ok lets all shit our pants to something old: pre-2006 horror film thread

So many wonderful unreleased horror scores out there.

The Manitou
Reincarnation of Peter Proud
The Sentinel
Thriller series

and then god knows how many hidden away in italo horror!

The Hammer stuff got pretty well released at least, though I guess we can give up on the OG James Bernard Dracula tapes.

Stephen Thrower made a big list of soundtracks on his blog but I'm sure he deleted his blog. A similar list article should still be on the Guardian.

The horror soundtracks thread really opened me up to how many good soundtracks there to films I don't particularly like; also amazed that so many of them ever got released, but I guess when there are so many soundtracks that are basically crappy mix-tapes of already popular songs that get released so widely (people really buy these?), it does balance things out a bit.
I've found that most sound way better by themselves and create a more compelling world that way.

Oh yeah once you cut that tie of needing to GAF about the movie a score was written for, then you open up a whole world of film music of all genres.

Yeah, I especially feel that way about RPG videogame soundtracks. The fantasy world they offer is always better than the game.

RAG style:

I've intended for some time to revisit Cemetery Man, the last film of four Italian horror films directed by onetime Argeno protégé Michele Soavi. It's one of my fondest cinematic memories of the 1990s, though I'm bit worried it won't hold up two decades down the line. In preparation and to forestall the moment of truth, I decided to watch his prior films, none of which I remembered seeing. I wasn't able to locate a decent copy of the first, Deleria, so I moved on to its successor, the much more widely seen La Chiesa (released in the US as The Church). Turns out I had seen it before, though it left few lasting impressions. I blame the drugs. Well, and also the movie. It's a mixed bag at best.

While often quite visually striking, The Church is so incoherently structured that even now, with the film fresh in my mind, it's hard for me to explain most of what transpires onscreen. "Haunted cathedral takes Satanic revenge" puts things in a reasonable nutshell, but the narrative simply uses that premise as justification for a disconnected series of ghoulish set-peices. Which might not sound like such a bad thing. Where supernatural horror is concerned, inscrutability isn't necessarily a fault, especially not when paired with bizarre imagery and rich atmosphere. Soavi's film is packed with the former and at least occasionally delivers the latter.

The middle-ages-set opening sequence and a climactic consummation lifted straight from Rosemary's Baby are particularly memorable. Fans of Argento and Bava looking for a serving of stylish Italian eye candy could do a hell of a lot worse, and maybe I'm faulting the film too much for what it isn't. There are many brilliant moments here, but unfortunately they're just that: moments. The Church picks up and abandons both characters and plot threads so casually that I wound up more frustrated than impressed.

^ the churchwas apparently intended as (and to some extent released?) as the third installment in the popular demons series. strange, as there are no demons in the film, at least not of the sort featured in demons and demons 2. nor is it built around the possession-by-infection mechanics of the previous installments. one fleeting moment, a little over halfway through, does establish a hint of continuity, but it doesn't last.

The Church was a big disappointment for me but once again, some of the soundtrack is incredible. The Philip Glass/Martin Goldray version of "Floe" is one of the most incredible pieces of music I've ever heard.
I think it's a bit like The Beyond and City Of The Living Dead in that you expect way more cool stuff to happen.

Cemetery Man is a fun mess. Tonally all over the place, so the serious parts at the end fall quite flat but the rest is enjoyable. I thought the romance with the severed head was funny.

Have you seen Dark Waters? Because Baino is a similar director, Italian too I'm sure but a lot of the cast and crew were English and it was shot in Ukraine. I think it's pretty good.

The Philip Glass/Martin Goldray version of "Floe" is one of the most incredible pieces of music I've ever heard.

Yes. When I watched the movie again, I realized that a significant portion of what I was responding to the first time around was b/c of that performance.

Search: individual episodes of horror/mystery/SF tv shows?

Like Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Tales From The Crypt, Tales From The Darkside, Hammer House Of Horror, Tales Of The Unexpected, Hitchcock Presents/Half Hour, Thriller (American and British versions), Masters Of Horror, Fear Itself (last two go beyond 2005 but we'll break the rule for this instance).

I discussed Karloff's Thriller above.

I'd love to see more of these shows on tv because I'm reluctant to splash out on box sets after Thriller. I haven't seen many of these on tv and when I do they are usually horrendously dull, so I probably wouldn't tune in regularly.

There is an Outer Limits episode with Mark Hamill called "Mind Over Matter" which totally devastated me when I was a kid. He goes into virtual reality programme that isn't safe and things go terribly wrong. I'd love to see it again and I hope it holds up.

Miike's "Imprint" for Masters Of Horror has some rough acting but some very striking imagery. Well worth seeing just for that.

The idea of a show like one of these being consistently good with original stories seems like an unlikely dream. According to most people Twilight Zone and Thriller was as good as it got but I found some episodes of those really lacking.

I agree that Thriller is often incredibly antiseptic and meh.

Tales from the Crypt is sometimes a little too Dream On-era HBO, but there's a solid roster of classic or close-enough episodes if you're into boob-spiked EC adaptations. The first few seasons had some really strong eps -- I have good memories of "Collection Completed"; "And All Through the House" (Zemeckis being loony); "Top Billing"; "Cutting Cards"; "Dead Right"; so on.

Rarely but sometimes the show summoned up a truly nasty piece of work. "Three's a Crowd" is some ugly domestic violence, and so is "Split Second" (tho that one's more cartoony and at least offers equal-opportunity ogling).

Tales from the Darkside was done waaaaay on the cheap in comparison to Crypt, but I've always gotten the impression it had a higher hit-to-miss ratio.

I've owned pretty much all the EC horror comics but never seen any of the show (I did see the so-so 70s films and the two terrible 90s films that have nothing to do with the comics or their storytelling style). It's really weird that it turned into a cartoon (I saw some of that) and a game show.
I looked up the cast/crew for the tv show a few years ago and was astonished at all the actors, directors and musicians who worked on the show, it all seemed so unlikely. Apparently there are only two original stories in the series.
I have a hard time imagining the show ever coming vaguely close to the visuals of Graham Ingels and co.

I could never work out if it was a drama or anthology show but Poltergeist: The Legacy had a few things that terrified me as a wee boy (probably wouldn't today), including a succumbs-like woman with glowing eyes who led a horny man to bed in a gloomy house then turned all scary. Also a Japanese flying woman ghost with razor sharp nails.

I'm sure it wasn't related to the Poltergeist films.

I'm not sure why people are so fond of the first Poltergeist film. Apart from the amazing ghosts, I think the film is really poor and contains the things I dislike so much about Insidious and The Conjuring.

the so-so 70s films

See, we're diverging from the get-go here. F'n love the Amicus flicks.

Oh man, the Crypt-Keeper cartoon was a big letdown. I think it came out when I was in 7th grade and technically starting to get too old for Sat AM cartoons, but I still wasn't ready for how watered down everything was going to be.

I'm not sure why people are so fond of the first Poltergeist film. Apart from the amazing ghosts, I think the film is really poor and contains the things I dislike so much about Insidious and The Conjuring.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, August 14, 2014 8:39 PM (2 hours ago)

incredibly well-constructed and entertaining explains most of it, imo. sharp writing, good gags, suspenseful & scary as hell when it wants to be, but it also manages one of the best depictions of suburban american domesticity/complacency afforded by its era. vivid & likeable characters, fantastic cinematography, a boxfull of truly iconic horror moments (rising TV static in a darkened living room, maggot meat, face peel, clown under the bed, "carolanne! go into the light!", pool full of corpses, etc), intruiging subtext, i could go on and on. the haunted house tropes mashed into dull nothing by movies like paranormal activity exist in the popular imagination because poltergeist gave them three-dimensional life.

Also a fan of Amicus, particularly Asylum. Bit of discussion here: Best Amicus Productions Film

I love those Amicus EC movies, too, especially the final story in Tales from the Crypt - Patrick Magee at his intense best, and an ending that really captures the moralistic savagery at the heart of so many EC stories. Good lord, *choke*

I'd agree with that Patrick McGee segment, that was good. But surely everyone laughs at that part where the guy sees himself rotten in the mirror, I know at least two other people who thought that was hilarious (not to say that unintentional hilarity makes a thing bad).

Cushing did look great as a zombie too.

I might need to see a few more of these. I haven't seen Asylum, Dr Terror, Torture Garden or The Skull.

Beyond The Grave was also a bit mediocre to me. I thought maybe R Chetwynd Hayes wasn't very good but I later read his "Jumpity Jim" and that was fantastic, a very original monster story.

I've always felt there was something too restrained about Hammer and Amicus, not restrained as in subtle or disciplined, more as in I often feel that the cast and crew rarely seemed like they wanted to give the material the same dedication as Bava, Corman, Reeves, Marins or Nakagawa, Michio Yamamoto (on their better films) at that period.
There are a few great actors in these films but I think most were of that "let's get this thing done then we'll all have a cup of tea" school.

"succumbs-like woman"

I ment Succubus of course.

i looked at the images from the ilx horror poll the other day, just for fun, and they are still so great
i'm glad they're all there for me to look at whenever i please

There are a few great actors in these films but I think most were of that "let's get this thing done then we'll all have a cup of tea" school.

I don't agree with him, but in his biographical dictionary David Thomson describes Hammer films as the work of "decent men who tended the garden at weekends".

http://obscurehollow.blogspot.co.uk/

This is a really great site for scenery and screenshots. Often better than the full films.

I should probably take more screenshots, I taken some of Shuji Terayama's part in Private Collections, years ago.
http://eatenbyducks.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/rags-film-report-part-2-shuji-terayama.html

No point in reading what I was writing back then. I was just fumbling about. But that time was notable for when I watched 45 films in one week.

There are a few great actors in these films but I think most were of that "let's get this thing done then we'll all have a cup of tea" school.

Right, and maybe it's just my comparably stiff Midwestern upbringing, but nothing screams Halloween more than that sort of clipped, obligatory, autumnal-cozy style of horror. (The rest of the year, sure, give me French extremity or whatever else has replaced it, et al.)

It's annoying because the aesthetic of that era of gothic horror films is what I tend to prefer in horror but I'm just not that into most of the films. I like autumnal for sure.
It pretty much all blends together with the paperbacks and comics of the time. Some of the music too.

I'm very supportive of the idea of gothic Hammer revivalism but Sleepy Hollow and Company Of Wolves are the only decent films that spring to mind. It's odd that there should be so few because it gets quite a few modern attempts.
The Bride and Woman In Black weren't that great. Any suggestions are very welcome.

There are some aspects of the classic horror style that get really tired though: the polite old moralistic antiquarian investigators and the emphasis on their mannerisms.
I read ghost stories quite a bit and curious old intellectuals meeting up, with their polite manners fetishized gets old very quick.

That's why I like Castlevania games, but there you have to put up with a bit of Japanese soap melodrama. Ghouls N' Ghosts kindly does away with the story.

Right, and maybe it's just my comparably stiff Midwestern upbringing, but nothing screams Halloween more than that sort of clipped, obligatory, autumnal-cozy style of horror. (The rest of the year, sure, give me French extremity or whatever else has replaced it, et al.)

Otm (btw I'm in mpls stpl for the next week and a half-- any horra screenings I should know about?)

RAG I am super psyched abt that obscure hollow blog, thanking u

I'm in mpls stpl for the next week and a half-- any horra screenings I should know about?

Try people watching at the State Fair.

It's amazing to read contemporary reviews of Hammer films, and even moreso about the constant battles that the company had with the British film censors (Wayne Kinsey's two-volume production history of Hammer is esp gd on this.) We might think of these films as staid, decorous, cosy, but at the time they were utterly abhorred for their violence and sexual heat. Some of that does still survive, I think - in the sudden snarling aggression of Lee's Dracula, the icy ruthlessness of Cushing's Frankenstein, the heaving desire of Dracula's female victims - and when you combine that with the films' frequently gorgeous colours and decor, that's more than enough to get you through the duller, stagier scenes, imho. The recent Blu Ray editions of the first Hammer Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy are ,and make the films sparkle anew.

This week I saw a luscious new digital print of Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief. Again, the colours, camera movements and costuming in the final costume ball sequence made obvious, as if it wasn't already, the huge debt that things like Hammer, Corman's Poe films and Bava's Blood and Black Lace owed to the non-naturalistic lighting of Hitchcock's great 50s films. To Catch A Thief is full of candy-bright colours, sexual signifiers and a prowling villain dressed all in black that just screams Giallo (literally - the very first narrative image in TCAT is of a woman victim screaming in horror).

I'm fairly fond of Curse Of Frankenstein (Lee looks fantastic and the story is better than average Hammer) and The Gorgon (when you see her reflection in the water, it's genuinely spooky, but the full reveal with the crappy medusa snakes is disappointment).

I like Twins Of Evil, Vampire Circus and a few others because of the beautiful girls but that's not a great recommendation for the films as wholes.

My favourite moment of Brides Of Dracula is when the vampire girls are smiling while watching Cushing being attacked from a distance. There's something very strange about it. Nice looking film in general.
Oddly, Weirdfictionreview did a piece about it, which I think was too generous but interesting anyway
http://weirdfictionreview.com/2014/06/i-can-hardly-believe-it-happened-terence-fishers-the-brides-of-dracula/

I've always loved the red eyed Christopher Lee Dracula. Less fond of him dying from walking into too many thorny bushes or falling through ice after being told he will be powerful beyond our wildest dreams.

Another screenshot blog with an even more fantastic name, Chilling Scenes Of Dreadful Villainy!
http://chillingscenesofdreadfulvillainy.blogspot.co.uk/

this reminds me - for the longest time I have been unable to determine the name/nature of a film I saw as a child courtesy of Elvira; had the whole Hammer vibe and its central conceit was a creepy mansion with an iron maiden, possibly involving the ghost of a woman who had been impaled in one. Does this ring a bell with anybody?

I keep having to fight the urge to fill in the missing gaps of Hammer and Amicus films I haven't seen because there is more people to talk about them with.
I should be pressing on with all my piles of JS Le Fanu, EF Benson, WH Hodgson, CA Smith, MR James, JH Riddell, RE Howard, EA Poe, HP Lovecraft, Vernon Lee, Arthur Machen, Tanith Lee, Fritz Lieber, Wilum Pugmire, Lord Dunsany, Bram Stoker, Ligotti, Charles Birkin, KE Wagner, Ramsey Campbell, TED Klein, Charles Beaumont, Richard Blackburn, Bradbury, William Sloane, William Sansom, Robert Bloch, F Marion Crawford, Mervyn Peake, Jack Vance, Abraham Merritt, Edogawa Rampo, Oliver Onions, Ambrose Bierce, Robert Aickman, Hugh B Cave, Edith Nesbit, Ray Russell, DK Broster and many others.

I thought I would have finished all those books years ago!
These will surely be more satisfying than most of the horror films I haven't seen.

Tried to watch Gothic, a movie I know mostly by the box cover and a vague knowledge of Ken Russell. Obviously, the movie is batshit, but it's also boring and stupid and inept and about 90 minutes too long. But hey, it's Russell, which often means many of the aforementioned adjectives. I prefer Lair of the White Worm.

Yeah, Gothic is sadly quite bad in too many areas to be an enjoyable mess. I really wish it was much better.
That weird thing riding the horse was quite cool though.

Lair Of The White Worm is a lot of fun, underrated actually.

I saw Ms 45 recently. I saw someone else lump it in with horror, so I'll do it here. It's a bit straightforward but Zoe Lund really makes the film, she looks incredible. The idea of a mute person suffering like that is quite interesting/horrible.

It has an adorable cutie little doggie too.

The idea of a mute person suffering like that is quite interesting/horrible.

This movie was sooooo much better than this poster art.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQwMjczODAyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDA5NjQyMQ@@._V1_SY317_CR1,0,214,317_AL_.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dc/Mute_Witness_DVD_Cover.jpg/330px-Mute_Witness_DVD_Cover.jpg

The first half of it was.

I'd love to see more of these shows on tv because I'm reluctant to splash out on box sets after Thriller. I haven't seen many of these on tv and when I do they are usually horrendously dull, so I probably wouldn't tune in regularly.

You're generally right, but go Netflix the episode "The Weird Tailor" right now and thank me later.

No need for Netflix, I still have my Thriller box set. I don't use Netflix because the UK selection is very poor and probably wouldn't have Thriller.
I'll report back after I watch it.

I just watched it. Pretty good. I see that Asylum also has a version of that story.
But I don't get why the blind woman let the father meet the car dealer when she disagreed with what they were doing, only trying to prevent it later on.

I'm going to be short on money for quite a while and horror films are going to be lower priority. So I'll probably be on the animation snob thread more talking about stuff from youtube. But I'm still quite eager to buy House Of Laughing Windows.

But I'm still quite eager to buy House Of Laughing Windows.

^^ you totally should. way up there as one of my favourite giallo-ish movies on par with 'footprints on the moon' and 'a quiet place in the country'

Cool, thanks for the further titles I'd never heard of.

Footprints... is very very good indeed. I'd rank it higher than House With Laughing Windows, but still recommend both. Don't know A Quiet Place... but the imdb entry looks very promising.

Anyone seen the Japanese film Môjû (aka Blind Beast)? A friend was watching it recently, it sounds awesome: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140384/reference

It is really good. I haven't read the Rampo book yet but it has a whole second half that the film version doesn't.

blind beast is awesome, though the pervy creep factor is v high

that "though" might actually = "because"

Footprints... is very very good indeed. I'd rank it higher than House With Laughing Windows, but still recommend both. Don't know A Quiet Place... but the imdb entry looks very promising.

^^ 'footprints...' is prob my fav of those three. and if you're into this fractured mind/paranoia sort of giallo you might also try 'the perfume of the lady in black', if you haven't already. i'm sure there must be better examples along those lines and i wouldn't rank it very high, but it's still worth.

I dunno if it counts as horror - I guess it's more of a sci-fi action flick? - but man The Hidden is great