Lesser known Halloween movies- Page 2

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 9:59am

Isnt that the first sign of possession?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 10:03am

Or Alzheimer's. Same thing, really. .

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 10:10am

The classic ISLAND OF LOST SOULS is finally coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray in the coming weeks -- definitely worth seeing. Based on Wells' ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, with Charles Laughton having a grand old time as the wicked doctor. Good pre-code horror fun.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 10:51am

Criterion releases Island Of Lost Souls on BD/DVD next Tuesday.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 11:13am

I may have seen better days, Jordan, but I'd like to think that Alzheimer's is still a long way off. Doodle, however, may be onto something. Or he may just be on something.

I also really like Werner Herzog's remake of NOSFERATU. That's when I first fell in love with Isabelle Adjani.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 12:14pm

The Orphanage.

Scariest freaking thing I've ever seen.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 12:20pm

I watched "Don't Look Now" again yesterday. That movie is so unsettling. It's like a nightmare I can't get out of. Lapses of time, logic, behavior, etc. Normally, I would say that makes a film a mess, but in this case (for some reason), I find it to be a minor masterpiece in horror. Not the conventional horror movie, by any means.

It really crawls under my skin. And it's not just the ending. It's the whole thing from start to finish.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 6:10pm

I always recommend A Tale of Two Sisters. One of my all-time favorite horror films. There was a terrible American remake entitled The Uninvited (no relation to the 1944 film) that bears little resemblence to the original Korean film. Creepy, tragic and visually stunning. And I love the original Ringu, Ju-On and Dark Water films.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 10/18/11 at 6:23pm

I forgot about Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. It really shocked critics and Michael Powell's career took a considerable hit from it. It got a second life on the criterion collection and Martin Scorsese has really championed the film. It deals with voyeurism, implicating the audience, and Freudian symbolism out of control. It is actually in my all-time top 10.


In the killer's point of view

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 4:47pm

"Dont Look in the Basement" is a great example of 70's low budget horror that actually is quite fun.


If Matt is mentioning "Tale of Two Sisters", I'm recommending "Audition".

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 6:59pm

THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE....manages to be brutal, campy, and surprising all at once. CARMILLA meets BELLE DE JOUR!

THE BABY...looks like the weirdest TVM ever made (it wasn't, of course, but it has that TVM feel). Not scary, just...wrong. A twist ending that took me by surprise and I've seen 'em all!

FREAKS...still icky after all these years

If you haven't caught INSIDE yet...oh, nelly!

I caught THE WOMAN in theatres, which wasn't half bad. Not as good as Lucky McKee's MAY, though.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/19/11 at 9:45pm

Love FREAKS

Let us not forget Eraserhead! I found that low budget film disturbing on so many levels!

[tazber]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 12:43am

Just want to point out that Audition and Inside* (both excellent movies) are very gory.

And one other really good film that happens to be gory is Martyrs.


*There are several horror films named Inside. The one I believe Borstal is recommending is the French one from 2 years ago.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 12:33pm

I won't watch Audition. Not into torture flicks. Same reason I never partied in the Reservoir Dogs lovefest. Not my thing.

I love Freaks! Gooble-Gobble!

One really weird B-flick that haunted me as a child is Don't Open the Door. I watched it again a couple of years ago as I couldn't remember the plot and I had no idea how stupid it really was, but it is an oddly fun curiosity.

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:26pm

LOVE a lot of movies suggested here: Theatre of Blood, The Haunting, The Sentinel, Trick r Treat, etc.

I also like "Cemetery Man (Dellamorte Dellamore)" (1994). It's in a similar vein to movies such as Evil Dead 2 - with a blend of horror and comedy elements. The first 2/3 are great fun, the last 1/3 takes a turn for the weird, but it's still worth seeing.

I know these next few aren't lesser known, but are much better than their recent remakes - so see them if you haven't: "The Fog" (1980), "Black Christmas" (1974), "Fright Night" (1985).

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:34pm

Besty, I love the score to DON'T LOOK NOW, by Pino Donaggio (who has written some of my very favorite film scores). I find the sex scene a bit of a brick wall, but otherwise, the film's superb.

strummergirl, I think it is interesting that Michael Powell considered Julie Andrews for the role, ultimately played by Moria Shearer, in PEEPING TOM, but decided she was too famous. About three full years before Jack Warner claimed she wasn't famous enough!

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:41pm

The sex scene in "Don't Look Now" is definitely over-the-top, but it balances with the rest of the movie. I think the whole think exists in its own surreal world, almost as if we're not watching reality at all. It's a nightmare unfolding in front of our eyes, void of logic, natural behavior, linear storytelling, accessible emotions, etc. Everything is heightened, so for me, it still works.

And the score is great! I love his score to "Carrie" as well, and this is very similar at times. I also love seeing Venice before it was cleaned up. I've been there twice since then, but it was 25 years after this film. It still looks gritty and dirty and nightmarish in the early '70s, which works well for the movie.

As for Audition or any of the "torture porn" movies ... I won't see them either. That's not "horror" to me. But "Don't Look Now" most definitely is.

To each his own.

EDIT: By the way, I was just watching an old episode of "Ab Fab" last night where Saffy finds out she's pregnant, and they actually spoofed "Don't Look Now" as if it were Edina's nightmare. It was very funny.

Updated On: 10/20/11 at 01:41 PM

[Enjolras77]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:56pm

Anyone remember NIGHT OF THE CREEPS? A fun campy movie from the mid '80s.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 5:44pm

"strummergirl, I think it is interesting that Michael Powell considered Julie Andrews for the role, ultimately played by Moria Shearer, in PEEPING TOM, but decided she was too famous. About three full years before Jack Warner claimed she wasn't famous enough!"

That's pretty fascinating. It was not like Shearer's role was huge (though she got second billing based on her work and star-power with Powell and Pressburger years before). Still, seeing Julie Andrews die by camera tripod while being filmed would have made a weird anecdote in her career as the movie tanked and was so forgotten that there was just one known print in America that Martin Scorsese saw in the 80s. Scorsese and people at some studio were watching it for the first time because there was talk of doing a remake. Then they saw it and when it was over, almost in unison, quashed the idea of a remake.

As for the other movies, look more into Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton. Bad titles, fun movies.

Also if you like horror films that have a little fun, I would suggest Return of the Living Dead. It was written and directed by Dan O'Bannon (who wrote the Alien franchise) and is a real blast.

And if you want something that is just insane (and cheap-looking) from beginning to end:

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 6:18pm

Speaking of Val Lewton, Cat People and Curse of the Cat People are a lot better and creepier than most people think ... if they haven't tried them out already.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 6:26pm

I love House.

I was so busy wondering if I just saw what I thought I saw, I didn't have time to notice that it looked cheap.

By the time I got to the "carnivorous piano" scene I decided someone had spiked my drink.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 6:50pm

Total threadjack, but when I glanced at the board just now, I swear I read "Leglie Uggams Halloween movies."

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 8:30pm

I love CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE. Then, I like almost all of Robert Wise's films.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 9:55pm

Anybody see a movie called Blind Terror?

Made shortly after Rosemary's Baby, I think - Mia Farrow as a blind girl trapped in an isolated mansion, not realizing that her whole family have been slaughtered around her, the killer still on the loose. I saw it when I was much littler, so maybe it's not as scary as I remember, but I remember being terrified!

Updated On: 10/20/11 at 09:55 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 11:53pm

Wait, that sounds exactly like a movie called See No Evil.

I think you're thinking about that one.