[Littlegreen42]

I have seen The Shining about 30 times, but today i realised how differently i view it compared to a decade ago - when i was fifteen. I enjoy it a lot more now as i understand the complete story (Mental breakdown / Cabin Fever) but i can still remember being terrified by the constant claustrophobic atmosphere that ran through it, as a Horror fan it is the movie i always recommend to friends etc.

This is IMDb's list of the highest rated Horror films -

Psycho
Alien
The Shining
Les Dioboliques
The Thing
Kandisha
Faust
The Exorcist
The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari
Nosferatu
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?gen...er_rating,desc

^ I was pleased (not shocked) that it featured so high on this list, however some of these films IMO are not good films to attract fans to the Horror genre.

What would be your 10 recommendations to a stranger of the Horror genre?
---------------------------------------------------

The Exorcist
[REC]
The Changeling
Black Christmas
Rosemary's Baby
Triangle
The Innocents
Halloween
Let The Right One In
The Orphanage

^ mine

[Takae]

It's difficult to decide as I take each person's taste, age and background into account. Which top ten horror films would you recommend that can cater to all including a sixteen-year-old girl and a sixty-year-old man? Your list, for instance, is perfect for a college crowd.

Furthermore, your list is a mixture of horror sub-genres (slasher, ghost story, psychological thriller, mystery, etc). Would you recommend all those to people who want to try only slasher sub-genre?

Lastly, The Shining isn't all that.

[UltraViolet]

Wonderful list, and I assume you mean the original Black Christmas going by the others in your list and not the awful remake(same for Halloween too).

The Descent has to be on that list. Session 9 is a must too.

[EternalFlame]

The Exorcist
Rosemarys Baby
The Blair Witch Project
Don't Look Now
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Devils Rejects
The Descent
The Vault of Horror
The Strangers
Poltergeist

[BastardBeaver]

Rosemarys Baby is a must on the list. It has still managed to remain truely terrifying to this day unlike some of its other contemporaries eg The Exorcist.

[spiney2]

frankenstein
frankenstein
dracula
dracula
dracula
dead of night
dont look now
the devil rides out
theatre of blood.
american werewolf in london.

[spiney2]

rosemarys baby is really just a remake of repulsion. which is a more groundbreaking better film.

[ironjade]

Originally Posted by spiney2

rosemarys baby is really just a remake of repulsion. which is a more groundbreaking better film.

No it isn't. Rosemary's Baby is nothing like Repulsion.

[pearlsandplums]

Rosemarys baby
Insidious (despite the fact the last third was shite, the rest was terrifying)
The Birds
Martyrs
Nightmare on Elm st
Ils (I guess the strangers was based on this)
Hills have eyes (i prefered the remake)
Cannibla Holocaust
In the mouth of madness
Psycho

[Littlegreen42]

Originally Posted by Takae

It's difficult to decide as I take each person's taste, age and background into account. Which top ten horror films would you recommend that can cater to all including a sixteen-year-old girl and a sixty-year-old man? Your list, for instance, is perfect for a college crowd.

Furthermore, your list is a mixture of horror sub-genres (slasher, ghost story, psychological thriller, mystery, etc). Would you recommend all those to people who want to try only slasher sub-genre?

Lastly, The Shining isn't all that.

I based my list on the all round best Horror films (in general) i have seen, i would not discriminate the different age groups by differing it.

[Littlegreen42]

Originally Posted by UltraViolet

The Descent has to be on that list. Session 9 is a must too.

I really enjoyed that film, every time the tapes got played i would get goosebumps and eye poking is never fun!

[embryo]

Originally Posted by ironjade

No it isn't. Rosemary's Baby is nothing like Repulsion.

Completely agree - they're both psychological thrillers/horrors directed by Roman Polanski, but they're far from being the same film. Where's the witchcraft in 'Repulsion'?

[embryo]

As for the original question, it's difficult because I'd want to give an overview of the classics that helped to define the various subgenres of horror and those which have been most successful and influential. However, these films are not necessarily my personal favourites.

If I were to give someone an introductory list, it would probably look something like this:

Dracula
Frankenstein
Night of the Living Dead
Rosemary's Baby
The Exorcist
Jaws
Halloween
Alien
The Shining
Ring (1998)

As with any list like this though, there are so many films that I could've picked instead.

[spiney2]

Originally Posted by embryo

Completely agree - they're both psychological thrillers/horrors directed by Roman Polanski, but they're far from being the same film. Where's the witchcraft in 'Repulsion'?

in terms of structure i think both films are very similar.

the idea of satan being reborn in a very urban environment is essentially the plot of r.b. but the actual idea of it is inherently impossible in a secular age. a "likely reading" of the film is therefore that rosemary is descending into madness ........

.... i see "witchcraft" as a mcguffin that moves the story along .....

[spiney2]

... interesting to compare r b with Polanski's later The Ninth Gate. another very good movie which is also very deliberately ambiguous ........ the idea that the woman is satan is based on a very few hints quite similar to r b ........

[yorkieUK]

Freaks is an interesting film. It was made in 1932 and caused considerable controversy at the time. The main reason being it starred genuine "freaks". Please forgive me for using such a team but I could not think of any other way of expressing it.

The film itself was originally 90 minutes long but was finally released in a heavily censored version of just over an hour with, apparently, a different ending. The cut material is now lost sadly. It was banned in the UK for 30 years and banned in many other countries. For anyone who is interested there is some info on it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks

And a particularly unnerving sequence here (consider it a spoiler)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sALWU...eature=related

[embryo]

Originally Posted by spiney2

in terms of structure i think both films are very similar.

the idea of satan being reborn in a very urban environment is essentially the plot of r.b. but the actual idea of it is inherently impossible in a secular age. a "likely reading" of the film is therefore that rosemary is descending into madness ........

.... i see "witchcraft" as a mcguffin that moves the story along .....

That depends very much on your interpretation of the film though, and while your interpretation is perfectly valid, I'm not convinced that the most common reading of the film is that the occult forces did not actually exist. It may well be impossible, but a lot of the best horror films centre on ideas that are not possible, and often that is exactly what makes them 'horrific'. Putting every improbable or impossible event down to madness can often dull the impact of such things - the idea that it might actually be happening is much more frightening (in my opinion, at least). Even taking your interpretation to be correct, it is still a very different type of madness from 'Repulsion'.

I can see where you're coming from but I really think saying that 'Rosemary's Baby' is basically a remake of 'Repulsion' is a vast oversimplification, and does not do justice to what I, and many others, believe to be a fantastic horror film in its own right. I do prefer 'Repulsion' though, incidentally.

[Platinum_Rose]

The Gingerdead man

[Biffo the Bear]

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

[Toy_Hero]

The Exorcist
Blair Witch Project
Psycho
Martyrs
REC.
The Descent
Rosemary's Baby
Suspiria
Nightmare On Elm Street Street
Grave Encounters

[UltraViolet]

Freaks is definitely one to see, nice recommendation there yorkieUK.

I really enjoyed that film, every time the tapes got played i would get goosebumps and eye poking is never fun!

Incredibly creepy hearing the tapes!

[dee123]

The Exorcist
Poltergeist
The Blair Witch Project
Rosemary's Baby
The Shining
Scream
Jaws
Let Me In
Halloween (original)
The Thing (Original)

[Carly_Thompson]

Psycho
Carrie
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (either the original or remake)
The Strangers
Rosemary's Baby
Blair Witch Project
The Ring
The Exorcist
The Skeleton Key
Halloween

[ruddiger]

.Rec
The Descent
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Ringu
Switchblade Romance
The Last Exorcism
The Love Ones
The Strangers
The Mist
The Crazies (2010)

[CJClarke]

Originally Posted by UltraViolet

Session 9 is a must too.

I watched that a few years ago and was massively disappointed with it. didn't find it scary in the slightest, and the acting was atrocious (i'm looking at you David Caruso). Personally, i thought that the more recent 'Grave Encounters' did the whole "trapped in a haunted mental institution" thing far better.