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Video Terror

C

cardinaluk

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
67
Here's my problem:
I think I've seen every piece of Horror/Thriller/Psychological/Supernatural Thriller media and I'm desperate for more.

Think of mainstream Hollywood TV/Film Horror - I've seen it.
Think of slightly obscure TV/Film Horror - I've seen it.
Think of very obscure TV/Film Horror - I've probably seen it.

My main interests are 1960s to present TV horror (particulary 1970s British).
I especially liked the A Ghost Story for Christmas series of which I own ALL of them including the ones the BBC have deleted!

A great sample of my interest is Stigma (1977) A Ghost Story for Christmas which is available on YouTube. It has such an amazing atmosphere about it.

I don't like gore horror but I found a French gore Horror called L'Interior or Inside (2007) which is a disturbing but very clever psychological/ supernatural film. Let me warn you about this film, its a tad nasty.

Please list a few films or TV shows that you have found incredibly creepy and scary. Oh and please don't list The Owl Service because I thought that was awful!
 
Have you tried Pete Walker's 1970s horrors? Very British, very creepy, very nasty. You can get a nice DVD box set of his stuff (or you used to be able to).
 
Much appreciated response.
I have seen a lot of P.W's films. I do enjoy some scenes from the Hammer-like genre but all in all I'm not a fan. Its all a bit too pantomimey!

No, my interest lies in simple stories like "A Woman Sobbing" from the Dead of Night series or "During Barty's Party" from the Beasts series or even "Royal Jelly" from Tales of the Unexpected.

Films like The Shining, The Haunting (1963) and even Paranormal Activity tend to stop me sleeping well.
 
I think if you've got to the stage where you know who Pete Walker is, then it's time to start on the foreign language movies, although a lot of the crazier stuff might make you laugh more than scare you.
 
Stupidly obvious suggestion this but have you seen the 70's Australian films, not so much the crap like 'Turkey Shoot', which was the 80's, I'm more thinking of things like the original 'Long Weekend'.
 
Seen it! But that's the line that I'm running - hoping to catch something that I've not seen.

I've found youtube to be the best source - simply typing a woman sobbing into the search and sifting through the related films on the right is great.

Here is one I'm eager to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn3xYhHM ... ure=relmfu

The PlayHouse series.....not entirely sure they are any good?
 
How about Lucio Fulci ,Dario Argento and the other italian horror meisters? Also you've got French horror from Jean Rollin?
 
If you're not already familiar with it I'd recommend this website.

http://www.coldfusionvideo.com/

If you use the search by category thing you may well find some ideas, it's by no means comprehensive but it spans the last 50 years or so.

I like this website and used to spend a lot of time reading it. I was especially impressed that he'd reviewed 'Shock Waves', the 1977 hammer film. About which he says;

Shock Waves, which I had heard touted as the best underwater Nazi zombie movie over made. (Granted, I can only think of one other entry in the genre off the top of my head, but it certainly seems a fertile topic.)
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Personally, and although I'm no fan of films about either zombies or nazis, I can think of three.

Speaking of youtube I managed top find two films I'd been looking for for years there the other day, Sasquatch (1977) and The Abominable Snowmen (1957). Haven't watched them yet though because I've got to do it all on a mobile, which would probably spoil them.
 
oldrover said:
Stupidly obvious suggestion this but have you seen the 70's Australian films, not so much the crap like 'Turkey Shoot', which was the 80's, I'm more thinking of things like the original 'Long Weekend'.
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Other Aussie horrors worth a look might be Next of Kin, Road Games, Patrick and Thirst. Patrick got its own frankly nutzoid "sequel" from the Italians. And Long Weekend has a remake.
 
The remake of Long Weekend lost all of the point and atmosphere of the original.
 
oldrover said:
I like this website and used to spend a lot of time reading it. I was especially impressed that he'd reviewed 'Shock Waves', the 1977 hammer film. About which he says;

Shock Waves, which I had heard touted as the best underwater Nazi zombie movie over made. (Granted, I can only think of one other entry in the genre off the top of my head, but it certainly seems a fertile topic.)
Click to expand...
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Shockwaves isn't a hammer movie but it is an undiscovered gem and does star Peter Cushing and David Carradine. One of those movies that I'd wanted to watch for years and feared would disappoint but when I watched it, (apart from the inherent shiteness of the denouement) I really enjoyed it. Also I'd agree with the quote above, it is much better than the other underwater Nazi zombie movie 'Zombie Lake' which is a turgid Jean Rollin flick.

Zombie Nazi movies are like their uniformed rotten villains they just keep coming back, just a few years ago we had two, Dead Snow and Outpost, both worth a watch (I'm loath to include The Bunker as that was more wehrmacht versus ghosts).
 
You surprise me there I always thought Shock Waves was a Hammer film. I haven't seen it since 1982.

I didn't like Outpost or Dead Snow, but for some reason I really liked The Bunker.

On the subject of underwater nazi zombie pictures, I agree Zombie Lake went off after a few minutes, but there is a third. Oasis of the Zombies, although it's set in the desert they are/were nazis they are zombies and they do spend an appreciable amount of time under water. Predictably though it's a load of shite, so I can easily understand why the chap on the site overlooked it.
 
The original Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TpWSNT5QhE

Dan Curtis' The Norliss Tapes, Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night, and the tv pilot for Dead Of Night: A Darkness At Blaisedon

Eyes of Fire, a 1983 horror flick set in America around 1800.
 
I daresay you've already seen Phantasm, but if you've never got round to watching the underrated sequels, they're well worth a watch. They retain the creepy dreamlike atmosphere of the original, but add rather more action and a dash of comedy. (To be fair, Phantasm 3 verges on silliness, but the final film gets firmly back on track. )

As for films that have really creeped me out, a couple come to mind, although they'd doubtless seem very lightweight to gore fans.

1) The Mothman Prophecies
Now I happen to find Mothman peculiarly terrifying anyway, and a lot of people just found the film boring, but personally I found it very atmospheric. It's also one of the few horror films that are truly Fortean - that's to say it doesn't wrap everything up neatly at the end and you're never quite sure if what's happening has any existence outside the paranoid minds of the protagonists

2) Whatever happened to Baby Jane
I still rate this as the most disturbing film I've ever seen - I don't think the likes of Hostel or Saw 23 or whatever have anything quite as - well, just plain wrong - as the image of Joan Crawford bound and gagged on a bed, or laying dying on a crowded sunny beach while a giggling Bette Davis eats icecream and dances.
 
Zombie Lake is worth a look because there's naked ladies in it, as with most Rollin films, and if that doesn't float your boat (on the zombie lake) one of the Nazi zombies overacts hilariously. He obviously thought, right, here's my chance at Oscar glory, or at the very least a Cesar.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is wonderfully grotesque and a must-see. Also worth a look are the horrors and thrillers Davis and Crawford appeared in to cash in on their revived careers, The Nanny, Strait-Jacket, Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte, er - Trog (?!), and so on. Not just those ladies either, plenty of old time movie stars gave them a go, I've heard Gloria Grahame's turn in Blood and Lace is well worth a look, though it's managed to elude me.
 
gncxx said:
Zombie Lake is worth a look because there's naked ladies in it, as with most Rollin films, and if that doesn't float your boat (on the zombie lake) one of the Nazi zombies overacts hilariously. He obviously thought, right, here's my chance at Oscar glory, or at the very least a Cesar.
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Apparently Jess Franco was asked to direct Zombie Lake, he didn't like the script (probably too many words and too little S&M), however he did go on to direct Zombie Nazis in Oasis of the Dead.

Actually Jess Franco there's a name to conjure by. I have a box set of his and when I'm feeling rested and mentally very strong I'll even attempt to watch a couple. It's a tough job, I woke up screaming for months after the shiny turd in a jewel case that was 'Jess Franco's Jack the Ripper' starring Klaus Kinski. The fact that Franco managed to get decent actors like Kinski and Christopher Lee indicates that both of them either a) see some spark of genius in his work that everyone else doesn't or b) have such crippling mortgages that any film work is preferable to no film work or possibly c) took part in some unspeakable act or acts either seperately or together that Franco filmed and thus gives him the leverage.
 
Heckler20 said:
Actually Jess Franco there's a name to conjure by. I have a box set of his and when I'm feeling rested and mentally very strong I'll even attempt to watch a couple. It's a tough job, I woke up screaming for months after the shiny turd in a jewel case that was 'Jess Franco's Jack the Ripper' starring Klaus Kinski. The fact that Franco managed to get decent actors like Kinski and Christopher Lee indicates that both of them either a) see some spark of genius in his work that everyone else doesn't or b) have such crippling mortgages that any film work is preferable to no film work or possibly c) took part in some unspeakable act or acts either seperately or together that Franco filmed and thus gives him the leverage.
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Lee and Kinski were also in Franco's quite faithful Dracula adaptation - and of course don't share any scenes together. Brilliant. I think Franco's like Roger Corman in that you have to see a lot of his work to appreciate his style, however unlike Corman it's an uphill struggle for most people and not worth that effort. But he does have his fans (or apologists, if you prefer).
 
I remember Roman Polanski's 'The Tenant' as being splendidly creepy but I wouldn't read up on it as you'll get a spolier.
 
and the tv pilot for Dead Of Night: A Darkness At Blaisedon
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If you can find a trace of that on the internet I'd be dead happy.

I loved the Dead of Night TV series.
 
It mentions more episodes on line further down in the commentary part though.
 
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