It's horror movie season in the US and my favorite type is zombies. I also love campy B movies. Watching Dead Snow 2 right now and I think it ranks up there with Shawn of the Dead and Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness.
Alien is my favorite horror movie by far.
I really dig Hellraiser too. I watched Pontypool recently and was surprised how good it was. And The Shining is fab.
I've watched Alien as much as any movie excepting Aliens, so I kinda lost appreciation. My wife had never seen it so we watched and I payed close attention for the first time in years. Absolute master class in the genre.
Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess was also a NUTS book. Definitely check it out. The scope is much wider than the flick and as a result it’s a lot more uneven. I still really dig it.
We watched Pontypool when we read Snow Crash. There's a scene where Snow Crash is placed really obviously if your looking fot it and the themes mesh really nicely.
Signs (2002) is my favorite horror movie to watch during spooky season. While it was mocked so perfectly in Scary Movie 3, I feel like the atmosphere it creates is still so unnerving. The humor in the movie adds an element of B movie campiness to an otherwise serious movie.
Cabin in the Woods (2011) disassembles the horror tropes in a hilarious way. Inspired by the Evil Dead movies.
Cabin in the Woods is top tier. Everytime I watch it I see something new. It's a blast to watch with people who have never seen it, and even more fun if they're going in blind.
Since you asked the favorite, i will have to describe it, trying to avoid the spoilers.
It is a masterpiece on many aspects at the same time. It is a historical movie, focusing on an isolated devout settler family living on the frontiers in the beginnings of US history. It is a dramatic and heavy movie with believable people, showing their realistic hardships in everyday living, how they really live and think the world through their strict religion, and how they react realistically to the supernatural events that unfold. It is a Horror movie that gradually builds the mystery, tense and fear thorough the relatively long stretch of time it takes (months i guess), and the actual terror moments felt deserved (i.e. not a cheap scary gag).
For all that, it is considered one of the more 'artful' horror films out there, and i'm sure it will (or already is?) considered one of the Greats in the genre with Dracula 1932 and The Exorcist 1973. It however leans on being slow and heavy, not good if you seek a lighthearted film.
The language is brilliant. At first you have to pay very close attention to understand them, but as the movie progresses you quickly get in the groove. And Anya Taylor-Joy, my god.
One way I like to describe it is that They took one this witch trials account/documents, took it at face value and just recreated it as an historical movie.
Oh baby, time to proselytize the masses of Lemmy and introduce a whole new set of suckers to "Fido". It's zombies with big Fallout vibes and is unironically one of the best C to B tier movies I've ever seen. It's the kind of movie where it looks like everyone involved was just having fun with it, ya know? Check it out and make sure to let me know what you think!
I just read the description on IMDB, and good lord what a fever dream. But the real selling point for me is the disembodied head of Billy Connolly being a loyal companion to a family. Consider me signed up.
When I was reading that, a friend noticed and asked what it was about. Oh boy.
I had to pause for a moment before I could respond. I wish I could remember exactly what I said, but all I remember now is that it involved the phrase "monster jizz". His reaction was priceless. Apparently he never expected to hear such a phrase from me.
Braindead/Dead Alive is always in my top horror movies. Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn is a really good movie too. Both have an amazing number of fantastic one liners.
28 Days and 28 Weeks Later are great zombie movies that are less camp and humor.
Originally i really disliked 28 Days, it was not until i begrudgingly saw 28 Weeks and really liked it that I went back and rawatched Days and thoroughly enjoyed it.
True that. I loved how the sci-fi made it seem so fascinating to explore. The environment was so cool!
But also there was constant tension in anticipation of what they'd find next, and you're asking yourself whether you'd just nope right out if you could.
I like that it's such a simple concept for a horror movie, but it's still highly engaging for the audience.
spoiler
Early on in the movie, it (quite literally) teaches you a set of rules that the monster operates by, and the rest of the film feels almost like an interactive game.
the monster is a shapeshifter
it has stack (as in the data structure) of targets
it's always walking straight towards the target at the top of the stack (peek())
the target can have sex with someone else to make them the new target (push())
if the target at the top of the stack dies, the previous target is the target again (pop())
Beyond that, the writing and cinematography just let the audience play along. The characters are deliberating their plans on how they would deal with the monster, letting you also think about what you would do in their situation. And the camera likes to slowly pan around the people talking so that all the while, the audience is scanning the background looking for the monster. It can look like anyone, and they constantly, and deliberately put extras in the background walking directly toward the camera just to make you go "oh shit! Is that it right there? Hey, pay attention, we need to move!"
It's just such a fun, unique experience. I don't know of another horror movie experience quite like it.
I also loved It Follows. I was already hearing the soundtrack, before i saw the Movie. It made the movie feel so familiar, while at the same time experiencing something completely new.
The score composer, Disasterpeace, otherwise makes game music. This may have added to the game feeling.
Yeah, that one screwed me up for a week keeping the lights bright in the house LOL.
Sure I'm a rational adult but I sure do hate that gimmick where "If you know about / think about the thing, you're on its radar now." Eeesh! All I did was watch a movie!
Rec (2007) . A slow night where a novice news reporter shows a day in the life of the local firestation turns into so much more.
I think there's something about the intersection between found footage and a foreign (to me) film that makes it so much more believable and enjoyable. This is miles beyond the US remake, quarantine. No big name actors here to ruin the found footage vibe. Just a small town news reporter meandering through a slow night at a local fire station.
I vividly remember the night we turned out the lights to try this one out. That was one of the very few horror movies that had me so freaked out and unsettled but also gripped me so much I couldn't wait to see what happened.
What a wild ride.
It wasn't contrived or anything, everyone felt real.
I just watched it based on the recommendations here, and it's not bad. It does suffer from the same trope as a lot of horror movies, which is this, by the time it ended i wanted the main character to die because they were getting on my nerves.
picking a favourite is hard, but In The Tall Grass (2019) is definitely up there, and i never see anyone talk about it. also, Malignant (2021). definitely try to go in blind for that one if you can.
I also recommend It Follows. It is so different. And the characters don't act dumb. And everything makes sense in the context. Like why they dont get a car or catch a plane, because they are broke teenagers.
Alright I can think of a few that strangely haven't been mentioned yet!
Barbarian - Woman checks in to an AirBnB. But beneath it lies a horrible secret. This one's pretty disturbing in subject matter, actually. But it's solidly eery.
Tremors - It's bright daylight! In a small desert town! What's so spooky about that? Vibration-sensitive, man-eating sandworms maybe. This movie is just solidly fun all around. Legendary B-movie monster film.
The Descent - Always thought caves were creepy? Want to experience claustrophobia from the safety of your own home? Wanna see how an all-woman horror film cast is done correctly? This one's a treat.
Dog Soldiers - The Scottish Highlands are gorgeous for a hike. Less appealing though if you're a squad of British soldiers doing a training exercise in a monster movie. Features reasonably smart cast of soldiers doing their best, but cleverly using the training scenario premise to take away their live ammo so they can't just shoot away their problems. Also, I remember it being very "B movie" in a good way. A well-placed cheesy joke or two had me laughing out loud without it being Marvel-grade snark, but it was still tense and exciting.
Pandorum - Guy wakes up from hypersleep on a giant ship where things have gone horribly wrong. His only other awake crewmate is uh...a bit off, maybe? This one feels VERY Deadspace. If you like "Creepy massive cathedral-like dungeon ships" flavored sci-fi horror, this one's pretty good. I'd say maybe much tamer than Event Horizon, but clearly took some inspiration there.
30 Days of Night - You know how in Alaska they get really long periods where the sun is just gone? You know how certain classic horror antagonists hate sunlight? Uh oh.
Overlord - A World War 2 horror film. I mean, WWII was full of horror but...like... unbelievable horror. No, like, pulpy mad scientist supervillains and secret experiments horror--No, like stuff that DIDN'T actually happen.
It's the closest to a Wolfenstein movie as we're gonna get. (And very "Weird Wars 2" if you've played a good Savage Worlds TTRPG or two)
Resident Evil - I liked maybe two or three sequels too, before it got utterly ridiculous to farm cash, but the original is always cited as a horror classic, even among people who aren't fans of the games. (Almost entirely unrelated characters and plot.)
Barbarian was written by Zach Cregger of Whitest Kids You Know fame, it's a solid movie with unsettlingly comedic chops.
As for Pandorum, I am obsessed with that movie. Here's a FanTheory I wrote a few years ago that delves into much of intrigue hinted at in that incredible movie:
Barbarian was wild. I had no idea what I was in for, my cousin just said "Check this one out" last Halloween. That movie had so many good moments. The sheer tonal whiplash once the tapemeasure gets broken out. 😂 And we were all in the living room screaming "That would TOTALLY HAPPEN TOO!"
I love when scary movies know how to manage and pace their tone. They can be scary without drowning the viewer in so much grimdark it becomes a comedy accidentally.
That's so crazy cool that of all those movies I listed, I meet a Pandorum fan! It's been ages since I've seen it, but it left an impression. I really liked your FanTheories writeup! But also I should really give it another watch with my matured brain and see what I missed the last couple times.
I almost kinda like how...the plot is REALLY grim, but only when you really connect all the breadcrumbs.
The movie itself I remember being rather straightforward and exciting, (even with that Act 2 expo-dump), where the plot doesn't completely screw you up and abandon all hope unless you really start analyzing it lol.
That's why I liken it to Deadspace...That's a grim and awful world to inhabit...but wow is it still such a WILD ride that I'm willing to do it again.
i'm always surprised that most people rank the nun as the worst in the conjuring franchise. i think it's probably my favorite. conjuring 2 is phenomenal too. and they're definitely horror.
Noroi - The Curse (2005, Japan)
Supernatural first-person video documentary style POV, but with higher image quality than Blair Witch Project for example. No jump scares, just very creepy and unsettling. Slow burn, but good pacing IMHO. No weaknesses IMHO, hence on top of my list. Just a very unsettling and disturbing, almost real-feeling, horror movie.
Also good:
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea): less horror, more artistic, intelligent and original. Great story
Shutter (2004, Thailand): my favorite jump-scare horror with cool effects
Incantation (2022, Taiwan): great supernatural slow-burn horror with a cool twist
Hereditary (2018, USA): great supernatural slow-burn horror, original as well
Sinister (2012, USA/UK/CAN): great supernatural horror
Event Horizon (1997, USA/UK/CAN): great sci-fi horror, very unsettling
REC (2007, Spain): one of the best zombie style movies and also one of the most horror-like ones
It Follows (2014, USA): kind of a stupid plot but it works. It's original, well executed and unsettling (supernatural)
Smile (2022, USA): an even more stupid plot, but also well executed. The ending is bad. But it still terrified me so it works at its core, and that's all that horror films need to do (supernatural)
As Above, So Below (2014, USA/France): the weakest one on this list but it's very original as well, I like it because of that
I watched this recently. Actual not-dumb characters is sooo nice. I'd written this off as just yet another Romero style zombie movie but it has it's own thing going on. I think given how much I liked Tusk (saw it last night) and Dale and Tucker vs. Evil I have a soft spot for R rated horror comedy.
House of 1000 Corpses and 3 From Hell are alright, but Devils Rejects is my favorite. I can't hear Midnight Rider or Freebird without thinking about this movie.
I actually liked devil's rejects more than House of 1000 corpses. Rob zombie has a tendency to dip his toes into the torture porn type of horror genre from time to time and I think house of 1000 corpses had too much of that going on with it for my own taste.
You like em tongue-in-cheek? You might try Chopping Mall (1986). Shopping mall management invests in a killer robot security system. A group of horny teens decides to spend the night there, but a lightning storm takes out the main killer robot controller! It's funny, a little gory, has topless men and women, and it's hilarious. A spook night favorite of mine.
100% Nope: A episode from supernatural, where ghouls half way succeed to eat Sam.
(I consider it as the most gruesome horror I have ever seen, and I don't think I have the stomach to see it ever again. The blood draining is a ... no.)
Yellow brick road on otherhand hits the weird places spot of SCP, which I can't get enough. (not horror really, but still)
If you like body horror, go watch The Substance. That movie brought back memories of when body horror used to be good (Videodrome, Scanners, Toxic Avenger, etc)
Another horror favorite: Don't Look Now (1973), directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. Set in Venice, it concerns a couple recovering from the accidental death of their very young daughter. Roeg uses the color red as a signature throughout the film: things are not always what they seem.
"The shutter" the original asian one. I remember watching it when it came out and loved it.
ETA and the original Halloween of course but I also liked Rob Zombie's version of it.
One of my favorites, one I feel is hugely underrated, Michael Wadleigh's 1981 Wolfen, which is not about werewolves, but ecological displacement, loss of habitat from urban development (among other issues), and not terrorism --- a conclusion initially drawn by the police --- but territory. With Albert Finney, Diane Venora, Gregory Hines, Edward James Olmos, and Tom Noonan. Its release in theaters was eclipsed by “The Howling” and “An American Werewolf in London”, but Wolfen is not merely a horror movie, but an intelligent one, ahead of its time IMHO. The confrontation atop the Manhattan Bridge between Finney and Olmos (see below, not a spoiler), which still makes my knees weak, involves no stunt doubles. The film also has beautiful dog sequences, imaginative cimenatography, and yes, some gore.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974
Alien
Paranormal Activity (first one)
V/H/S
Train to Busan
Children of the corn
Frozen (about three skiers - not sure if this counts)
Saw
Orphan