The Horror List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Project)

[Minkin]

Darn, I'm assuming the early German (like 1914) Hound of the Baskerville films are also lost? It's always the best sounding stories.

No, that's one of those forever-in preparation titles from Edition Filmmuseum.

And as a side note, here's Mike Mattei's video review of Robo Vampire - the shameless Robocop parody with some horror twists.

[knives]

Darn, I'm assuming the early German (like 1914) Hound of the Baskerville films are also lost? It's always the best sounding stories.

No, that's one of those forever-in preparation titles from Edition Filmmuseum.

My mouth is watering in anticipation. Any existing discs from them relevant to the list? Von morgens bis Mitternacht is the closest out of what I've seen.

[domino harvey]

Tarpilot's spotlight the Man From Planet X is on TCM tonite at midnight EST

[tarpilot]

Nice catch, thanks! Also at 4:30 is War of the Planets by Antonio Margheriti of the MrSausage-pimped Castle of Blood (and, of course, the unforgettable Yor: Hunter from the Future!)

[knives]

Don't forget he also directed the equally fun Wild, Wild Planet. Really one of the more underrated schlock maestros.

[Mr Sausage]

Don't forget he also directed the equally fun Wild, Wild Planet. Really one of the more underrated schlock maestros.

Don't forget his very fun giallo, Nude...You Die aka The Mini-Skirt Murders, which distinguishes itself not only by having a totally comprehensible and internally consistent narrative, but an ingenious final twist. A really underrated giallo.

[knives]

Watched even more titles.

Blacula and sequel
To be honest I don't get why this is so often singled out as the cream of the crop of the genre. It has a base level on enjoyability, but outside of Marshall's amazing performance which gives both films some much needed class (he's very reminiscent of how they used Lee in those Draculas) there's a blandness that pervades everything as the film goes through the motions. The sequel is certainly dumber, but it's directed with some energy that makes it a more satisfying experience. The films are harmless, but aren't particularly captivating.

The Cremator
Thank you Second Run. I'm almost at a lost for words at how shocking this film is combining big ideas, performances, and looks. The lead job which reminds me heavily of Peter Lorre is absolutely amazing making him an evil worth pity, but not asking for it. No, that's not a right description of the sheer complexity on display with this character who deserves to be placed up there with Hans Beckert. The OCD relation to Nazism has been done before, but this is the most shocking I've seen. The movie also seems to be a strange connective tissue from Mad Love to Werckmeister Harmonies. The Quays do a much better job at this than I could on the disc so I just advise for everyone to pick it up right now.

The Man From Planet X
I've seen this film twice in as many days and I still have no clue as to my opinion. I'm not sure if it's a deliberate disconnect from the film or not, but I'm very sympathetic to the alien in this film and I feel that the behavior of the people is monstrous at least a little. I get that there's an explanation that they'll get murdered if they don't act, but that action they choose just feels wrong and I wish they found a more peaceful option instead. These are a good sort of mixed feelings though and I'm certainly glad to have seen it. Maybe some discussion here will provide me with some better answers.

The Crawling Eye
Yes, the movie from MST3K; no, it's not bad. Apparently during one of his away periods Jimmy Sangster had the time to pound out this marvelous movie that is directed by Quentin Lawrence the same man who directed the great Cash on Demand (how many more times do I need to mention this film before people watch it even if it's not horror). This is a stylish beast too, not a far throw from the above mentioned film. Admittedly when it comes to atmosphere the film never matches the drop dead terrifying opening, but the sense of tension is surprisingly well held throughout.

[Cold Bishop]

Blacula and sequel
To be honest I don't get why this is so often singled out as the cream of the crop of the genre

By who? I always considered it's notoriety having to do with the ridiculous novelty of the concept. As far as blax horror goes, I always though Ganja & Hess was the designated classic, followed with a distance by Sugar Hill (J.D.'s Revenge perhaps in third). In Blacula's favor, it's hardly the most ridiculous entry in the sub-genre.

[knives]

Funny you choose that one as the ridiculous considering same director and all. Ganja & Hess certainly deserves the crown, but I see and hear often people praise Blacula as going past it's ridiculous premise into a high quality legit film and one of the better blax films in general. I very rarely hear Ganja & Hess brought up and feel it's more obscure (It's probably telling I've never heard of your other two examples before). Than again this is the genre with really earnest Dolemite fans.

[Cold Bishop]

Than again this is the genre with really earnest Dolemite fans.

Well... on any blax-horror list, Petey Wheatstraw certainly deserves a mention or two.

[knives]

Thank you for that.

[Minkin]

Any existing discs from them relevant to the list? Von morgens bis Mitternacht is the closest out of what I've seen.

None that I can recall, although the Crazy cinematography set might have a mildly related pre-20's short or two.
I just hope that Edition Filmmuseum will eventually get around to some of these more promising releases.


In other news, I might echo Mr. Sausage's praise of some of the films from this Karloff set. In particular, The Man They Could Not Hang and The Boogie Man Will Get You.

James Rolfe's video review should be enough to excite most into watching the former - which, if you are to watch any mad scientist Karloff film, make it this one.

On The Boogie Man Will Get You- The increasingly absurd group of characters who find their way to the inn- topped by the Human Bomb - all behind Karloff and Lorre's attempt to build a superbeing - makes for terrific entertainment.

Lastly, I might point out the rest of James Rolfe's horror reviews- Monster Madness - which he does every October (this past year was his 5th). The first year is all of the traditional films of the genre, while the second year is all of the Godzilla films. The fifth year covers all of the Universal Frankestein, Hammer Dracula, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween series. Perhaps his third and fourth year were the best (off-beat horror classics and cult horror). They're all rather entertaining, in addition to being a great resource for this list.

[Feego]

For anyone who's interested, Slant Magazine's 25 Best Horror Films of the Aughts.

[Perkins Cobb]

For anyone who's interested, Slant Magazine's 25 Best Horror Films of the Aughts.

A lot of those are awful, but I liked The Strangers and The Orphanage. And Near Dark, which is mentioned in passing, is of course a must-see.

[Murdoch]

Anyone willing to recommend Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971)? I've had my eye on it for a bit and have been thinking of blind-buying since seeing this scene.

[colinr0380]

I would certainly agree with Kurosawa's Pulse being placed in a very high position on any list of horror films from the 2000s, a fascinating film about, among other things, what happens when the dead start taking up valuable real estate space! Which reminds me of one of the more strange zombie films in a decade full of them - Les Revenants aka They Came Back (the only film directed so far by Robin Campillo, editor and co-writer of Lauren Cantet's films) which tackles the dead returning to life in a rather low-key, mundane and bureaucratic manner, while still building a sense of unease at the 'returnees' being very different beings with different agendas from the living or, perhaps a more disturbing prospect for society, simply having no agenda anymore.

EDIT: Here's the link to the previous forum discussion on the film

[domino harvey]

This is an all-call for links to horror discussion on this forum from the past. I got the ones in the first post by searching "Halloween," so I know there's probably ten times as many threads lurking in the depths. Please send me via PM any and all links to past discussion/films/directors/genres/DVD releases/whatever that are thread appropriate

[mfunk9786]

Would suggestions of films that are widely considered (however unfairly) "torture porn" be unwelcome here? I feel as if there are a lot of great horror films in the past decade or so that most people won't even watch.

[knives]

Suggest away. It's such a broad and misused term that even by accident there should be a few great ones there (I'll admit my experience with the genre has averaged out to a good if not great situation).

[domino harvey]

There shall be no discussion of horror in the Horror Discussion Thread

[Mr Sausage]

I think the wider the range of suggestions and the discussions they provoke, the better. It would be the furthest thing from unwelcome, actually.

[mfunk9786]

Not that it's my only area of interest, but I'll get some rather entry-level suggestions together for tomorrow, since so many other areas are being well handled.

[tarpilot]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME J. Lee Thompson, 1981
Yes, Virginia, there is a panty clause. Thompson’s amusing stab at an American giallo doesn’t have the staying power of Alfred Sole’s similarly adolescence-tinged Alice, Sweet Alice (a guaranteed high-placer for me), but it benefits enormously from the increasingly bizarre nature of its narrative developments, culminating in a (series of) twist(s) indeed so spectacularly out-there that all you can really do is shrug and accept that it belongs to the same universe in which the popular clique’s idea of a night out is trip to the repertory cinema to see High Noon!

EYE OF THE DEVIL J. Lee Thompson, 1966
A mess, but one consistently striking in its baroque imagery and Thompson’s use of long dialogue-less passages to highlight the almost-sentient nature of the central location, a centuries-old vineyard in rural France. When the characters do speak, it’s almost entirely in wordy philosophical blatherings (“Somehow here, the years seem to shrink...I find myself thinking in generations, in centuries...am I seeking, or am I being sought?”) that recall Vincent Price’s indescribably nutty monologues in Confessions of an Opium Eater. There’s nary a single moment of escape –- the same oppressive tone is bleated repeatedly through every off-camera gaze and halting bit of speechifying, but within that constrictive range Thompson roots out some vivid moments, chief among them the attempted death-by-hypnosis of Deborah Kerr by Sharon Tate’s malevolent mystic, capped by an image of their hands just out of reach of each other beyond a high castle ridge. The second half of the film dispenses with narrative concerns almost entirely, focusing on the struggles of Kerr’s character to maintain her sanity as the estate’s horrors grow more extreme, to varying success (and more or less complete bewilderment). Definitely a Hammer feel to this one, and highly recommend for fans.

DEATH SHIP Alvin Rakoff, 1980
What does it say about your movie that the most expensive-looking prop is George Kennedy? In full-on hypnotic ham mode, he leads a cast of b-list all-stars and bottom-scraping has-beens through a premise of impressive ridiculousness: there’s a secret Nazi cargo ship that roams the Atlantic Ocean Flying Dutchman-style that presumably does nothing but ram into cruise liners in order to take their passengers aboard and torture them in its various complicated set-pieces. The biggest compliment I can really pay is the inevitable flashforwards it provokes to Kennedy’s “appearance” in Modern Romance’s film-within-a-film, but there are a number of inventive slaughters and the joy the film takes in dispensing with Saul Rubinek’s catskills comic mid-yuk is worthy of Looney Tunes. Credit must also be given for the gall required for a cheap scare as gratuitously distasteful as a crew member falling into a pit of charred gas chamber remains. In slow-motion.

[jiraffejustin]

I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
Easily the second most vile film I have ever seen, but after watching it I couldn't get it out of my head. Not in a bad way either, but in a way that has surprisingly left me thinking Roger Ebert is completely wrong on this one. It should place highly on my list.

The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Brilliance. Such an amazing film. My number one.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
I don't know if this will find a spot on my list or not, but it is easily one of the better horror comedies in recent years. If you haven't seen this tasty morsel, what are you waiting for?

[zedz]

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
I don't know if this will find a spot on my list or not, but it is easily one of the better horror comedies in recent years. If you haven't seen this tasty morsel, what are you waiting for?

Yeah, hardly a deathless classic, and it doesn't entirely live up to the simple smartness of its premise, but it's quite a premise (what if your standard 'slasher-in-the-woods' scenario was all based on an innocent misunderstanding?) and the film is a lot of fun.

There are some very funny set-pieces, but the film sort of falls apart as it progresses and tries to do more and more, less interesting and more generic, things that dilute the premise.

Spoiler

For instance, they can't resist trying to have their cake and eat it by inserting the actual crazed serial killer into the proceedings. It's much funnier if all the slaughter really is entirely down to the city kids' over-reactions. And shoe-horning in a 'genuine' romance also seems like a mistake, since that material is pretty colourless.