Spooky Films

[darkglobe]

One of my favorited genres of horror is the spooky film. It's a film that is resonant with you personally, that makes you feel like autumn and rainy days and cobwebbed corners, the sights and smells of a Halloween night cackling in the sky above your head, that draws you into a mental state like you are entering a whole other universe. Watching it is like your own dream state, and you almost don't want to return to the waking world.

These are films that do it for me (besides Nightbreed, which does have such a unique atmosphere that you can't help but be drawn in).

1) Any of producer Val Lewton's films, particularly the original

Cat People
www.imdb.com/title/tt0034587/

&

I Walked With a Zombie
www.imdb.com/title/tt0036027/

Lewton's world is one of light and shadow, where virtue can be rewarded but not always.

2) Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre has a particularly haunting way of unfolding and seeming like a never ending beautiful nightmare:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0098253/

3) The Uninvited is the definative old Hollywood ghost story, where the intentions of the dead are unknowable until the end:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0037415/

4) Eyes of Fire is an indy horror film from the early 80's that is set a little after the American Revolution, and it involves a place where all the evil will in the world coagulates into a death spirit that sucks out the souls of any it encounters and puts them into the trees. It plays out like if the recent film New World was made by Mario Bava:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0085515/

5) And finally The Bermuda Depths, a tv movie with rubber monsters, but nevertheless one of the most fantastic and werid tales-esq storylines and dreamlike presentation of a film that I've ever seen. Imagine aboy who meets a girl and they play on the beach as cildren, carving their names into the shell of a turtle they find. Imagine 15 years later, when the boy meets the girl as a demon ghost, and the turtle is a giant monster. Amazing stuff!

www.imdb.com/title/tt0077223/

What about your special films?

[cobweb]

I'm a fan of a very rare sort of horror film. I like movies where the "bad guys" win; or, if not "win", where they at the very least get away. lol.

A few of my favorites, (other than Nightbreed, obviously), are:

1) "The Wicker Man" - (The original; I have no desire to see the remake.) I'll go out on a limb and say that the ending of that film is among the most thoroughly enjoyable moments in cinematic history, in my humble opinion. lol.

2) The "Abominable Dr.Phibes", and "Dr.Phibes Rises Again" - Vincent Price kills nine physicians and ultimately escapes to an Egyptian other-world.

3) The last of the Ginger Snaps series, "Ginger Snaps Back" - I only wish certain character's deaths hadn't been so quick.

4) "Storm Of The Century" - I, for one, would gladly hand over my offspring to be adopted by a semi-immortal, infinitely powerful, (if somewhat malicious), wizard. lol.

5) "The Bride" - Finally, the monster gets his "bride" and gets away.

6) (Laugh all you want, I loved this one when I was 12.) "Love At First Bite" - A ludicrously silly film, yes, but Dracula gets the girl and gets away.


A few of the ones you list, Darkglobe, I haven't seen. I'll seek them out.

~ Cobweb

[Baphomette]

cobweb said:

(Laugh all you want, I loved this one when I was 12.) "Love At First Bite" - A ludicrously silly film, yes, but Dracula gets the girl and gets away.

All I have to say about that is....

(Go ahead. Sing along. You know you want to.)

Ohhhh, I love the nightlife.. I got to boogie on the disco 'rouuuund, ohhhh yeah...

Heh. I loved that film when I was 12, too. I haven't seen it in ages, but it was adorably amusing in a twisted sort of way. Besides, George Hamilton was hella captivating as Dracula, especially since I was under the impression that vampires feared the sun as opposed to being perpetually coppertone tanned. ;D

[darkglobe]

Movies where the monsters rule and the heroes drool.... how 'bout:

House of 1000 Corpses? (which I liked but I thought had some unsightly first time director flaws)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0251736/

Night of Dark Shadows? (the bad guy's definately win in that one, and it's pretty cool to boot - it involves reincarnation and a witch getting a little bit of revenge)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0067491/

Viy - an excellent cold war USSR horror film where a priest has to guard the dead body of a beautiful young thing for three days while spirits try to corrupt the body and kill him. Has some of the best camera moves in a horror film outside of Evil Dead.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0062453/

Equinox - kids in the woods wind up getting involved with an evil spellbook and strange creatures - if you did old films, and like to see the evil win, check it out! And this film also directly influensed the Evil Dead films!

www.imdb.com/title/tt0067055/

[dante]

Great thread!!
Spooky films hmmmm……..
For me, I guess the spookiest films were the ones I saw as a kid. For whatever reason, no matter how bad the movie, they all had one theme or scene that deeply affected me.

Ok guys, in no particular order:

Blood Beach - (Monster living under the sand at a beach – a fantastic concept, taking something as un-scary as the beach and twisting it around, it actually made me slightly wary of seaside holidays…. what with Jaws waiting in the water as well).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0082083/

Spawn Of The Slithis - (Radiation leak causes a man to dress in a crap rubber suit and run around on screen growling for an hour and a half….. I didn’t understand it, I think I made up some parts of it in my head – hey I was young).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0078277/

Snowbeast - (Yeti-like creature terrorises some people in a ski-resort or something – I just remember this funny looking, white Chewbacca eating people and ruining someone’s wedding…. I think, shit I should probably research these films before I write about ‘em, sorry guys I’m going from memories here, and I saw most of this stuff when I was just a nipper. I found/bought most of them on DVD recently, but I just haven’t had time to watch them all again yet).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0076731/

Squirm - (Loads of worms eat people – that is all… scared the hell outta me).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0075261/

Hammer House Of Horror - The House That Bled To Death - (ok, ok, this wasn’t a movie, but an episode of a tv show… anyways, it seriously freaked me out. During one scene involving a kid’s birthday party, a water pipe separates from the wall and sprays everyone with blood – haunted me forever for some reason, pretty much all I remember about it, and something I’ll never be able to forget).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0129683/
www.scifilm.org/tv/hammerhoh/hammerhoh5.html

Harlequin - (Some freaky magician dude befriends a kid with leukaemia of something…. and at one point he moves an abscess from some woman’s mouth with his finger, down her throat to her arm, and then to her finger which he suddenly cuts off with a knife ….and eats. Well that may be what happened, or maybe he faked it and ate a bit of carrot ‘cos he was a magician, either way I remember being utterly horrified. Also, his face appeared on the floor in the kitchen at some point, and that scared the wits out of me too).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0080842/

Freaks - (yeah I know it’s an older film, but it really creeped me out back in the day – love it to bits now – fools attempt to rip off some circus folk who have deformities ….gabba gabba).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/

Xtro - (a fantastic film with the weirdest plot, and a superb social commentary – a father is abducted by aliens, but returns years later to find his wife has a new man…. and then of course there’s THAT scene where a woman gives birth to a fully grown man…. well, alien-hybrid more like…. superb).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0086610/

Q - The Winged Serpent - (flying dinosaur thing terrorises New York – loved it).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0084556/

Quatermass and the Pit - (a strange capsule is discovered underground, which releases freaky insects and the devil when opened – I think…….. this film just had a really creepy vibe to it, and strangely I don’t know if I saw this one
www.imdb.com/title/tt0062168/
or this one).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0051305/

Creepshow - (I know, I know….. we’ve all seen it, but I’ve just loved this film my whole life – so much memorable imagery, from Ted Danson buried up to his head in sand to Stephen King covered in spaceweed ….to the woman carrying the headcake on the platter, to the nightmarishly dark cupboard under the stairs in The Crate, and the room filling up with all the roaches at the end….. this is such a classic).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0083767/

and finally………….
The scariest, spookiest shit I ever saw – I had to save this till last.
Salem’s Lot - (I related to the Mark Petrie character as a kid, and I relate to the Ben Mears character now – utterly, superbly, brilliantly, amazingly perfect story. Among the many spooky scenes in the movie, such as Mike Ryerson in the rocking chair etc, and above all other spooky scenes from every other film I’ve ever seen…. one moment stands alone…. a moment so completely horrifying to me when I was a kid that to this day it still affects me, and all I need to do really is quote a line “*scratch* *scratch* ….let me in Mark……”).
www.imdb.com/title/tt0079844/

[dante]

just thought of another classic i've got on order......

Horror At 37,000 Feet

www.imdb.com/title/tt0068715/

Freaky shit goes down on a plane - (no snakes involved).
PLUS the GREAT William Shatner folks.................

[dante]

My copy of Bermuda Depths finally arrived ;D ;D ;D

Cheers for the heads-up there Darkglobe dude. I watched it last night.
I think it's a great little film, and the theme song is incredibly cool...

Jenny, is she a poem of the sea?
a sailor's reverie?
a shadow of the deep?

Loved it!

[darkglobe]

Glad you liked it! Side note - I belive the title song is done by one of the lead sisters for the old rock group Heart!

[dante]

Quick heads up - Bermuda Depths is now available on DVD!!

awaiting delivery........

[darkglobe]

I gots mine! It was great to see again, still holds up in my mind as one to beat.

BTW - Squirm - it was filmed in my home state! Great flick - the Worm Man is pretty unforgettable!