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#im only a novice rn and im trying to read more books about it cause its so interesting. hoping everything i said was correct cause um
krimprim Β· 2 years
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what are some classic horror movies that you always recommend, and some more obscure ones that you love but don’t get a lot of attention? love your blog btw!
Got my first anon!! And it's super nice too 🀧 This is so lovely I'm really happy you asked.
I'm biased towards sci-fi horror and horror comedy's, but I've tried to give a bit of everything here. For classic ones I'd recommend? I'm taking some of my favourites from different eras so you can get a good feel for the changes horror went through. Noting here that I have not watched many movies from countries outside America, Australia and western Europe, just wanted to let you know in advance. Trying to fill out my horror repertoire between work and study πŸ’€ Also this is long lmao sorry not sorry.
For early stuff my favourites would be The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (the original horror film you could say, featuring my beloved Conrad Veidt), wonderful silent German expressionist horror from the 20s.
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On top of that I really loved Universal's 1925 adaption of The Phantom of the Opera ft Long Chaney and Mary Philbin. If you like that one I'd 100% recommend watching some documentaries on youtube about it cause it's really fun, Chaney bought the rights to the film himself as he really wanted to play Erik and adapt the story to screen. He did all his own makeup and stuff too it's great.
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Further down the track you have all the universal monster movies, I have unfortunately not watched them all yet but I really liked The Wolf Man, and have memories as a child seeing Creature from the Black Lagoon and enjoying it. This ties in to more obscure films I think more people should watch, but Them! also came out in this era and I love it so dearly. First horror movie I watched properly start to end, it's about giant mutant ants, and has a small cameo of Leonard Nimoy in one of his first roles :)
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Right after that in the 60s you have a big uptick in Hammer horror, which is where you get a lot of fun stuff (I can't give personal recs. I've only seen their phantom..which is good but like I'm embarrassed πŸ˜”). At the same time there was stuff like Rosemary's Baby (fuck Polanski) and Night of the Living Dead.
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Then there are the infamous slashers. There's a lot of them, and like the other stuff on the list it depends on what you like what you'll take to in a slasher. One of my favourites is Black Christmas (the progenitor of the slasher. idc about Psycho, Hitchcock can have nightmares about blonde women for eternity) which had a surprising nuanced look into things like abortion and critiques on classic relationship dynamics. I'm goofy though so I also like it because of the villain Billy Lenz. Goofiness is also why I adore Child's Play <3. The Original Texas Chain Saw Massacre I think is a good one to get to as well, interesting themes and even though the main characters aren't that deep I do really like Sally and Franklin. My favourite type of horror protagonists have always been family members, especially siblings. And again, if you're a fan of silly you should definitely watch its sequel, which is a horror comedy.
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Non slasher classics of the 70s/80s I recommend are Stepford Wives, The Thing, Suspiria, The Fly, Possession, The Lost Boys, Alien and Aliens, plus Evil Dead 1 and 2. They're all pretty well established here on Tumblr so there's not too much to say. I've watched the most films from this era if it isn't obvious haha.
By the time the 90s came around I feel like things got a bit all over the place, in a positive way. You got a bit of everything, though there was a bit of emphasis on horror movies becoming more "serious/gritty" compared to the slashers that came just before them. If I had to pick one film it would definitely be Candyman though. Tony Todd did an immaculate job and gave life to one of the most magnetic and charismatic horror villains ever. The movie is gorgeous and I adore the writing of it too.
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Runner up would be Silence of the Lambs, Clarice and Hannibal both get a big kiss on the lips from me <3
I'm not sure if it's been long enough to claim movies past the 2000s can be classics but I'll quickly list some ones I think are neat: Ginger Snaps, The Ring, [REC], Saw, Noroi, The Orphanage, Creep, I Saw The Devil, Get Out, Annihilation and His House.
I will try to be succinct for the obscure stuff (im not sure how obscure these are tbh but oh well) since I know this is getting really long lmao but here πŸ’•
Them!, as previously mentioned.
The Phantom of the Opera from 1989. Absolutely glorious and gorgeous slasher style take on the story. I love it a lot. Has Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame.
Basket Case 1, 2 and 3, got to these after watching Malignant and hearing them brought up several times in reviews. They're fantastic B horror and so lovingly made it hurts.
The Hitcher!!! The original of course, which is dripping with so much homoerotic subtext it's crazy. Rutger Hauer plays obsessive freaky man so well and I love him for it.
Stigmata starring Patricia Arquette and Gabriel Byrne. It is so of its time in terms of the editing, pacing and music that I couldn't help but adore it. Suffers from unnecessary romance imo but still a great movie.
Event Horizon is thee absolute shit. Laurence Fishburne is my babygirl in every movie/show he's in and this one is no different. I was blown away watching it and my brother and I couldn't stop discussing it for like two hours after it finished haha. Hoping the director's cut will be released at some point cause I'm dying to watch it.
Joy Ride with Paul Walker. Got this one from a random horror movie generator. I still think about it a lot, there's something mesmerising about a movie with an evil truckie. I havent watched any fast and furious movies but the first one came out the same time as this so I like to pretend it's a prequel to it.
The Slumber Party Massacre remake and Slumber Party Massacre 2. The former for being one of the best remakes for horror I've seen and the latter for being batshit fun. The main villains weapon is an electric guitar drill idk what more you need.
That's enough I think, feel free to psychoanalyse me in the notes. Also if you ever want to send me a DM or another ask on or off anon or whatever that'd be fun, I don't bite :)
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