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Michael Tharrington
Michael Tharrington

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Let's help each other find good horror movies!

cover image source: Poltergeist

It's October, the month of Halloween, and that means many of us are getting into the spirit of things by watching scary movies and freaking ourselves out the best we can. 😱🍿

Cartoon referencing the movie The Ring... a person with long black hair is climbing out of the tv

I'm starting up this discussion post to collect a list of good horror flicks, which I plan to watch throughout the month. Follow along and you can do the same.

If you have any suggestions for good horror movies, please drop'em in the comments! 📼

Latest comments (78)

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Michael Tharrington

Coming back because I watched The Ritual last night and wow, that was a freaky one! Very original too!

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MiguelMJ

Anything from Mike Flanagan! "Oculus", "Before I wake up"... or for a miniseries, "Midnight mass". He has that kind of psychoanalytical horror that involves well written characters and complex relations that even if you don't like horror movies can get you hooked.

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Michael Tharrington

Ooooo, I haven't seen "Oculus" or "Before I wake up", but if they're anything like "Midnight mass" then I'm all in! I loved that show.

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Andreas Jakof

Horror Comedy: „The Evil Dead“ and especially its sequel „Army of Darkness“.
There is also a series with 3x10 episodes „Ash vs. Evil Dead“ (available on Netflix), which captures the spirit of the movies quite well!

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Michael Tharrington

Oh YESS!!! I'm so glad you The Evil Dead series a mention. Army of Darkness in particular is just so completely ridiculous and awesome — I love that movie! And agreed that the Netflix show does a damn good job of capturing the feels of the originals.

Other awesome horror comedies worth a mention:

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earthcomfy profile image
Hana Belay

The Silence of the Lambs is one of the most psychologically terrifying movies.

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Michael Tharrington

Awww yeah, I love that movie. The acting is fantastic!!

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kinghat

hands down my fav horror movie to date:

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imdb.com/title/tt0395584/

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inra profile image
Israel Minguet

I want to talk about it Follows. I think nobody talked before.
Is a modern horror movie that scares in a simple, surprising and amazing way. For me, is one of the "best" experiences i ever had watching a horror movie. I remember the experience i had watching Paranormal activity, the original one. I hate that kind of movies i dont like the genre, but these two are movies that, i maybe... some times i thinked in watch again... 100% recommended
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giulio profile image
Giulio "Joshi"

I used to watch a lot of the stuff...

Some of the classic I still remember:

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of brutal murders, that the academy is a front for a supernatural conspiracy. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.

Bad Taste is a 1987 New Zealand science-fiction comedy horror film directed, produced and filmed by Peter Jackson, who also stars in and co-wrote the screenplay, along with Tony Hiles and Ken Hammon. Independently produced on a low budget, it is Jackson's first feature film. Jackson and friends take on most of the key roles, both on and off-screen. The plotline sees aliens invade the fictional New Zealand village of Kaihoro to harvest humans for their intergalactic fast food franchise, where they face off against a four-man paramilitary force. The film provided Jackson with the leverage necessary to advance in the film industry.

House II: The Second Story is a 1987 American comedy horror film written and directed by Ethan Wiley from an original story by Fred Dekker. It serves as the second installment in the House film series, and is a standalone sequel to the first movie. While the plots and characters are unrelated, House II involves a storyline centered around a new mansion with a supernatural connection. The tone is highlighted with a greater focus on comedy, with a tone even lighter than the original.

Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian found footage cannibal horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist from New York University who leads a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to locate a crew of filmmakers. Played by Carl Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, and Luca Barbareschi, the crew had gone missing while filming a documentary on local cannibal tribes. When the rescue team is only able to recover the crew's lost cans of film, an American television station wishes to broadcast the footage as a sensationalized television special. Upon viewing the reels, Monroe is appalled by the team's actions and objects to the station's intent to air the documentary.

Tokyo Gore Police is a 2008 Japanese action splatter film co-written, edited and directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura and starring Eihi Shiina as Ruka, a vengeful police officer.

And something that I keep on the list forever, but actually never managed to start nor finish

964 Pinocchio , released in the United Kingdom as Screams of Blasphemy, is a 1991 Japanese cyberpunk horror film directed by Shozin Fukui. It deals with the theme of brain-modified sex slaves as well as mental breakdowns in a hallucinogenic thrill ride.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man , is a 1989 Japanese cyberpunk body horror film written, produced, edited, and directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. It is shot in the same low-budget, underground-production style as his first two films. The film established Tsukamoto internationally and created his worldwide cult following. It was followed by Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) and Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009).

I might be able to get a longer list, if you want to dig into gore/horror music video.

I find them relaxing while debugging. 😌

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michaeltharrington profile image
Michael Tharrington

Holy cow! I haven't seen any of these. Thanks so much for dropping this list... I got some watching to do!

And please, please feel free to drop some horror/gore music videos, hah.

I think I'll make that a focus for one of my Music Monday posts (series here) — that'd be a great topic for Halloween (which is a Monday!). Yep, I'm gonna do it, haha... hope you tune in!

But also, in the meantime, feel free to share any horror music videos in thread here!!

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giulio profile image
Giulio "Joshi"

I know, there are tons of good stuff maybe just a bit hidden or fell off radar because we don't talk about that anymore. 😊

About music... well its almost Monday, so I'll reach the thread tomorrow 🤪
Just a bit tease I came to appreciate:

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michaeltharrington profile image
Michael Tharrington

Awww yeah! 🤘Rock on.

So, I'm about to post the Music Monday article here in just a few. But, just so ya know, I'm gonna keep the Horror/Halloween theme in the bag for 2 weeks from today, so that we can do it on actual Halloween. That said, still hope to see ya in the thread with more tunes! 🙌

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giulio profile image
Giulio "Joshi"

Nice idea, I'll select a few to post on the proper themed thread :-)

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Jan Küster

I am looking for good space and scifi horror but so many movies in this genre are complete 💩

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Michael Tharrington

Haha, true that! Sometimes I'm in the mood for crappy, b-rated horror movies (and there are loads) but trying to find something actually good is a job.

Hmmm... I'm gonna think on this and might get back to ya. If we can just get John Carpenter to direct an adaptation of Dead Space...

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Jan Küster

I hope the next Alien movie is raising the bar up and not down again. After Prey I got hyped about quality, although I didn't like the theme personally.

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Michael Tharrington

Man, seeing your suggestions here and others in the thread, I really need to tune into more Asian horror flicks! I'm gonna make a point to do it this season.

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Jürgen Rudigier • Edited

The real horror for devs Windows Internet Explorer 9
youtube.com/watch?v=pWfvDo0jxZM

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Michael Tharrington

Awww man, that one is too realistic for me! 😆

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Sebastian Fritsch • Edited
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Michael Tharrington

Oh heck yeah!! I love this series.

The Conjuring is still probs my fave, but I realize I haven't seen some of these: The Conjuring 3, Insidious Chapter 3, Insidious The Last Key... I got some catching up to do!

Side note: I love how Insidious uses Tiny Tim's Tiptoe Through the Tulips song.

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Sebastian Fritsch • Edited

And I love how James Wan is sitting behind you while you watch Insidious and he knows when you expect a scare scene, but right at that point there is no scary thing and you start to calm down. Then he gets the hell out of you :D

SPOILER ALARM ⚠️ Example in Insidious Chapter 3:
First the man looks out of the window (expected scare scene) but nothing is there ;P
After that you start to think ok there is nothing, but then the girl looks out of the window...

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Michael Tharrington

Haha! I totally get what ya mean about Wan playing with expectations of the jump scare. It's never when you think it's gonna happen... it's almost always just after you sigh a sigh of relief that something didn't happen, haha.

So, I watched most of The Conjuring 3 last night — sleep got me. But, from what I saw, I liked it a lot! I think I probs enjoyed it more than The Conjuring 2, but the original The Conjuring is still my fave. I'll finish it tonight, but next up, I'm gonna have to dig into the other Insidious movies I missed!

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RaksHAsA • Edited

My most favorites Hollywood horror but I am going to suggest some other language horror movie that are fantastic, like Turkish, Malaysian movies, Taiwanese horror, Indian horror.

Turkish horror movies :

Magi (2015)
Siccin 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6
Dabbe 3,4,5,6
Baskin (2015)

Malaysia's horror movies :

Munafik 1,2 (2016)
Penunggang Agama 1,2
Roh (film) (2019)
Don't Look At The Demon

Taiwanese horror movies :

Incantation
The Bride
The Tag-Along: Devil Fish
The Tag-Along 2

Indian horror movies :

Tumbbad

That's for now.

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michaeltharrington profile image
Michael Tharrington

Very nice!! I really appreciate ya pulling in horror movies that are made outside the US... I need to explore more of these.

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RaksHAsA

Yes, of course you can discover really wonderful work, story, and folklore with horror.

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mellen profile image
Matt Ellen

The scariest thing I watched as a kid was The Cat Came Back.

Probably the neverending torment that upset me the most 😅

The other scary film I can recommend is The Descent (the British release, for the ending).

The Descent is a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film follows six women who enter a cave system and struggle to survive against the humanoid creatures inside.

The building horror was incredibly affective.

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Michael Tharrington

lol, I can see how The Cat Came Back was particularly scarring for you. The damn cat was relentless!

I definitely got freaked out by a number of kid's movies when I was a little one. I think lotsa folks know how scary Return to Oz is (see video👇), but memorably The Wiz really got me... particularly the witch Evillene, who runs a sweatshop and 1 by 1 tortures each of Dorothy's companions. It's intense! But, (SPOILERS!) she ultimately gets flushed down a toilet (see other video👇).

As a kid, this left a mark on me. Whenever I would use the bathroom, I'd run out of the room after flushing the toilet. I don't remember if I was worried about getting flushed down or Evillene coming back up, but I do remember the terror.

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Giulio "Joshi"

I loved "Return to Oz" as a kid !
The whole concept of non-crossing realities is skillfully managed for the whole movie, never giving a clear answer to viewers: does Oz really exists or is a dream and delusional world of Dorothy?

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Michael Tharrington

I loved it as well actually. It freaked me out, but that didn't stop me from wanting to watch it. Haha, guess things haven't changed too much — I clearly still enjoy getting freaked out.

And ooooo, I'm gonna have to rewatch with this movie with that whole concept in mind. I love the mysterious blend of dream and delusion... you described it really well! I mentioned Shutter Island somewhere in this thread, but I feel like that movie also kinda plays with this blend. However, in Shutter Island you don't get a whole fantasy realm like you do with Oz, so the delusion isn't quite so deep!

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Giulio "Joshi"

I remember having Shutter Island recommended often, I need to watch it!

I believe Gothica had a similar screenplay, even if the concept won't run as deep as in Return to Oz.
I don't want to spoil that, if you ever decide to watch the show.

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Matt Ellen

The land of Oz is ripe for scaring children!

I haven't seen return to Oz, but that review makes a compelling case for it.

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Michael Tharrington

Haha, it really is. Please check it out, I think you'll find it a pretty fun watch!!

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Karan Gandhi

Oh well here you go

OG Omen trilogy is really good.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omen
*It * is fantastic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(2017_film)
Then there is Ghost ship. It's a unique premise.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Ship_(...

Scream / Friday the 13th / Nightmare on elm street / Child's Play are okay I guess

Then there are Saw series , Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hills have eyes, Final Destination, Hostel, Wrong Turn,. The quality range is in between "well thats disgusting" to "this is funny shit"

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Michael Tharrington

The quality range is in between "well thats disgusting" to "this is funny shit"

Haha right?! I do think there is a fine line between horror and comedy.

I like a lotta your suggestions though. I watched Nightmare on Elm Street last night actually... I love how weird it is!

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Karan Gandhi

Oh yes Freddy Kreuger is terrifying. Not his appearance but the premise of his powers.

Bird Box is another unique horror movie.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_Box_(film)

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Sylvie Fiquet

Train To Busan! My favourite zombie movie.

Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean action horror film directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, and Kim Eui-sung. The film mostly takes place on a high-speed train from Seoul to Busan as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in the country and threatens the safety of the passengers.

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Michael Tharrington

Oooo yeah, that one was awesome! South Korea has been releasing some really great zombie flicks!! I really loved #Alive and the tv show All of Us Are Dead, but Train to Busan was the first one I saw.

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Sylvie Fiquet

Oh yes I enjoyed them too! You've probably checked it out already, but if you haven't, Kingdom on Netflix is also pretty cool.

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Michael Tharrington • Edited

I haven't, but wow!! I love that they chose to set it in a different time period. Very cool! I'm gonna have to check it out.