What's your Favorite Scary Movie?

[sthrnwriter]

I checked to see if there was a thread already posted but couldn't find one. So, I decided to start one. What's your favorite horror movie(s)?


I kind of liked Nosferatu. I didn't think I would because it's a silent film and it was made in the 1920s, but when I watched it, I realized it wasn't that bad.

Halloween and Friday the 13th were pretty good movies but I think they have played out with all the sequels. To me, they're starting to get a little old.


What are some others that y'all like?

[clara bow]

Hellraiser

The Exorcist

Session 9

The Beyond

Seven

Saw

Carnival of Souls
...and the Roger Corman/Vincent Price collaborations from the '60's are pretty cool, too.

In the "not really scary but gory favorites" category:

anything by Herschell Gordon Lewis
The Guinea Pig Series

sorry, is this too many? I love horror films!

[maestrowork]

The Exorcist

Jaws

Alien

Se7en (although I wasn't scared -- more like disturbed)

Dawn of the Dead

[callalily61]

The Wicker Man (unfortunately, insulting to Pagans, but a terrific surprise ending)

Night of the Living Dead (the original B&W)

Event Horizon

Evil Dead

any of the Hammer Dracula films with Christopher Lee and Peter Chshing

[sthrnwriter]

I think Seven was a bit disturbing to watch though Saw wasn't all that pleasant either in some parts (especially towards the end).

I've thought about buying White Noise on DVD. Is it any good?

[arrowqueen]

Tell you on Saturday. Sister's just got it out.

[BlueTexas]

I think Seven was a bit disturbing to watch though Saw wasn't all that pleasant either in some parts (especially towards the end).

I've thought about buying White Noise on DVD. Is it any good?

Watch it before you buy it. I was really, really dissapointed.

[three seven]

Watch it before you buy it. I was really, really dissapointed.I second that. But I'd add a couple more reallys in there. Another tragic case of Hollywood taking an intriguing premise and turning it into an insulting, overblown load of crap. :mad:

[Rhush]

Wow. Guess I'm out voted here, but I liked White Noise. With so many other horror movies disappointing this year, I enjoyed it. Try on House of Wax for size, for example. Although I didn't expect much. I mean, hello...Paris Hilton. So maybe that's the trick. If you just don't expect much, most of them end up at at least "ok". I also liked the Amittyville remake. Probably alone there too, but I was born in 75 so the original was just lame for me. I love Halloween and the Nightmare on Elm Streets. Whatever you do don't go see Alone in the Dark. Is that what it's called? The one where Tara Reid is an archeoligist. Yeah..... I rest my case. I don't know an exact favorite. I like a lot of different ones for different reasons.

[maestrowork]

I've thought about buying White Noise on DVD. Is it any good?

Not for me. I don't think. It belongs to the snoozefest with the Grudge and The Ring Two.

[firehorse]

Jacob's Ladder, hands down. Scary without being too gory (personal preference), great performances by a whole bunch of actors who were just starting out. Plus, it came out long before its twist became cliche.

[sthrnwriter]

I didn't expect House of Wax remake to be all that great cuz of Paris Hilton. I thought Darkness was alright. Darkness Falls wasn't all that great. I premise behind the movie was a good idea but the script really didn't do it justice.

[BlueTexas]

There's a horror movie starring Paris Hilton? Please tell me she gets killed early on. Please, please, please.

I thought at least the horror genre was safe from evils like that....

[eldragon]

I always thought the exorcist was scary, because I watched it when I was 16, and had nightmares of Regan sitting in my room - spewing pea soup at me.


So I avoided watching it for many, many years - and in fact, just watched it a few months ago.


The funny thing is ......it's not as scary anymore. In fact, its quite funny now.


I can't think of any good scary movies anymore.

(Something by Mel Gibson.....?).

[three seven]

I wasn't scared by Exorcist, but found it mildly affecting in a thought-provoking sort of way the first time I saw it. The second time, it disturbed the hell out of me because at that time my daughter was a dead ringer for Regan. Needless to say, that was the last time I watched it.

Ridiculously enough, the only horror film that actually frightens me is An American Werewolf In London. I have no idea why.

There are a few acts or scenes that stick with me - the chase through the studio in Mute Witness; the peeking aliens in Communion; the parts of The Grudge that weren't boring. And especially Bob in Twin Peaks. He scared the crap out of me.

The one thing I can't watch, though, is the single shot in The Shining of the butler and the bear. For some reason that just freaks me out beyond the realms of human comprehension...

[mommie4a]

The Lost Weekend (1945), with Ray Milland. He plays a chronic, tortured alcoholic writer. (Oooo - I never thought about that coincidence.)

I saw it one Sunday when I was about 7 or 8 and my parents weren't paying attention to me. There's a scene where a rat or bat or whatever chews through the wall. It scared the living daylights out of me. I couldn't sleep without nightmares for a really long time, or fall asleep.

Finally, I decided to pretend that Casper the Friendly ghost lived in my room and would keep me safe if I talked to him before I went to bed, and keep that movie from playing in my mind.

When that stopped working, I decided my feet were Underdog and Sweet Polly and I would talk to them.

I needed a lot of imaginery protectors when I was a kid. Johnny Quest and Hadji, his best friend, also helped out. (I forced my parents to set a place for them at the table.)

All because of The Lost Weekend.

[maestrowork]

There's a horror movie starring Paris Hilton? Please tell me she gets killed early on. Please, please, please.


That would have been a romantic comedy.

No, they let her live! Now that's true horror.

[sthrnwriter]

Indeed it is, Ray.

I never thought that the Exorcist was scary but for some reason everytime I watch Jurassic Park, I always have nightmares.

What about the Sixth Sense? I thought it was pretty interesting. Gotta love the part where he is in the tent and turns to see that girl behind him vomitting. That was gross and a little spooky at the same time.

[eldragon]

What about the Sixth Sense? I thought it was pretty interesting. Gotta love the part where he is in the tent and turns to see that girl behind him vomitting. That was gross and a little spooky at the same time.


In my minds eye, everytime I look up at a stairwell, I see people hanging.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Wow. Guess I'm out voted here, but I liked White Noise.

I liked it too.

...

You need to stop that! :ROFL: We both seem to be surfing the save brain waves here!


I just watched Saw the other night. Quite frankly, I fail to see why people were saying such terrible things about it. No, it wasn't -great- cinema, but it certainly wasn't hor-- er that bad. It had a very interesting premise, and a rather creepy ending that wasn't expected, but appropriate.

Alot of people complained about Cary Elwes acting being wooden. Um...Hello? His -character- is wooden! He plays a successful surgeon whose (who's? I always get those mixed up) lost his passion. For life, for his family...hell, even in a flashback, he didn't even have any real passion for the women he was having an affair with. But as the story unfolded, you could see this guy's veneer cracking, and see him fall apart. He was losing his cold, calucalted logic, and was starting to -feel-. Fear, regret, guilt. No Oscar-winning performance, no...but it was quite good.

The ability to suspend disbelief wasn't -that- difficult. My biggest problem, the one thing that took me right out of the moment for a bit, was when he got his hands on that cell-phone, and discovered that it would only recieve calls, none could be made going out.

Maybe because I have worked in this industry for so long, it was a glaring mistake to me...but it doesn't matter if all calls in, or out are blocked (it doesn't even matter if the phone is suspended, or the account cancelled), -ALL- cellphones can call 911 if you can get a signal. And, well, I did have my doubts about getting a signal in that room, but there are some phone that are powerful enough to do so. And it was a fairly new model, so I know it was CDMA, and looked to be a--

*blinks*

Erm...Sorry 'bout that. :o

Anyhow, that was the only problem I had with the movie.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Jacob's Ladder, hands down. Scary without being too gory (personal preference), great performances by a whole bunch of actors who were just starting out. Plus, it came out long before its twist became cliche.


OOOohhhh! Thank you for reminding me of how much I love that film! :D

I also thought The Serpent and the Rainbow was a very good film. From the trailers, I expected it to be something like Nightmare on Elm Street, but when I finally got to see it, it was anything but...and I was very happy with what it really was.

[Rhush]

I think we do run the same brain waves, drgnlvr! I've agreed with eveything you've posted! Well... if I ever get my horror screenplay off the ground, you'll be the first one I tell about it...ha!

[MacAllister]

I've thought long and hard about my favorite, and I keep coming back to The Shining--I know King hated the Kubrick version, but I thought it was a really well done film, and one of the all-time classics.

[brokenfingers]

Wow, since this thread was started this has been bugging me:

I can't think of a favorite horror movie. The only ones that ever really scared me were the ones I watched when very young, but I don't think those should count because I remember back then a production of Puss n' Boots scared me once.

I enjoyed Seven but never really considered it horror. I always thought of it as a thriller.

I guess if Alien is going to be considered horror, it's my vote for favorite.

[maestrowork]

John Carpenter's The THING.
It scared the crap out of me, and the suspense (the whole theme about trust) was just masterful.

[Fractured_Chaos]

I think we do run the same brain waves, drgnlvr! I've agreed with eveything you've posted! Well... if I ever get my horror screenplay off the ground, you'll be the first one I tell about it...ha!

WooHoo! :D:D:D:D:D

[Torin]

The Changeling, hands down. No gore, but one of the best ghost stories ever, IMO.

[three seven]

Oh, I liked The Others too. Thought it was nicely done (albeit ruined slightly by the husband subplot)

[BlueTexas]

Oh, I liked The Others too. Thought it was nicely done (albeit ruined slightly by the husband subplot)

I forgot about this movie...I thoroughly enjoyed it. This and The Shining would be in my top ten, hands down.

[sthrnwriter]

I watched Satan's school for Girls last night. It was ok. I always thought Kate Jackson played a good psychopath. Playing the leader of a Satanic cult was just perfect for her.

Of course, I also watched The House that Dripped Blood. I kind of liked it. Instead of a regular haunted house, it's a cursed house that reflects the people who live in it. The people were killed in different ways depending on who they were and most of them didn't even die in the house.

[Unique]

Wow, since this thread was started this has been bugging me:

I can't think of a favorite horror movie. The only ones that ever really scared me were the ones I watched when very young, .

That's why my fav is 'Creature of the Black Lagoon' - you never forget your first one.....:scared:

[DTKelly]

Rented Saw this weekend, will probably watch it tonight.

The evil dead series, not becuase it is scary, but because it ROCKS (and it has Bruce Campbell in it.) "It got into my hand and went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist." :ROFL:

Scary..

anyone else notice how a lot of the scary movies are coming out as pg-13 lately? The Grudge (lame), The Ring (disappointing, although I breathed a sigh of relief a week later. ;) ) etc... More marketable if you cut out the sex and gore...

Nightmare on elm street scared me bad as a kid..

Jaws did too (didn't help I had blue carpeting in my room (!) )

edited to add..

Just finished watching 'Saw'... Not even the plot twist can save this movie from Cary Elwes' horrible acting... That man does not do this kind of acting well...

Glad I rented it and not paid full price for it...

[sthrnwriter]

I agree that Cary Elwes isn't too good of an actor in horror movies. As much as I liked the idea of the movie, I really think it may have been better if the killer in the end was a woman. It's just how well planned out each murder is. It sounds like something a woman would do. I mean look how high school girls destroy each other. Most high school girls won't physically fight another girl. They will hurt them emotionally. Use secrets against them and take little incidents and blow them way out of proportion. Of course, this is just my opinion.

[sthrnwriter]

Has anyone seen The Skull? And also did Christopher Lee do a lot of horror movies? I've seen him in quite a few.

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

Has anyone seen The Skull? And also did Christopher Lee do a lot of horror movies? I've seen him in quite a few.
Christopher Lee used to do Hammer Films with Peter Cushing. Christopher was Dracula many, many times.

'The Changeling' is definitely one of my favorites... but have to add the *original* 'Haunting' with Julie Harris is right up there at the top of my list.

[robeiae]

Scarriest movie?

For me, it's "The Other"
It's an older movie about twin boys based on a book of the same name, I think. If you haven't seen it, go search it out...it's worth it, I promise.

For more recent stuff, but still older, how about "Magic," scaried the you-know-what out of me when I was a kid!

Rob :)

[venom]

Sadly I would have to say, after seeing almost every horror movie created (from 1950's onwards) I was never scared by any of them, except for some reason, in my mind I remember 'The Stand' as being scary and possibly another movie from steven king "Revenge of the Langolier's".
These days I'm totally against the gore thing in horror's, not because I get repulsed but because it's obvious the writer was trying to make up for the lack of storyline or perhaps hollywood got their hands on it. Either way, I think it is extremely rare to find a good horror movie with a great story line, so I would have to say I haven't really seen one yet.
Oh yeah, "The wicker man" had some substance to it. I found it more intriguing then scary though.

In contrast though as far as a reasonably good movie goes for these days, "what lies beneath" and the "other's" were farely good, but unfortunately predicatable.

[MacAllister]

The more I think about it, the more I actually liked Blair Witch Project rather a lot, because it was so very understated, in terms of gore.

[venom]

That's true, but all that camera shaking for affect can make anyone sick lol

[MacAllister]

oh, definitely--but the internet angle, pre-release, was brilliant cross-media storytelling

[venom]

That's all true.

So Mac...how long you been writing? Anything published yet?

[MacAllister]

Well, to hear my mother tell it, I've been telling stories since I started talking.

About a year ago, I decided to take a crack at writing and publishing fiction. I started a novel, just to see if I could do it. I've subbed a handful of short fiction pieces, but haven't found them homes, yet. I'm nearing the end of the first draft of the book--which I spend a lot more energy on.

Up until September, when I fled all things corporate, I wrote ad, marketing and catalog copy, and the occasional advertorial. I miss the salary--but not the pressure.

You?

[venom]

Hey, well said.
Not much to say for me. I've only been writing officially for about 2 years now and haven't yet published anything, although I'm always entering into short stories. As you know they give you credits for presenting a novel to a publisher so...
Other than that, I'm currently working on 9 novels at once but most of my free time is spent on just one of them, the one I spoke a little about earlier in the 'what makes a good horror story' thread and I've written over 11 short stories, which eventually I'll find the time to enter into some competitions. There seems to be a short story competition for absolute write, do you think you could give me some of the details on that?

Oh yeah, still just looking around for possible agents. The novel I'm really working on at the moment isn't finished yet but it's good to be prepared.

Cheers.

[sthrnwriter]

I agree with you Mac. I kind of liked the Blair Witch Project cuz of their marketing tactics and the second one was alright. If they did something similar to the first, it probably would have been better.

[Surreptitious_Knight]

I must admit, I was intrigued at first.

[Celeste]

Favorite Horror Flicks...

The Exorcist
The Shining
Saw
Evil Dead
Resident Evil

I've heard a lot of people say over the years they didn't like Blair Witch, but I thought it was pretty cool.

[maestrowork]

I didn't like 98% of Blair Witch. I think it's overhyped. But I understand the film... which leads to the ending which I think is rather haunting. I liked the ending A LOT -- just not the rest of the movie. But like I said, I understand the rest of the film is the setup of the ending...

[Liam Jackson]

The final two minutes epitomized horror. Unseen threat, no escape, sense rather than see...tension with attitude. I also appreciate the fact they managed to pull it off without a single sequence of "Insert knife into lower intestines, twist, remove, repeat..."

Ray, have you seen "Fallen" with Denzel Washington, and if so, what was your opinion?

[BradyH1861]

Showgirls...


Brady H.

[arrowqueen]

'The Shining' - but not the Jack Nicholson one. (Let's face it. He was as mad as a bagful of ferrets before he even got to the hotel. Would you have gone with him?)

[Celeste]

Showgirls...


Brady H.

Lmao!!!! :ROFL:

[sthrnwriter]

Showgirls...


Brady H.


:ROFL: lol I was waiting for someone to say that.

[Fractured_Chaos]

The final two minutes epitomized horror. Unseen threat, no escape, sense rather than see...tension with attitude. I also appreciate the fact they managed to pull it off without a single sequence of "Insert knife into lower intestines, twist, remove, repeat..."

Ray, have you seen "Fallen" with Denzel Washington, and if so, what was your opinion?

I'm not Ray, but I've seen "Fallen". I loved it. The idea that "Evil" moved from person to person with just a touch was facinating.

[wideawakesoh]

Films like Seven and The Silence of the Lambs have a frightening effect on some people, but I think they're mostly thrillers. Still, they're two of the greatest movies I've ever seen.

The Exorcist never scared me, although the book did, but I still think its a remarkable story of good and evil, and I love to watch it.

As far as scary movies, the first film that every got to me was George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. I had visions of that flick in my head for weeks after I watched it.

Another film that I think is a great horror flick but didn't scare me is Clive Barker's Hellraiser, which plays like a dark fairy tale without any inhibitions or prediction. It's just an unbelievable movie.

Another film that got me is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original). The last twenty minutes of the film are like a nightmare, and you walk away from it wondering what you just saw. Other than those, there's also DePalma's Carrie, Kubrick's The Shining (poor adaptation, but great movie), Carpenter's Halloween and The Thing, and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, another film that fills my head with visions every time I think about it.

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream by night."
Edgar Allen Poe

I LOVE THIS FREAKIN' BANANA!!! :banana:

[katiemac]

There's a horror movie starring Paris Hilton? Please tell me she gets killed early on. Please, please, please.

So the official movie tees advertising "See Paris Die!" weren't telling the truth? That would've been the only reason worth seeing that film.

[Wood Devil]

I'd have to say that Ginger Snaps is one of my favorites, along with The Fog, Halloween, and Silver Bullet.

[aspiringwriter]

I would have to say THE SHINING (1980 version)....That movie really creeped me out...

[Albedo of Zero]

The Haunting..... the old black and white version

[triceretops]

The Fly remake was some pretty disgusting stuff. Carpenter's The Thing. Jeepers Creepers was kinda chilling.

Tri

[preyer]

in the vein of 'the others,' an older movie called 'haunted' with kate beckinsale (sp) was pretty good, if not with a cheesy ending. that's my major gripe with horror movies, bad endings.

great horror movies to me are:

the exorcist

aliens

the thing

house

evil dead II

poltergeist

phantasm

the raven (with vincent price-- ya gotta check this one out, it rocks, cheesy fx aside)

the 'dawn/day/night/late evening/dusk/midmorning/afternoon of the dead' movies (the good ones)

slashers never really did much for me. i remember last year, my wife wanted to show her nephews and niece the freddy movies that scared her as a kid. it wasn't easy locating them at friggin' holloween, but i managed it. i got four of 'em, popped 'em in the DVD, and was fast asleep by the second one. my wife couldn't believe how boring they were! the kids thought so, too, and they'd never seen them. for me, there's got to be a re-watchability factor involved.

movies that bored me to tears:

rosemary's baby

the village

village of the damned (though i admit i didn't even make it through the entire movie)

virtually any big-budget sequel like poltergeist II and aliens III

okay, now i'm sure we all know the horror movie cliches by now, right? i'd like to add one that you might not see, at least not too often:

any otherwise brainless moronic teenager can find exactly the precise information he/she/they need about the terror befronting them within two websites. of course, when i look up something i'm almost instantly routed to either amazon or ebay, but that's a different story, i guess. and the internet has perfect information, too. i mean, it must be perfect to make these idiots so completely believe that the evil they're facing is some supernatural entity, not some crazy schlub with a cool gimmick. i wish i had *that* internet!

if you're being stalked by a pirate back from the grave seeking revenge on the ancestors of the crew that betrayed him, here's pretty much what you'll find on the second website in order after a basic search of 'pirates': blackbeard, captain kidd, jolly jack of podunk nowheresville. thank gawd for google, eh? (my most recent excursion into bad horror movies, which i love, was 'jolly roger: the curse of cutters cove', or something like that, wherein the picture of jolly roger was in fact a cropped pic of blackbeard, and a famous illustration at that! come on, please don't insult my intelligence, will ya not?)

i liked 'the others' and 'the sixth sense,' but they don't stand up to repeated viewings once the cat's out of the bag. and i agree, the whole father returning home sub-plot in 'the others' just dragged the story, i thought. i thought 'the ring' was good, even somewhat brilliant in spots. i remember thinking the acting in 'blair witch' was incredible in spots, though i'm not sure if it was acting or not in those places. the ending was chilling. 'the legend of hell house' had some pretty scary bits, too.

any movie that has a ghost walking in the background scares the hell outta me, don't know why.

[Perks]

I have to say that The Ring scared the sh** out of me. A week later I was driving home from the store, glancing at the clock and going "Okay, I just have to make 'til ten o'clock and I'll be fine..."

I love horror movies, so among my favorites are:

The Exorcist
Poltergeist
The Shining
Rosemary's Baby
Jacob's Ladder
Frailty
Dead Ringers
The Others

Honorable mention with a high cheese factor goes to:

The Amityville Horror (haven't seen the remake, yet)
The Entity
Nightmare on Elm Street (and spawn of...)
Halloween

And for horror/comedy nothing compares to:

Army of Darkness

Hmmm... looks like I'm going on and on...

[Nivvie]

The Exorcist scared me more as an adult than when I watched it as a teen.
It was simply the situation of having your child posessed, something evil squatting in your child, and sealing with it alone as a single parent.

Most films I watch I think I could cope with the situations, find a way out of them, but when your child is involved, and I don't know what parenthood is like without a husband, so The Exorcist wins for me, and I also loved The Ring for the same reasons.

[MitchJ]

Alien scared me as a kid.
The Ring and The Grudge were really creepy, but I didn't like The Ring 2.
The first Evil Dead was scary, the rest were fun to watch.

I would consider the classic Universal and Hammer movies atmospheric, but not scary, and I definitely enjoy watching them.

I have no desire to watch the endless stream of remakes, which seem to be an attempt by younger filmmakers to one-up the classics--they always seem to fail if you ask me. I loved the original Haunting, but what I saw of the remake (on cable), didn't impress me at all.

[preyer]

'the haunting' was on last night. my wife said that movie (the liam neeson version) creeped her out and i said i thought it was an awful mess and retreated to the computer for about an hour while it played in the background. i will admit the sets were amazing, though, the real star of the movie. still, for what it's worth and the effect it had, disney's 'the haunted mansion' was far scarier, lol. at least in THM it was fun looking for 'the mickeys.'

[MitchJ]

at least in THM it was fun looking for 'the mickeys.'

I do want to see that. It looks entertaining. The Disney ride is awesome.

[sthrnwriter]

I haven't seen the entire original The Haunting but I have seen parts of it. It seems like it is better than the remake.

Some people say that the Disney ride is actually haunted but who knows if it really is or not. I haven't rode the ride. So, I don't personally know if it is or not. I did a post about it on my blog.

But I do agree with Mitch. The remakes have to stop. Seems like this year is just full of them.

[MitchJ]

There are, of course, two exceptions: Batman Begins, which isn't really a remake as much as an overhaul--that worked, and War of the Worlds, which has a different focus and doesn't try to "fix" what wasn't broken in the orginal movie.

Not really horror, but relevant.

[preyer]

this hasn't been a stellar year for good movies. too many remakes or 'overhauls.' i heard where disney digitally reduced linsay lohan's breasts for 'herbie.' good gravy....

it's more suspense, but i watched 'freeze frame' tonight. it's an irish movie, so it might not be in every blockbuster around, but i thought it was pretty good, very well-acted and not having any thick british accents (or irish) i find sometimes are hard to understand.

i'd have to do a search on it, but there was one british horror movie i thought was really good. it had andy serkis in it, about a company of british soldiers lost in a fog who stumble on a deserted german trench in WWI. there was somewhat of a remake of it set in WWII called 'the bunker' which isn't worth the time.

as an aside, the haunted mansion ride rocks. next for me is pirates of the caribbean. when i was a kid riding the mansion with my step-sisters, the ride actually stopped for a few minutes in the part where the spirits are flying up into the sky.

thanks a lot, disney. you think i could sue over something like that? lol.

along those lines, there was a movie called 'hollow's end' about teens running a holloween haunted house that turns all the people into whatever scary character they played for the haunted house. then, at the end, they just throw in this completely off the wall lesbian thing. total waste of time. i mean, i love dumb horror movies, but this one made 'house of the dead' look like 'gone with the wind.'

stay away from 'ancient evil II,' also. to laugh at something because it's so bad, check out 'ghost lake.' for every cliche in the book, there's the awful 'jolly roger: massacre at cutter's cove.' actually, rent this one: it's hilariously bad. make a drinking game out of it. every time you catch a cliche, everyone else has to drink. trust me, ten minutes into it everyone is going to be hammered, in this case a good thing.

a more recent low-budget flick that fell short of its potential was 'shallow ground,' which could have been as, ah, 'good' a movie as 'cabin fever.'

is it time yet to start up a 'worst of' list?

[Perks]

I just remembered a recent one, 'Ghost Ship.' Now this was a fairly pedestrian jump-out-and-boo ghost story, but the opening sequence was worth the price of admission.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

[Dhewco]

Here's one I don't think anyone's mentioned: The Pit. It was about this boy pushing people into a pit (I think there was a monster in the pit) I remember loving the movie. As a kid, there were several people I wished I could push into something like that. I was a chubby, smart, unpopular kid.

I'm glad I didn't have to bring up The Blair Witch project. It was very good and I was stupid enough to believe it. I had a lot of friends who told me that and I didn't bother to read the credits. Eventually I did, and I liked the movie a lot less then. LOL, I always read the credits now.

The Gate (first one with Stephen Dorff) was very good. I remember feeling really freaked when Stephen's character had the eye in his hand.


David

[preyer]

saw 'ghost ship' in the theatres. could have been an awesome movie, but it was a dud aside from the opening scene, as mentioned.

watched 'dead end' last weekend, which actually turned out to be pretty decent, especially considering the budget was virtually nil. it had actual characters. not a great movie, but i think it's worth watching and one really good example of how less is more. it had some shaky spots and sorely lacking in a special features, but good nonetheless.

[Carole]

I just rented the new Amityville Horror.

I'm a huge horror fan, and I am really hard to creep out. I have to say that even watching it mid-afternoon, I was on the edge of my seat. I thought it was a very well made movie. They took the story in what I thought were great twists. That poor kid out there when the step dad was chopping wood. That scene alone had me chewing my nails...and I wear acrylic nails!

[preyer]

not that it's going to stop me from watching it, but i'd heard how awful the movie was. just goes to show....

because we're writers, wanna-be's or pro, does it sometimes seem as if we're being too hard on movies because we're so tuned into plots and characters?

[Carole]

not that it's going to stop me from watching it, but i'd heard how awful the movie was. just goes to show....

Even hubby liked it. He is hard to impress with anything. 9 times out of 10 if you ask him whether or not he liked any movie he'll say, "eh...it was o.k." This one he liked as much as I did.

because we're writers, wanna-be's or pro, does it sometimes seem as if we're being too hard on movies because we're so tuned into plots and characters?

I've never thought of it like that.

[aspiringwriter]

I meant to add a few more other than The Shining...

Some of my favorites are:

Hellraiser
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
Phantasm II
Halloween 1 and 2
Friday the 13th 1-4 (the others except Freddy Vs. Jason aren't any good)..well maybe Part 6...
Re-Animator (cult classic)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Alien
Amityville Horror (1979 and 2005 versions)
The Evil Dead 1-2
Army of Darkness

That's just a partial list :)