The Horror Thread

[Rocketman]

Alright, what's the Best Horror Series/Franchise of all-time?

Remakes count. And try your best to judge them by being somewhat consistently good in terms of the sequels being good. It's easy to say that Freddy and Michael and Jason are the best/biggest franchises, but do their sequels make them the best series?

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Hellraiser
Child's Play
The Exorcist
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Evil Dead
George A. Romero's "Dead" Saga
Children of the Corn
Alien
Psycho
Saw
Hostel
Final Destination
Paranormal Activity
Scream
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Re-Animator
Amityville Horror
Poltergeist
Lepracaun
Candyman
The Omen
Resident Evil
Hatchet
Jeepers Creepers
The Howling
From Dusk Till Dawn
Urban Legend
Pumpkinhead
Puppet Master
Wishmaster

 

[66 Face]

Pretty easy for me. Frankenstein... the Universal movies are great and then you have the Hammer movies that flip it around. They make Dr. Fankenstein the threat and pretty much make The Reanimator of that era. IMO there are about 7 or 8 strong Frankenstein movies.

Ft13 is pretty good too. I think 1-4 are very strong and then come back with 6 and 7 being nice additions.

There have been some pretty good Dracula and Mummy movies but they start getting lame at about the five count.

Alien has about 4. I really only hated part 3.

Halloween, the Romero Dead and the Evil Dead movies have about 3.

 

[66 Face]

There's making changes to update or improve the movie, and then there's making changes just for the sake of making changes. The changes made in John Carpenter's version of The Thing were improvements. So were the changes made in the 1970's remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. The changes Rob Zombie made to Halloween felt like changes for the sake of making changes.

The Psycho remake you mentioned wasn't a very good movie because it was too slavishly loyal to the original. Rob Zombie's Halloween was total crap because it strayed too far from the original. To remake a movie and have it turn out to actually be good, you have to strike a good balance. Both Rob Zombie and the people who made Psycho failed to do so.

I didn't mind the Zombie Halloweens that much because its the same basic story and pretty much the same mask. The thing that I didn't like about those movies was that it gave away to much about MM. I don't need to know everything about the killer. To be honest I think the more that gets revealed the less scary he becomes. Every single character was unlikable too.

I don't really like remakes at all. The Thing, Maniac and maybe the first ten mins of Ft13th are about all I really like. Does Cape Fear count?

 

[Rocketman]

David Cronenberg's The Fly is the best remake of all-time, in my honest opinion. Carpenter's The Thing comes in a close, close second. Really, they're pretty much equal in my eyes.

And sue me, but I think the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was really great and quite under appreciated. Jackie Earle Haley was fantastic in that role, and he totally made it his own.

 

[Victarion]

From Dusk Till Dawn. I haven't seen it yet, but Stephen King had vampires and gunslingers in his Dark Tower novels, which I enjoyed. DtD has to be more entertaining than the other films on your list. Of those I have seen, I didn't especially like any of them that I'd say they were the best. Of the horror films I have seen, I'm still a fan of the Silent Hill franchise.

 

[Heretic]

I liked the Hills Have Eyes remake more than the original.

I hear a lot of people liked Dawn of the Dead...but my theater experience of that movie was tainted. The theater started the movie with the end scene...and by the time the audience figured out what was going on, the credits were rolling...they then stopped the film and started it over...but the opening 10 minutes or so had no sound for some reason. By the time it all clicked, I was checked out of the film completely.

 

[Matt Mortem]

David Cronenberg's The Fly is the best remake of all-time, in my honest opinion. Carpenter's The Thing comes in a close, close second. Really, they're pretty much equal in my eyes.

And sue me, but I think the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was really great and quite under appreciated. Jackie Earle Haley was fantastic in that role, and he totally made it his own.

All of this is correct

 

[Venom75]

Being a HUGE Freddy fanatic I have to say that I thought the remake was ok. Certainly not as great as parts 1 and 3,but not as horrible as Freddy's Dead. The biggest problem with the remake was the lack of imagination. The deaths and dream sequences were all uninspired and really lacked any creativity. Most of the film just re-did classic moments from the original(and did it badly). I thought Jackie did well,but didn't have that same menace as Robert Englund had in the first 3 films. His Freddy wasn't as hidden in the shadows and mysterious as Englund's in the original. I do really love that classroom scene with Kris though("You really shouldn't fall asleep in class...). My ranking for the series go like this:

1. (A tie) Nightmare on Elm Street and Nightmare on Elm Street 3....I can't decide which one I like more. The original was the scarier and darker of the two,but part 3 was also creepy and had the best effects and was the perfect combination of horror and dark humor. Both movies: 5 out of 5 stars

2. Elm Street 4:The Dream Master... True,this film is the one that turned Freddy into a comedian and pop culture icon,and it lost all traces of being a horror film. However,it was the most entertaining of the series. It also had the best effects and deaths(including Krueger's.). 4 out of 5 stars.

3. Elm Street 2:Freddy's Revenge... I used to dislike the movie,but it's really grown on me in recent years.Love the score and Freddy's look. Plus,it's the first elm street film I saw and got in into horror in the first place. So,it holds a special place.3 out of 5 stars.

4. Freddy vs. Jason... Honestly,the characters and acting are horrible. The film is what I'd like to call "dumb fun." But the ending fights between Freddy and Jason make the entire film worth it. I just wish a sequel would've gotten made. 3 out of 5 stars.

5. New Nightmare... A wonderful idea,but badly put to screen,imo. There are some great scenes in the film and I know most people love it,but I just found it a bit boring. 2 and 1/2 out of 5 stars.

6. Elm Street 5:The Dream Child... Alot like my review for New Nightmare. A good idea,I think,but it didn't really come together. Some great deaths though. I remember reading at the time that with this movie they wanted to make Freddy dark and scary again. But to me he was still just as goofy as ever.2 out of 5 stars.

7. Elm Street(2010)...see my thoughts above. 2 out of 5 stars.

8. Freddy's Dead... This movie was freakin' horrible! A disgrace to the franchise. No scares or horror,too many jokes and a stupid plot and story. 1 out of 5 stars.

 

[66 Face]

David Cronenberg's The Fly is the best remake of all-time, in my honest opinion. Carpenter's The Thing comes in a close, close second. Really, they're pretty much equal in my eyes.

And sue me, but I think the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was really great and quite under appreciated. Jackie Earle Haley was fantastic in that role, and he totally made it his own.

Yup... The Fly was bad ass. Another one that gets no credit is The Blob. I beg anyone and everyone I see to go and see Maniac. Its one of the best horror movies I've seen in theaters in a long time.

I liked Haley too but thought he was the only good thing about the Elm St remake. I just hated the kids so much I could hardly watch the movie. I wanted to punch the screen every time the kid that looks like the dude from Green Day came on.

 

[Heretic]

Maniac, to me, was almost great. The flashback scenes (which broke the first person POV) were cliche' and needless. That...and...man the streets of one of the busiest cities in the world were awfully vacant whenever the killer needed them to be.

 

[bullets]

There were several things I liked about the remake of A Nightmare on Elm St. I think if they got the chance to make a sequel and ventured into their own territory it would of been good. I had no problem with making Freddy a molester. My main issues were that it was dull and some of the iconic moments they copied from the original fell completely flat. The cgi wallpaper Freddy was awful. It's a shame they ventured to close to the original. I loved some of the dream sequences and Jackie Earle Haley gave a good performance.


I can't really say what's the best horror franchise. I'm glad someone mentioned Frankenstein. I'd say Frankenstein would be a the top of my list. The next is NOES.

 

[def28]

Evil Dead remains my favorite series. Followed by Nightmare On Elm Street and Romero's Dead series.

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

1.) NoES
2.) F13
3.) Evil Dead
4.) Halloween
5.) Romero's "Dead" Movies
6.) Saw
7.) Child's Play
8.) Scream
9.) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
10.) Final Destination
11.) Hostel
12.) Paranormal Activity

That's all I can list now, I haven't seen enough of the sequels of movies to rank them franchise wise.

I wouldn't list Alien only because the first film is the only horror film to me. Aliens is action, Prometheus and Alien 3 weren't scary, and Alien 4 is horrible.

 

[66 Face]

Maniac, to me, was almost great. The flashback scenes (which broke the first person POV) were cliche' and needless. That...and...man the streets of one of the busiest cities in the world were awfully vacant whenever the killer needed them to be.

I get what you're saying but I let some stuff go when I watch a movie. The perfect movie will never be made so I don't sweat the small stuff.

I would have loved to have seen Psycho handled in that POV manner.

I would rather ask here than the Evil Dead thread. What did you guys think about the remake? I loved the gore but the movie falls flat for me a little bit. It reminded me of the Dawn of the Dead remake. Its not bad but just call it something else.

 

[Donnie Darko]

I REALLY liked the Evil Dead remake. Evil Dead 2 is easily my favorite in the series, but I would say te remake is right there in the mix with ED and Army of Darkness for me.

 

[Ipodman]

Since we are talking about horror remakes, can I say that the Wolfman remake with Del Toro is totally boring, uninspired and just plain horrible. The Jason and Freddy remakes look like masterpieces next to this new Wolfman

 

[GENERAL RAAM582]

I actually kinda liked that one.

 

[Heretic]

Regarding Evil Dead:

First, I have no real love for the originals. I didn't see them until recently and always viewed them as the hipster choice for Horror...mostly by people that probably never watched them.

The new version is post-Cabin In The Woods...and you simply can't get away with some of the lazy crap from the past anymore. The first 20 minutes are painful to watch as the characters say something like "Hello to my lifelong friend, who is a nurse...and I see that you brought our other friend who is a teacher" and then just leave that as the extent of your character building. Cabin In The Woods was a call to action...STOP WITH THE LAZY WRITING AND CLICHES! Fortunately, the movie eventually got violent and bloody...but it was not anything I feel was in the upper echelon of Horror films.

 

[Teelie]

I saw the originals back before it was hipster fodder. I've been a fan of them for years but you are right that now it is cliched and the story element felt light. The remake was more focused on how to gore everyone up than to tell about the Deadites and what the literal hell they were up to.

I still liked the movie but not as much as I was hoping and it was more or less a big budget adaptation of Evil Dead that lacked the feel of the originals.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I Think it's a bit wrong to call the original Evil Dead series hipster films. They're popular horror films, and while not top tier like the Elm Street and other well known series, they still have a lot of genuine fans. I has never heard of them until I was 13, and someone on a horror forum recommended them, and that was 11 years ago, so if there was some ED hipster movement, it's been in the last couple years.
And I love all 3 of them. Plus Bruce Campbell is really cool in person.

 

[redhawk23]

Seriously in what way are the Evil Dead films "hipster fodder."

If anything is a hipster its the "I liked these movies before they were cool" attitude you're displaying.

 

[Teelie]

I didn't say they were, Heretic did. A hipster is someone who likes something ironically and does so to be different while missing the fact they are themselves following a trend. I genuinely liked the movies and I never followed the trend. I meant I liked them before the hipster fad came about, not "before the movies were cool" since the movies came out when I was an infant.

Boo hoo if I said the remake failed to live up to the originals.

Get off your defensive high horse before you fall off it, seriously.

 

[Piper Maru]

What do you guys think about John Carpenter's The Fog? It's one of my favorite movies.

 

[Teelie]

The original or remake? I liked both although I haven't seen either in years. The original is usually held up as the better one though.

 

[redhawk23]

I didn't say they were, Heretic did. A hipster is someone who likes something ironically and does so to be different while missing the fact they are themselves following a trend. I genuinely liked the movies and I never followed the trend. I meant I liked them before the hipster fad came about, not "before the movies were cool" since the movies came out when I was an infant.

Boo hoo if I said the remake failed to live up to the originals.

Get off your defensive high horse before you fall off it, seriously.

What does that have to do with anything?
What does the new movie have to do with ironic non-enjoyment?

A great many people have like the Evil Dead films for a long time. It may not be as well known as some others but its hardly some obscure franchise.