Brainbugs Top 50 Best Horror movies of all time - Baumer's top 50 starts on page 18

[L Silverman]

7 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

Feldman and Haim are in Lost Boys together, Silver Bullet is just Haim.   

You're right!  Well, one Corey is one Corey too many for me.

[The Stingray]

Damn, baumer, you're a real horror nut. I've only seen 8 so far.

 

Thx for including The Hills Have Eyes (one of my favorite horror remakes) and The Burning!

 

I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen Black Christmas...

 

[L Silverman]

As a director, Landis gets credited more for the comedy than the horror in comedy-horror but he crafted, imo, one of the most terrifying straight horror sequences in American Werewolf.  Take a watch below if you haven't already seen it.  The final shot from the top of the escalator is an "Oh My God!" moment every time for me!

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by L Silverman

[baumer]

10 minutes ago, The Stingray said:

Damn, baumer, you're a real horror nut. I've only seen 8 so far.

 

Thx for including The Hills Have Eyes (one of my favorite horror remakes) and The Burning!

 

I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen Black Christmas...

 

 

Your influence on this countdown will be felt quite a bit. Don't give it away but one of the films that you recommended to me a few months ago will be making a significant placement on this list

[The Stingray]

2 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

Your influence on this countdown will be felt quite a bit. Don't give it away but one of the films that you recommended to me a few months ago will be making a significant placement on this list

 

If it is the one I think it is, then yeah, it's really good.

[baumer]

9 minutes ago, The Stingray said:

 

If it is the one I think it is, then yeah, it's really good.

 

You recommended it to me probably last year sometime now that I think about it. It's not the Irish one it's the other one where one of the main characters has no speaking lines LOL that movie scared the living piss out of me even if the ending needed some work.

[Jake Gittes]

Gonna guess Jaws for your #1.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, baumer said:

Since some people here know me a bit better than they do Brainbug, I am not sure if my number one horror film will be that hard to guess.

 

Having said that, I will donate $10.00 to every person (max of 5) who guesses the correct film at number one.  And if anyone can guess my top 3, in order, I'll give you a three month gold membership.

 

Now having said all of that, let me just say that I am not including Jaws in this list.  The reason is JAWS is my number one film of all time and it scared the hell out of me, so it will b number one on most of my lists.  So to keep the mystery a little bit more mysterious, I'm not including JAWS in this countdown.

 

And since BB did such a great job on his, I have to up the ante a little bit.  I will do my top 75 horror films.  The first 25 will be done quickly and then the to 50 will be in the same style as BB's.  

 

@Jake Gittes

[baumer]

50) Ils (Them) (2006)

France

Box office:  2.7 million

Person of note:  Richard Grandpierre

 

 

Somewhere in Romania; Clementine is finishing her day of teaching the local kids French. On her way home she spots an abandoned vehicle beside the road. She continues on unaware of what happened to its occupants, a mother and her teenage daughter, the night before. Not that it matters, as tonight, along with her writer beau Lucas, she'll find out first hand. They're awakened during the night by strange phone calls and the TV downstairs being turned on--but this is only beginning of their night of terror as the phone lines go dead, the power goes out and their car goes missing, as they're stalked and set upon by THEM.

 

Richard Grandpierre, the producer of this film, is either a very sick man, or brilliant or both.  I'm going with a bit of both as you can't make the films that he does without having some kind of chemical imbalance.  All I know is that he bothers me, disturbs me and frightens me.  This list could of had four of his films on it...if we had gone to the top 100.  As it stands, he will only have two.  We open with two basics scenes. The second of these sets up the French couple in a few minutes, while the scary opening scene establishes the ruthless cruelty of the unseen "them" of the title. After these brief introductions we move into the night of terror for the coupe, which it to be the rest of the film. Some reviewers have commented on the "lack" of plot and answers, while others have picked at the tendency "they" have to manage to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time but these are minor complaints and, more importantly, they are problems about the film that come to you after watching it – not during.

The reason they did not bother me while watching was the film does the one thing it sets out to do really well – deliver tension. Helped by the stripped down plot and short running time, the film is almost unbearably tense all the way to the sudden ending. One review I read described it as like watching a "best bits" of other horror films and I think that is a fair summary. The tension is delivered in several ways and all of them work. The sound is key because it is sparingly used, with silence and specific noises working to put the viewer in the same position as the couple – I advise that you watch it with a good surround sound stereo system as the spread of noise is also important. The camera movement and focus is modern but not to the point of intrusion  The tight shots on the subjects surrounded by darkness put us as much in the dark as they are. The dark is generally well used and reminded me of The Descent, where the reliance on "in-film" light sources plays out better.

 

Grandpierre knows what gets to people, or maybe it's just me.  This film got to me and got to me good.  It's not quite as good as his tour de force film that will be coming up a bit later, but good enough that it left me exhausted and feeling pretty beat up after sitting through the whole thing.  And this is the film that The Strangers was trying to be but failed at miserably.  Check out the trailer, the film is as tense as the trailer looks.

 

https://youtu.be/yFTbcDRkG1o

 

The "true story" in which the film was based upon involved an Austrian couple that was murdered by three teenagers in their vacation home in Romania.

 

[Lucas]

I've been meaning to rewatch this as I remember not liking it when I first saw it almost a decade ago. I've then seen it crop up on lists like this making me read more about it and even think back on the plot and wonder what the hell I saw (or didn't) that made me not like it back then.

[baumer]

49) Hellraiser (1987)

United Kingdom

Box office:  14.5 million

Person of Note:  Clive Barker

Memorable quote:  JESUS WEPT

 

 

The plot of this movie is kind of strange but here it is, from Wikipedia.

 

n Morocco, Frank Cotton buys a puzzle box from a dealer. In a bare attic, when Frank solves the puzzle, hooked chains emerge and tear him apart. Later, the room is filled with swinging chains and covered with the remnants of his body. A black-robed figure picks up the box and returns it to its original state, restoring the room to normal.

Some time afterward, Frank's brother Larry moves into the house to rebuild his strained relationship with his second wife, Julia, who had an affair with Frank shortly before their marriage. Larry's teenage daughter, Kirsty, has chosen not to live with them and moves into her own place. Larry cuts his hand carrying a bed up the stairs, and lets his blood drip on the attic floor. The blood resurrects Frank as a skinless corpse, who is soon found by Julia. Still obsessed with Frank, she agrees to harvest blood for him so that he can be fully restored, and they can run away together. Julia begins picking up men in bars and bringing them back to the house, where she murders them. Frank consumes their blood, regenerating his body. Frank explains to Julia that he had exhausted all sensory experiences and sought out the puzzle box, with the promise that it would open a portal to a realm of new carnalpleasures. When solved, the "Cenobites" came to subject him to the extremes of sadomasochism.

Kirsty spies Julia bringing men to the house; believing her to be having an affair, she follows her to the attic, where she interrupts Frank's latest feeding. Frank attacks her, but Kirsty throws the puzzle box out the window, creating a distraction and allowing her to escape. Kirsty retrieves the box and flees, but collapses shortly thereafter. Awakening in a hospital, Kirsty solves the box, summoning the Cenobites and a bizarre monster called the Engineer, which Kirsty narrowly escapes from. The Cenobites' leader explains that although they have been perceived as both angels and demons, they are simply "explorers" from another dimension seeking carnal experiences, and they can no longer differentiate between pain and pleasure. Although they attempt to force Kirsty to return to their realm with them, she informs Pinhead that Frank has escaped. The Cenobites agree to take Frank back and, in exchange, say they will consider giving Kirsty her freedom; however, the catch is that they need to hear Frank confess to his crimes and escape.

 

Cut that down to the bare bones and you have a story about a guy who finds a box that can summon demons from a different world.  They love to inflict pain, in extreme ways.  They are called the Cenobites.  There is a line in the film Commando about all fucking hell breaking loose.....that's what happens in this movie.  

 

Clive Barker decided to direct this movie himself after he became disillusioned with other directors who tried to take on his vision.  He managed to secure 1 million dollars for the budget.  You'll notice in the film that the effects are kind of minimal but when they need to be the gore and the makeup and the effects are top notch. 

 

Hellraiser is kind of an iconic film in horror circles.  Stephen King even said that Barker was the future of horror.  Hellraiser spawned some pretty bad sequels, but the first one, the original, was a thing of beauty.

 

If you don't have a strong stomach, don't watch this:

 

 

 

[baumer]

7 minutes ago, Lucas said:

I've been meaning to rewatch this as I remember not liking it when I first saw it almost a decade ago. I've then seen it crop up on lists like this making me read more about it and even think back on the plot and wonder what the hell I saw (or didn't) that made me not like it back then.

 

It's definitely not for everyone.  I liked it but it's an exercise in terror and if you don't like this kind of film, that's fine, we all have different taste in horror.

[baumer]

48) Lords of Salem (2012)

Canada/Us

Box office:  1.16 million

Person of Note:  Sherry Moon Zombie

Memorable Quote:  Bleed us a king!

 

 

After receiving a mysterious LP in a strange wooden box from an unknown band, Heidi, a local radio DJ, is tricked into playing the bizarre record on air, triggering disturbing hallucinations and recurring ominous flashbacks. For fear of aggravating her old drug addiction, Heidi turns to the local occult scholar, Francis Matthias, unbeknown to her that for the next seven days, she will plummet deeper into insanity, haunted by grotesque apparitions of primeval witches whose coven thirsts for retribution. In the end, how is Heidi linked to Salem's evil past?

 

Usually a film directed by Rob Zombie would have him as the person of note.  And while I appreciate (immensely) the job he did with this film, it's his wife that is the MVP of this film.  She's in most every scene and if she was a weaker actress or someone who just didn't get the character or what Zombie was shooting for here, the film would have been completely different.  But she gets it and she delivers a shockingly brilliant and astute performance as someone who may or may not have links to witchcraft in the past.  The film is clearly a work of Rob Zombie.  He makes films that divide audiences and critics.  For me personally, I think his version of Halloween is an absolute albatross, a stinking pile of shit after it's been sitting in the hot sun for days.  But his other work, at least the ones I've seen, are some of the most brilliant horror films of the last 20 years.  This is the only Zombie film to make the list, but House of 1000 Corpses and especially The Devil's Rejects could have made this list.  

 

When watching this film, you almost feel like you are under a trance, like you are being hypnotised.  It's like a dream state.  This is a film that gnaws at your nerves and then leaves you with tense and horrible nightmares.  It's not a film for everyone, but then again horror, more than any other genre, is like that.  Different strokes different folks.  For me, this one got to me and it got into my subconscious.  One terrific thing about the film, that surely anyone can appreciate, is that Zombie was able to get some of the true giants of horror from the past.  Bruce Davison might be known to many here as the Senator from the original X-men but he has also been in productions by Alfred Hitchcock, been on the TV series V and Tales from the Crypt.  Meg Foster was in They Live and of course Dee Wallace has been in everything from Cujo and E.T to Critters and The Howling.  Again, this is not a film for everyone, and you might need two viewings to really get it, but it's a very rewarding experience for those who do appreciate it.  

 

Quick note, this was also financed and produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli.

 

 

[Lucas]

22 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

It's definitely not for everyone.  I liked it but it's an exercise in terror and if you don't like this kind of film, that's fine, we all have different taste in horror.

I really should like it, when I read up on it, it sounds like what I'd be very interested in. I can't even say why I didn't like it because I literally don't know what my reasoning was. 

[baumer]

And the last one for the night, or at least for a little while.  Hint....this was the third great film in the year that American Pie came out.  It also has one of the scariest scenes in a horror movie from that year.  And it stars Kevin Bacon.  

[baumer]

47) Stir of Echoes (1999)

US

Box office:  21 million

Person of note:  Kevin Bacon

Memorable quote:   Does it hurt to be dead?

 

 

Tom Witzky is a phone lineman living in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with his pregnant wife Maggie and his son Jake, who possesses the ability to commune with the dead. At a party one evening, Tom challenges Lisa, Maggie's sister who is a believer in paranormal activity, to hypnotize him. After putting him under, Lisa plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom urging him to "be more open-minded". Tom then begins experiencing visions of a violent scuffle involving a girl who he later learns is Samantha Kozac, a 17-year-old that disappeared from the neighborhood six months prior.

 

One of the more underrated psychological horror films from the 1990's is Stir of Echoes. David Koepp, who has proved to be a big time screenplay writer for major blockbusters before Stir of Echoes, such as Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible, did some great things with this movie he wrote and directed. First off, there is a certain gritty feel to a horror film setting that takes place in a big city such as Chicago. Second, is the acting and character attitude that fit so well for the time period, has really paid off down the road leaving a nostalgic feel and believability. The story-line is connected fairly well and there are some good scares to be found. Kevin Bacon also does a great job at balancing his character to a rational minded human to an obsessively strange being. The ending does have a great twist, a ghost story that reminds me a lot of The Sixth Sense, which came out in the same exact year. Stir of Echoes is a solid horror flick that still holds up today, definitely worthy enough to re-watch if it's been awhile and escaped your mind.

 

I believe that if SOE had come out perhaps in any other year besides 1999, it would have done better and found a bigger audience. But when you come out in September, after The Blair Witch Project and Sixth Sense have spent last three months terrorizing the hell out of everyone (and making people open their wallets), the time of release was just all wrong.  SoE is a terrific film and has a few incredibly shocking scenes that will cause you to jump.  Kevin Bacon delivers a strong and tight performance as the man who is slowly coming unravelled.  

 

Interesting that Artisan distributed both Blair Witch Project and Stir of Echoes.

 

If you haven't seen this one or even heard of it, try to find it on Netflix or something.  You can thank me later.  

 

 

 

 

[baumer]

Moved this to the speakeasy while the top video game thread is happening.

 

@Brainbug @75Live @The Stingray @Lucas @Jake Gittes @grim22 @Water Bottle @Krissykins @ddddeeee @ZeeSoh @L Silverman @filmlover @Blankments @Ethan Hunt @FantasticBeasts @4815162342 @IronJimbo @LonePirate @Daxtreme @Fancyarcher @rukaio101 @Jay Hollywood

[Spectre]

6 hours ago, Brainbug said:

I will donate $30 dollars to the forums as no one guessed The Shining, which is still baffling to me

That was my runner-up guess. I chose... poorly.

[Daxtreme]

5 hours ago, baumer said:

47) Stir of Echoes (1999)

US

Box office:  21 million

Person of note:  Kevin Bacon

Memorable quote:   Does it hurt to be dead?

 

 

Tom Witzky is a phone lineman living in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with his pregnant wife Maggie and his son Jake, who possesses the ability to commune with the dead. At a party one evening, Tom challenges Lisa, Maggie's sister who is a believer in paranormal activity, to hypnotize him. After putting him under, Lisa plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom urging him to "be more open-minded". Tom then begins experiencing visions of a violent scuffle involving a girl who he later learns is Samantha Kozac, a 17-year-old that disappeared from the neighborhood six months prior.

 

One of the more underrated psychological horror films from the 1990's is Stir of Echoes. David Koepp, who has proved to be a big time screenplay writer for major blockbusters before Stir of Echoes, such as Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible, did some great things with this movie he wrote and directed. First off, there is a certain gritty feel to a horror film setting that takes place in a big city such as Chicago. Second, is the acting and character attitude that fit so well for the time period, has really paid off down the road leaving a nostalgic feel and believability. The story-line is connected fairly well and there are some good scares to be found. Kevin Bacon also does a great job at balancing his character to a rational minded human to an obsessively strange being. The ending does have a great twist, a ghost story that reminds me a lot of The Sixth Sense, which came out in the same exact year. Stir of Echoes is a solid horror flick that still holds up today, definitely worthy enough to re-watch if it's been awhile and escaped your mind.

 

I believe that if SOE had come out perhaps in any other year besides 1999, it would have done better and found a bigger audience. But when you come out in September, after The Blair Witch Project and Sixth Sense have spent last three months terrorizing the hell out of everyone (and making people open their wallets), the time of release was just all wrong.  SoE is a terrific film and has a few incredibly shocking scenes that will cause you to jump.  Kevin Bacon delivers a strong and tight performance as the man who is slowly coming unravelled.  

 

Interesting that Artisan distributed both Blair Witch Project and Stir of Echoes.

 

If you haven't seen this one or even heard of it, try to find it on Netflix or something.  You can thank me later.  

 

 

 

 

 

Damn this looks interesting as hell

[ShouldIBeHere]

Really cool list... I sure have a lot of catching up to do. And then I do not really want to... horro movies simply have that strange effect of wanting to watch it but never being really sure if you really want to get rhough with it

 

Personal #1 is probably Halloween still... Scream is also high up there. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is also far up my list.