Sound Off on Scary Films

10.31.11 | Chris Cummins | Horror MoviesPrint this Post

Tags: , 

Hey there film lovers! A while back MovieFanFare ran a piece asking you about your first movie scare. Your response was tremendous, and because it is Halloween it seems like today would be the perfect time for you to sound off about more of your thoughts the horror genre in general.

So here's what we would like to know your opinions on:

• What is your favorite horror film and why? Least favorite?

• What is the scariest movie you have ever seen and why?

• How do you think contemporary horror films compare to the classics? Is it even fair to compare them? Discuss.

• Who is your favorite film monster? (As you can tell from the picture you see here I have a soft spot for The Creature from the Black Lagoon).

• What combination of elements result in a truly scary film?

• What (if any) fright flick would you like to see remade and why?

That's it. Let us know the answers to any and all of these questions in the comments. I'm sure your insights will be as illuminating as a full moon! Happy Halloween from MovieFanFare!

 
Click Here to get MovieFanFare delivered to your inbox!

Share It!

Add to BuzzAdd to DelciousAdd to DiggAdd to FacebookAdd to GoogleAdd to RedditAdd to SquidooAdd to StumbleUponAdd to TechnoratiAdd to TwitterAdd to Yahoo!

Leave a Reply

  • Rick Cardona

    A truly scary film has a definitive villain. Said antagonist show be seemingly superior in every way to the heroes and victims. And unlike the principles of the Lutin Bus, you should be able to at some point see him and be in awe of him. The creature or killer should be terrifying to behold and people around him should react appropriately. Yeah, don't show him immediately, hold back for a little while, but then unvale him in spectacular fashion. Also I've seen inappropriate music totally deflate a movie. Rock n Roll is NOT the right music to inspire fear! A haunting classical and at times violent score is the best to incite fright. Which I had the resources to make a scary film.

  • Rick Cardona

    Typos - show in the second sentence should be SHOULD.

    Which in the last sentence should have been Wish. Sorry about that.

  • RayM

    "ALIEN" The first one. Stunning visuals, excellent acting by a fine cast. Plenty of shock material.
    Most of the modern horror films are just blood spattered mess, with no real story.
    Of the older films, Phantom of the Opera, Lon Chaney was superb in this one and several others as well.
    The 2 Phibes movies are also worthwhile, though a bit over the top.

  • bunson

    "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi for me. The sparse set, the entire mood of the film, the Swan Lake music - still scary. "I never dreeeenk....wine." A very eerie film.

  • George

    My choice for scariest movie is a tie between "The Omen" (the first original one) and "Black Sunday" with the wonderfully camp Barbara Steele.

  • Rick Cardona

    I'd love to see The Dark from 1979 remade. It had a lot going for it yet has been considered a bad B movie. Still I saw a lot of things done right in that horror film. For instance the alien creature had all the bells and whistles. When he'd show up in the darkness eerie sounds and mysterious winds accompanied him. He was incredibly powerful and utilized that power often. The alien had intense biological eye lasers that made him deadlier and creepier. And the final climax had the creature going up against about 100 cops and giving them hell. Even the way he was defeated was cool as fire caused his 7 foot tall frame to explode and disintegrate in seconds. Yes with a proper budget and good director this could be an awesome candidate for remake!

    And Creature from the Black Lagoon has been tossed around for a remake treatment for 20 years yet nothing has happened yet. What's the deal?

  • LUIGI From NYC

    For me -- Scariest Flicks --

    09--THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (Original 1946)
    08--CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
    07--THE UNINVITED
    06--PSYCHO
    05--THE BIRDS
    04--THEM
    03--ALIEN
    02--ALIENS
    01--THE EXORCIST

  • xalf18

    For real scary movies, go way back. (1) The Werewolf of London with Henry Hull and Warner Oland. I was afraid to go into our cellar for 6 months. (2) The Exorcist--more disturbing than frightening. (3) Cat People. The original with Simone Simone and Kent Smith. Who could forget the swimming poor scene or the scene where the young lady is walking to the bus stop at night and suddenly the bus pulls up with its air brake sounding off. Note: there was no gore or visual violence as in the remake with Natasha Kinski. Val Lewton used lighting effects to set the mood. (4) The Body Snatcher with Henry Daniell, Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi. Another Lewton triumph. (5) Jaws--yes Jaws. This was the only movie I ever saw in which I literally jumped out of my seat in the theater when the shark first appeared. (6) Alien. Who could forget the scene when the alien comes popping through John Hurt's belly. And you thought you had belly aches. (7) Psycho. Based on actual events-Ed Gein ? The big shock was how soon in the film the heroine (Janet Leigh) gets knocked off. (8)The Human Monster with Bela Lugosi as the proprietor of a home for the blind. His henchman-Lou-would be throwing bodies out the window into the muck.

  • Blair Kramer.

    I never thought those old Creature films of Black Lagoon fame were necessarily scary. But I have always found them very entertaining in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way. The idea that human beings evolved directly from fish makes no sense at all, but who cares? The Creature films have an elegance and style that is entirely unique. They're unlike any other monster and/or horror film series ever made.

  • S Judy

    The Creature scared me so much. As an adult I was watching a VCR and as the monster's hand started to appear out of the water our power went out and really really scared me. Great fun and
    actually believable.

  • S Judy

    Would NOT like to see a remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon.

  • jim dicicco

    I'd like to see "The Keep" in DVD format.It's a movie circa 1985. This is a creepy and thought-provoking flick about a WWII German fighting unit finding a medieval keep or castle in a Romainian mountain pass. They unwittingly free the supernatural creature that was imprisoned within the keep ( in the 1400's). I have seen many older movies in DVD but why not this one?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AYUH433JWRK7UZB4E224ELIAPE spindrift

    Favorite scary film of all time, IMO, is the Haunting, based on the fabulous book by Shirley Jackson. I don't have a least favorite, I love ALL scary films, but some more than others. Scariest again, The Haunting, because there is NOTHING to see re the haunting itself, it is only implied, no monsters with dripping fangs, no severed heads, no gratuitous gore and grue, just an incredible story.
    There are no contemporary horror movies that compare because they all succumb to violence and bludgeon moviegoers over the head with it all; we GET it already, enough! My favorite film monster is Dracula, my favorite Dracula actor, Bela Lugosi, but my favorite vampire look in film is Nosferatu, that is just brilliant and very very scary.
    Best combination of elements is, a really good story, good actors, good directing and a good setting. No real violence is necessary if all those attributes come into play. Also I must mention The Innocents, that was also scary and very well made.
    I would LOVE to see The Haunting remade because the one scene that scared me above all others was omittied form the film; the scene where Elinor gets angry with Theo and runs out of the house, an Night, and Marquay sends Theo after her; they become so embroiled in their arguing they pay no attention to how far they've walked away from the house. Suddenly the trees and sky around them becomes like a negative photograph, dark and light reversed, and they come upon a happy family having a picnic in  bright color; the description of this made my hair stand on end, like now, just writing about it and remembering it. The second part is at the beginning when Theo Luke and Elinor go for a walk outside and Elinor drifts a bit ahead of them and hears them talking right behind her. She stops and turns around and they can barely be seen in the distance.

Read More Posts From…

Horror_movies

Posts by Chris Cummins