LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Let's get this out of the way up front- MOULIN ROUGE is brilliant. STRICTLY BALLROOM isn't too bad. Mr. Skeletor and I find common ground in song and dance pictures...go figure.

I'd argue that LTROO is _very_ much a traditional gothic horror film on almost every level- the sweet coming-of-age part of it is what freshens it up quite a lot. And I agree, Barefoot- it's one of the best films of any genre I've seen recently, and I'd definitely call it the best film of 2008, hands down.

Do you have a short list of "best horror movies"?

Jeez...OK, my list is probably surprising because it doesn't have a whole lot of obscure stuff. Most of the great horror pictures are pretty much universally recognized. I like a lot of more "lowbrow", exploitation-ish horror (like 1960s-1970s British Hammer/Amicus stuff, Lucio Fulci, Spanish werewolf movies, etc.) But my picks for "best" horror, in no particular order...

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (because it has to be here)
NOSFERATU (both the '22 Murnau one and the '79 Herzog edition)
BLACK SUNDAY (Bava's best and one of the greatest openings in any movie ever)
THE HAUNTING (simply a masterpiece on every level)
THE BLACK CAT (Lugosi versus Karloff- say no more)
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Delphine Seyrig is _the_ female vampire...or is she?)
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (as beautiful a horror picture as you'll ever see)
ROSEMARY'S BABY (still a total creep out)
THE EXORCIST (horror is rarely this credible as spiritual drama)
BRIDES OF DRACULA (The best of Hammer- TWINS OF EVIL would be my #2)
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (still the highwater mark of that style of horror)
NIGHT OF THE DEMON (amazing Jacques Tourner film, best horror of the 1950s)
VAMPYR (Positively chilling imagery, way ahead of its time (1932)
TOMB OF LIGEIA (Price's best role, Corman's most refined Poe picture)
THE INNOCENTS (if you liked THE OTHERS, you'll love this amazing film)
SUSPIRIA (Easily Argento's best- DEEP RED a close second)
THE SHINING (Kubrick does horror like only Kubrick can do)
DELLAMORE DELLAMORTE (brilliant mix of satire, hardcore gore, and atmosphere)
EYES WITHOUT A FACE (best French horror picture)

I dunno, there's a pile for you to Netflix if you haven't seen them.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Let's get this out of the way up front- MOULIN ROUGE is brilliant. STRICTLY BALLROOM isn't too bad. Mr. Skeletor and I find common ground in song and dance pictures...go figure.

I'd argue that LTROO is _very_ much a traditional gothic horror film on almost every level- the sweet coming-of-age part of it is what freshens it up quite a lot. And I agree, Barefoot- it's one of the best films of any genre I've seen recently, and I'd definitely call it the best film of 2008, hands down.

Do you have a short list of "best horror movies"?

Jeez...OK, my list is probably surprising because it doesn't have a whole lot of obscure stuff. Most of the great horror pictures are pretty much universally recognized. I like a lot of more "lowbrow", exploitation-ish horror (like 1960s-1970s British Hammer/Amicus stuff, Lucio Fulci, Spanish werewolf movies, etc.) But my picks for "best" horror, in no particular order...

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (because it has to be here)
NOSFERATU (both the '22 Murnau one and the '79 Herzog edition)
BLACK SUNDAY (Bava's best and one of the greatest openings in any movie ever)
THE HAUNTING (simply a masterpiece on every level)
THE BLACK CAT (Lugosi versus Karloff- say no more)
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Delphine Seyrig is _the_ female vampire...or is she?)
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (as beautiful a horror picture as you'll ever see)
ROSEMARY'S BABY (still a total creep out)
THE EXORCIST (horror is rarely this credible as spiritual drama)
BRIDES OF DRACULA (The best of Hammer- TWINS OF EVIL would be my #2)
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (still the highwater mark of that style of horror)
NIGHT OF THE DEMON (amazing Jacques Tourner film, best horror of the 1950s)
VAMPYR (Positively chilling imagery, way ahead of its time (1932)
TOMB OF LIGEIA (Price's best role, Corman's most refined Poe picture)
THE INNOCENTS (if you liked THE OTHERS, you'll love this amazing film)
SUSPIRIA (Easily Argento's best- DEEP RED a close second)
THE SHINING (Kubrick does horror like only Kubrick can do)
DELLAMORE DELLAMORTE (brilliant mix of satire, hardcore gore, and atmosphere)
EYES WITHOUT A FACE (best French horror picture)

I dunno, there's a pile for you to Netflix if you haven't seen them.

I think I have seen like one...

Yes, CAT PEOPLE likely belongs on there too...I'm inclined to put all of the Val Lewton pictures because I think they're about as classy, sophisticated, and mature as horror films have ever been. CAT PEOPLE is significant because it practically created the concept of using tension, editing, and sound to make the audience jump- the "bus".

THE HOWLING, that's another one that could go on there. And THE CHANGELING.

Better not forget The Changeling. That is easily my favorite horror movie. Flawless from beginning to end, and so many memorable scenes.

Also, the first half of Evil Dead 2--when Ash is alone in the cabin. It lapses fully into odd comedy as the movie progresses....but there is a really strong WTF quality in that first half that I don't think any movie has equaled. It is so obvious that the demons are just screwing with him.

And as to Val Lewton, two movies to track down are Curse of the Cat People, and the amazing The Seventh Victim. The Seventh Victim might actually be my favorite of the RKO pictures (definitely over Cat People). I was lucky enough to be in a film class at the time that one of the two film professors at Tech was writing a book on Val Lewton. So he did a class JUST on his films, which I...um....audited....attended.


As to Let the Right One In....After sleeping on it, I think a remake might actually be a good thing. The editing is actually really clumsy, and there are a couple of spots where the director just drops or trims back a scene. (Read the IMDB FAQ. For once, it is pretty good.)

It does have a gloriously 70's classic style horror movie pacing, and for once resembles a horror movie.

Awesome thread! (adding lots to my Netflix queue!)

The problem with a remake though is that it's likely going to wind up being some kind of sensationalist teenager thing. The kids in it are 12 ("I've been 12 for a long time" is one of the best vampire lines ever). They're not fucking TWILIGHT characters, which is likely what will happen.

It really reminds me a lot of MARTIN...it's better than MARTIN though.

EVIL DEAD...in the 80s and through the 90s, they were incredible...but it's become one of those overquoted, over-referenced things (like Monty Python) that I just cringe whenever I see any of them. They're greats, no doubt, but at this point I'll likely never watch them again.

On the Lewton films, that's one of the best box sets you can possibly buy, every film in it is great. THE SEVENTH VICTIM is very much a precusor to ROSEMARY'S BABY and it was really one of the first horror films to have a really metropolitan, urbane setting. It's really great. ISLE OF THE DEAD is one of the more low key films in the set but it has a incredible atmosphere and sense of dread. BEDLAM is one of Karloff's best roles, and LEOPARD MAN is worth watching if only for one of the most imitated horror moments out there (the blood running under the door- it was even in WATCHMEN).

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is my pick for the best of them though...it's so beautiful, it has a strong literary quality and some amazing visuals.

I hope I don't get slammed for this, but An American Werewolf in London for me is better than The Howling. I think both films kick all sorts of ass and proudly display them both, but London beats out the Howling.

Evil Dead trilogy suffers from overexposure. I used to own them all on VHS, but I haven't bothered updating the collection to DVD. It's tiresome to see Evil Dead 2 with what feels like 100 different releases.

It really feels like people forgot how to make a good vampire movie. Vampires now feel like over-sexed and over-dramatized undead cast members on Melrose Place.

On a slightly related topic, I had a friend recommend a book called Shock Festival. It's a mockumentary about sleazy b-movies that never existed.

That's one thing that I liked a lot about LTROO- it wasn't about the Melrose Place vampires. It was about children. And more than that, it was about a kid that is human but is very much the melancholy, sympathetic, and potentially dangerous outcast you usually see in gothic horror. And he's not even the vampire.

AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON is a pretty great one, actually...I think it's probably a better movie than THE HOWLING all told. Very similar pictures though, in a lot of ways. 1981 was like werewolf year.

If you're into werewolves, the Spanish stuff is a blast...WEREWOLF SHADOW (best title ever!) and CURSE OF THE DEVIL are great in that 1970s, sleazebucket, Spanish horror way. Paul Naschy!

American Werewolf in London--remember seeing that on HBO at friends house in '82--that shower scene had the teenagers going. Loved that movie.

House: OK--for comedy/horror---not a great film by any means...but it was surprisingly fun movie when I saw it in the theaters (so my memory may be playing tricks on me here).

HOUSE...ha ha! I saw that in the theater too. William Katt...whatever happened to that guy.

HOUSE kind of brings up a good point about horror. It's a genre where totally lowbrow trash can be almost as good- even if by different parameters- as the really high end, serious pictures. Like the Fulci pictures, they're total garbage on pretty much every level...but I'll be damned if HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY or CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD aren't great horror pictures. It's always been like that too, if you look at some of the cheapo, crap horror movies of the 1930s-1940s it's there too. HOUSE OF DRACULA- complete crap, but god I love it.

I'm actually pretty forgiving of horror, moreso than any other genre...yet I still almost instinctively rule out almost anything released under that genre tag today.

I love THE GATE. It's a terrible movie. Really freaking awful, really. I'd be ashamed to show it to a room full of fellow Val Lewton fans. But I love it. I remember going into Turtle's after I saw it to see if Sacrifyx was a real band.

Michael Barnes wrote:

AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON is a pretty great one, actually...I think it's probably a better movie than THE HOWLING all told. Very similar pictures though, in a lot of ways. 1981 was like werewolf year.

Don't forget WOLFEN in there too somewhere. With Albert Finney as I recall. Reagan's election must have subconsciously spurred all this wolf-in-sheep's clothing media.

I like HOUSE very much. It's not all-time horror or anything, but that was a well done film. Look at that cast: The Greatest American Hero, Norm, and Bull!

THE SHINING was one I should have mentioned. The book is scary as hell, and the film just follows right along. That's a skin-crawler right there. Here's the awesome trailer --if the music sounds familiar, it's because 2012's teaser stole it. Of course, it's also the Feel Good Movie Of The Year .

THE SHINING is really kind of underrated as a genre film. I think it's one of the best horror pictures ever made, and it would be on the shortlist for the top prize no doubt. There is no movie that ever creeped me out more as a kid, and now understanding the subtleties and subtexts makes it even scarier. The book is fine, but I think that the adaptation teases out some much larger, more culturally resonant meaning out of the situation. There's an amazing juxtaposition of very private, very interior horror with a more macrocosmic sense that the story is much larger in scope, occupying much more time and space than what is on screen. And it's damn great horror.

"White man's burden, Lloyd".

Having read The Shining and seen the movie, Kubrick's film outclasses the book. Barnes sort of touched on this in his Watchmen thread, but sometimes you can make an adaptation that's far better than the source material.

Note: I don't mean to imply that Barnes thinks the Watchmen movie is better than the book.

Ken and I had a conversation regarding just that idea. You might be hard pressed to find anyone that says the book The Godfather is better than the film adaptation. With The Shining, that also appears to be the case.

Since I haven't seen or read Let the Right One In, I can't comment on either. But, I do think it's interesting that sometimes the movie can be better than the source material.