I think you're mixing up Twelve Angry Men with And Then There Were None.

How would you consider the Saw movies "intelligent horror"?

Memento. Not directly horror per say... But the loss of memory and becoming paranoid because people abuse you is one of the most frightening concepts.

This finally got a release over here. Very cool film had me laughing my ass off in a couple of bits.

A bunch of flicks I was gonna say have already been mentioned but I'd like to add Bug to the list.

Also you gotta check out Dead & Buried.

Session 9

Natural Born Killers (though it's debatable to call this one "horror")

American Psycho

Angel Heart

Devil's Rejects

...and I have to echo the mentions of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Brilliant movie.

Interview With The Vampire ...

I liked Anne Rice's screenplay, I thought it was very smart, crisp, thinky.

Thank you!
 

Great to know I am among some great horror and film fans in general!

Intelligent horror to me just means a great story. It's true that Romero is a GREAT director/writer. I remember being blown away seeing Dawn of The Dead when it first came out at the theater. You're never really "ready" for that shotgun blast or that tasty shoulder bite but there they are in your face nonetheless. Thing is, I am getting tired of directors relying on gore more than the story line. Romero never really did that at all, but I think a lot of the copy cats have.

I completely, totally and unequivocally agree about Cronenberg. That man is a genius and he is in a class by himself. Incidentally, I totally agree with all the recommendations here. Killer. I have seen them all including the obscuro titles. My brother is constantly pushing those &*$$#@@!!!! French & Italian films on me. I am big fan of some of the Spanish/Mexican/Russian/French efforts and directors. Mansion of Madness is such a masterpiece.

The Mist was amazing and almost deserves total merit based on the viewer's emotional manipulation that the director achieves in and of itself. Brilliant!

Another master of manipulation is Tashiki Miike. One will surely feel brutalized by this man's skillful viewer torture.

Tanks everyone for your responses. You rule!

George Romero has always been unwavering in that regard. He's one of those guys who has brought real class to the genre, I feel.

You just said my favorite M-word...

I honestly believe that Miike is a master of "intelligent horror," though not necessarily in the realm of "story" or "plot," in fact he goes out of his way to deconstruct stereotypical concepts of story and plot and instead focuses on character. I think that Ichi: The Killer is an excellent example of this; Miike takes the popular Yakuzza construct but completely makes it his own and turns it into a deconstruction of the weaknesses and codependencies that are inherent in Man.

I started Miike thread in the JA horror section - You should check it out when you get a chance.

...

One genre that we haven't touched upon in this thread that I honestly consider "intelligent" horror is the homage/parody genre. I would name the following as examples:

• Evil Dead II - Raimi creates this film as not only an homage to the slasher/haunted house genre but as a parody of his original film. What makes this movie intelligent is that it works well not only as homage to the haunted house (in the splatter punk genre), but it also works well as a haunted house film. There are some good creepy moments, when you're not grinning with Ash.
• Shaun of the Dead - It's obvious that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have done their zombie homework. You see homage in lines such as, "WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU, BARBARA!" (an obvious nod to Romero's Night of the Living Dead's, "They're coming to get you, Barbara!") as well as parody of the genre. But at the same time, this is a true zombie film with some fairly intense moments.
• FEAST - An incredibly well-made, directed, acted, and written homage to monster siege films, this Project Greenlight winner was a pure gem. Strictly a nod to pulp splatter horror that stands up as a good horror film.

I consider this subgenre "intelligent" because it causes the viewer to reexamine the popular constructs of the horror genre and recreates them in another light.

anyone mention Session 9 yet ?