Box Office Theory's Top 100 Horror Movies: Vol. 2 | #1 has been revealed!

[baumer]

2 minutes ago, JamesCameronScholar said:

Blair Witch Project is my all time #1 horror movie. Has that appeared yet?

I don't think so yet

[TomCruiseTop]

2 minutes ago, baumer said:

I don't think so yet

Then there is still hope! Hope you've been well baumer. I have to pay to post so haven't been around much.

[4815162342]

5 minutes ago, baumer said:

I don't think so yet

 

Hopefully it won't. Though I know it will 

[baumer]

7 minutes ago, JamesCameronScholar said:

Then there is still hope! Hope you've been well baumer. I have to pay to post so haven't been around much.

 

What does that mean?  You have to pay to post?

[baumer]

3 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

Hopefully it won't. Though I know it will 

 

I know there is a lot of disdain and dislike of BWP.  Out of curiosity, what don't you like about it?

[TomCruiseTop]

Just now, baumer said:

 

What does that mean?  You have to pay to post?

When I'm not 'subscribed' i.e. purchasing a copper/premium etc. account, my account defaults to something called a 'three account'. That can't view the forum or post. All it can do is make blog posts strangely.

[TomCruiseTop]

2 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

I know there is a lot of disdain and dislike of BWP.  Out of curiosity, what don't you like about it?

I contend that BWP is like Avatar in that if you didn't see in in the cinema when it came out you missed out on some of the magic. The viral marketing campaign around it was unlike anything I had ever experienced up until that point when it comes to movies.

 

It also was, to my mind, the first time a horror movie had managed to be an 'event movie' since The Excorcist.

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

Let me wax lyrical about what Pontypool does with the zombie genre. I think the most 2 interesting aspects of Zombie-ism are firstly the notion of contagion, and secondly the nature and mechanisms of dehumanisations. What Pontypool does so wonderfully is come up, in a crowded genre, with meaningful and original means of both contagion and dehumanisation - reframing what our humanity is made up of and riffing on it in a contained environment almost like a laboratory. It is flawlessly acted and the setting of a radio station is a perfect one for any horror film due to the important of sound design to horror. What I supposed I’m saying here is that while 28 Days Later is well acted and directed and is an effective film, I really think that Pontypool should rightfully have the status, prestige and respect that 28 Days Later has garnered. Fast zombies are not particularly innovative IMO, what’s worse is that in a movie world with normalised fast vampires as well, there is no difference between the two and so ‘Zombie 2.0’ for me is a diminisher, not an innovator. Again, Danny Boyle’s movie is absolutely effectively rendered and well acted which means I absolutely understand why many find it an enjoyable and good film. I just don’t find the movie as original as I think it gets tagged sometimes, nor do I think it’s particularly scary…or even trying to be scary. Nevertheless it’s great to see another British movie on the list.

 

The Innocents is a masterclass in adaptation. Unlike the below it is not a story that inherently automatically provides the path for a great film. But the generation of uncanny in the first half of the film is outstanding, the score works perfectly and the performances are exactly in line with the required tone.

 

I directed the outrageously underrated Carrie musical not that long ago and so watched the film a few times during that time. It’s excellent. Such a fundamentally marvellous story and really effectively rendered on film in this instance - though I do think the source material helps, in this case it is just an inherently cinematic story. That King wrote it at such a young age is a great testament. There’s a part of me that thinks the lat 2 notorious minutes were a net negative for horror cinema, but it still represents a moment that made the Carrie film last long in legacy and relevance outside even of horror circles. I do wish eventually we have a version of Carrie that incorporates the always-ignored epilogue of the book, since to me it’s key to King’s actual story.

 

The Haunting is wonderful atmosphere soup and another great adaptation (it also, unlike Turning of the Screw in my experience, has been done really well on stage too). The ultimate cold Sunday afternoon under-a-blanket-with-a-loved-one movie. Eventually disturbing and the right amount of spooky.

 

Les Diaboliques holds up. Every last minute. One of the greatest first-watch movies of all time.

 

An American Werewolf in London: I’ll hold my hands up here and say I just don’t know it well enough. I have watched it once, a long time ago and possibly wasn’t paying much attention. I have seen the excellent transformation scene many times. I like Griffin Dunne. But it’s been ages and honestly I couldn’t tell you that much about it.

 

Nosferatu and Night of the Living Dead are what they are. The are essential for any big horror list. People haver written loads about them and I don’t know that I have anything to add that hasn’t been said better elsewhere.

 

Shaun of the Dead didn’t qualify for my list since it has too much meta commetary to count in my remit. Nevertheless it is an excellent movie with passion pervading it and a real everyman approach to the zombie genre, with the on-the-ground, first-person feel a really important part of making the retention of genre tropes effective. I think that it’s placement here is (while obviously I’d say way too high and and of itself) a testament to how beloved it is widely, since it is there from so many people placing it and enjoying it to the point it is one of the quickest go-tos for a horror comedy, which is a seriously crowded marketplace.

 

Candyman was and is my number 1 horror movie of all time. It took over from Suspiria about 4 years ago. Tony Todd gives one of the great performances (a far, FAR superior monotone, forboding, masculine and sensual performance than a much more acclaimed and rewarded one I sadly suspect we’ll see later in the countdown) in horror. He is simply sublime. The story plays with and comments on the folkloresque, race, gender, urbanisation, generational trauma, academia, childhood. It has one of the great scores. It has several independent threats and horrors that interweave and smash up against each other. It has a much under appreciated central performance by Virginia Madsen. It has great action sequences, great suspense sequences, great effects and great kills. It cannot be predicted on first watch and rewards any amount of rewatches. It is everything I want in a horror film.

[baumer]

Another fantastic write-up @Ipickthiswhiterose.  I liked Candyman but the way you put it makes me want to watch it again.  And I'm not sure which film you think Tony Todd is in that has yet to appear on this countdown.  I don't see any of the Final Destination movies appearing here and the Candyman remake is not going to make the list,

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

Another fantastic write-up @Ipickthiswhiterose.  I liked Candyman but the way you put it makes me want to watch it again.  And I'm not sure which film you think Tony Todd is in that has yet to appear on this countdown.  I don't see any of the Final Destination movies appearing here and the Candyman remake is not going to make the list,

 

Oh, by "another monotone, forboding, masculine and sensual performance that was significantly inferior but much more acclaimed and rewarded than Candyman" I'm not referring to Tony Todd. 

[baumer]

Sorry, I misunderstood what you wrote.  My bad.

[TomCruiseTop]

41 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

Candyman was and is my number 1 horror movie of all time. It took over from Suspiria about 4 years ago. Tony Todd gives one of the great performances

In my top 5 for sure, but I think it all depends on just what halls into your own personal 'horror' category. I think Alien/The Thing/BWP all beat it, but only just.

 

Also to reitarate what baumer said - excellent write up.

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

7 minutes ago, JamesCameronScholar said:

In my top 5 for sure, but I think it all depends on just what halls into your own personal 'horror' category. I think Alien/The Thing/BWP all beat it, but only just.

 

Also to reitarate what baumer said - excellent write up.

 

Thank you.

 

Alien was my number 6, Thing was my number 8, BWP was my number 41. So not far off at all, I really rate all of those films and think horror's history can't be written without any of them. I also accept your point about the event nature of BWP, absolutely correct. As someone who was in a workaholic bubble in the late 2000s and completely bypassed (didn't even notice) Avatar at the time I acknowledge that I don't and now probably will never understand what happened there and probably can't really evaluate that movie, or at the very least its popularity. I imagine the same is the case for many with BWP.  

Edited November 5, 2021 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[TomCruiseTop]

1 minute ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

Thank you.

 

Alien was my number 6, Thing was my number 8, BWP was my number 41. So not far off at all, I really rate all of those films and think horror's history can't be written without any of them. I also accept your point about the event nature of BWP, absolutely correct. As someone who was in a workaholic bubble in the late 2000s and completely bypassed (didn't even notice) Avatar at the time I acknowledge that I don't and now probably will never understand what happened there and probably can't really evaluate that movie, or at the very least its popularity. I imagine the same is the case for many with BWP.  

I cant even begin to really describe just how much impact the viral marketing campaign of BWP had. I never saw anything like it, when I went to see it I genuinely believed that it was actually found footage. It was only when the credits rolled that I realised it was for a better term a 'mockumentary'.

 

I also think when you consider the impact that BWP has had on horror as a genre in the decades that have come after it really does stand among giants in terms of broader impact. For that alone I also give it massive credit.

[4815162342]

1 hour ago, baumer said:

 

I know there is a lot of disdain and dislike of BWP.  Out of curiosity, what don't you like about it?

 

Found it boring, not scary, poorly acted, etc 

[baumer]

Can we expect some more tonight?

[Krissykins]

I still think The Blair Witch Project is the scariest film of all time. I get shivers and goosebumps with fear at the end, every single time. 
 

It also has one of the greatest runs of all time and probably the best ever marketing campaign. 

[baumer]

I've said it before so I'll repeat it here, the last shot in TBWP is imo, the greatest final shot in horror movie history.  I'd say the ending of Halloween (78) is a good second choice but with Mike standing in the corner and Heather just getting knocked out and then the camera just standing still, yes, it gave me goosebumps and still does.

[WrathOfHan]

19 minutes ago, baumer said:

Can we expect some more tonight?

Yessir; incoming within the half hour

[Krissykins]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

I've said it before so I'll repeat it here, the last shot in TBWP is imo, the greatest final shot in horror movie history.  I'd say the ending of Halloween (78) is a good second choice but with Mike standing in the corner and Heather just getting knocked out and then the camera just standing still, yes, it gave me goosebumps and still does.

Did you get to see it in the cinema Baumer? I was too young, but I remember the hype around it.