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

Nominations are in and there are 734 movies that someone deemed worth of note. Only about 100 shy of the 835 or so movies nominated for the comedy poll. Good job, fellow genre geeks! Your years subscribing to Gore Zone were not for naught.

Feel free to big-up your last minute write-ins itt, but know that it's probably a lost cause. Lucky for you I went ahead and nominated The Cabin in the Woods a couple weeks ago because I knew you'd have wanted it that way.

After much soul-searching, I decided I couldn't go through with the ascending point value thingy, which would've given you only as many points for your top choice as you had films on your ballot (i.e. if you list 20 movies, your top-ranking movie gets 20 points; if you list 35, your top-ranking one gets 35). Mostly because it would've been a headache to tally.

That said, I am going to require a minimum of 20 movies on your ballot. Any ballot with less will be staked through the heart. SO ... submit your ballots to me in the same format as top comedies:

The Death of Nubile Emily – 50
Dave Gruebeck Takes Five (Lives) – 49
Hobo Boxcar Massacre – 48
etc.

I suppose if you are submitting a ballot of 20 where you don't actually feel all that enthusiastic about the bottom 10, you can feel free to give them less points than they would otherwise be given for placing in slots 11-20. Your call.

Polls are open for the next three weeks. Ballots should be sent to ephender AT gmail daht cahm

NOTE: As with the top 100 comedies and top 100 action movies polls, it's totally cool to campaign for your favorites here, but please do not reveal your own ballots.

Full nomination list:

1408
13 Ghosts (1960)
13 Tzameti
13: Game of Death
2,000 Maniacs
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
3 Women
30 Days of Night
Abandoned, The
Abby
Abominable Dr. Phibes, The (1971)
Absentia
Acacia
Addiction, The (1995)
Alice, Sweet Alice
Alien
Alien 3 (1992)
Aliens (1986)
All The Colours Of The Dark
Alligator (1980)
Altered States (1980)
Alucarda
Amer (2009)
American Psycho
American Werewolf in London, An
Amityville Horror, The (1979)
Anaconda (1997)
And Soon the Darkness (1970)
Angel Heart (1987)
Angry Red Planet
Anguish [Angustia] (1987)
Antibodies
Antichrist (2009)
Antichrist [L'Anticristo] (1974)
Apaches
April Fool's Day
Arachnophobia (1990)
Army of Darkness (1993)
Asylum (1972)
At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964)
Atrocious
Attack the Block
Audition (1999)
Autopsy [Sunspots] (1975)
Awful Dr. Orloff, The
Baby, The
Bad Ronald (1974)
Bad Seed, The (1956)
Basket Case (1982)
Basket Case 2 (1990)
Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1991)
Beast with Five Fingers, The
Beast Within, The (1982)
Beast, The [La Bete]
Bedlam (1946)
Begotten (1990)
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Bell from Hell, A
Beloved
Below
Beyond, The
Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The (1970)
Birds, The (1963)
Black Belly of the Tarantula, The
Black Cat, The (1934)
Black Christmas (1974)
Black Sabbath
Black Sunday
Black Swan
Blacula (1972)
Blade (1998)
Blair Witch Project, The (1999)
Blind Beast [Moju]
Blob, The (1958)
Blob, The (1988)
Blood and Black Lace
Blood Beach (1980)
Blood Feast
Blood for Dracula
Blood on Satan's Claw [Satan's Skin] (1971)
Bloodsucking Freaks
Blue Sunshine
Blue Velvet
Body Melt
Body Snatcher, The
Boy Meets Girl (1994)
Brain Damage (1988)
Brain Dead (1990)
Braindead [Dead Alive]
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Bride of Chucky (1998)
Bride of Frankenstein, The
Bride of Re-Animator
Brood, The (1979)
Bucket of Blood, A
Bug
Burn, Witch, Burn
Burrowers, The
Butcher, The
C.H.U.D. (1984)
Cabin Fever
Cabin in the Woods, The (2012)
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The
Call of Cthulhu, The (2005)
Calvaire
Candyman (1992)
Cannibal Holocaust
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)
Carnival Of Souls (1962)
Carrie (1976)
Carry On Screaming
Castle Freak (1995)
Cat and the Canary, The
Cat People (1942)
Cat People (1982)
Cathy's Curse
Cat's Eye
Cemetery Man [Dellamorte Dellamore] (1994)
Changeling, The
Chaser, The
Children of the Corn
Children, The (2008)
Child's Play
Christine
Church, The [La Chiesa] (1989)
City of the Living Dead [The Gates of Hell]
Class of 1984 (1982)
Clean, Shaven
Cloverfield
Cold Night's Death, A (1973)
Company of Wolves, The (1984)
Craft, The (1996)
Crazies, The (1973)
Crazies, The (2010)
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creepshow (1982)
Creepshow 2 (1987)
Cremaster 3
Cremator, The
Crimes of Passion (1984)
Criminally Insane (1975)
Cronos (1993)
Crowhaven Farm (1970)
Cube (1997)
Cujo
Cure [Kyua] (1997)
Curse of Frankenstein, The
Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Curse of the Demon [Night of the Demon] (1957)
Dagon
Dahmer
Dark Half, The
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
Dark Secret of Harvest Home, The (1978)
Dark Water
Daughters of Darkness
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Day of the Beast, The [Dia de la Bestia] (1995)
Day of the Dead (1985)
Day of the Triffids, The (1962)
Dead and Buried (1981)
Dead Calm
Dead End (2003)
Dead Kids [Strange Behavior] (1981)
Dead of Night (1945)
Dead of Night (1977)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Dead Zone, The (1983)
Deadgirl (2008)
Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977)
Death Line [Raw Meat]
Deathdream [Dead of Night] (1972)
Deep Red [Profondo Rosso] (1975)
Dementia (1955)
Demon Seed (1977)
Demons
Descent, The
Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978)
Devil Inside Her, The (1977)
Devil Rides Out, The (1968)
Devil's Backbone, The
Devil's Rejects, The
Devils, The
Diabolique [Les Diaboliques]
Disappearance of Alice Creed, The
Dog Soldiers
Donkey Punch
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Don't Deliver Us from Evil
Don't Look Now (1973)
Dorian Gray (1970)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Drag Me To Hell
Dreamcatcher
Dreamscape (1984)
Dressed To Kill (1980)
Driller Killer, The (1979)
Duel (1971)
DUMPLINGS!
Dunwich Horror, The
Dust Devil (1992)
Eaten Alive (1977)
Eden Lake
Embodiment of Evil
Entrails of a Virgin (1986)
Equus (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
Event Horizon (1997)
Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
Evil Dead Trap
Evil Dead, The
Evil, The
Evilspeak (1981)
Exorcist 3, The
Exorcist II: The Heretic, The
Exorcist, The
Exte
Eye, The
Eyes Of Laura Mars
Eyes Without A Face [Les yeux sans visage]
Faces of Death
Faculty, The
Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2003)
Faust (1926)
Faust (1994)
Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me Your Teeth Are In My Neck, The (1966)
Feast
Feed
Fido
Final Destination (2000)
Final Destination 2
Finishing Line, The
Fire Walk With Me [Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me]
Firestarter
Five Dolls For An August Moon
Five Million Years to Earth [Quatermass and the Pit]
Flesh for Frankenstein
Fly, The (1958)
Fly, The (1986)
Fog, The (1980)
Forbidden World [Mutant]
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Fourth Man, The [The 4th Man] (1983)
Frailty
Frankenhooker (1990)
Frankenstein (1931)
Freaks
Friday the 13th (1980)
Friday The 13th Part II
Fright Night (1985)
Frighteners, The (1996)
Frogs (1972)
From Beyond
From Beyond the Grave
From Dusk Til Dawn (1996)
From Hell
Frontiere(s)
Funhouse, The (1981)
Funny Games (1997)
Funny Games (2007)
Fury, The (1978)
Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Ganja and Hess (1973)
Gargoyles (1972)
Gate, The (1987)
Geek Maggot Bingo (1983)
Gemini
Genesis
Ghostwatch (1992)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
God Told Me To [Demon] (1976)
Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (1971)
Golem, The (1920)
Gothic
Gozu (2003)
Grandmother, The
Grave Encounters
Graveyard Shift
Gremlins (1984)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Grizzly Park
Grudge, The (2004)
Habit (1995)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (2009)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Hampshire
Hands of Orlac, The
Hannibal
Happiness of the Katakuris, The
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Hard Candy
Hardware (1990)
Hatchet
Haunted Castle, The [Le Manoir du Diable]
Haunting in Connecticut, The
Haunting, The (1963)
Haute Tension
Haxan (1922)
Hell Night
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Hellraiser (1987)
Hellstrom Chronicle
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Hidden, The (1987)
Hills Have Eyes, The (1977)
Hills Have Eyes, The (2006)
Hiruko the Goblin
Hitcher, The (1986)
Home Movie (2008)
Homebodies (1974)
Homicidal
Horde, The
Horror Express (1972)
Horrors of Malformed Men
Horseman, The
Hospital Brut
Host, The
Hostel
Hostel Part II
Hour of the Wolf [Vargtimmen] (1968)
House (1986)
House [Hausu] (1977)
House by the Cemetery (1981)
House of 1000 Corpses
House of the Devil, The
House of Wax (2005)
House Of Whipcord (1974)
House on Cuckoo Lane, The
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
House That Dripped Blood, The
House With Laughing Windows, The
Howling, The (1971)
Human Centipede 2: The Full Sequence, The
Human Centipede: First Sequence, The
Hunger, The (1983)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
I Drink Your Blood (1970)
I Saw the Devil
I Spit on Your Grave [Day of the Woman] (1978)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Ichi the Killer
Idle Hands (1999)
Images
Impulse (1984)
In My Skin
In The Mouth of Madness (1994)
Incubus
Inferno (Argento)
Initiation of Sarah, The (1978)
Inland Empire
Innocents, The
Inside [Ë l'intŽrieur]
Interview With The Vampire
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
Invisible Man, The (1933)
Irreversible
Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
Island of Dr. Moreau, The (1996)
Island of Lost Souls, The
Isle, The [Seom] (2000)
Isolation (2005)
It
It! The Terror from Beyond Space
It's Alive
It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive
Jack Frost (1996)
Jacob's Ladder
Jaws (1975)
Jennifer (1978)
Jigoku
Ju-on: The Curse (2000)
Ju-on: The Curse 2 (2000)
Ju-on: The Grudge (2003)
Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (2003)
Keep, The
Kill List
Kill, Baby, Kill! (1966)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)
Killers (1996)
Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)
Kissed
Kwaidan (1964)
Lair of the White Worm, The (1988)
Last House on Dead End Street
Last House on the Left, The (1972)
Last House on the Left, The (2009)
Last Wave, The (1977)
Lawnmower Man, The (1992)
Legend Of Hell House, The
Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural
Leprechaun 2
Let Me In (2010)
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Let the Right One In (2008)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Lifeforce (1985)
Lisa And The Devil
Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, The (1976)
Living Dead Girl
Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)
Lost Boys, The (1987)
Lost Highway
Lost, The [Jack Ketchum's The Lost]
Love - Zero = Infinity [Iyarashii hitozuma: ureru] (1994)
Love Letters to a Portuguese Nun (1977)
M
Macbeth (1971)
Machine Girl, The
Mad Love
Man Who Laughs, The
Mangler, The
Maniac (1980)
Maniac Cop
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Man's Best Friend (1993)
Marebito
Martin (1977)
Martyrs
Masque of the Red Death, The (1964)
Massacre at Central High (1976)
Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People
Maximum Overdrive
May
Meet The Applegates
Memento Mori
Memories of Murder
Messiah of Evil (1973)
Midnight Meat Train
Mimic (1997)
Mist, The
Motel Hell (1980)
Mother Joan of the Angels [Matka Joanna od Anio?—w] (1961)
Mother's Day (1980)
Mulholland Dr.
Mum & Dad
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly [Girly] (1970)
Murder Loves Killers Too
Murder Party
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
My Little Eye
Mystery of the Wax Museum, The
Nadja (1994)
Naked Blood [Splatter: Naked Blood] (1996)
Naked Lunch
Near Dark (1987)
Needful Things
Nekromantik (1987)
Nekromantik 2 (1991)
Night of Fear
Night of the Bloody Apes
Night of the Creeps
Night of the Hunted [La nuit des tranquees]
Night of the Hunter, The
Night of the Lepus (1972)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Nightbreed
Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A
Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, A
Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, A
Nightmare On Elm Street, A
Nightmares (1983)
Noriko's Dinner Table (2005)
Noroi [Noroi: The Curse] (2005)
Nosferatu (1922)
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)
Old Dark House, The
Omega Man, The (1971)
Omen, The (1976)
One Missed Call
Onibaba
Opera [Terror At The Opera] (1987)
Orphanage, The
Other, The (1972)
Others, The (2001)
Outer Space
Pan's Labyrinth
Paperhouse
Paranormal Activity
Parents
Peeping Tom (1960)
People Under the Stairs, The (1991)
Perfect Blue
Pet Sematary (1989)
Phantasm (1979)
Phantasm II (1988)
Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)
Phase IV (1974)
Phenomena (1985)
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picture of Dorian Grey, The
Pieces
Pin (1988)
Piranha (1978)
Pit and the Pendulum, The
Pit, The (1981)
Planet of the Vampires
Planet Terror
Poltergeist (1982)
Pontypool
Possessed, The (1977)
Possession (1981)
Prince of Darkness
Prom Night (1980)
Prophecy, The (1995)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho 2
Psychomania
Pulse [Kairo]
Pumpkinhead (1988)
Puppet Master (1989)
Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
Quiet Family, The
Quiet Place in the Country, A (1969)
Rabid
Race with the Devil (1975)
Raising Cain
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Ravenous (1999)
Razorback (1984)
Re-Animator (1985)
Rebecca
Rec [rec]
Rec 2
Re-Cycle
RED (2008)
Reflecting Skin, The (1990)
Repulsion (1965)
Requium for a Vampire
Return of the Living Dead III (1993)
Return of the Living Dead, The (1985)
Riding The Bullet
Ring, The (2001)
Ringu (1998)
Rituals (1977)
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The
Rogue
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
R-Point
Rubber
Ruins, The
Salem's Lot (1979)
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom
Santa's Slay
Satan's School for Girls (1973)
Sauna (2008)
Save the Green Planet!
Saw
Scanners (1981)
Schramm: Into the Mind of a Serial Killer (1994)
Scream
Scream, Blackula, Scream (1973)
Season of the Witch [Jack's Wife]
Seconds (1966)
Secret Window
See No Evil [Blind Terror] (1971)
Sender, The (1982)
Sentinal, The
Serbian Film, A
Serpent and the Rainbow, The (1988)
Session 9
Seven
Seventh Victim, The (1943)
Severance
Sexykiller (2008)
Shadow
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Shallow Grave
Shallow Ground
Shatter Dead (1994)
Shaun of the Dead
She Killed In Ecstasy
Sheitan
Shining, The
Shiver
Shiver of the Vampire
Shivers [They Came From Within] (1975)
Shock Waves
Short Night Of Glass Dolls, The
Shout, The (1978)
Shrooms
Shutter (2004)
Shuttle
Signal, The
Signalman, The (1976)
Silence of the Lambs, The
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Silver Bullet
Singapore Sling
Sisters (1973)
Slaughter High
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Sleepwalkers
Sleepy Hollow
Slither
Snuff
Society (1989)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
Son of Dracula
Species (1995)
Spider Baby
Spiral (2000)
Splice (2009)
Splinter
Squirm (1976)
Stacy [Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies] (2001)
Stalker (1979)
Stendhal Syndrome, The (1996)
Stepfather, The (1987)
Stir of Echoes
Stone Tape, The
Straight-Jacket
Strange Circus (2005)
Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh, The
Strangers, The
Straw Dogs (1971)
Street Trash (1987)
Stuck
Student of Prague (1926)
Stuff, The (1985)
Suicide Club
Super 8
Suspiria
Tale of Two Sisters, A
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
Tales from the Hood (1995)
Teeth
Tell Me Something
Tenant, The
Tenebrae
Terror Train (1980)
Tesis (1996)
Testament
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (1974)
Thankskilling
Theatre of Blood
Them [Ils] (2006)
Them! (1954)
They Came Back [Les Revenants]
They Don't Cut the Grass Anymore (1985)
They Live (1988)
Thing, The (1982)
Thinner
Thirst (2009)
Threads
Three
Three... Extremes
Throne of Blood
Through the Looking Glass
Tingler, The
To The Devil... A Daughter (1976)
Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
Tomb of Ligeia, The
Tombs Of The Blind Dead
Torture Garden
Tourist Trap
Toxic Avenger, The (1984)
Tremors (1990)
Trial, The (1962)
Triangle (2009)
Trick r' Treat
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Trouble Every Day
Twillight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Twisted Nerve
Twitch Of The Death Nerve
Two Thousand Maniacs!
Ugly, The (1997)
Uncle Sam
Underworld
Ungodly, The [The Perfect Witness]
Uninvited, The (1944)
Unknown, The (1927)
Untold Story, The
Uzumaki [Spiral]
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
Vampire Circus (1972)
Vampyr (1932)
Vampyros Lesbos
Vanishing, The [Spoorloos] (1988)
Vault of Horror, The
Versus
Videodrome
Village of the Damned (1960)
Village of the Damned (1995)
Violent Kind, The
Virgin Spring, The [JungfrukŠllan] (1960)
Visitor Q
Viy
Wages of Fear, The
Wait Until Dark
Wake in Fright
Warlock (1989)
Warlock: The Armageddon (1993)
Watcher In the Woods (1980)
Waxworks (1924)
Wayward Cloud, The [Tian bian yi duo yun] (2005)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
What Are These Strange Drops Of Blood Doing On Jennifer's Body?
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?
When a Stranger Calls
Whispering Corridors
Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968)
White Zombie
Who Saw Her Die?
Wicker Man, The
Wild Zero (2000)
Wishmaster (1997)
Wishmaster 2 (1999)
Witch Who Came From the Sea, The (1976)
Witchfinder General [The Conqueror Worm]
Wizard of Gore, The (1970)
Wolf (1994)
Wolf Creek
Wolf Man, The (1941)
Wolfen (1981)
Woman in Black, The (2012)
Woman in the Dunes
Woman, The (2011)
Woods, The (2006)
X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)
Xtro (1983)
Your Vice Is A Locked Door And Only I Have The Key
Zombie [Zombi 2] (1979)

I'm doing this only because jj asked me to. So we're voting for a maximum of 50, right?

this is gonna be tough. watched Fulci's "The Beyond" as, uh, "research" for this thread last night. pretty silly. plotless gore! loads of great setpieces tho. and the painting motif was a good touch.

Oops, yeah. Maximum ballot of 50. Minimum of 20.

hey where's Taxi Driver?

totally psyched to spend these intervening weeks catching up on old favorites & binging on ILX recommendations btw

Let the horror commence *cackles evilly*

I love The Isle by Kim Ki-Duk, but who the hell thinks it's a horror movie?

really no need to ask about that one w/ The Virgin Spring on there

Done. That was easy. Freakishly, I wound up with exactly 50 titles after breezing through the list once.

Soooo not a horror film: Wages of Fear, The

Really, this is a horror film?: 3 Women

well it's pretty creepy

So is Patch Addams.

Don't think anyone actually explicitly nominated Taxi Driver, ftr. But I'm sure it'll be on everyone's minds as they do their ballots now.

interesting that The Sixth Sense wasn't nominated. I guess it it technically more of a thriller or whatev, though there is enough spooky haunted house stuff, zombie-ghosts and what not, to qualify it imo. Personally, I do like it, but I prob wouldn't have voted for it in this. That's valuable real estate!

an accidental oversight, or perhaps simply indicative of how badly MNS's subsequent cavalcade of banalities has tarnished the esteem held for his one actually pretty good film (tbh tho I'd prob stan for Unbreakable over TSS, tho it's been a steep and steady decline from there..)

This is the first ilx ballot poll I've participated in w/o ghostbusters on the nom list.

Sixth Sense felt more supernatural drama than horror to me, the few shock scenes it had were tacked-on, as it clearly wasn't a scary movie at heart.

was decided early in the nom process that horror film does not necessarily equal scary film

the lack of something like the sixth sense is not because it's not a horror a film, but prolly because nobody was willing to rep for it on the nom thread

it was a shitty movie at heart

yeah, there are a bunch of these that i don't think of as horror films and i'm not a genre-pedant at all. 3 women is one of them -- wages of fear might cut it as a "suspense" film (as would, for another example, blue velvet), and truthfully i have difficulty of diabolique as a horror film (consequently, if wages of fear and diabolique are "horror" films, then why should le corbeau be excluded? if anything, le corbeau has more horror film elements than the foregoing clouzot films!)

but hey, easy enough to settle i won't include those on my ballots and everyone else can vote for whatever they want so ignore me lalalala.

http://www.gbfans.com/images/store/m/1554_2096451093.jpg

xp - surely GB is not enough of a horror flick to warrant inclusion here, tho I will say that this ^ scene scared the bejeezus out of me when I saw it for the first time in the theatre as a kid.

was decided early in the nom process that horror film does not necessarily equal scary film

What does "horror film" mean, then? Any movie with a supernatural element? Is that why movies likes like The Isle or Stalker, which have absolutely no scary scenes at all, are on the list?

...except that The Isle doesn't have supernatural elements either.

it's a movie where the primary conflict is resolved through gory setpieces

or devil babies

also creepy music

Glad Paperhouse is on the list. Another sort of unconventional horror movie, but really unnerving. I first saw it with about a dozen friends in college at my girlfriend's apartment, and I remember a few scenes where everybody in the room jumped at once.

also, is testament the 1983 film about nuclear war?!? i guess that it must be, since threads is also on the list.

Testament is possibly the scariest movie I've ever seen

I have no idea why Stalker was nominated either, unless it was a different one than the Tarkovsky movie. Or maybe the final shot (SPOILER ALERT?) tipped someone off into Carrie territory?

this is gonna be tough. watched Fulci's "The Beyond" as, uh, "research" for this thread last night. pretty silly. plotless gore! loads of great setpieces tho. and the painting motif was a good touch.

― Jilly Boel and the Eltones (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, April 16, 2012 12:51 PM (46 minutes ago)

the beyond is kind of like suspiria's slow brother, it tries to leap over yr aesthetic concerns by going for a similar pervasive atmosphere of terror, which translates to an almost poetic surrealism in some scenes, and a final sequence that is truly haunting. but it is a deeply stupid movie.

I love The Isle by Kim Ki-Duk, but who the hell thinks it's a horror movie?

i nominated the isle because it's suspenseful, grisly, disturbing and it maintains an atmosphere of dread. a lot of contemporary "horror" focuses more on ordeal than scariness. nominated ming-liang tsai's the wayward cloud at the same time for similar reasons, though that one's got more genuinely unnerving scenes (e.g., the porn basement). mostly just wanted to throw in some outliers.

it's a movie where the primary conflict is resolved through gory setpieces

If that's enough to make a horror movie, then why didn't anyone nominate Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

xp Its going to place for me on the final scene alone. Also my inherent weakness for foamy, pink blood.

re: The Beyond - it's funny how the plot is so non-existent, characters are established but then they do things and go places for no apparent reason, there's no discernible logic to the sequence of events etc

xp

edward III otm re: the beyond. i nominated it for its reputation, gore and atmosphere, and for its terrific conclusion, not cuz it's a conventionally good movie.

that was a joke Tuomas

xp

it's funny how the plot is so non-existent, characters are established but then they do things and go places for no apparent reason, there's no discernible logic to the sequence of events etc

this is actually a good description of a lot of horror movies from the 1980s onwards ...

The Beyond might be the only Fulci film from that era I love, much less like.

(xx-post)

To me the Isle just felt melancholy and beautiful, I can't remember any suspense in it. Sure, there's that one icky scene, but if something is horror because of an icky scene, regardless of the context, that sounds like a way too technical definition to me.

interesting that The Sixth Sense wasn't nominated. I guess it it technically more of a thriller or whatev, though there is enough spooky haunted house stuff, zombie-ghosts and what not, to qualify it imo. Personally, I do like it, but I prob wouldn't have voted for it in this. That's valuable real estate!

yeah, that does seem like a pretty surprising oversight. i'd meant to nominate it, but forgot. it's certainly not that i wouldn't be willing to rep for it. i love that movie.

The Beyond might be the only Fulci film from that era I love, much less like.

yeah, that was the other reason i nominated. i felt that fulci deserved representation on this list, and the beyond is the only film of his that i've ever really enjoyed.

The City of the Living Dead is awkward. Zombie is lugubriously paced and then there's a shark vs. zombie battle that's awesome in concept but *yawn* in execution. New York Ripper is grimy without being truly disturbing like Maniac.

oh come on contenderizer, Zombie is plenty entertaining. a zombie punches a shark! underwater!

lol xp to Eric

only saw the sixth sense once in the theaters and I have to give it props as a well-done horror film, I think most of the resistance to it is actually horror at what shamalama did afterwards

There's a few grindhouse nasties I forgot to nominate but probably that's for the best. Goodbye Uncle Tom is definitely some *kind* of horror movie, but maybe not this kind.

it's funny how the plot is so non-existent, characters are established but then they do things and go places for no apparent reason, there's no discernible logic to the sequence of events etc

every italian horror film

The Grim Reaper with Tisa Farrow probably should've been at least given a mention tho.

I am simultaneously cursing and thanking you for cutting off the nom process eric

Paperhouse! I totally need to rewatch that. I remember renting it from my local video shop as a kid and thinking I was all smart and fancy b/c a blurb on the box advertised it as 'the thinking person's Nightmare on Elm Street.' I don't remember much about it at all, save for that it creeped me out sufficiently, despite there not actually being some intellectually sophisticated version of Freddy (lol which I guess is what said blurb made me envision back then).

I consider something horror if some supernatural element or unexplained phenomenon is intrinsic to the plot, or the movie was designed to invoke a sense of horror (even if it doesn't). The only controversial nomination I made was Fire Walk With Me, but I stan for that as a horror movie because it is full of supernatural/unexplained things, it succeeds in evoking horror, and also it scares the bejeepers out of me.

it's funny how the plot is so non-existent, characters are established but then they do things and go places for no apparent reason, there's no discernible logic to the sequence of events etc

every italian horror film

― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Monday, April 16, 2012 5:55 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes! I kept trying to reply with "That's so Fulci!" but I was getting xposted into oblivion.

I know I know, it just seemed especially pronounced in this case. I kept laughing every time someone went down under the house by themselves just to, y'know, wander around.

I have no idea why Stalker was nominated either, unless it was a different one than the Tarkovsky movie. Or maybe the final shot (SPOILER ALERT?) tipped someone off into Carrie territory?

― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Monday, April 16, 2012 1:46 PM (9 minutes ago)

this was a carry over from darin's yearly horror polls, which were awesome and comprehensive but sometimes too broad in their inclusions. pretty sure I bitched about the stalker nom at the time.

see also: equus. one of my fave films but in no way a horror movie. unless you're a horse.

also, is testament the 1983 film about nuclear war?!?

Yup.

Testament is possibly the scariest movie I've ever seen

And yup. It's going to be very high on my ballot. I'm gonna limit my hardcore nominee stumping to Testament and Possession. If at least some of y'all made a point of seeing those two before voting, I'd be over the moon.

I can't decide if the fact that I can't bring myself to watch it as an adult means I should include it or not.

I meant to make this point on the horror thread, but I think if a future sci-fi poll is a "sci-fi and fantasy" poll, that will allow for some glaring misses to be rectified (e.g. king kong, godzilla).

*horror nom thread*

I mean, as weird as The Beyond is, the House by the Cemetery is completely incomprehensible. But should have placed in the comedy poll for the Little Bob's voice dub acting.

also, still finding movies missing from the nom list that have a shot on the lower echelons of my ballot *sniff*

burnt offerings (1976)

Zombie is lugubriously paced and then there's a shark vs. zombie battle that's awesome in concept but *yawn* in execution.

Is Zombie the one where the girl has her eyeball impaled on a jutting wooden splinter in super slow-motion, or was that COTLD? Either way, that is one most harrowing death scenes ever iirc.

I can't decide if the fact that I can't bring myself to watch it as an adult means I should include it or not.

I will tell you this: I found it just as horrifying and devastating as an adult as I did when I saw it as a kid. Feel free to take that as a recommendation or a dissuasive argument.

If I were going to vote in this*, I'd put Testament at #1 and fill the rest of the ballot out with 19 films I didn't think would get any votes.

(*which I'm not; I don't like horror films and haven't seen many)

What does "horror film" mean, then? Any movie with a supernatural element? Is that why movies likes like The Isle or Stalker, which have absolutely no scary scenes at all, are on the list?

― Tuomas, Monday, April 16, 2012 1:40 PM (25 minutes ago)

any movie nominated which eric h allowed as "horror" is a horror film for purposes of this poll. thank you and have a nice day!

I'd recommend you to vote, then, WmC! Do it for Testament's sake!

I thought Testament was a very powerful movie and all, but am a little weirded out at how many people are calling it one of their likely top vote-getters.

Is Zombie the one where the girl has her eyeball impaled on a jutting wooden splinter in super slow-motion,

Yeah! It's great!

Zombi's the only Fulci film i rate that highly, although Lizard In A Woman's Skin is better from a technical perspective.

xpost In a horror movie poll.

also as eric pointed out on the nom thread, "scary" is a terrible barometer for what is a horror film, since he's only ever been frightened by a handful of films

maybe wikipedia can help

Horror films are a movie genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus they may overlap with the fantasy and supernatural genre. Horrors frequently overlap with the thriller genre.[1]

Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about morbidity, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak and surrealism, they may be termed "horror".[1]

Plots written within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, satanism, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies, sadism and serial killers. Conversely, stories of the supernatural are not necessarily always a horror movie as well.

I'd recommend you to vote, then, WmC! Do it for Testament's sake!

― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, April 16, 2012 1:10 PM (32 seconds ago)

Nah, it would feel dishonest. I haven't looked at the whole noms list, but I'd be surprised if I've even seen 20 of them.

Horror films are a movie genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural

ergo, patch adams, i accidentally domed your son and the john-travolta-in-drag hairspray should've been nominated as well ...

I'm gonna limit my hardcore nominee stumping to Testament and Possession. If at least some of y'all made a point of seeing those two before voting, I'd be over the moon.

enthusiastically second possession. one of the few films i really think more people need to see before voting. pontypool too!

I thought Testament was a very powerful movie and all, but am a little weirded out at how many people are calling it one of their likely top vote-getters.

In the stew of elements that I feel make for an effective horror film, 'dread' is probably the most prominent. Testament is one of the most dread-full films I've ever seen. It's not a boilerplate horror film and probably all the more effective because it was never intended as such and because it doesn't use any tired formulae in its pursuit to make you feel dread.

lastly, there are 734 movies in the nom list, maybe a dozen of them are not horror movies, that still leaves over 700 real live horror movies for you to choose from

It is pretty horrible how dark the sky gets by the end.

If I did 50, The Sixth Sense wd certainly make ballot

however, I have a Big Poll project due 2 days after this one, so even 20 will be hard.

people can vote for whatever they want on the list ... and i haven't seen testament so i can't judge. it just seemed a bit odd to be included on a horror film poll, and i was curious as to why it was so included!

at least come and see isn't on our list

the beyond is kind of like suspiria's slow brother, it tries to leap over yr aesthetic concerns by going for a similar pervasive atmosphere of terror, which translates to an almost poetic surrealism in some scenes, and a final sequence that is truly haunting. but it is a deeply stupid movie.

Yes, joining in the OTM fest on this. I love The Beyond, particularly the ending, but overall it is silly silly silly. Also gonna OTM carl agatha on the ludicrousness of the dub in The House by the Cemetery.

Please, please, anyone who is thinking of voting for Testament, make sure you watch Threads before you vote. It is far superior, and far far far scarier.

also as eric pointed out on the nom thread, "scary" is a terrible barometer for what is a horror film, since he's only ever been frightened by a handful of films

I wish scary movies scared me more. I LOVE being frightened in a controlled context, but the emotional callouses one can develop indulging in such things have long since dulled any actual sense of visceral fear I once got from horror. Every once in a while, though. something will genuinely give me the heebie-jeebies. I've found that it usually has just as much to do w/ the context in which something is seen as it does the film (or book etc.) itself.

i don't mind the inclusion of films that have almost no relationship to horror as a genre, hell i nominated a bunch of them, but i'll be disappointed if they dominate the results. can't imagine they will, though, so no need to worry about it.

Exactly, if enough people think they're horror films for them to feature in the countdown, they're probably going to be horror films.

Please, please, anyone who is thinking of voting for Testament, make sure you watch Threads before you vote. It is far superior, and far far far scarier.

I do intend to see Threads before I vote. I somehow doubt, though, that British nuclear panic could possibly compare to good ol' American nuke-yoo-lar panic.</arrogantpatriotism>

another film that everyone should see before voting: ingmar bergman's hour of the wolf (vargtimmen). it's a real-deal horror movie in every respect: atmospheric, imaginative, dread-ful and haunted. plus lots of fun, intellectually rewarding and beautiful to look at. the perfect after-dark movie.

So out of curiosity I checked the list and have seen 73 of them, almost exactly 10%. I'm surprised!

Having only just watched it, I enthusiastically second that recommendation. xpost

however, I have a Big Poll project due 2 days after this one, so even 20 will be hard.

Odds I'll extend the ballot window another week are pretty high.

I do intend to see Threads before I vote. I somehow doubt, though, that British nuclear panic could possibly compare to good ol' American nuke-yoo-lar panic.</arrogantpatriotism>

Threads is easily one of the most harrowing movies I've ever seen.

Actually, I believe I was thinking of The Day After, not Testament when I posted that, don't think I've seen the latter one. TDA is also a good film, but totally doesn't compare to Threads.

threads > testament > the day after

Day After is practically a joke next to Testament imho

i will also stan for hour of the wolf. good news, it's available on Netflix Instant and it's only 90 minutes so if y'all have nothing else to do y'all should watch it.

i've only seen a few parts of threads -- the parts immediately before, during and immediately after Sheffield gets nuked. the day after doesn't hold a candle to those scenes.

add some more >>>>>'s then

xp

on the subject of Ingmar-horror, i'll also stan for the virgin spring ... you get to see a young, buff Max von Sydow uproot a birch tree, rip off its branches and flog himself before doing his ass-whuppin'. it's also available on HuluPlus.

The Day After was like a soap opera with some mild sadness in it.

With Threads, I felt like some of the actors actually died making the movie

the day after shook up RonaldRreagan to the point where he thanked the director after he signed a missile treaty with the Soviets. but not even threads could melt Margaret Thatcher's cold reptilian heart.

i thought that the day after, while soapy, eventually managed to be quite powerful. haven't seen threads for comparison.

threads really is in a class by itself, not sure if I'd vote for it in a horror poll tho

I mean it is trying to disturb and horrify, and is wildly successful in doing so, but there's a social conscience aspect to its intent that doesn't really jive w/ my conception of horror

that said SEE THREADS

repeat if you have not seen threads SEE THREADS

this will be your final warning

The Day After is like having your mom give you a long lecture about being careful when walking through the park by yourself at night

Threads is like walking through the park at night and being jumped by three muggers who kick you in the face until all of your teeth are knocked out, jump up and down on each of your limbs until they shatter, then strip you naked, drag you out to the sidewalk and throw your battered body in front of a speeding bus

that makes me never want to see threads. it's a fitting description of stuff like funny games and kidnapped, my single least favorite approach to "horror".

xpost I'd vote for a movie that actually depicted that, provided the muggers were backwoods, incestuous triplets.

i mean, threads is supposed to be more moving that just brutal and despairing, right?

do plan to watch it no matter what

There's a heavy Italian bias to the things i nominated. Along with the big names like Argento, Bava, Fulci and Martino, i'd definitely recommend catching something by Aldo Lado. A lot of his films (Night Train Murders, for example) aren't all that good but the first two he directed, Who Saw Her Die? and The Short Night Of Glass Dolls, are excellent.

Who Saw Her Die? is an obvious riff on Don't Look Now, as George Lazenby rushes around Venice trying to work out who murdered his daughter, but i prefer it in a lot of ways. The Morricone score is one of his best too.

The Short Night Of Glass Dolls is arguably even better. Jean Sorel is found "dead" in the street and carted off to a mortuary. He's actually only paraylsed and has to work out, from his mortician's slab, what happened to him. It has one of the most memorable endings in the genre.

Testament is like discovering that your dog just finished eating an entire box of D-Con.

Except instead of your dog IT'S YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY.

that makes me never want to see threads. it's a fitting description of stuff like funny games and kidnapped, my single least favorite approach to "horror".

see, this is partly why I'd never rep threads as a horror film. it's drama, or maybe heavy dystopian sci-fi. it takes the concept of nuclear winter and extends it out to its logical conclusion in a very matter of fact way. it's harrowing in the same way holocaust films are harrowing. there's nothing gothic or grand guignol about it.

A lot of straight horror films could stand to be more 'matter of fact' and less 'grand guignol'.

I'd actually argue that, in a lot of cases, the extent that a horror film veers away from 'matter of fact' is the extent to which it pulls its punches. I enjoy a great deal of stylistic variation within the genre, but the pulled punches are the reason I find very little of the genre legitimately scary.

see, this is partly why I'd never rep threads as a horror film. it's drama, or maybe heavy dystopian sci-fi. it takes the concept of nuclear winter and extends it out to its logical conclusion in a very matter of fact way. it's harrowing in the same way holocaust films are harrowing. there's nothing gothic or grand guignol about it.

I sort of agree with that, though I do think the ending takes it close to horror. But I am making an exception for its inclusion by voting for it on how much it makes me TERRIFIED, which I'm not going to judge many of the other films by.

Also, I know what DJP's getting at with his analogy (it's brutally intense) but I find it is more the deep dark futility of all action that gets to me, rather than any overt display of brutality.

Oh, I want to second ShariVari's recommendation of Short Night of Glass Dolls, too. Probably won't be high up on my ballot, but is pretty likely to make it in.

Given that The Day After more or less ruined my childhood, I don't think I'm going to watch Threads.

On my first pass through the nominations list, I've already got 53 yeses, 56 maybes, 22 movies to revisit, and 36 that I want to watch before voting.

lolsob

I just culled it down to the 60 I'd actually seen and plan to weed out from there

OH BTW y'all really need to watch Apaches, too

it will ruin your life

Now Apaches has the bluntness and random, wonton death I've come to expect from great horror.

I wonder if they'll let me take a three-week sabbatical from work to get this all sorted out.

I have a shortlist of 80 or so that I might conceivably vote for(including the five or six movies I'd like to try and watch before voting) pared down from a list roughly three times as long of movies I've seen (and largely wouldn't dream of voting for).

the only apaches i could find on Netflix was some East German propaganda film from 1973. although Stalinist propaganda and life behind the Iron Curtain were quite awful, i'm assuming that this isn't the horror film apaches that people are talking about now?!?

this is also something horrible & european from the 1970s and it's also about apaches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo4glASbEh4

apaches was a public service type flick from the UK to convince kids not to play on farm equipment

here ya go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0GyRz_lOQA

*thread goes silent as everyone watches apaches*

I think the thing that pushes Apaches firmly into the realm of horror is the aparent nonchalance of the adults. Oh, three of your playmates have died on that farm in as many days? Well, pay it no mind, dear. Run along and play now. It's infanticide by proxy, I tells ya.

more discussion of Apaches here: Public information HORROR film.

Hmmmm. Amaches may be getting a couple points.

I think the thing that pushes Apaches firmly into the realm of horror is the aparent nonchalance of the adults. Oh, three of your playmates have died on that farm in as many days? Well, pay it no mind, dear. Run along and play now.

i interpret this more as LOL Britishes than LOL horror.

just submitted a ballot. i think most of the ilx hardcore horror crew would not be happy with it, it's pretty canonical and i tend to favor non-gore-heavy movies, but i had a few idiosyncratic choices that i wanted to make sure got points or else i wouldn't have bothered voting

Oh, y'know, I shoulda nominated Burnt Offerings. That movie creeped the hell out of me.

It's on there, I think.

Wait, no. Sorry!

I mean, I don't think it's probably a good movie. But as a teenager, it spooked me.

I'd actually argue that, in a lot of cases, the extent that a horror film veers away from 'matter of fact' is the extent to which it pulls its punches. I enjoy a great deal of stylistic variation within the genre, but the pulled punches are the reason I find very little of the genre legitimately scary.

"punches" certainly have something to do with horror, but aren't usually all that scary in and of themselves (jump scares notwithstanding). a film that simply and graphically depicted an child being burned with a lighter for an hour or two couldn't be accused of pulling any punches, but it probably wouldn't be at all scary. it would simply be repulsive and dispiriting. i completely disagree with deric here. matter of factness has no relationship to scariness. i'm not more scared by a knife wielding maniac in a film than a ghost simply because i think the former is more likely to exist. i'm not more scared by realism than fantasy. the scariest thing, imo, are the inchoate shapes the evocatively sculpted unknown can conjure in our minds. this is david lynch's best trick, and his films are hardly "matter of fact".

the scariest thing, imo, are the inchoate shapes the evocatively sculpted unknown can conjure in our minds.

see, I think the scariest thing is subject-verb disagreement

lol THINGS

I actually think we're agreeing in a weird way, contenderizer. When I say 'matter of fact' in this context, I'm not talking about bluntness or jump scares or realism (crazy dude vs. Lovecraftian Other) but rather the method of presentation. Camera tricks and spoooooky scores and anything OTT and showy are always, AFAIC, going to undercut any scares that a horror movie might've otherwise delivered. I'd argue that, by the definition I'm utilizing, Lynch's films are incredibly 'matter of fact' and, as a result, super effective. I suppose 'subtle' is a better word? It's about creating a substrate of normalcy that lulls the viewer into a false sense of security before letting things go horribly awry.

agreed, contenderizer. mystery/the unknown is much more effective than laying everything out. making something familiar/normal/matter-of-fact takes away what makes it frightening - or if it's something sadistic or disgusting that really shouldn't be normalized/made familiar, then it's just cruel and depressing

Camera tricks and spoooooky scores and anything OTT and showy are always, AFAIC, going to undercut any scares that a horror movie might've otherwise delivered.

i'm even more lost now. lynch relies heavily on effects and music to generate a sense of dread.

figure you're drawing a distinction between that which reads as "horror cliche" and other means of generating atmosphere. on that level, i agree. old-fashioned "spooky" organ doesn't seem scary anymore because it's become familiar.

I mean, I can see the horror of being forced to face some abject condition, like Cronenberg-style body horror, but if it veers too much in to some demystified, scientifically-clinical, almost sociopathic perspective on the condition then it's taking away the alienation and repulsion that actually makes it horrific and becomes a sociopathic gaze

re apaches: LOL death by drowning in animal shit

on the subject of Ingmar-horror, i'll also stan for the virgin spring ... you get to see a young, buff Max von Sydow uproot a birch tree, rip off its branches and flog himself before doing his ass-whuppin'. it's also available on HuluPlus.

Does its availability on HuluPlus make it horror too?

I think Through a Glass Darkly is the creepiest of the Bergmans I've seen. (Whether or not it's a horror film.)

that's what i get by forgetting english composition basics, i suppose.

xpost

ah didn't see Deric's response xxp.

I mean, I can see the horror of being forced to face some abject condition, like Cronenberg-style body horror, but if it veers too much in to some demystified, scientifically-clinical, almost sociopathic perspective on the condition then it's taking away the alienation and repulsion that actually makes it horrific and becomes a sociopathic gaze

this is an interesting distinction, though i'm not sure about the "sociopathic gaze" part. i strongly dislike what i consider sadism-as-horror, where the horror element is simply the spectacle of prolonged suffering, dehumanization and despair. this type of horror is often very matter of fact, but i rarely find it scary or otherwise compelling.

figure you're drawing a distinction between that which reads as "horror cliche" and other means of generating atmosphere. on that level, i agree. old-fashioned "spooky" organ doesn't seem scary anymore because it's become familiar.

Yes, this is what I mean. Me am no good describe things today. Standard horror movie scoring, for example, often detracts from scariness, whereas the use of source music or Lynchian sound effects/scoring (or no music at all) tends to be much more effective.

I'm starting to suspect that our ballots won't be too stylistically dissimilar from one another, contenderizer.

that apaches film is something else ... it's one part dry horror, one part critique of American cultural imperialism (the flower of British youth playing Cowboys and Indians and running around w/ popguns imitating Starsky & Hutch), and one part surrealism. i also just found out via Wikipedia that it was directed by the same guy who directed the long good friday (one of my favorite British films of all time).

I've been pretty busy w/ lolwork of late & missed a lot of activity on the previous thread.. I'm just curious is Mr. Hal Jam has chimed in on any of this. I have much love for all yall ilx horror stans, but that dude's ballot is the one I'm most curious about (if he submits one, that is).

the girl who tastes the poison and then dies screaming later that night was the one that REALLY got to me

that, and the parents solemnly emptying the dead kids' dressers

I'm just curious is Mr. Hal Jam has chimed in on any of this. I have much love for all yall ilx horror stans, but that dude's ballot is the one I'm most curious about (if he submits one, that is).

yeah, i'd be interested in hearing from HJ, too, but i don't think i've seen him posting on horror threads since i returned a few months back

when we were in grade school, we had one gross-out contest where we had to answer whether we'd rather drown in a tubful of shit or a tubful of vomit.

"I would prefer not to."

I said mr hal jam's name 3x into a mirror at midnight on the nom thread and he still didn't appear

Oh, y'know, I shoulda nominated Burnt Offerings. That movie creeped the hell out of me.

I mean, I don't think it's probably a good movie. But as a teenager, it spooked me.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Monday, April 16, 2012 4:04 PM (1 hour ago)

same here, it's not a very good movie but it has some super creepy parts. namely:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/burnt_offerings.jpg

this is an interesting distinction, though i'm not sure about the "sociopathic gaze" part. i strongly dislike what i consider sadism-as-horror, where the horror element is simply the spectacle of prolonged suffering, dehumanization and despair. this type of horror is often very matter of fact, but i rarely find it scary or otherwise compelling.

― BEMORE SUPER FABBY (contenderizer), Monday, April 16, 2012 4:36 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This seems like a very tricky distinction to make wrt horror in general. Anything short of an actual snuff film that is made w/ respect to the genre, even tangentially, will generally have at least some element of the macabre - I would say this is true of even the most sadistic examples of recent 'torture porn' & 70s exploitation. I could see rejecting something like Salo or I Spit on Your Grave on such a basis, but both of those are on the far-flung fringes of the genre anyway, and might not even constitute inclusion as legit 'horror' by many (though I tend to allot fairly wide parameters personally).

Also, p sure you came to the defense of Cannibal Holocaust when I ranted about the turtle scene some years ago - and if CH doesn't epitomize what you're talking about, what would?

Standard horror movie scoring, for example, often detracts from scariness, whereas the use of source music or Lynchian sound effects/scoring (or no music at all) tends to be much more effective.

agreed on this. I'd say the problem today is an overreliance on a certain kind of jumpy post-Mtv editing and color treatment (that originated in late-90s Marylin Manson/nu-metal videos) that tries really hard to be cool/edgy (in a Hot Topic/mallgoth/WB/CW-series/Slipknot way) rather than scary (maybe the horror version of the raised-eyebrow-poochie-Pixar-film problem?), and especially a lazy fallback on loud booms and cracks and jumpscares (not to be confused with Lynch's nightmarish use of sound and atmosphere). horror trailers almost completely rely on loud cracking noises and lame Korn aesthetics

speaking of which, have y'all seen rob zombie's woolite commercial???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj87E-bc3xE

^ tops the list of things I'd never thought I'd say back when I was blasting white zombie's soulcrusher in my bedroom in 1988

lol

'don't let your laundry get tied up into a Slipknot"

Also, p sure you came to the defense of Cannibal Holocaust when I ranted about the turtle scene some years ago - and if CH doesn't epitomize what you're talking about, what would?

I'm not a Cannibal Holocaust defender and never have been (unless I'm forgetting something). The animal cruelty is bad enough, but I find the whole thing infuriatingly hypocritical, pretending to condemn what it flagrantly wallows in. Plus it's slow, ugly and boring.

I'm not a big fan of the seedy underbelly of exploitation cinema, tbh. I've seen a lot of it, but have few favorites that fall into categories like 'torture porn', 'extreme horror' or '70s exploitation'. There are certain visions and attitudes that I just can't enjoy, and they seem all but inescapable in certain subgenres. Wanton cruelty, misogyny, prolonged torture & rape, brutal nihilism: these things are almost always dealbreakers for me, unless distanced by means of camp (thinking of HGL's Blood Feast and the Findlay's Her Flesh films, for example).

but more importantly what do you think of rob zombie's woolite commercial

that, and the parents solemnly emptying the dead kids' dressers

Dan, you need to watch Testament. It's basically about solemnly dealing with inevitable horror. I was just skipping through clips on YouTube (the whole thing is available in sections) and feeling very intensely overwhelmed by the remembrance of certain scenes (a mother quietly sewing her dead daughter up in her bedsheets, LUKAS HAAS IN THE SINK). No one can tell me this isn't horror!!

I did not realize Rob Zombie directed that, but I'm completely unsurprised. Which is the opposite reaction I had to seeing that commercial in prime time.

I'd say the problem today is an overreliance on a certain kind of jumpy post-Mtv editing and color treatment ... that tries really hard to be cool/edgy ... rather than scary ..., and especially a lazy fallback on loud booms and cracks and jumpscares... horror trailers almost completely rely on loud cracking noises and lame Korn aesthetics

yeah this. the scratchy film, twitchy fonts and industrial tones approach is absolutely THEE WORST thing about contemporary horror aesthetics

yeah, I hate that shit

I'm not a Cannibal Holocaust defender and never have been (unless I'm forgetting something). The animal cruelty is bad enough, but I find the whole thing infuriatingly hypocritical, pretending to condemn what it flagrantly wallows in. Plus it's slow, ugly and boring.

hmm.. sry baout that then. Maybe your were playing devil's advocate, or maybe I'm completely mistaken!

lol nu-metal horror

speaking of which: no-one bothered to nominate either of Insane Clown Posse's movies (both of which could be considered "horror" i suppose).

nu-metal horror is only horror in it being an extremely unpleasant aesthetic experience

anyone see the lordi movie?

ha no, it was in my netflix queue but I think it expired

wth was it called lonely floors or something

DARK FLOORS

should've used spic n span!

keep meaning to watch it, then forgetting, or thinking of something better

I mean what could possibly be better than the lordi movie

good question

I had no idea Lordi were in that! I've been skipping past it on the Lovefilm menu but i'll have to watch it this weekend.

don't forget abt DEATH BED ppl!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkxVmLHIMk

fyi the death bed is the bed that EATS

Finishing off my ballot, and I realize that even though Jaws is one of my favourite films of the decade, it doesn't feel like a horror film to me. I can't really make a credible argument as to why--I can't say it's because there's no supernatural element, as I'll be listing other films that don't have that either. I can't even say it's because so much of takes place during daylight hours; that's true of The Birds, too, yet that feels more like horror to me. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm just wrong--but I'm leaving it off.

No, I get that. Jaws doesn't feel like horror to me. A thriller, sure, but not horror (although the difference between the two could take all day to parse). It has something to do with directorial choices, at the end of the day. Compare, for example, the emergence of the shark in the "We need a bigger boat." scene with the emergence of the tripods in War of the Worlds (one of the only real "horror" sequences I can think of in Spielberg's oeuvre). In the first instance, Spielberg directed the scene so as to invoke surprise and exhilaration in the audience. In the second, he directed it so as to invoke panic and dread.

sacrifice to the fire pit in temple of doom is another spielberg horror moment. visit of the saucer-lights to the house in close encounters arguably swings that way too. nothing in jaws registers as horror to me. it's a thriller, a man-against-nature survival tale.

you guys

Spielberg was an uncredited director on Poltergeist

Lots of Spielberg horror moments in the two Jurassic Park movies he directed, and in Schindler's List, too.

Fuuuuuuuuck how did I not notice that burnt offerings never got nominated

Also: The Terminal. Like, the entire movie, amirite.

Also also: yeah, Dan, but I still don't think that's technically been substantiated. I was just going with what we know.

Oh, Duel was kinda horror-y, iirc.

you guys

Spielberg was an uncredited director on Poltergeist

oh i know, but i've argued abt that too many times to want to go into it again

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.

but I was too lazy ;_;

Also, I will be miffed if the American Ring gets in above the Japanese original. Not because it's bad or anything (I haven't seen it) but simply because the Japanese one was great, and the remake basically took away a load of its potential audience (I realise it also gave the story to some people who would never have watched the original, but you can see what I mean when you note someone who seems to have a good grasp of horror like c.a. dress up as Samara instead of Sadako).

xpost the first two times I saw Ringu the phone went off exactly as the credits rolled. The first time was a prank by my friend I watched it with, but I was completely alone when I watched it the second time, and nobody knew I was watching it. I did not answer, hell no.

Sorry to say, The Ring will be on my ballot but Ringu won't make it. I just didn't like it that much.

;_;

sound design in ringu is p amazing iirc

I've seen ringu a bunch of times but never had the desire to rewatch the ring

wonder if it's one of those things where whichever you saw first will always be yr fave?

ringu is good, true. ring is one of the few non-embarrassing horror remakes of the 21st-century.

i am probably more seduced by american ring because it is more "technically assured" or wtfever.

though in many ways it did unfortunately launch the "everything looks like it was shot under flickering fluorescent lights and through blue-grey filters, even the outdoor scenes" thing.

Speaking of stuff to see before voting, marebito is an unsung masterpiece imo. Also shutter is on Netflix streaming fyi.

marebito sounds great! will watch asap

interested due to the presence of tsukamota as much as anything else, i have to admit...

man my ballot is just embarrassingly m.o.r.

but i have to go with my heart

or maybe my gut, given the subject

and while we're on the subject of recent japanese stuff, i wanna put in a word for Noroi: The Curse. it's a documentary-style horror film, not perfect, but very clever and spooky as hell. recommended to anyone who dug ringu and/or ju-on.

uh, "tsukamota" = shinya tsukamoto

man my ballot is just embarrassingly m.o.r.

Exactly what I thought when I sent in mine. More than with comedy, more than with almost any music list I assemble, my horror-film ballot was like an AFI list (with a predominance of post-Psycho picks). I guess horror films bring out the stodgy classicist in me.

here's to stodgy classicism

http://www.therealmusician.com/images/pie-in-the-face.jpg

Seeing Possession on the list, makes me wonder if anyone's seen Zulawski's On The Silver Globe...

I haven't, but, judging by descriptions, I suspect it deserves some sort of mention.

Actually, I've been meaning to mention three key writers on the genre: 1) Robin Wood, for The American Nightmare--I've mentioned that book a few times; 2)David Pirie, who wrote A Heritage of Horror about Hammer Films (where I found out about The Conqueror Room and The Devil Rides Out and things like that; 3) Carlos Clarens, who may have written the earliest genre history. It's been ages, but they all influenced me when I first started paying attention to this stuff.

on the silver globe usually considered sci-fi.... pretty sure there's a zulawski thread around here somewhere

xp

lol @ the conqueror room

hammer stuff got under-nommed but it's been so long since I've seen most of the frankenstein/dracula series I'm not sure which I'd even vote for. I don't think a single one of those films got nommed? very disappointed in you brits tbh

i thought about nominating some of that stuff, but tbh, i'm not very familiar with it, so i figured i'd leave it to others. surprised that no one here seems to care about that era.

i feel like redoing my ballot and including nothing but unearthed and toetag films.

if i won't speak up for slaughtered vomit dolls, who will?

SOME NOTES:

- Seeing Coffin Joe nominated thrills me, largely because all I can remember of his movies is him being not so much evil as obnoxious, moody, and self-righteous.

- DUMPLINGS!! is an eyecatcher on that list.

- Leprechaun 2 nominated, but not Leprechaun.

HEADS UP TO VOTERS:

DON'T FORGET Def By Temptation!

hammer stuff got under-nommed but it's been so long since I've seen most of the frankenstein/dracula series I'm not sure which I'd even vote for. I don't think a single one of those films got nommed? very disappointed in you brits tbh

Hammer films are like Carry On films in that they're mostly good but quite similar to each other, the only one I can think of that really stands out is Witchfinder General (was that even Hammer?). Also they turn up on tv a lot, or used to at least, so they don't seem like anything special here.

"The Conqueror Room"--yikes. Vincent Price rides around the English countryside, trying to rid the country of...I can't even figure out a punchline for that one. Maybe should have gone with Witchfinder General.

The Conqueror Room: Vincent Price rides around the English countryside, trying to convince Denny that two is great, but three is a crowd.

"You're tearing me apart, Hopkins!"

hammer stuff got under-nommed but it's been so long since I've seen most of the frankenstein/dracula series I'm not sure which I'd even vote for. I don't think a single one of those films got nommed? very disappointed in you brits tbh

Hammer films are like Carry On films in that they're mostly good but quite similar to each other, the only one I can think of that really stands out is Witchfinder General (was that even Hammer?). Also they turn up on tv a lot, or used to at least, so they don't seem like anything special here.

― 0O0O0O0O0 (Matt #2), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 8:14 PM (8 minutes ago)

there are a couple of hammer films nommed, just not any from the dracula/frankenstein camp. I get the cultural fatigue but it strikes me as, like, not nomming any of the corman poe adaptions.

also roomfinder general is not a hammer film

It's Tigon, right?

yeah tigon/aip

I dunno maybe those hammer films just haven't aged well

The Pirie book may have been about British horror films in general, with a focus on Hammer. But I see The Conqueror Worm's in the first Danny Peary cult-movie book, so maybe that's where I first found out about it.

Just scanning over a list of Hammer films, and yeah, most of them do blur into one for me. For some reason I thought Theatre of Blood was a Hammer, but noooo.

peary's cult movies turned me on to so many movies in the 80s

i missed all the threads/testament discussion earlier, but like i said in the noms thread, threads is a lock for my top ten. and unlike e3, it totally fits my definition of horror, or at least one of them. i can't think of anything much more horrifying than the complete breakdown of human society, especially since [SPOILERS?] the ending hints at a slight hopefulness for survival that's even more horrifying than the entire destruction of all organic life on the planet, and in the best horror movie tradition it makes the whole thing gripping (if not thrilling).

plus it's available to watch in its entirety for free on google video. #hintsfromstrongoise

I nommed Dracula: Prince of Darkness. It's got a lot more action than a lot of Hammer Dracula films, and Christopher Lee is in fine form. Also nommed The Woman in Black, which I'm not expecting a lot of support for but I loved it.

Nine ballots so far. No movie shows up on more than six, and only two boast that number.

Almost wish I could've preserved the results in amber at four ballots. The number one movie would've shocked the hell out of everyone.

it's i accidentally domed your son amirite?!?

Original or remake?

i missed all the threads/testament discussion earlier, but like i said in the noms thread, threads is a lock for my top ten. and unlike e3, it totally fits my definition of horror, or at least one of them. i can't think of anything much more horrifying than the complete breakdown of human society, especially since [SPOILERS?] the ending hints at a slight hopefulness for survival that's even more horrifying than the entire destruction of all organic life on the planet, and in the best horror movie tradition it makes the whole thing gripping (if not thrilling).

plus it's available to watch in its entirety for free on google video. #hintsfromstrongoise

― jesus christ (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:03 PM (Yesterday)

I can see why somebody would consider threads a horror movie, it's pretty horrific, and I've gone back and forth on it myself as y'all debate. but for some reason threads feels more akin to bleak desolation fests like pixote or come and see. they all depict hell on earth, it's just in threads it's a hell that hasn't yet occurred.

OK, so I just copy-pasted the nom list into Word so I can start winnowing out the ones I haven't seen and go from there, and it runs 16 pages.

cutting one of 2,000 Maniacs! and Two-Thousand Maniacs could help bring it down to 15

Who's the joker who nommed Donkey Punch?

?

it is a horror movie. maybe theres 2 w/the same name or something, but this was abt bad things happening on a bout

man my ballot is just embarrassingly m.o.r.

Mine's in progress, but it's looking pretty much like this will be the case for me, too. I wish I could vote anonymously. Eric, are you judging voters?

Not at all. My own ballot is probably apt to strike a few participants here as ... well, whatever the horror movie equivalent of Biskand is. I think all of my top 5 are American horror movies 1968-1979. Can't help it.

dont worry i am working up some totally strange internal rules for my ballot that will make mine a glorious mess

btw on the "hey give this a shot before voting" tip both deadgirl and session 9 are on streaming netflix

also i just started narrowing down my list and good god this is a fucking nightmare

Drew down to 100 before making the hard choices.

Sadly I winnowed down to 6 pages by eliminating what I haven't seen. And expect mine to be pretty MOR as well.

I actively hated Session 9 and I thought it was pretty clearly garbage but then people whose opinions I value told me they liked it. That was surprising.

thought it was pretty great until the end. atmospheric, scary as hell, great soundtrack, decent performances - all undone by a predictable and heavy-handed conclusion.

I liked Session 9 but I think it's going to get cut from my ballot.

as I generally don't like gore or the '70s, I will be filling in your dead zones.

I openly welcome your ballot.

well shit even with my wacky rules i still have 88 left, plus a bunch of stuff i feel terrible about excluding

and i have a bunch of stuff lined up to watch before voting that i havent seen

arrghhhhh

^ same here, have threads and marebito ready to go for tonight. can't imagine that threads will make the cut, as "horrific" does not = "horror" in my book, but who knows?

fyi I have reversed my decision and will not be putting screaming racist cake on my ballot

btw on the "hey give this a shot before voting" tip both deadgirl and session 9 are on streaming netflix

heartily second the deadgirl recommendation. very well done, but not for the squeamish. will prolly end up somewhere on my ballot?

did not much care for deadgirl but maybe i need to (ugh) rescreen

mostly i find myself wanting to rewatch films on my ballot i havent seen in ages

henry: poask you fucked my shit up at age 12. will you still do so at age 34? etc etc.

my votig strategy turned out to be some lame (but apt given the subject) what had the most impact on first seeing and maybe thereafter thing

btw i will prob give anything that is on streaming a shot if people want to pimp particular movies. i would say the same thing about netflix but my queue is sitting somewhere around 500 already so that way lies madness. if anyone knows an easy way to get a hold of noroi: the curse that is one that i desperately want to see before voting but netflix doesnt even have it on disc so angryface

That's a pretty good strategy, actually. xp

not sure how to get ahold of noroi, jjj. i, uh, cataracted it.

would also like to rep for messiah of evil - had never even heard of it until it got some votes n love in darin's 1973 poll. at a historical midway point between carnival of souls and suspiria, it brings to mind the former's horror-in-everyday-life and the latter's color scheme and shot composition. while I wouldn't put it on the same level as those two, it's worthwhile if you dig slow-paced creepy arty horror flicks from the 70s. I know I do.

FUN FACT: walter hill plays the guy who gets killed in the first scene.

WARNING: don't watch the version on youtube. it has a goofy alternate soundtrack, and it's cropped which really impacts one of the film's strong points, those great 'scope setups.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/moe_1.png
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/moe_2.png
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/moe_3.png
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/moe_4.png
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/moe_5.png

also just noticed that entrails of a virgin is on the nominations list. slay classy, ilx ;)

dang, that looks nice, edIII. big pix tho.

I like big pix and I cannot lie

fyi I have reversed my decision and will not be putting screaming racist cake on my ballot

I don't think this joke is getting the credit it deserves.

'Messiah Of Evil' is fucking great, especially when Albino Jandek dude asks his passenger 'Do you like...Wagner?' (Wagner prounced like Robert Wagner, not Richard Wagner). Love.

^ yeah I love that bit

Craig stole my post.

Just wanted to mention that the wonderfully-named Twitch of the Death Nerve is A) great, and B) perhaps better known today as Bay of Blood (original Italian title, Reazione a Catena). It's a 1971 film by Mario Bava that's sometimes credited with kicking off the "body count" or slasher sub-genre. Clever, suspenseful and funny, with excellent gore effects by Carlo Rambaldi. Recommended to fans of Argento, Bava, De Palma and bloody mystery thrillers in general.

http://bt.eutorrents.com/imagehost/images/reaziohmh.jpg

Huge influence on Friday The 13th. I like it a lot but it missed my ballot in the end. Still went with lots of Bava though.

First pass got it down to 90 movies or so. Suspect that getting it to the core 50 won't be hard at all. The problem I'm having (or rather the regret I expect to have) is that there are so many all-time classics that I absolutely have to vote for that there won't be much room on my ballot for oddball personal choices and dark horse contenders.

More than anything else this whole thing is a very welcomed opportunity to actually watch all that heavily recommended and eagerly anticipated stuff that keeps piling up for years. Still unwatched, waiting beside me and literally ready to be popped in at any second:
Angel Heart (1987)
Apaches
Brood, The (1979)
Calvaire
Images
Marebito
Night of the Hunter, The
Onibaba
Possession (1981)
Repulsion (1965)
Session 9
Short Night Of Glass Dolls, The
Shout, The (1978)
Them/Ils (2006)
Threads

Now if I just had an evening on my own that would last approx 20 consecutive hours.

These are essential:

Onibaba
Possession (1981)
Repulsion (1965)
Threads

I really need to see Night of the Hunter, but I honestly don't think I'm going to get around to it before the end of the poll.

As for coaxing people in watching films that may or may not change their life to the better: If you don't have to already, maybe make sure to get hold of Spoorloos (for the ending), Messiah of Evil (for the beautiful set design of the beach house), Hausu (for the sheer spectacle and inventiveness) and Pulse/Kairo.

If I find the time, a Possession/Threads double feature will get the ball rolling in a promising manner, me thinks.

Angel Heart (1987)
Apaches
Brood, The (1979)
Calvaire
Images
Marebito
Night of the Hunter, The
Onibaba
Possession (1981)
Repulsion (1965)
Session 9
Short Night Of Glass Dolls, The
Shout, The (1978)
Them/Ils (2006)
Threads

great list. i'd be surprised if you didn't come out with 5 or 6 new favorites. would add night of the hunter, the brood and calvaire to those upped by emil.y. need to see the shout myself.

And watch Apaches too if only cause it only takes a half hour.

I'm torn on voting for Night of the Hunter. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and would go in the top 5 of any all time movie list for me, but I never considered it a horror film. I can certainly see it, but it has never resonated for me in that particular way.

^^^

i'm gonna wind up voting for it, but it definitely rides the edge for me, more than almost anything else that'll be a gray area on my ballot.

Oh damn didn't even see it on there. Add about 49 points to the final tally.

night of the hunter is clearly a borderline case, but it exemplifies much of what i want out of a horror movie: it's inventive, dreamlike, wildly stylized, lushly atmospheric, and suffused with a particularly voluptuous sort of dread. this is what i want more of in horror. what i want less of are the things i expect i'll find in threads: harrowingly realistic depictions of human suffering. what night of the hunter lacks are supernatural elements, jump scares and a clear relationship with horror as an established genre, but that's okay with me. i see it as a forerunner of lynch, and lynch is easily my single favorite horror filmmaker.

It also looks back, I think, to some of the dreamlike qualities of the earliest horror films. The amazing scene in the kids' bedroom when Mitchum's shadow is thrown on the wall reminds me of Caligari, other shots remind me of Whale's Frankenstein, etc. I voted for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9LnkKQfuc

I think rewatching that clip convinced me that I should vote for Night of the Hunter in every poll, genre be damned.

The first time I saw it and she says, "It's a hard world for little things" I might have cheered, that scene is just that good.

it is the best movie

It also looks back, I think, to some of the dreamlike qualities of the earliest horror films. The amazing scene in the kids' bedroom when Mitchum's shadow is thrown on the wall reminds me of Caligari, other shots remind me of Whale's Frankenstein, etc.

OTM

and yeah, that does give it a "clear relationship with horror as an established genre"

i'd put night of the hunter on the horror film side of the ledger b/c it contains so many essential elements of that genre -- an evil, almost supernatural villain (Mitchum); atmospheric mise-en-scene; scared little children running in legitimate fear of their lives; a magic talisman of sorts (the little doll!).

i have a harder time w/ stuff like 3 women or straw dogs as horror.

my current poll dilemna is which one of the 2 robert aldrich/bette davis-as-crazy-old-biddy films to include on my ballot ... to wit, whatever happened to baby jane? or hush ... hush, sweet charlotte. my inclination is to vote for both -- and both are worthy and given you LOL philistines mine may be the only votes that either gets -- but including both is a bit excessive.

I went through first and bolded my no-question absolute mortal locks and came away with 28, which leaves me 22 slots to play with. And gives me opportunity to watch a few things before I send in my ballot.

btw Eric are you doing stills, or do you have someone doing them for you?

i called dibs on doing the stills, but if any of you have any nice screengrabs you'd like to have included, plz feel free to email them to s t g e r t z @gmail

Lol Apaches.

I can understand every 3rd word these kids are saying. So far the dialog doesn't seem too necessary for understanding what leads to each incident.

Wot in Christ's name are they saying, though??

Except for the inter-mortality parts, and WTF @ those?

LOL the kiddies' American accents are amazing!

got it down to 57 on a second pass. gonna be tough from here on out, specially cuz i got a bunch of stuff to watch before ranking and submitting.

You all convinced me to vote for NotH. I hope you're happy.

http://www.motivationalmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/old-and-happy.jpg

I can't believe Audrey Rose didn't get nominated.

The nomination's list looks great! Can't think of anything that should be there but isn't. Reading this thread, however, has made me feel like I have missed a lot essential films. Can someone recommend a few (5 or so) titles that more on the side of eerie, spooky sets/soundtracks (rather than "jump scares")? I'm thinking of stuff like Kairo, perhaps or the videos from the ring movies (obv. I have seen both of these).

Kwaidan
Onibaba
The Cremator
Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders
Martin

could be that kind of thing I guess, although most of those are borderline horror.

you could try 'cure', also by kiyoshi kurosawa, which relies heavily on low frequency drones and ominous wind sounds for atmosphere. same goes for 'eraserhead', but you probably knew that.

I can't believe Audrey Rose didn't get nominated.

Before I rewatched it a couple of years ago I probably would have nominated and voted for it purely on personal impact. My mom and I watched that when I was a youngin' and to this day we still whisper "Is she Ivy Templeton… or AUDREY ROSE?" at each other and mime burning our hands on cold window glass. But you know what? That movie is boring.

xpost

RANDOM THOUGHT, AFTER ANOTHER GLANCE AT THIS POLL:

Who'd be keen on a poll on God Told Me To vs. Cure?

xxpost- Thanks ☆ and Matt. Yes, Eraserhead is the perfect example!

But you know what? That movie is boring.

POSSIBLE SPOILER I can't believe at what's his name's trial his defense is based on selling the jury on reincarnation. That lecture on Hinduism ran a little long. The whole trial drags on waaay too long. There are a few creepy parts and I like the actor who played Ivy/Audrey. Anyway, yeh, it's fairly boring.

okay, so i watched apaches earlier this evening. lol is all i can say. won't make my ballot, but i did enjoy it.

i see your apaches british people, and i raise you the wonders of american drivers ed films (machanized death, red asphalt, etc.)

this is not an endorsement, do not watch these, unless you are looking to vote for faces of death and then fill out the rest of your ballot

Whittling it down to 50 was so painful I've made a list of 51-100 too, just to calm myself down.

i called dibs on doing the stills, but if any of you have any nice screengrabs you'd like to have included, plz feel free to email them to s t g e r t z @gmail
― picture jean rollin (Pillbox), Wednesday, April 18, 2012 8:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes. I am eternally grateful too, btw.

Obviously this is Eric's and Pillbox's call, but my own feeling on stills: atmospheric/moody rather than bloody corpses/exploding heads. I know many would strongly disagree.

atmospheric/moody would keep things unambiguously SFW, for those for whom that's a consideration

(although I'm not sure atmospheric/moody would capture what people were attracted to with movies like "Dead/Alive")

It is possible to like more than one style within a genre. I consider Dead/Alive more of a comedy, but might put it in the 40s if I get that far.

That some of you you are sufficiently immersed to make an individual list of 100 top horror films might give you an idea of my emotions during the comedy poll, when ppl were throwing their votes together in 15 minutes.

I'm not pissed off at the people who are throwing their horror movie ballots together in 15 minutes. I'm happy they feel enthusiastic enough to contribute to a horror movie poll.

sure, but Matt #2 may feel differently.

I am struggling with my ballot, probably largely because of the many movies I know I liked but that I don't remember very well. I would like to rewatch some things, especially Anguish, Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and Dementia/Daughter of Horror, but also Black Cat, Blood on Satan's Claw, Burn Witch Burn, Kill Baby Kill, God Told Me To and others.

I think I nominated the 1926 Student of Prague but really meant the 1913 version.

I watched Apaches last night.

Sadly, netflix seems to have neither Threads nor Testament on dvd (I don't have streaming). Not that I would probably vote for them here anyway but after what people have been saying I would really like to see them.

Link posted upthread by strongo - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023790698427111488

(Threads)

I saw Testament on PBS when it was new. It was OK; it's not horror. It's not "top" material list, except maybe Top Jane Alexander Films.

She sorta vanished after becoming SAG prez, no?

my first pass has 123 movies, yikes. time to get out the scissors. and the butcher's knife. and the axe. and the scythe. and the chainsaw.

Jane does tons of theatre, always has. You remember theatre, tha thing nobody goes to.

xp

I only meant movies since that's the poll; she's a Living Legend onstage.

Jane Alexander missed her window of opportunity to be the next Linnea Quigley.

Taking my time. I appreciate a slow heart sinking reveal as much as a quick scream out loud scare.

I also regret not participating in the nomination stage :(

Will survive

what would you have nommed that isnt there? i could be convinced to do some write-ins (although its not like i need more movies on my shortlist but whatever)

no wicker man 2

haha i still haven't seen cowboys for jesus!! can you believe that?

anyway let me collect my thoughts (i am enlisting a lurker as well) and will post when i have a list

for instance, is whoever slew auntie roo? on there?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvLdTFQ9RGU

Shelley Winters plays an eccentric widow who loves her children to death. A modern retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story.

I had a list of around 15 films I was about to nom when the voting opened

That reminds me of the existence of What's the Matter with Helen? Not that I remember if it's good or not but I think it's in the same vein?
There were actually a number of things I was thinking of nominating but didn't for some reason or another. Some of them got nominated but other people, some didn't.

the only thing on the missing list I thought I would've voted for was burnt offerings, but looking at my ballot now it didn't have a chance tbh

What's the Matter with Helen?

B- psychobiddy

I have this at home but haven't watched either one.

http://content9.flixster.com/movie/11/12/36/11123615_det.jpg

Hag horror! I love it.

Was going to mention What's the Matter with Helen next!!! I think it's better than Auntie Roo by a pretty wide margin.

Neither are as good as Baby Jane -- not even Charlotte -- but for color + splashy + crazy old ladies, you can't go wrong with Helen or Roo.

and don't forget mark lester as a murdering preteen sociopath in night hair child, possibly the best name for a film ever

Which is a good time to mention a dreadful TV movie that scared me silly in the early '70s: The Devil's Daughter, with Shelly in the Ruth Gordon role.

http://cdn100.iofferphoto.com/img3/item/383/583/548/the-devil-s-daughter-1973-dvd-shelley-winters-rare-d916a.jpg

Abe Vigoda!

Watched Marebito last night on jjjusten's recommendation. It's a low-budget Japanese horror film by Takashi Shimizu, director of both the Japanese and American vesions of Ju-On/The Grudge, and starring Shin'ya Tsukamoto, director of Tetsuo, the Iron Man and its sequels. Pretty great! I don't know that it's a masterpiece, but it reminded me a lot of Kiyoshi Kurosawa films like Cure and Pulse, spliced together with Tsukamoto's punk experimentalism, Shimizu's finely-honed creepiness, and lots of nods to Lovecraftian pulp horror. Dreamlike, strange and quite unpredictable.

http://i2.listal.com/image/1122254/600full-marebito-screenshot.jpg

Holy shit, must see The Devil's Daughter!!

I was pleased that Watcher in the Woods was on there. It was My First Horror Movie!

xxp - The international title, A Stranger from Afar, gives a pretty good idea of the film's themes and tone, plus sounds very much like something Lovecraft or one of his contemporaries might have written.

watched Repulsion (finally) last night. awesome. was this controversial/a big deal when it was released? It seems several steps beyond Psycho, which was just a few years earlier.

I was pleased that Watcher in the Woods was on there. It was My First Horror Movie!.

yeah, I nommed it cuz it was one of my first, too. loved it at the time, though i haven't seen it in forever.

LL, The Pit is on the nomination list and a certain person you live with wasn't even involved in the process.

See, I knew you all would take care of me.

Another film I really want to go to bat for here is Dementia, aka Daughter of Horror. One of the most remarkable films I've ever seen, an hour-long, dialogue-free, first-person Freudian head trip from 1955 that follows a frightened and disturbed young woman down a rabbit hole of her own making. It's similar in many ways to Polanski's Repulsion, dealing as it does with sexual psychosis, and also to the films of David Lynch, especially Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire. It's hard to believe, in fact, that Lynch and Polanski didn't crib heavily from it. The soundtrack is gorgeous, and the stylized, deliberately artificial imagery recalls German expressionist filmmakers like Weine and Murnau. It's scary, brave, campy, arguably feminist and deliriously surreal. Hard to believe that it was made five years before Hitchcock's Psycho. Would make my top 10 list even if this poll wasn't limited to horror films.

Advertising:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_myX5Q4qMDhY/SlTzeTEHitI/AAAAAAAACdY/k3U3APjH1ls/s400/dementiatitle+copy.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qDiXNzuPtUA/TEkE80BIVrI/AAAAAAAABnk/Na7VZcPN4zw/s400/dementia-01.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_myX5Q4qMDhY/SlTzeGSEMJI/AAAAAAAACdI/bkrcoD8KkTU/s400/dementia2+copy.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/dementia/w448/dementia.jpg?1289451447

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_myX5Q4qMDhY/SlX_C1zOw9I/AAAAAAAACd4/DsZSMu9mjA8/s400/Dementia2ffff.jpg

holy crap will watch!

wow great stills

thx

not quite horror but I would recommend Suddenly Last Summer for the atmosphere/sense of terror as well

one of the charms of marebito is that shimizu shot it in 8 days and basically was using it as a palate cleanser between ju-on and the usa grudge, which obv doesnt add merit to the film inherently but does make the result kind of amazing. it def doesnt feel like a speed run film at all.

Re Watcher in the Woods, it was an earlyish scary movie for me, too -- I guess I was 10 or so. Remember it being spooky but not much else about it. The movie that did scare the living hell out of me at that age (or maybe a year earlier?) was the Body Snatchers remake, which is definitely going on my ballot. I think I literally didn't sleep for a few nights afterward. (Actually, the original Body Snatchers might make the ballot, too.)

I still feel the terror when I see Mitch McConnell

http://images.politico.com/global/news/100913_mitch_mcconnell_ap_328.jpg

Dementia / Daughter Of Horror seconded, the DVD I have actually has 2 versions, one with narration and one (the original I think) without.

Weird retro art horror fans, check out Jigoku! It's very strange.

http://nicolasheller.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/jigoku-screenshot-15.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews24/a%20jigoku%20criterion%20dvd/a%20jogoku%20JIGOKU-19.jpg
http://subwaycinemanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Jigoku1-759562.jpg

http://srv14.movie-list.net/sexmaniac/img/jigoku2.jpg

yeah jigoku is rad. dementia's been on my to-watch list for years.

putting together my ballot is reconfirming my love of downbeat 70s b-movies: let's scare jessica to death, shock waves, shivers, homebodies, lemora, messiah of evil, deathdream, the other. try to creep me out while employing glacial pacing, a burbling electronic score, and lots of film grain, apparently I will love you forever.

in some weird way I consider the evil dead to be part of this tradition except everything's turned up to 11.

one of the charms of marebito is that shimizu shot it in 8 days and basically was using it as a palate cleanser between ju-on and the usa grudge, which obv doesnt add merit to the film inherently but does make the result kind of amazing. it def doesnt feel like a speed run film at all.

― Badu and a sax run hand-in-hand (jjjusten), Thursday, April 19, 2012 10:05 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It does and doesn't, imo. I'm not surprised that it was shot in a hurry, but it never feels rushed or thrown together. It often has a distinctly improvisational feel, like I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Shimizu just told Tsuakamoto to react silently to situations and characters about which he knew little in advance. I love how fragmentary and loosely connected it all is, though nothing feels unfinished or unanswered in the end.

Obviously this is Eric's and Pillbox's call, but my own feeling on stills: atmospheric/moody rather than bloody corpses/exploding heads. I know many would strongly disagree.

― clemenza, Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:45 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't know, I think the stills should either be representative or intriguing images, and I imagine there'll be a fair few placers that would need bloody corpses/exploding heads to fulfil the 'representative requirement'.

Also, crap, Dementia is going on my to-watch list.

I want to strongly campaign for 964 Pinocchio but I know next to no one has seen it :'(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SHlSJIw99o

Also am ashamed w/ how many films on this list I haven't even seen (Jigoku, Kwaidan, Onibaba, The Thing, Phantasm, etc...)

more ppl have seen pinocchio 764 than you think, ilxors have repped for it before. don't think rubber's lover was nommed.

Wd also rep for Lord of Illusions but everyone seems to hate that one too

I like 964 Pinocchio and Rubber's Lover quite a bit, but probably not enough to push either into my top 50. Would like to see the former again, as it's been at least 15 years.

Hey, for anyone curious about Dementia but unable to a hold of a proper copy (it's available through Netflix), it can be viewed in criminally low quality on YouTube. Not recommended, but might do in a pinch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMeSo_4aIBU

Stevie D, you must see Kwaidan.... it is available in a beautiful Criterion edition. AND Eric hates it!

I like onibaba more than kwaidan... but I would

surprised ugetsu wasn't nommed tho maybe that's more fantasy than horror? been a long time since I've seen it and don't remember much about it.

Not a big Kwaidan fan. Lovely but rather inert, imo.

According to DVDBeaver the Criterion DVD has fucked-up colors and 20 minutes of missing footage :(

Not enough missing imo. (just kidding. I don't hate that movie. I just think its no ugetsu. Or creepshow.)

Creepshow otm

Yes, inert is a good word.

I LOVE Ugetsu-it is one of my favorite movies-but it never would have occured to me to nominate it in a horror poll.

re Kwaidan:

•A 163 minute version is now available on Region 1 DVD as a part of the Criterion Collection. The (Region 2) Masters of Cinema DVD is the first video release to contain the full 183 minutes of the original Japanese cut of the film.

•Originally a four-episode anthology released in Japan at 183 minutes. The USA version removes the second episode, starring Keiko Kishi and Tatsuya Nakadai, in order to shorten the running time to 125 minutes.

So really, at the time the CC was released I guess they couldn't get their hands on the original material. It was enough that they restored the fourth episode that had been completely excised from the US release.

well Ugetsu is nominally a ghost story, like The Uninvited.

From what I remember, Ugetsu was mildly freakier than Kwaidan.

But I'll stop, since it's bad manners for the poll host to engage in politicking.

A ghost story may or may not be horror, I would say.

I never found Ugetsu horrifying or freaky, maybe in part because I identify with the ghost.

Just previewed the first couple minutes of "Dementia." Wow, that does look amazing. Soprano in the credits music is Marni Nixon!

Not that you can't be horrified while identifying with the source of horror...or even because you identify with the source of horror...
(xpost)

I don't think netflix has Dementia on disc does it? I really don't want to watch it on youtube. I think the half hour, public service film Apaches is about as far as I'm willing to go down that route.

Have been thinking about the relationship of "ghost story" to "horror" ever since I first saw The Devil's Backbone (which I will be seriously voting for, btw). It's in many respects a straight drama, and the ghost is more a figure of sympathetic pity than fear, but I nonetheless consider it one of the best horror movies of the last decade or so. The combination of supernatural elements, gothic atmosphere, creepy suspense and occasional jolts of real terror are enough to convince me that it belongs on my ballot.

The ghost story is one of the most basic and essential "scary story" models, and tbh, I'm inclined to consider almost any at least moderately creepy movie featuring ghosts part of the horror genre.

I don't think netflix has Dementia on disc does it? I really don't want to watch it on youtube. I think the half hour, public service film Apaches is about as far as I'm willing to go down that route.

It had copies of the Kino edition a few years back. Haven't checked recently. And yeah, it's gonna suffer for the low tube quality a lot more than Apaches.

there are plenty of movies with ghosts I wouldn't consider horror, anything from ghost to fanny and alexander

harry potter

etc