Horror Marathon Ideas

[joshaube]

So, due to school being cancelled this Friday and Monday, I have an extra long weekend. Extra time translates into... a horror marathon!

Now, I'm not an expert in the genre, nor do I know anyone WITH TASTE to reccomend me films (my friends hate CRASH, love DOOM - what does THAT tell you?) so I was wondering if anyone could suggest me a few films to watch.

I'm looking for anything good, whatever the era. Anything you might think I'd enjoy (which is pretty much anything half-decent).

A big thing for me is atmosphere. Films with that dark, gritty setting, silence, edge-of-your-seat tension. Stuff like that.

The Blair Witch, Wolf Creek, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses are all examples of films I liked due to this reason.

I like smart movies, psychological movies. Movies that make you think, and have multiple twists. Movies that jerk you around and leave you with your mouth hanging open. I can say I am a big fan of SAW & SAW II, take that how you will. Not saying it's smart, but it fills the other category.

What I hate mainly is slashers. A film with an "icon" that kills a person here, a person there, and another person a little ways over there. One character lives, escapes, and the killer survives. I cannot express how much this bores me to death. I turn most of them off. Friday the 13th just got pointless halfway through the series.

I'm planning to rent two or three, if I don't already have them in my "unwatched" collection. So reccomend away. And thanks. :)



Oh, and I haven't seen a LOT of the popular ones. The Omen, original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (*) ... etc :(

* Order it off ebay, and low and behold I ended up getting a burnt DVD-R with coppy video, blockage going on left right and center, and fuzzed audio. It was unwatchable to all degrees.

PS - I'm also wondering if kairo / Pulse is availible on DVD. Really want to see it.

[alkytrio666]

Originally posted by joshaube
PS - I'm also wondering if kairo / Pulse is availible on DVD. Really want to see it.

Yes it is.

Try:

Dead Birds, Creepshow, The Devil's Rejects, Freaks, Eraserhead, The Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead.

[The_Return]

Try this thread...I had alot of fun with it, but Im kind of running out of ideas.


http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13310

[The Flayed One]

Sounds like you'd really enjoy Session 9.

[filmmaker2]

I like the ranty sort of quality of the original post in this thread. It's early in the morning here, and I like a good rant with my breakfast.

I think zombie movies make a great marathon--but I think they must be carefully chosen. And preferably by experts who have seen all zombie movies or most of them, so that the marathon is sort of a fine blended cocktail of many subtle flavors.

[filmmaker2]

Oh yeah AND...

If you're having a generic horror fest and need to throw in a couple of things for spooky laughs, you could do no better IMO than "Mad Monster Party" (1967) and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948).

"Meet Frankenstein" is especially clever because it manages to balance its great comedy with an effectively creepy storyline. It runs circles around most horror comedies made since.

[urgeok]

Originally posted by filmmaker2
and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948).

"


one of my all time faves ..

it has my favorite movie line :

'you dont understand, when the moon is full i turn into a wolf !"

"yeah, you and a million other guys"

[filmmaker2]

And it's got that Lenore Aubert...

meow wow!

[alkytrio666]

Originally posted by urgeok
one of my all time faves ..

it has my favorite movie line :

'you dont understand, when the moon is full i turn into a wolf !"

"yeah, you and a million other guys"

Haha, great line. I first heard that on the Abbott and Costello Show (radio) with Lon Chaney Jr. as the guest star.

[joshaube]

You pretty muched nailed my favourites right on the head with those suggestions.
Loved Creepshow, The Devil's Rejects, The Evil Dead and Night of the Living Dead.
I'll be trusting your suggests in the future. :)

Isn't Freaks a shockumentary? The 1930's one?
I heard Dead Birds was amazing, too. Will ask my friend for that DVD, since she just bought it last week. I had watched part of Eraserhead with a friend, and found it quite bizzare. A very silent film, with little dialogue.

The_Return, your HOHH and TCM suggestions seem like a good idea too, I've seen the others you have suggested. :)

Thanks for the ideas! :)

[SKOOFx]

American Psycho
Devils Rejects
Creepshow 1&2
Dawn Of The Dead 2004 (yes i said it!)
Any Hellraiser

[joshaube]

Have seen all of those, except Creepshow 2 which I can't seem to find. Picked up part one for 0.99$ in a Walmart bin. I've seen Hellraiser 1 & 2, my 3rd DVD quit on me, and I haven't bothered with any of the other parts yet.

[The_Return]

Originally posted by joshaube
Have seen all of those, except Creepshow 2 which I can't seem to find. Picked up part one for 0.99$ in a Walmart bin. I've seen Hellraiser 1 & 2, my 3rd DVD quit on me, and I haven't bothered with any of the other parts yet.

Creepshow 2 is worth seeing IMO, but it's nowhere near as good as the first.

[Cyndiana]

It's not much of a marathon, but my mom (who loves blood, guts and gore as much as I do) and I had a mini-marathon of Hostel and High Tension. Both movies impressed the hell out of us, especially the effects in both. I hope that helps you out.

[alkytrio666]

High Tension was good. I'd skip Hostel.


Back to the three you (joshaube) showed some interest for-

*Eraserhead- is very bizzarre, but definately worth a viewing. It should be the first in your marathon, so you can be alert when watching it.

*Dead Birds- SO much fun. Great scare flick, it'll make you jump, GREAT to watch with friends.

*Freaks- Nope, not a shockumentary. This was an actual horror fiction film directed by Tod Browning (Dracula ('31)). Very cool film. Extremely effective and creepy.

[joshaube]

I've seen Hostel, thought it was so-so. Not at all what it was hyped up to be. It was way tame compared to what they made it out to be. I did like the general story in the second half, though. The first was shit, utter shit. Eli Roth might want to jerk off BEFORE writing a script, next time. It was certainly a move away from Cabin Fever, which is more my type of movie.

I loved High Tension, enough so that I look past all the script errors, of course. I've seen it a few times, in both languages. Always a great choice. Since that time I've been convincing friends to watch it, and most of them have. Even my parents found it quite good. Alex is definately an upcoming director in the genre.

---

Eraserhead is more of a character study, isn't it? Psychological, more then anything. That's what I've been assuming, anyways. I feel it would be more along the lines of a standalone watch, rather then a marathon, but it certainly does sound interesting, and I've been hearing a lot of praise for it. Actually, I haven't heard anything negative.

Dead Birds DVD is in my backpack right now. Friend brought it for me this morning, for the weekend. Plan on watching it tonight, if not tomorrow. I'm going to try and organize the films from mild ~ atmospheric fear. Looks rather good, but not sure what to think of the whole western theme, heh.

Freaks seems like an interesting watch, definately glad to see it was made with care and compassion. I haven't seen much of what the director has done, actually - any of it. :( I should get a hold of Dracula, I'm quite certain my vampire-obsessed friend has a copy. As for Freaks, is it availible anywhere? It seems like a rare type of film, and I'm certain it won't be availible for rent.

[filmmaker2]

Originally posted by joshaube
I should get a hold of Dracula.

Trust me...Dracula is a real son of a bitch to get hold of....he never returns calls, he doesn't read his emails. It's not worth the effort I tell you.

[The_Return]

Originally posted by filmmaker2
Trust me...Dracula is a real son of a bitch to get hold of....he never returns calls, he doesn't read his emails. It's not worth the effort I tell you.

I guess his secretary sucks.

Har har har:p

[alkytrio666]

Originally posted by joshaube
Freaks seems like an interesting watch, definately glad to see it was made with care and compassion. I haven't seen much of what the director has done, actually - any of it. :( I should get a hold of Dracula, I'm quite certain my vampire-obsessed friend has a copy. As for Freaks, is it availible anywhere? It seems like a rare type of film, and I'm certain it won't be availible for rent.

Oh, yah, it's on wide-release DVD format through Warner Brothers.

You could pick up a copy at a Best Buy/Circuit City for around $15.

You could probably find it at rental stores.

[joshaube]

I couldn't find Freaks, unfourtunately... but I did pick up a few others. The "marathon" continues. Which films out of this list are worth the watch?

Mr. Hell
Basic Instinct
Evil Dead 2 (rewatch)
Return of the Living Dead
The Toybox
Venom

[alkytrio666]

Originally posted by joshaube
I couldn't find Freaks, unfourtunately... but I did pick up a few others. The "marathon" continues. Which films out of this list are worth the watch?

Mr. Hell
Basic Instinct
Evil Dead 2 (rewatch)
Return of the Living Dead
The Toybox
Venom

Evil Dead 2 is supreme.

Return of the Living Dead is absolutely excellent- both as a splatter-zombie fest and as a fun horror-comedy.

[wvhorrorfan]

the birds
psycho
jacobs ladder