I want to have bad dreams

May 13, 2008 3:06 PM

I need some good horror film ideas because I feel like I've seen them all.

I love horror films. My favorite movie when I was 8 years old was The Shining and it's been a non stop horror fest ever since. The problem is, I'm running out of things to see.

I love Asian Horror, J Horror especially. I'm ok with movies like SAW or Hostel, but to be honest, I find them a little boring. Ghost movies are great, scary sci-fi is great, zombie movies are great...anything and everything goes.

So, what movies can you recommend to someone that feels like they've seen it all?

posted by Holy foxy moxie batman! to media & arts (48 comments total)

3 pack: The last man on earth, Omega Man, I Am Legend.
Old-school: Nosferatu, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon
Not so old School: Night of the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Not really horror: Andromeda Strain

It would help if we knew more of what you've seen...
posted by Gungho at 3:14 PM on May 13, 2008

Ever seen Nosferatu? Truly, deeply terrifying. For me anyways.
posted by InsanePenguin at 3:14 PM on May 13, 2008

The French movie À l'intérieur (Inside) was just released on DVD... very, very intense. Don't rent it at Blockbuster, their version censors pretty much the whole movie.
posted by naju at 3:18 PM on May 13, 2008

Have you ever seen or Henry: A Portrait of a Serial Killer?

I've not watched either one all the way through because I was simply too disturbed but my boyfriend the horror aficionado is quite fond of both (and in the spirit of full disclosure, Vulgar was made by a relative).
posted by oreonax at 3:18 PM on May 13, 2008

Ack. The first link (or) was to the movie Vulgar. Sorry I lopped the text out like that. So much for previewing...
posted by oreonax at 3:20 PM on May 13, 2008

This post will lead you to some fantastic movies. I found "REC" and "Calvaire" to be very good.
posted by Sufi at 3:22 PM on May 13, 2008

I'm also a horror movie buff, I just saw Session 9 this weekend and I thought that was pretty creepy.

I also have heard good things about The Abandoned, but I haven't seen it yet (it's in my netflix queue).
posted by trinkatot at 3:22 PM on May 13, 2008

Inside.
posted by nicwolff at 3:24 PM on May 13, 2008

I dunno, I'm not a massive horror fan but I guess 'Wolf Creek' was pretty good.
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:29 PM on May 13, 2008

Gungho- To list all the movies I've seen would take me days. Which is why I'm putting the question out there. Most of the movies mentioned I've seen but some not. The french one sounds interesting.
posted by Holy foxy moxie batman! at 3:31 PM on May 13, 2008

Trinkatot, I've seen Abandoned and I like it for the same (and only) reason I liked Silent Hill...it's very moody and isolated. A film called Dead Birds is the same way, that isolated feeling.
posted by Holy foxy moxie batman! at 3:35 PM on May 13, 2008

Without knowing everything you've ever seen in your life, some of my horror favorites:
- Dellamorte Dellamore (aka CEMETARY MAN) or DEAD ALIVE (aka BRAIN DEAD), DEAD MEAT or any of the Dario Argento or George A. Romero movies.

RAVENOUS is a perennial favorite. PARENTS is creepy and disturbing - if not gory.

What about the classic '80s cheesy horror like APRIL FOOL'S DAY, SLEEPAWAY CAMP or SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2?

I'd go through lots of best horror movie lists and see whatever you haven't already. (Just google for "scariest movies" or "best horror movies" and get lists like IGN's, boston.com, moviefone, etc.)

And then move onto things like ANGELHEART or ERASERHEAD may creep you out even if they're not traditional horror.
posted by Gucky at 3:41 PM on May 13, 2008

How 'bout something like "Gummo" or "Eraserhead"?
posted by wafaa at 3:43 PM on May 13, 2008

Irreversible
The Descent
posted by rhizome at 3:57 PM on May 13, 2008

These aren't bloody gut-munchers, but horror films 1/2 century before 'the Shining:'

Carl Dreyer:
Vampyr ('32)

Tod Browning:
Freaks ('32)

starring Lon Chaney:
London After Midnight ('27)
Phantom of the Opera ('25)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame ('23)

ventriloquists and their dummies:
The Great Gabbo ('29) director Eric Von Stroheim plays the ventriloquist
Dead of Night ('45) Michael Redgrave in an omnibus segment
Magic ('80) Anthony Hopkins
posted by doncoyote at 4:00 PM on May 13, 2008

If you haven't seen La Orfanata (The Orphanage) rent it soon. Brilliant, IMHO. You might also check out the After Dark Horrorfest films. The only one I saw was the Deaths of Ian Stone, but I thought it was worthwhile. Didn't change my life, but I enjoyed it.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:05 PM on May 13, 2008

You only mentioned 3 specific titles (all of which are about as mainstream as horror gets), so that doesn't give us a lot to go on. Are you looking in Blockbuster's horror section for more, or are the type that has scoured Netflix and the watched everything endorsed by Rue Morgue? Without more to go on, here are some relatively random recommendations:

I'm still surprised that some people haven't seen Event Horizon. In a similar vein, I found Sunshine (by Danny Boyle, who did 28 Days Later) excellent.

I can't get enough westerns in my horror, so I was elated by Dead Birds.

Feast is goddam awesome, as is Slither.

Have you seen the Masters of Horror TV series? It consists of 1 hour episodes shot by big names in horror. Some of them are fantastic, some are ... less so. It's worth investigating the good ones if you haven't.
posted by Nelsormensch at 4:06 PM on May 13, 2008

I think Cannibal Holocaust is hard to find but it was playing in a local theater about a month ago.
posted by hulahulagirl at 4:12 PM on May 13, 2008

If 70s Japanese horror, cheesy FX, and possessed kitties that morph into blood-spewing walls appeals to you I highly recommend, Hausu.
posted by rokabiri at 4:15 PM on May 13, 2008

I'd like to recommend Clean, Shaven, which isn't usually considered a horror film but which is nonetheless disturbing in its subjective depictions of schizophrenia. Very much recommended if you go for slow/sedate/creepy/psychological horror at all or if you go for the occasional visceral body-mod horror scene like in Tetsuo.

Aside from his zombie films, George Romero has a slightly lesser-known horror/slice-of-life drama called Martin which is worth a look.

I'd second the recommendation for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It's deeply disturbing, once you get past the flat acting and banal dialogue (which, I think, is part of the point of the film).

Vampyr is a classic of the genre and well worth watching.
posted by johnofjack at 4:22 PM on May 13, 2008

Oh, and since you love both Asian horror and ghost horror, is it safe to assume you've seen Kobayashi's Kwaidan?
posted by johnofjack at 4:23 PM on May 13, 2008

Man Bites Dog is still my favorite. I'm a big fan of perfectly likable people turning out to be batshit insane. Also movies like Pi and Requiem For A Dream scare the crap out of me, things that mess with my perception of the universe.
posted by analogue at 4:25 PM on May 13, 2008

Maybe not quite horror, but:
Neighbour #13? Wicked Korean thriller.
posted by sunshinesky at 4:41 PM on May 13, 2008

*oops* Japanese... was watching too much old boy in that time I guess.
posted by sunshinesky at 4:42 PM on May 13, 2008

Pater The Orphanage was excellent. Another great Spanish movie is The Devil's Backbone. It's really really fantastic.
posted by Holy foxy moxie batman! at 4:49 PM on May 13, 2008

Don't Look Now scarred me for life...

also, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark


[ jibblies jibblies jibblies ]
posted by jammy at 4:57 PM on May 13, 2008

The Changeling
The original The Haunting

nthing Vampyr. I don't know if it'll give you nightmares, but it's certainly creepy and just beautifully made.
posted by katillathehun at 4:59 PM on May 13, 2008

Seconding Event Horizon! I love that one. Obviously Alien, but I assume you've seen that one already.
posted by adamdschneider at 5:21 PM on May 13, 2008

The Lost Room
Ultraviolet (the British series, not the movie of the same name)
The Cube trilogy: Cube, Hypercube and (my special fave) Cube Zero. (Please watch in this order.)
Altered (not for the squeamish!)
posted by SPrintF at 5:44 PM on May 13, 2008

Seconding [REC] - first good scary new horror flick I've seen in a while- and finally a zombie movie that tries to make you scared instead of just providing killing sprees, jokes, etc.

A couple other classic horror favs - The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, (seconding) Martin,
posted by p3t3 at 5:48 PM on May 13, 2008

How about director David Cronenberg? Village Voice critic J. Hoberman recently wrote that Cronenberg was the most consistent director of the last 30 years. He made many great movies that I'd prefer not to see again.

Shivers (a.k.a. They Came From Within) ('75): anticipates the AIDS epidemic

Rabid ('77): another epidemic, spread by porn star Marilyn Chambers

The Brood ('79)

Scanners ('81) exploding heads!

Videodrome ('83): media studies

Dead Zone ('83): his major-studio debut, starring Christopher Walken

The Fly ('86) Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis make a cute couple in this remake. Things end badly

Dead Ringers ('88): Jeremy Irons plays identical twin gynecological surgeons.

Crash ('96): based on J.G. Ballard's novel about sex during car crashes, not the liberal palliative of '04.

Spider ('02): Ralph Fiennes plays a schizophrenic w. a long memory who returns to his old neighborhood

I gotta dozen more at least. Can you be more specific re: "seen them all?" e.g. all Dario Argento, all lesbian vampire films, and other subgenres
posted by doncoyote at 5:53 PM on May 13, 2008

Not exactly horror, but still creepy: The Machinist
posted by extramundane at 6:27 PM on May 13, 2008

For the zombie fan, I suggest Undead. Over 600 liters of blood were used in the making of the film.

Funny Games left me feeling disturbed and unsafe after viewing it. I watched the US version, some say the original is better, but I believe the US version is a short for shot remake.

The Cottage was pretty well done. Andy Serkis is awesome.

For pure gore, check out the "Guinea Pig" series of films. The special effects are insane. Charlie Sheen thought one of them was real snuff.

Let me rack my memory and see what else I can come up with.
posted by JonnyRotten at 6:47 PM on May 13, 2008

Polanski's Repulsion.
posted by jamjam at 7:38 PM on May 13, 2008

i nearly peed when i heard - jenna jameson recently did a movie called Zombie Strippers.
posted by nadawi at 9:16 PM on May 13, 2008

Uzumaki messed with my perceptions and was uncomfortable to watch. Highly recommended.

Paperhouse is unfortunately hard to find nowadays, but it's worth a viewing if you can find it. One of the few films that can make me jump and yell out loud consistently, along with the American remake of The Ring, but you've probably seen that.
posted by Shecky at 11:58 PM on May 13, 2008

If you like Asian horror films, then you just might be interested in checking out some genre films from India (Bollywood), Pakistan, Indonesia, and China.

I'd recommend checking out (with friends and appropriate refreshments).

MYSTICS IN BALI

BOXERS OMEN

KILLER SNAKES

THE LIVING CORPSE

Some other/maybe-better/not-so-far-out-there suggestions:

The excellent Soviet horror film VIJ, based on the Gogol story that had already been adapted into BLACK SUNDAY by Mario Bava. (Have you seen many of Bava's films?)

Also I'd recommend the Czech fantasy/horror film VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS - (Caveat: the Facets dvd transfer is horrible) which was a major influence on (the orginal story of) COMPANY OF WOLVES.

(Every film listed above is available on dvd through Netflix.)


As for Indian/Bollywood horror films - your cheapest option is to visit a local Indian Grocery and ask for films made by the Ramsay Bros (in case the proprieters do not admit to the existence of Indian horror films its best to have some titles handy). You can also purchase Bollywood films online for five to ten dollars - look for anything with Khooni in the title. I have sat through several Bollywood/Indian horror films and cannot honestly say I enjoyed any of them - though RAAT (1991) was fairly decent. (Bollywood does all singing/all danclng action movies much, much better than they do horror movies.)

Netflix does not appear to carry any horror films from India at this time – at least none that I have been able to find.

* * *

There are also a lot of great horror films from Mexico that do not have guys in wrestling masks! See SANTA SANGRE (not on dvd in Region 1), BLACK PIT OF DR M., and on and on....
posted by cinemafiend at 12:32 AM on May 14, 2008

I am never ever watching Audition again, which I guess is a recommendation.
posted by roofus at 2:01 AM on May 14, 2008

Casting my recommendations for...

28 Days Later
The Descent
High Tension
Event Horizon
REC
posted by wmeredith at 5:46 AM on May 14, 2008

Check out...

Believers

Wind Chill

Bully (not horror, but horrifying)

Right at Your Door (best sci-fi/horror film I've seen this year)

And nthing Altered.
posted by Work to Live at 7:18 AM on May 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Haute tension gets two severed thumbs up from me. For slightly different horror fare, I recently quite enjoyed The Last Winter. Better in idea than execution, but worth a watch. Much like yourself, I could list endless amount of movies of recent and not-so-recent years, so the movies I'm mentioning are films I've watched recently.

Not strictly horror, but I highly recommend the Vengeance movies by Chan-wook Park.

I am also keeping a very keen eye on the upcoming Finnish horror movie Sauna which looks promising.

I could recommend some absolutely godawful horror movies as well because I love bad horror almost as much as I like good horror. And mediocre horror movies. Actually, I enjoy practically all horror movies regardless of quality.
posted by slimepuppy at 8:06 AM on May 14, 2008

EYES WITHOUT A FACE

ONIBABA

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD

MATANGO

HORROR EXPRESS

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?
posted by cinemafiend at 10:16 AM on May 14, 2008

And on a double check, Netflix has at least a couple of Bollywood horror films available:

BANDH DARWAZA & PURANA MANDIR
posted by cinemafiend at 1:29 PM on May 14, 2008

Possibly a bit tricky if you're not in the UK, but you should track down the works of Nigel Kneale. Lots of inventive, very unique stuff there, a lot of which has been imitated, but never so well that the original doesn't seem fresh.
posted by Artw at 2:19 PM on May 14, 2008

Dead Man's Shoes. Not your typical slasher, and Paddy Constantine is effing amazing.
posted by AdamOddo at 2:26 PM on May 14, 2008

Seconding the original Haunting and adding The Innocents. Also Polansky's The Tenant.
posted by SageLeVoid at 10:39 PM on May 14, 2008

Session #9 is the scariest horror film I've seen. It's actually creepy, as opposed to being gory/overthetop.
posted by chunking express at 10:52 AM on May 19, 2008

Gee, I was going to recommend Audition (I've seen it at least 8 times since I am writing a publishable paper on it), but another J-Horror I'd recommend is Suicide Club. The title is also known as Suicide Circle; it's a gore-fest that you won't forget, but it's also wonderfully weird and disturbing. Ryo Ishibashi who played Aoyama in Audition plays a police detective. Also, if you're into Miike Takashi, you should check out his banned episode of the Masters of Horror series, Imprint. The producer of the series found it too disturbing to show on Showtime.

I'm also wanting to work on a film for my dissertation called May. It's a film by Lucky McKee about an oddball girl played by Angela Bettis (I know, big stretch). What interests me in it is the disabilities studies angle since she has a lazy eye.

Session 9 is definitely one of the most psychologically disturbing films I have ever seen. And I'm looking forward to seeing Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone.
posted by vallie_h at 10:05 PM on May 20, 2008