Pass the Popcorn
I love old movies. There was a certain gallantry and finesse to them, no matter what the genre. It didn’t matter if it was Sink the Bismarck or Destry Rides Again or even Glen or Glenda. The celluloid was magical. It helped to suspend the disbelief, and give my imagination a new venue in which to flourish.
No, not with Glen or Glenda. I have my limits.
Anyway, a few days ago, I watched one of the newer “Fill-in-the-blank of the Dead”s. The idea behind it was to scare the ever living crap out of people, but I was just disgusted. All it was, was gore. I see enough of that on the Discovery Channel™. If a filmmaker wishes to scare people, he should think about the psyche, not the butcher’s table. To this day, Psycho is one of the scariest films ever made, in my humble opinion. Hell, Alfred Hitchcock knew the psyche very well. He tormented Tippy Hedren on and off the screen to the point of ruining her life! I will never watch The Birds again. And don’t get me started on Rebecca.
That’s not to say I don’t appreciate bloody scenes. My favorite director when it comes to spraying blood everywhere has to be Akira Kurosawa. The blood spurting from the decapitated bodies in Ran was cinematic artistry.
And how do you like your scary movies?? 
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With boobs. Lots of boobs. Oh, and the other girlie bits. As long as there is T&A, I don’t care if it’s scary or not.
Scary is good but increasingly rare.
Gloriously bad is another favourite
The older scary movies are WAY better than new ones.
Alien
Day of the Triffids
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Original)
the wizard of oz. i was about 12/13 before i could watch it all the way through.
The Miracle Mile. Starts out with a guy walking down the street and a pay phone is ringing. Its the middle of the night. The guy answers the phone and an hysterical airman is yelling into the phone, “Dad, we’ve launched the missiles, we’ve launched the missiles.” Freaked out he tries to call his congressmen and senators who are suddenly all out of DC.
Suspense beats gore, hands down. I have no problem with gore, provided it’s not done gratuitously. It needs to serve the story, not act as a substitute for plot, characterization and dialog.
JAWS is a great example of how it’s done. Look how far we got into the movie before we saw the shark. Not seeing the shark actually made it scarier.
i don’t like gore either. that bastard needs to keep his pie hole shut.
what?
Well-loved.
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Re “suspense”; anybody here under 60 probably never saw the old serials that preceded the main feature at (I’m guessing) every Saturday matinee everywhere.
The hero/heroine would be put into a sure death situation at the end of every episode, only to miraculously escape at the beginning of the next episode, the following Saturday.
Must have worked; I spent a lot of time at the movies in my early teens!
Pretty amazing that these serials persevered for 20-30 years…
http://thecomicscode.weebly.com/the-shadow-serial.html
The Dead Teenager movies are so dull, boring, and predictable. As a genre, they are only useful to provide something to parody. The parodies are usually pretty good. Shriek if you know what I did last Friday the thirteenth; Scary Movie (1 and 4 were the best); etc. The originals were a waste of time and money … to make as well as to see.
/agree John D
Don’t mind gore but if it is the point of the plot, I’m not interested.
I’ll watch supernatural horror all day long -- again, as long as there is a nod to a basic plot. Slasher flicks, not so much. Although Halloween (original) is one of my absolute favorite movies and it pains me to know that it spawned all the bad slasher movies ever since. I don’t like the normal people being cruel to random people for no good reason movies. Of course, those seem to not have plots so maybe that figures into my dislike.
Suspense -- I’m all in. Arachnophobia seen at the drive-in? Brr. Very Hitchcock in many scenes. Guillermo del Toro has been doing pretty good work with suspense and ghost stories lately.
Today’s movies have given up plot and dialogue for special effects and one-liners and the actors and actresses have absolutely no class.
I don’t like gore in movies. I don’t like gore anywhere.
It’s funny, my own blood doesn’t bother me (I’ve seen far too much), but I can’t take others’ blood. It freaks me out.
I don’t like scary movies either.
Not at all OT, I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a few years ago and left it on while I was playing Civilization II, I hadn’t seen that movie since I was a kid.
So when the guy with the fake circus wagon was in the town, hunting the their children, I suddenly got all shaky, my hands were clammy and my heart was racing.
That guy scared the living chit out of me.
Now I know why I avoided that movie all those years.
“Sink the Bismark” -- CLASSIC.
“Glen or Glenda” -- it’s no “Plan Nine From Outer Space” but still worth a look due to its so-bad-it’s-good-ness.
Kurosawa -- What more can be said? There’s a reason “The Magnificent Seven” ripped off “Seven Samurai” and not the other way around.
“The Birds” -- JesusChristOhMyGod that movie scared the shit out of me as a kid. I still look sideways at birds sitting on a power line.
Creepiest movie for me? “Marathon Man.” The scene where Laurence Olivier tortures Dustin Hoffman by drilling into his healthy teeth stayed with me a LONG time. I still won’t go to the dentist.
Modern “horror” movies are nothing but torture porn. Total meh.
Azygos: one of the things that always struck me about miracle mile was just how FAST things degenerated as the word spread…you’re right, damn fine movie. Nicole: you beat me to it…John Carpenter’s original Halloween is one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen..and almost no blood spilled! Wiccapundit: “Is it safe?” I’m with you,avoid dentists at all costs. Scariest movies I’ve ever quailed to?There are three.
“Black Christmas” The original, With Margot Kidder That was one spooky ass psycho… “Trilogy of Terror”: A TV movie, of all things. The segment with Karen Black being terrorized by an African doll housing the spirit of a tribal warrior. Almost forty years now, and I STILL won’t watch it again!”When a Stranger Calls” with Carol Kane. “have you checked the children?” Bruuh…. all almost gore free (well..maybe not Black Christmas) all supremely suspenseful and scary as hell21
Oh, gah. Trilogy of Terror. Such a scarring experience. I will not have one of those dolls in my house. Ever.
I, personally, have no time for horror movies. I get enough horror just reading the news.
The only horror movies for me are The Exorcist I and III, and the original Amityville Horror. I’ve got no time for torture porn but I do love crappy B movies, especially if Bruce Campbell’s in ‘em.
The Omen for me. I’ll take a mindfuck flick over virtually anything (unless it got boobies)
I saw this at a grindhouse party recently. It was surprisingly good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_%281960_film%29
The Exorcist and Jaws are good ones but the one that scared the hell out of me was “The Vanishing”, 1988 Dutch film. It was the first film I watched (and I was just over 40 when I first saw it on TV) that when it was over I was wondering whether the door was locked and the windows closed. If you ever get the chance watch the movie. At night. By yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vanishing_(1988_film)
Spoilers in the link above.