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

I don't get this image--I thought it was the same film:

http://img.getglue.com/movies/curse_of_demon_night_of_demon/jacques_tourneur/normal.jpg

I gave Drag Me To Hell a go but it seemed to be descending into a pretty stock racist story about Roma people so i stopped. I might have been wrong but the whole tone struck me as really unpleasant.

yeah it all centers around that more or less

I don't get this image--I thought it was the same film

Explained here.

I gave Drag Me To Hell a go but it seemed to be descending into a pretty stock racist story about Roma people so i stopped. I might have been wrong but the whole tone struck me as really unpleasant.

That's really OTM and I can't defend that aspect of theories at all.

(xpost) Thanks--it's been a while, so I'm not entirely sure which one I voted for.

"theories" should be "this movie." Autocorrect!

I love that those films are tied, as Raimi's is clearly in debt to "Demon."

I know the demon in Demon was added against Tourneur's wishes, but, I dunno, I kind of like it there. Gives it a nice A-plus B-movie feel.

nah it's an embarrassment of a devil. it almost looks embarrassed for itslef, you want to give it a hug and say "chin up, i've prob seen worse elsewhere, sometime".

night of the demon slipped off my ballot because I haven't seen it in ages, feels like it shoulda been higher but idk

also, love the demon

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-noBwie-oKn0/T3sae1FZuiI/AAAAAAAACX0/M3n1pi5jLI4/s1600/Demon+smoke.jpg

"Oh HENRY you're so SICK, you're so SICK you'd slice a DICK!"

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5321/7217117614_d71df94477_o.jpg

71. HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER
John McNaughton, USA, 1986
(272 points, 10 votes)

[I remember the total absence of score or music of any kind during the scenes of brutality in Henry.. being rather jarring. It was just so blunt. You're dead-on about the videotaping scene (especially when Otis molests the wife's corpse after he's already broken her neck). Awfu, awful, awful.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, April 7, 2005 4:21 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

One of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen, and have never felt the need to see it again. That videotape scene is next-level fucked-upness. Needless to say, it made my ballot.

Ugh, yes. Saw it again recently. Just as bleak and awful as I'd remembered. Totally voted for it.

went with angst instead of henry on my ballot, it is a classic tho.

i don't ever need to see this movie, do i?

I remember it as very unpleasant, but not in a way that I found at all artful. I was trying to think of a better word than "artful" to differentiate it from some equally unpleasant films I voted for--sounds pretentious--but I couldn't come up with anything.

didnt vote for it but it totally deserves its spot here

i don't ever need to see this movie, do i?

Like, I'm just assuming here, but it's probably the most accurate depiction of a serial killer you're likely to see. No frills, no excessive prurience, just a blunt depiction of the boring days and nights of a psychopath, punctuated by random murders that generally seem motivated by the same forethought most of us utilize in buying a pack of gum. It's...I dunno, psychologically interesting in the way that a documentary about anyone existing on the fringe. But, like I say, bleak bleak bleak. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, avoid.

I probably would've rhapsodized about this 10 years ago. Now it seems kind of... unnecessary, maybe? Need to watch it again. Regardless, can't argue with it being on the list.

I wouldn't say the movie is in any way unnecessary, but I would definitely say it's unnecessary for anyone not completely on board to ever watch it.

Yeah I mean I can support it being on the list, and I like the idea of watching boring scenes of a serial killer buying Kit Kats and Pepsi, but actually watching it does not seem to be on my list of things to do.

Esp interested after reading that article in the NYT about psychopaths though...

I still argue that The Thing can totally be viewed as a film about an alien trying to survive and get offworld in the only way it knows how while dickhole humans do everything they can to prevent that happening.

check this fun thing: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

I just don't think David Lynch makes horror movies; i think he makes movies about horror, that aren't particularly scary/horrific. His movies seem more like absurd or abstract melodramas imo

i try to give out OTMs sparingly these days but this ^ is really OTM to me

Like, I'm just assuming here, but it's probably the most accurate depiction of a serial killer you're likely to see.

part of the reason I went with angst over henry is that they're both after similar ideals, but angst takes it even further. while henry's an efficient killing machine, the guy in angst is a clumsy bag of nerves who can barely finish off his victims. angst's camerawork is a bit more stylized than henry's, but it has less of a dramatic arc so it feels more lifelike (and tho a lot of folks talk about how much like a documentary henry is, there's definitely an artful storyline at work). it was also made 3 years earlier than henry, in 1983. if somebody told me it came out last year I'd believe it.

I just don't think David Lynch makes horror movies; i think he makes movies about horror, that aren't particularly scary/horrific. His movies seem more like absurd or abstract melodramas imo

yeah all this otm except aren't particularly scary/horrific

the last time I actually felt frightened in a movie theater was while watching inland empire, obv the winkies scene is mulholland dr is alltime jump out yr seat, bob in tp:fwwm is terrifying, eraserhead well you catch my drift

obv different people are scared by different things. those things did not frighten me in the least. i thought eraserhead was cool/funny - an absurdist 50s kitchen sink drama a la Loneliness of the LD Runner

i will admit to inland empire having some total terror moments, i just dont think anything else he has done works the same way.

One of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen, and have never felt the need to see it again. That videotape scene is next-level fucked-upness. Needless to say, it made my ballot.

ditto. I've never watched it again but it is really etched in my mind. probably the single-most realistic and thus genuinely horrifying depiction of a serial killer on film.

it's true that diff ppl are scared by diff things, but I'd say the vast majority of folks are creeped out by lynch's films. he's very talented at putting nerves on edge.

also if eraserhead reminded you of a kitchen sink drama remind me to stay out of yr kitchen

i'm referring to the genre!

man why you gotta make me explain joeks

in particular, the home invasion/videotape scene, the conversation about how Henry's mother died, and the suitcase by the side of the road leaking blood... ugh. it is really well done, for what it is, but it approaches a level of nihilism I don't normally want to subject myself too.

xp

I remember McNaughton's Mad Dog and Glory as one big massive shrug.

This may be neither here nor there, but the truly terrifying Mulholland Dr. scene in my estimation is when Betty sees her body through the window and the score swells in an almost nauseating way that really expressively reflects the extreme disassociation she must be feeling at that moment. Just listening to the soundtrack, the dread I feel in waiting for that swell is palpable. Winkie's is a nice shock, but it's just about as telegraphed as a movie shock could be.

and yet still so effective

I remember McNaughton's Mad Dog and Glory as one big massive shrug.

Wild Things otoh...

mcnaughton did not have the distinguished career most were anticipating, unless you're a big wild things stan

lol xp

I'm a big Wild Things stan.

Geez, I forgot about that one. Eight different endings-within-endings.

most directors don't have two films as different, and both as great, as Henry and Wild Things tbrr

double feature ideas

Henry features the only actor to appear in more than one movie on my ballot, iirc

You voted for Mallrats?

as i said on the noms thread, i feel dumb for not voting for angst. definitely voted for henry though.

ed3 otm about inland empire. the theater was nearly empty and i was beyond tense the whole time. the screen felt like some dark hallway i was being forced to walk down against my will. and despite lynch's feelings on the subject, it is an almost unbearably nerve-shredding experience with headphones in the dark.

Shakey, slither? If so, a+++

071. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer [1986, 272 points, 10 votes]
072. Curse of the Demon [Night of the Demon] [1957, 261 points, 9 votes]
(tie). Drag Me To Hell [2009, 261 points, 9 votes]
074. Threads [1984, 251 points, 6 votes]
075. Creepshow [1982, 250 points, 10 votes]
(tie). Invasion Of The Body Snatchers [1956, 250 points, 10 votes]
077. Pan's Labyrinth [2006, 246 points, 9 votes]
078. Hellraiser [1987, 232 points, 10 votes]
079. Dead Ringers [1988, 228 points, 8 votes]
080. Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht [1979, 226 points, 8 votes]

081. Duel [1971, 224 points, 8 votes]
082. Kwaidan [1964, 224 points, 6 votes, 1 first-place vote]
083. Picnic at Hanging Rock [1975, 220 points, 7 votes]
084. Near Dark [1987, 219 points, 10 votes]
085. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me [1992, 218 points, 8 votes]
086. Witchfinder General [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 [Satan's Skin] [1971, 177 points, 8 votes]
099. Pontypool [2008, 176 points, 7 votes]
100. Phantasm [1979, 175 points, 8 votes]

four today: near dark, kwaidan, threads, and henry. five for thirty so far. which serms about right.

I always feel that it's valuable for viewers to critique movies on the basis of what the movie is trying to do

except when what the movie is trying to do is bullshit, ie most horror films.