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

"There's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby: it's alive." - this one is the creepiest, I think. So evocative.

Also like: "Man is the warmest place to hide."

This one, however, is a horror in its own right, so tortured and mangled is its grammar: "Please do not disturb Evelyn. She already is."

Did I already mention my favourite tagline-searching-for-a-film on this thread? Will offer it up for the Ilx Horror Movie:

"What they don't know... WILL EAT THEM"

oh that's a winner right there

i am psyched about horror movies + exam week

"Take the stairs. Take the stairs. For God's sake, take the stairs!!!"

None of those lists has The Exorcist, I guess because it's too long:

Something beyond comprehension is happening to a little girl on this street, in this house. A man has been called for as a last resort to try and save her. That man is The Exorcist.

I think it's great anyway, especially the first half.

Best fake tagline:

Don't

Was on a train Saturday next to typical Park Slope couple and their 9-year-old who were discussing the merits and appropriateness of assorted horror movies. Dad advocated Hellraiser, Mom tentatively The Exorcist, kid wanted to know the diff btwn Alien and Predator. Boy's takeaway quote: "Ghostbusters isn't even scary!"

I think Alien is pretty much all-time unbeatable on taglines. I saw it on the posters years before I was allowed to see the movie, and it stuck with me. (Though I think Alien is kinda all-time unbeatable in lots of ways.)

In Space No One Can Hear You Snore

(first heard a radio quipster say that in '79 btw)

© MAD Magazine, 1979

xpost lol

My #1 would be the Texas Chainsaw tagline I quoted earlier in the thread: "Who will survive and what will be left of them?" Even though I'm not sure it makes sense--the one girl who survives technically survives intact (physically, anyway).

don't see how that makes it a less sensible question going in

Yeah, it's a question, so the answer could be 'everyone and all of them'. Which it isn't, obviously, but it could be. Would be something of an anti-climax, I guess.

The Texas Chainsaw Near Miss

"I literally cannot believe we all escaped that chainsaw massacre unscathed. Whew!"

I do have a perverse love of absolutely deflationary anti-climactic versions of films: ET makes it to his ship in the first scene, it's really a dolphin, yada yada... Basically just 'nothing happens'.

had a "who will survive and what will be left of them?" TCM poster in my room growing up, so I'd have to vote for that as well.

#2 vote: "we are going to eat you!" (zombi 2)

Totally agree, emil.y. Also: Glenda isn't a total dick about manipulating Dorothy into becoming her hitman and just tells her up front that the effing slippers will take her straight back home.

(My theory has always been that Glenda was the actual wicked witch. But I suppose this is neither the time nor place.)

"Hey it's Godot!" "Guys, sorry I'm late..."

(the NatLamp Radio Hour did that one I think)

Loool, I like that one Morbs. Deric, I may be wrong as I haven't seen it, but doesn't the musical Wicked sort of go down the Glenda-isn't-actually-so-nice route?

You're all getting technical on me..."In space, no one can hear you scream (except the other people on the ship, if they're still alive)." (You're right, the TCM tagline is just an open-ended question, not descriptive.)

xpost

Very possible, but I have also never seen it.

You're all getting technical on me...

Actually, no--I'm the one getting overly technical. Proceed a pace!

Without revealing too much of your list, any favourite horror-film performances? Horror probably joins action as the genre where performance is most secondary...not that it doesn't matter, but I think you can get by with adequate acting if the film's good enough. (There are a number of films on my list, including right at the top, where the actors aren't a big factor.) I think Spacek in Carrie, Walken in The Dead Zone, and Karloff in Frankenstein are pretty great by any criteria.

Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion, for sure.

I like Michael Redgrave in Dead of Night and Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein.

Isabelle Adjani in Possession, Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr.. Two of the most riveting performances in any movie.

Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein.

^^^yes

Also, a bit of an ott performance, but I really liked Brad Dourif in Excorcist III. This association made Doc Cochran super creepy for me.

Ugh why do people like Exorcist III?

Because it's not any of the other Exorcists that were produced after the first? Also it's pretty decent (if no match for the first).

cosign isabelle adjani. the acting is fascinating in that film. and i do love ewar woowar in the wicker man.

acting apparently not too important to me when it comes to horror films because I don't see too many performances I'd call "great" on my ballot. some interesting performances maybe? I'll rep for these tho...

karloff's frankenstein, the greatest monster perf ever, taken for granted because of its cultural ubiquity, but just amazing and transcendent
max schreck in nosferatu
klaus kinski in nosferatu
angela bettis in may
jenny spain in deadgirl
terry o'quinn in the stepfather
ryo ishibashi and eihi shiina in audition
dieter laser in the human centipede
michael moriarty in Q
candace hilligoss in carnival of souls
goldblum and davis in the fly
burstyn and miller in the exorcist
mitchum in the night of the hunter

Sherman "Bub" Howard in Day Of The Dead. So underrated. He commited so hard to that role.

I would say Goldblum, farther down your list, is the greatest monster performance ever. xp

hah, xpost!

goldblum and davis in the fly

yeah, definitely my favorite goldblum performance. prob davis too.

Yeah, Burstyn's great in The Exorcist--I love the scene where she curses out all the shrinks.

HOLY CRAP I NEED TO SEE PHANTOM DER NACHT

me too! I even own the dvd but haven't gotten around to watching it. what is my problem?!

probably you're an alchoholic and a wife-beater

like karloff, kinski gets both the savagery and the pathos of the beast

love how sudden + intense the physical intimidation is in this scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3upuBWl2Xq4#t=245s

sutherland and christie - don't look now
angela bettis - may
anthony perkins - psycho
laura dern - inland empire
von sydow and ullmann - hour of the wolf
catherine deneuve - repulsion

Was just talking with my brothers about Society today. Kind of wish I'd voted for it, in a way. It's one of those films where the beginning just does not get you interested, but by the end it is so horrific, and that change of pace is superb. (I find Spoorloos a bit like this in that the bulk of it is very prosaic, but the end, oh god the end. More artistic/less teen movie than Society, though, obviously.)

and karloff! there's just such beauty to what he's doing here w/ stillness and quiet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uDkpJPNhrF4#t=1912s

The kid who plays the psycho in Jack Ketchum's The Lost. That movie would be nothing without his performance.

angela bettis is pretty much great in anything she does actually.

Agreed!! She's a real fan favorite.

One big motif I realised is missing from my ballot: the ageing melodramatic actress as a horror unto herself. Need to investigate that trope more, I think.