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

Hah yes, it "rules" hard.

I made a good list of horror movies to watch with my daughter this month, and last night we got around to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," which I'm happy to say still holds up. I love its moments of maybe accidental beauty and ... in fact, a lot of the movie seems almost accidental, which is part of its brilliance. I think possibly more has been projected on the movie than what's actually there, but even if the stuff about family, or the counter-culture, or whatever other themes you want to ascribe to the movie were semi-accidents, too (or at least afterthoughts), it still gives the movie some extra texture. My daughter, for example, appreciated that this clan of lunatics was nonetheless their own family, with their own dynamics and traditions, just very ... untraditional. She also made the connection to "Psycho" without me saying anything, though it's possible she has been doing some reading.

Oh boy, saw both From Beyond and Viy for the first time last night. I am making some excellent filmic choices this October. With respect to the latter, I am now properly excited to work through the stack of as-yet-unseen folk horror movies I've amassed recently.

From Beyond is awesome and daft. Daftly awesome.

I'd somehow never seen Tremors before. I rectified this over the weekend. Tremors is also daft and awesome. In homage, I have been on the roof ever since.

daft and awesome folk horror that absolutely blew my mind both visually and emotionally: pumpkinhead

otm. Pumpkinhead is dope.

I'd happily watch Lance Henriksen clean windows.

Okay, will pencil in Pumpkinhead on my folk horror list, thank u all.

I feel like there's a bit of a Pumpkinhead resurgence in the air. I know Bloody Disgusting, for example, just did an essay on it as the best Halloween movie that isn't a Halloween movie, or something like that. Tbh, I've never seen it, since between the name, art, monster, (number of) sequels and cast it always seems to me just more video store detritus (like, say, Rawhead Rex). But I've heard enough good things that I'll probably dive in soon, too.

FTR here is the unwatched stack of films in my possession which I hope to render watched this month (cobbled together from other lists so their folk horror status may be nebulous):

The Phantom Carriage
Haxan
Captain Clegg
The Plague of the Zombies
The Reptile
The Witches
Quatermass and the Pit
The Devil Rides Out
Cry of the Banshee
And Soon the Darkness
Blood on Satan's Claw
A Field in England
Midsommar

And also it's been long enough since I've seen The Wicker Man that I've basically forgotten the bulk of it so also that.

Maybe revisit Wicker Man before Midsommar...

We watched Rawhead Rex last October. It's actually half-decent? Like the story is interesting even if some of the production elements and especially Rex himself are underwhelming.

Just saw Pumpkinhead the other week myself. It's pretty forumlaic, but enjoyable. And of course, Lance Henriksen rules.

Rawhead Rex might be half-decent in sum, but very little of that decent stuff is decent in a row, iirc. Like, even teenage-me thought it sucked when it came out.

I tend not to sound off on genre movies all that often because I tend to forgive a lot of awfulness in lieu of what they get right (which usually leads to me cobbling together a better version of the thing in my mind). Like I also properly watched Jason Goes to Manhattan for the first time yesterday and thought it possessed the framework of a much better, non-Friday the 13th film and had enough hilarious ridiculousness to keep my attention (even though I recognize, objectively, that it's utter garbage).

manhattan is one of my favorite fridays for exactly that reason. i also love horror movies filmed in 1989-1990 a lot bc they tend to be great time capsules of a weird interzone of fashion and pop culture that's neither 100 percent '80s or '90s

YES. There's a visual element shared by horror movies from that period that hooks me every time no matter how terrible the movie is.

(Which I account in part to the fact that that was the precise time when I first started getting heavily into horror movies.)

Old Lunch, with the exception of the last three on your list, it's REALLY stretching the definition to describe those movies as 'folk horror', though most of them are well worth watching! I would also recommend The Witchfinder General, if you haven't seen it, which has the same kind of rural English nastiness as Blood on Satan's Claw, and is the better film.

The book English Gothic by Jonathan Rigby Is a v useful sourcebook for ye olde English horror movies to follow up on...

I have seen and do love Witchfinder General!

(As may be obvious from the list above, I've also finally managed to snag most of the pre-'70s Hammer horrors so tackling those is a parallel and occasionally overlapping project alongside the folk horror jaunt.)

If you haven't read him, I'd very much recommend Robert Aickamn as a literary companion for that lot.

Night of the Demon fits in well there.

Night of the Demon also fantastic!

Aikman's on the list but a ways down. My Halloween reading list is currently focused on the early-20th Century weird horror collections I have yet to read (Clark Ashton Smith, Algernon Blackwood, Howard, the Lovecraft I've missed, etc.).

I really need to see Watership Down again, it must have been at least 20 years ago and read it for the first time too.

I think Barker's strong dislike of the Rawhead Rex film is what made him adapt his own stories as a director.

If you watch Haxan I'd strongly recommend the version with WS Burroughs narrating, I'm normally a purist who wants the original but his narration improves the film hugely.

If the Phantom Carriage has the KTL soundtrack it is excellent but probably not best for your first watch.

My copies of both Haxan and Phantom Carriage are Criterion, no idea atm what the soundtrack options are.

Watched Eyes Without a Face for the first time last night (whattup again, Criterion). Boy, am I ever on a roll this October. I think I'd heard/read somewhere that it was gory and thought 'pssh, how gory can a movie from 1960 be?'. Well, minimally gory, tbf, but still shockingly so for the time. I wish they'd included the Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus cut, as I'd like to see how extensively it was modified for the States.

EWAF a classic

Yeah I got the Phantom Carriage with KTL, I wasn't that into it but it had its moments

EWAF is just tremendous.

Holy good god damn @ motherfucking Deathdream!!!! That was just about as perfectly-realized horror film as I've ever seen. There's a helluvalot going on thematically but it's handled so adroitly and economically. But then I'd expect no less from the director of Porky's.

Also, didn't realize this was a sequel to Faces (although I felt Clark did much more with those fantastic lead actors, sorry Cassavetes)!

This just scrambled over a lot of old favorites to claim a very high position in my all-time pantheon.

did a bit of reading following your recommendation and i am AWFULLY curious to see how this landed so solidly with you so i may test drive this and report back.

There are more glowing reviews upthread, I realize now. BradNelson sez: 'it could be the best horror film of the ‘70s?' It's certainly a contender. I have no idea why it isn't more well-known. But it's up on Criterion Channel now, I believe, so someone recognizes its value.

(Was joking about it being a Faces sequel, tho, do not sue me.)

deathdream is fucking AMAZING

damn right it is

Should've mentioned more about the acting, as everyone in it was legitimately great. It's amazing how much more effective horror can be when you have really solid actors portraying believable characters whose reactions and motivations are understandable relative to the horrifying situation they've been thrown into.

I like it okay but I always remember Ormsby talking in the commentry about making his son cry for one scene and he felt horrible about it. Ormsby also did commentry for Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, another Bob Clark film that he intended to remake before he died.

Jess Nevins again. Largely the same material but the patreon one is more detailed and uses some different images.

Who wants to hear about some obscure Japanese horror movies from 1898-1949?

Trust me, you won’t be getting what you expect.

(Warning for those who don’t like long threads: this is a big one. Mute me for a little while if you don’t want me in your TL too much. Thanks!)

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— Jess Nevins (@jessnevins) October 16, 2020

A lot of his research comes from this book
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43873891-carnal-curses-disfigured-dreams

Love this cover by Jessica Seamans
http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/store/wp-content/uploads/LostGirls-FINAL-web.jpg
https://www.instagram.com/_jseamans/

anyone seen either of these? planning to check em out as contenders for the Halloween marathon

https://letterboxd.com/film/the-burning-1981/
https://letterboxd.com/film/viy/

Second film is amazing but mostly for the last scenes.

The Burning has good gore, a good first half hour but it loses a lot of steam fast. But Jason Alexander and Fisher Stevens!

Yeah Burning is light fun. Pre-Friday the 13th, right?

Just after. It was Savini's next gig, I believe.

I just watched Viy for the first time last week! Common wisdom claims that it's all about the ending (which tbf is amazing) but I was hooked on the whole slow, pastoral Russian folktale vibe throughout.

ALSO, while I have appreciated the Lewton films I'd seen previously, I saw I Walked With a Zombie the other day and...it's kind of perfect? Barely a horror film in any conventional sense beyond just the sustained eerie mood, but I truly loved it. All of the performances are so muted and soporific (aside from the drunken brother who sorta raised his voice a couple of times), it was like I was walking with a whole cast of zombies. In the best way possible.

The Burning was the first ever Miramax film, btw

All of the Lewtons (especially the ones directed by Tourneur) are excellent. Cat People is in the queue of horror or horror-adjacent films I'm watching with my daughter (I think Diabolique is next; there are so many great movies!)