| Author | Message | ||
     Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Note the following list is a work in progress and only includes those films I have actually seen up to 10/10/13. Expect regular updates and if anyone can spot any glaring omissions they feel sure I have seen then let me know (there's always a few slip through the net). Here it is: 1. 'The Exorcist' (1973) by William Friedkin 2. 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) by Roman Polanski 3. 'The Shining' (1980) by Stanley Kubrick 4. 'Don't Look Now' (1973) by Nicolas Roeg 5. 'Night Of The Demon' (1957) by Jacques Tourneur 6. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956) by Don Siegel 7. 'Tenebrae' (1982) by Dario Argento 8. 'The Birds' (1963) by Alfred Hitchcock 9. 'Inland Empire' (2006) by David Lynch 10. 'Peeping Tom' (1960) by Michael Powell 11. 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch 12. 'Psycho' (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock 13. 'Profondo Rosso' (1975) by Dario Argento 14. 'The Wicker Man' (1973) by Robin Hardy 15. 'Jaws' (1975) by Steven Spielberg 16. 'Videodrome' (1983) by David Cronenberg 17. 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) by George A. Romero 18. 'Seven' (1995) by David Fincher 19. 'Mask Of The Demon' (1960) by Mario Bava 20. 'Suspiria' (1977) by Dario Argento 21. 'The Witchfinder General' (1968) by Michael Reeves 22. 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher 23. 'The Haunting' (1963) by Robert Wise 24. 'Antichrist' (2009) by Lars von Trier 25. 'Alien' (1979) by Ridley Scott 26. 'Angel Heart' (1987) by Alan Parker 27. 'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer 28. 'Martyrs' (2008) by Pascal Laugier 29. 'The Omen' (1976) by Richard Donner 30. 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968) by George A. Romero 31. 'The Entity' (1982) by Sidney J. Furie 32. 'Eraserhead' (1977) by David Lynch 33. 'Nosferatu' (1921) by F.W. Murnau 34. 'Hour Of The Wolf' (1968) by Ingmar Bergman 35. 'Opera' (1987) by Dario Argento 36. 'The Innocents' (1961) by Jack Clayton 37. 'The Thing' (1982) by John Carpenter 38. 'The Evil Dead' (1983) by Sam Raimi 39. 'Halloween' (1978) by John Carpenter 40. 'The Brood' (1979) by David Cronenberg 41. 'Little Otik' (2000) by Jan Švankmajer 42. 'Vampyr' (1932) by Carl Theodor Dreyer 43. 'Blood On Satan's Claw' (1970) by Piers Haggard 44. 'Salem's Lot' (1979) by Tobe Hooper 45. 'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski 46. 'Blue Velvet' (1986) by David Lynch 47. 'Frankenstein' (1931) by James Whale 48. 'An American Werewolf In London' (1981) by John Landis 49. 'Dust Devil' (1992) by Richard Stanley 50. 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' (1935) by James Whale 51. 'Funny Games' (1997) by Michael Haneke 52. 'Young Frankenstein' (1974) by Mel Brooks 53. 'From Beyond The Grave' (1973) by Kevin Connor 54. 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) by Edgar Wright 55. 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' (1975) by Peter Weir 56. 'Repulsion' (1965) by Roman Polanski 57. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1978) by Philip Kaufman 58. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) by Tobe Hooper 59. 'Hellraiser' (1987) by Clive Barker 60. 'Ms 45' (1981) by Abel Ferrara 61. 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967) by Roman Polanski 62. 'To The Devil A Daughter' (1976) by Peter Sykes 63. 'Cronos' (1993) by Guillermo Del Toro 64. 'Theatre Of Blood' (1973) by Douglas Hickox 65. 'A Bay Of Blood' (1971) by Mario Bava 66. 'Eyes Without A Face' (1960) by Georges Franju 67. 'Basket Case' (1981) by Frank Henenlotter 68. 'Wolf Creek' (2004) by Greg McLean 69. 'House Of Mortal Sin' (1975) by Pete Walker 70. '10 Rillington Place' (1971) by Richard Fleischer 71. 'Rabid' (1977) by David Cronenberg 72. 'Henry : Portrait Of A Serial Killer' (1987) by John McNaughton 73. 'Dark Water' (2002) by Hideo Nakata 74. 'Lunacy' (2005) by Jan Švankmajer 75. 'Horror Express' (1972) by Eugenio Martin 76. 'Dead Of Night' (1945) by Alberto Cavalcanti 77. 'Braindead' (1992) by Peter Jackson 78. 'Dracula, Prince Of Darkness' (1966) by Terence Fisher 79. 'I Walked With A Zombie' (1943) by Jacques Tourneur 80. 'Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde' (1931) by Rouben Mamoulian 81. 'The Mummy' (1932) by Karl Freund 82. 'Frenzy' (1972) by Alfred Hitchcock 83. 'The Vanishing' (1988) by George Sluizer 84. 'The Silence Of The Lambs' (1991) by Jonathan Demme 85. 'The Hunchback Of Notre Dame' (1939) by William Dieterle 86. 'The Howling' (1981) by Joe Dante 87. 'Carrie' (1976) by Brian De Palma 88. 'Dracula' (1958) by Terence Fisher 89. 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969) by Dario Argento 90. 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?' (1962) by Robert Aldrich 91. 'Shivers' (1975) by David Cronenberg 92. 'Targets' (1968) by Peter Bogdanovich 93. 'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman 94. 'Faust' (1994) by Jan Švankmajer 95. 'Häxan' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen 96. 'Curse Of The Cat People' (1944) by Robert Wise & Gunther Von Fritsch 97. 'Marebito' (2004) by Takashi Shimizu 98. 'Martin' (1976) by George A. Romero 99. 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' (1979) by Lucio Fulci 100. 'The Phantom Of The Opera' (1925) by Rupert Julian | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
That's an exhaustive list, Stevie! And I don't see one I wouldn't put here (well, except those few I've not seen myself, and hence can't judge). The only film I don't see here, that surely needs to be, is Andrsej Zulawaski's Possession (1981), starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani. I daresay, it surely ranks high enough (to me) to crack the top 50, too.... I'm going to put in my own recommendation to watch for possible future inclusion, a film I've seen some months ago, and that—after fermenting in my mind all this time—lingers strongly enough for me to think it's indeed a great little-known horror movie, one with a truly terrible title (imho): The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974), directed by Francesco Barilli, starring (a never hotter!) Mimsy Farmer. Few movies approach the kind of horror that could be called "Campbellian," but this one's surely one of them; and like Lynch, or better Polanski (he must have been a strong influence here), there's so much more going on in it than first meets the eye. Anyway, there's my nomination for a future list....  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
Couldn't agree more re 'Possession', Craig! A true Campbellian nightmare on film. Saw it once on Film 4 back in the 90s and it certainly belongs in the Top 100. Let's see... I'd slot it in at No. 48 just knocking TPOTO off the list. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.145.220.122 |
Let the right one in seems to be absent from that list. As is Taxi Driver. And there are a few Cronenburgs missing that should be there | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.145.220.122 |
The Fly? Naked Lunch? Byzantium? Interview With a Vampire? Company of wolves? Misery? | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.145.220.252 |
The descent? Dog soldiers? Ginger snaps? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
'Taxi Driver' is one of my all-time favourite films, probably Top 10, and it is certainly disturbing enough but I think it's stretching a point to call it a horror film - borderline at best. More of an urban psychological drama/thriller/character study, imo. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
As for the other films you mention, Weber, they're all great works (apart from the overblown 'Interview With The Vampire') and would be in the Top 200. I've just realised; 'Ringu', 'Audition', 'Freezer', 'Pulse', 'Ju-On : The Grudge' & 'A Tale Of Two Sisters' should have been included. Apologies to my Asian friends. Mulling over their positions now... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Also 'Brain Damage' by Frank Henenlotter - his masterpiece, imo! I'm sure there are more. That's the thing with "definitive" lists. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Here goes with List Version 1.1: 1. 'The Exorcist' (1973) by William Friedkin 2. 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) by Roman Polanski 3. 'The Shining' (1980) by Stanley Kubrick 4. 'Don't Look Now' (1973) by Nicolas Roeg 5. 'Night Of The Demon' (1957) by Jacques Tourneur 6. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956) by Don Siegel 7. 'Tenebrae' (1982) by Dario Argento 8. 'The Birds' (1963) by Alfred Hitchcock 9. 'Inland Empire' (2006) by David Lynch 10. 'Peeping Tom' (1960) by Michael Powell 11. 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch 12. 'Psycho' (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock 13. 'Profondo Rosso' (1975) by Dario Argento 14. 'The Wicker Man' (1973) by Robin Hardy 15. 'Jaws' (1975) by Steven Spielberg 16. 'Videodrome' (1983) by David Cronenberg 17. 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) by George A. Romero 18. 'Seven' (1995) by David Fincher 19. 'Mask Of The Demon' (1960) by Mario Bava 20. 'Suspiria' (1977) by Dario Argento 21. 'The Witchfinder General' (1968) by Michael Reeves 22. 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher 23. 'The Haunting' (1963) by Robert Wise 24. 'Antichrist' (2009) by Lars von Trier 25. 'Alien' (1979) by Ridley Scott 26. 'Angel Heart' (1987) by Alan Parker 27. 'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer 28. 'Martyrs' (2008) by Pascal Laugier 29. 'The Omen' (1976) by Richard Donner 30. 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968) by George A. Romero 31. 'The Entity' (1982) by Sidney J. Furie 32. 'Eraserhead' (1977) by David Lynch 33. 'Nosferatu' (1921) by F.W. Murnau 34. 'Hour Of The Wolf' (1968) by Ingmar Bergman 35. 'Opera' (1987) by Dario Argento 36. 'The Innocents' (1961) by Jack Clayton 37. 'The Thing' (1982) by John Carpenter 38. 'The Evil Dead' (1983) by Sam Raimi 39. 'Halloween' (1978) by John Carpenter 40. 'The Brood' (1979) by David Cronenberg 41. 'Little Otik' (2000) by Jan Švankmajer 42. 'Vampyr' (1932) by Carl Theodor Dreyer 43. 'Marebito' (2004) by Takashi Shimizu 44. 'Blood On Satan's Claw' (1970) by Piers Haggard 45. 'Salem's Lot' (1979) by Tobe Hooper 46. 'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski 47. 'Blue Velvet' (1986) by David Lynch 48. 'Frankenstein' (1931) by James Whale 49. 'An American Werewolf In London' (1981) by John Landis 50. 'Dust Devil' (1992) by Richard Stanley 51. 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' (1935) by James Whale 52. 'Funny Games' (1997) by Michael Haneke 53. 'Young Frankenstein' (1974) by Mel Brooks 54. 'From Beyond The Grave' (1973) by Kevin Connor 55. 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) by Edgar Wright 56. 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' (1975) by Peter Weir 57. 'Repulsion' (1965) by Roman Polanski 58. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1978) by Philip Kaufman 59. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) by Tobe Hooper 60. 'Hellraiser' (1987) by Clive Barker 61. 'Ju-On : The Grudge' (2002) by Takashi Shimizu 62. 'Ms 45' (1981) by Abel Ferrara 63. 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967) by Roman Polanski 64. 'Brain Damage' (1988) by Frank Henenlotter 65. 'To The Devil A Daughter' (1976) by Peter Sykes 66. 'Cronos' (1993) by Guillermo Del Toro 67. 'Pulse' (2001) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa 68. 'Theatre Of Blood' (1973) by Douglas Hickox 69. 'Ringu' (1998) by Hideo Nakata 70. 'A Bay Of Blood' (1971) by Mario Bava 71. 'Eyes Without A Face' (1960) by Georges Franju 72. 'Basket Case' (1981) by Frank Henenlotter 73. 'Audition' (1999) by Takashi Miike 74. 'Wolf Creek' (2004) by Greg McLean 75. 'House Of Mortal Sin' (1975) by Pete Walker 76. '10 Rillington Place' (1971) by Richard Fleischer 77. 'Rabid' (1977) by David Cronenberg 78. 'Henry : Portrait Of A Serial Killer' (1987) by John McNaughton 79. 'Dark Water' (2002) by Hideo Nakata 80. 'Lunacy' (2005) by Jan Švankmajer 81. 'Horror Express' (1972) by Eugenio Martin 82. 'Dead Of Night' (1945) by Alberto Cavalcanti 83. 'Braindead' (1992) by Peter Jackson 84. 'Dracula, Prince Of Darkness' (1966) by Terence Fisher 85. 'I Walked With A Zombie' (1943) by Jacques Tourneur 86. 'Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde' (1931) by Rouben Mamoulian 87. 'The Mummy' (1932) by Karl Freund 88. 'Frenzy' (1972) by Alfred Hitchcock 89. 'The Vanishing' (1988) by George Sluizer 90. 'The Silence Of The Lambs' (1991) by Jonathan Demme 91. 'The Hunchback Of Notre Dame' (1939) by William Dieterle 92. 'The Howling' (1981) by Joe Dante 93. 'Carrie' (1976) by Brian De Palma 94. 'Dracula' (1958) by Terence Fisher 95. 'Freezer' (2000) by Takashi Ishii 96. 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969) by Dario Argento 97. 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?' (1962) by Robert Aldrich 98. 'Shivers' (1975) by David Cronenberg 99. 'Targets' (1968) by Peter Bogdanovich 100. 'The Magician' (1958) by Ingmar Bergman I realised 'Marebito' needed to be in a much stronger position and have slotted in the other Asian horrors as appropriate. 'A Tale Of Two Sisters' and those films that just slipped off the list are now, obviously, high up in the Top 200 - which would make a hardly less impressive list no doubt dominated by Lucio Fulci and other Italian horrors, not to mention an awful lot of Hammer, Amicus, etc British productions - oh, and the Lewtons & Universals! Sheesh...  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Hmmm... slot 'Possession' (1981) by Andrsej Zulawaski in at No. 49 this time. So bye-bye 'The Magician' <sigh>. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.49.33 |
The Fly II. I've always prefered this sequel to the original and the remake. Must be the scene with the dog, which is truly heart-wrenching. I would certainly add Llama nel Corpo aka The Murder Clinic. Session 9. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Quatermass and the Pit! One of my all-time favorites! (...too many cooks, eh Stevie?...  ) | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
No, Craig. This list needs all the cooks it can get to make my selection truly definitive. The rest of you can make up your own definitive lists! Yeah, I thought about 'Quatermass And The Pit' and it's definitely horror as much as sci-fi - like the entire trilogy - but it just fell marginally outside the Top 100 for me, like an awful lot of classic Hammers. Funny thing, Hubert, but I just recently picked up 'The Fly II' on DVD for 75p and have intended watching all 5 movies in order as part of my triple bills. I vaguely remember seeing it on video way back in the day when I was half pissed and being completely underwhelmed but I really didn't give it a fair viewing. Don't know 'The Murder Clinic' at all! Must check it out, thanks! And I've yet to see or purchase 'Session 9' but its reputation goes before it... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Hmmm... mulling over the list again I've come to the conclusion you were right, Craig, and that 'Quatermass And The Pit' definitely deserves a higher ranking. Here's the latest definitive version: 1. 'The Exorcist' (1973) by William Friedkin 2. 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) by Roman Polanski 3. 'The Shining' (1980) by Stanley Kubrick 4. 'Don't Look Now' (1973) by Nicolas Roeg 5. 'Night Of The Demon' (1957) by Jacques Tourneur 6. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956) by Don Siegel 7. 'Tenebrae' (1982) by Dario Argento 8. 'The Birds' (1963) by Alfred Hitchcock 9. 'Inland Empire' (2006) by David Lynch 10. 'Peeping Tom' (1960) by Michael Powell 11. 'Mulholland Drive' (2001) by David Lynch 12. 'Psycho' (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock 13. 'Profondo Rosso' (1975) by Dario Argento 14. 'The Wicker Man' (1973) by Robin Hardy 15. 'Jaws' (1975) by Steven Spielberg 16. 'Videodrome' (1983) by David Cronenberg 17. 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) by George A. Romero 18. 'Seven' (1995) by David Fincher 19. 'Mask Of The Demon' (1960) by Mario Bava 20. 'Suspiria' (1977) by Dario Argento 21. 'The Witchfinder General' (1968) by Michael Reeves 22. 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968) by Terence Fisher 23. 'The Haunting' (1963) by Robert Wise 24. 'Antichrist' (2009) by Lars von Trier 25. 'Alien' (1979) by Ridley Scott 26. 'Angel Heart' (1987) by Alan Parker 27. 'Alice' (1988) by Jan Švankmajer 28. 'Martyrs' (2008) by Pascal Laugier 29. 'The Omen' (1976) by Richard Donner 30. 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968) by George A. Romero 31. 'The Entity' (1982) by Sidney J. Furie 32. 'Eraserhead' (1977) by David Lynch 33. 'Nosferatu' (1921) by F.W. Murnau 34. 'Hour Of The Wolf' (1968) by Ingmar Bergman 35. 'Opera' (1987) by Dario Argento 36. 'The Innocents' (1961) by Jack Clayton 37. 'The Thing' (1982) by John Carpenter 38. 'The Evil Dead' (1983) by Sam Raimi 39. 'Halloween' (1978) by John Carpenter 40. 'The Brood' (1979) by David Cronenberg 41. 'Little Otik' (2000) by Jan Švankmajer 42. 'Vampyr' (1932) by Carl Theodor Dreyer 43. 'Marebito' (2004) by Takashi Shimizu 44. 'Blood On Satan's Claw' (1970) by Piers Haggard 45. 'Salem's Lot' (1979) by Tobe Hooper 46. 'Macbeth' (1971) by Roman Polanski 47. 'Blue Velvet' (1986) by David Lynch 48. 'Frankenstein' (1931) by James Whale 49. ‘Possession’ (1981) by Andrzej Zulawski 50. 'An American Werewolf In London' (1981) by John Landis 51. 'Dust Devil' (1992) by Richard Stanley 52. 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' (1935) by James Whale 53. 'Funny Games' (1997) by Michael Haneke 54. 'Young Frankenstein' (1974) by Mel Brooks 55. 'From Beyond The Grave' (1973) by Kevin Connor 56. 'Shaun Of The Dead' (2004) by Edgar Wright 57. 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' (1975) by Peter Weir 58. 'Repulsion' (1965) by Roman Polanski 59. 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1978) by Philip Kaufman 60. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) by Tobe Hooper 61. 'Hellraiser' (1987) by Clive Barker 62. 'Ju-On : The Grudge' (2002) by Takashi Shimizu 63. 'Ms 45' (1981) by Abel Ferrara 64. 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967) by Roman Polanski 65. 'Brain Damage' (1988) by Frank Henenlotter 66. 'To The Devil A Daughter' (1976) by Peter Sykes 67. 'Cronos' (1993) by Guillermo Del Toro 68. 'Pulse' (2001) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa 69. 'Theatre Of Blood' (1973) by Douglas Hickox 70. 'Ringu' (1998) by Hideo Nakata 71. 'A Bay Of Blood' (1971) by Mario Bava 72. 'Eyes Without A Face' (1960) by Georges Franju 73. 'Basket Case' (1981) by Frank Henenlotter 74. 'Audition' (1999) by Takashi Miike 75. 'Wolf Creek' (2004) by Greg McLean 76. 'House Of Mortal Sin' (1975) by Pete Walker 77. '10 Rillington Place' (1971) by Richard Fleischer 78. 'Rabid' (1977) by David Cronenberg 79. 'Henry : Portrait Of A Serial Killer' (1987) by John McNaughton 80. 'Dark Water' (2002) by Hideo Nakata 81. 'Lunacy' (2005) by Jan Švankmajer 82. 'Horror Express' (1972) by Eugenio Martin 83. 'Dead Of Night' (1945) by Alberto Cavalcanti 84. 'Braindead' (1992) by Peter Jackson 85. 'Dracula, Prince Of Darkness' (1966) by Terence Fisher 86. 'I Walked With A Zombie' (1943) by Jacques Tourneur 87. 'Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde' (1931) by Rouben Mamoulian 88. 'The Mummy' (1932) by Karl Freund 89. 'Frenzy' (1972) by Alfred Hitchcock 90. 'The Vanishing' (1988) by George Sluizer 91. 'The Silence Of The Lambs' (1991) by Jonathan Demme 92. 'The Hunchback Of Notre Dame' (1939) by William Dieterle 93. ‘Quatermass And The Pit’ (1967) by Roy Ward Baker 94. 'The Howling' (1981) by Joe Dante 95. 'Carrie' (1976) by Brian De Palma 96. 'Dracula' (1958) by Terence Fisher 97. 'Freezer' (2000) by Takashi Ishii 98. 'The Bird With The Crystal Plumage' (1969) by Dario Argento 99. 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?' (1962) by Robert Aldrich 100. 'Shivers' (1975) by David Cronenberg And now it's time for some analysis. Yeah, it's quiet in here today... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
A quick initial analysis reveals what I always suspected. If I tally my personal Top 100 by decades this is the result: 1920s - 1 Film 1930s - 6 Films 1940s - 2 Films 1950s - 3 Films 1960s - 18 Films 1970s - 30 Films 1980s - 19 Films 1990s - 8 Films 2000s - 13 Films 2010s - 0 Films Well I thought it was interesting! The long 1970s was unquestionably the golden era of horror cinema. We went through a dreadful lull in the 90s but things have picked up remarkably after the Millennium before starting, it seems, to slide off again in the last few years. Earlier there was a small peak of top quality horrors in the 1930s before things tailed off, awaiting the great revival of the late 50s and all the glories that were to come. The history of horror cinema in a nutshell. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Now, how about supernatural horror vs non-supernatural horror? Judging where one begins and the other ends would involve us in too many philosophical debates about the nature of reality, so, as my criteria, I judge non-supernatural horror as any story that could feasibly happen given current human knowledge of the limited universe we inhabit - without the need for a paradigm shift. Here goes... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
A pleasingly clean division: 67 supernatural horror movies & 33 non-supernatural horror movies. Horror exists in the realm of the impossible made real, for the most part, while the horror of the real - i.e. what can be done to us that we know of - makes up a more than healthy third of imaginable terrors. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Shall we try a different kind of genre split? First up, this is according to perceived threat. I can think of five categories: threat to an individual, threat to a family unit, threat to a non-familial group, threat to a society, threat to the entire human race. I'm enjoying this... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Here it is: Threat to the Individual : 43 Films!! Threat to the Family : 10 Films Threat to the Group : 12 Films Threat to Society : 23 Films Threat to the Human Race : 12 Films Horror is at its most potent when it is at its most personal, or its most subversive, it would seem. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
What threatens the lone protagonist- for who else can we trust if not ourselves - or what subverts the laws of so-called civilisation, that make us all feel "safe", are the most potent and deeply felt of horrors, while what threatens the elusive definitions of "belonging" that constitute family, group and race remain at a comfortable, one might even say entertaining, distance. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
Of course, Stevie, some contain all those threats together in one work of art—most notably, and arguably the greatest work of horror ever put to print, and various film editions—Stoker's Dracula! (By the way, don't know if I'd include it in your top 100 list, but the 1979 version of the old play version of the original novel, starring Frank Langella?... it's a fine film indeed! In fact, one of my own favorite Dracula handlings on film. Langella is superb, and wow, Kate Nelligan...? I don't know what it is about her there, at that time and in that role, but be still my beating heart!)  <---(that's me to her, just to be clear) | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I see it as a gradation of threat, Craig. If one life or soul is under attack that's horror at its most personal and disturbing. If the threat is extended to a family or other group (usually squealing teens) then the horror is at a distance and, perhaps, more fun. When society and the laws that govern us are threatened we feel uncomfortable again - like a cripple in fear of having his crutch kicked away. But when its the entire race facing some hellish apocalypse we are once again comfortably distanced and able to enjoy the "impossible" ride. Now I'm in the mood for a monster split! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Incidentally, as I've said on here many times, I agree with you entirely that Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (1897) is the single greatest horror novel ever written. In that work straight-laced Victorian society faced its most subversive threat. I'm surprised UKIP haven't co-opted the book into their mindless propaganda machine! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
The following threats cover the entire 100: Maniac : 29 Films!! Nightmare Surrealism : 9 Films Satanic : 9 Films Alien : 7 Films Ghost : 7 Films Vampire : 7 Films Zombie : 5 Films Demonic Monster : 4 Films Evil Force : 4 Films Man-Made Monster : 4 Films Animal : 2 Films Cult : 2 Films Disease : 2 Films Mutant : 2 Films Portmanteau : 2 Films Werewolf : 2 Films Animated Effigy : 1 Film Mummy : 1 Film Psychic Powers : 1 Film The maniac standing next to you in the crowd reigns supreme, not surprisingly, while Old Nick (our most ancient bogeyman) and the horrors that come unbidden in our worst dreams lead the rest of the bunch. That was fun. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Interesting that the two most recent films on the list - 'Antichrist' (2009) & 'Martyrs' (2008) - would both be classed as extreme ordeal horror nasties made infamous by the graphic nature of the violence and cruelty on display. To me they are also two of the most mature and multi-layered horror films of the modern era that probe deeper into the raw psychology of evil and trauma induced madness than has ever been seen on screen before. I would point to them as examples of where horror cinema needs to go next. We aren't surprised or shocked by graphic imagery anymore but when the motives for unspeakable cruelty are laid bare and made understandably human, by great writing and intensity of acting as well as directorial flair, that's when horror cinema can still really have an impact in these purportedly unshockable days. The ending of 'Martyrs', only recently seen for the first time, is seared into my brain and my heart. Must seek out more of Pascal Laugier's work! | ||
| Lincoln (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 101.119.29.217 |
Great list Stevie. As much as I love 'Mulholland Drive', 'Lost Highway' is a better film - in my opinion, of course. And 'Opera' is waaaaay too high! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
Believe it or not I've never seen 'Lost Highway'!! Must get the DVD. I love 'Opera'! It was Argento's last true masterpiece, IMO, when the full dizzying force of his directorial genius was at its most maniacally inspired. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.59.62 |
I liked the first half of Lost Highway immensely. Not sure about the second part (and it's very much a schizoid film) though. Mulholland Drive is better imho. Haven't seen Inland Empire. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
'Inland Empire' is Lynch's great masterpiece, IMO. The single weirdest and most disturbing thing he ever made. I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema on first release and was haunted by it for a long time afterward. Imagine all the surreal nightmarish potency of 'Eraserhead' made with a big budget and professional actors. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 212.183.128.87 |
Thinking about David Lynch I've realised 'Lost Highway' is now the only film of his I've yet to see - bar his short works. It sounds like another surreal horror nightmare and that got me to thinking about how many of his films properly belong in the genre. All of them apart from 'Dune', 'Wild At Heart' and 'The Straight Story' would be my judgement. I'm increasingly tempted to get 'Twin Peaks' on DVD and watch it all again for the first time since it was first broadcast - with the prequel, 'Fire Walk With Me', watched first. | ||
| Lincoln (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 101.119.28.217 |
Recently watched 'Fire Walk With Me', for the first time in about 10 years - probably his most under rated fim, and one that I really like. 'Lost Highway' is a masterpiece Stevie, I think you'll enjoy it. It's a lot darker than 'Mulholland Drive', and more of a 'horror' film. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
I see 'Mulholland Drive' as a kind of psychic vampire story involving soul transference and a pact with the devil. An innocent victim is seduced by the dark side of the Hollywood dream and descends into a nightmare reality playing a part in a noir melodrama with an inevitably bleak soul-destroying ending. I also really enjoyed 'Fire Walk With Me' and haven't seen it since it first came out in the cinema. It makes a kind of demonic sense of the whole dizzying world of the TV series. Apparently 'Mulholland Drive' was intended to have led into a TV series as well but the project never came to fruition. So all we were left with was the beguiling enigma of the film. | ||
| Lincoln (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 101.119.28.217 |
Spoiler - though this is only my opinion, and I don't think you can really spoil a Lynch film! The first three quarters are a dream, the last quarter a combination of reality and flashbacks. The dream is the only way Diane can escape what she has done - she had her unfaithful lover, Camilla Rhodes, murdered. She dreams the whole 'Betty'/'Rita' story, with real people she has met playing roles in the dream. At the start we see a pov shot of a bed and pillow, with eyes closing - the dream starts. Then much later, the cowboy says 'wake up' - from then we're seeing reality, and flasbacks of Diane's real life/situation. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
So you think she really did have Camilla murdered. That the dream reality was a way for her to try and assuage her guilty conscience. She casts herself as the heroine of a romantic mystery thriller to gloss over her own sordid reality. It's a neat theory! Looked at as a supernatural horror I saw Rita/Camilla as a kind of vampiric spirit leeching off the innocence of a naive young wannabe actress and dragging her into a hell of her own making but, yeah, your idea does appear more "logical". But if she saw herself dead in bed in the dream before she had actually died then the whole thing was a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy... and where does the satanic old man behind the dumpster fit in? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
I watched the film twice within a week for the first time recently and was very much struck by Camilla as a demonic femme fatale figure. The evil corrupting spirit of the Hollywood dream personified - with Betty as her eager young victim and the satanic old man pulling the strings in the background. The weird club they go to was like a reality warping initiation for Betty leading her into an inescapable nightmare. Must watch it again viewed as a partial dream. Any thoughts on 'Inland Empire'?!  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 86.24.62.55 |
Maybe the girl was already dead and the film was her own ever repeating self-made Hell? Kind of reminds me of a brilliant Richard Matheson episode of 'The Twilight Zone' I watched recently called 'Death Ship' with Jack Klugman. The crew of a spaceship think they have made first contact with an alien race when they discover the crashed wreckage of another spaceship on an unexplored planet but it turns out to be their own ship with their own dead bodies inside... or is it? That one goes round and round in all kinds of reality warping possible explanations as well and has a truly nightmarish denouement. | ||
| Lincoln (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 101.119.29.217 |
The real Diane is the one we see at the end - just another actress who couldn't make it in Hollywood. Living alone in that house, having flashbacks - when Camilla says no to her sexual advances on the couch really happened, the dinner where Camilla and the director (cant remember his name) announce their engagement really happened. The blue key is a dream version of the ordinary blue key that the hitman was going to leave to signify that the job was done. I do think there is a supernatural element though - that there is a 'dream/alternate reality', shared by lots of people, and actions in one reality can affect the other. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 212.183.140.51 |
Looking back over my Top 10 movies of this year I see there are three strong contenders for inclusion in the Top 100 above but I don't feel it right to include 'Stoker', 'Sleep Tight' or 'Byzantium' just yet. Three of the best top quality adult horror films of recent years, imho. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 62.3.229.59 |
Stevie - what are the differences between the different cuts of Profondo Rosso? I've seen a version that runs at a little over 100 minutes and another cut that has a 2+ hour running time. And which DVD edition should I be putting my hand in my pocket for? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 212.183.140.10 |
Hi Patrick. The DVD I have has both versions of the film. The 123 min Italian original with subtitles and the dubbed 100 min version. They're both great but I prefer the longer version as it makes more sense of the convoluted plot and has more of the charming comic interaction between David Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi, which makes the climax all that more affecting. It was released along with 'Cat O' Nine Tails' and 'Phenomena' as a box set titled 'Dario Argento : The Giallo Collection'. | ||
| Patrick Walker (Patrick_walker) Username: Patrick_walker Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 62.3.229.59 |
Splendid! Great response. Thanks! |