I needs horror!

[T. Foster]

And what is a grey?

These guys

[Dwayanu]

Thanks, Wheggi, for giving the Craven film's correct title!

"Ghost Ship" is chock-full of gore, but I found some real suspense and horror in it.

There was another recent nautical thriller, aboard a WW2 submarine, that I found more memorable than its title. Anyone else recall it?

"Dagon" is fairly good as Lovecraft adaptations go, which is admittedly faint praise. That reminds me of "Re-animator," which in turn recalls ...

"Dead Alive," another in the "bloody humor" vein but so spectacular I've got to mention it.

"Jacob's Ladder" is a psychological tale that may be plenty scary if you take on the protagonist's perspective.

[T. Foster]

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

Along that line, Paul Schrader's Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist also has some very good bits, if you can stand the slow pace and cheesy low-budget CGI f/x*. Not to be confused with Exorcist: The Beginning, which was a completely reshot version by a different director (uber-hack Renny Harlin) but the same cast and basic storyline after Schrader's version was deemed too cerebral (which shouldn't have come as much surprise if they'd actually bothered to read his resume -- book-length study on "Transcendental Style in Film" focusing on Bresson, Ozu, and Dreyer; screenplays for Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead, De Palma's Obsession and Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast; writer-director of Hardcore, American Gigolo, Cat People, Mishima, Patty Hearst, Light Sleeper, Affliction, Autofocus, etc. -- this guy is a true-blue auteur whose entire oeuvre is one long exploration of various aspects of spiritual angst, temptation, questioning, and transcendence; what else could they possibly have expected from him?!)

*after Exorcist: The Beginning bombed both critically and commercially, the studio in an unprecedented move decided to release the original/rejected version as well, but not spend any extra money on it, so the special effects are terrible and the entire movie has a sort of rough-cut unfinished feel to it

[Algolei]

The Prophecy (the 1979 movie)

Hey, is that the one with the mercury-polluted lake, and the forest ranger trying to figure out what's killing people, and the spiritual Indian who says the land is coming alive to take revenge? And a power station of some sort.

If so, that was one of my favourites as a teenager. The suspenseful way they avoided showing what was killing people, which usually bothers me, was more frightening to me than usual because of the surrounding outdoor scenery. (I used to camp in surroundings like that. )

However, it was considered a poor movie by most people. Too slow (I considered it "suspenseful"). And I heard it drove the director insane because it turned out so bad.

[Dwayanu]

I'd like to see Schrader's version. I remember reading of the reshoot and thinking of it as confirming the worst stereotypes about Hollywood.

Classics such as the original "Cat People," "White Zombie," "I Walked With a Zombie," and so on didn't rely on scenes calling for great special effects. Both that kind of thing and graphic violence can be distractions from real creepiness.

Carpenter's original two "Halloween" films stand out from others in the slasher/stalker genre with really effective use of the shock element. "Mute Witness" is another that comes to mind.

We're long past the point of diminishing returns in that line. "Torture porn" such as "Saw" and "Hostel" seems like desperate dipping into a well running dry.

Along with comedy, horror may be harder to do well than drama or action-adventure.

[JamesEightBitStar]

Yeah, just LOOKING at a Gray creeps me out. Until someone *cough*X-Files*cough* ties them in with a government conspiracy, which just ruins them IMO.

Anyway...

So far, movies recommended that I've already seen:
------
Alien
Carrie (the old one)
The Entity
the entire Evil Dead trilogy
the entire Nightmare on Elm Street series including New Nightmare
both versions of The Haunting
In the Mouth of Madness
Jacob's Ladder
The Omen trilogy (all four films of it)
The Others
the Poltergeist trilogy
Signs
The Sixth Sense (in fact, I've seen almost everything M. Night Shyalaman has done)
Sleepy Hollow (I think it was Burton's... is his that newer one that came out a few years ago where Ichibod Crane was a detective who couldn't stand the sight of blood?)
The Thing (John Carpenter's)

I haven't seen Exorcist III: Legion but I HAVE read the book.

And that Prophecy movie has really piqued my interest if its the movie Algolei thinks it is.

[T. Foster]

And I heard it drove the director insane because it turned out so bad.

It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who went on making (mostly bad) movies until he died about 5 years ago, so that can't be right.

On the subject of environmental-horror monster movies, I can't believe I (or anybody else) hasn't yet recommended The Host, from South Korea (d. Bong Joon-ho). This movie is absolutely brilliant, easily one of my top movies of 2007 so far, with great characterizations, a lot of humor, some emotion, and tons of genuine scares and thrills. If you haven't seen this already it's an absolute must -- easily the best monster movie in years, if not decades, if not ever!

[Dwayanu]

I'd forgotten a glowing review of "The Host" I read some months ago. Thanks for the reminder of something to look for on DVD!

[BlackBat242]

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)

I know its from the '80s... but how about CHUD?*


] runs for cover giggling insanely [


*I can't tell you what that stands for, as it will tell the entire plot right there!

[JamesEightBitStar]

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)

I know its from the '80s... but how about CHUD?*

] runs for cover giggling insanely [

*I can't tell you what that stands for, as it will tell the entire plot right there!

Oh, you mean
Cannibalistic
Humanoid
Underground
Dweller?

[Wheggi]

The Prophecy (the 1979 movie)

Hey, is that the one with the mercury-polluted lake, and the forest ranger trying to figure out what's killing people, and the spiritual Indian who says the land is coming alive to take revenge? And a power station of some sort.

If so, that was one of my favourites as a teenager. The suspenseful way they avoided showing what was killing people, which usually bothers me, was more frightening to me than usual because of the surrounding outdoor scenery. (I used to camp in surroundings like that. )

However, it was considered a poor movie by most people. Too slow (I considered it "suspenseful"). And I heard it drove the director insane because it turned out so bad.

Yep, that would be the one. Pretty cool movie poster for it as well:



- Wheggi

[Algolei]

Yep, that would be the one. Pretty cool movie poster for it as well:

Ugh. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

The thing I really liked about The Prophecy was the feeling I got while watching it -- you're in the wilderness, isolated in small buildings or compounds, and the instant you leave the safety of you're little patch of artificial environment you're in danger. While the reality of a monster that is pretty much everywhere at once (I think it seemed to nearly simultaneously attack people who were allegedly 20 miles apart at one point), it still gave me the creepy "nature wants to kill us all" sensation.

I have vague recollections of a chain link fence and people trying to get to the "safe" side of it, as if a simple fence is enough to keep out the supernatural (which is funny, 'cause it's actually the natural world that it's supposedly keeping out). It's a sensation that came up in the Jurassic Park movies too whenever they found themselves on the wrong side of a fence and a large carnivore coming to get them; but in The Prophecy, it was more of a main element throughout most of the movie.

Overall, I came away from the movie with lots of deep thoughts concerning "nature" and "supernatural" and where Humanity fits into it all. WE are the supernatural element, and the further from nature that we take ourselves, the harder the consequences become.

Also, the title of the movie itself used to bother people. I don't think there's ever an actual "prophecy" mentioned in the movie. But I think the prophecy itself is the environmentalist's point of view itself. It's the entire movie that is the director's prophecy, and he's giving it to us.

Likewise with the ending, and people who think a sequel was intended. I think it was just meant to imply that our real world still has to deal with the consequences of our anti-natural existence. In other words, it was meant to extend beyond the end of the movie and into our everyday lives.


...But then again, I was a teenager when I saw this, and school was trying to get us to think about this kind of stuff, so maybe I completely overthought the movie.

[geneweigel]

I seen Prophecy from end to end in the theater in 79 (huge theater too) but whe I saw it on video 10 years later I couldn't stay interested for some reason and I haven't seen it since.

I sometimes wonder if it was the vastness and vividness of it on the big screen or that the shock was "one shot".

I feel the same way about THE DARK.

I haven't see the THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION since 1975 when I was 7 years old but I'm afraid that its going to seem cheap if I watch it today. () Remember the geodes with the spider's in them? I actually found real geodes when I was a kid and thought they were giant spider eggs...

[geneweigel]

I just ordered it...

I'm afraid...

[Mythmere]

Jacob's Ladder is pretty creepy.