We all either love horror films, or hate horror films. What’s that film that kept you up at night? The one that you re-watch all the time? The one that made you groan at ‘the big reveal’?
Favourite: Evil Dead (2013). It was just insane, wonderfully gory and made you wanna squirm.
Least favourite: Sharkenstein (2016). Watching this film, I gained a new appreciation for Meet The Spartans.
Up front warning: This is the ultimate low budget b movie campy horror film. It was written and shot in a seven days on the sets of another movie. It is not scary and is by no objective means a good movie. If you like campy low budget slashers it’s a must watch.
Sorority House Massacre 2. Five college women spend the night in their new sorority house, the old Hokstedter place, and make the mistake of using a Ouija board. It has a great twist revealing an unlikely hero and the last line of the movie is my favorite line in all of cinema.
Least favorite: Sorority House Massacre. Maybe the worst example of a low budget slasher flick ever made. This movie is so bad that the sequel used clips from a different movie, Slumber Party Massacre, for it’s flashbacks and backstory. While intended to be scary campy low budget slashers flicks tend to be so ridiculously badly written and acted that they become parodies of themselves and present as humorous movies. Sorority House Massacre isn’t interesting enough to reach this important self parody status and winds up being neither scary nor funny.
This is such an interesting take I’m going to watch both of these in reverse order this evening
Favorite: The Thing, the John Carpenter one from the 80s. It is perfect.
Least favorite: Nightmare on Elm Street. I like other Craven stuff but could never get into this one.
2nd The Thing, you know it’s good horror when it still holds up today.
I recently watched this for the first time and I adored it. To anybody who hasn’t seen it, it not only holds-up to modern movies, the effects frankly blow most modern movies out of the water.
The sound design is nuts, the scream the Thing makes is honestly one of the most distinctive sounds I have ever heard from any horror movie monster.
Hah, this was going to be my answer as well.
One of my favorite scenes in The Thing is when McCready is sitting at his desk making an audio recording with an open door out of focus in the background. The way the shot just lingers there while the audience sits in dread of what might happen is great.
My favorite is John Carpenter’s The Thing, with was already mentioned here by @Ragnell
My least favorite would be Bird Box (is that a horror film, or just a thriller?). I tried watching it and was just bored the whole time. If Bird Box doesn’t count as horror, then I’d have to say Cronenberg’s The Fly. It’s not a bad movie per say, but it just didn’t work for me for whatever reason.
When I got into my horror phase I was watching a different horror movie almost every night, and eventually came down to watching the classics. The effects of The Thing blew my mind at how well it all stood up.
John Carpenter’s The Thing is not just my favorite horror movie but it’s on my list of top 5 favorite movies of all time. I just love that movie to bits on so many levels. Other favorites of mine include Alien, Evil Dead 2, Creepshow, and Return of the Living Dead. Though some honorable mentions to The VVitch, Barbarian, and The Lighthouse (does The Lighthouse count as a horror? Eh. Whatever. I do really like it).
Yes! John Carpenter’s The Thing is fantastic!!
Some that immediately pop into my head:
Krampus. It’s mildly scary but the audio and atmosphere is phenomenal.
Trailer Park of Terror. Just sit back, drink a couple of beers, and enjoy this B-rated movie in all it’s glory.
Slither. Horror comedy that’s great for people who don’t like a ton of scary but don’t mind blood and gore.
Tucker and Dale versus evil. A comedy with a unique perspective to the horror genre. A must watch!
Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a great movie! Very good choice. I’ve never seen Trailer Park of Terror, based on your other recommendations I’m going to have to give it a watch.
favorite: hereditary. maybe a cliche answer but it’s genuinely the best horror movie i’ve seen in a long damn time, everything else is so generic and follows the exact same predictable formula. hereditary didn’t do that at all.
cant say i have a particular least favorite, because almost all of them are bad and forgettable, therefore I forget them lmao. a bad but good horror movie i love is the later chucky movies like the bride or chucky and the seed of chucky, which are more comedy horror and bad in a good way
This movie blew my mind!
My favorite will always be The Shining, which I have seen so many times. I first watched it when I was far too young and now it’s part of my personal schema.
Least favorite, Turistas, which gave me a near panic attack from second hand claustrophobia. Never again.
Least favourite: Event Horizon
I like sci-fi, not ghost story in space.Favourite: A Quiet Place
Excellent pacing, truly terrifying threats.Favorite is house of 1000 corpses.
How would you like to feel extremely uneasy and uncomfortable?
This is absolutely an either you love it or hate it film. I can 100% understand why people hate this movie - every single shot in this movie is out of focus and not directly showing you what is happening in the scene. It requires 100% focus to decipher (or come close to) what’s going on. It made me feel like a kid in the dark, which is what this movie is about - a brother and sister stuck in their home in a forever night as some entity begins to hunt them.
Content Warning - Child Disfigurement.
If you’re looking for a popcorn horror movie to watch with a loved one, skip it. If you’re interested in something truly, truly experimental, give it a shot.
Sleep Paralysis: The Movie
Man I’m really happy you enjoyed Skinamarink. I heard the buzz about it and the fear that it instilled in some so I gave it a shot as it sounded really interesting and unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind but I really wanted to be transported back to that fear of the unknown when you were a kid but it didn’t give me that and I really wasn’t into it enough to finish it. Happy for the filmmakers though and I look forward to what they do next.
Yeah it’s def avante garde. If you can’t get past how it’s shot, you’re gonna hate it and I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t like it
Juon. Not the American remake The Grudge, the Japanese version.
In the Japanese version, the house felt like a normal, everyday house, and that’s what made everything scarier. It was lit like a normal house, unlike the American version.
Also, that scene were Toshio, the ghost child, is on every floor as the elevator went up literally had me backing up trying to get away, it creeped me out that much. Juon had so much subtle horror like that, along with the big scares.
And as for least favorite, I guess the Saw movies. I never much liked the torture porn genre. I prefer being creeped out than grossed out.
Juon for me as well. Masterful visuals with a minimalistic story. Nothing convoluted. Just simple, perfect horror.
The Ghost and the Darkness.
I’ve seen it once. I was… 6 years old? Somewhere around there.
Gave me nightmares for several years. There’s only one other movie that’s ever had that effect on me.
And in terms of night terrors, I actually far prefer dreams about getting pulled out of a canvas tent into the night and getting devoured by a lion to some alternatives. You can fight back and stuff, it’s way better than those dreams about burning alive.
So, long story short, if you lucid dream hard enough you can kick a nightmare’s ass. I’d really rather not though, it’s a lot of work, so in that sense I sincerely hope the Ghost and the Darkness is the best horror movie I ever see
Hard to pick a favorite. If I had to pick a personal favorite I’d say In The Mouth of Madness. I’ve never seen it brought up as often as The Thing or other Carpenter films, but it was the first “meta” horror movie I ever watched and I’ve always had a soft spot for it. Besides that, there are a few I make sure to watch every year. I have to watch Trick 'R Treat sometime in October and I usually start December off with Krampus (2015). Also, I’m not sure it even qualifies as horror, but One Cut of the Dead is a great one for horror fans or just movie fans in general, especially if you like lower-budget films and the passion that goes into making them. Admittedly the first twenty minutes or so can be hard to get through on the first viewing, but it’s a great movie if you stick with it.
Least favorite I’d have to say, Lake Mungo. I don’t think it’s a bad film. I just went into expecting found footage horror and got a mockumentary about dealing with loss and uncovering a deceased family member’s secrets. Again, not a bad film but not what I was in the mood for when I watched it.
I also really liked In The Mouth of Madness! Not as much as The Thing, but it was definitely a good time. The opening shot in the diner is amazing and pretty much immediately had me hooked for the rest of the movie.
Classics from my childhood:
The Exorcist
Exorcist III
The Fly
Evil Dead
Poltergeist
The Thing
Prince of Darkness
Hellraiser
Carrie
Jacob’s Ladder
PiModern:
Hereditary
Nope
The Night House
Annihilation
A Quiet PlaceBest meta horror:
Tremors
Malignant
Cabin in the Woods
Death Becomes HerReally good list! Just watched Annihilation again today and I love how wild that ending is.
Martyr is one that I seldom see mentioned. If you like a slow burn, psychological horror movie, check it out!
