The Haunt Of Fear: ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Results Thread

I generally prefer things-that-can-happen horror.

(not always by any means)

the reason witchfinder general didn't make my ballot was that it's difficult to justify as a horror film, aside from the proto-torture porn trappings

To recap:

086. Witchfinder General aka The Conqueror Worm [1968, 209 points, 10 votes]
087. I Walked with a Zombie [1943, 208 points, 8 votes]
088. The Seventh Victim [1943, 206 points, 6 votes, 1 first-place vote]
089. Wolf Creek [2005, 205 points, 7 votes]
090. Dressed To Kill [1980, 202 points, 8 votes, 1 first-place vote]
091. Curse of the Cat People [1944, 200 points, 5 votes]
092. Onibaba [1964, 191 points, 7 votes]
093. Se7en [1995, 189 points, 10 votes]
094. Paranormal Activity [2007, 189 points, 7 votes]
095. The Cabin in the Woods [2012, 189 points, 6 votes]
096. May [2002, 186 points, 8 votes]
097. [rec] [2007, 178 points, 7 votes]
098. Blood on Satan's Claw aka Satan's Skin [1971, 177 points, 8 votes]
099. Pontypool [2008, 176 points, 7 votes]
100. Phantasm [1979, 175 points, 8 votes]

34 point spread from 100 to 86 is pretty tightly packed!

2-for-15 so far ... i feel like a Phillies slugger this season ;_;

wow, 9/15 from the 20th century.

Really strong opening 15, though still a little ?huh? to see Cabin in the Woods in there.

3/15 for me (rec, seven, wolf creek)

well now what do i do with the rest of my supposed work day

lol @ the battles between price and reeves on the set of WG

The production went relatively smoothly except for the unrelentingly antagonistic relationship that developed between Reeves and Price. Reeves kept it no secret from everyone associated with the production that the American actor was not his choice for the role, and the director's comments had reached the actor back in the U.S. Reeves refused the courtesy of meeting Price at London Heathrow Airport when he arrived in England, a "deliberate snub calculated to offend both Price and AIP."[6] "Take me to your goddamn young genius," Price reportedly said to co-producer Philip Waddilove, who greeted the actor at the airport instead of Reeves.[13] When Price went on location and met Reeves for the first time, the young director told the actor, "I didn't want you, and I still don't want you, but I'm stuck with you!"[6]

According to Kim Newman in his book, Nightmare Movies, when Reeves made a suggestion on the set, Price objected and told the director: "I've made 87 [sic] films. What have you done?" And Reeves responded: "I've made three good ones."[14] "Reeves hated me," Price later recalled. "He didn't want me at all for the part. I didn't like him, either. It was one of the first times in my life that I've been in a picture where the director and I just clashed."[15] Price felt that all the actors on the set had a difficult time with the director, explaining: "Michael Reeves could not communicate with actors. He would stop me and say, 'Don't move your head like that.' And I would say, 'Like what? What do you mean?' He'd say, 'There — you're doing it again. Don't do that'." Price reportedly became so upset with Reeves that he refused to watch the film's dailies.[13]

In one scene, Reeves needed Price to shoot his flintlock between the ears of the horse he was riding. When Price realized that Reeves had ordered that an actual blank charge was to be used so the weapon's puff of smoke would be visible, he immediately shouted, "What? You want the gun to go bang between the ears of this fucking nag? How do you think he's going to react?" However, Reeves insisted and, when the gun went off, the horse reared and sent Price tumbling onto the ground. Price was not hurt but he was extremely angered by the incident.[6]

On the final day of shooting, Price showed up on the set visibly drunk. Reeves seethed to Waddilove, "He's drunk–how dare he be drunk on my set! I'll kill the bastard." Waddilove soon discovered that Reeves planned to inflict painful revenge on the actor. During preparations for Price's violent death scene, the director was overheard instructing Ogilvy to "really lay into Vincent" with the stage axe. Although when the scene was filmed Ogilvy indeed responded with blows that were not faked, Waddilove had earlier found some foam padding and fitted Price's costume with it, protecting the actor from any injury.[6]

Two I voted for, three I've seen, and a whole lot that I've heard little-to-nothing about (if I've even heard of them at all). Just the sort of interesting, non-canonical results I was hoping for!

donald pleasence was reeves' original pick for vincent price's role, man what a different movie that would've been

and yeah thats a pretty good list so far, only a few things i cant get behind entirely, and another thing that well we all know by now my thoughts on it so why bother

4/15 for me-Blood on Satan's Claw, Onibaba, The Seventh Victim, I Walked with a Zombie (which I THINK I voted for, anyway)

but how do you feel about pontypool

xp

Vincent Price is a class act.

I wonder if he saw the finished film?

I detect no puns in that sentence, Eric H

price apparently forgave reeves for all his bad behavior and admitted it was one of his best performances

Vincent Price is a CLAWS ACK!

that's better

nothing I voted for has placed yet and I've only seen a few of what's placed so far. bunch of things I've never even heard of. Putting May in the queue tho

I'd be more surprised to see, say, Silent House - The Cabin in The Woods does one thing really well, it's not going to be for everyone, but it is really going to be for those it's for. Is the surprise that people who love it are expected to not be 'real' horror fans?

we won't find out for sure until tomorrow, but my guess is that the next 15 will be a similar "a fine mix of camp, kitsch, shlock, gore, crud, old people movies, and that's-not-really-horror" (quoting Strongo) as today's batch. i wonder precisely when the likely suspects (OG texas chain saw massacre, dracula, exorcist, friday the 13th, etc.) will start showing up.

I would be surprised if Friday the 13th places very highly. Excorcist and TCM are gonna be top 10.

To help tide us over until tomorrow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-e8ATuFpIc

i know i always underrate it but i would be surprised to see exorcist in the top ten

xpost way to circumvent all the material I'm stealing!

i dont think that the cabin in the woods head scratching has anything to do with real horror fans or whatever, it just seems a little slight in a lot of ways, and also (and im saying this even w/my weird recent only rule) way too recent to have really gotten a handle on yet.

I would be surprised if Friday the 13th places very highly.

i wouldn't ... for better or worse, it's canonical at this point. then again, so is Korn's first album so YMMV.

Well, to be precise, TCITW was actually filmed something like two or three years ago, right?

i know i always underrate it but i would be surprised to see exorcist in the top ten

I don't really like it, but I know folks around here that REAAAALLLY like it.

I know F13th is canon but people don't seem to stan for it much and it's really a pretty shitty film.

F13 is canonical but also not a very good film

the exorcist is like the godfather in that there's usually a lot of consensus around it being GOAT

unless horror ilxors are feeling particularly challopsy I'd expect to see it in the top 10

lol xpost

in fact I'm gonna make my top 10 prediction list right now (won't post it till after tho)

xpost to cryptkeeper video

videad sassoon cRIPt

you know how jjjusten is about pontypool? that's gonna be me if black swan places

reading contemporaneous reports of people watching the exorcist when it first came out is like reading contemporaneous reports of when people first saw, e.g., birth of a nation or phantom of the opera ... it's a glimpse into a very different time with different mindsets. nowadays certain scenes from the exorcist are more noteworthy for being unintentionally comical (though Richard Pryor realized its comic potential right from the start, apparently) than for being scary.

Pryor's bit is better than the movie imho

i mean, people in 1973 (or whenever it came out) were really scared shitless by the thing!

ha theres no chance of that is there? re black swan placing

I wouldn't think F13 would even make the list! Just re-watched it and boy that's an unimpressive little film.

Cabin in the Woods is a very fine satire, and catnip for horror fans casual or serious. The lab half is smart and fun. The zombie half is forgettable and limp. None of it is scary, but surely we agree on that (and with no complaints). Overall, I can't imagine we'll be talking about it in 5 years.

(i voted for black swan)

i think to be fair part of the problem w/me seeing the greatness of the exorcist was that growing up in a godless heathen household it just wasnt really scary because posession seemed way less likely than getting eaten by a werewolf or w/e. obv thats not a general rule, but for me, frankly, the omen was way better

ha theres no chance of that is there? re black swan placing

I would've said the same about a movie that came out a month ago but forget it jake it's chinatown

I honestly hope Friday the 13th fails to place. That thing is coasting on little more than name recognition, and even that's a little baffling. It's the only one of the big '80s franchises without a single installment I'd rep for.

you know how jjjusten is about pontypool? that's gonna be me if black swan places

Black Swan will have a shot at my ballot in the Unintentional Comedy poll.

i'd be surprised if F13 makes the countdown, unless people around here are a lot more nostalgically fond of it than i realized. exorcist i figure will definitely make top 20, but i'm not convinced that it'll be top 10.

considered voting for black swan, but nah

i though black swan was supposed to be funny, though, so maybe i didn't really "get it"

only one for me (wolf creek) but a couple that might have made a top 100.