Dead & Buried - 1981: Written by Dan O'Bannon, the guy who helped script Alien and Total Recall, and who directed the original Return of the Living Dead (see below), this movie plays like a made for TV flick, but has a good bit of gore here and there, and a neat premise. Not way up on the list, but a good rental nonetheless.

The Dead Zone - 1983: David Cronenberg again, but considerably more solidified than his past films. One of the best Stephen King adaptations (my other faves are Tobe Hooper's made for TV miniseries Salem's Lot and Mick Garris' The Stand,), and starring The Man Himself, Christopher Walken. A really good thriller, simply put.

Deep Rising - 1998: Stephen Sommers' first hit before The Mummy. More a sci-fi/horror/action m�lange than anything, it's a great ride, funny as hell in parts (due mainly to Kevin J. O'Connor as Joey, who should be in more movies, dammit), and has some awesome shocks and great tension. Big, noisy fun.

Deliverance - 1972: The film Wrong Turn wanted to be like, but couldn't. Directed by John Boorman, one of my fave filmmakers (I even forgive him the retched Exorcist II), this is a very disturbing and effective movie, with solid performances by the likes of Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, Burt Reynolds and Ronny Cox. A must-see.

Demon Seed - 1977: Sci-fi/horror, an adaptation of a novel by Dean Koontz, with the beautiful Julie Christie giving a nice performance in this tale of technology gone amok. Sure, it's somewhat dated, but effective and overall a creepy flick.

The Devil's Rain - 1975: This movie is total Cheese, but oddly enough the ending freaked me out a little. William Shatner takes on Ol' Scratch, vividly portrayed by Enrest Borgnine! No, really!

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (TV) - 1973: I only include this for two reasons -- I've GOT to find it on VHS or DVD (doubtful if it'll ever come out), and it's being remade as well. In it a young woman nad her husband inherit her father's old Victorian house, which has a few suprises in store for her. Simply put, I watched this on late-night TV once was a kid, and couldn't sleep afterwards for a week. Creepy as fuck stuff.

That's all for now, I'm cramping here. But this is fun, and I'll add more later if anyone likes. 

If you're going to show the south at all then you might as well depict everyone in it as Fualknerian chuds.

I'm already afraid to drive through the bible belt. 

Well, you're an idiot. That's like depicting Noo Yawkers as guys named Vinny, Midwesterners as people obcessed with dairy products and the enitre state of California full of Jeff Spicolis. And it's Faulkneresque, you git. 

Sounds about a million times better. 

will see if I can track down some of those. I've got Deliverance, didnt know it really classified as horror. 

All I know is that if I were Ned Beatty in that movie, I would have to disagree with you ;) 

All I know is that if I were Ned Beatty in that movie, I would have to disagree with you ;) 

appreciate the recommendations biff, i'll add them to the list and eventually watch them. i'm a big horror fan too, but don't watch much because there's so much garbage, unless it's had a good review or been recommended.

i saw 28 days later today. was alright although i would have liked more focus on surviving the zombie's rather than the second half of the movie with the camp of soldiers wanting to rape and murder - which was pretty unrealistic. the original ending would have been better too, and gave a good opportunity for a sequel.

looking forward to texas chainsaw2, jeepers creepers2 and freddy vs jason. anyone seem them yet?

look forward to more of your horror list later biffy :P 

[Kona] almost gave away the plot for 28 days. 

Come back! Make maps!

28 Days Later I liked much. 

And thanks =) I'll get some more up later in the week, but one of the things I always stress about horror flicks is that since there is so little stuff that ain't garbage, an appreciation of the garbage is a given. But maybe it's just me -- I dig cranking up C.H.U.D. or Motel Hell and they're always entertaining. 

I've seen Freddy vs Jason 3 times, it's good if you like that kind of thing. Texas Chainsaw remake was good, actually one of the sickest movies I've seen, erm if you like that sort of thing. Never seen 28 days later. 

Well you asked for it -- here it go. We'll be getting into some of the major franchises of the genre, but I'll only mention the original films, with some asides to the sequels for the most part. As is the case with most series, if you've seen one, you can pretty much guess what the others will be like.

The Entity - 1981: Barbara Hershey is foxy as always, and extremely effective in this film about a woman tormented by an invisible being. It tries to go the route of The Exorcist and Polergeist, and offer some pseudo-scientific and psychological proof for and against the existence of said Entity, but isn't quite convincing (not that Poltergeist really was, either). Nonetheless, the film is really effective and doesn't fall over into exploitation when involving the attacks, which are basically rape scenes. A really good rental.

The Evil Dead - 1981: You can look at the Evil Dead movies as either comedies or horror films, but the first film was much more rooted in the latter. It nonetheless is extremely funny at times, due mainly to Sam Raimi's twisted perspective on the subject. Simply said, if you're a fan of horror or even curious, this in one of the movies you should see -- if anything to see the debut of The Chin That Roared, Bruce Campbell.

The Exorcist - 1973: My all-time fave. Nothing has yet to match the considerable impact this film made on me as a kid (no, not back in '73, later in the '80s when it was on HBO), and continues to through adulthood. It is an effective, thought-provoking, sometimes disturbing and always fascinating film, with marvellous performances, impressive visual effects (for the time), and a creepy-as-fuck soundtrack. It was in my opinion the first mainstream film to take the genre of horror seriously, and have the balls to carry all the way to the goal: endless streams of obscenities, a cruicifix masturbation, not to mention that scene at the hospital where poor Regan is stuck in the neck, and the blood goes flying. Avoid the first sequel if at all possible, but see the third movie, which was directed by William Peter Blatty, who wrote the original novel, as well as the one on which Exorcist III was based -- Legion.

The Fog - 1980: "Something like an albatross around the neck. No. More like a millstone. A plumbing stone, by God. Damn them all." Not necessarily a effective film, but has some creepy scenes, like when you hear the afore-mentioned statement (my fave scene, btw). A great ensemble cast, featuring the always-vulnerable Jamie Lee Curtis, the always-foxy Adrienne Barbeau, the always-consternated Hal "Blake, I Have Your Gold" Holbrook, and everybody's favorite two-fisted, hard-drinking, hard-loving (insert occupation here), Tom Aktins. It's obviously one of my faves -- now you can have a stomach-powder and a coke ;)

Frailty - 2001: This is a unique film in that it's not necessarily frightening, or even disturbing -- but it is unsettling. It is effective not as much because of what you see and hear on the screen, but what you think about it afterwards. Bill Paxton gives a great performance, as well as supplying a solid vision behind the camera as director, with Matthew McConaughey and Powers Booth, as well as the two young actors Jeremy Sumpter and Luke Askew offering excellent support. It won't leave your mind for a while after viewing. 

you forgot to mention the spiderwalk sequence, I thought it was pretty cool. 

Wanna see a Sick movie?
Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses

Haven't seen texas chainsaw so I can't compare, but this one is pretty sick.

Dagon //// 4 severed tentacles (we need a severed tentacle icon :)
Didn't know it was on so i missed the 1st half,
but the second half was nice and ummm
"atlantis gothic"??

Beyond Reanimator <skull><skull><skull> (3 skulls)
not bad if you like the inject them with glowing syringe and bring 'em back as zombies
type things.

Necronomicon <skull> <skull> / (2 skulls and one severed tentacle)
3 stories by Lovecraft
Good stuff.

Bone Snatcher <skull> <skull> (2 skulls)
Not scary enough :)
Also, carrying nitroglycerine without a stabilizing agent in the desert is suicidal at best (it explodes spontaneously if it reaches 90 degrees F), almost no one uses nitro as an explosive anymore, tnt, C4, Semtex, Ampho or other more stable explosives would be used (probably a binary explosive). 

doh no icons? or did I just bork the code? 

 

Right, so where's Alien?

Cannibal Holocaust was quite... interesting. Though I have to admit that the very last line made me laugh, some of the more graphical scenes were unsettling. Then again, it was too slow even for my tastes, and was pretty much made just to try out some neat special effects involving chopping people to bits. 

Hehe, I actually don't mention the spider walk because I always go by the 25th Anniversary version of The Exorcist, which didn't have the spider walk. That is a really cool scene though, and the best additive to the otherwise wretched Version You've Never Seen, which I wish I never had, seeing as how William Friedkin did all of the cheap tricks with the film he swore he would never do some five years before.

And to be honest (and I'm sure many would disagree), I've always classified Alien as a sci-fi flick, and have never thought of it as a horror film -- even though it very obviously bears all the right characteristics. I'm a silly fuck, you know ;) 

Friday the 13th - 1980: I know, I know, this is clich� from the word go, but nonetheless fairly strong cheese, here. Mind you, I lost interest after the first two sequels, and haven't seen all of the others at one time, which has left me with an odd patchwork of recollections about the rest of the series -- but the first film nonetheless is a hoot to watch.

The Gate - 1987: Probably the only PG-13 horror flick I'll ever recommend. As one could guess by the rating, it's not exactly filled with violence and titillation, and the leads are all kids -- but it has some really neat stop-motion effects, and moments of genuine creepiness. A nice rental.

Halloween - 1978: Basically, the film that started the whole "survival horror" sub-genre. This film seems tame by today's standards, since it mainly relies on tension and suspense more than shocks and violence. It nonetheless is one of my faves, if only for the always-excessive Donald Pleasance as the that wacky psychotherapist, Dr. Sam "He's Evil On Two Legs" Loomis. After the second film and third (a cheeesy delight, that one), I basically lost interest, as by then the original filmmakers were no longer involved, but the first film is great for its atmosphere.

Hellraiser - 1987: A decent flick from Clive Barker, unfortunately dated now in terms of visuals -- but a imaginative film anyway. To be honest, I like the sequel (Hellraiser II: Hellbound) better than this one, but again, lost interest after it. Really depends on if your into Barker's sfuff. I for one dig the otherworld of The Lament COnfiguration, and the Cenobites and lost souls who live there. Creepy stuff.

THe Hitcher - 1986: This one is a trip. C. Thomas Howell gets on the wrong side of Rutger Hauer, and lives to sincerely regret it. But he doesn't really get the worst of it - that's saved for the girl he meets along the way... I will say no more. Just see this one if you can.

THe Howling - 1981: High-grade cheesy fun, with some neat Rob Bottin werewolf effects thrown in. Like most of the Roger Corman-produced flicks of the '70s-'80s, this comes off like a made-for-TV movie with something extra. Director Joe Dante plays along well, but not without his usual dose of the tongue-in-cheek, fueled onward by John Sayles' quirky screenplay (Sayles makes an appearance in the film as a coroner, btw). And Dee Wallace Stone makes a cute werewolf, don't she?

That's it for now, again I'll post more if there's interest. 

I only saw the 'version you've never seen' edition, earlier this year. What's better/different in the other version? 

The 25th Anniversary edition was simply a digitally remastered version of the original theatrical release. What's different is that it is missing the spider walk scene, the extra scenes at the hospital (which mainly consist of Regan getting pissy with the nursing staff and some other tests that they run on her), a brief dialog between the two priests midway through the exorcism when they're sitting at the stairs, and a slightly elongated ending, where Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer meet up at the end, which basically sets the stage for the third film, in which they're depicted as old friends. Also, there are those annoying digital paste-ins like fucking stickers one would get out of a box of cereal throughout the film, usually of ol' Pazuzu and one of Karras' mother that's seen on the curtains of Regan's window right before he jumps through it.

If you listen to the commentary on the 25th Anniversay edition, you can basically follow a list of stuff that William Friedkin says he wouldn't do to compromise his original vision for the film, and that's basically what he turned around and did with The Version You've Never Seen. Albeit it doesn't contain the spider walk, but I simply think the original is way better, since things aren't as spelled-out to the viewer on what's going on at the core of the film (the good vs. evil stuff), and those fucking digital pastiches aren't in there. 

I thought those things were meant to look like cheesy symbols, didnt know they were additions. Thanks for that though, will check the original out sometime but I'm viewing the version I have again since I still havent worked out a few things (eg how regan became possessed). At least it wasnt a total disaster ala Apocalypse Now Redux. 

you can basically follow a list of stuff that William Friedkin says he wouldn't do to compromise his original vision for the film, and that's basically what he turned around and did

That sounds suspicously like Alien: Directors Cut. When the bonus footage, including the infamous 'cocoon sequence', was released originally as part of the boxhugger set, it wasn't reinserted into the movie because Scott said the original release version was the 'director's cut'. But here we are with an extra 6 minutes of footage to justify the re-release. Oh, the thundering of the bandwagon :P 

how true.