What's your favorite horror movie?

Happy Halloween y'all!

I actually saw it not too long ago but my favorite might be Halloween (1978). I was really impressed by the direction of it. I'm not too familiar with Carpenter's work or horror in general for that matter but I just felt the creativity and vision of the man behind the movie. Great film making.

Of the more contemporary works, I'd have to go with It Follows. I just love the tone the music and cinematography creates. I recognize the last act is very poor but the ride is as good as any modern horror film. I think Hereditary might be better overall but it's almost too recent and I need to wait and see if it stays with me longer.

Don't Look Now.

It's an amazing depiction of the psychology and impact of grief, and the lingering devastation sudden loss of life can leave in its wake. It's frightening in the most personal way anything can be, because it's a perfect storm of the very real and the overtly unreal. It's one of the few dozen genuine horror movies, for me, in that it has true wisdom and empathy under the skin of its darkness. Beyond the parents' desperation to restore some connection with their deceased daughter and understand what's happening to them are other interesting themes, such as the evil of psychic charlatanism, and the uneasy, slow attack on your will and sense of self that untreated despair brings with it. I love it.

Other lesser-known favourites: The Devil's Backbone, Kwaidan, The Innocents ('61), Martin, The Wailing, Haxan, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.

Not horror, but scary as hell nonetheless: Caché (Hidden), Spoorloos (The Vanishing '88). The latter seriously fucked me up when I was a kid. I'll never forget it.

Alien.

A Nightmare On Elm Street. I'm a big Freddy fanboy, and although Dream Master is my absolute favorite, the original is the most solid and classic as a horror film.

I feel you on Hereditary, too. I don't want to call it a modern classic yet, but that movie blew me away. Between that and Midsommar, I'm ready to follow everything Ari Aster makes.

This or The Thing, depending on which day you catch me.

@shiftygism: I definitely like Alien better than Halloween myself and I think it's the better movie also but Halloween hits the horror spot better for me.

@shagge: have you seen the director’s cut of Midsommar? I haven’t seen the movie yet and trying to decide which one I should see first.

The Shining. It exudes unrelenting dread in every scene. It's a movie that always manages to be creepy and sinister with out being too overt...blood elevator not withstanding.

I have such problems quantifying what is and isn’t horror as so little of it truly scares me.

If Silent Hill 2 were a movie, it’d be that (and no, the second Silent Hill movie doesn’t count).

Maybe Evil Dead or Pan’s Labyrinth?

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is depraved enough that I have no real interest in it these days. I thought it was great when I was a teen.

Either Get Out or American Werewolf in London. Both seem to have horror that's tailored to me in that I don't like most films that are full on horror but horror films that have comedy in it. Both are excellent and now I kind of want to watch one of them this Halloween.

I also really liked The Shining and the 1st Nightmare on Elm Street.

I don't like horror movies, they're either slow and boring or telegraphed and silly, i guess i'll say the remake of The Thing because i like the setting.
Edit: Or Jason X because it's mental.

@liquiddragon: I haven't, but I'm looking forward to seeing it. I will say that the theatrical cut doesn't feel compromised in any way, though.

The two that immediately jump to mind are The Witch and Raw. I also just saw It Comes at Night, and while it may not be a conventional horror movie, I found it tense throughout. As far as conventional horror movies go, I think last year's Suspira would make for an entertaining Halloween movie, although it's nearly two and a half hours long.

@militantfreudian: The Witch and Raw are both fantastic! Didn't care for It Comes at Night. Still gotta see Suspiria...

The Exorcist

Martyrs.

@brunothethird: Yeah Don’t Look Now is a safe bet. Probably my pick as well, fantastic movie.

I haven't seen many horror films but I also thought The VVitch was pretty good. The Exorcist of course is a classic.

It's recent, but Get Out was a hell of a movie. Never did see Us because I'm a scaredy cat who can't watch horror movies in theatres.

Alien

Side note: I have a horribly strange fondness for the Resident Evil movie

Not big into horror movies, but also came to say Alien. I think the effects, set design and general atmosphere hold up very well today. It's a beautiful film.

@cikame: Wait. You like the remake of The Thing, meaning the 80s classic as a remake of The Thing from Outerspace?

I haven’t seen the recent Thing remake, but it looked terrible.

Eraserhead

Cabin in the woods- Peak horror parody

Mine is a film that none of my friends like, It Follows. Love the soundtrack too.

Favourite horror - probably The Shining.

I prefer Alien/ The Thing, but I would classify them as Sci-Fi.

More modern stuff? - It Follows

Martyrs is a fantastic film, but it is horrific. Hands down the most disturbing film I've even seen (french version obviously)

If you like Martyrs check out Inside (2007). Very violent, but not as disturbing. Arguably fun.

It's been awhile since I've had a movie on my mind as much as Hereditary. Also don't remember when I last audibly gasped when watching something, movie or otherwise. And the palpable, bottomless dread that followed *that* moment.

Noroi. The very best found footage and J-Horror has to offer.

The Exorcist

Alien, The Thing and The Shining. Hard to pick between those three, because each of them kind of scratches a different nerve.

Silent Hill is best for me :)

Alien, I also like The decent

Exactly man! We're on the same page here.

Just watched The Thing again before Halloween and holy shit is that movie just breakneck paced and so thrilling. One moment that had sort of slipped my mind a bit I love is when you see The Thing has been building a UFO as Brimley. So fucking cool.

Under the skin

Rewatching The Thing last year with like 9 or 10 people who had never seen it before cemented it even more as my favorite horror movie. The alien is still such an incredibly designed, twisted creature, the pacing is perfect for a horror movie, and the sense of tension is so good. I'll never get tired of watching it.

I don't watch that many horror movies, and I don't know if Silence of the Lambs counts, but Silence of the Lambs. Just a horrific delight from beginning to end. Honorable mention to Hereditary, which felt like being waterboarded by the distilled essence of impending doom but was also way funnier than it had any right being.

I mainly like horror films that feature zombies, killer animals, or sci-fi.

My number one horror movie is Alien. I re-watch it at least three times every year. The atmosphere or mood in this movie is still very special.

The Thing is great, but feels too short, I wish it was longer.

Jaws 1 & 2. I really like "animal-horror" in general, but the first two Jaws movies are still my favourites in this specialized niche. A recent favourite though, is a movie called Crawl, featuring alligators.

Dawn of the Dead (1978). Actually, all of Romero's zombie movies: Night/Day/Land/Diary/Survival of the Dead ...

Others of note: Sunshine, Evil Dead 1 & 2, The Shallows, Rogue, Dead Snow, I Am Mother, REC 1 & 2, Chernobyl Diaries, Apollo 18, Piranha 3D, Frozen, and more. I like supernatural stuff as well, like the Paranormal series and Blair Witch.

The only type of horror I'm not a super-fan of is stuff like Elm Street, Halloween, Human Centipede and so on.

I shouldn't be, but I came on here surprised to see Alien. I guess that would, without a doubt, be mine as well. That said, I don't love it because of the horror, I mostly love it because it's a great sci-fi. My favorites would be The Wicker Man and The Shining. I just bought The Shining on 4k Blu-ray a few months ago and it's arguably my favorite 4k Blu-ray disc. It's immersive and brings the hotel as a character to life more than over.

Jaws. I think it the best because it could actually happen, and sadly every year the possibility of getting taken my a Great White increases.

That girl from Ringu is never really going to show up in your TV, but a Great White could eat you alive...

It would be a tie between The Thing & Hellraiser.

I don't really like horror movies but it's got to be between The Thing and Alien for me.