MiceChat Scary Film Festival 2008

[sunnygirl]

The Descent - hot chicks trapped in a cave with monsters. Squee.

The Orphanage - a truly scary ghost story. Not a lot of films with this kind of tension and atmosphere.

[REC] - another great foreign horror film. I'm a huge fan of the zombie genre, and this movie takes it to another level.

A Nightmare on Elm Street - I saw this movie when I was 10 years old and Freddy Kreuger really terrified me. I love how evil and scary he is in this film - he's made kind of a funnyman in the sequels, which I never fully embraced.

Event Horizon - another great take on the ghost story, this time in outer space.

[sir clinksalot]

Originally Posted by sgtpeper

The Stand (1994) I am one of the few King fans that find this miniseries well thought out and scary.

I totally LOVED the Mini-Series and thought it was very well done.

Originally Posted by sunnygirl

The Descent - hot chicks trapped in a cave with monsters. Squee.

I've been meaning to rent this. And hot-chicks ... bonus!!!

[vannie<3]

This Movie is awsome!!! Hey Roo do you know where to find it everytime i look it up i get the new Jolie movie.

Originally Posted by Roo719

I'll try to go off the beaten path.

The Changeling--has nothing to do with Clint's latest endeavor. But it has everything to do with a ghost.

peace,
Roo

Here is my list:

The Changeling- This was a realy creepy ghost haunting movie. I still have visions of the wheelchair and the ball rolling down the stairs...creepy.

The Shining- This movie scared the bleep out of me.

Shaun of the Dead- best funny/scary movie.

House on Haunted Hill- the old one in black and white.

The Texis Chainsaw Massacre- original or new always gives me the chills.

The amytiville (sp?) horror- I do not like this movie and yes even though i know that the story was fabricated it still scares me. This is because when i first saw this movie in high school odd things happened. One bieng that the teacher had turned off the vcr but had not switched the tv back to tv mode so it had the blank blue screen. When the whole class heard a piercing scream come from the tv. The freakin movie was not even on. Wierd!!!

[ALIASd]

Originally Posted by sunnygirl

The Descent - hot chicks trapped in a cave with monsters. Squee.

The Orphanage - a truly scary ghost story. Not a lot of films with this kind of tension and atmosphere.

'The Descent' such a terrific choice! This is why I don't let my friends carry little hammers anywhere.

'The Orphanage' also fab selection. 'The Devil's Backbone' is a good double-feature for that one.

[JesterMn]

I forgot how disturbing the movie Audition is. It is the only movie I have seen where people actually walked out on it, due to graphic, intense violence. It was hard to watch.

I also love Session 9. A great sense of creepiness, all very realistically done.

I'm surprised no one has brought up Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It still holds up as a horror classic.

Funny Games (the original German one) is also a brutal little flick that I long remember after I shut it off.

Also, any early Peter Jackson is great (Bad Taste, Dead Alive, or the definitely-not-for-kids Meet the Feebles). A great mix of gore, horror, disgust, and comedy.

[darkfairycthulu]

Originally Posted by sunnygirl

The Descent - hot chicks trapped in a cave with monsters. Squee.

The Orphanage - a truly scary ghost story. Not a lot of films with this kind of tension and atmosphere.

Heh great description for Descent...but you forgot about the super extra gore.

Orphanage was awesome...creepy as hell, yes, especially the "game" she plays with the ghosts at the end...that sequence still creeps me out after seeing it twice. That and the discovery in the basement...just messed up in the best of ways.

[AE_Fan]

Hoo boy, this is gonna be fun...

The Thing (John Carpenter's version)- I'm pretty shocked nobody's mentioned this one yet, this is hands down one of the best Sci-Fi Horror Film of all time. The special effects still hold up to this day and never fails to creep me out.

Keeping on the topic of Sci-Fi horror, I also have to mention Alien, Aliens and Event Horizon.

An American Werewolf In London- This was my very first horror film, and I gotta say this is still the best Werewolf film in my opinion. John Landis gives us a very nice mixture of Horror and Humorand the single best transformation scene to ever grace the silver screen.

On the topic of ghost films, The Changeling, Poltergeist 1 and Devil's Backbone are very good choices.

Now the next two films go in the Underrated catagory-

Poltergeist 2- While this film may not get the attention the first film get's, this sequel is actually really good. It features a very creepy villian and certainly has scary moments that still creep me out. While I admit the ending seemed rushed, the rest of the film is a really good watch.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch- Alright, this film contsantly get's bashed since it does not deal with the Halloween series at all.

When you look at the movie from a stand-alone film viewpoint, it's a pretty decent film! I really enjoyed it since it was like a far more disturbing version of Goosebumps "The Mask".

Now onto the modern day Horror films, I have to admit the list is very small since all the great films are being held back or they're forgein films that had a American Remake made for the mainstream crowd.

The Ring- Now I will admit, this is the only good American remake of a forgein original I've ever seen. I will even say it's even better then the Japanese original! This was very well done and delievers some very good moments.

[REC] (2007)- This Spanish gem of a film is the best "Handheld First-Person camera" movie out there. While it's only about 70 minutes long, the film just hits you hard with great scares and a fast paced story that'll leave you shaking at the end. Oh yes, this is the film Quarentine remade...however the director screwed that film up big time so I suggest you skip Quarentine and wait for [REC] to come out.

The Mist (Black and White Verison that is included on the 2 Disc special edition.)- I am a big fan of this short story by Stephen King, so naturally I was pretty excited to hear Frank Darabont was directing this. I am also happy to say this film does not dissapoint, it follows the story very well and even gives us a ending that is more powerful then the books. We are also given some very good creatures including the creepiest Spiders you have ever seen.

Now the reason why I'm saying the Black and White version of the film is because 1. That's the version Frank Darabont actually wanted to go in theaters and 2. While the film is good in Color, it's even better in B&W. You get this great nostalgia feeling of the old monster films and Twlilight Zone espisodes. But it also helps with the CGI of the first creature, in color it doesn't look as great as it really could be compared to the rest of the creatures...however in the black and white version it looks so much better.

To finish things off, I will talk about a film that really should come out.

Trick r' Treat- This is one heck of a Horror film, it follows a series of gruesome stories that happen in one town on Halloween night. It's very unique since all the stories are interwoven with each other to form the film.

Now that concept may seem like a disaster, especially since this is Director Micheal Doughtry's debut film. But he pulls it off, and what we get is not only a fantastic Horror film, but a fantastic HALLOWEEN film. The movie captures the spirit of the holiday perfectly, a lot of it is pure eye candy especially with a shot that shows a plain and simple "Norman Rockwell" house and it's neighboring house which looks like the house kids would dare each other to knock on it's door. (The real kicker is the people that live in those houses are far different then you would expect them to be.)

We are also given a Horror icon that is truly wicked, it's little boy named Sam...and man oh man, this kid is twisted. While he may seem harmless with his trick or treat bag and burlap mask, there's more then meet's the eye with him and he is really scary in and out of his mask.

Oh yes, we're also given a fantastic transformation scene that will make pratical effect geeks go ballistic with joy.

In my opinion, this is the best Horror film of not only 2008...but also one of the best Horror films to come by in a long time.

Unfortuntly, I have no idea when it's actually going to come out. Warner Brother's is holding this film back, and honestly right now it seems they don't even care about the film anymore. The only guess I can make on the reason why they're not releasing the film in theaters is because they think because kids are killed in the film and it's not a "SAW sequel, American Remake of a Forgein original, or a sequel or remake in general" it's not going to make any money. B.S...I repeat...B.S.!!!!

I was incredibly lucky to score a ticket to see the film in the Screamfest Horror Film festival in LA to a SOLD OUT theater. Some people paid in the triple digits just to score a seat. The amount of noise we made at the end of the film was stunning, and it was no surprise the film ran away with the Audience Choice Award. This is the film Horror has been needing for a long time, and it's true shame WB is being such a brat. Especially since I've been hearing their going to release the film straight to DVD, in October...of 2009.

...

What the heck?...this film get's shoved straight to DVD...but crud like Prom Night (Remake), RZ's Halloween, Quarentine, When a Stranger Calls (Remake), Shutter and any pointless SAW sequels get worldwide releases?

Sorry if I got a bit ranty, but I'm very vocal about good films getting pushed aside for films that never should have gotten a production budget to begin with.

[JAG107]

For me,
1. The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece.

2. The Exorcist.

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original) --truly terrifying, even by today's standards.

4. Psycho

5. Event Horizon

[Barbossa]

Here's my top five from my DVD collection:

1) Psycho (1960) I highly recommend the new edition that just came out a couple of weeks ago, part of the Universal Legacy Series. I put this as number one on the list because Mother told me to.

2) Universal Monster Movies - Dracula, The Wolfman, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and their respective sequels. The Legacy Collection is a great set if you don't have them yet. I'll also include the original silent Phantom of the Opera even though it wasn't released as part of this set.

3) Sleepy Hollow - Tim Burton's version. The only live-action version of this story.

4) Tied: Bram Stocker's Dracula and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein - both of the Francis Ford Coppola produced movies.

5) The Blair Witch Project - you have to admit, it was a great original idea. Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, not so much.

Honorable Mentions:

The Monster Squad - "Wolfman's got nards!"
Beetlejuice
Young Frankenstein
Saw series
The Fly (David Cronenberg version)
The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Van Helsing
Something Wicked This Way Comes - this one creeped me out when I was a kid.
Fallen
Scary Movie series

I was thinking about putting American Psycho on this list but it's a satire and not really a slasher flick.

Looking forward to next year's new version of The Wolfman.