ok lets all shit our pants to something old: pre-2006 horror film thread

kinda on the fence about Alien tho tbh

I still maintain that the horror element of the Alien series is minor in comparison to the sci-fi & action elements. Iirc I refused to vote for it in the big horror poll despite it being awesome because I didn't think of it as properly horror (and then hypocritically put Threads as my number one, ha).

yeah that's how I feel about it - and the sequels definitely foreground the sf and action

It's Alive had two sequels.

If we're making a case for the Romero Dead movies, one could make a similar case for the Psycho sequels. I won't be stumping hard, but they arguably count.

wellll original Psycho is pre-1970 cutoff though

Night of the Living Dead is 1968.

i do think that 'aliens' has a decent amount of horror elements, mostly w/r/t the hopelessness and the fact that those aliens are nasty and scary creatures. i think roger ebert's review is pretty otm in some respects:

The ads for "Aliens" claim that this movie will frighten you as few movies have, and, for once, the ads don't lie. The movie is so intense that it creates a problem for me as a reviewer: Do I praise its craftsmanship, or do I tell you it left me feeling wrung out and unhappy? It has been a week since I saw it, so the emotions have faded a little, leaving with me an appreciation of the movie's technical qualities. But when I walked out of the theater, there were knots in my stomach from the film's roller-coaster ride of violence. This is not the kind of movie where it means anything to say you "enjoyed" it.

the intensity and wrung-out feelings are correct although tbh i enjoyed it happily

we talked about NotLD already. Genuinely feel like Psycho (the original film) is a different animal and almost really of a different genre than Night of the Living Dead (which functions in many ways as the birth of the modern horror genre imo)

Amityville

Oh, someone aleady said Amityville so not Amityville.

Uhh...Puppet Master?

(xxp) I missed emil.y's comment, apologies.

Scanners?

Maniac Cop

Texas chainsaw massacre 2 is all time amazing. Hellraiser 2 is the best of the series. Both are going to get owned since everything after the second installment is face-punchingly terrible.

there were multiple Scanners sequels?

Maniac Cop is a good call

There's three main Scanners films and an additional two spinoffs.

Scanners sequels were direct-to-video = disqualified

OK I'm gonna set this up today unless people have any other nominations/suggestions

House. Tho not seen any and prob rubbish.

lol House. had no idea that made it to three films. I remember the first one being okay in a stupid way, plus George Wendt was in it

House had three sequels (The Horror Show wasn't labeled as such in all markets, and I think the fourth was direct-to-video).

Wendt was in the first, Ratzenberger in the second. I wish they'd continued that trend.

there's some things even Shelley Long won't do, I guess

don't have any to add, but yeah, poll 'em dead

I liked the first 2 house movies, would watch again.

living dead and psycho series both ought to be included, imo, as they came into their own as franchises during your window, and each has an equally good claim on the "birth of the modern horror genre" crown

not that anyone's gonna vote for the psycho sequels

too bad demons only got one official sequel

what about thematic series, like fulci's "gates of hell" trilogy (the beyond, city of the living dead and the house by the cemetery)? suppose that stretches things beyond the remit...

The third House film wasn't supposed to be part of the series but they just named it that for sales.

guys, ship has sailed

Yeah but this is the AMC post-show wrap-up. I'm your host, Chris Hardwick.

Creepshow arguably counts if we do some gymnastics (Creepshow TV series becomes Tales From the Darkside due to rights issues, TFtD: The Movie becomes de facto Creepshow 3). And yes, I know Creepshow 3 technically exists but I like to think that we as a society have chosen to ignore that fact.

Was there a The Fly 3?

Yeah, but only in the '60s.

MANSION OF MADNESS

The story isn't particularly engaging but the well designed sights and people of the asylum sustain it well enough. Quite like Houglass Sanitorium but less surreal. So it's not as good as Alucarda but I wasn't expecting that.

I'm not sure if I had previously heard about Alucarda having a planned sequel called Alucarda Rises From The Tomb. Sounds tantalizing. Must repeat that I wish there was another 20 Moctezuma horror films.

So it's not as good as Alucarda

but what is?

Lemora has a similar place in my heart, with me wishing there was another 20 Blackburn horror films.

kinda want to rep for Blair Witch 2

Good concept, unfortunate execution.

never seen it cuz i didn't like the first one. have noticed lately that it has fans. still not inclined.

You really aren't missing out on anything.

https://vimeo.com/167772153

A clip of a film per year since 1895 to present.

Bat Whispers looks pretty cool. Surprised I haven't seen more about it.

The following three come in a boxed set called American Horror Project vol 1. Seems like a promising series, I wonder what will be in the next sets? I suspect these films weren't released individually because they might be ignored (again). Each film comes in bluray and dvd, with extensive features and a booklet with essays by Stephen Thrower, Kim Newman, Kier-La Janisse and Brian Albright.

THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA

The title is well known for being misleading. There's nothing fantastical about this story of an abused child who became a mentally ill serial killer. It's a quiet character drama with a dazed quality and some strange distorted moments. It's pretty solid but it's my least favourite of the set.

THE PREMONITION

A mentally ill musician loses custody of her daughter and years later tries to steal the child back from the adoptive parents. Strange psychic communication is involved and an unconventional scientist sees this phenomena as the key to resolving the situation that develops from the kidnapping.
There is a series of psychic hauntings and one is unexpectedly scary and stuck in my mind for the night. The film slightly resembles films like Audrey Rose, The Entity and The Changeling.

MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD

Horror editor Ross E Lockhart linked an amazing clip of this in a discussion of surreal films and I bought this boxed set for this film (which was impossible to see for decades). I had previously ignored it because I got it confused with two other 70s horror films called Carnival Of Blood.
It's a rough gem, a new favourite. An atmospheric surreal little adventure with deranged ghouls and vampires in a run-down fairground. My favourite line of dialogue: "he's TOO evil".

I was interested in that set but I can't justify spending £45 on it, will wait til it hopefully drops a little. The Witch Who Came From The Sea was the one that initially attracted me,seen bits online and it has a nice uncanny feel, promising you think it's least of the trio.

Amazon has cheap digital rent or buy versions of them all, I'd guess that's without features.

COUNT YORGA
RETURN OF COUNT YORGA

These are on the same disc of the Arrow edition. They're Dracula style films set in the 70s, like Hammer did at the end of their Dracula series. Although Yorga is obviously in both, the stories have no continuity (Yorga dies in the first film). I think they're pretty mediocre, they move along easier than most Dracula films, fairly enjoyable at times but they can be quite drab and silly. The second film is surely the better one. The scenes of Yorga running towards victims (more of that in the sequel) are quite memorable for straddling daftness and being kind of cool too.

Here are some things I'm looking for:

-A list of (putatively) public domain horror/sci-fi movies. Like the ones that wind up in every 50-pack DVD compilation ever.
-Some Discogs-esque site that breaks down the various home video releases of horror/sci-fi movies.

I mean, I'm looking for horror/sci-fi info specifically, but any general film site that does the job will also work nicely, obvs.

This is partly inspired by my current monomaniacal attempt to track down as many non-shit oldies (through like the '50s) as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of the older stuff is either only available in cut-rate comps or as DVD-Rs released by major studios (which is really just one of the most shameless and insulting money grabs ever).

I can't think of any such list but I often find public domain collections to be slim pickings. I remember there was a YouTube channel devoted to public domain horror but I don't recall the name. They're not always as complete or in the good condition of the version you have pay for. Or its something you've probably seen (Nosferatu, Carnival Of Souls, Night Of The Living Dead).
I think some of the Corman films are public domain, not sure.

I had a collection with the Corman films A Bucket Of Blood and The Terror on them, which I think was public domain. A Bucket Of Blood is pretty good, an old horror comedy with funny beatniks. The Terror has Karloff and Jack Nicholson is much like the Vincent Price films but not as good.

Part of the issue I'm running into is with movies that have received next-to-no DVD release outside of some weird slapped-together multi-film set whose title doesn't make it immediately apparent what it contains. Which can be cool when you happen upon something you had no idea was available (or that's OOP and expensive on its own).