Horror movie expansion!
 

Since I've recently started digging into the "non-staple" horror scene, I've decided to start a project, but it needs help from this awesome community, to begin:

I've started a DVD project, in which I go out and purchase various horror DVD's, and then watch them, allowing me some exposure to more horror, the more experienced I get, the more I can contribute in return to this site.

What you, Horror.com's community, need to do to help is simple, I would like each member to suggest one movie they think I must watch (or own), in which I obtain the DVD, and proceed to view the film and post my opinions of each one.

IN THE QUEUE:

1. The Devil's Rejects (suggested by kdrba)
2. The Exorcist (suggested by Sculpt)
3. The Gate (suggested by Straker)

This should be easy since this is all I own at the moment:

Blood: The Last Vampire
Bloodrayne (more fantasy than horror in my opinion)
Carrie (original)
Dracula 2000
Drag Me to Hell
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak On a Plane
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection
Hellsing (anime series)
House of 1,000 Corpses
I Spit On Your Grave
Poltergeist
Queen of the Damned
The Covenant
The Shining

I can handle anything, so don't be afraid to suggest anything! But if it's something really obscure and hard to find, tell me where I might find said DVD, I have both ground and online access, so please post here if you'd like to help out!

I will edit the OP as users suggest various films, creating a 'queue' of films to watch, so the same film isn't suggested too often, thanks in advance to anyone who volunteers!

The devils rejects its the sequel to 1000 corpses. Check that out, I'm sure you will enjoy it if you not seen it already.

What do you mean by 'non-staple horror scene'? Did you want us to pick a horror film that is 'non-staple', or is that unrelated to what one horror film you want us to pick?

Perhaps that was poor word choice on my part, you can suggest anything you wish, but I have seen all the Freddy/Jason films, I should have said "Trinity" (what the local horror groip calls Halloween/Elm Street/Friday franchises).

But please offer up anything, as long as you know it's on disc, :)

To expand the arena of the list you have, I'd recommend The Exorcist.

The Gate....

Okay, that gives me 3/10, OP has been updated! But you guys don't have to keep your picks exclusively related to what I own, you can choose anything you think a horror fan should own!

Consider swilling from the well of the Universal Monsters and Hammer Horror classics.

John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)

Also: Full Moon Classics (Puppet Master, SubSpecies, Demonic Toys, etc.)

Eden Lake (2008) for a pacey slice of bleak British horror with no redeeming feel-good factor whatsoever,

Cabin in the Woods (2012) for something a little bit different,

August Underground trilogy (2001, 2003, 2007) for found footage faux-snuff at it's very best or very worst depending on your point of view,

10, Rillington Place (1971) for a creepy old British suspense thriller about real-life serial killer John Christie,

Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009) for highly entertaining low-budget grindhouse pulp,

American Psycho (2000) to see how an un-filmable novel can still be a great movie,

Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009) for a stark, unpolished and brutal take on the 80s classics,

Thirst (2009) for a westerner-friendly intro to Korean horror... slow paced but very absorbing and cinematically lush,

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) for an essential addition to any collection of controversial cinema ... an absorbing and intelligent film that's still notorious even 35 years on and made a statement about media monsters 14 years before Oliver Stone thought of it.

The Haunting (1963)
Village Of The Damned (1960)

Thanks for your help, everyone!

I actually didn't think I'd find such a cool community when I signed up, :)

I did not really like Zombie's version of Halloween. I think Zombie gave it a good shot and it really did have some excellent ideas, but ultimately, the film had problems that resulted in it being below quality. First, is character development. What made the original film and even some of Zombie's other excellent films so excellent was character development. This film barely did that with the exception of Myers and that guard in the prison. I could care less about any of the characters. Second, he destroyed too much of the mystery. He, essentially, explained why Myers did the killing. This is what made the original slashers including Halloween so excellent. That you did not know why. It was more like a personification of evil (in the original Hallowen series). Funnily enough, he was very successful in doing this in his films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. Third, I think he attempted to make it scary, but I do not think that he was successful. It was mainly cheap scares, which did not even work on me (not that he had to be scary to be good). Also, the mask was not really that good, in my opinion, but that is purely a personal perception. These are the main problems I had with the film. Not that there aren't others, but this were the main ones. It felt more like a generic modern horror movie. I love when directors try to do something new, especially with remakes, but I felt that, ultimately, it really was not that unique or even entertaining. Some have raised the criticism that it was too violent, while it was violent, that part did not really bother me. I mean what would you expect from a Rob Zombie film? Not that there is anything wrong with that, just an observation. In truth, I do not understand why this seemed to be the case because the things this film lacked were things Zombie did quite well in his two previous films. I will also make clear that I think Zombie is an excellent director. I thoroughly enjoyed his films The Lords of Salem, House of 1000 Corpses, and The Devil's Rejects, but felt he simply fell short on this film. I have not seen the sequel, so I do not have an official opinion on it.

I loved House of 1,000 Corpses! I now own quite a large dized Captain Spaulding. But I've yet to see Lords of Salem, now, because of the wealth of material suggested here, I gotta somehow narrow this down to seven more films!

All good points and material for an interesting discussion but I'm sure there must be a thread re; these films already on the site where we could carry this on :-)

Although Sid Haig has a role in Lords there's no Captain Spaulding or any of the other characters from House or Devil's ... Lords has no connection with those two films in that sense, I mean it's an entirely different story.

I don't see any Hellraiser on your list. I would check out the Hellraiser movies, particularly part 1 and 2. The series get pretty erratic after that, but I do like part 5 Inferno. It looks like you dig modern horror, but if you really want to broaden your horizons, I would get into the classics. From German Expressionism, Universal monster classics, Val Lewtons RKO classics, Hammer's classic monster revival, Japanese folk horror of the 60s, to name a few classic genres. There are too many individual movies to name, but I could rattle off a few if you wanted.

Here's a few flicks that I feel a lot of horror fans overlook:

Alone In The Dark (1982)


Deranged (1974)


Dead & Buried (1982)


Demons (1985)

Yea, several have suggested entire labels or catalogs rather than individual films, so it's gonna take me a while looking up and sorting through them all. And that's because stores here don't have very much that's pre-90's.

Yea, Peeps, he said to just name one film to add to the list of DVDs he currently owns. :p ;)

For me, there's films I would rent, and enjoy, but not own. And then some I would own, because I've enjoyed viewing them multiple times. That's certainly a subjective thing. But it's good question to ask horror fans, "Of the horror films you own, and glad you own because you've watched them multiple times, which one do you like the best?"

If you have not seen it yet, I would highly recommend watching (and acquiring) John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). It is, in my opinion, one of the best horror movies of all time. It should not be too hard to find because it has garnered a large cult following. If you have seen it, that's cool, I am sure I can think of something else. Although, I think you have plenty of choices to pick from here, not to mention the films I recommended in the Recent Acquisitions Thread.

Might I recommend the home-invasion movie 'Funny Games'. I saw the 2007 American remake (shame shame, but it was directed by the same guy that made the original so that counts for something, surely?) starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, but the 1997 Austrian original is apparently very similar.

Really gripping, disturbing horror story with a subtle metafictional element (that is not as blatant or garish as Wes Craven's Scream).

I have many more recommendations, but since you asked for one, I'll stick with this.

Happy watching. :)

Some have recommended entire catalogs, so you might as well, :)

I am always out of work from December 22-January 3, so I will plenty of time, so list away!

I absolutely love this film (original of course), though the remake wasn't as bad as one would think in comparison to current remakes.

Completely agree with you there, but, I absolutely despised the remake(s).


Haven't been on here in a while/haven't seen any great underground films lately. On that note, I could definitely use some recommendations-preferably very dark, gory, and sadistic-(though not too rapey). Nothing over topping I Spit On Your Grave or Last House On The Left. (rape wise)

Actually....How is the original Maniac? (If anyone has seen it). Started watching the remake but have yet to finish it.

I will have to get the original. There is definitely more going on in 'Funny Games' than meets the eye. It's actually a pretty deep film.

There is of course 'Rosemary's Baby', which I happened to watch for the first time a few days ago, but you've probably already seen that.

I'll have to have a think about what other movies I like. :)

1000 Corpses and Devils Rejects are shite and The Gate has dated very badly in my opinion.

For serial killer movies look no further than I Saw the Devil and for a stunning revenge flic Oldboy.

Of course I have to suggest the ORIGINAL "Evil Dead" :D Not so much the remake... although it's pretty good too. But pick the original if you have to choose... it's a very easy movie to find :)

Alucard -- KanD is always right. See both movies. But if you were to only see or purchase one, I would decidedly tell you to choose Evil Dead 2. And if both, see ED2 first.

ED2 is a remake, not a Part 2. It's by the same director, who received the time, tech and budget to improve ED any way he wanted. And in my opinion, he did just that: made a masterpiece of cinema. ED2 is much more intense -- in story, character development, sound, lighting, camera work, effects, fun and humor.

In that case, let me give you my royal list. I think you would LOVE all these horror films, not a boring or pathetic minute in any, and they are considered hallmarks of horror as well:

Frankenstein 31
King Kong 33
Psycho 60
Night of the Living Dead 68
The Exorcist 73
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 74
Jaws 75
Halloween 78
Alien 79
The Thing 82
Poltergeist 82
Evil Dead II 87

Although I love both movies, I think it should be mentioned that ED2 is a comedy - and ED1 is not, it's just unintentionally funny sometimes :D I consider them to be two VERY different movies. ED1 still scares me after all these years - ED2 never did. But sure, I would recommend them both, but for different reasons :)

You are so right, they are very different movies, despite one being a "remake", which is amazing in itself.

ED2 is funny. No doubt about that. I think it certainly can be slid into the Comedy shelf. But if I had to pick a category between Horror or Comedy, I would decidedly put it in Horror. I think ED2 starts out full horror, then slides into "unintentionally" humor, and then rides that tone throughout, hopping into some outlandish dark humor in spots. For me, the beginning is freaky scary, in an effect visceral way, that really gets into your bones. I thought it was really effect in keeping that serious undertone and suspension of disbelief.

The funny scene in ED1 is when Ash's girlfriend is possessed and sitting down in front of the hallway (or room) entrance, and ash starts full swing back-hand slapping the sardines out of her, to no effect. I think that moment was the inception of the ED2 horror dark humor tone.

I thought The Evil Dead (1981) was infinitely better than II. I have never really understood the love for it. I mean it was pretty good, but I just thought the original was much better. If I was to say which to watch, I would actually say watch the first over the second.

I agree, have them both now, definitely like the first one better. I (may) be the only one here who also likes Return of the Living Dead Part 2 as well.