Top 10 Horror Films

[X.]

OK, Fizz, this is for you because you asked. I had wanted to revise my Top 5 (some films I still need to see) but that can happen later.

ak's Top 10 Horror Films


Klute
Alan J. Pakula’s disturbing meditation on loneliness and the beauty of the normalcy we take for granted.


The Thing
John Carpenter’s masterwork – when an alien life-form infects a group of men, who should they fear more: the extra-terrestrial or each other?


Don’t Look Now
Visualist Nicholas Roeg’s erudite and deeply unsettling horror-art film.


A Stir of Echoes
David Koepp’s overlooked gem that had the misfortune of coming out around the same time as Shymanalan’s lesser “The Sixth Sense.”


The Machinist
Modern master of psychological horror Brad Anderson takes one man on an allegorical journey through hell. "Jigoku," a groundbreaking Japanese horror film from 1960 was very influential on this film.


Christine
John Carpenter’s seemingly generic revenge-of-the-nerd fare is really a multilayered drama about forbidden love with not a whiff of pretense.


Funny Games
Michael Haneke’s ingenious manipulation of violence as a post-modern precept.


Misery
Screenwriter Bill Goldman adapts Stephen King’s novel into a shocking, endearingly perverse love story.


The Vanishing
George Sluzier’s uncompromising character study of a cold, remorseless but altogether ‘normal’ serial-killer.


The Tenant
Roman Polanski’s atmospheric, slow-burning horror classic that also features him in the lead role.

[ozzylogic]

Watched Christine, liked it...
Machinist was twisted, creepy n' dark...
Stir Of Echoes was good, with decent scares...

And next on my list of movies to watch should be The Thing now. Thanks AK...just a thought, what about stuff like Blair Witch?

[fizz]

Ak...many thanks. I have about 3 films from this list lying at home. Will watch and come back here to talk about them.

[captainhowdy]

Here's mine:

#10 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
#9 - Shutter (Thailand)
#8 - The Wicker Man (1973)
#7 - The Omen (1976)
#6 - The Birds
#5 - Eyes Without A Face (France)
#4 - Alien (Director's Cut)
#3 - The Shining (R1)
#2 - Ringu (Japan)
#1 - The Exorcist (The Version Youve Never Seen)

AK, I think your list is shit!

[fizz]

Captain...Birds I'm assuming is the Hitchcock version? Not the shit made for TV sequel (of the same name) right?

Also, I'm surprised you like the remake of Texas chainsaw (must have been Biel....). Though I haven't seen it, I've heard the original is the real deal.

[captainhowdy]

Captain...Birds I'm assuming is the Hitchcock version? Not the shit made for TV sequel (of the same name) right?

Yes.

Also, I'm surprised you like the remake of Texas chainsaw (must have been Biel....). Though I haven't seen it, I've heard the original is the real deal.

I guess the original is today referred to as 'the real deal' 'cos of the 'look' it achieved thanks to its low, practically non-existant budget. With the remake, they had the budget and the skills to make a raw, gritty, relentless slasher film. A good screenplay, very good actiing (for the genre) and excellent direction by a man who has a true passion for films and is technically blessed. Trust me, Marcus Nispel is a director to look out for. I highly recommend you check out the several production commentaries on the Platinum Series DVD edition.

[vibhuk]

AK - FIzz : Let me know if you can get your hands on "The Entity". This one really sacred the 'crap' out of me, when i watched it in cinema alone.

Want to know eveyrone elses opinion??

[Metty]

I don't think Stir of Echoes is a horror movie..
If we exclude the 90's slasher movies (Scream, Urban Legends, etc)
And the 80's the-killer-is-known-but-indestructable movies (Halloween, Friday The 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc)
You'll find there was never really -or so rare- a horror blockbuster movie, those above are so commercial.

[X.]

Jeeves: What's a horror blockbuster movie?

[Metty]

I just mean that I think non of those movies that make it to the big screen and get too much noise around them are actual horror movies as much as they are purpose-made  commercial movies.
I think Americans can't make real horror movies, the Japanese could and it's now being realized as Hollywood is starting to adopt all these Japanese stuff (The Ring, The Grudge, Silent Hill, etc) and remake them and get credit, which pisses me off, somehow.
Am I Jeeves? are we roleplaying? hehe

[madali]

Lets not give the Japs too much credit. They are as much purpose-made commercial movies as the American ones. How many long-black haired young girl as the ghost, who has a sad, background story can be made? Apparently, quite a lot.

[ozzylogic]

Captain...Birds I'm assuming is the Hitchcock version? Not the shit made for TV sequel (of the same name) right?

Also, I'm surprised you like the remake of Texas chainsaw (must have been Biel....). Though I haven't seen it, I've heard the original is the real deal.

When I was a kid, I bought the TV version VHS from a shop selling it cheap, coz' I needed empty tapes, the movie (this version) sucked SO bad!

Now I know why The Thing is in ak's top 10...beaaautiful!

[sandeep]

The Machinist was awesome, makes you sink to the depths of creepiness and disgust as never before, especially because its all real...

The Omen... (Original version)
The Village...
The Exorcist...
Sixth Sense...
The Others...
The Blair Witch Project... hehe

I guess they are more paranormal / psychological thrillers then straight out horror films. i dont like gory horror... though i found 'passion of the christ' and 'schindlers list' horrific films, that humanity is capable of this, was truly shocking...

[fizz]

Ak...a question.

I notice a pattern in your choice of top 10 horror movies. They are, strictly speaking and in conventional terms, not really *horror*. I would think Captains list in that regard is more complete and agreeable to me (again, I don't mean to compare your lists, I like them both). For e.g. there is little in The thing that scared me (we can argue here about what one considers scary, but you know what I mean) and in some circles it is even considered more sci fi than anything (Alien from space etc). Similarly, parts of Funny Games were very scary, but at the end of the day (and the film) its not the scares that haunt you about it. So, I ask, why does your list contain such offbeat choices - and its not because I'm not enjoying them, but it strikes me as odd names such as Pakula and Rob Reiner on your list of horror.

[X.]

Thanks, that's a good observation, Fizz.

Although I'm not above the visceral, organic kind of horror, I'm much more interested in psychological horror. The type of terror we have to face in the mind because of the lives we live. All my choices have a strong undercurrent of mental illness and of metaphysical manifestation.