HDC Presents: 100 Years of Horror

[Straker]

Originally Posted by hammerfan

I've look on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Movies Unlimited, can't find this title.

I just had a look too, looks like this was never released as a DvD, two of the three episodes are available to watch on youtube, link for one of those is in my previous post.... That said, the second episode has been removed for copyright reasons and that one focused on hammer horror and I know you would've loved it! Frustrating!

[hammerfan]

Thank you! I'll have to watch it when I'm home. I'm at work right now.

[metternich1815]

I am fine with the Honorable Mentions as well.

[neverending]

Originally Posted by Straker

Mark Gattis (The League of Gentlemen) made a quality horror doc, A History of Horror which is worth consideration. Filled with interviews and insights from horror legends and presented by someone with a genuine passion for the genre, well worth watching.

I haven't really seen that many horror docs though to be honest, so I haven't got much input to add, but I would like to see something special effects orientated in the list. Guys like Harryhausen, Bottin, Baker, Savini have really given a lot to the genre and this seems like a good opportunity to acknowledge their contribution, if possible. Something like;

The Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh

Not a pure horror doc, but focuses on special effects, contains a lot of horror legends, well worth watching.

My Harryhausen recommendation doesn't fit that bill?

[Straker]

Originally Posted by neverending

My Harryhausen recommendation doesn't fit that bill?

Haven't seen it, but yes I definitely think that fits the bill.... I guess I was hoping for something that covered the history of sfx rather than just Harryhausen. That said, Harryhausen is an absolute legend and I'd be more than happy to have him represent the importance of special effects in horror.

[Giganticface]

Great idea, V! A list of horror documentaries could be really valuable to a visitor stumbling upon our list. Maybe 5 is not enough, and at you'd consider reducing the number of Special Recs in favor of a handful more documentaries that you deem worthy.

I haven't seen many of the films mentioned, but now I'm excited to go watch them. Nightmares in Red, White and Blue is on Netflix streaming -- score! I've seen half of 100 Years of Horror, which was great. (That reminds me, I need to finish it.) I loved learning about the visionary Lon Chaney, who did his own makeup, the diverging careers and personalities of Bela vs. Boris, the Hammer explosion... Really interesting and informative.

As a counterpoint to all the straight horror documentaries, one film that was influential in my horror vocabulary was American Grindhouse (2010). While 100 Years of Horror covers the true legends, this film covers the branch of cinema that will never win an Academy Award, but had a stark influence on the horror genre (among others), including Freaks (1932), Maniac (1934), Blood Feast, and the like. It also puts legit classics like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and Psycho in context as films that were subversive and disturbing for their time. I might have first learned about the cannibal subgenre from this film, but I could be misremembering. It definitely includes stuff like Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and other shlocky stuff. However, more important than the actual films mentioned, it focuses on our collective lust to see shocking stuff, as well as the once-bustling grindhouse theater culture in which these films could be viewed. Anyway, just throwing it out there for variety. As others have mentioned regarding other documentaries, this one is not purely horror, but covers the underground that I believe is important to the genre.

Also, I'm good with the six HMs.

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by neverending

CORMAN
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185371/

AIP
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280780/

HARRYHAUSEN
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839590/

Problem with the Corman doc is that it doesn't focus specifically on horror.

Excellent recs, though I am afraid we might have to skip the Corman doc for the reason above.

Originally Posted by Kandarian Demon

I would like to suggest this very well done documentary:
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy.

I don't want to focus on documentaries of specific films, hence didn't name some others - the Friday the 13th one, Omen Legacy, Terror in the Aisles, etc.

Looking specifically for documentaries which broadly covers most of our genre's films, it's history and it's impact on modern society and culture.

Originally Posted by metternich1815

Two other horror movie documentaries I watch alot are Monster Mania (narrated by Jack Palance) and The Red, White, and Blue one (hosted by Lance Henrikson). I have seen the Monster Mania one dozens of times.

Originally Posted by hammerfan

Oh yeah, the Red, White, and Blue documentary is excellent!

EDIT: The full title is "Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue"

Nice. I haven't seen it yet so I'll have a look into that one. Thanks for the heads up!

Originally Posted by Straker

Mark Gattis (The League of Gentlemen) made a quality horror doc, A History of Horror which is worth consideration. Filled with interviews and insights from horror legends and presented by someone with a genuine passion for the genre, well worth watching.

I haven't really seen that many horror docs though to be honest, so I haven't got much input to add, but I would like to see something special effects orientated in the list. Guys like Harryhausen, Bottin, Baker, Savini have really given a lot to the genre and this seems like a good opportunity to acknowledge their contribution, if possible. Something like;

The Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh

Not a pure horror doc, but focuses on special effects, contains a lot of horror legends, well worth watching.

Nice. And thank you for the youtube link as well!

Originally Posted by Straker

Haven't seen it, but yes I definitely think that fits the bill.... I guess I was hoping for something that covered the history of sfx rather than just Harryhausen. That said, Harryhausen is an absolute legend and I'd be more than happy to have him represent the importance of special effects in horror.

Same here. I am sure the Harryhausen doc would have covered his sci-fi career tool, but he did some quality work in giant monster films and fantasy films bordering on horror. We can include the doc based on him, no problem.

Originally Posted by Giganticface

Great idea, V! A list of horror documentaries could be really valuable to a visitor stumbling upon our list. Maybe 5 is not enough, and at you'd consider reducing the number of Special Recs in favor of a handful more documentaries that you deem worthy.

I haven't seen many of the films mentioned, but now I'm excited to go watch them. Nightmares in Red, White and Blue is on Netflix streaming -- score! I've seen half of 100 Years of Horror, which was great. (That reminds me, I need to finish it.) I loved learning about the visionary Lon Chaney, who did his own makeup, the diverging careers and personalities of Bela vs. Boris, the Hammer explosion... Really interesting and informative.

As a counterpoint to all the straight horror documentaries, one film that was influential in my horror vocabulary was American Grindhouse (2010). While 100 Years of Horror covers the true legends, this film covers the branch of cinema that will never win an Academy Award, but had a stark influence on the horror genre (among others), including Freaks (1932), Maniac (1934), Blood Feast, and the like. It also puts legit classics like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and Psycho in context as films that were subversive and disturbing for their time. I might have first learned about the cannibal subgenre from this film, but I could be misremembering. It definitely includes stuff like Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and other shlocky stuff. However, more important than the actual films mentioned, it focuses on our collective lust to see shocking stuff, as well as the once-bustling grindhouse theater culture in which these films could be viewed. Anyway, just throwing it out there for variety. As others have mentioned regarding other documentaries, this one is not purely horror, but covers the underground that I believe is important to the genre.

Thanks! Gee whiz how could I forget American Grindhouse?! Quality stuff. Thanks for reminding me.


Yes, like Giganticface suggested, with so many good recommendations coming through, I am tempted to increase the number of documentary recommendations to TEN. The "Specially Recommended" section will be further pruned to 35 films, instead of 40.

Thanks, folks. We seal off the 2000s here, now that the majority don't seem to have any problems with the final SIX Honorable Mentions.

The final list of documentaries will be posted tomorrow by me, and we will wind up this project. If you can think of some other good recs for the documentaries, feel free to post ahead.

Expect the sticky up by Sunday, September 1st. I hope all fans of horror (and beyond) of our forum and the outside world benefit by it when the holiday season comes through in a month's time.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

(I/Sculpt edited down post) We have arrived at 255 selections - 200 of the best films in horror history + 55 Honorable Mentions.

Add 40 more to those, which will be specially selected by me under the Special Recs section.

That makes it 295 films.

This will be our last and final phase of the project, where we finalise FIVE documentaries which display the history of horror films and serve as a guide to the common man about the genre.

I have a few in mind...

Universal Horror (1998)
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994)
100 Years of Horror (1996)
The American Nightmare (2000)
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

If majority are in favor, we can finalise these 5 above for that small section and call it a day for this project. If you have a better recommendation than the ones above, please feel free to post them.

V, can you tell us a little more about the Special Recommendations section? ...what it's for, why you're doing it, what purpose it serves, how you're picking films, that sort of thing?

(I went back to the first post of the thread to see if there was more info about it at the beginning, but I wasn't able to find any info on Spec Recs.)

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

V, can you tell us a little more about the Special Recommendations section? ...what it's for, why you're doing it, what purpose it serves, how you're picking films, that sort of thing?

I am doing it because of you folks. It was not a part of my initial plan.

http://www.horror.com/forum/showthre...end#post954395

Page 91, post 904.

[Sculpt]

Universal Horror (1998)
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994)
100 Years of Horror (1996)
The American Nightmare (2000)
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

Looks like a good list to me. Other docs that are very broad on horror film are:

The American Nightmare (2000) - An examination into the nature of 1960's-70's horror films, the involved artists, and how they reflected contemporary society.

Terror in the Aisles (1984) - A compilation of trailers and scenes from science fiction, crime drama and horror films of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. - (Saw this long ago and enjoyed it. As you can see includes 'crime drama', though I don't recall that. Probably is inferior to a few of the others, & maybe redundant, but I it's one I saw that I know was good. Not recommending this be included.)

(already mentioned) Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009) - An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.


If horror doc was increased, we might consider picking a section of horror docs using the same criteria as the rest of '100 Years', which is, those docs that are excellent and notable, which could be about any horror subject, rather than restricting to docs about horror films. These might include docs like:

American Movie (1999) - (Excellent film!) Documentary about an aspiring filmmaker's attempts to finance his dream project by finally completing the low-budget horror film he abandoned years before.

The Fear of God: 25 Years of 'The Exorcist' (1998) The Exorcist became a cultural phenomenon upon its release. This making-of documentary tells the story of its creation and describes how audiences reacted to it. Interviews with cast and crew are shown.

The Aswang Phenomenon (2011) - What would happen if a country of 97 million people were taught at a young age that the boogie man was real. In the Philippines for the last 400 years, the 'aswang' has been used as propoganda and social control by Spanish Colonizers, the Catholic Church, the Philippine Administration, and even the CIA.

Halloween: 25 Years of Terror (2006) - A documentary that follows the evolution of the 'Halloween' movies over the past twenty-five years

A Night at the Movies: The Horrors of Stephen King (2011) - Author Stephen King discusses the various types of horror films and why they are so popular with moviegoers.