# Horror movie suggestions



## Descartes (Oct 15, 2016)

Its Halloween season again and I'm looking for some good horror movies/tv series to watch. I'd prefer them to be set in a D&D appropriate time. What are some of your favorite horror movies? Some of mine include Captain Kronos (wish this had been turned into a series but Hammer went belly up shortly after its release), Brom Stoker's Dracula (even though it had the wood golem Keanu in it), Solomon Kane, Season of the Witch, and Brotherhood of the Wolf.

PS If anyone suggests Book of Vile Darkness I will troll you without mercy!


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## hopeless (Oct 15, 2016)

How about the Relic?

The Mummy Trilogy with Brendan Fraser?

Monster Squad?

Hocus Pocus?

Star Wars Holiday Special? (Psyche!!!)


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## was (Oct 16, 2016)

I like:

*IT*..a Stephen King classic

*The Birds* and *Psycho*..Hitchcock

*Invasion of the Body Snatchers*

*American Werewolf in London*..the original

*The Nightmare on Elm Street*..the original

*Poltergeist*..the original


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## Imaculata (Oct 16, 2016)

*Train to Busan!*

[video=youtube;E2nrE9JnaDg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2nrE9JnaDg[/video]


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## Umbran (Oct 16, 2016)

I'm not familiar with any horror movies set in a D&D-appropriate setting, I'm afraid.  SO, I'll just go with ones I like.

*Cabin in the Woods* - I would include a trailer, but it gives a few things away I think are better experienced without foreknowledge.

*10 Cloverfield Lane* - *Amazing* acting by John Goodman.

*Alien* - a classic.

For TV series... _American Horror Story_ has some good things, and several seasons with different themes to choose from.

_Scream Queens_ is you want some absurdist comedy with your horror.  Has Jamie Lee Curtis, a classic horror actress doing a wonderful job.

_Stranger Things_ - is not gory horror, but the tension management in the show is great.

_Tales from the Crypt_ - because, classic!


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## Eltab (Oct 17, 2016)

Not really D&D, but the black-and-white versions of Dracula and Frankenstein are much better than the modern updates - more suspense, less gore.

I want to find the version of The Fly with Vincent Price in a minor role; I've only seen about 5 minutes of it.  (I've read the book.)


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## Jhaelen (Oct 17, 2016)

Penny Dreadful (TV show)!


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## Ryujin (Oct 17, 2016)

Sounds like a great opportunity for a Vincent Price marathon.

"Pit and the Pendulum"

"House of Usher"

"The Tomb of Ligeia"

... and many more.


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## Umbran (Oct 17, 2016)

Again, modern, but if you like some comedy along with your horror...

*Cockneys vs Zombies* - it has the greatest chase scene in zombie-movie history.


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## Mercurius (Oct 17, 2016)

Yeah, can't do anything about the D&D setting request, but aside from classics the best two horror films I've seen recently are *It Follows *and *Under the Skin.*


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 17, 2016)

For D&D-appropriate horror, Black Death definitely comes to mind.

I’d also add Brotherhood of the Wolf, though that reminds me more of Warhammer Fantasy. It’s urban fantasy, but I do love the Night Watch and Day Watch movies.

The VVitch is a great one, set in colonial times.



Mad_Jack said:


> _Black Death_ - Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne...


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## Ryujin (Oct 18, 2016)

Also hoping that the short "The Devil Walks in Salem" (by a name that should be familiar to many here, Peter Adkison) eventually goes off the festival circuit and into general release. Obviously it's Puritan times, not Medieval or other fantasy, but close, so might fit the bill 

[video=youtube;KACs08PAkLY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KACs08PAkLY[/video]


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## Wednesday Boy (Oct 18, 2016)

Well hello, Mr. Fancypants!  It's not actually horror but Army of Darkness is the closest recommendation I have.  Or for a non-D&D-appropriate time period horror movie I recommend the 2006 French-Romanian film, Them (aka Ils).


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## Tonguez (Oct 18, 2016)

The Masque of Red Death has a DnD pedigree


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 24, 2016)

It's impossible to go wrong with the Corman/Price Poe Cycle.



Tonguez said:


> The Masque of Red Death has a DnD pedigree


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 24, 2016)

Watched another medieval-horror film recently, Sauna, a Finnish movie. It's about a group of 16th century border surveyors, particularly two brothers, one younger bookish, the other older and battleworn, and what they encounter in a hidden village within a dismal swamp. There's more than a touch of Aguirre, the Wrath of God in its slow atmospheric horror. My only complaint was that the subtitles seemed a bit off at times.


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## Kramodlog (Oct 24, 2016)

*Must love Death. 

A Serbian Film. 

[REC]2*


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 24, 2016)

Odin’s Beard, nothing by half-measures! A Serbian Film is definitely harrowing, horrifying viewing. Yet beyond the controversy, the tale itself is skillfully woven – by the time the movie moves towards its conclusion, you’re in too deep to not want to see how it turns out.



Kramodlog said:


> *
> 
> A Serbian Film.
> 
> *


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## Kramodlog (Oct 24, 2016)

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Odin’s Beard, nothing by half-measures! A Serbian Film is definitely harrowing, horrifying viewing. Yet beyond the controversy, the tale itself is skillfully woven – by the time the movie moves towards its conclusion, you’re in too deep to not want to see how it turns out.



Indeed. Aside from the gore, the film is very well made.


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 25, 2016)

Just thought of another D&D-appropriate horror-ish movie, Haxan: Witchcraft through the Ages. It's an old "documentary" on devils and witchcraft, with some really dramatic, crazy visuals. I know I'm supposed to prefer the original version more, but I love the edited one with narration by William S. Burroughs and the jazz freak-out soundtrack.


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## Raunalyn (Oct 25, 2016)

Well, not D&D or medieval by any means, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Exorcist (the original)


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 25, 2016)

One of the greatest horror movies, no doubt. The 70s in general were a great decade for horror movies. The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead, TCM, Halloween, The Omen, just to name a few.



Raunalyn said:


> Well, not D&D or medieval by any means, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Exorcist (the original)


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## Imaculata (Oct 26, 2016)

I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws. But maybe that's because the topic of the movie is just inherently not scary to me.


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## Jhaelen (Oct 26, 2016)

Imaculata said:


> I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws.



What's scary about Jaws?
Yep, I guess, everyone reacts differently on different kinds of 'horror'. E.g. imho, one of the best horror movies of all time is Roman Polanski's 'Rosemary's Baby'. But I know quite a few people who feel it's just plain boring.


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## Ryujin (Oct 26, 2016)

Imaculata said:


> I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws. But maybe that's because the topic of the movie is just inherently not scary to me.




Part of the horror was due to the billing that the book and movie were 'based on a true story.' Over the years we've become rather jaded with various forms of 'slasher porn' horror, which isn't really horror at all.


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## Raunalyn (Oct 26, 2016)

Imaculata said:


> I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws. But maybe that's because the topic of the movie is just inherently not scary to me.




That's a good question. For those of us (like myself) who were brought up in a very strict religious family (I'm a recovering Catholic), this movie was terrifying. It was the fact that it was billed that it was based on a true story, added to the fact that I was pretty young when I first saw it...yeah, gave me nightmares for *years*

I showed it to my oldest daughter (she's much like me now...completely agnostic), and she said that yeah, it was pretty scary at certain parts, but she didn't see why it was one of the scariest movies ever made. Personally, I think it was the build up, getting to know the family and characters, and then the sudden flashes of the demonic face that you just barely see, the slow building terror as the daughter begins to change...

Movies like this affect different people in different ways, I suppose.


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## wicked cool (Oct 26, 2016)

Conjuring
Ghost Story


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## was (Oct 26, 2016)

Jhaelen said:


> What's scary about Jaws?




..As far as horror movies go, Jaws has had the greatest impact upon society in general.  It continues to terrify entire generations of folks into staying out of the water.


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## Jhaelen (Oct 27, 2016)

was said:


> ..As far as horror movies go, Jaws has had the greatest impact upon society in general.  It continues to terrify entire generations of folks into staying out of the water.



Yeah, well, I guess in order to have that effect you'd have to have watched it at the time it was released. At the time I watched the movie it was very clear to me that the movie wasn't realistic in its portrayal of the shark. But you're right that movie has given sharks a really bad reputation in many people's minds.

However, when movies were still new, people got scared out of their minds by close-ups of insects. People also outright panicked after listening to Orwell's radio broadcast 'War of the Worlds'. Neither is something I consider to belong in the horror genre.

Anyway, I think it's still clear that people react differently to different kinds of horror movies.
E.g. 
- I was bored to tears by 'The Blair Witch Project' and generally dislike found footage movies.
- I was scared after watching the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movie, though. But none of the superficially similar movies from the 'Friday the 13th' or 'Halloween' franchise felt frightening to me. The important difference being the idea of being attacked in your dreams.
- Brian de Palma's 'Carrie' was really shocking to me mostly because of the sudden change to violence and the use of split-screens.
- 'Event Horizon' was another movie that I found quite tense, even though it's a sci-fi setting. 'Alien' on the other hand is a movie that I considered my favorite movie for a long time, but never thought of it as a horror movie.
- Oh, and 'Eden Lake' was also pretty terrifying because of the realistic outset and the relentless but still somehow believable escalation.

I think all of these movies were 'scary' (or not 'scary') to me for different reasons.


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## Imaculata (Oct 27, 2016)

The Blair Witch Project has to be seen in the proper context. It wasn't just one of the first found footage movies, but it was surrounded by a huge viral marketing campaign, that was probably way more interesting than the movie itself. 

There's no way to repeat that wave of excitement. Back then it was a new thing, and now it has been done to death. Watching Blair Witch now is not the same as watching it back then, after having experienced everything leading up to it.


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## Mad_Jack (Oct 27, 2016)

A lot of movies that people consider "the scariest" or "the best" have to be taken in an anthropological context - they were revolutionary _at the time they were produced_, and if you hadn't seen them before seeing all the things that came after them, copying and building on them, then their impact is greatly lessened by going back and "catching up" as it were.


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 27, 2016)

Yeah, horror movies often exist only properly in a time and place. Sure, we might appreciate the old Lugosi Dracula's atmosphere and performances, but it doesn't terrify us like it did the audiences that saw it when it came out.

One of my favorite examples is this article by Roger Ebert on the premiere of Night of the Living Dead. I love the film dearly, and it is quite horrifying. But it’s easy to forget just how extreme it was compared to other horror films of the time.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-night-of-the-living-dead-1968


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## Imaculata (Oct 28, 2016)

Blair Witch specifically became dated really quickly. That's because its niche appeal was never intended as a long lasting thing. If you look at it as just a movie alone, you're missing out on half the experience of what it was really all about. It's like having a dessert, and missing the feast before it.

But indeed a lot of these movies had a way bigger impact upon release, because they were still new. People fainted at movies like Jaws and Alien. Specifically with Alien, people left the theater because they could not stand the horror. And the movie Jaws has become so synonymous with sharks, that people still hum the tune whenever sharks are mentioned, even if they've never seen the movie.

But Jaws isn't just a great horror movie based on scare-factor alone. It's a great movie, period. Its cinematography and camerawork is phenomenal, and could be a considered a great teaching tool for aspiring film students. It is the one horror movie that every creature feature since then has looked up to and tried to copy... including Alien.


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## Jhaelen (Oct 28, 2016)

Imaculata said:


> But Jaws isn't just a great horror movie based on scare-factor alone. It's a great movie, period.



Yes, while I still have some doubts about calling it a horror movie, I definitely agree that it's a great movie.

P.S.: I just checked the movie's entry at IMDB. It says: 







> Genres: Adventure | Drama | Thriller



 So, I'm not alone in not considering it a horror movie


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## Imaculata (Oct 28, 2016)

I find that very strange. Are people afraid to call a highly respected movie a horror movie? The line between horror and thriller is very thin. Jaws is most definitely a horror movie. People seem to have no hesitation with calling Piranha a horror film. And yet it is literally copying Jaws.


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## Eltab (Oct 30, 2016)

Much of the effect of Jaws is that it doesn't show you the shark, or the evidence the shark leaves behind, at first.  The movie shows you everybody else's reaction to what they find.  You absorb the unspoken message that 'something horrible is going on'.  (Think about the scene where the searchers find the first girl's remains; the audience sees only her arm and hand.  The actors see the whole thing; one of them gets noisily sick to his stomach; the rest are shocked)  You aren't getting enough of the clues yourself to put it all together ... yet.

Looked at from 40 years later, the shark is clunky and not very realistic.  But watching the movie in those first few months / years, you are so wrapped into the story that you overlook that problem; you expect to see a big shark with a mouth full of sharp teeth, and so you do.  Watch Jaws now, having had time to think about the movie and digest all the reviews / commentary / analysis since then, and the clunky parts show up more strongly.
But even if you did top-notch oceanographic research and CGI'ed in a totally realistic shark as part of a remake, you still would not get the mass popular effect that the original had.


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## Ryujin (Oct 30, 2016)

Eltab said:


> Much of the effect of Jaws is that it doesn't show you the shark, or the evidence the shark leaves behind, at first.  The movie shows you everybody else's reaction to what they find.  You absorb the unspoken message that 'something horrible is going on'.  (Think about the scene where the searchers find the first girl's remains; the audience sees only her arm and hand.  The actors see the whole thing; one of them gets noisily sick to his stomach; the rest are shocked)  You aren't getting enough of the clues yourself to put it all together ... yet.
> 
> Looked at from 40 years later, the shark is clunky and not very realistic.  But watching the movie in those first few months / years, you are so wrapped into the story that you overlook that problem; you expect to see a big shark with a mouth full of sharp teeth, and so you do.  Watch Jaws now, having had time to think about the movie and digest all the reviews / commentary / analysis since then, and the clunky parts show up more strongly.
> But even if you did top-notch oceanographic research and CGI'ed in a totally realistic shark as part of a remake, you still would not get the mass popular effect that the original had.




It's even more amazing when you realize that it's largely a classic by accident. They wanted to have much more of that cludgy shark in the movie. The simple fact is that once they started shooting, the stupid thing didn't work. As a result they had to shoot around it, creating the tension that would not have been achieved if the shark was in every shot they'd wanted.


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## Tonguez (Oct 30, 2016)

Eltab said:


> Much of the effect of Jaws is that it doesn't show you the shark, or the evidence the shark leaves behind, at first.  The movie shows you everybody else's reaction to what they find.  You absorb the unspoken message that 'something horrible is going on'.  .




yes, thats the main reason I don't bother watching Gore horror like Saw or even zombie flicks, they tend to be boring. Whereas I remember the first time I saw the ancient silent movie Nosferatu, the scene where Orlok pops up on the ship was genuinely frightenng...


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## Imaculata (Oct 31, 2016)

Tonguez said:


> yes, thats the main reason I don't bother watching Gore horror like Saw or even zombie flicks, they tend to be boring. Whereas I remember the first time I saw the ancient silent movie Nosferatu, the scene where Orlok pops up on the ship was genuinely frightenng...




Oddly enough, while Saw has the reputation of being very gory, the first Saw movie isn't very gory at all. It's actually rather tame. But many people who have not seen the movie, still 'think' it is very violent, because that's what a lot of people claim.

I should also point out that Train to Busan, the zombie film that I recommended earlier in this thread, also isn't gory at all. Which is rare for a zombie film.


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## Zoey141 (Nov 11, 2016)

The Babadook
The Cabin in the Woods. 

And if you're into classics, then you should not miss this: Rosemary's Baby - An absolute classic and my all time favorite - Rosemary's Baby review. 

Mia Farrow as Rosemary is FAB! One of the best movies made by Roman Polanski.


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## Morrus (Nov 11, 2016)

nazia08 said:


> <form action="https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/40lj0w/any_good_horror_movie_suggestions/#" class="usertext warn-on-unload" id="form-t1_cyv3vsmmgo" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: small; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Thing (John Carpenter version), Alien, Aliens (more of an action movie, but still good for suspense and gore), or if you want something more recent, I quite enjoyed The Conjuring, and Crimson Peak.
> 
> 
> </form>






@Naxia08, you appear to be copy/pasting all your posts from somewhere else. Not only are they in a weird font and an embedded font colour, they often include hidden HTML. This post for example, was copy and pasted from Reddit here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/40lj0w/any_good_horror_movie_suggestions/#

At the moment, it looks a lot like you're a spambot. Would you verify that you are not, please?


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