Horror Movie & Book Appreciation Thread

**Koga No Goshi** · 10-12-2008, 23:36

Since Halloween is right around the corner, and I didn't want to hijack the movie review thread way off topic, I wanted to create a thread for us to review/compare/suggest/praise good horror flicks.

Personally, I am a big fan of the apocalyptic style horror movies, more than slashers. Slashers have to be inordinately well-done to stand out, although I do enjoy them as well.

By apocalyptic I mean pretty much any scenario where civilization itself is threatened or overrun by some kind of threat. I like that atmosphere of tension and survivalism and how it makes the characters and the audience look at our society in a different light. (Side note, to illuminate what I mean... in a lot of American-setting apocalypse movies, everyone having guns becomes a threat.. other survivors shooting at you, etc. But then in UK flicks the acquisition of guns is typically a theme of the movie, since they're not as easy to come by.)

I will probably write more in-depth comments about these at some point, but a quick list of some of my favorites:

The Stand (novel). Terrific novel, but as usual with King stuff, the screenplay version wasn't up to snuff.

28 Days Later (movie). One of the finest horror movies made since the end of the 80's.

Dawn of the Dead (1979) (movie).

Dawn of the Dead (2004) (movie). I am probably one of the relatively few people who loved both the original and the "re-creation." I thought it adapted as needed to be more realistic in the modern day.

Sunshine (movie). Another Boyle flick like 28 Days Later, but even though the story was very different, the atmosphere felt the same, and the same sort of mass extinction threat was looming. Definitely had some good horror elements, without strictly being a horror movie.

World War Z (novel). One of the most "realistic style" books about an apocalypse scenario out there in the fiction world.

28 Weeks Later (movie.) I put this at the end of the list because I know the common consensus out there was that this movie was "horrid." The thing with me is, I almost NEVER see a movie within a couple months of it being released, so by the time I get around to seeing something, the hype has died down. And after listening to dozens of people saying how bad it was, maybe my expectations got ratcheted downwards, because I really loved this movie when I saw it. I would say it lacked the grit of the original but did an excellent job of continuing the storyline in a way I felt was plausible and close to what I would expect in real life.

**Rhyfelwyr** · 10-13-2008, 01:07

I thought "The Ring" movies were pretty creepy. I kept thinking that if I switched it off to go to bed the static would blare on...

**Ramses II CP** · 10-13-2008, 01:31

I haven't been impressed with very many horror movies, so for now I'll stick to books:

The Book of the Dead (& The Book of the Dead 2) are horror anthologies reflecting on the zombie theme. There are some excellent stories in these books, including a post-apocalypse zombie love story that I fondly recall to this day.

On the anthology kick, the Borderlands series of anthologies are brilliant, 'edgy,' (mostly) horror fiction. Borderlands 2 is by far my favorite, though I think it may be out of print now. The tale about the blow up sex doll serves as a mental guide for me every time I try to write something spare, elegant, and beautiful no matter it's subject. Bentley Little's first significant entry into the horror game is an almost comprehensible and quite horrible story about starting a new job in B2 as well.

The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum is a novel of genuine psychological horror (As opposed to the multitude of claimants to that title which are really just sad little trick 'twists' pulled from the stereotype drawer at the last minute) in which the character you identify with is gradually drawn into tolerating and perhaps even approving of an unimaginable game of torture and sadism without ever fully losing his likability. This novel has some elements in common with Lord of the Flies in that, if you're willing to gently stretch the archetypes, the children in it are all recognizably similar to childhood friends we all had, perhaps even to ourselves, and yet the things they are drawn to do... This is a horrible book that, if you enter unprepared for the realization that it's closely based on real events, might very well poison your mind and perceptions of your friends for a few days before the cloud clears. I recommend it to everyone.

The Damnation Game (Hope that title's okay, mods drop me a line if you want me to * it out) by Clive Barker is, IMHO, his most concise and well paced work. His writing is always very pretty and engaging, but his tendency to extreme wordiness overwhelms the beauty of his writing in later works, even ones I liked (The Great and Secret Show for example). This book, like so many of his, brings an odd sort of old world style to a novel detailing utter depravity in nearly all it's forms.

I also highly recommend every story H.P. Lovecraft wrote. They're free use now so there are places to download them for free if you're willing to read on a monitor. In particular Nyarlathotep and The Doom that Came to Sarnath are two of my favorites.

**Banquo's Ghost** · 10-13-2008, 07:37

The Fall of the House of Usher. Short story and the film.

It's the buried alive motif mainly, but also the concept of hearing every tiny scratch of the entombed.

**Beefy187** · 10-13-2008, 10:24

"Shutter" the original Thai version

I had my eyes close most of the time

**Fragony** · 10-13-2008, 16:11

Love the we are so screwed genre. Yay for zombie apocalypse or any. My favorite horror movie is probably Jacob's Ladder, so disturbing. As for books, not really my genre, I like these short stories but only when on a trip. But if I can recommend something really unique, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves

**Lemur** · 10-14-2008, 00:18

For some reason, I really enjoy horror flicks from other countries. For instance, I had a blast with Rec (since remade shot-for-shot and released in the U.S. as Quarantine). And I can't wait for the Swedish vampire flick, Let the Right One In. Any of our Euro Orgahs seen that one yet?