ever.)

The Descent (A recent movie. Very well done. Redefines the term "chick flick". Female extreme sports meets "The Children of the Kingdom".)


Here are a few links to jar your memory:

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_horror.html

http://www.imdb.com/chart/horror

http://www.totalfilm.com/movie_news/the_50_greatest_horror_movies_of_all_time

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/top-100-horror-movies

[G. S. Carnivals]

The Wolf Man (1941)
Frankenstein ( 1931)
The Mummy (1932)
Dracula (1931)
The Tingler
Alien
Fatal Attraction

I obviously lean toward the favorites of my childhood. The Universal monster films influenced my sense of horror in a way that I find unforgettable. 1959's The Tingler with Vincent Price scared me more than any other film I saw as a child. A bathtub full of blood will do that. Alien and Fatal Attraction both feature situations which I hope to avoid.

[trieffiewiles]

I couldn't list my faves really for certain but a few that spring quickly to mind are . . .
Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen)
Angel Heart
Suspiria (I only chose 'this' for the music, Argento's old stuff is good period)
The Devils (Ken Russel)
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Frankenstein (1931)
Island of Lost Souls (and too many other B&W classics to name)
A Company of Wolves
The Thing (John Carpenter's)
I don't know if the next few are considered horror quite but . . .
Apocalypse Now
The Ninth Gate
The Night Porter - Ah too many to think of . .

[bendk]

G.S., I'm also big fan of the Universal monster movies. I would add The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, and the updated Phantom of the Opera.

trieffiewiles, I forgot about Angel Heart. That is a favorite of mine, as well. I love the mix of genres. And if I can mention Aguirre and compare it to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, I don't see how Apocalypse can be denied since it is actually based on Conrad's novel! I agree, it is a classic.

[Masonwire]

That's not a complete list as some of my favourites have already been mentioned, but Philip Kaufman's version of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers scared the hell out of me when I was a kid (especially the ending when Donald Sutherland screams).
The end of Burnt Offerings (with Oliver Reed) had a similar effect. I remember one day when I was coming home from the pub and my father was watching the latter film and asked me to watch the rest with him as it was really sending shivers down his spine.

[enthusiast]

House of Usher (with Vincent Price)
The Body Snatcher (with Karloff and Lugosi)
The Raven (with Karloff and Lugosi, c. 1935)
The Masque of the Red Death (with Vincent Price)
Dracula (with Bela Lugosi)
Tales of Terror (with Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone)
Twice Told Tales (with Price, an adaptation of three Hawthorne stories)

[trieffiewiles]

I keep hearing about Aguirre and find what I hear favorable, so I need to get around and watch it already. I would also add 'The Pit and the Pendulum' to the list of Roger Corman's pictures; good music and some of the best use of abstract artistic effects in a motion picture, and by this I am referring to the opening and closing credits. I admit though, listening to Spanish nobility speaking like a bunch of hayseeds (don't get offended, I have the same accent) is a little distracting at times, especially the woman playing Price's sister. I've no complaints about Price's voice though, or anything about him for that matter.

[waffles]

Alien
The Thing (John Carpenter)
Psycho
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Mulholland Drive
The Devil's Rain
In the Mouth of Madness
Prince of Darkness
Vampires
They Live
Lifeforce

Too many to name

[G. S. Carnivals]

Apocalypse Now is my second most-watched film ever. I saw it at least four times (the first time on acid) in a movie theater before acquiring it on tape many years ago. My most-watched film over the years is Stanley Kubrick's brilliant Dr. Strangelove, my favorite of them all. Both films easily qualify as horror. It is impossible to top the ultimate horror of Dr. Strangelove.

Many thanks to others for reminding me of a number of films which I initially forgot to mention!

[barrywood]

Psycho 1960.
The Shining.
Halloween.