Best horror films

[shaz619]

Good list. I don't love all these movies but I can definitely appreciate them for trying to do something different and unique. Talk to Me is another movie with a very unique premise. We need more stuff like this rather than endless number of these Conjuring movies and other cheap crap like these screen-recording movies.

The Wailing is a fantastic shout. South Korean cinema doesn't get enough credit IMO. Since the 2000s they have produced some incredible films, and some really good horror films too.

One thing that makes me optimistic about the future of horror cinema amid all this franchise and found-footage stuff is that for the first time since maybe the 1980s we have a decent crop of horror filmmakers: Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons), Robert Eggers (Nosferatu, The Witch) and the Philippou brothers (Talk to Me, Bring Her Back). I really hope that these guys get to make more films because the future of horror cinema is basically in their hands. Nobody needs to see Conjuring 9 or Insidious 6. We want to see original films made by filmmakers who actually understand what horror is.

Talk To Me set the bar for what a modern mainstream horror movie should, they proved you can still sell tickets without bringing out the dead horse to flog with the common tropes. Those movie makers deserve a lot of praise because they got traditional publishers interested in horror again, nobody wanted to look at Adam Neville’s work properly until the 2010’s. When asian horror gets it right, no one does it better & for me, The Wailing is the best. I use to love The Grudge as well.

If I am honest, some of those silly franchises are a guilty pleasure of mine lol But because I want to write horror maybe I am biased because I will watch the great stuff & rubbish to, for me what I loved most about the Conjuring universe was the chemistry between Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and the familial ties/trauma, Red Door got panned I think but the psychological damage done to the lead character over time resonated with me. But absolutely, I can separate these from the real good stuff, but those franchises are my version of going to the theme park; if you’ve heard of that famous quote from Martin Scorsese you know what I mean

Did you manage to watch Bring Her Back

 

[shaz619]

Creep was a weird movie but I'll give it some props because it wasn't like your typical found-footage movie. There was some coherent camerwork at play. Cloverfield didn't do it for me. I think the success of that movie was it's marketing campaign which did the good job of obscuring what the movie was about. These days it feels like you see the entire movie in jus the trailer.

Have you seen 10 Cloverfield Lane btw? Not exactly horror I guess but a really good film that was a spin-off of the original Cloverfield I guess, or connected to that same world.

I need to persist with Creep in that case, that’s a great point, Cloverfield really had that mystery about it and blurred the likes between reality & fiction, I was still at school and had some good stuff before going to the theatre, it was such a terrifying experience LOL

I enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane to, at first I was expecting it to be similar to the first and it was but more of a Hitchcock like psychological thriller, it’s the one with the weird fat bloke holding his daughter among others hostage right was it Amy Adams can’t remember. They did a good job flipping the switch with the expectations of the audience in this movie as well, wish we got more of this now to keep me guessing, people fear what they don’t understand or can’t see more than anything….

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Deep Red
The Vanishing
Tenebre
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
The Thing
The Shining
Event Horizon
Rosemary's Baby
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Alien
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Weapons
The Exorcist
The Exorcist III
The Burning
Hereditary
The Eyes of Laura Mars
Urban Legend
The Toolbox Murders (remake)
Dawn of the Dead (remake, though I love the original too)
Bay of Blood
Longlegs
Saw 1 & 2
Sinister (only good studio found-footage movie I've ever seen)

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Talk To Me set the bar for what a modern mainstream horror movie should, they proved you can still sell tickets without bringing out the dead horse to flog with the common tropes. Those movie makers deserve a lot of praise because they got traditional publishers interested in horror again, nobody wanted to look at Adam Neville’s work properly until the 2010’s. When asian horror gets it right, no one does it better & for me, The Wailing is the best. I use to love The Grudge as well.

If I am honest, some of those silly franchises are a guilty pleasure of mine lol But because I want to write horror maybe I am biased because I will watch the great stuff & rubbish to, for me what I loved most about the Conjuring universe was the chemistry between Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and the familial ties/trauma, Red Door got panned I think but the psychological damage done to the lead character over time resonated with me. But absolutely, I can separate these from the real good stuff, but those franchises are my version of going to the theme park; if you’ve heard of that famous quote from Martin Scorsese you know what I mean

Did you manage to watch Bring Her Back

Absolutely. Just goes to show you that audiences will watch if you actually give them something new and interesting. The recent success of Weapons demonstrates this too.

Not yet. Been working up the stomach to see Bring Her Back. But haven't managed to so far. In time hopefully.

Haha I can understand that. I watch slasher movies for the same reason sometimes. Like you know what the movie is going to be and you may not even recommend it to anyone else, but you still get some enjoyment out of it.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I need to persist with Creep in that case, that’s a great point, Cloverfield really had that mystery about it and blurred the likes between reality & fiction, I was still at school and had some good stuff before going to the theatre, it was such a terrifying experience LOL

I enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane to, at first I was expecting it to be similar to the first and it was but more of a Hitchcock like psychological thriller, it’s the one with the weird fat bloke holding his daughter among others hostage right was it Amy Adams can’t remember. They did a good job flipping the switch with the expectations of the audience in this movie as well, wish we got more of this now to keep me guessing, people fear what they don’t understand or can’t see more than anything….

Yup, that's the one. Very good film. It's hard to do single-location films because you always feel like there won't be enough substance to make it interesting. But that film proves that you can do that with good, suspenseful storytelling. And I agree, really good example of playing with the audience's perceptions. I'm sure they came in expecting something closer to the first film.

 

[SherWaqar]

Talk To Me set the bar for what a modern mainstream horror movie should, they proved you can still sell tickets without bringing out the dead horse to flog with the common tropes. Those movie makers deserve a lot of praise because they got traditional publishers interested in horror again, nobody wanted to look at Adam Neville’s work properly until the 2010’s. When asian horror gets it right, no one does it better & for me, The Wailing is the best. I use to love The Grudge as well.

If I am honest, some of those silly franchises are a guilty pleasure of mine lol But because I want to write horror maybe I am biased because I will watch the great stuff & rubbish to, for me what I loved most about the Conjuring universe was the chemistry between Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and the familial ties/trauma, Red Door got panned I think but the psychological damage done to the lead character over time resonated with me. But absolutely, I can separate these from the real good stuff, but those franchises are my version of going to the theme park; if you’ve heard of that famous quote from Martin Scorsese you know what I mean

Did you manage to watch Bring Her Back

Talk To Me is great! However I found Bring Her Back to be a more profound and emotional horror film..and also disturbing. It succeeds in portraying grief and attachment.

 

[psyoptica]

It’s been a good year for horror movies. Bring Her Back and Weapons are both great.

I would also recommend The Dark And The Wicked, Caveat, Oddity, Speak No Evil (not the Hollywood remake), Hell House LLC series, Gonjiam, V/H/S series, Creep 1 & 2, Lake Mungo, Noroi, Smile 2, Cure, The Wailing, Under The Shadow, Hereditary, Midsommar, The Witch, Pulse, Daddy’s Head, Relic, It Follows, Soft & Quite, A Tale Of Two Sisters, Sleep, Martyrs (not the Hollywood remake), Inside, The Black Phone, Host,REC 1 & 2, The Ritual, Borderlands…

Thanks for those recommendations. I have been searching for some good horror flicks and some movies in the list look good. I will line them up for the Halloween binge watching

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

We’ve been in a mini golden era for Horror since the mid 2010’s tbh, it’s just that some of the truly diabolical releases swarm the good stuff.

Just last year we got Long Legs (a modern Se7en) & Nosferatu (best adaptation of Dracula ever & visually one of the most stunning horror movies you will ever see, maybe since The Shining).

And you’re probably familiar with Mike Flanagan’s work who has great TV & movie releases.

I can’t believe The Wailing came out just under 10 years ago, one of the most atmospheric horror movies ever made.

Others to check out:

The Witch
Midsommar
The Lighthouse
Under The Shadow
The Babadook
Talk To Me
28 years later
His House (British / Immigrants)
Relic (British haunted house, messed up take but so good)
The Menu

I've seen half of those, Midsommar was really a good story, The Babadook so so, but enjoyed Talk to Me, 28 Days later and The Witch. Will check the rest out as well since you do seem to have picked the better quality ones.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

To say The Blair Witch Project is “the worst thing that ever happened to horror” is an exaggeration. If anything, it showed how flexible and inventive the genre can be. Horror has always thrived on low budgets…examples are classics like Night of the Living Dead or Halloween. Those weren’t big studio projects either, but they reshaped the landscape.

What Blair Witch Project did was prove that atmosphere and ambiguity are more effective than elaborate effects. I agree that a wave of found-footage copycats followed, and many are cash grabs- but the same happens after almost any breakout success. Slashers after Halloween, torture-porn after Saw, possession movies after The Exorcist—that cycle is part of the genre’s history. The weak ones fade, but the strong ones stay. The likes of REC 1 & 2 and Hell House LLC are very good found footage horror movies..the list of great horror movies in this genre is long.

As for the screen recorded movies like Unfriended and Searching- they’re not lazy at all. I recently watched Host on Amazon..a very effective and creepy 60min film shot in this format. The already mentioned Searching is a tout thriller.

Dismissing whole subgenres as “irreparable damage” seems like overlooking the creative risks and cultural relevance they bring.

Horror is one of the few genres that constantly reinvents itself…and even the experiments people don’t like help push the boundaries for what comes next. Not every horror movie needs to be big budget or shot in a traditional way. Some of the recent so called horror movies like The Nun movies are not found footage..are absolutely rubbish, blatant cash grabs.

I agree. While I can see where @RedwoodOriginal is coming from, the original Blair Witch Project sparked off a bunch of cheap copycat films which are cheap to produce, I do feel the original was a clever idea, and well executed. I can remember hesitating to watch it because I didn't want to watch a home movie, but when I did take the plunge, I thought it was very gripping and scarier than a lot of big budget films.

It worked as a one off, but I don't want to watch other versions of this type of film making, once it's been done it just starts looking like a budget movie trying to cash in.

 

[globetrotter]

Bhoot in that list ? Are you serious !

Yes.... Bhoot is indeed a scary movie, Bollywood lovers over the years watched horror movies from Ramsey, but horror movie from RGV was a surprise. You have to watch on big screen for impact.

Don't underestimate bollywood movies as it has larger viewership than Hollywood movies across the globe.... if Hollywood have godfather and scarface, then Bollywood have Satya and Vaastav

 

[SherWaqar]

Thanks for those recommendations. I have been searching for some good horror flicks and some movies in the list look good. I will line them up for the Halloween binge watching

No worries Trick ’r Treat is a great Halloween movie.

 

[globetrotter]

Few more horror flicks......

The substance
The omen 1975
The sixth sense
Shutter 2005
Tumbled
Barbarian
Bring her back
Insidious
Interview with the vampire
Nosferatu

 

[shaz619]

Talk To Me is great! However I found Bring Her Back to be a more profound and emotional horror film..and also disturbing. It succeeds in portraying grief and attachment.

Talk To Me was kind of more like say a Weapons, I categorise it under the excellent original stories which can still work for a main-stream audience. Bring Her Back wasn’t as well received commercially, but it was a truly gripping & disturbing experience, I am still in shock after a month of having watched it, no words lol

 

[Hikaru]

Hereditary was the last movie that gave me a weird uneasy sensation. Haven't experienced that feeling since.

 

[SherWaqar]

Looking forward to Del Toro’s take on Frankenstein!