I read a book of questions and answers about horror films called What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie? by Killian H. Gore.
The questions (with my modifications) were:
Favourite horror film?
Favourite horror director?
Favourite horror sub-genre?
Favourite ‘bad’ horror movie?
Favourite horror killer?
Favourite horror monster/creature?
Favourite horror franchise?
Favourite horror sequel?
Favourite horror remake?
Favourite zombie movie?
Recommend an obscure horror film for a hardcore genre fan.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour?
What’s the film that made you the most consistently fearful, and what age were you at the time?
What’s the single biggest jump scare you’ve experienced?
Any horror film that went too far in a bad way?
What’s the weirdest horror film you’ve ever seen?
You want to answer them? This might be an old internet meme that I’m unaware of so sorry if this sort of thing has been done before.
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My answers are what come to me at this moment in time. I’m bound to have forgotten a bunch of great films.
Favourite horror film?
The Thing (1982) is a very strong candidate.
Favourite horror director?
John Carpenter.
Favourite horror sub-genre?
I want to say slasher even though I only like a handful I’ve seen. They excite my imagination while the reality of the films is usually very disappointing.
Favourite ‘bad’ horror movie?
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992). It’s a bit cheesy and silly, and it’s a sequel, so I think this fits into this category.
Favourite horror killer?
Jason Vorhees is the gold standard benchmark classic.
Favourite horror monster/creature?
Pinhead, who actually speaks, was very good in the first two films. It was about halfway through the third movie when he started to say very ripe and over the top dialogue. That was when he became laughable.
Favourite horror franchise?
Friday the 13th. The quality goes up (Parts 6 and 10) and down (Parts 5 and 8) but at least I can say I’ve seen them all and I’ve read books about the making of them. It’s a franchise I pay attention to and I can work up some excitement over the films. Also as the first movie wasn’t brilliant and the later sequels weren’t total dogs there’s no major tailing off that ruins what could have been a good franchise (Alien and Hellraiser fall into this category).
Favourite horror sequel?
Aliens (1986). It’s a boring answers but accurate.
Favourite horror remake?
The Thing (1982) is immaculate.
Favourite zombie movie?
I recently re-watched the Dawn of the Dead remake from 2004. I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun and it’s interestingly different to see a visually inventive action director with a decent budget do a zombie movie. I’m probably one of about two people in the world who doesn’t care for the original 1978 movie.
Recommend an obscure horror film for a hardcore genre fan.
Nine Dead (2010) was a good film that was much better than I expected it to be. It’s set in one room films with nine kidnapped strangers. They have to work out what their connection to each other is while the masked kidnapper kills one of them every ten minutes.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour?
Blue Velvet by David Lynch. Perverted and depraved in a very adult way.
What’s the film that made you the most consistently fearful, and what age were you at the time?
It took me about three viewings, each time restarting from the start, to get to the end of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) as it was so disturbing. I was probably about 13 at the time.
What’s the single biggest jump scare you’ve experienced?
Candyman (1992). My left leg shook like crazy when he suddenly appeared behind someone in the mirror at about the halfway point. Scared the crap out of me and I refused to finish the movie until the next day. I was maybe about 13 or 14 when I rented it.
Any horror film that went too far in a bad way?
Martyrs (2008) was almost offensive. It was half an hour of watching a woman get punched in the face. It’s not my idea of worthwhile entertainment. It was not a bad movie, but it went way too far, which was probably the point.
What’s the weirdest horror film you’ve ever seen?
I think the first Hellraiser movie was very, very creative and full of weird ideas (as were 2-4 with increasing levels of silliness).
Sorry, but horror as a genre, with all its blood-spattered sub genres is something that leaves me completely cold. Why anyone would want to spend hours scaring the shit out of themselves for pleasure is quite beyond me. Each to their own, of course, and Blue Velvet has more than a few redeeming features.
Above so mean that I am duty bound to answer your (lengthy) expectations. Horror or, gothic novels, as known in 19th c. writing, is a noble calling, just open to poor endeavour.
Fave: Night of the Demon. Ancient b&w by Jacques Tourneur with wobbly effects but still the bees knees.
Director: For his early stuff and the original trilogy, ignoring the 2 more recent, George A. Romero.
Sub-genre: Ghosty fight back stuff, and by that I mean underrated stuff like Ghost Story and the Shining.
Bad: Shivers
Killer: Does the guy in 7even count?
Monster: Cthulhu, never done that well, but I live in hope.
Franchise: Night, Dawn and Day (but not, as above, the later ones.
Sequel: Halloween II
Remake: First remake of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (Donald Sutherland starring)
Zombie: 28 Days Later (OK, i know, they’re infected, not zombies……)
Obscure: Martin (George A. Romero)
Non-horror with theme: Omega Man
Most fearful: (The) Ring(u)
Jump: End of Carrie, the hand from the grave, original version.
Too far: Saw (and sequels)
Weird: The Sentinel, mainly for when all the demons from hell parade up into the New York brownstone.
I love a good horror, me, but hate spoof or comedy horrors
Welcome back Mr SPEAKER! Did you watch all these movies at the correct speed? And nice that you seem to think The Shining is underrated.
As a young boy, I liked Hammer Horror movies. And EC horror comics. And Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Basil Wolverton and Civil War bubblegum cards and J. Forrest Ackermann’s Famous Monsters of Filmland. The grotesque and lurid got me goggling with pleasure. I can still look at this stuff with some kind of weird affection, but the genre of horror movies – especially gore and torture – is something that would trouble me if I gave it any more than passing attention. Zombies? Not very interesting, are they? Stagger around with their faces falling off. Or some American teens getting horribly slain in the woods, leaving End Girl to face a bright new dawn, alone and blood-spattered. In a spaghetti-strap top. And anything with CGI monsters, which are now all as transparently fake as Ray Harryhausen modeling clay, and perhaps a little less scary. All that drool.
Here’s the few I can remember as being genuinely chill-worthy:
Night Of the Demon (Retro’s pick, too)
The Haunting (Robert Wise original)
The Shining (from the underrated Stanley Kubrick)
Rosemary’s Baby
The Exorcist
Freaks
Halloween
The Fiend That Walked The West (probably make me snigger now, though)
That Laurel & Hardy short where they stay in a haunted house (scared the shit out of me, anyway)
Notting Hill (Hugh Grant’s performance as the tortured loner luring the self-deluded “movie star” into his claustrophobic nightmare of a life remains the most chilling screen portrayal of a psychopath since Antony Perkins’ Norman Bates.)
Favourite horror film?
You have to go a pretty long way to beat The Descent.
Favourite horror director?
Wes Craven
Favourite horror sub-genre?
Slash and stalk.
Favourite ‘bad’ horror movie?
Event Horizon.
Favourite horror killer?
Freddy. NoES 1 still scares me – it’s that “first horror film I ever saw” thing: I find the whole entering-your-dreams thing really unsettling.
Favourite horror monster/creature?
The Rage virus.
Favourite horror franchise?
Scream. Even when it got daft as a brush, I still really enjoyed that franchise.
Favourite horror sequel?
Well, I want to say Aliens too, but it’s only a sequel TO a horror film. And even Alien’s status as horror is pretty arguable. It’s an SF psychological thriller with very little gore – elements of horror, sure, but not a pure genre picture.
So I’m going to say 28 Weeks Later.
Favourite horror remake?
Dawn Of The Dead – the Snyder version. The only really good film he’s made.
Favourite zombie movie?
Not counting the 28 films – not technically zombies – I’m saying Zombieland. Love that film.
Recommend an obscure horror film for a hardcore genre fan.
I dunno, I’m not a hardcore genre fan, but if you haven’t seen Dog Soldiers, treat yourself. Teeth is pretty funny too.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour?
Alien.
What’s the film that made you the most consistently fearful, and what age were you at the time?
As above – A Nightmare On Elm Street.
What’s the single biggest jump scare you’ve experienced?
I honestly couldn’t say. No idea.
Any horror film that went too far in a bad way?
The whole Hostel series. Sniggering fratboy bullshit.
What’s the weirdest horror film you’ve ever seen?
Eraserhead, if that counts. If you mean weird as in unsettling, Ringu is pretty well up there too.
I think that’s unfair on Hostel. The skill of the first one is that for the first act it’s basically as you say: American Pie, without the pie.
And then, just as you’re about to reach for the off-button, all that arrogance is subverted and suddenly the movie is a commentary on cultural imperialism, exploitation, xenophobia and American ignorance.
I ummed and aahed about including Alien in my list below. I went for it in the end, but even though it is probably the greatest film ever made, I couldn’t list Aliens as a horror sequel.
Big up for the Neil Marshall love as well. The Descent and Dog Soldiers are two excellent films that I have watched over and over.
Struggled with the OP questions but heres some os my favourites
Se7en
Audition
The Haunting (original)
Thundercrack
The Vanishing (original)
Rosemary’s Baby
The Descent
Onibaba (saw this on tv back in the early 80s but didn’t catch the title) it haunted me for about 15 years until I tracked it down)
Mulholland Drive
Psycho
Let the Right One In
The Kill List
The idea of/hype behind the Blair Witch Project
28 Days Later
Triangle
Oooh Let The Right One in. I haven’t seen the remake but the Scandi original is absolutely immense.
I can’t go through all the questions, but the film I’d recommend is A L’interieur (aka Inside). It’s a masterpiece.
That’s disappointing – you were one of the people whose answers I was looking forward to when I first saw this topic!
Great thread. Can’t do the whole list, but here are some thoughts:
* probably not strictly a horror movie, but Don’t Look Now remains the scariest and most unsettling movie I’ve ever seen. Watched it in a dark room with several mates and no one wanted to walk home after. Also contains the greatest jump scare.
* got to agree with the OP’s love for the remake of The Thing, and with Carpenter as best horror director. Also agree that the Descent is superb and extremely unsettling.
* classic horror movies: the Shining, the Evil Dead, Ringu, the Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw, Halloween, Jaws, Carrie, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, Night of the Hunter, the Fog, Come and See.
* favourite zombie movie is Shaun of the Dead. Favourite sequel is Dawn of the Dead, unless Aliens really counts. Favourite franchise is the Evil Dead.
* obscure horror movies – anyone who hasn’t seen the recent It Follows needs to do so – it’s magnificent. Would also recommend Society (1989), for some great rubber horror, and probably the weirdest horror movie that springs to mind.
* movie that went too far? Hostel for me as well. Hated every minute of it and thought it was utterly without merit. I’d put Wolf Creek in the same category.
Don’t Look Now is an amazing film.
Totes agree about Hostel – hate that torture porn stuff.
Watched Society with my ex wife. and my mum and dad – that was an uncomfortable 90 mins!
I listened yesterday to the latest Double Feature podcast yesterday, which covered the entire Exorcist franchise in 45 mins. The hosts, who have probably seen more horror flicks than anyone else alive, drew a distinction between ‘horror’ & ‘proper’ Hollywood films, one being straight to video/VHS schlock & the other being ‘real’ films with horror bits in watched mostly by people in actual cinemas. At one stage, they never even considered big titles like The Exorcist as horror because they were properly made by big studios with name casts. They have softened this distinction now, but still thought The Exorcist was crap & preferred the sequel ( aware that this is a form of cimena heresy).
Their view was that it was groundbreaking – very sweary & pea soupy but hasn’t worn well whereas The Shining for example is still superb & unsettling. I thought it an interesting discussion point.
Personally my faves are very conventional.
Creepiest: Rosemary’s Baby by a mile.
Zombie : Dawn Of The Dead – really the Daddy of the modern genre & franchises
No Time For: Any Saw or torture porn stuff. Properly vile.
Franchise : any of the Universal 40s- 50s stuff- Wolf Man, Mummy, Frankenstein etc.
All time Fave: Carpenter’s The Thing -if it’s allowed as horror, not Sci Fi ( similarly Aliens for sequel, WAY better than Alien BTW)
Recommendation: REC – quite old now, but terrificly effective use of the often crap ‘ found footage’ approach from Spain.
Funniest: Shaun, Zombieland, Return of The Living Dead ( 1985).
Second recommendation : Dead Of Night. Portmanteau chiller ( rather than horror) from the 50s – initially soothingly conventional, but genuinely creepy. A true masterpiece.
I agree Shaun is the funniest “horror” film, but What We Do In The Shadows definitely comes close.
‘Ow’s about, nah then, The Cat And The Canary? Great Bob Hope movie that provides boffo laffs and chills-a-plenty!
REC – brilliant. Starts so slowly, but when it takes off it goes like a train!
Oh I REALLY like the original Saw. A great, no-budget shocker with a fabulous elevator-pitch concept. Nasty as fuck but not gratuitously so.
I watched one of the sequels. It was everything that the original wasn’t, so I haven’t bothered with the rest.
I can’t believe I didn’t include The Exorcist and The Omen in my original list either. Plus I also have a huge soft spot for The Amityville Horror. Not sure why, but I do.
For me weirdest horror film has got to be Kevin Smith’s Tusk. “A man surgically converted into a walrus!”
In a similar vein, a film that went too far in a bad way is The Human Centipede series. The first half of the first one wasn’t all completely bad, but by the third one it was utterly abysmal.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour? I dunno if it’s horror flavoured exactly, but Buried with Ryan Reynolds freaked me out. Whole movie is just him, buried in a wooden box somewhere in Iraq.
I don’t mind the Hostel/Wolf Creek type films. (In fact I preferred them to The Descent.)
My favourite subgenre is survival horror / backwoods massacre. I find them exciting and scary and because they’re so relatively close to home, kind of cathartic. I thought Wolf Creek rocked.
All this sniffy ‘vile’ and ‘no redeeming qualities’ stuff. Isn’t it a bit clutching at pearls?
Absolutely.
It’s my prim, neo-Victorian sensibilities that make me prefer the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Hostel.
Absolutely.
*drops shoulder*
Well we all have our line, I suppose. I didn’t like Martyrs, but I could see it had merit.
I dunno if it was a question of finding the line with Hostel. It didn’t shock and disturb me, I just didn’t think there was anything good about it; no clever idea, no memorable shots, etc. I much preferred Roth’s previous movie, Cabin Fever, which was equally nasty in its own way.
The two films which immediately jump to mind in terms of actually being unbearably fucking horrendous are Cannibal Holocaust and A Serbian Film, neither of which I would watch again if you paid me.
I think if we were talking about any number of other torture porn cash-ins I’d agree with you, but I really think Hostel had something to say.
Had a genuine half-jump out of my seat when I watched The Innocents.
Die Spoorlos (sp?) has one of the most unsettling scenes ever that stayed with me for some time.
Horror continues to have merit as a genre if only because it frequently relects the zeitgeist of underlying fears &/ or moral panics far more quickly than the mainstream & looking back is often a good barometer of themes that were on people’s minds at the time. David Cronenberg’s body horror is an obvious example of this.
The western often did this in the past, many being thinly veiled takes on various aspects of the Vietnam war, for example. Westerns ( by & large) are expensive though & when they are made these days attract big fanfares. They are quite a modern rarity, but horror can be dirt cheap thus providing an ‘in’ to budding film makers to try their arm. Sometimes you only need a room & a premise or a few buckets of fake blood & you’re away. Like detective fiction, it often has quite tightly defined restrictions, so to see what can be done within them remains interesting.
I’m doing this before I’ve read any other answers, so apologies for any repeats, and all the usual off the top my head caveats apply
Favourite horror film? Alien
Favourite horror director? David Cronenberg
Favourite horror sub-genre? Monster movies.
Favourite ‘bad’ horror movie? I’ve watched Anaconda twice
Favourite horror killer? Michael Myers, for the blankness of the mask
Favourite horror monster/creature? Toss up between Giger’s Alien and Carpenter’s Thing
Favourite horror franchise? George Romero’s zombie movies
Favourite horror sequel? Evil Dead 2
Favourite horror remake? the Dawn Of The Dead remake
Favourite zombie movie? I like 28 Days Later a lot, but I would hate to spark off any nerd rage incidents by referring to “the infected” as zombies, so I’ll go for Zombie Flesh Eaters because it has a scene where a zombie fights a shark.
Recommend an obscure horror film for a hardcore genre fan. Have two – The Borderlands is a super low budget film set around a church in Devon, with an unforgettable ending, and The Innkeepers is a slow burning ghost story set in a closing down hotel that made me really excited about Ti West as a great new talent, until I watched his other films.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour? The Wicker Man
What’s the film that made you the most consistently fearful, and what age were you at the time? Does this mean the film that scared me most when I was watching it? In which case, the answer is The Grudge (Japanese version) when I was about 28.
What’s the single biggest jump scare you’ve experienced? I really like the bit in The Descent with the infra red camera but I’m not sure it counts as a jump scare, so I’d go for the hospital corridor in Exorcist III, only I’m not sure that qualifies either. I’m not a fan of jump scares, I think they are really lazy ways to spice up a horror film.
Any horror film that went too far in a bad way? Hmmm. I haven’t actually seen it, but I’ve always been put off Cannibal Holocaust by the real animal slaughter supposedly in it.
What’s the weirdest horror film you’ve ever seen? The weird ones are the best ones! Right now I’ll go for Society
Oh, the Borderlands is fantastic and properly got me at the end, definitely worth a watch.
West Country based horror fans might also be interested to know the Watershed cinema in Bristol is running a John Carpenter season throughout May. Assault On Precinct 13 and Halloween have been and gone, but it’s The Fog tomorrow and Escape From New York next Sunday. I’m planning to go to both of those. The week after is The Thing, which I’d love to see on the big screen, but I am otherwise engaged that weekend.
I love horror films – even though they mostly disappoint by failing to scare me. Often they begin promising, with a premise that – if drawn to its full consequence – has the potential to freak you out completely…but then they chicken out in the middle of the story, ignore the original premise and simply turn to the usual standard slash and gore.
Reading horror is better, then you create your own images inspired by your own personal terrors and happening in locations that looks like places you know well.
Still, I keep trying to find films that will scare me as much as I want them to (the saying “be careful what you wish for” probably appropriate in this case…)
Favourite horror film: Candyman. The (original) Haunting and Freaks in second and third place.
Favourite director: Wes Craven, I suppose.
Favourite sub-genre: I especially enjoy anything with ghosts and the supernatural in it.
Favourite `bad´ horror movie: Not a fan of the Friday the 13th franchise, but Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan is lots of ludicrous fun. I will also watch The Fly 2 (the dog!) and Christine with great joy.
Favourite horror killer: Death itself in the Final Destination franchise.
Favourite horror monster/creature: The Mummy (the 1932 original).
Favourite horror franchise: A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Favourite horror sequel: Both from that franchise – Dream Warriors and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (especially the last one, turning Freddy into a scary character again after years of – entertaining, but still – clowning).
Favourite horror remake: Dawn of the Dead or The Fly.
Favourite zombie movie: Not a huge fan of zombies really, but Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is a classic.
Obscure horror film recommendation: I don’t know how obscure it is, but I really enjoyed the film Deadbirds and I haven’t heard anyone else talk about it.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour: Repulsion.
What film made me the most consistently fearful: The first horror film I saw was Terror Train, and it was a very exciting experience (I was 13). I don’t think many horror films can spook you as much as your first.
The biggest jump scare I’ve experienced: Not a horror film as such, but some years ago after watching something I had recorded, I turned my VCR off and the channel that my TV was set on was showing a film and I didn’t know what it was. Too lazy to check the TV guide or switch channels, I kept looking as a man walked down into a basement. Unfortunately for me – having arachnophobia and being completely unprepared for what I was watching – the film was Arachnophobia and I had arrived just in time for the “final shoot-out” scene.
Suddenly I found myself watching thousands of spiders (and one of them a HUGE m-f) crawling and jumping and attacking and…*head explodes*
Actually, I can’t tell what happens in that scene, my memory has blocked it out. All I remember is that the terror and shock of it made me jump and twitch like a prisoner in the electric chair.
I can’t answer the final two questions. Too far? That just means that the film isn’t very good, when it’s well made everything makes sense and has its place.
Weird? The whole genre is rather weird, isn’t it? Too much to choose from!
I’ve done it!
Favourite horror film?
I can’t decide between Witchfinder General and Texas Chain Saw Massacre (sic)
Favourite horror director?
Dario Argento
Favourite horror sub-genre?
Survival horror / backwoods massacre
Favourite ‘bad’ horror movie?
The Last Horror Film (a stalk and slash brilliantly and hilariously filmed guerrilla style at the 1982 Cannes Film festival. It features a Joe Spinell performance that has to be seen to be believed).
Favourite horror killer?
Leatherface
Favourite horror monster/creature?
I’m not a big one for creatures but the thing hanging up in the bath in Xtro. Shudder.
Favourite horror franchise?
Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Favourite horror sequel?
Evil Dead II
Favourite horror remake?
Ooh, either The Thing or The Fly, but with special mentions for Dawn Of The Dead, Fright Night and Tobe Hooper’s remake of Toolbox Murders, which I only saw recently. It rocks.
Favourite zombie movie?
Just to be different, Lucio Fulci’s City Of The Living Dead. The bit… you know the bit… the bit where… Ew!
Recommend an obscure horror film for a hardcore genre fan.
I’ve already recommended Inside, so this one: Calvaire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvaire_(film)
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour?
Straw Dogs
What’s the film that made you the most consistently fearful, and what age were you at the time?
Jack Ketchum’s novel The Girl Next Door has been adapted twice, as An American Crime and The Girl Next Door. The book and both the films profoundly disturbed me.
What’s the single biggest jump scare you’ve experienced?
I jumped a mile at the face hugger bit in Aliens.
Any horror film that went too far in a bad way?
I’m struggling with this one. Wes Craven’s Last House On The Left involves some pretty shocking stuff but there’s something about the scene where the gang make the victim wee herself that I find a bit too much. Then again, horror films should make you feel uncomfortable, that’s their job. Like others I thought Martyrs was a bit OTT. I don’t particularly want to be made to feel guilty for enjoying horror films, thank you very much. Oh, I know. Bloodsucking Freaks! God, yeah, bloody hell, I *hated* that. I really didn’t see the point of it all. I imagine there are people who think it’s hilarious, but I thought it was simply foul.
What’s the weirdest horror film you’ve ever seen?
Street Trash (A scene where a gang of homeless men tear off a dude’s penis and then play football with it is probably as straight as it gets. )
Possession (arty 1982 horror that begins with shades of Repulsion and then gets really, properly, LSD-eyedropper weird.)
I think the single biggest jump scare I’ve experienced was the dead head floating out of the wrecked boat in Jaws. The whole cinema jumped. I’ve seen the film a few times since and jump every time.
Favourite horror film?
At this moment I’d say either The Descent or Texas Chainsaw.
Descent is filled with dread and grue and stays true to its dark heart. I saw Texas Chainsaw well after it was embroiled in the video nasty nonsense. It is a weird, nihilistic movie – those last few minutes just seem like someone screaming in your face.
Favourite horror director?
John Carpenter. Just for The Thing alone he’d be right up there.
Favourite horror sub-genre?
Zombies and Werewolves.
Favourite ‘bad’ horror movie?
John Carpenter’s Vampires is a giddy old thing, and James Woods as a Vatican endorsed vampire hunter is a hoot.
Favourite horror killer?
Leatherface.
Those pig grunts, that tongue poking through the mask…
Favourite horror monster/creature?
The Thing or Alien (but are these horror or sci fi movies?)
Favourite horror franchise?
Don’t really have one. The first 2 Alien movies are good and the third has its merits. But really not interested in the likes of Nightmare part 7 or Friday the 13th part 62.
Favourite horror sequel?
I like bits of 28 days later. The opening is tremendous – Robert Carlyle’s fight or flight dilemma. And the way one or two of the major characters are dispensed with is grimly gratifying.
Favourite horror remake?
Dawn of the Dead. I know this is heresy, but I prefer this to the original. Or Funny Games.
Favourite zombie movie?
Night of the Living dead. They’re coming for you, Barbara.
Recommend an obscure horror film for a hardcore genre fan.
Suspect that hardcore fans would have already heard about Inside (which plays out like a extremely unpleasant fairy tale / nightmare). Calvaire is peculiar and unsettling – Belgium is a strange old place, eh?
But as those 2 have been mentioned elsewhere think I will add King of the Hill. A couple riding through the Spanish countryside stray into the path of hunters. Tense and creepy, it loses a bit of traction towards the end but is worth a watch.
Favourite non-horror film with a strong horror flavour?
I saw Deliverance when I was far too young and that unnerved me. Guess you could peg it as a strand of survival horror. In the recent past I’d say that Kill List is the one. Brutish, brutal with a deeply unlikeable character at its heart.
What’s the film that made you the most consistently fearful, and what age were you at the time?
Saw Carry on Screaming when I was young (8 maybe) and it scared the beejesus out of me. Still a bit freaked by Odd Bod, and Little Bod is even worse (that horrible mewling noise he makes).
We got a VCR in the early 80s and my Dad’s mate had an extensive library of movies. So, around the age of 11 or 12 I was watching the likes of Scanners (I wanted to clamber behind the sofa during that one, but I was sharing the sofa with a mate and my younger brother so couldn’t lose face). Soon after we saw Halloween 2 that led to a couple of sleepless nights.
I saw The Exorcist at the cinema when it was rereleased in the early 90s. I am glad I watched it but I never want to see it again.
What’s the single biggest jump scare you’ve experienced?
An American Werewolf in London. The camera is speeding through a forest and we come to a clearing. In the clearing we see a hospital bed. In the bed is a sleeping David. We hover over the bed and look into David’s sleeping face – but he was playing possum, though. His eyelids snap open revealing raging yellow eyes and his mouth emits an animal snarl and we see rows of fangs.
Any horror film that went too far in a bad way?
Hostel. One of the few films I have ever switched off. It was just irredeemably rotten.
What’s the weirdest horror film you’ve ever seen?
I saw one the Howling sequels that starred Jimmy Nail. Utter rubbish, naturally.
Vampires is a great shout. James Woods repeatedly calling a priest “Padre” while punching him in the face? What’s not to like?
Was a time when any film starring James Woods was a must-see for me.
I loved him in Best Seller (hired assassin links up with true crime writer / detective to pen his autobiography). Cop was amazing too (Woods perfectly cast as an LA detective on the trail of a serial killer). Based on an early Ellroy novel and it really captures the author’s viscous, weasely prose.
FYI there’s an excellent book of interviews with Larry Cohen (trash film director and more specifically the writer of Best-Seller) called The Stuff of Gods and Monsters by Michael Doyle.
He personally liked Best-Seller but hates the behaviour of a female character who RUNS TOWARDS a bad guy who’s shooting at her. It ruined the film for him (it could have been corrected with editing, which he told the makers about, but they ignored him).
Also it’s not based on an Ellroy novel. It’s an original screenplay as far as I can recall.
Always had a soft spot for Larry Cohen movies.
Cop is, I think, based on Blood on the Moon. Ellroy wrote 2 or 3 Hopkins books (the Woods character). Bit of an anti hero.
I’ve had an interest in Larry Cohen since Kim Newman cited him as one of the true horror auteurs but I’ve never really got on with his stuff. He never seems fully committed.
They’re coming TO GET YOU, Barbara.
Sorry. it’s my favourite bit.
too many questions! but THE horror movie;
(much better than the actual US trailer)….
and for a non-horror jump, how about Harry Roat Jr from Scarsdale (who knew he could be scary?)
my favourite zombie movie
(yes Rupert!)
wrong link, dang!