THE VAULT OF ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Voting Thread (voting closes May 9 *~*~*~*2012*~*~*~*)

I just noticed that last-minute write-ins are okay. So even though I'll be the only vote, and even though it's a stretch to call it horror (although it does contain various tropes of the genre), I'm putting Sybil in my top 20. There's almost nothing that ever terrified me as much as the mother and the "green kitchen"--in 1976, when it first played on TV, or when I watched it again a few months ago.

http://elmarcapaginas.com/images/sybil_03.png

May I bring the conversation down for a moment? Firestarter 2: Rekindloled is made for TV and it would be cute but they revised the original story, and that's not right. Come the fuck on. They could have made a perfectly terrible made-for-TV movie without those irrelevant changes.

Also, Stpephen King is a dipshit for hating The Shining, but then to the made-for-TV remake.

And his bitter public statements toward the guy who hit him with his car are NAGL, either.

Got five ballots already. Good job, people.

Stephen King has terrrrrrrrrrrible taste in movies made from his own books. I think he actually rates 1408 but not Carrie, The Dead Zone or The Shining.

xp

you won't be getting mine for another two weeks at least. got some catching up to do, and i want to see what people rep for. like i'm gonna watch threads at least.

Yeah, I need to try and finish my own ballot by the end of the day tomorrow. I want to make sure I'm not influenced by the direction other ballots are taking the poll.

Everyone watch anguish before voting

I've probably related this anecdote before (from an old interview with King).

In the middle of making The Shining, King got a 3:00 a.m. phone call from Kubrick. "Do you believe in god?" Kubrick asked him; King replied that he did. "I don't," said Kubrick, then hung up. King said that this got to the core of his problem with the original--that to get the film right, you had to believe in god. So he redid it himself. I have no desire to see the remake.

King is so wrong. Even the book itself doesn't have much to do with god, demons, eternal damnation. Most of its power comes from its depiction of a man refusing to come to terms with his own limitations as a patriarch.

Everyone watch Anguish before voting

^ knows what's up. i nominated it figuring it for a dark horse at best, but it's fucking awesome and completely insane. gots michael lerner and zelda rubinstein! and telepathic snails.

The story was so unusual, it's stayed in my mind ever since, but then and now, it seems like such narrow and theoretical grounds on which to dismiss the entire film. My guess is that it's a colourful story (maybe embellished, maybe not) standing in for a various other problems he had with Kubrick's film.

Everyone watch anguish before voting

I really appreciate this sort of campaigning! Putting together this ballot has been humbling.

The Shinging remake was a mini-series, right? It was certainly at least 2 episodes. It was offensive. Far worse than Firestarter 2.

It's interesting that Dennis Hopper and Malcolm McDowell are in Firefart 2. How much did this thing pay? MM is kind of funny in parts. He manages to make terrible lines funny, e.g., re a dead guy in a restaurant cooler, "Now, you don't suppose this is a health code violation, do you?"

And Dennis Hopper is a fine looking man!

Movie that I thought was nominated the whole time: House on the Edge of the Park
Movie that actually was nominated: House by the Cemetery

Oops. Oh well. Here's my mildly enthusiastic FYC for that as a write-in, tho I guess it might not make anything but the lowermost reaches of my own ballot.

Other movies I am only now realizing weren't nominated (in most cases, great movies that just happen to have horror tones):

Ms. 45
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
Last Year at Marienbad
The Leopard Man
After Death

Terribly happy to see Ganja And Hess mentioned.

I just noticed that last-minute write-ins are okay. So even though I'll be the only vote, and even though it's a stretch to call it horror (although it does contain various tropes of the genre), I'm putting Sybil in my top 20.

Sybil is THE ONLY movie I have ever seen that has given me weeks and weeks of nightmares. I know I've mentioned this before. Another vote here if I know it'll count! That movie is straight up terrifying.

Last Year at Marienbad

lol, it's not horror at all, but would totally have voted for this

Movie that I thought was nominated the whole time: House on the Edge of the Park
Movie that actually was nominated: House by the Cemetery

Oops. Oh well. Here's my mildly enthusiastic FYC for that as a write-in...

man, we just do not see eye to eye on this kind of stuff

Terribly happy to see Ganja And Hess mentioned.

need to see this again. i watched it about a decade back and was seriously in love with the first half hour or so, but kind of zoned out as it went along and barely remember the second half. so strange and dankly atmospheric, psychedelic even, but also slooooooow as all not get out.

also wanna see ms. 45. have been meaning to check it out for 25 years!

Most disturbing moment in Apaches: the one kid momentarily forgetting how many of them are left alive.

"There are only FOUR of us."
"oh yeah..."

Sybil is THE ONLY movie I have ever seen that has given me weeks and weeks of nightmares.

I bet that anyone who's ever seen it has never forgotten the mother. The horror-film aspect is made very explicit at one point, a scene that ends with Sybil cowering in a corner after one of her flashbacks, whimpering and sucking her thumb; "What did that monster do to you?" Joanne Woodward asks, and in terms of how the mother's presented, she's not really speaking metaphorically.

Hey all,

Haven't read/tabulated any of the ballots that have come in yet ... pending the nailing down of my own ballot (have it down to 100 and will pare down during my lunch today). But I'd like to just make one small request: could you make sure to let me know what your ILX username is when you're submitting ballots? Or, if you're a lurker, that's cool too.

Mine should be obvious but if not, let me know.

Yours was the first one to roll in. You get the booby prize.

As in you show yours and are the first one killed.

re: Anguish - arrrgh dying to see this but they didn't have it at my local store :(

is it on Netflix?

yes but not streaming

i will be voting for anguish.

i am not getting off the couch today until i mail eric my ballot. otherwise i will forget. again.

Is the BUG on this list the Friedkin film, or that older killer beetles (or whatever) one?

yeah, I was going to suggest that bug (1975) and bug (2006) get added to the list for clarity's sake but then figured no one would vote for either of them

eric, my ballot came from naamme at gmail.

Was considering voting for Bug '06, but I decided I'm only gonna do 20 (not a genre expert) and it just barely misses.

I have no desire to see the (Shining) remake.

― clemenza, Monday, April 16, 2012 9:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I actually liked the remake (probably not a widely-shared opinion.) It's not great, but it hews closer to the book, without Kubrick's additions and without Nicholson's hamminess.

Sent!

is it too late to nominate screaming racist genital mutilation cake (2012)?

guess I should start repping for favorites while ppl still have time to watch.

shivers - cronenberg's first feature length is also, on the whole, the best of his early films. creepy, claustrophobic, transgressive. unfortunately the DVD is out of print in the US.

carnival of souls - if you can forgive its technical problems (poor dubbing in some scenes, wooden acting) and focus instead on its strengths (some amazing cinematography, a smart script, heavy atmosphere of existential dread), maybe you'll agree that it's one of the all-time greats. a waking nightmare.

ringu - granted, the remake is v good, but not better than the quiet, creepy original. I don't know what it is about that climactic scene, so simple in execution, surreal in its implications, and effective beyond whatever its legion of imitators could accomplish.

Carnival of Souls bores me to tears. don't get the love for it.

i think it's good, but not a personal all-time favorite. agree w edIII that everyone should see it though.

i like the ringu remake, personally. it's not as strange and unnerving as the original, but it's a solid contemporary ghost story.

Is the US version of Ringu worth catching if you've already seen the Japanese films?

I love Carnival of Souls! LOVE. The quietly unlikable female lead is only part of the reason, but also the music is great and the dream sequences are pretty scary, imo.

Is the US version of Ringu worth catching if you've already seen the Japanese films?

I actually like the US version much better. It felt more cohesive to me and was scarier for it.

Thanks! I'll have to get hold of a copy.

Is the US version of Ringu worth catching if you've already seen the Japanese films?

yeah. it's a very nice-looking film, with atmospherically moody photography and lighting, some interesting production design. it fleshes out the mystery so it's more a "proper story" and less a bizarre enigma with a reveal at the end. it's more in line with american cinematic conventions, but not really any worse for that and still scary as hell. i enjoyed it.

^^^ what he said

For perspective, I haaaated the US remake of The Grudge, loved the original.

I went as Samara for Halloween one year and this bozo at the party was all "Who are you supposed to be?" and I hissed "Seven days!!!" at him and he was like "Saturdays? Cool, I guess" and I knew these were not my people.

hahahaha

carnival of souls - if you can forgive its technical problems (poor dubbing in some scenes, wooden acting) and focus instead on its strengths (some amazing cinematography, a smart script, heavy atmosphere of existential dread), maybe you'll agree that it's one of the all-time greats. a waking nightmare.

This is totally OTM. I think the lead is actually a pretty good actress, but the dubbing makes her seem a little off, and the rest of the cast can be quite bamboozling. And yet... it keeps up a very strong sense of eeriness, and does tip over into nightmare alley in segments.

DJP, my first instinct after seeing the ring was to make a VHS copy of the cursed video, slap a "copy" sticker from work on it, and mail it to you.