Good atmospheric horror movies that aren't gore porn!

  On 11/1/2013 at 12:03 AM, Deer said:

House of the devil

Came to post this. Wonderful movie.

Fucking new page.

Mothman Prophecies. I love that movie.

  On 11/1/2013 at 3:32 AM, zaphod said:

avoid suspiria, it's an overrated pile of shit.

And I feared that I was the only one who thought this was true.

This is really good and for those who enjoyed the TV version of Woman in Black.

http://youtu.be/VmBkK7N3Hhc

  On 11/1/2013 at 11:28 AM, tec said:

 

  On 11/1/2013 at 3:32 AM, zaphod said:

avoid suspiria, it's an overrated pile of shit.

 

And I feared that I was the only one who thought this was true.

 

This is really good and for those who enjoyed the TV version of Woman in Black.

 

http://youtu.be/VmBkK7N3Hhc

 

Suspiria is a wonderful piece of cinematography! you crazy

Bubba Hotep

  On 11/1/2013 at 5:32 AM, sheatheman said:

Mothman Prophecies. I love that movie.

I expected to hate this because of Richard Gere, but I agree. Plenty of creepy scenes (phone calls with Indrid Cold)

  On 11/1/2013 at 3:59 PM, SR4 said:

 

  On 11/1/2013 at 5:32 AM, sheatheman said:

Mothman Prophecies. I love that movie.

 

I expected to hate this because of Richard Gere, but I agree. Plenty of creepy scenes (phone calls with Indrid Cold)

 

Classic. Burial used it on the last track of his self-titled album.

candyman,near dark,the shining,the exorcist1+3,blair witch project,angel heart

Abre los ojos. maybe more of a psychological thriller/sci-fi/romantic drama but..

First of all, thanks for this thread.

  On 10/31/2013 at 12:58 PM, miim said:

Old or new? It is Halloween after all!

Sorry I'm late. I had a premiere of my own Horror Movie on Halloween, which went down nicely with the audience.

It might show up on the net eventually, I'll send it out to horror festivals soon. It's German though.

Anyway, I think I know what you're looking for, as I'm always looking for the same kind of horror. The one that doesn't show the "monster" 10 minutes in and ruins everything.

I'll work my way through the ones already mentioned first - bold ones I highly recommend, Italic ones are films that I think are good/interesting, but not in a horror movie sense:

Cube - No real horror either, but fun. Weirdo low-budget sci-fi-cult-movie that makes maths seem interesting!

Stay away from Drag Me To Hell & Pan's Labyrinth when you're looking to be scared, imo. And don't let people recommend Insidious to you, it isn't scary.

  On 11/1/2013 at 2:02 AM, usagi said:

btw pelt me with stones all you like but I recall The Others being pretty decent.

No shit, it's the best "ghost" movie I've seen.

I'm about to really get pelted for saying this: I thought M Night Shyamalan's The Village was decent as well. It has a nice build-up and some very straight-forward camera work. I reckon most people were disappointed because they got something else than what they expected, or because of the ending. But the ending doesn't ruin the film for me. This was the last movie of his that worked as a film.

  On 11/1/2013 at 4:37 PM, sheatheman said:

 

  On 11/1/2013 at 3:59 PM, SR4 said:

 

  On 11/1/2013 at 5:32 AM, sheatheman said:

Mothman Prophecies. I love that movie.

 

I expected to hate this because of Richard Gere, but I agree. Plenty of creepy scenes (phone calls with Indrid Cold)

 

 

Classic. Burial used it on the last track of his self-titled album.

 

I think expectations should be lowered a bit when going into The Mothman Prophecies - the writing is a bit odd and the characters are a tad too cliché, also, Richard Gere is hardly an actor... but, as stated, it has a couple of very strong moments. And it's very atmospheric. Go into this movie with the same expectations you'd have towards n X-Files-episode. Speaking of which, many X-Files episodes (especially seasons 4 - 7) are also high quality material. PS: I only recently noticed that a track by Biosphere is featured in the film. Random fact.

________________________________________

Okay, now for some that haven't been mentioned in this thread yet:

Lake Mungo - Documentary style ghost movie from Australia with music by murcof. It's mostly a realistic family portrait than a horror film, but it's also the last film that genuinely scared me.

The Awakening (2011) - A classic British ghost-story with a setting similar to The Others: A (pretty damn sexy) parapsychologist destined to expose frauds and charlatans gets "hired" to expose an apparent haunting at a boarding school for boys. Lovely setting, convincing actors. Gets a bit out of hand later on unfortunately, could have been even better, but I loved most of it. These films are too rare.

Session 9 - From the guy who directed The Machinist later on: An asbestos removal crew is on a job at an abandoned insane asylum which takes its toll on them. Even though it features CSI Miami's sunglasses-guy, the actors (including him, surprisingly!) are all quite strong, the writing is good as well. This is a bit like a modern, lower budget version of Shining, with a few flaws but overall very strong and subtle. Best thing about this movie: The building the movie was shot in (Danvers State Hospital) was a real place. Check out the picture galleries. The movie really captures some of the building's soul. The movie was another inspiration for Silent Hill 3.

The Woman In Black - Semi-Recommend this one. The setting is even more amazing, but it repeats its formular too many times. Still, it's set in a lovely old spooky house and tells a very grim tale. Very oldschool. Shows just a tad too much, like The Awakening. But still better than most of what's being produced these days!

Pontypool - Has gotten a lot of praise on watmm before. It's a chamber play set in snowed-in a radio station in deepest Canadian Winter. When shit starts going down outside, you only hear it through calls and interviews coming on. Kinda like the reverse version of War of the Worlds. This film gets way crazy but it's cool with me.

V/H/S - A fun film for a Halloween party. Divided into segments ("tapes"), it consists of five or six individual short stories by different directors each, all from the found footage genre. No great acting, not much subtlety, but it's a pretty inspired concept. Some of the stories are shit (the worst being "Tuesday the 17th"), but others are just fun to watch and have some nice ideas. The sequel is supposed to be better, but I haven't seen it yet.

These should keep you going for a bit.

Happy Halloween!

Besides the usual big-name classics like The Shining and Alien, I can only think of a few films that strike me as having terrific atmosphere and a genuine amount of horror.

These are not all straight-up horror films, just titles that come to mind when I think of a good scary/dark atmosphere:

Lo - Not exactly a horror film. Filmed on a low budget in a dark room with a few set pieces, brilliant makeup work and inventive lighting techniques. Blends surreal comedy with romance. Could have easily been a stage-play. All in all not the best option if you're looking for straight up horror, but it's a fun little independent film with lots of ideas and a fantastic dark atmosphere. Don't expect to be blown away though.

  On 11/3/2013 at 11:29 PM, yshf said:

 

Lo - Not exactly a horror film. Filmed on a low budget in a dark room with a few set pieces, brilliant makeup work and inventive lighting techniques. Blends surreal comedy with romance. Could have easily been a stage-play. All in all not the best option if you're looking for straight up horror, but it's a fun little independent film with lots of ideas and a fantastic dark atmosphere. Don't expect to be blown away though.

Will check out!

  On 11/3/2013 at 11:29 PM, yshf said:

The Blair Witch Project - This one gets quite a bad rap because it triggered the wave of modern found footage shite, but it's truly unlike anything that followed. A masterpiece of tension that relies purely on the atmosphere it cultivates for its scares. Great "acting" as well.

word.

  On 11/3/2013 at 11:29 PM, yshf said:

The Conjuring - I loved this one, but a bunch of people didn't. Good acting, great cinematography and tension-building. Some of the writing was cliched and a bit silly, but in context with the haunting atmosphere and tension in the film I didn't find it that distracting. Not one of the best horror films ever, but one of the best recent ones imo.

Yeah I kinda liked that one, too. Not great, but it was decent (unlike most late horror movies). A few bits and pieces were pretty solid. The one kid is a great actor, too.

  On 11/3/2013 at 11:29 PM, yshf said:

 

Mama - Bleh. This one is pretty good up until the climax. Worth a watch, but not if you're looking for something at all satisfying. Plenty of moments leave you asking why they made certain stylistic choices.

 

I've heard from a lot of people that this one is totally scary. I didn't, and I couldn't take it seriously either. The kids were alright but "Mama" was pretty ridiculous. I would have loved this movie ten years ago, like the US-version of Ring, but nowadays, I feel it's a bit too cheap. They could have accomplished so much more, had they shown so much less. I wish someone would take the possibility of CGi away from horrorfilm-makers.

The atmosphere of the Mama-film reminds me somewhat of an Uruguayan film I've seen called La Casa Muda (The Silent House) - I've heard some people were absolutely terrified by this one. Again, it didn't quite catch me, but is perhaps worth checking out. The neat thing about La Casa Muda is how it's one of those all-in-one-take films, so there are (seemingly) no cuts. That's what kept me hooked. It's okay.

I don't understand the Richard Gere disparaging going on. He is just as good of an actor as anyone else. I am not a proponent, but it's being tossed around like it's a known fact, like he is Nick Cage or something (who has had outstanding roles [Raising Arizona]).

Probably because he looks like the aged alpha-male-dirty-dancing-stereotype ... I feel like he lacks a bit of involvement with most of his roles, too, and doesn't really seem to have a very large variety of facial expressions. He's, like you say, your average Hollywood figure like any other big actor. Hence mostly forgettable imo. He probably doesn't deserve being bashed this hard, but I guess most of us can agree that he isn't a particularly superb or versatile actor.

rosemary's baby

Dario Argento's movies are quite good. Especially Suspiria.

  On 4/7/2014 at 10:19 PM, coolandfrank said:

rosemary's baby

A few atmosphere laden horror films I can think of.

Let's scare Jessica to Death.

Kairo

Shutter (Both this and Kairo had terrible American remakes)
Dark Waters (Mariano Baino 1994- not to be confused with Dark Water from 2002) Dark as fuck, lots of Nuns and weird kids, amazing remote island setting, Argento influenced

visuals mixed with Lovecraft and a brilliant soundtrack.

Legend of Hell House

The Innkeepers (didn't get much love but I thought it was great)

Who can kill a child (aka Island of Death)

One Dark Night

Don't go in the House

Axe

Home Movie

Horror and Desecration (both by director Dante Tomaselli)

Ghostkeeper

Noroi: The curse

Inferno

Any of the BBC "Ghost Story for Christmas" M.R James adaptions

The Haunting

The Innocents

(Both from the 60's)

The Legend Of Hell House

Hour Of The Wolf

The Tenant

I Walked With A Zombie

Eyes Without A Face

Martyrs

Wolf Creek

Suspiria what shit, Argento is generally on point, though.

So what are the best Argento films that are NOT Suspiria?

Tenebre, inferno and deep red