Movies: Hellraiser - I love how it hints at so much mythology without giving too much away so it's pretty much left to the imagination and interpretation of the viewer. John Carpenter's The Thing - Quite possibly the most paranoid movie ever made. John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness - I like the mix of Quantum Physics and Catholicism. A lot of play on Christian symbolism too. John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness - Closest thing to a good Lovecraftian movie I've seen. Nightmare on Elm Street - The other ones never really captured the same atmosphere. Suspiria - Video nightmare. Return of the Living Dead - Love those trashy 80's comedy/horrors Night of the Creeps - Ditto Waxwork - Ditto Vamp - Ditto Primal Rage - Ditto Friday the 13th Part 6 - So many gags. I knew I was in for something special the second they had the James Bond scope following Jason and then had him turning and throwing a machete towards the camera. Priceless. Texas Chainsaw Massacre - I might be the only hardcore horror fan that actually liked the remake better. Poltergeist - About the only really good haunted house movie I can think of. I'm sure there've been others, but that's the one that stands out in my mind. Child's Play - Every single one of them. Gotta love Chucky. House - Norm! The Burning - What a great slasher. Lord of Illusions - A lot of people seem to be really down on this movie. I loved it. The Descent - The first good monster movie in a long time.
Books: Salem's Lot - The first adult horror novel I ever read. The one that got me hooked. I usually hate vampire books because they're usually sappy and goth, but this one was great. The Elementals - First book I've read in a LONG time that creeped me out. Between the photos, the dinner party story and the eyeless baby I was freaked. Night Thunder - Ruby Jean managed to pull of some of the most nightmarish stuff I think I've read. Damnation Game - Back in High School when I was reading this one I actually faked sick so I could finish it. Deathscape - Loved how it made it even more horrifying to die by showing what happens next. Let There Be Dark - God's shadow. What an original concept. The Nameless - Ramsey Campbell. When he's on no one writes quite like him. Ancient Images - Ditto The Parasite - Ditto House of Illusions - See Night Thunder's comment. Cry Wolf - One of the only werewolf novels that lived up to expectations. Helloween - Terrible title, great book. Colors Of Hell (or something like that) - Weird and old school horror done right. Into The Pit - It was like a great 80's movie. Cold Moon Over Babylon - Yay for southern fried horror. Not as creepy as The Elementals, but still good. I like virtually everything I've read by Stephen R. George. They're fun and fast paced. Dracula - Goes without saying. The Manitou - Handled by anyone else it would have been preposterous. Graham managed to suck me right into the story though. I can't remember the title or author off hand (sitting at work now) but the one where the guy and his son move into the town with the cult of kids under 12 that worship the black monolth. Might have been by Alan Ryan. That was intense. The Summoning by Dana Reed - Excepting the ending, which felt a bit rushed, this one was great.
I'm probably forgetting a TON. I've seen a lot of movies and read a lot of books in my going on 25 years. I can't end this without mentioning the worst book I ever read though: Monstrosity - Edward Lee I'll never pick up another book by this guy after that one. The title fit. No idea how that got published or how Mr. Lee got such a fanbase. It read like it was written by a horny 14 year old that never got laid in his life and watched the X-Files back to back and on repeat. Horrible. Truly horrible.
Also, I don't get John Saul's fame. I've tried reading a few of his books in the past and couldn't get into them. The one I did manage to finish was a complete disappointment. Cry For The Strangers or something like that. Should have been great with that synopsis on the back.
The thing I hate most in horror novels and movies: stupid twist endings which seem to be grafted on in some attempt to make it scarier. If it ends happily enough, let it end there. Don't pull something out of left field in an attempt to shock people. It usually just comes across as pathetic. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't because it makes no logical sense whatsoever. Granted, horror's not exactly logical in the normal definition of the word, but the books or movies usually give their own set of rules and it's always a shame when they throw that to the wind.
You know its funny that you say you cant get into John Saul, now i actually liked his earlier stuff, as with king ( which now i really cant AT ALL read, he seemed to really get away from true horror)I cannot, no matter how hard i try, get through a Ramsey Campbell book.I have all and have tried and tried but i cant. While some people say its due to his british way of writing, I cant agree because i LOVE Graham Masterton and Steve Harris. The one book that creeped me out,Though i cant really say why, is Spook Night by David Robbins. Now for some reason the most popular books i sell on Ebay , Richard Laymon , Ed Lee and the likes, well i say if its not supernatural , then its not true Horror! As with Laymon it seems all his books (excluding beast house and one or 2 others) Were all about some teen obsessing on a girl he cant get and killing Or a madman killing, or a girl killing people....Kind of all the same theme with different characters. Movie wise, Poltergeist ( the original of course) The first Nightmare on Elm Street ( What a concept!) The first Hellraiser and The prophecy i loved! The thing with Kurt Russel was also a fav of mine! As for books i would love to see made into a movie, a lot of William w Johnstone would be cool...and some Tamara Thorne..and any Masterton! And i totally agree with you about Lee, He seems to write more about sex and the shock value of that than anything truly horror!
Johnstone's books would make great movies, but I doubt they'd ever be made because of his Christian leanings. There seems to be a big "Ruh roh, let's not touch that one" on that kind of thing any more. I've only read a few of his books though. I didn't much care for Sweet Dreams, but I liked Darkly The Thunder a lot. Carnival was pretty good too. Any suggestions on that front? I'm always having a difficult time picking what to read next. If anyone knows how many horror novels I have, it'd be you since I've bought the vast majority on E-Bay.
I think Wurm by Matthew Costello would make an awesome movie if they got together a crew that read the book, enjoyed it and had a budget to do something with it. I tried watching Beneath Still Waters, but it was a major disappointment. I don't know what the hell happened to Brian Yuzna, but he's really starting to churn out poor movies. Society was great though.
Another author I like a lot, from what I've read, is Ronald Kelly. Father's Little Helper was a good one. I'm reading Blood Kin by him at the moment. So far, so good. I'm definitely anticipating a depressing ending.
I'm inclined to agree with the British thing as far as Campbell goes. He also comes from the Lovecraft school, which means verbosity is a key word for his writing. I have to be in a certain kind of mood to read him, but he definitely scratches that itch when it comes. I like his sense of subtlety. He kind of reminds me of M. R. James. If you've never read anything by Mr. James I'd definitely suggest "Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad" and to a lesser degree "Casting The Runes" which has a character allegedly based loosely on Aleister Crowley.
Masterton would make great movies too, if they had the necessary budget. They actually made a movie version of The Manitou in the 70's. It was...definitely something, but good isn't quite the word I'd reach for. John Skipp and Craig Spector's stuff would make good movies too, though they'd probably have to tone down on a few things. In particular I'd like to see The Light At The End or The Scream. I wasn't such a big fan of The Bridge, but that's probably because I just don't much care about environmentalism. I also think Ruby Jean Jensen's books would make great movies if they got the right kind of director. I don't think there's really a director for that kind of thing any more though. Maybe Carpenter back in the 80's could have pulled it off, and definitely Craven circa Nightmare on Elm Street. John Shelly would work too, but they'd DEFINITELY have to tone down a lot of the stuff in his books to ever get past the MPAA. Scott Nicholson's latest, They Hunger, would work really well too, especially if they got the same crew as The Descent to work on it.
Oh, another movie I love: Pumpkinhead. The original one. The second one was terrible, and I haven't even bothered with the third. The original was fantastic though. Really had a unique atmosphere.
Have you read rockinghorse? i really liked that and everyone i lent it to said the same, heck some never returned it! grrrr hate that! I dont get to watch as many horror movies as i'd like to due to time limits i have! The time i have to myself i'd rather read!
I tried John Shirley's Cellars and didnt like it, I have read all Ronald Kellys books ( did you know hes writing again? He just made a website to announce this. If you want the link let me know!) I think I have read the entire Zebra horror line As they came out in my teen years. Loved them! Another horror writer i love is D. A. Fowler and Abigail McDaniels, both creepy and I admit im loove the Dolly Come To Life horror so Abigail McDaniels is a fav. I also agree light at the end would make a great movie, though i am NOT a vampire fan...I actually can't stand anne rice!!! LOL ( no hate mail please!)
I'm more or less the same way. I loathe most vampire fiction. It's a bunch of namby pamby eurotrash wannabes griping about immortality. I don't know. I'd probably have a hell of a lot of fun being a vampire myself. I certainly wouldn't fret over the morality of feeding, just like I don't right now about eating animals. I do like vampire books wherein the vampires are evil bloodsucking fiends that end up with explosive finales of stakes through hearts. I'm a guy at heart and an action packed finale, when it makes sense, always gets an A+ in my book. Then there was Cain by James Byron Huggins or something along those lines. I think that book pretty much was one long action packed finale. I shed no tears.
As for Anne Rice, well, I think she's a good writer, in the sense that she writes well and tells what she wants to tell. I hate her for completely ruining vampires and giving goth kids another reason to look like pseudo-Kiss members and piss and moan about life. A little piece of me dies every time I see one of those news stories about people that dress up like vampires and have a whole sub-culture going on because then I'm forced to come to terms with the fact that I'm the same species as them. Talk about horror!
I love the dolls come to life thing too. I haven't read nearly enough of those kinds of books though. Loved Annabelle and Baby Dolly by Ruby Jean Jensen.
Don't think I've read anything by D.A. Fowler or Abigail McDaniels yet. I know I have some of their books laying around. I might have Rockinghorse laying around somewhere too, but it'd probably take me a couple of hours to find it. I'm such a pack rat. Have every book I've bought from you still, plus the ones I get from Borders and various other book stores. People think I'm starting a library. My bedroom's about 33% stacks of books, 33% stacks of DVD's and the rest is a motley assemblage of dressers, my TV and my XBOX 360 stuff.
Thats funny! Can you even imagine how many i have here?! like 100,000 books! I would love to just sell 80% of them for a flat rate of 35,000$ interested??? LOL!!!! I have so so many and cant get through most of them! Try abigal Mcdaniels one is Althea And theres a book by Ellen Jamison called Stone dead which i enjoyed. Its about a woman who finds a doll in an antique shop chained by the arms and legs to a board and well you can figure out the rest! No spoilers here! Pat graversen also wrote a few good ones....
i just remembered a book that really spooked me! Darker than night by Owkl Goingback was really creepy, and how they add at the end how something like the story really happened made it worse! Apparently somewhere in the USA a family suddely found shadow faces appear on their (Kitchen) floor i think it was. No cleaning would remove them and they just stayed for a while until they disappeared. it really was one of the best horrors i have read and Crota by Owl Goingback was also a winner!
Hey, I have recently been completely enjoying Tamara Thorne. She's just trashy enough for a good scare and just smart enough to tickle the old brain too! The creepiest book I've read in years, though, is Superstition by Ambrose. I've told everyone to read this book, and they've all come back satisfied. And, I can't really say why its so creepy. I guess the whole idea of accidentaly creating a waking nightmare is disturbing as all get out. Talking about Saul, I am with horrorlady on that one. His early books were pretty good, but I probably liked them when I was younger because his protagonists were usually children, and I was no older than 11 or 12 when I read them. However, he rewrote the same book over and over and I stop reading him sometime in the late eighties. now, movies: The Sentinel: Weird, and had that groovy religious vibe that was still resonating after The Exorcist The Ring: Forget that it has been ripped off like a billion times, the initial viewing was very creepy and Verbinski created such a cohesive feel of evil throughout. Halloween: Do I gotta say why? Return of the Living Dead: Smart, funny and definitely scary. Oh, and Linnea Quigley is a goddess Phantasm: A nightmare on screen. Never fully explains itself, and leaves the viewer going, "whatthe*&%$justhappened?" Also, along with Halloween's theme, has the creepiest music in a horror movie ever. Angel Heart: Gives my goosebumps every time. Poltergiest: The best family horror movie ever. Showed it to my three nieces lately and they didn't know what hit 'em. hehehe The Changeling: Scary stuff with atmoshere to spare. Oldy and overlooked, but loved by most harcore fans Night of the Living Dead: Classic and still effective. And, movies that should just go away: Saw and its retched sequels. If I want moralizing, I'll read the Bible. Lame, insulting, and just badly done. Hostel: get a plot The Hills Have Eyes (old and new) See above comments for Hostel All Phantasms, Nightmare on Elm Streets, and Child's Plays after the originals. The horse is DEAD, stop beating it! (although Chucky does get some kudos for landing the wonderful Jennifer Tilly) Oh, and as a final thought, since we're talking books, I have been devouring Richard Laymon books for a month now (I'm up to twelve) and when he's good (Island, After Midnight) he's a total hoot. Yeah, they are mostly about horny boys or their fantasies of horny women, but they are super fun. However, when he's bad (Darkness, Tell Us, Into the Fire) he's just dull. But, when one reads "To wake the Dead" one just wants to throw the book across the room and take a bath. And hey, pretty much nothing bothers me, but extended scenes of rape and torture written with a dirty old man's pleasure in mind is just NOT MY BAG.
I was introduced to horror through William W. Johnstone, so of course I tend to be biased about his horror books. William handed me Edgar Allen Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" when I was 11. Then,Dark Shadows became my favorite afternoon show. My favorite William W. Johnstone horror books are Darkly the Thunder and Rockinghorse.
15 comments:
Movies:
Hellraiser - I love how it hints at so much mythology without giving too much away so it's pretty much left to the imagination and interpretation of the viewer.
John Carpenter's The Thing - Quite possibly the most paranoid movie ever made.
John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness - I like the mix of Quantum Physics and Catholicism. A lot of play on Christian symbolism too.
John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness - Closest thing to a good Lovecraftian movie I've seen.
Nightmare on Elm Street - The other ones never really captured the same atmosphere.
Suspiria - Video nightmare.
Return of the Living Dead - Love those trashy 80's comedy/horrors
Night of the Creeps - Ditto
Waxwork - Ditto
Vamp - Ditto
Primal Rage - Ditto
Friday the 13th Part 6 - So many gags. I knew I was in for something special the second they had the James Bond scope following Jason and then had him turning and throwing a machete towards the camera. Priceless.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - I might be the only hardcore horror fan that actually liked the remake better.
Poltergeist - About the only really good haunted house movie I can think of. I'm sure there've been others, but that's the one that stands out in my mind.
Child's Play - Every single one of them. Gotta love Chucky.
House - Norm!
The Burning - What a great slasher.
Lord of Illusions - A lot of people seem to be really down on this movie. I loved it.
The Descent - The first good monster movie in a long time.
Books:
Salem's Lot - The first adult horror novel I ever read. The one that got me hooked. I usually hate vampire books because they're usually sappy and goth, but this one was great.
The Elementals - First book I've read in a LONG time that creeped me out. Between the photos, the dinner party story and the eyeless baby I was freaked.
Night Thunder - Ruby Jean managed to pull of some of the most nightmarish stuff I think I've read.
Damnation Game - Back in High School when I was reading this one I actually faked sick so I could finish it.
Deathscape - Loved how it made it even more horrifying to die by showing what happens next.
Let There Be Dark - God's shadow. What an original concept.
The Nameless - Ramsey Campbell. When he's on no one writes quite like him.
Ancient Images - Ditto
The Parasite - Ditto
House of Illusions - See Night Thunder's comment.
Cry Wolf - One of the only werewolf novels that lived up to expectations.
Helloween - Terrible title, great book.
Colors Of Hell (or something like that) - Weird and old school horror done right.
Into The Pit - It was like a great 80's movie.
Cold Moon Over Babylon - Yay for southern fried horror. Not as creepy as The Elementals, but still good.
I like virtually everything I've read by Stephen R. George. They're fun and fast paced.
Dracula - Goes without saying.
The Manitou - Handled by anyone else it would have been preposterous. Graham managed to suck me right into the story though.
I can't remember the title or author off hand (sitting at work now) but the one where the guy and his son move into the town with the cult of kids under 12 that worship the black monolth. Might have been by Alan Ryan. That was intense.
The Summoning by Dana Reed - Excepting the ending, which felt a bit rushed, this one was great.
I'm probably forgetting a TON. I've seen a lot of movies and read a lot of books in my going on 25 years. I can't end this without mentioning the worst book I ever read though:
Monstrosity - Edward Lee
I'll never pick up another book by this guy after that one. The title fit. No idea how that got published or how Mr. Lee got such a fanbase. It read like it was written by a horny 14 year old that never got laid in his life and watched the X-Files back to back and on repeat. Horrible. Truly horrible.
Also, I don't get John Saul's fame. I've tried reading a few of his books in the past and couldn't get into them. The one I did manage to finish was a complete disappointment. Cry For The Strangers or something like that. Should have been great with that synopsis on the back.
The thing I hate most in horror novels and movies: stupid twist endings which seem to be grafted on in some attempt to make it scarier. If it ends happily enough, let it end there. Don't pull something out of left field in an attempt to shock people. It usually just comes across as pathetic. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't because it makes no logical sense whatsoever. Granted, horror's not exactly logical in the normal definition of the word, but the books or movies usually give their own set of rules and it's always a shame when they throw that to the wind.
I liked Monstrosity. But you're right, Edward Lee is tough to read if you're faint at heart!!!
You know its funny that you say you cant get into John Saul, now i actually liked his earlier stuff, as with king ( which now i really cant AT ALL read, he seemed to really get away from true horror)I cannot, no matter how hard i try, get through a Ramsey Campbell book.I have all and have tried and tried but i cant. While some people say its due to his british way of writing, I cant agree because i LOVE Graham Masterton and Steve Harris. The one book that creeped me out,Though i cant really say why, is Spook Night by David Robbins. Now for some reason the most popular books i sell on Ebay , Richard Laymon , Ed Lee and the likes, well i say if its not supernatural , then its not true Horror! As with Laymon it seems all his books (excluding beast house and one or 2 others) Were all about some teen obsessing on a girl he cant get and killing Or a madman killing, or a girl killing people....Kind of all the same theme with different characters.
Movie wise, Poltergeist ( the original of course) The first Nightmare on Elm Street ( What a concept!) The first Hellraiser and The prophecy i loved! The thing with Kurt Russel was also a fav of mine!
As for books i would love to see made into a movie, a lot of William w Johnstone would be cool...and some Tamara Thorne..and any Masterton!
And i totally agree with you about Lee, He seems to write more about sex and the shock value of that than anything truly horror!
Johnstone's books would make great movies, but I doubt they'd ever be made because of his Christian leanings. There seems to be a big "Ruh roh, let's not touch that one" on that kind of thing any more. I've only read a few of his books though. I didn't much care for Sweet Dreams, but I liked Darkly The Thunder a lot. Carnival was pretty good too. Any suggestions on that front? I'm always having a difficult time picking what to read next. If anyone knows how many horror novels I have, it'd be you since I've bought the vast majority on E-Bay.
I think Wurm by Matthew Costello would make an awesome movie if they got together a crew that read the book, enjoyed it and had a budget to do something with it. I tried watching Beneath Still Waters, but it was a major disappointment. I don't know what the hell happened to Brian Yuzna, but he's really starting to churn out poor movies. Society was great though.
Another author I like a lot, from what I've read, is Ronald Kelly. Father's Little Helper was a good one. I'm reading Blood Kin by him at the moment. So far, so good. I'm definitely anticipating a depressing ending.
I'm inclined to agree with the British thing as far as Campbell goes. He also comes from the Lovecraft school, which means verbosity is a key word for his writing. I have to be in a certain kind of mood to read him, but he definitely scratches that itch when it comes. I like his sense of subtlety. He kind of reminds me of M. R. James. If you've never read anything by Mr. James I'd definitely suggest "Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad" and to a lesser degree "Casting The Runes" which has a character allegedly based loosely on Aleister Crowley.
Masterton would make great movies too, if they had the necessary budget. They actually made a movie version of The Manitou in the 70's. It was...definitely something, but good isn't quite the word I'd reach for. John Skipp and Craig Spector's stuff would make good movies too, though they'd probably have to tone down on a few things. In particular I'd like to see The Light At The End or The Scream. I wasn't such a big fan of The Bridge, but that's probably because I just don't much care about environmentalism. I also think Ruby Jean Jensen's books would make great movies if they got the right kind of director. I don't think there's really a director for that kind of thing any more though. Maybe Carpenter back in the 80's could have pulled it off, and definitely Craven circa Nightmare on Elm Street. John Shelly would work too, but they'd DEFINITELY have to tone down a lot of the stuff in his books to ever get past the MPAA. Scott Nicholson's latest, They Hunger, would work really well too, especially if they got the same crew as The Descent to work on it.
Oh, another movie I love: Pumpkinhead. The original one. The second one was terrible, and I haven't even bothered with the third. The original was fantastic though. Really had a unique atmosphere.
Have you read rockinghorse? i really liked that and everyone i lent it to said the same, heck some never returned it! grrrr hate that!
I dont get to watch as many horror movies as i'd like to due to time limits i have! The time i have to myself i'd rather read!
I tried John Shirley's Cellars and didnt like it, I have read all Ronald Kellys books ( did you know hes writing again? He just made a website to announce this. If you want the link let me know!) I think I have read the entire Zebra horror line As they came out in my teen years. Loved them! Another horror writer i love is D. A. Fowler and Abigail McDaniels, both creepy and I admit im loove the Dolly Come To Life horror so Abigail McDaniels is a fav.
I also agree light at the end would make a great movie, though i am NOT a vampire fan...I actually can't stand anne rice!!! LOL ( no hate mail please!)
I'm more or less the same way. I loathe most vampire fiction. It's a bunch of namby pamby eurotrash wannabes griping about immortality. I don't know. I'd probably have a hell of a lot of fun being a vampire myself. I certainly wouldn't fret over the morality of feeding, just like I don't right now about eating animals. I do like vampire books wherein the vampires are evil bloodsucking fiends that end up with explosive finales of stakes through hearts. I'm a guy at heart and an action packed finale, when it makes sense, always gets an A+ in my book. Then there was Cain by James Byron Huggins or something along those lines. I think that book pretty much was one long action packed finale. I shed no tears.
As for Anne Rice, well, I think she's a good writer, in the sense that she writes well and tells what she wants to tell. I hate her for completely ruining vampires and giving goth kids another reason to look like pseudo-Kiss members and piss and moan about life. A little piece of me dies every time I see one of those news stories about people that dress up like vampires and have a whole sub-culture going on because then I'm forced to come to terms with the fact that I'm the same species as them. Talk about horror!
I love the dolls come to life thing too. I haven't read nearly enough of those kinds of books though. Loved Annabelle and Baby Dolly by Ruby Jean Jensen.
Don't think I've read anything by D.A. Fowler or Abigail McDaniels yet. I know I have some of their books laying around. I might have Rockinghorse laying around somewhere too, but it'd probably take me a couple of hours to find it. I'm such a pack rat. Have every book I've bought from you still, plus the ones I get from Borders and various other book stores. People think I'm starting a library. My bedroom's about 33% stacks of books, 33% stacks of DVD's and the rest is a motley assemblage of dressers, my TV and my XBOX 360 stuff.
Thats funny! Can you even imagine how many i have here?! like 100,000 books! I would love to just sell 80% of them for a flat rate of 35,000$ interested??? LOL!!!!
I have so so many and cant get through most of them! Try abigal Mcdaniels one is Althea And theres a book by Ellen Jamison called Stone dead which i enjoyed. Its about a woman who finds a doll in an antique shop chained by the arms and legs to a board and well you can figure out the rest! No spoilers here!
Pat graversen also wrote a few good ones....
I've got Stone Dead and Althea somewhere. I know for sure cause I remember the covers.
No luck on the Rockinghorse by Johnstone. I'm reading Jack-In-The-Box right now since I finished Blood Kin last night.
i just remembered a book that really spooked me! Darker than night by Owkl Goingback was really creepy, and how they add at the end how something like the story really happened made it worse! Apparently somewhere in the USA a family suddely found shadow faces appear on their (Kitchen) floor i think it was. No cleaning would remove them and they just stayed for a while until they disappeared. it really was one of the best horrors i have read and Crota by Owl Goingback was also a winner!
Hey, I have recently been completely enjoying Tamara Thorne. She's just trashy enough for a good scare and just smart enough to tickle the old brain too! The creepiest book I've read in years, though, is Superstition by Ambrose. I've told everyone to read this book, and they've all come back satisfied. And, I can't really say why its so creepy. I guess the whole idea of accidentaly creating a waking nightmare is disturbing as all get out. Talking about Saul, I am with horrorlady on that one. His early books were pretty good, but I probably liked them when I was younger because his protagonists were usually children, and I was no older than 11 or 12 when I read them. However, he rewrote the same book over and over and I stop reading him sometime in the late eighties. now, movies:
The Sentinel: Weird, and had that groovy religious vibe that was still resonating after The Exorcist
The Ring: Forget that it has been ripped off like a billion times, the initial viewing was very creepy and Verbinski created such a cohesive feel of evil throughout.
Halloween: Do I gotta say why?
Return of the Living Dead: Smart, funny and definitely scary. Oh, and Linnea Quigley is a goddess
Phantasm: A nightmare on screen. Never fully explains itself, and leaves the viewer going, "whatthe*&%$justhappened?" Also, along with Halloween's theme, has the creepiest music in a horror movie ever.
Angel Heart: Gives my goosebumps every time.
Poltergiest: The best family horror movie ever. Showed it to my three nieces lately and they didn't know what hit 'em. hehehe
The Changeling: Scary stuff with atmoshere to spare. Oldy and overlooked, but loved by most harcore fans
Night of the Living Dead: Classic and still effective.
And, movies that should just go away:
Saw and its retched sequels. If I want moralizing, I'll read the Bible. Lame, insulting, and just badly done.
Hostel: get a plot
The Hills Have Eyes (old and new) See above comments for Hostel
All Phantasms, Nightmare on Elm Streets, and Child's Plays after the originals. The horse is DEAD, stop beating it! (although Chucky does get some kudos for landing the wonderful Jennifer Tilly)
Oh, and as a final thought, since we're talking books, I have been devouring Richard Laymon books for a month now (I'm up to twelve) and when he's good (Island, After Midnight) he's a total hoot. Yeah, they are mostly about horny boys or their fantasies of horny women, but they are super fun. However, when he's bad (Darkness, Tell Us, Into the Fire) he's just dull. But, when one reads "To wake the Dead" one just wants to throw the book across the room and take a bath. And hey, pretty much nothing bothers me, but extended scenes of rape and torture written with a dirty old man's pleasure in mind is just NOT MY BAG.
I was introduced to horror through William W. Johnstone, so of course I tend to be biased about his horror books. William handed me Edgar Allen Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" when I was 11. Then,Dark Shadows became my favorite afternoon show.
My favorite William W. Johnstone horror books are Darkly the Thunder and Rockinghorse.
Movies
Saw Trilogy-- 1st was the best,
but gotta love the contrapitons!!
Silent Hill-- Love the creatures
and how it was set in real life and purgatory.
The Ring-- Great time limit and
cool how the girl came out of the well and then the TV!!
Identity-- Never knew til the end
who did what!!
13 Ghosts-- Loved the ghosts in
the movie!!
28 Days Later-- Gotta love blood
puking/flesh eating zombies!!
Hellraizer-- great sentabites and
the twists and the storyline.
The Grudge-- Noone can get away
from the curse!! Like the storyline!!
Nightmare on Elm Street-- Great claws and burnt body Freddy has!! Love it that he kills people in their dreams!!
Books
Bentley Little-- all of his books.
Douglas Clegg-- Harrow House series. Get a little new insite every book.
Stephen King- It and Cujo.
Dean Koontz- Watcher.
H. P. Lovecraft's short stories books.
John Saul- Creature
In my opinion you are mistaken. Write to me in PM.
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