MOVIES! ADAMA'S WATCH THE MOVIES!!!!!!

[Mal Shot First]

I wasn't joking when I posted the suggestion. We weren't talking about quality.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

If we're gonna limit our discussion to quality horror movies, we're not gonna have much to talk about.

[Dalty]

Yeah, he's got a point. That's why I have never been much of a fan of horror in general. They always seem to eschew any level of quality in favour of gore, cheap jumps and bad characters.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

There are some standouts of the genre, quality-wise. These are the first that come to mind:

The Exorcist
The Omen
Rosemary's Baby
Alien
Martin
Psycho (1960)
The Shining (1980)
The Thing (1982)
Jaws
Freaks
Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Ghost Stories/Kaidan
Poltergeist
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Diabolique (1955)
Halloween (1978)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

I provided years for the ones with remakes. Lots of remakes.

Of course, a person might say that the quality bar is set pretty low and that the above movies don't deserve to stand alongside the quality movies in other genres. A person might also say that some of the older ones I listed will seem hokey to younger viewers. This person might say, too, that some of the above are only shakily defined as horror movies. At what point does a suspense movie become a horror movie? Is a supernatural element required?

There are quite a few silent movies that I would classify as horror. Silents have the benefit of an inherent creepiness. Here are some decent silents that are either definitely horror or have some horrific elements:

The Golem
The Phantom Carriage
The Phantom of the Opera (1927)
Waxworks
Faust
Nosferatu (1922)
The Man Who Laughs
Häxan
The Hands of Orlac
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

[Dalty]

This where you disown me, but....

The Thing
Poltergeist
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre

All, in my opinion, massively overrated.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I think there are plenty of people out there who don't think they're super-great or anything. I wouldn't count any of them among my favorite movies, and they'd only be movies I'd recommend if someone asked me specifically for horror movie recommendations. I can see why each one has its fans, though, the same way I can see why Salem's Lot and Magic have their fans.

[Dalty]

The bit with the kid at the window in Salem's Lot is truly creepy.

[scarletregina]

Horror is a rather subjective thing. I can't sit through Pet Sematary. Freaks me out, but I'll watch Hellraiser in the middle of the night if I'm really bored & can't sleep. Also, while I recognize that Alien is a horror, I don't see it as such. I don't know why exactly.

I think some movies, like the Exorcist, really do suffer from being a product of their time. I didn't watch it until I was 21 and couldn't find it scary.

[Adam54]

When I can' t sleep, I dance the Dance of a Thousand Goiters.

Wears me right out.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

When I can't sleep, I just don't sleep.

Alien is a cross-genre thing. I think a lot of people think of it as sci-fi or sci-fantasy before they think of it as horror. If the characters were in a remote house out in some unnamed wilderness, and if the Xenomorph were a monster born of the Earth, its horrorness would be more evident.

I saw Pet Sematary during the summer of '89 in a theater in El Paso. I really dug it. It scared the living shit out of my ex-stepsister. The only scene that really bothered me was the flashback scene with the sister who suffered from spinal meningitis. Looking back on it, it's strange to me that scene, of all the scenes, was the one that got to me.

It's a pretty grotesque representation of spinal meningitis. I've wondered in the past if sufferers were offended by the representation, but I've never bothered to look into it.

Mary Lambert (not to be confused with the singer) directed it. She also directed a Tales from the Crypt episode that I like. "Collection Complete" is the episode. It's from the first season. Another thing she directed: Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video.

You know what? I think she might have directed all three of those things in '89. Damn. '89 was kind to Mary Lambert. Subsequent years have been . . . less kind.

[Mango]

I've always seen the 'horror' aspect of "Alien" which is partially why I dislike it. It feels like a really slow slasher flick. I usually get bored and when I run into someone not familiar with the series I just tell them to skip right to "Aliens"

"Aliens" is also a pretty good horror movie. Not sure if I came to that realization myself or if I was influenced by Ebert's review of the film. I know some people see the marines and all the gunfire and dub it a silly action movie, but it's the fact that all those comforting macho men and their guns do jack-all to stop the bad things.

"Exorcist" is a movie I would also probably call a horror film. The book less so. I really, really like the book but the movie is mostly just 'ok' to me. Probably because it really cuts out most of Father Merrin's importance and actions. I'll still watch the movie, and likely suggest it, but doing so usually makes me just want to go back and read the book.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

William Peter Blatty wrote both. He's more or less happy with how the movie turned out, from what I understand. I remember listening to the commentary track he and Friedkin recorded for the twenty-fifth anniversary DVD. He talked a little about the stuff he and Friedkin chose to cut for time, but he didn't seem too upset that it was gone. The only thing that really bugged him, at least as far as I can recall, was that some people came away from the movie thinking "the bad guys won."

The book's not bad. I read Legion before I read it. I was ten when I read Legion. It was the version re-released for Exorcist III. I was probably eleven or twelve when I read The Exorcist. I remember his prose being a little too florid and adjective-heavy for my tastes, but I still liked the books.

For me, Blatty's best will always be his collaboration with Blake Edwards on the Shot in the Dark script.

[Mal Shot First]

Horror is a rather subjective thing. I can't sit through Pet Sematary. Freaks me out, but I'll watch Hellraiser in the middle of the night if I'm really bored & can't sleep. Also, while I recognize that Alien is a horror, I don't see it as such. I don't know why exactly.

I agree with you about Hellraiser. The first time I watched it (at E.V.'s place!) I actually did fall asleep. Maybe his futon was to blame, but I also ended up watching the movie again some time later and I remember thinking that it made me more queasy than scared.

I haven't watched Pet Sematary since I was a kid, and there weren't that many horror films that scared me even back then - but that one was an exception. It would be fun to see it again.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

It's on Netflix Instant. I may try to get Jubbers to watch it with me.

[Dalty]

The Exorcist freaked me totally out when I first saw it, aged about 16. I watched it again about 7 years ago and it still chilled me, but nowhere near as bad as that first time.

[Adam54]

I'm really not much for horror (I'm a puss) so the vast majority of the "classics" I haven't seen yet would fall into this genre.

That said, after seeing Sorcerer last fall, I'm MUCH more interested in The Exorcist than I once was.

That and Kermode never shutting up about how great it is helps too.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

If you pick a version of it and a time after, say, 9 p.m. CST, I will call you using Gchat and we can watch it together.

[Dalty]

I would join.... but I'm too scared to.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

If we started watching at 9 p.m. CST, you probably wouldn't even be awake.

[Dalty]

I could have nightmares.

[Adam54]

If you pick a version of it and a time after, say, 9 p.m. CST, I will call you using Gchat and we can watch it together.

There are versions of it?

[Adam54]

And I'm not sure if I can watch The Exorcist with you before I watch Jaws with Dalty. It'd feel as though I was cheating on him. With an Alabaman, no less!

[Dalty]

You watched Jaws anyway! I forgave you, because it's awesome.

[Dalty]

Now over to Goiter for the punchline.....

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

There are versions of it?

There are versions of it. There's the original theatrical version, there's the twenty-fifth anniversary edition from '98 with an extended ending and some CG cleanups of creaky effects, and there's the 2000 edition that was released theatrically and marketed as "The Version You've Never Seen." It has all sorts of differences in it. There may be even more versions of it, but these are the ones I know.

I'd recommend the original theatrical version, effects warts and all, since that's the one that became the cultural phenomenon. It's also the one I grew up with.

Now over to Goiter for the punchline.....

Something tells me you're expecting me to say you meant to write that it was "Jawsome." I'm not gonna.