The Horror List Discussion and Suggestions (Genre Project)

[domino harvey]

I'm sure many people would describe 'At Long Last Love' as a 'Horror' movie, also

The only thing scary about At Long Last Love is how good it is

[tarpilot]

It sounds like Philip Ridley's The Reflecting Skin would be much more up your alley, though I hasten to add I haven't seen it myself!

Yes, Ridley is modern horror's under appreciated melodramatist. His recent film Heartless is also great though I didn't have the heart to put it on my own list.

I hope I'm not the only one to have saved a spot for Fessenden...Habit really impressed me.

[knives]

I seriously considered The Last Winter which genuinely disturbed me when I saw it in the theater (first time since The Descent), but decided the ending was too goofy for me to include. Tough decision though.

[domino harvey]

Let me just say that this is shaping up to be such a Criterion Forum list. I can't wait for the Bloody Disgusting forum to link to this thread and make fun of us for all the art house shit

[Mr Sausage]

I mean, if movies whose defining motif is masked killers chasing people through the dark for extended periods before killing them aren't horror, then the horror genre is beyond me. This is a bit like declaring the slasher movie isn't horror. You'd be the only person ever to do so.

The only person? :-s

Facing somebody who's about to gun you down in cold blood could be said to be 'Horror' by that definition.
Should we be including 'Scarface'?
I'm sure many people would describe 'At Long Last Love' as a 'Horror' movie, also

Being chased through the dark by someone/something with malevolent intent is pretty much a key marker of the horror genre. Extended stalk-and-kill sequences whose primary purpose is to create suspense and fear are so unarguably a horror trope that I can hardly believe you think they are overwhelmed by the often superfluous detective elements in the giallo.

If the primary intent of Deep Red isn't to provoke fear in its audience, I don't know a thing about film and never will.

[knives]

Let me just say that this is shaping up to be such a Criterion Forum list. I can't wait for the Bloody Disgusting forum to link to this thread and make fun of us for all the art house shit

The fact we won't be having Friday the 13th would probably be enough for them.

[domino harvey]

I can reveal that no Friday the 13th film received a single vote from any participant

[domino harvey]

Of course, there's still 19 minutes left for someone to cobble together something

[Mr Sausage]

I can reveal that no Friday the 13th film received a single vote from any participant

I was wondering if anyone would. Guess not.

Did anyone go in for a Nightmare film?

[domino harvey]

Yep, good choices too, though Bad Dreams and the Sender ultimately rendered the whole Freddy cycle superfluous for me-- and I couldn't even find room for the latter on my list. I kinda toyed with the idea of throwing Friday the 13th Part 6 in the mix at the tail-end, but couldn't justify cutting a superior film just to represent the best of the worst

[knives]

I hope some Hellraiser and TCM (hopefully TCSM) got in too though I couldn't make room on my list for any slasher.

[tarpilot]

New Nightmare was one of my last cuts, and Dream Warriors was a maybe for a while

[Mr Sausage]

I hope some Hellraiser and TCM (hopefully TCSM) got in too though I couldn't make room on my list for any slasher.

I felt bad I couldn't make any room for TCSM. But I hadn't seen it for so long that it got pushed out in favour of things more vividly in mind. I'm not enough of a fan of the Hellraiser series to've considered voting for any of them.

Halloween and Psycho are the only slashers I ended up voting for. Black Christmas was in the running for a bit, and I plain forgot Alice, Sweet Alice, which might have made it otherwise.

[domino harvey]

I think about half of the slashers I voted for made it to at leas the Also Rans, including a few I fully expected to be Orphaned. One is even hovering around actually making the final 100, which would be the sweetest victory

[knives]

Alice, Sweet Alice was one of my most painful cuts. It's so much more than what it should be.

[Mr Sausage]

Oh, fuck me, I totally forgot to vote for Don't Look Now. I am such an idiot.

[Yojimbo]

I mean, if movies whose defining motif is masked killers chasing people through the dark for extended periods before killing them aren't horror, then the horror genre is beyond me. This is a bit like declaring the slasher movie isn't horror. You'd be the only person ever to do so.

The only person? :-s

Facing somebody who's about to gun you down in cold blood could be said to be 'Horror' by that definition.
Should we be including 'Scarface'?
I'm sure many people would describe 'At Long Last Love' as a 'Horror' movie, also

Being chased through the dark by someone/something with malevolent intent is pretty much a key marker of the horror genre. Extended stalk-and-kill sequences whose primary purpose is to create suspense and fear are so unarguably a horror trope that I can hardly believe you think they are overwhelmed by the often superfluous detective elements in the giallo.

If the primary intent of Deep Red isn't to provoke fear in its audience, I don't know a thing about film and never will.

Just calling a halt, -or suspension,- to the (apt) hysterics as its quite late here.

My intention in producing a genre list isn't to be as democratic as possible and include all types of films which can fit every possible broad definition of a Horror film, - merely to produce a list of the 50 best films I know which are truest to Horror conventions
The genre which Horror most closely overlaps with, for me, and I suspect most other people, is not the Crime film, but Science Fiction, and this would have caused me most difficulty in selecting a final list.

I haven't studied the 'giallo' sub-genre, haven't read any books on the topic, and, for the most part I'm not a huge fan of the sub-genre.
But my understanding of it is that its largely grounded in policier/crime investigations, and so if only for that reason I wouldn't tend to regard it as horror.
A serial killer strikes terror in entire cities: should we then insist that 'M' is included in any list of best Horror films?

Turning the question on its head if you insist on giallo's representation in every horror list, surely you should also be including German 'krimis', and then there are some Swedish movies I've seen one of which I suspected was a major influence on 'Blood and Black Lace'.
And I'm sure there are stylish Mexican crime films many of which feature mad slashers which should also be 'roped in'

[domino harvey]

Oh, fuck me, I totally forgot to vote for Don't Look Now. I am such an idiot.

It just barely squeeked into the Also Rans, actually

[domino harvey]

[domino harvey]

Also, voting closed. Results soon. Please continue lamenting your mistakes, including not voting for Single White Female, making me the only sucker to have a number one pick orphaned

[Yojimbo]

Alice, Sweet Alice was one of my most painful cuts. It's so much more than what it should be.

I cut that quite early as I narrowed down my,....ahem,...definitions, quite apart from original shortlist.
But, 'Psycho' aside, Bava's delirious 'Bay of Blood' is worth a shedload of slasher movies

[knives]

Oh, fuck me, I totally forgot to vote for Don't Look Now. I am such an idiot.

Fortunately I doubt it would be left out of the top ten though if it is I am personally blaming you. :-$

[YnEoS]

Didn't get to participate in this list nearly as much as I originally planned.

But I'm very eager to see the results of the lists, and plan on following up on some of the recommendations here for my own personal viewing pleasure.

[Yojimbo]

Oh, fuck me, I totally forgot to vote for Don't Look Now. I am such an idiot.

It just barely squeeked into the Also Rans, actually

I can't believe it didn't even make the 100?

[Mr Sausage]

I haven't studied the 'giallo' sub-genre, haven't read any books on the topic, and, for the most part I'm not a huge fan of the sub-genre.
But my understanding of it is that its largely grounded in policier/crime investigations, and so if only for that reason I wouldn't tend to regard it as horror.
A serial killer strikes terror in entire cities: should we then insist that 'M' is included in any list of best Horror films?

The giallo has always been considered a sub-genre of horror. Like I said earlier, its major innovation was to take the Miss Marple style detective story and turn it into a horror movie. The presence of an amateur detective doesn't really mitigate the fact that these films were all conceived with the aim of frightening the audience, hence they're so associated with directors who worked mainly in the horror genre (Bava, Argento). Some entries bleed into the polizioteschi film (Black Belly of the Tarantula, Death Walks on High Heels), but otherwise they're regarded almost universally as horrors.

Turning the question on its head if you insist on giallo's representation in every horror list, surely you should also be including German 'krimis', and then there are some Swedish movies I've seen one of which I suspected was a major influence on 'Blood and Black Lace'.
And I'm sure there are stylish Mexican crime films many of which feature mad slashers which should also be 'roped in'

It doesn't actually matter to me if people put giallos on their lists or not. I don't know if Krimis should be included as horror or not. Giallos aren't really about crime any more than the slasher is. The main point of interest is the elaborate stalk-and-slash scenes.