I needs horror!

[Daniel Proctor]

Good call. On a completely different wavelength, if you want a fun little horror/comedy movie, check out Fright Night. An oft overlooked gem.

- Wheggi

That's awesome, I thought I was the only one who liked that movie.

If you are into having a vampire night, also watch The Lost Boys. It is one of my favorite 80s movies. Come on...Kieffer Sutherland + spectacular mullets + vampires = AWESOME!!

[Wheggi]

Good call. On a completely different wavelength, if you want a fun little horror/comedy movie, check out Fright Night. An oft overlooked gem.

- Wheggi

That's awesome, I thought I was the only one who liked that movie.

It is awesome! Roddy McDowell is a great cast as the burned-out tv host, and Chris Serandon is perfect as Jerry Dandridge: one of my top 5 vampires of all time. And then of course there is 'Evil' Ed, who steals every scene he's in. As a fan of the various late night B horror shows, this movie always brings a smile to my face.

If you are into having a vampire night, also watch The Lost Boys. It is one of my favorite 80s movies. Come on...Kieffer Sutherland + spectacular mullets + vampires = AWESOME!!

Yep, another of my favorites as well. I was a senior in high school when this came out, so I guess I'm biased to the big hair and the clothes that make them all look like the 80's version of the band Heart.

Since we're talking Kiefer Sutherland, I might as well add a couple more movies to the list: Flatliners is an interesting examination of self-inflicted near-death experiences, and the 70's version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was also pretty good (for a remake), mainly due to the strength of Donald Sutherland.

- Wheggi

[T. Foster]

Looking at my DVD collection, a few more titles for the list:

The Evil Dead (d. Sam Raimi, starrting Bruce Campbell) -- sort of a zombie movie, but not really; Evil Dead 2 is essentially a remake with bigger budget and more overt humor (to the point of being more comedy than horror), Army of Darkness is a sequel to Evil Dead 2 and isn't a horror movie at all, but rather a fantasy Harryhausen-patiche

Eyes Without a Face (d. Georges Franju, starring a bunch of French people) -- no supernatural element, and made way before 1970 (1959), but so unnervingly creepy and masterfully made that you should watch it anyway

Lifeforce (d. Tobe Hooper, starring Steve Railsback and Mathilda May) -- quasi-horror film (its also got sf elements and goes completely off-the-rails crazy in the final third) that's one of my favorite cheesy b-movies of the 80s

Rosemary's Baby (d. Roman Polanski, starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes) -- made before 1970 (1968) but well worth watching anyway; Polanski's The Tenant is also well worth watching

Suspiria (d. Dario Argento, starring the colors red and blue) -- extremely gory (like all of Argento's movies) but so brilliantly made in terms of color cinematography and mise-en-scene that it's worth it

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (d. David Lynch, starring Sheryl Lee) -- not strictly a genre-horror film (it isn't shelved in the horror section in stores) but nonetheless one of the more horrifying movies ever made, especially after you've seen it a few times and understand what's going on (which you won't the first time through, so don't even try -- enjoy it on a visceral level and then go back and pick up the actual plot on subsequent viewings)

The early works of David Cronenberg: Shivers, Rabid, The Brood -- not really "supernatural," more paranormal, but all three very disturbing (and violent); his later movies (Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly) are also good, but veer further and further from the horror genre (which he eventually abandoned entirely)

Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula (d. Paul Morrissey, starring Joe Dallesandro and Udo Kier) - aka "Andy Warhol's" Frankenstein and Dracula, both of these movies are completely campy and perverse, full of lurid gore (moreso in the first) and gratuitous nudity (moreso in the second); neither one is actually scary in the least, but they're both a lot of fun

[JamesEightBitStar]

I'm not really looking for comedies or "cool but not really scary" films. I'm looking for movies that'll make me wonder or think, and might actually perturb me a little.

[Algolei]

I'm not really looking for comedies or "cool but not really scary" films. I'm looking for movies that'll make me wonder or think, and might actually perturb me a little.

Signs did that for me, even though it's a Mel Gibson movie. Could have certainly been made better.

[Wheggi]

I'm not really looking for comedies or "cool but not really scary" films. I'm looking for movies that'll make me wonder or think, and might actually perturb me a little.

Then you have quite a large selection to choose from here.

- Wheggi

[Daniel Proctor]

Flatliners is an interesting examination of self-inflicted near-death experiences...

Yeah, this one still gives me the creeps when I watch it.

Did anyone mention Silver Bullet? It's kind of funky also, and one of the better werewolf movies IMO.

[JCBoney]

If you are into having a vampire night, also watch The Lost Boys. It is one of my favorite 80s movies. Come on...Kieffer Sutherland + spectacular mullets + vampires = AWESOME!!

Lost Boys put a new spin on vampire movies that I really enjoyed, and it was a precursor for RPGs like WWs Vampire. Vampire movies were really running dry by the 80s... the last couple had actually been comedies... but LB came at the creature from a new perspective. One of my all time favorites.

Foster: the truly creepy element of Twin Peaks and the theater movie Fire Walk With Me was that human beings are the worst monsters of all.

[Daniel Proctor]

Lost Boys put a new spin on vampire movies that I really enjoyed, and it was a precursor for RPGs like WWs Vampire. Vampire movies were really running dry by the 80s... the last couple had actually been comedies... but LB came at the creature from a new perspective. One of my all time favorites.

Not to derail the thread, but I really like that in The Lost Boys the vamps are not romantic figures in the same sense that they are with Anne Rice. They are only romantic in that they get to live forever and have fun, in their own dark way. I want my vampires to be evil creatures, and no I don't want them to be involved in international vampire organizations, with high-tech James Bond gear. I want them to be monsters, dammit, not angst-filled sissys with a blood disorder.

[moumine le troll]

JamesEightBitStar wrote:

[quote]"[i]I'm not really looking for comedies or "cool but not really scary" films. I'm looking for movies that'll make me wonder or think, and might actually perturb me a little.[/i]"
[/quote]


So, you can try "psychological horror" : G. Romero's "MARTIN" (a modern [i]vampire story [/i] in 70's New Orleans) or D. Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS (not really scary horror but quite enough strange to disturb you a little); you can also take a look to D. Lynch's LOST HIGHWAY (author himself claimed it was a horror movie of the 21st century)...
or Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT (not very brainiac but absolutly horrific if you're afraid of dark or subject to claustrophia);

MLT [/quote]

[JamesEightBitStar]

Looking at my DVD collection, a few more titles for the list:

The Evil Dead

Seen it and its sequels.

Eyes Without a Face

I'll look into it.

Lifeforce (d. Tobe Hooper, starring Steve Railsback and Mathilda May) -- quasi-horror film (its also got sf elements and goes completely off-the-rails crazy in the final third) that's one of my favorite cheesy b-movies of the 80s

This will be the first thing I look for next time I'm at the rental.

Suspiria (d. Dario Argento, starring the colors red and blue) -- extremely gory (like all of Argento's movies) but so brilliantly made in terms of color cinematography and mise-en-scene that it's worth it

I think I've seen something from this guy before. Didn't he also do a movie called... oh what was it... "The Beyond" or something like that?

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (d. David Lynch, starring Sheryl Lee) -- not strictly a genre-horror film (it isn't shelved in the horror section in stores) but nonetheless one of the more horrifying movies ever made, especially after you've seen it a few times and understand what's going on (which you won't the first time through, so don't even try -- enjoy it on a visceral level and then go back and pick up the actual plot on subsequent viewings)

Do I have to see the TV Series before I'll understand the movie?

The early works of David Cronenberg: Shivers, Rabid, The Brood -- not really "supernatural," more paranormal,

Uhhh... I wasn't aware there was a difference between Supernatural and Paranormal.

Still looking for recommendations--it'll be a few days before my next trip to the rental and the only films my friends have are series slasher films (Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc.) One more requirement: Hold off on Vampire/Frankenstein's Monster films.

I'm particularly interested in things that involve:
Ghosts, Poltergeists, and other non-corpereal beings
Aliens, particularly grays or anything that isn't cartoony

Will also accept:
Biohazards/experiments gone astray/strange creatures created by man meddling with things he had no business meddling in, as long as they're not too mundane (no HAL 9000s)

[Wheggi]

Well then I'd suggest:

Event Horizon
The Prophecy (the 1979 movie)
The Sixth Sense
The Puppet Masters
The Entity


And what is a grey?

- Wheggi

[Dwayanu]

"Don't Look Now" is definitely a ghost-story classic. If you're not up to really getting engaged in the creepy atmosphere and wondering (rather than being told) what's going on, then it might fall flat.

"Rosemary's Baby" is due similar caveats.

"The Rapture" is as horrific as its inspirational text: the Book of Revelation. God is the ultimate in terrifying monsters.

"Suspiria" is at once very gruesome and quite beautiful in its sets, lighting and so on. The action is well-staged, the plot suspenseful enough considering the other merits.

"Chronos" has a helping of humor, but not forced in the ways typical of broad comedy. It tells of one man's dealing with a kind of undeath.

"Mimic" is a splendid monster movie. "The Relic" is another that stands out from the pack.

"The Mouth of Madness" is a good take on an oft-used (especially by Steven King) conceit.

"Wes Craven's Final Nightmare" is notably intelligent (not merely in comparison with others in the Elm Street series).

"Cat People" (the remake) is excellent -- and so is the original!

"The Hunger" may interest, if you're not tired of vampires.

The two "Dr. Phibes" movies go back before your time-limit, and may be too much focused on blood-letting (and the "camp" common in their era) ... but the Doctor's villainous career is a masterpiece of its kind.

[Wheggi]

Wes Craven's New Nightmare is much, much better than most would expect, and not nearly as bloody either. The trick to this movie is to be familiar with the Freddy movies that came before it, understand that they sucked, and then accept that those movies failings are an essential element in making this one work. Sounds strange, I know, but once you see it you'll get it.

Exorcist III: Legion is another one that is better than expectations would lead you to believe.

- Wheggi

[T. Foster]

[

Suspiria

I think I've seen something from this guy before. Didn't he also do a movie called... oh what was it... "The Beyond" or something like that?

The Beyond was directed by Lucio Fulci, who was also Italian, worked in the 70s, and was heavily into gore, but with about 1/10 (or less) of the talent and cinematic eye of Argento -- sort of like the difference between John Carpenter and the hacks who made all the Friday the 13th and Prom Night movies.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Do I have to see the TV Series before I'll understand the movie?

Tough question. On the one hand the movie assumes you've seen the TV series so it doesn't really introduce any of the characters -- it assumes you already know who they all are -- but on the other hand the plot of the movie is pretty much independent of the tv series and stands very well on its own (which is one of the reasons the movie was so panned on its original release -- fans of the tv series wanted "more of the same" and were given something completely different, with most of the tv series cast reduced to virtual cameos and the "quirky humor" drained away completely; so in that regard you might appreciate the movie more if you haven't seen the tv series and aren't coming into it with that set of preconceptions).

The early works of David Cronenberg: Shivers, Rabid, The Brood

Uhhh... I wasn't aware there was a difference between Supernatural and Paranormal.

What I meant was, the "weird" element in Cronenberg movies tends to have its basis in science (albeit fantastical or pseudoscience) rather than the supernatural. No ghosts or magic, rather heretofore undiscovered mutations, psychic phenomena, extraterrestrial aliens, etc. Cronenberg's movies up through Dead Ringers (with the noteworthy exception of Fast Company - a b-movie about hot-rod racing!) all fit very much within your category of "Biohazards/experiments gone astray/strange creatures created by man meddling with things he had no business meddling in."

I'm particularly interested in things that involve:
Ghosts, Poltergeists, and other non-corpereal beings

I assume you've already seen Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist? If not, that's a definite.

Also, if you're willing to stretch back into the 60s for a black & white movie, the original (d. Robert Wise) version of The Haunting is very good. There was a remake in the late 90s starring Catherine Zeta Jones that was total crap and should be avoided at all costs, but the original is ace.