Favourite Horror Film

[Knotted]

Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018)

Sometimes the most terrifying things are the most beautiful things and this sci-fi horror is exquisite. Five damaged women go on an apparent suicide mission into a strange warping, shimmering alien presence. There are underlying themes of self-destruction, self-harm, cancer, paranoia, betrayal. In fact there's a theme for each of the characters. And whereas if you analyse it, the story is quite contrived it's still a dream of a thematic nightmare that seeps into your subconscious. It's all sorts of disturbing but in a way that you can find a positive message.

 

[Knotted]

There are other horror films of our times that I really like. Not all of them are great cinema, but they all have something to like about them. Including (off the top of my head)

Troll Hunter
Tucker and Dale versus Evil
Kill List
Cockneys versus Zombies
Sightseers
The Borderlands
The Girl with All the Gifts
The Wailing
Get Out
Prevenge
Hereditary
The Nightingale
Us
Midsommar
The Lighthouse

I've got a few more that I want to comment on but in the meantime here are some I haven't yet seen (but want to):

Berberian Sound Studio
Mandy
Train to Busan
Last Cut of the Dead
Parasite (not sure if it's a horror film or not but I want to see it anyway)

 

[Knotted]

Vampyr

Watched this the other night. It was mesmerising. Need to watch it again though.

 

[Knotted]

Climax (Gasper Noé, 2018)

This is the one and only Gasper Noé films I have seen, so I'm not one of his fans who seem to think he can do no wrong. A dance troupe have their punch bowl spiked and descend into a frenzy of LSD inflected sex and violence. Great big long dance sequence with extraordinary camera work in the first half of the film make this film a must watch in its own right.

The camera locks on behind various characters and follows them in their travails. The effect is to leave you feeling helpless as various other characters fall into trouble. You are left as a fly (not exactly on a wall but flying around the building) just watching the horror unfold, the effect mimicking the experience of the dancers as they too are all too caught up in their own troubles to do anything themselves. The music is entirely diagenetic as a DJ pumps out some really tasty tunes, but nothing is directing you through cues towards any particular incident, rather you are directed away from them and left with them nagging insistently at the back of your mind. A totally immersive film and it's horrible, empty and pointless. Thoroughly recommended.

 

[Knotted]

Little Joe (Jessica Hausner, 2019)

A really subtle film about flowers and mind control. Emily Beecham stars and she even looks like one of the flowers with her striking red hair and her light green scientist's outfit. From what I'd heard about it, I thought it was going to be a slog to get through. But I thought it was fascinating in an, "is it all the mind" sort of way. Different clues seem to point in different directions and it asks you how you form beliefs while delving into questions of motherhood and estrangement. And it has the most extraordinary soundtrack you will ever hear. If you like your horror super subtle (and to be fair that's an unusual preference) then you can do no better than this.

 

[yield]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is perfect. Definitely my favourite. May watch it again later.

The oppressive feel, the cut scenes to the abattoir, and of course the happy ending.

Closely followed by Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), the superior remake.

 

[killer b]

I haven't watched much horror in recent years so nothing new... I reckon Dawn of the Dead (Romero's, I've not seen the remake) is brilliant - I think the scenario of the besieged shopping centre is a particularly fruitful conceit.

 

[Shellee]

I didn't get The Babadook, then. I thought the Babadook was real, not just in her head and the ending, where they were feeding worms to their pet
Babadook, was a bit daft. It was good and creepy but that's why it didn't make my list. Like I said, I'm not good with subtle

 

[yield]

I haven't watched much horror in recent years so nothing new... I reckon Dawn of the Dead (Romero's, I've not seen the remake) is brilliant - I think the scenario of the besieged shopping centre is a particularly fruitful conceit.

Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" remake from 2004 is pretty good. If you don't mind running zombies.

The message is still the same.

 

[Knotted]

I didn't get The Babadook, then. I thought the Babadook was real, not just in her head and the ending, where they were feeding worms to their pet
Babadook, was a bit daft. It was good and creepy but that's why it didn't make my list. Like I said, I'm not good with subtle

I think it's ultimately really an upbeat film about conquering your demons. It's definitely not a gorefest or even about scaring you (not that there is anything wrong with gorefests). That depression is so deeply a central theme to the film makes it not fun, so it's not for everyone.

 

[Reno]

Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" remake from 2004 is pretty good. If you don't mind running zombies.

The message is still the same.

It's ok, as in "Zack Snyder's least worst film" It's not the running zombies which are the problem (always a dead-end argument) but that he overloads the film with characters and then he loses focus on them. The always excellent Sarah Polly is set up to be the heroine, but then she fades into the background as the film carries on. It also lacks the atmosphere of the Romero film. The first act is strong and there are a few decent action scenes but there have been better zombie films since, both of the running and shambling sort.

 

[Knotted]

I think the Zack Snyder film loses the metaphor of zombies as people trapped in their every day lives and there isn't the meditation on consumerism. It's an OK zombie action film.

 

[Knotted]

I got round to watching Hausu recently which is a totally bonkers 70's Japanese horror film. It's a kids film really, but it's so artful and so totally bonkers I think it might be one of my favourite films now.

My favourite horror film of the 80's is probably Videodrome. Just saying as nobody has mentioned it yet.

 

[yield]

It's ok, as in "Zack Snyder's least worst film" It's not the running zombies which are the problem (always a dead-end argument) but that he overloads the film with characters and then he loses focus on them. The always excellent Sarah Polly is set up to be the heroine, but then she fades into the background as the film carries on. It also lacks the atmosphere of the Romero film. The first act is strong and there are a few decent action scenes but there have been better zombie films since, both of the running and shambling sort.

Definitely "Zack Snyder's least worst film"! Sarah Polley is good in everything I've seen her in. Jake Weber, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer all did well with very little.

No, I a completely agree. It's not a good remake. The first act is intense though.

I think the Zack Snyder film loses the metaphor of zombies as people trapped in their every day lives and there isn't the meditation on consumerism. It's an OK zombie action film.

Still think the underlying critique of consumerism is there. But perhaps I was looking for it.

 

[Knotted]

Still think the underlying critique of consumerism is there. But perhaps I was looking for it.

To be fair I might just have forgotten it.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Berberian Sound Studio

Yeah, was going to mention that myself as not quite a horror film. Another cracking recent not quite a horror film is Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Scanning my shelf as I write this - Santa Sangre is well worth a watch IIRC.

 

[Indeliblelink]

Not necessarily the best in terms of critical acclaim, but the ones which have a special place for you. I'll make a start:

Apaches, the farm safety short film they went around schools showing to us kids in the late 70s/early 80s.
Proper terrified us (I guess that was the point), especially the kid drowning in a slurry pit scene.

The only other horror film that I think truly scared me was The Omen as I also saw that when youngish.

 

[Knotted]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is perfect. Definitely my favourite. May watch it again later.

The oppressive feel, the cut scenes to the abattoir, and of course the happy ending.

I feel I know this film off by heart, but I've only watched it all the way through once. I find it really gruelling to watch. Which is what it's supposed to be. The second half of the film is near constant screaming and it has a profound effect on me.

Here's a little video on the sound design of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre that I agree the fuck out of.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Grew up on the old Hammer films (them and video nasties at an inappropriately young age), though not seen any of them, or any similar period Brit-horror, for a while. I remember when you'd get a double bill on the telly on a Saturday night and set the VCR.

 

[Knotted]

To answer the thread title, it's probably now The VVitch. Used to be Dawn of the Dead or Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Wicker Man or maybe The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. But no it's The VVitch now. I've never had an obsession over a film like that before or since.

 

[marshall]

Anyone mentioned Bone Tomahawk yet? Does that count? Western horror, I enjoyed that one.

 

[Reno]

Anyone mentioned Bone Tomahawk yet? Does that count? Western horror, I enjoyed that one.

It's great. I could probably mention 200 favourite horror films.

 

[kittyP]

I have been absolutely obsessed with horror films (and books, plays etc) since I was a little kid.
I think having had a an anxiety disorder since early childhood, I have find them quite a escape from the horrors of real life.

There are so many great horror films that are so different from each other that I find it hard to say what my favourites are.

But yes Reno the original TV version of The Woman In Black is an absolute masterpiece and was one of those responsible for if not starting then cementing my love of the genre.

Along with The Signalman.
Another made for TV film that was part of the amazing Ghost Story for Christmas thing the beeb used to do so well.
It was a short story by Charles Dickens.
It has been, historically, when I have looked, been almost impossible or very expensive to get hold of on DVD
I suggest you watch it here before the pull it from dailymotion.
It is in my opinion genuinely chilling.
And only just over half an hour long

 

[Doodler]

From Beyond (1986) is entertaining right from the opening titles, which show a seething mass of maggots (they have nothing to do with the plot whatsoever).

 

[Reno]

From Beyond (1986) is entertaining right from the opening titles, which show a seething mass of maggots (they have nothing to do with the plot whatsoever).

It's fun, but I prefer the earlier Re-Animator by the same team. It's more outrageous if you've seen the uncut version and From Beyond goes off the boil somewhere around the midpoint.

 

[Badgers]

Not that bothered with horror.

The Shining is a great film
Dusk till Dawn is fairly ludicrous but great
Army of Darkness is all ludicrous but great

Alien/Aliens are two of my favourite films but are filed under Sci-fi here.

 

[rutabowa]

I've slightly lost interest over the last few years but still love the odd one... The last new one that really got me was "Incident in a Ghost Land", it is def not perfect but is properly horrific, particularly as I was expecting a kind of light suspense thing. Made by the same guy who did Martyrs I think, it isn't quite as amazing as that but it very effective.

Oh yeh I also enjoyed that newish one "Us", the plot is a bit of a mess but very entertaining, and I find the whole idea of doppelgangers really spooky. + it has great use of "I got 5 on it" in the soundtrack.

 

[Badgers]

I thought 28 Weeks Later was pretty awesome, much better than the original IMO (dunno if that's a controversial statement).

Am a big fan of both films. They are horror for sure but I tend to file 'apocalypse' films separately. Horror is more supernatural in my head.

 

[Badgers]

Jaws

More a drama for me.

Scared the shit out of a generation tbf

 

[rutabowa]

Huge horror fan here.

My favourite horror films are

Don't Look Now
Rosemary's Baby
Alien/Aliens

An American Werewolf in London
The Beyond
The Birds
The Brood
Calvere
Carrie
Cat People & Curse of the Cat People (the 40s films)
Dark Water (Japanese original)
Daughters of Darkness
Dawn of the Dead (original)
Deep Red
The Devil's Backbone
Eraserhead
The Exorcist III (yup, I prefer this over the original, especially with the recently released directors cut)
The Fog
Halloween
Hereditary
The Innocents
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 & 1978)
It Follows
Jaws
Kill List
Left Bank
Let the Right One In
Lost Highway
Phantasm
Poltergeist
Possession (1981)
REC
Rogue (2007)
Suspiria (original)/Inferno
The Tenant
Thelma
The Thing
Train to Busan
Under the Skin
Vampyr
The Wicker Man
Wolf Creek
The Woman in Black (1989 TV movie)
Zombie Flesh Eaters

Most enjoyable and consistent horror franchise (where I even like the lesser ones): Final Destination

I love final destinations too!

and The Brood is my favourite david cronenberg.

and yes Exorcist 3 watched that recently and LOVED it. (seem to remember the end was slightly disappointing? but that is par for the course with horror films).

The remake of I Spit On Your Grave has stuck in my head as one of the most unpleasant vicious films to ever haunt my nightmares, so that is good in some way.