0018: The Horror Film Hall of Fame (1900-1995)
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:17
Tags:
- Alien (79)
- The Birds (63)
- The Black Cat (34)
- Black Sunday (60)
- The Bride of Frankenstein (35)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (19)
- Carrie (76)
- Cat People (42)
- Creature from the Black Lagoon (54)
- Curse of the Demon (57)
- Daughters of Darkness (71)
- Dead of Night (45)
- Dracula (31)
- Dust Devil (93)
- The Exorcist (73)
- The Eyes Without a Face (59)
- The Fly (58)
- The Fly (86)
- Frankenstein (31)
- Frankenstein Created Woman (65)
- Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (42)
- Freaks (32)
- Halloween (78)
- The Haunting (63)
- The Horror of Dracula (58)
- House of Usher (60)
- The Howling (81)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (39)
- I Walked with a Zombie (43)
- The Innocents (61)
- Island of Lost Souls (32)
- Jaws (75)
- King Kong (33)
- Little Shop of Horrors (60)
- Mad Love (35)
- The Masque of the Red Death (64)
- The Mummy (32)
- Near Dark (87)
- Night of the Living Dead (68)
- Nosferatu (22)
- Nosferatu the Vampyre (79)
- Onibaba (64)
- The Phantom of the Opera (25)
- Pit and the Pendulum (61)
- Poltergeist (82)
- Possession (81)
- Psycho (60)
- The Omen (76)
- Rosemary's Baby (68)
- The Shining (80)
- Shivers (75)
- Son of Frankenstein (39)
- Spectre (77)
- Suspiria (77)
- The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (33)
- The Thing (51)
- Twitch of the Death Nerve (71)
- The Uninvited (44)
- Vampyr (31)
- The Wolf Man (41)
Many of them I agree with, but it tends to be more interesting to disagree so as a huge horror fan I'll just say that I hated "Suspiria" except that it yielded the stupidest move of any horror film ever having to do with a room full of wire. "Rosemary's Baby" I found laughable rather than scary "He will live longer and longer, and grow stronger and stronger..." dude. And I didn't see "Dead-Alive" (Peter Jackson's superb zombie flick) or "Phantasm" (a masterpiece of weirdness that makes a frightening villain out of a tall... man....) Also, I guess I just like some of the cheesier ones a lot. Other than those nit-picky comments, I look forward to using your list as a guide when I go to the video store in the future to further my horror education. Thanks!
When is a horror film an art film? When it's Suspiria. I admit to loving this flick, one of the rare and glorious victories of style over substance. I also greatly enjoy Rosemary's Baby, although perhaps not quite as much as others do.
I admit that I am not a huge fan of Phantasm. I did consider Dead Alive, but it narrowly missed the list. Perhaps I should reconsider...
Thanks for the great comments!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
For fans of modern 1990's horror, I highly recommend Dust Devil. Creepy, and starring Hal Hartley regular Robert Burke. Try to find an un-dubbed, uncut version or the version stating it is the "final cut".
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Two movie's that I consider classic's and 2 of the scariest movie's of all time are ,"A nightmare on elm street"....the first one only....and the first "Evil Dead"....That's 2 movie's that when I watched them for the first time, scared the crap out of me....and other's I'm sure....
The innocents is Very scary, dang nearly had a heartattack!! but you can see where the others got thier ideas
I don't get Frankenstein created woman. No Curse of Frankenstein instead?
May I suggest Peeping Tom? Same year as Psycho, if I'm not mistaken, but pretty roundly condemned. I'd consider it one of the very first (with Psycho again) "slasher" films. And everything with his filming and cameras is so creepy...
Johnny Waco
A strong selection. But how about The Wicker Man, Don't Look Now, The Devil Rides Out, Witchfinder General, Carnival of Souls, An American Werewolf in London, Sleepy Hollow, Ring. And perhaps Night of the Hunter might be classed as horror?
Oh and i like Suspiria too (for what it's worth)
Gee, I really need to update this list, eh?
Though in all honesty, you list several films I have yet to catch, such as Ring. That's why I set the cut-off date in the title at 1995; I have seen too few horror films after that date...
I'll try to remedy that. Thanks for the suggestions!
And I am always thrilled to find another Suspiria fan!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
This is one genre Britain has done well in (and some of the best US horror films have been by British directors too). Not sure why that should be. Lots of ghosts, ghouls and creepy goings on in the UK no doubt.
Hammer
Does much more need be said?
I will update this list very soon.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Just saw The Howling this afternoon, and I enjoyed it. I guess the main thing to address is the effectiveness of the werewolves. At times they were pretty unconvincing, especially one scene I can think of where the camera only shows one's feet, and as it walks it doesn't seem to step with the weight that a creature that large really would. However, the few scenes that show the actual transformations were startlingly good. The excessive use of dripping saliva was a smart choice, as the muzzles and fangs covered in sticky, thick liquid helps cover whatever material they are made of.
At the same time, the story was a little hit or miss. I liked the urban grittiness at the beginning, and the linking of the werewolf to a serial killer. But some of the scenes at the "colony" fell flat as either creepiness or black humor.
Johnny Waco
Sadly, despite its position on this list, I am not a huge fan of the film. You can find my review here. I do love, love, love the ending credits, however, and the werewolf woman was almost attractive enough to make me kinder to the film. :)
Have you seen Dressed to Kill, reviewed above The Howling on my list?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
your review is right on the money; the transformations are the most impressive parts of the movie, but most evrything leaves something to be desired. Despite all of that, I'm glad I saw it, and I still think the opening third or so, when they are in the seedy parts of the city, is handled well.
Never seen Dressed to Kill. I do like De Palma though (he is the director?), so I'd like to see it.
Johnny Waco
I agree about the opening scenes. Perhaps the promise of those made the resulting film a bit more disappointing than it should have been...
Dressed is indeed a De Palma film, and one of the more under-rated films of the 80s, in my book. It is a Hitchcock's fan dreams writ large, and that puts some off, but me, I luved it!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
What about The Golem (20), Creepshow (82) and The Fog (80), three films I really enjoyed and would consider worthy of being mentioned in such a great list.
I am not a fan of The Fog, but I enjoy the other two. I will probably leave Creepshow off for the same reason I kept Ghostbusters off this list (they strike me almost as more comedy than horror films), but I may pop Golem on.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
OK, and as long as Halloween and The Shining are on this list I won't complain.
Hey, I just cloned this list because I like it a little too much, I guess. Anyway, I had to leave off a lot of the older horror films because I haven't seen them. Quite a few aren't even on DVD yet, so it might be a while before I do.
Anyway, one film I added was The Changeling, a really underappreciated haunted house film. No gore or cheesy SFX like the most recent incarnation of The Haunting of Hill House, just relentless dread and tension. George C. Scott and Melvyn Douglas, who are always great. Have you seen it?
Johnny Waco
Yep. You can read my review here.
Ha! That's the second time I've gotten to do that to you this week. Ain't it annoying?
I only held it off this list because I was considering creating a separate thriller list which it would appear on. Now, I am thinking I may have to add it.
And now, I am cruising over to your list...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I ordered The Rough Guide to Horror Movies! I couldn't help it! Someone on listology (AmyD?) has two lists focusing on the movies listed in this book--the author's list of essentials has a lot of overlap with yur "hall of fame" here.
Johnny Waco