Want to see something really scary?
It's almost Halloween and this year I'm trying my best to enjoy it as much as possible. Halloween seems to be slowly fading away as everything seems to be pushing towards Christmas insanely early. Sure Halloween is more a kids thing, and maybe I shouldn't care as much now that I'm an old guy, but I really feel like getting into the mood this year. I visited a haunted house earlier in the week. Our house is decorated (my wife found some awesome and unique decorations this year) and I can't wait to go out trick or treating with my young ones.
Forgive the rambling. I brought all this up because I wanted to talk about movies. Scary movies. Growing up I was a big horror fan, but in the last ten years or so I've found myself really turned off by gore. I don't know why exactly. When I watched Hostel, I found myself disgusted and had to turn away multiple times. Maybe it has something to do with my kids. Most horror films involve young kids and I can't seem to watch a modern horror film without thinking that those could be my kids up there. Or maybe I'm just a wuss!
While I don't care for horror films, I'm really getting into the more subtle, suspenseful films. I can remember watching The Adominable Snowman when I was a young kid. (Staring Peter Cushing, the future Grand Moff Tarkin.) What fascinated me about this film was that while it was obviously a monster film, they never showed you the monster! You got glimpses here and there, but in general there wasn't ever a "money shot".
A few years later I saw Alien. Easily one of the best sci fi films ever made, the monster spends more time in the shadows and comes off far scarier for it. I remember the first time I saw a complete shot of the alien in some magazine and I wished I had not seen it. My imagination had made it far larger and scarier in my mind.
Some other examples:
- Blair Witch Project: Ok, so this is a love it or hate it type movie, and it got way too much marketing, but this film scared the living crap of me.
- The Village: Really the beginning of Night's descent into crap-hood, and featuring what my wife calls the Giant Killer Badger - the early scenes by the woods were very well done. When one of the kids goes to the edge of the woods, and turns his back, I can literally feel my legs tensing in some subconscious attempt to get him to get the heck away.
- El Orfanto (The Orphanage) - A well done ghost story with a grand total of one shot of gore, this one was simply incredible. My wife really enjoyed it as well.
- Communion - Supposedly a true story of alien contact, any film with Christopher Walken is worth watching in my opinion. It's been years since I've seen this, but I remember being royally creeped out multiple times. One scene in particular has the main character simply sitting down in a room - and across the way an alien sticks his head out - slowly.
So that's all I can think of right now. Any other recommendations? Think high creep/low blood.
Poltergeist,
1408
Young Frankenstein.
Ok the last one is a comedy but one of the greats I'm told. Got them all in HD so it's going to be great to see them in the best quality possible. I haven't seen 1408 either, which doesn't get the greatest reviews but from the trailer it has the psychological scare factor.. The trailer got my GF screaming so that's always a good thing.. lol.
Your post got me thinking though of other films that are scary but not mega-gory - which I personally hate. Never been a fan of horror but did enjoy the 1979 remake of 'The Body Snatchers'.. That last shot is *very* chilling.
The ring (US remake) was another one which hit the scare factor but without huge amounts of gore.. Not sure I'd want to watch again but it certainly was an experience watching it.
Not sure why exactly...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119081/
I was considering The Shining for Friday as well but I'm not sure.. It looks like an incredible disturbing film. I'm trying to keep it scary but not too scary if you know what I mean.. :) Ending on Young Frankenstein should do the trick though..lol
I was just thinking of Event Horizon.. Ah man I'm totally with you on that one.. That really disturbed me.. I'll never watch it again.. I was attracted by the Sci-fi elements but it really is a classic gory horror film which is essentially about the devil.. Horrible.
It's kind of high on the blood factor if I remember correctly, but it was definitely disturbing.
=Ryan
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106912/
The Ring may also qualify, since there's not much actual gore in it. There's obviously some... but honestly, I thought the Ring was retarded from start to finish. Of course YMMV since I felt the same way about Blair Witch.
The Shining imo was a decent concept, but unfortunately for me ended up being really slow and dull because they were trying to portray "cabin fever" (prior to when the visions start). Same sort of deal as Silent Running (although it's not a horror flick). But there are some other King titles you might like. I'm sure you've probably already seen Cujo and Christine a long time ago. If you haven't seen the made-for-TV movie Rose Red, that was pretty good and not terribly gory (obviously). Although it is a bit longer - I think it's like 3 hours.
As long as King is being mentioned, the new version of The Mist was exceptional.
The first half of Jeepers Creepers is perhaps the intense build up in the history of horror movies. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0263488/ . It stars the Mac guy from the I'm a Mac commercials.
I saw Descent last night. It creeped me out good. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/
Don't forget the original Halloween (and its sequel).
I also remember greatly enjoying Them when I was younger. I consider it classic horror. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/
I've seen both The Thing from Another World, and John Carpenter's remake "The Thing". Neither were particularly memorable for me.
Event Horizon was one of those movies that kept you wondering the whole time what actually happened to the victims. There was more gore than I'd like to have seen in it but the fact that you just quite couldn't figure out how "bad" it actually got was what kept it going for me...
I remember it being on a channel like tmc or something one sunday afternoon recently and when the scene came across with the two women viewing footage of the last recording, I paused it and ran it in slow slow slow mo (thanks dvr) just to get a frame-by-frame of the actual gore. Pretty boring stuff actually. Couple of guys holding their abdomens, one pulling something out of his mouth (I presume his tongue?), another woman scratching her eyes out (but not really, she's just bloody and holding her face), another woman with something coming out of her gut (kinda like scene in alien?). all of them were naked but there was no "nudity" if you know what I mean.
Anyway, point being, when I did this the thrill was over. Much like Ray mentioned earlier about it killing it.
But still a great movie. Ironically, the movie "The Sphere" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120184/ which came out relatively close to "Event Horizon" promised the same type of movie but achieved nothing near it.
CA
Started preparing for Halloween this week by watching 5 episodes of The Simpsons Halloween specials.
I find it hard to see the abominable snowman as nasty now.. not after reading this webcomic: http://www.abominable.cc/
event horizon was definitely a shocker though - made the mistake of hitting the pub with some friends beforehand a bit too hard, then sat in the front row... omg that spinning-into-the-space-station camera shot..
1. The Ring - freaked me out so much I had nightmares...I was in my 30's. Something about that creepy girl just stuck with me.
2. Halloween - more of my wife's favorite, but I watch it with her every year.
3. The Exorcist - I grew up capital-C Catholic, so anything having to do with the devil ALWAYS freaks me out. Check out the re-release with the new scenes. Though, I wouldn't watch it with the kids.
Good lucky & Happy Halloween!!!!
And of course, I would be remiss to leave out the original Night of the Living Dead. Frankly, I swoon for zombies.
I think the whole Hannibal series (The Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal) were all pretty strong suspense movies with limited amounts of gore. Anthony Hopkins plays the role of Hannibal to a T.
Another really good suspense movie is Phone Booth. It's really only good the first time you see it, but I found it amazing that they were able to keep me interested through the whole movie when all but a few minutes literally takes place inside a phone booth.
And last but not least, this doesn't exactly fall into the "low gore" category, but the first Saw movie blew me away. (all the others were crap though) There is absolutely no way that you can expect the ending when you see it for the first time.
I loved the ring too. I kept me on the edge of my seat. Also I'd recommend all four original RingU movies. They have a slightly different feel than the US version.
Josh,
I happen to think the whole Saw series is pretty good. Very intricate plot; with lots of plot interlaced between episodes. Although, I wouldn't put any of them on a "no-gore" list.
The chick floating at the window scratching the glass in Salem's Lot still freaks me out.
BTW, Salem's Lot is a Stephen King novella. Surprised you haven't seen it. It was a made for TV movie in the early 80's?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUkeyw7xdb4
@Ray -- maybe you need to find a good movie about a peeping tom. :P
The Ring was also one of my favs.
I don't like gore, never did, but nothing beats a good suspense film.
+++ YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED +++
The genius of M. Night with The Sixth Sense is that he takes this creepy but straightforward horror concept ("I see dead people") and twists it at the very end in a way that re-contextualizes the entire movie to make the premise MORE creepy and horrific.
When it's over, you want to watch the whole thing again.
The failing of M. Night with The Village is that he takes this creepy but straightforward horror concept ("A frightening monster is stalking the village") and twists it at the very end in a way that recontextualizes the entire movie to make the premise more mundane and stupid.
When it's over, you're disappointed and angry.
Signs not so much. Signs had some cool dialogue, but the more I've seen it, the more seams it has. Now when I see signs it feels very "budget". Although I will say I don't think that's entirely Shyamalan's fault... I'm still trying to figure out how Hollywood came up with this idea that once any given culture develops interstellar travel, they automatically stop wearing clothing. Like... hey, we can travel to other stars! And we don't need pockets anymore! Woohoo! Nudist time! Seems like a non sequitur. :P
I believe this device is known as "cessation of ignorance" and I love it. M Night's production company, Blinding Edge, is named for this, I think.