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

my problem with the ending is that positing that the majority of the film's narrative was a hallucination raises more questions than it answers. As he was dying, he hallucinated information he could not possibly have known, including the explanation for his hallucinations (the chemist), Danny Aiello, his surviving platoon-mates having hallucinations, etc.? It's just... waht? There's plenty of good stuff in the film, but I felt kind of betrayed by its sloppy construction. The ending is like the scriptwriter going "omg look! What's that over there?" to the audience and then running away

xp

Confession: I always used to get Jacob's Ladder confused in my head with Flatliners.

Does someone grow a snake tail in this one?

The dance scene: classic.
The ice-water bath scene: classic.
The girls singing "Wait a minute, Mr. Postman" as he delivers mail: classic.
The nightmare hospital surgery sequence: classic.
His name being Jacob and the drug being called "the Ladder": dumb, but I forgive it.

Wow. I voted for Jacob's Ladder in the middle-ish of my ballot, but this placing is a surprise!

What Maurice Jarre did for the film is underrated even by film score nerds...

lol @ Flatliners. so bad.

LTROI is amazing. Let Me In almost as good.

They're totally worth watching back to back, or on successive nights. I like them about equally. Very different strengths.

Anyone ever read the much-longer original screenplay for this? Much more political, lots about Jacob trying to get the government to fess up to what the did in the war, culminating with a scene of him on courthouse steps, doused in gasoline, threatening to set himself on fire.

Elizabeth Peña: classic

Ha, Flatliners. My roommate in college put the bit where the little girl curses out Keifer Sutherland on our answering machine.

For two, uh, thematically similar movies, Carnival of Souls > Jacob's Ladder

main thing i remember about jacob's ladder aside from the dance party is him being stuck in the empty subway station at night

man if I didn't have dinner plans tonight I would rewatch JL

every time I think of Jacob's Ladder, the phrase "house party dance scene" comes to mind and I cringe a little

Pretty OTM. I think Jacob's Ladder wound up falling off the bottom of my ballot, but mostly just because it's been so long since I've seen it (like maye the year after it came out?).

(we are down to 21 spaces for the 22 films that came up yesterday, BTW)

I agree that the ending of Jacob's ladder is flawed. iirc this is in part due to studio interference & a sloppy rewrite. But still a great movie. It made my list.

(we are down to 21 spaces for the 22 films that came up yesterday, BTW)

― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:09 PM (23 seconds ago)

sorry guys critters 3 is not placing

I thought I would be shouting "TOO LOW" when JL came up considering it was my #1 but really, I think this is a great placement for it.

Oh god it just occurred to me. What if ironical troll 2 votes place it in the top 20.

side note: anyone interested in irl Jacob's Ladder stories, check out John D Marks' "In Search of the Manchurian Candidate." Holllyyyyy shit.

I'm also starting to think Last House on the Left may not place, which would be a shocker considering Henry, etc.

while I will amiably bend like the reed whatever the outcome, I wouldn't mind the top 20 being a little less chin-stroky.

"Coincidentally, I EAT GLASS for the Lord!"

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7235/7255248470_2ff4c904c2_o.jpg

21. BRAINDEAD [aka DEAD ALIVE]
Peter Jackson, New Zealand, 1992
(598 points, 19 votes)

I just watched Braindead for the first time in years and I want to change my vote to that.
― onimo, Saturday, June 23, 2007 8:07 PM (4 years ago)

I like it when matey shoots a huge fuck-off hole in a zombie, sticks his shotgun through the hole, then cheerfully shoots other zombies through it, using the first zombie as a shield.
― chap, Saturday, June 23, 2007 8:37 PM (4 years ago)

if you want dead alive just watch fucking dead alive, geez
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, October 7, 2009 4:26 PM (2 years ago)

xxxp Speaking of which one day we need to do a poll of the " . . . In Space!" horror sequels. Critters vs. Jason vs. Hellraiser vs. Leprechaun vs. ?

!!!! YAYYYYY BRAINDEAD

now that's more like it

ha, I just looked at my ballot and the highest-placing non-chinstroky movie is... Shaun of the Dead

What, Eric, no picture of the bloody custard available?

god I love Braindead so much. Like in a 'why don't you marry it' way

urgh

I am probably never going to see that movie, no matter how hilarious people say it is

Wow, no first place votes! I first watched this with my friend Aaron, who is a horror FREAK, on a DVD made from a badly-copied VHS import from New Zealand. We were both absolutely flabbergasted at its constant inventiveness and audacity, from the very beginning with the explorer dude to the time the credits rolled. Zombie intestines are among the all-time great movie jokes.

while I will amiably bend like the reed whatever the outcome, I wouldn't mind the top 20 being a little less chin-stroky.

― da croupier, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 5:15 PM (27 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed, and Braindead's presence (finally!) makes me v. happy.

part of my problem w/ jacob's ladder was that I was soooo ready to love it. great marketing campaign, at the time I was in college and suffering my own, uh, disconnections from reality... this movie had me in the palm of its hand. in the theater I was loving the hell out of it, but instead of being straightforward and just going for it, it got overly complicated and it felt like I was drinking sweat from the screenwriter's brow. such a letdown.

I checked back in again in the late 90s, and still found it problematic. maybe it's time for another watch.

love this movie

The crappy claymation rat-monkey, the zombie baby, the aforementioned shotgun gag, the zombie that is just a head from the eyes up getting kicked around the floor, everything in this is so, so, so, so great.

DJP you would probably love it too.

it's definitely too gross for some. my wife enjoyed the beginning and still bailed when the mom's blister popped during the love scene

btw i want people who declaimed "shaun of the dead" but are happy about "dead alive" placing to write a post justifying, at length, this dissonance so i can pointedly ignore it

i voted for both, my conscience is clear

Ditto.

i love both but only voted for Dead Alive, Shaun feels like such an ilx canon movie that it was going to place too high no matter what

Great great movie. could've stopped making movies here and Jackson's rep would have been secure imho.

we all know it's because one is popular and recent and the other is older and a cult movie so don't waste your fingerskin

JL: Totally forget to include that one, so add about 25pts to its surprisingly good result, very good and subtle build-up in the first half.

if anything jackson's rep would be more secure if he stopped making movies here imo

(I know n/a is talking about the exact inverse of ppl like me but...)

The reason why I loved Shaun but can't even face the idea of watching D/A has everything to do with the grossout factor. Why does a horror comedy have to be as gross as humanly possible for it to be good?

btw i want people who declaimed "shaun of the dead" but are happy about "dead alive" placing to write a post justifying, at length, this dissonance so i can pointedly ignore it

lol is this directed at me? Shaun of the Dead does maybe a quarter of the things Dead Alive does, and half as well.

I skipped Braindead/Bad Taste in this poll, but I voted them high in the comedy poll, very happy about one or both of them making it...

Yeah, I totally love and voted for both Shaun and Braindead.

if anything jackson's rep would be more secure if he stopped making movies here imo

tbf he did follow this with what I consider his best movie, Heavenly Creatures