Recommend me some scary movies

[walkertexasdruid]

Halloween is fast approaching so I thought it appropriate to write in this color. The only new scary movie I saw this year has been Scream 4, which I liked quite a bit (I loved the original trilogy). So now I am in the mood to see some scary movies. Does anyone have any suggestions of recently made thrillers or some old but good classics I may have missed? Any good advice would be much appreciated.

[Betty Elms]

I'm not a horror buff so everything I recommend will be terrifically obvious, but I'm still going to recommend them at you and any observing third party. Worthwhile horror films of the past decade:

The Descent. Which is genuinely quite frightening, and ohmygod it actually conveys themes and shit via its frighteningness. Like, stuff that relates to existence outside of the artificial construct of the movie. In a contemporary horror film! Although I don't want you to think it does that instead of being an effective horror film, it does that in addition to being scarier than the various movies that patchwork together some predictable bit of boilerplate nothingness.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. There are ghosts so that means it's a horror film!

Funny Games. (I prefer the shot for shot American remake.) A pseudo-slasher film with a mean and unnecessary mentality behind it. But it's very well crafted, startlingly original for a film in this genre, definitely worth watching for any fan of modern horror, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Director Michael Haneke hates me for this, and he hates you. Because you're terrible. You're just the worst.

Slither. Lovable homage to old bodyhorror films, with Nathan Fillion in the lead. It's just comic enough to be a terrifically fun affair without taking away from how frightening it is. Worth watching in general, becomes an absolute must watch if you're a fan of gore or '70s and '80s Cronenbergian types of movies.

Speaking of Cronenbergian movies, just watch all of Cronenberg's horror films.

[Bard The 5th LW]

If you can put up with subtitles, then The Orphanage is a decent one.I imagine its even better if you speak Spanish.

[Gregness]

Pitch Black was pretty good, though it's older (relatively speaking).

[Yrcrazypa]

The Evil Dead trilogy!

Ok, not so much scary, but I still have to recommend them, they are some of my favorite movies ever.

[Seil]

Here is what I have in my collection right now - bear in mind I'm a huge fan of vintage stuff:

Hellraiser
Interesting look into the world of sado-masochism, great effects for the time, not a great Halloween movie. (It's got a Lovecraftian level of mythology.)

Hellraiser Hellbound
Characters continue their journey from the first film, still not a great Halloween movie, but a teriffic sequel.

Hellraiser Bloodline
New protagonist, okay sequel, not the best of the series.

Child's Play
Chucky has become the punchline to his own joke. Series has degraded over the years, but the original is pretty good. It's an alright start to the night, especially if the main protagonist, Andy, starts to grow on you.

Dead Silence
Supernatural horror which I thought was pretty good. It's also a neat one for Halloween. It's got a slow start, but once it picks up speed it gets some good scenes in. Also, ventriloquism dolls are creepy.

Silent Hill
Won't really "get it" (putting on my hipster glasses here) if you're not a fan of the games, but there's some tense scenes. An... interesting movie if you look at it from the point of the games, but a bad movie otherwise.

It
A vintage TV-movie based around Stephen King's clown monster. I got scared, but I saw it when I was three or four the first time, so it's on my rack for the nostalgia factor. Tim Curry is effing brilliant as an evil clown, though.

Nightmare On Elm Street
The original one - great special effects, great casting, great movie. Halloween or not, I'd put it on your list. It is vintage, though, so if you want something more current, or don't think you'll be able to get into it, take a look at it in the video store first.

Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Elm Street 2 stunk - once they did the third film, they brought back some of the actors from the first and it suddenly got good again. This movie is better than the first, but it's got a wider cast of kids, so it's more identifiable in my opinion.

Nightmare On Elm Street (Remake)
New cast, new crew, new Freddy. Not nearly as good as the two prior ones I listed, but if you want something current, like I said, check it out. It's not got the atmosphere that Wes Craven delivered on, but there are some jump-out scares here and there.

Ju-On
One of my favorite horror movies ever - I think sits at two on my list. A must, especially since it hits on so many phobias. Also, it's genuinely scary. It follows several people over the course of the film, so it's a neat thing to play in the background, if people wanna come and sit down for ten or fifteen minutes. Downside: subtitles.

The Grudge
Didn't see yet.

The Ring
Not the original one, but the western one. Still good, but could've used a different kid. It's got a creep factor, and I love the blue/grey filter they filmed with. Probably something people have seen, though, so check to see if people wanna watch it.

The Ring 2
Watching tonight, will update.

1408
A really good flick based on a Stephen King short story. I said this in an earlier review, where it's not a straight-scare; it's more of a journey you share with someone losing their sanity in a supernatural situation. Not really the best Halloween movie, but I think a must see.

The Shining
Haven't seen yet. Tried on one or two occasions, it's just very slow in the beginning.

Gothika
Not really a horror movie, but it's an interesting watch anyway. It's not a good Halloween movie.

Poltergeist
Third on my list. Again, it's vintage horror, but it's really good stuff. It's sometimes a little hard to follow, but they cast the right little blonde girl and have the line "YOU BUILT THE HOUSE [ON A CEMETERY] BUT DID YOU MOVE THE BODIES? DID YOU?

The Omen
Vintage horror, very slow movie - very good movie, but not really a Halloween thing.

The Omen (Remake)
Haven't seen yet.

The Amityville Horror
One of the original "haunted house" stories, worth a look, but I think the remake is better.

The Amityville Horror (Remake)
This one has updated visuals, and for a haunted house story, I think that's needed. I haven't payed attention to this - I was partying with a few girls last Halloween - but it's worth a look.

The Exorcist
My favorite horror. Bash it all you want, it's got solid effects, great cast and a memorable theme. I love this movie. It's also dated, is very religions (Jesuit) and deals with a little girl being corrupted.

Halloween
Something my dad remembers seeing in the theaters. It's an awesome bit with a very young Jamie Lee Curtis. I'd recommend this over the remake any day. A good flick to start the night off, especially if you've got a blue jumpsuit, a Shatner mask and a prank ready.

Halloween 2
One of the best sequels I know - continues straight from where the first one ended. Gives Michael a few creative kills, which I thought was out of character for him for several reasons, but still a good flick. Don't watch this unless you're running Halloween 1 first.

Halloween (Remake)
An interesting remake, good if you don't want to sit through dated visuals. Much better than Rob Zombie's second "stab" at the Halloween series. The film deals with teenage girls, so an updated version probably was needed. I'd rent this on the 31st, but not the second one of Zombies.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake)
I've always felt that Leatherface was a sympathetic character, but this flick also gets a recommendation. I haven't been able to find a copy of the original Massacre, but this gets the job done. Depends on the crowd you run with, but you might want to give this a look.

28 Days Later
It's a "zombie" movie what with fast zombies. It's worth a look, especially for a few tense scenes near the end. Also, the eleventh Doctor is in there, too.

28 Weeks Later
Not as good as the original, wouldn't bother with it unless you were a fan of the first one. It's got more of the same, less of the scare. But the army firebombing London looked really, really cool.

The Crazies
Not as scary as some of the other films I've got. A few tense moments, and an interesting watch, but not a lot of scares.

30 Days Of Night
Vampire movie based on a comic series. Interesting take - 30 days of night refers to the fact that the Arctic doesn't get that much sun. It's also got "true" vampires, sort of beastial, unlike the Dracula ones. Depends on what your tastes are, it's not the best Halloween flick.

Children Of The Corn
Also based on a Stephen King work, also has dated visuals. It's a little bit of a strange concept, one that wouldn't work on Halloween.

Cloverfield
Haven't seen yet.

Dracula
Haven't seen yet.

Frankenstein
Haven't seen yet.

Misery
Haven't seen yet.

The Descent
Haven't seen yet.

The Strangers
Haven't seen yet.

Carrie
Haven't seen yet.

Rosemary's Baby
Haven't seen yet.

Vertigo
Haven't seen yet.

Night Of The Living Dead
Haven't seen yet.

Dawn Of The Dead
George A. Romero's masterpiece. The thing that made zombies popular. A little slow, noticeably dated, but a good watch nonetheless. Not the best Halloween flick.

Dawn Of The Dead (Remake)
The remake is pretty excellent, updated visuals, controversy and better zombie effects. Worth a look on Halloween.

Black X-Mas
Haven't seen yet.

The Thing
Haven't seen it yet.

Evil Dead
The first of the "Army Of Darkness" trilogy. A group of teens head into the woods to a remote cabin. The first film set us up, the second film set the third film up and the third film set up Bruce Campbell. This one is the scariest of the three, and it's a good movie to boot.

Darkness Falls
I watched It when I was a kid. Between that and "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?" I got my horror fix there. But when I got older, I rented this. Watching it now, it's not really the best thing out there, but I remembered being terrified about it first. Very similar vibe to "Dead Silence," I'd do some research into this first.

The Darkness
I saw this a long while ago, and I cannae remember if it was all that good or not. Like above, do some research on it first.

Trick 'R Treat
This. Rent this.

[walkertexasdruid]

I saw The Descent, and it was very good and pretty frightening. Pitch Black was also very good. I have seen Army of Darkness, "Hail the the king, baby!", but I should check out the first two Evil Deads. I think I saw Funny Games, I am not sure though. Last year I went on a big glut of movies from syfy and chiller. I should check out Slither and Orphange. I have seen Saw's 1 through 4. Good suggestions so far. Keep it up.

.....

A very good list by Seil. I have seen a lot of those movies, but there are some that I have not.

[Magus]

The original The Thing is a pretty great movie, fairly scary still, I'd say, in a certain way (like the monster is pretty freaky looking and actually pretty disturbing to look at). I heard the new one was surprisingly good, as well (it's a prequel), but I haven't seen it yet (probably will this weekend).

Oh, man, Funny Games? Kind of a total waste of time, that one. Still not sure how I felt about it exactly but suffice it to say I think I think it's bad (at other times I think it's good).

The original Dawn of the Dead isn't very scary by today's standards (good movie, though). The remake is AWESOME but I didn't think it was particularly SCARY either...maybe try The Crazies remake for a zombie fix, but I'm not sure how scary it really is either (pretty awesome though).

Really, you already saw the Descent, which is probably the only genuinely scary horror movie I've seen in about a decade...it's hard to find one that is legitimately scary.

EDIT: I guess I should say the original remake of the Thing, the one with Kurt Russell in it. You could go back and watch the 1958 The Thing From Outer Space but The Thing changed so much and actually made it into a legitimately scary movie, I consider it its own separate entity and not just a remake.

[Seil]

The original The Thing is a pretty great movie, fairly scary still, I'd say, in a certain way (like the monster is pretty freaky looking and actually pretty disturbing to look at). I heard the new one was surprisingly good, as well (it's a prequel), but I haven't seen it yet (probably will this weekend).

Damn you, I was going to recommend that. At least I can put on the trailer.

EDIT All I can say about the first two Evil Dead movies is that they were proper horror. The third one turned Campbell into Duke Nukem, but the first is worth a look. Evil Dead 2 is a remake of the first one, oddly enough, and was a vehicle to get to the third, but the first? Pretty rad.

EDIT 2 Darkness Falls was my first really scary horror. I was about 11 or twelve, and watching it now I sort of feel bad about being scared by it, but it was a pretty badass horror when I was growing up.

[Seil]

Trust it to me to forget to mention the perfect Halloween movie.