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

i think 'barry lyndon' is a flippin' masterpiece and prob the kube's best movie objectively but i was holding back going on about it since, well, this is the horror poll.

OTOH jonathan rosenbaum had a point when he wrote, somewhere, that every kubrick film is scary and creepy to some degree. '2001' is still the only movie i've seen that captures how terrifying outer space really is, and i think 'strangelove' cranks up the tension in an impressive way (espec if you see it in a theater).

hope all those repping for the children actually voted for it.

Dunno if it was mentioned, but afaik the original version of "The Exorcist" has never been out of circulation.

I highly recommend the commentary track to Kaufman's "Body Snatchers." Smart guy, smart movie. Once you hear it, you notice how many scenes have broken windows, cracked glass, etc.

Oh rats. I've never seen the Exorcist in the theater* and it's playing all over Chicago, but of course we'll be visiting family in a tiny podunk town.

*According to my mother, she and my father went to see The Exorcist at the drive in when I was a toddler. They couldn't get a babysitter and put me in the back of the VW Squareback with some blankets and toys. I slept at first but right about when things got really ramped up, I woke up and watched the movie. Mom said I had a good time, but I don't remember it so it doesn't count.

Speaking of movies in theaters, I saw The Shining in the theater a few years ago (maybe with La Lech and The Thnig? At the Gene Siskel Film Center?) and it was amazing. Seeing the Overlook decor on the big screen and hearing that incredible soundtrack was so disorienting and even though I've seen The Shining approx. one billion times, it scared me all over again. I have a lot more to say about this movie, but I'll wait until it places.

I saw The Exorcist in a theater back in the late 90s when they first did the theatrical release w/the restored footage. Had to drive up to Michigan from Cleveland to see it, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the audience laughed at both the 70s anachronisms (smoking in the doctor's office) and the scary parts. Savages.

man, I will be bummed if basket case doesn't even place.

you know i'm amazed how popular the 78 Body Snatchers is. it's really under the radar, at least in the UK.

What the...? As far as I've ever been aware, that Body Snatchers has been regarded as a classic.

Caught The Children on telly one time... it was okay. Still not seen The Brood, though!

[q]For ex: multiple shots where someone is far away (ie, 50 ft or so) from the camera but can still be heard clear as day on the audio track - completely violates the "found footage" conceit.

some dude already addressed, but yeah, I feel like I want to get all nit-picky/nerdy here, because IIRC they had a camcorder, a 16mm camera and a Nagra tape recorder, so this statement does not carry a lot of weight without some specificity.

― it was a dark and stormy genitals. (Phil D.), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 4:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my 15 yo memory is that there is a scene early on where they're crossing a river - the camera(wo)man and soundguy are back on one side and the other person is across the river on the other side talking and you can hear them clear as day. there was a bunch of incidental shit like this that was annoying.

― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 4:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink[q]

No other crew recording this scene, so it was recorded using the equipment the actors were carrying. I supposed a voice could be amplified in post production, but why this would this be a problem? It must get tiresome to be irritated by imagined technical problems in movies.

They showed The Exorcist in select theaters for one-night-only 2 years ago in Chicago, too. I went (alone) and man, was I glad I did. As mentioned by Carl re: The Shining, it's the SOUND that is most impressive in those situations.

Eagerly awaiting today's expected Romerosplosion.

Speaking of movies in theaters, I saw The Shining in the theater a few years ago (maybe with La Lech and The Thnig? At the Gene Siskel Film Center?)

With me, Jeff, and my coworker, at the Siskel. It was great!

I am absolutely going to see the exorcist in the theater!! Thanks VG.

Shining def. better in theaters. Exorcists less so because people are compelled to nervously/self-consciously deride the film. When I saw it a few years back, at its re-release, there were these teens behind me laughing and giggling for much of it. Eventually I actually did turn around and yell at them to shut the fuck up.

(Not that the movie is not worth making fun of, but if you're going to make the effort to show up to a theater, you know, shut the fuck up).

Thanks so much for this poll! My Netflix queue is now bulging with so much horror potential :) Haven't been able to post since I'm at work all day but just wanted to chime in that I totally voted for The Children. It's easily one of the best horror films I've seen in a while. Don't think it'll show up though.

Still not seen The Brood, though!

― emil.y, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 9:08 AM (53 minutes ago)

oh god RECTIFY

you know i'm amazed how popular the 78 Body Snatchers is. it's really under the radar, at least in the UK.

What the...? As far as I've ever been aware, that Body Snatchers has been regarded as a classic.

It was not a box-office hit, which had a much more deadening impact on aesthetic appreciation in the US post-Star Wars, imo.

I can't conceive of ppl voting for Snatchers78 and not '56, tho.

I voted for '56

I mean I threw my cronenberg vote to a dark horse but the brood is one of his best in terms of horror qua horror

I voted for both.

I might have said this up-thread, but there's been an unusual amount of better-than-average crazy-kid movies in recent years, including The Children, Home Movie, Joshua, Orphan, & Wake Wood. I think I'm forgetting a couple, too. Golden Age of psycho children, I tell ya.

xpost

yeah I don't remember the '78 snatchers getting a serious critical reappraisal till the 90s

posts vmic: I saw it in the theatres and had the fotonovel KJB posted a picture of

I can't conceive of ppl voting for Snatchers78 and not '56, tho.

No? I guess both are conceivably conservative horror movies.

well the '56 version had both anti-(Joe) McCarthy and anti-Communist interps.

I mean I can understand voting for neither, but not the later one only.

It was not a box-office hit, which had a much more deadening impact on aesthetic appreciation in the US post-Star Wars, imo.

I can't conceive of ppl voting for Snatchers78 and not '56, tho.

I didn't really mean classic-since-release - I believe EdIII is correct in his schematic that it was re-appraised from the '90s on, which would be 'ever since I've been aware'. And it would also mean that it's been regarded as a classic for around twenty years. Hence my surprise at pisces' surprise.

Think we had '78 vs '56 discussion on the noms thread, I actually prefer the '78 but I think both are great.

Still not seen The Brood, though!

― emil.y, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 9:08 AM (53 minutes ago)

oh god RECTIFY

― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Mittwoch, 23. Mai 2012 16:02 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same here. At least the awesome still of it used upthread pushed it right to the top of my must-see-stack.

...I realize that you almost never use "conservative" w/ political meaning re films. xxp

I prefer the US version of Let the Right One in for many reasons, but partly cuz the clips of Reagan were included.

Philip Kaufman got reappraised once he did a couple Big Important Movies (Right Stuff, Unbearable Lightness).

agree that exorcist sound design is incredible, with those jarring quiet-loud-quiet transitions. saw it twice in the theatres, once during an 80s revival, and again when the version-you-never-wanted-to-see made the rounds.

the director's cut is absolutely terrible, like they stuffed every scrap of completed footage back into the film, and it plays much worse for it. I saw it in RI, which is basically the most catholic state in the US, and yes ppl were tittering and it did not play well - but I think this is in large part due to an early scene where regan is shown at the doctor's office acting oddly. it was cut from the picture for good reason, it's unconvincing and silly, and the pitch-perfect pacing of the original gets soured by this misstep.

Man, The Brood bummed me out.

When are these eejits, from Lucas on down, gonna realize that ppl wanna see a pop phenomenon in the form in which it was first experienced?

well the '56 version had both anti-(Joe) McCarthy and anti-Communist interps.

I mean I can understand voting for neither, but not the later one only.

You conspicuously left one combination.

Greatly preferring the 78 to the 56 is no stranger to me than preferring Cronenberg's The Fly to Who?mann's.

Mom, Dad, don't fight!

I almost never like director's cuts. Like EIII said, shit gets cut for a reason. And I think egos get in the way when directors issue recut versions of films and they can't see where the edits were actually the right thing to do. All they can see is that somebody cut pieces out of something they made.

My biggest director's cut regret was when I was showing Jeff Apocalypse Now for the first time and listening to the bozo at the video store who insisted that the director's cut was better than the theatrical release. It is not.

I do like the DC of AN a lot but in general it's probably better to do the theatrical release first for any movie

The director's cut of The Wicker Man is better than the hacked-up one.

well, the two Flys don't have a helluva lot in common.

This does not qualify as a fight between Eric and me, are you new?

It's true that I'm thinking in terms of movies that were good to begin with, and that were cut by people who were good at what they do, and not by studios who have some other agenda. xp

NO IT ISN'T.

xxpost

"My BLOOD is on the Swedish, Swedish, Swedish, Swedish!"

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7255247912_9c573acc00_o.jpg

25. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN [aka Låt den rätte komma in]
Tomas Alfredson, Sweden, 2008
(547 points, 25 votes)

i'd prefer to think that it was just abt 2 lonely ppl rather than just some sort of vampire hypnosis
― t_g, Friday, November 7, 2008 7:47 AM (3 years ago)

It had its moments (cat attack) and was stylishly executed. It was also basically a lugubrious Afterschool Special for goth kids.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, November 8, 2008 3:12 PM (3 years ago)

No one I know got the castration thing.
― Alba, Monday, February 23, 2009 5:53 PM (3 years ago)

The two kids were terrific within the limitations of their roles, but I almost wanted the vampire to express some JOY at being a vampire and having these cool superpowers; angst comes way too easily to this genre.
― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, May 7, 2009 6:26 PM (3 years ago)

thankfully we are spared any lingering shots of plastic bags floating in the wind.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, January 25, 2010 10:53 AM (2 years ago)

Seriously, the long version of The Wicker Man just adds so many 'these people are completely mad and creepy' bits it loses all nuance. I mean, obviously you suspect that these people are completely mad and creepy, but there's still a bit of ambiguity and obvious paths to sympathy (that don't rely on purely thinking that Ewar Woowar is a twat). All lost in the long version.

Speaking of movies in theaters, I saw The Shining in the theater a few years ago (maybe with La Lech and The Thnig? At the Gene Siskel Film Center?)

With me, Jeff, and my coworker, at the Siskel. It was great!

you're both wrong because sarah and i were there too. i remember being pretty blown away by the sound design, having never seen it in the theater before.

I didn't vote for Let the Right One In, but I do like it a lot and I think it deserves to enter the canon, just maybe not this high...

Great still!

People are misunderstanding "director's cut" all the time now. Releases like the Touch of Evil restoration represent the way the filmmaker intended the theatrical release to be seen (altho ToE is kind of unique cuz they had memos, as opposed to an actual print, to go by). Now we get these iterations which are one step beyond the rough cut, ie, the "director's cut" that is the INITIAL complete version assembled, which is MEANT to be trimmed and refined. But now these usually inferior versions are foisted on the public to create extra revenue. God bless America.

The short version of Wicker Man is nonsensical in parts. Scenes chopped so crudely that soundtracks jump. On the other hand, I think there's more than 2 cuts out there, so we might be closer in opinion than we think. Ah, dammit, who cares, it's brilliant no matter what.

^^^ Truth

Wasn't the re-addition of the Exorcist stuff largely Blatty's fault anyway?

No one I know got the castration thing.

I certainly did not. I couldn't figure out the reason for the tight shot of the girl's weird crotch.

Oh, Let the Right One In was #27 for me. I did not get the castration thing either.

"Let The Right One In" gets a lot right about kids and bullies: Standing up to them doesn't make them stop or respect you, especially if you genuinely hurt them or draw blood. It makes them go ham on you.