Favorite Horror Movie

[Duke Nukum]

I just stopped at the Best Buy and bought some low budget horror movies which made me think it might be a good topic for the lounge:
What is your favorite horror movie of all time?

For me it is a little known gem out of Mexico in the 1970's called Alucarda directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma at a time when Mexico's film community had some freedom.

Alucarda is everything a great horror movie should be:

It is derivative and novel, horror movies should seem familiar but the director should rearranging the parts in surprising new ways.

It doesn't make any logical sense and yet it has it's own kind of inner logic.  Horror movies should be like the nightmare, they should have their own kind of rules that makes sense while you are watching but don't stand up to the cold light of logic.  Horror doesn't make any sense, that is why it is horror.

If there is gore, it should be hyper exaggerated.  Gore is not essential for horror but if it is there, it should be like in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, it should be there in buckets or not at all.  Alucarda has blood by the bucketful.

Alucarda is also relentless.  Once the fire starts, it burns everything and everyone including the viewer.  The only way to stop the fire is to not watch.

I guess a close second to Alucarda would be Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator.

In the end, nothing should really be resolved or explained.  In fact, it should seem like the horror it too big to be contained  and it continues on after the events of the movie.

And a good horror movie should always be cathartic.  The viewer should feel a sense of relief that it is finally over.  The problems of every day life should seem small by comparison.

Juan Lopez Moctezuma also directed another strange gem called The Mansion of Madness loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe story The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether but I recommend watching this one before Alucarda because Mansion seems almost pedestrian by comparison and really it probably isn't.  I can't say for sure, having watched them in the wrong order.

[Carl]

More monster then horror but my all time favorite movie is the original (1933) King Kong.
Of modern ones then Tremors would top the list.

I am not into slasher or gory ones but the Nightmare on Elm Street ones are the best of that lot imo.

[Duke Nukum]

More monster then horror but my all time favorite movie is the original (1933) King Kong.
Of modern ones then Tremors would top the list.

I am not into slasher or gory ones but the Nightmare on Elm Street ones are the best of that lot imo.

King Kong is a great movie, I would probably put it more in the realm of an adventure movie but great effects for the time and I think they hold up relatively well.

Tremors was a great movie.  One of those that was both derivative and novel. The Jaws of the dessert.  I don't know if I saw all the sequels to that one but I liked the one that was a western.

The first Nightmare on Elm Street was one of the greatest horror movies ever.  I think it was Johnny Depp's first movie and it really fits all my criteria quite well.  I think the glut of sequels ends up diminishing the original somewhat in my mind.  When something is alone and unique, it seems more memorable and has a greater value.

[Chris_]

The original "War of The Worlds" scared the heck out of me.

[Wretched Excess]

Phantasm.  I was young, and didn't realize how cheezy it was.

[Chris_]

I just stopped at the Best Buy and bought some low budget horror movies which made me think it might be a good topic for the lounge:
What is your favorite horror movie of all time?

For me it is a little known gem out of Mexico in the 1970's called Alucarda directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma at a time when Mexico's film community had some freedom.

Alucarda is everything a great horror movie should be:

It is derivative and novel, horror movies should seem familiar but the director should rearranging the parts in surprising new ways.

It doesn't make any logical sense and yet it has it's own kind of inner logic.  Horror movies should be like the nightmare, they should have their own kind of rules that makes sense while you are watching but don't stand up to the cold light of logic.  Horror doesn't make any sense, that is why it is horror.

If there is gore, it should be hyper exaggerated.  Gore is not essential for horror but if it is there, it should be like in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, it should be there in buckets or not at all.  Alucarda has blood by the bucketful.

Alucarda is also relentless.  Once the fire starts, it burns everything and everyone including the viewer.  The only way to stop the fire is to not watch.

I guess a close second to Alucarda would be Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator.

In the end, nothing should really be resolved or explained.  In fact, it should seem like the horror it too big to be contained  and it continues on after the events of the movie.

And a good horror movie should always be cathartic.  The viewer should feel a sense of relief that it is finally over.  The problems of every day life should seem small by comparison.

Juan Lopez Moctezuma also directed another strange gem called The Mansion of Madness loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe story The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether but I recommend watching this one before Alucarda because Mansion seems almost pedestrian by comparison and really it probably isn't.  I can't say for sure, having watched them in the wrong order.

FWIIW, "Alucarda"="adracula" backwards="Dracula (english)"

[Duke Nukum]

The original "War of The Worlds" scared the heck out of me.

That is one of my favorites.  George Pal was a great director.  And while I think of it more in the Science Fiction genre, I can see it fitting many of my criteria for a great horror.  It is a real nightmare and once the fire starts it is relentless until the end.

[Chris_]

The original "War of The Worlds" scared the heck out of me.

That is one of my favorites.  George Pal was a great director.  And while I think of it more in the Science Fiction genre, I can see it fitting many of my criteria for a great horror.  It is a real nightmare and once the fire starts it is relentless until the end.

Did you see the remake?  I have been thinking of seeing it.

[Duke Nukum]

Phantasm.  I was young, and didn't realize how cheezy it was.

Yes!  Phantasm fits all of my criteria quite well and was especially good the first time I saw it.  Angus Scrimm is a national treasure!

It could probably have used a little tighter editing and it would still stand up quite well and I think it stands up well enough.

[Duke Nukum]

The original "War of The Worlds" scared the heck out of me.

That is one of my favorites.  George Pal was a great director.  And while I think of it more in the Science Fiction genre, I can see it fitting many of my criteria for a great horror.  It is a real nightmare and once the fire starts it is relentless until the end.

Did you see the remake?  I have been thinking of seeing it.

Yes, and I liked it, it has its own merits but the George Pal version will always be the official version in my mind.

[asdf2231]

Phantasm.  I was young, and didn't realize how cheezy it was.

Dood!  That movie scared the PISS out of me way back when!!!

[Carl]

Phantasm.  I was young, and didn't realize how cheezy it was.

The cheeziest one I ever saw and it scared the heck out of me was this..

[Crazy Horse]

Serpent and the Rainbow

Nothing says horror like a hammer, nail and a chair

[Wretched Excess]

and there is always . . .

[Wretched Excess]

but the all time trend setter in the "cheezy horror flick" genre is probably

[Duke Nukum]

Phantasm.  I was young, and didn't realize how cheezy it was.

The cheeziest one I ever saw and it scared the heck out of me was this..

Equinox was great!  It was so surprising the first time I saw it on TV.  I have the DVD that has the original cut of the film.  Oddly, I remember it differently than it is.

[Duke Nukum]

but the all time trend setter in the "cheezy horror flick" genre is probably

Evil Dead is another great movie.  In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Equinox.

[Carl]

Phantasm.  I was young, and didn't realize how cheezy it was.

The cheeziest one I ever saw and it scared the heck out of me was this..

Equinox was great!  It was so surprising the first time I saw it on TV.  I have the DVD that has the original cut of the film.  Oddly, I remember it differently than it is.

I saw it once,probably 25 or more years ago and for some reason it still gives me chills.
No idea why really.

[Chris_]

Does "From Disk 'till Dawn" count?  Or "Bubba Ho Tep"?

[Duke Nukum]

Does "From Disk 'till Dawn" count?  Or "Bubba Ho Tep"?

If one or both of them are favorites of yours then yes, they count.

I have mixed feelings about Dusk, myself, it doesn't quite work for me but I can watch it and enjoy it on some level.

I love Bubba Ho Tep but I consider it more like a comedy.

I love Ossie Davis as JFK!  He slays me.  And his performance is so good, I really believe he is JFK!



I think he passed on not too long after completing Bubba Ho Tep but he went out on a high note.

[CBUSMS]

I'd have to go with The Exorcist.

[Duke Nukum]

I'd have to go with The Exorcist.

The Exorcist was one of the scariest movies I never saw when I was a kid.  The whole idea just scared the bejesus out of me!  Radio commercials, TV commercials. Ugh!

When I first saw it on broadcast TV I watched it with a newspaper in front me to hide behind.

I saw The Version You've Never Seen when it was re-released in theaters, it really is a well-crafted movie.

[Wretched Excess]

I'd have to go with The Exorcist.

doesn't the exorcist actually have a plot?  it would seem to be disqualified from the genre you described.

[Duke Nukum]

I'd have to go with The Exorcist.

doesn't the exorcist actually have a plot?  it would seem to be disqualified from the genre you described.

Yeah, that's why I left it out but really, the plot is incidental if you watch carefully.  Or accidental even.  But it is too high class a movie to be on my best of list.  But it still scared me.

[Duke Nukum]

The Exorcist reminds me of two other movies, wait, three other movies that scared the crap out of me w/o even seeing them.  One is too good for my criteria, that is Alien, which I had nightmares about years before I actually saw it, though I did read the novelization by Alan Dean Foster.

But the number two movie that does fit my list, somewhat, that scared me and gave me nightmares w/o ever seeing it was the Larry Cohen classic It's Alive:



Sadly, when I finally did see the movie, it was too cheesy and didn't live up to the hype my mind created.

The other movie that gave me nightmares was Humanoids from the Deep.  I thought for sure these bad boys were sneaking into the swimming pool over night!



The thing that made it so scary was they were humanoids, from the deep, which really sent my imagination into overdrive.  I had no idea what they could be.  The actual movie also doesn't live up to the hype in my head but I think it is a pretty good monster movie overall.  At least that is what I thought last time I saw it.