I would say it’s largely down to the incredible Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong than the plot.
It’s mad, but in a good way, and gorgeous to look at.
We do have some really good horror movies and TV based on Asian including Chinese folklore.
I know it’s not a film but I also really loved Tales From The Crypt. Some pretty scary, some just downright comedic. The crypt keeper is another classic character.
Agreed. This was absolute rubbish.
1 Like
In the vein of treating Mulholland Dr as a horror because of the psychological unravelling, I think these films are worth acknowledgement. Even if not proper horror, they all have a building sense of forboding that feels scary because of how real it is
Vertigo
Gaslight
Shutter Island
Cape Fear (De Niro)
Mystic River
Seven
Misery
Black Swan
Us
Buried (already mentioned)
Seven left me utterly broken after I watched it for the first time - it took me ages to watch it again, even though I swore I’ll never do it! For that alone, it’s horror in my head.
I agree on Lynch and Aronofsky, their work ostensibly lies in other genres but the core of it is horror, only dressed as surreal or trippy.
3 Likes
Only twice have I ever left the cinema utterly speechless. The second time was fight club, but that was more in a trying to get your head around what you’d just seen sense than any sense of horror. The first was Seven, and it was exactly as you described.
Horror is my favourite genre but not psychological horror, not stuff that can actually happen in real life. That to me is drama, eg The Last King of Scotland. True horrific story. So with that said, here’s some of my favourites.
The Exorcist
Satan’s Slaves (remake)
The Conjuring
The Thing
An American Werewolf in London
Dog Soldiers
The Omen
Fright Night (original and remake)
The Fog
Halloween
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Ring
Belezebuth
Universal Monster Movies
Hammer Horror
Under the Shadow
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Poltergeist (original)
Dead Silence
Paranormal Activity
Blair Witch
Hell House LLC
Man I love horror movies!
Fair point of view, but I don’t think you can label all real life as drama. Something like Fred & Rose West or Dahmer would be classed as horror I feel. Jack The Ripper would probably also fall more into horror than drama.
1 Like
Very true. But it’s real life horror. Which is way more scarier.
Not really my genre. But of those I have seen:
It
Let The Right One In (original)
Alien stunned me when I first saw it. Always then had Aliens as my fav film after seeing that. Watched them back with jnr recently. They’re still great but not the brilliance I remember.
Nominations have now closed.
We got 64 in total, and I’ve stuck the names into Random Result; here’s the usual sneak preview while I type up the rest…
- The Conjuring
- Belezebuth
0 voters
- Magic
- Hellraiser
0 voters
- Under The Shadow
- A Nightmare On Elm Street
0 voters
- What Josiah Saw
- The Evil Dead
0 voters
- Shutter
- The Exorcist
0 voters
- The Hunger
- Dead Silence
0 voters
- Dawn Of The Dead
- The Shining
0 voters
- Hostel
- Dog Soldiers
0 voters
- 30 Days Of Night
- Jacob’s Ladder
0 voters
- The Vanishing (Dutch)
- Candyman
0 voters
- Reanimator
- The Omen
0 voters
- Blair Witch
- Sinister
0 voters
- Fright Night (original)
- The Ring (Japanese)
0 voters
- Midsommar
- The Endless
0 voters
- Melancholia
- Dark Water (Japanese)
0 voters
- Paranormal Activity
- Poltergeist
0 voters
- Event Horizon
- Rosemary’s Baby
0 voters
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Deliverance
0 voters
- Alien
- Kill List
0 voters
- Friday 13th
- Satan’s Slave
0 voters
- Nosferatu
- 28 Days Later
0 voters
- Hereditary
- The Mist
0 voters
- Dogville
- Hell House LLC
0 voters
- Mulholland Drive
- Requiem For A Dream
0 voters
- A Clockwork Orange
- Halloween
0 voters
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula
- The Thing
0 voters
- Jaws
- Carrie
0 voters
- The VVitch
- The Lighthouse
0 voters
- A Chinese Ghost Story
- Berberian Sound Studio
0 voters
- American Werewolf In London
- Psycho
0 voters
- The Fly
- The Fog
0 voters
- In The Mouth Of Madness
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
0 voters
Some real heavyweight clashes straight away…
Voting closes same time next Saturday; that should give everyone plenty of time to catch up with those films they haven’t seen yet.
I was literally going to type that once I got to the end of the list - some of these were really difficult for me. There were a few swears hurled in your general direction as a result of that, too!
Some of those choices were a bit like Man City v Liverpool in the early rounds of the Kangaroo Cup!
1 Like
Now I know how Sophie felt.
Sorry, Jaws over Carrie.
1 Like
This was actually loosely based on one of stories collected in a book of hundreds such stories written in the 1700s in China called Liao Zai. They are almost Asian folklore based on demons, superstitions, myths, fox fairies etc and more importantly intertwined with themes of family and love. It’s a classic literature in Asia and some of the stories are really good.
1 Like
I believe this competition needs more diversity and have regional qualifications before the final list. Right now it’s controlled by a grouchy regime whom the only thing we know about is cynical and old. Probably a git too.
There are voting discrepancies. One pair has just eight votes while some pairs have 19 votes.
1 Like