[Movies R Me]

Raymond, you strike me as the most knowledgable and passionate horror film lover here, although there are others out there I have seen who know their stuff as well, you know who you are.

Raymond, can you provide what you consider to be your top 10 or so horror films with maybe a small blurb explaining what you like about those films.

I hate to dwell on the horror genre so much as I have recently, but I am researching films to possibly rent in the near future.

Thanks in advance.

[Deschain]

While we wait for our good man Raymond Casta to show up and inspire us with a great horror list I feel this is the most appropriate thread to mention that I just finished watching Return of the Living Dead for the first time and loved it! I am a huge fan of the zombie genre and am disappointed I did not see this sooner.

[dementia13]

Let's just hijack this thread while we're waiting for him. Isn't ROTLD an awesome movie? It's just fun, really a blast. Live brains!

[Raymond Casta]

Thanks. I love horror and cinema in general. There are quite a few people on here that are just as passionate as me. I was thinking about writing an essay on horror and what makes me feel so strongly about it, but I have to find the time to do so. It'd take me a while to finish and feel satisfied with. My list of favorite horror films vary from day to day, but I'll provide you with a few examples:

Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is, in my opinion, the greatest horror film ever made. A landmark piece of the genre. Released the same year, Bob Clark's Black Christmas is the slasher that predates Halloween, and rather than gore, it utilizes every detail to become an pyschologically unsettling stretch of a film. It's a movie that deserves to be seen by any fan of horror and filmmaking in general. It's that special of a film. John Carpenter's The Thing is one of my favorites for many reasons. For one, the special FX by Rob Bottin are unlike any the sci-fi/horror genre has ever seen before. Secondly, it's a genuinely frightening exercise in terror. Who is a Thing? It's the one question that looms over every scene, where the characters are at odds with each other because of that very question. One of the best endings to any film, which is so ambiguous and eerie, it's truly haunting.

Night of the Living Dead strikes me at my very core, in its existential nature and social commentary. Cannibal Holocaust is Ruggero Deadato's masterpiece. Opening stretch of the film is structured as a documentary, and we are faced with the question as to what happened to the four filmmakers who ventured to the Amazon to make a documentary on cannibalism. Deadato's themes are of man vs. man, and the film is more nuanced for the fact he asks "Who are the real savages?" shakes us in its disturbing and visceral imagery the genre has never seen as vividly. The mention to Deadato's film brings me to address Eurohorror, which consists of the "Giallo". To describe what a giallo is, it is a mixture of crime/mystery and horror with graphic violence. A giallo that helped create how America would form what would be called "slasher" is Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve, a gory and inventive mixture of violence and mystery. Dario Argento is the most well-known of Italian horror filmmakers. Among his work, I highly recommend watching the terrifying Suspiria before any of his other work.

Many people do not seem to understand my love for Murder-Set-Pieces, which is the definitive slasher film. Unlike Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, The Photographer is not a character to root for. He is a presence to dread, and a movie has not gone as deep into a serial killer's mindstate since Maniac and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Visually stunning in every sense of the word, it even allows us to compare it to works of Dario Argento because of how stylistic of a film this is, complete with the similar montages, the use of children, music, composition, camera-work, stylized gore, etc. The montages are The Photographer's meditations of how beautiful things can become so ugly at the drop of a hat. Subtlety exists in the montages, where we see that his perspective of the world is bleak and irredeemable. And the most challenging part of Palumbo's work is how he lowers us to this way of thinking, through the eyes of a serial killer. Why dismiss a film about its lack of characterization on the part of the victims? It is the way a serial killer looks at them, as objects, and The Photographer starts to target kids before he doesn't want them to grow up to objectify themselves and become a future block off of society. A groundbreaking confrontational horror.

Confrontational horror began in 1972 with Wes Craven's controversial film debut, The Last House on the Left. Many people look at it for its flaws (the goofy cops intercut with the brutality of the film), but I look at it as an ultimately draining emotional experience and it's one that nearly breaks me down in tears for its sad and bleak sense of defeat. Evil Dead 1 and 2, The Entity, The Shining, Last House on Dead End Street, and The Beyond are among my favorites.

[dementia13]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

[font=Arial]Confrontational horror began in 1972 with Wes Craven's controversial film debut, The Last House on the Left. Many people look at it for its flaws (the goofy cops intercut with the brutality of the film), but I look at it as an ultimately draining emotional experience and it's one that nearly breaks me down in tears for its sad and bleak sense of defeat.

You've really sold me on "Murder Set Pieces". I've had that in my Netflix queue for a while, but it's currently unavailable. I'll move that straight up to the top as soon as that changes. As for "Last House", yeah, not just the Keystone Kops but that goofy hippie jug-band music. I'm not sure if that's a stark contrast or an annoying distraction. That's a movie, when we watched it, my wife had to leave the room and cry. That's not for sensitivity to violence- she loved "Hostel" and "Audition"- but the way the characters are portrayed and cut down. You see these happy girls getting ready to start out on life, with parents planning an 18th birthday party, and then....nothing. "Like" is a tough word to use with a movie like that, but I wish more movies were that impactful.

[Raymond Casta]

Originally Posted by dementia13

You've really sold me on "Murder Set Pieces". I've had that in my Netflix queue for a while, but it's currently unavailable. I'll move that straight up to the top as soon as that changes. As for "Last House", yeah, not just the Keystone Kops but that goofy hippie jug-band music. I'm not sure if that's a stark contrast or an annoying distraction. That's a movie, when we watched it, my wife had to leave the room and cry. That's not for sensitivity to violence- she loved "Hostel" and "Audition"- but the way the characters are portrayed and cut down. You see these happy girls getting ready to start out on life, with parents planning an 18th birthday party, and then....nothing. "Like" is a tough word to use with a movie like that, but I wish more movies were that impactful.

The cops got on my nerves for a while, but in watching it again, I realized they were only an appropriate part of the film because of how frustrating they made it. If they would have only realized the car on the side of the road was Krug and company, they maybe would have even saved the girls. The suffering would not have continued, and they would have survived. It's a possibility, which makes the film more disturbing than it already is. There is powerful music by David Hess ("Wait for the Rain"), and when the film is contrasted by the use of the hippie music, it's effective. This music didn't have to be used as much, but when it is used over the stretch of the film where Krug is driving to the woods with the two girls in the trunk, it gives Krug and his gang a carefree aura. They don't care, in any way, about the girls and the music as jubilant as it is highlights their attitude. It's like they are having fun on a vacation. That's how I see it. Still, it's one of the few films that is not hurt by such distractions. If it wasn't so emotionally distressing and powerful, they would have hurt it.

[dementia13]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

The cops got on my nerves for a while, but in watching it again, I realized they were only an appropriate part of the film because of how frustrating they made it.

Bingo. So near, and yet so far. It would really have sucked if they'd shown up before the chainsaw work was done. At least there was some release. Without that, you would have had "Wolf Creek", which actually left me close to needing to take it out on somebody.

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

This music didn't have to be used as much, but when it is used over the stretch of the film where Krug is driving to the woods with the two girls in the trunk, it gives Krug and his gang a carefree aura. They don't care, in any way, about the girls and the music as jubilant as it is highlights their attitude. It's like they are having fun on a vacation. That's how I see it.

That's pretty much what I got out of it, that it was very ironic to have such good-timey music as the soundtrack for an orgy of violence.

[Raymond Casta]

Originally Posted by dementia13

Bingo. So near, and yet so far. It would really have sucked if they'd shown up before the chainsaw work was done. At least there was some release. Without that, you would have had "Wolf Creek", which actually left me close to needing to take it out on somebody.

It's great how Wes Craven decided for the cops to return to the scene right when the damage is already done. It was Craven's answer to the Vietnam war, and the ending resorts to a cold and empty carnage at the end on both sides of the coin: the family and the sadists that have murdered their daughter. In the remake Chaos, which was released last year and is one of the worst-reviewed films of all time, the Krug character is supposed to survive and the movie ends with him laughing over the screen when it fades to black finally. I'd like to see the film, which I heard was quite brutal and nasty, but I know I'd hate the ending because that is what I love most about the original. The road leads to nowhere...

[Deschain]

Hey RC. What do you think of The Exorcist and the original The Omen. I'm big on good vs evil so I love these two.

[Raymond Casta]

Originally Posted by Deschain

Hey RC. What do you think of The Exorcist and the original The Omen. I'm big on good vs evil so I love these two.

I, too, love the both of them. The Exorcist used to give me nightmares, in fact.

[Kagan]

I agree with you regarding Night of the Living Dead's nod to race issues, and I'm always glad to see someone recommend Suspiria. I think Texas Chainsaw Massacre definitely has some creepy moments near the end. I really can't get behind Last House, although I find the interviews and documentaries surrounding the movie to be far more fascinating than the movie itself. It really demonstrates why he ran headlong into harmless "joke" horror for the rest of his career. But I don't think the movie itself was that great.

I've resolved never to see M-S-P, mostly because of the spamming plant(s) that overran this forum months ago relentlessly pushing the film.

[Raymond Casta]

Originally Posted by Aram Fingal

It really demonstrates why he ran headlong into harmless "joke" horror for the rest of his career. But I don't think the movie itself was that great.

Maybe it simply boils down to the emotional impact, which is why I think the film is on top of its game. The interviews are fascinating, and the fact Craven disowned it because of its controversy and content is amazing because now, he stands behind it and realizes it's an ultimate reason he is who he is today.

I've resolved never to see M-S-P, mostly because of the spamming plant(s) that overran this forum months ago relentlessly pushing the film.

In other forums I frequent, mostly horror, the plants did the same thing there as they did on here. I wasn't around for the planting that was done here, but it was done by Frightflix street team and the man director Nick Palumbo hired had gotten fired because of giving the film a bad name. Nick apologized on many of the forums about him and he is a very nice guy, down to earth, and he always talks about horror movies with us.

[Metapharstic]

Originally Posted by Aram Fingal

I've resolved never to see M-S-P, mostly because of the spamming plant(s) that overran this forum months ago relentlessly pushing the film.

This is exactly what turned me off to Murder-Set-Pieces. Even when Palumbo apologized for the spamming, they just kept at it. Pathetic.

Curiosity finally got the best of me, though.

[Kagan]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

Maybe it simply boils down to the emotional impact, which is why I think the film is on top of its game. The interviews are fascinating, and the fact Craven disowned it because of its controversy and content is amazing because now, he stands behind it and realizes it's an ultimate reason he is who he is today.

Emotional impact is definitely a very subjective thing. I have to admit that I felt nothing for any of the characters in Last House. The general feeling of ineptitude and the ironic goofiness of the cop segments just pulled the teeth from the more serious parts of the film for me.

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

In other forums I frequent, mostly horror, the plants did the same thing there as they did on here. I wasn't around for the planting that was done here, but it was done by Frightflix street team and the man director Nick Palumbo hired had gotten fired because of giving the film a bad name. Nick apologized on many of the forums about him and he is a very nice guy, down to earth, and he always talks about horror movies with us.

Is it true that he's a Satanic maniac, or is that just breathless fanboy rumor? I read some article somewhere saying Nick Palumbo went berserk on the press, saying he had the power of the Devil behind him or something. No, wait, that was some other splatter movie. I forget now which one, but it was recent.

[Raymond Casta]

Originally Posted by Aram Fingal

Is it true that he's a Satanic maniac, or is that just breathless fanboy rumor? I read some article somewhere saying Nick Palumbo went berserk on the press, saying he had the power of the Devil behind him or something. No, wait, that was some other splatter movie. I forget now which one, but it was recent.

You are referring to Lucifer Valentine, who directed the "Vomit Gore" pic, Slaughter Vomit Dolls. If anything, the press and critics are the ones who went beserk on Nick, accusing him of a child molester and a sadist for the acts depicted in his film. I saw Slaugher Vomit Dolls and have spoken to the director, who is passionate about his film and doesn't hide how he is a Satanist and an Emotiphile.

[Kagan]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

You are referring to Lucifer Valentine, who directed the "Vomit Gore" pic, Slaughter Vomit Dolls. If anything, the press and critics are the ones who went beserk on Nick, accusing him of a child molester and a sadist for the acts depicted in his film. I saw Slaugher Vomit Dolls and have spoken to the director, who is passionate about his film and doesn't hide how he is a Satanist and an Emotiphile.

Yeah, that's the one. Thanks for reminding me.

I'm sure the press's attacks on Nick were good for his publicity, though.

[andarsoninflame]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

You are referring to Lucifer Valentine, who directed the "Vomit Gore" pic, Slaughter Vomit Dolls. If anything, the press and critics are the ones who went beserk on Nick, accusing him of a child molester and a sadist for the acts depicted in his film. I saw Slaugher Vomit Dolls and have spoken to the director, who is passionate about his film and doesn't hide how he is a Satanist and an Emotiphile.

I just bought this from a friend
What exactly am I in for Casta?

[Raymond Casta]

Originally Posted by andarsoninflame

I just bought this from a friend
What exactly am I in for Casta?

A bunch of surreal, nightmarish imagery, incredible gore FX, a sad central story of a girl and her addiction and dreams shattered, repetitive and annoying vomit sequences, and a film that is a bit too long at times. Still, talent shows in certain aspects. I just wished there was not as much vomit as there is, and it seems to much like a fetish video than a horror movie at a few different times.

[Atticus is HIGHLY TENSE]

I tell ya I will never understand the love for Last House on the Left. It wasn't scary, totally out of nowhere humor that fell flat on it's face, the villains were goofy which made them as threatening as a parakeet in a cage, and overall the whole movie is unbearably amatuer. All this hype about it being terrifying, Ebert giving it ***1/2 stars, the cover art on the DVD was most certainly misleading, and also WHERE WAS A HOUSE?? 1/10

[andarsoninflame]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

A bunch of surreal, nightmarish imagery, incredible gore FX, a sad central story of a girl and her addiction and dreams shattered, repetitive and annoying vomit sequences, and a film that is a bit too long at times. Still, talent shows in certain aspects. I just wished there was not as much vomit as there is, and it seems to much like a fetish video than a horror movie at a few different times.

Fetish, that turns me off a tad but I'll endure for nightmarish surrealism anyday

[Movies R Me]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

Thanks. I love horror and cinema in general. There are quite a few people on here that are just as passionate as me. I was thinking about writing an essay on horror and what makes me feel so strongly about it, but I have to find the time to do so. It'd take me a while to finish and feel satisfied with. My list of favorite horror films vary from day to day, but I'll provide you with a few examples:

Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is, in my opinion, the greatest horror film ever made. A landmark piece of the genre. Released the same year, Bob Clark's Black Christmas is the slasher that predates Halloween, and rather than gore, it utilizes every detail to become an pyschologically unsettling stretch of a film. It's a movie that deserves to be seen by any fan of horror and filmmaking in general. It's that special of a film. John Carpenter's The Thing is one of my favorites for many reasons. For one, the special FX by Rob Bottin are unlike any the sci-fi/horror genre has ever seen before. Secondly, it's a genuinely frightening exercise in terror. Who is a Thing? It's the one question that looms over every scene, where the characters are at odds with each other because of that very question. One of the best endings to any film, which is so ambiguous and eerie, it's truly haunting.

Night of the Living Dead strikes me at my very core, in its existential nature and social commentary. Cannibal Holocaust is Ruggero Deadato's masterpiece. Opening stretch of the film is structured as a documentary, and we are faced with the question as to what happened to the four filmmakers who ventured to the Amazon to make a documentary on cannibalism. Deadato's themes are of man vs. man, and the film is more nuanced for the fact he asks "Who are the real savages?" shakes us in its disturbing and visceral imagery the genre has never seen as vividly. The mention to Deadato's film brings me to address Eurohorror, which consists of the "Giallo". To describe what a giallo is, it is a mixture of crime/mystery and horror with graphic violence. A giallo that helped create how America would form what would be called "slasher" is Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve, a gory and inventive mixture of violence and mystery. Dario Argento is the most well-known of Italian horror filmmakers. Among his work, I highly recommend watching the terrifying Suspiria before any of his other work.

Many people do not seem to understand my love for Murder-Set-Pieces, which is the definitive slasher film. Unlike Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, The Photographer is not a character to root for. He is a presence to dread, and a movie has not gone as deep into a serial killer's mindstate since Maniac and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Visually stunning in every sense of the word, it even allows us to compare it to works of Dario Argento because of how stylistic of a film this is, complete with the similar montages, the use of children, music, composition, camera-work, stylized gore, etc. The montages are The Photographer's meditations of how beautiful things can become so ugly at the drop of a hat. Subtlety exists in the montages, where we see that his perspective of the world is bleak and irredeemable. And the most challenging part of Palumbo's work is how he lowers us to this way of thinking, through the eyes of a serial killer. Why dismiss a film about its lack of characterization on the part of the victims? It is the way a serial killer looks at them, as objects, and The Photographer starts to target kids before he doesn't want them to grow up to objectify themselves and become a future block off of society. A groundbreaking confrontational horror.

Confrontational horror began in 1972 with Wes Craven's controversial film debut, The Last House on the Left. Many people look at it for its flaws (the goofy cops intercut with the brutality of the film), but I look at it as an ultimately draining emotional experience and it's one that nearly breaks me down in tears for its sad and bleak sense of defeat. Evil Dead 1 and 2, The Entity, The Shining, Last House on Dead End Street, and The Beyond are among my favorites.

wow that is what i'm talking about with this guy. what a post.

[Movies R Me]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

You are referring to Lucifer Valentine, who directed the "Vomit Gore" pic, Slaughter Vomit Dolls. If anything, the press and critics are the ones who went beserk on Nick, accusing him of a child molester and a sadist for the acts depicted in his film. I saw Slaugher Vomit Dolls and have spoken to the director, who is passionate about his film and doesn't hide how he is a Satanist and an Emotiphile.

oh my word

[the_NatureBoy_WOOOOO]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

You are referring to Lucifer Valentine, who directed the "Vomit Gore" pic, Slaughter Vomit Dolls. If anything, the press and critics are the ones who went beserk on Nick, accusing him of a child molester and a sadist for the acts depicted in his film. I saw Slaugher Vomit Dolls and have spoken to the director, who is passionate about his film and doesn't hide how he is a Satanist and an Emotiphile.

OMG, Dear Mr. Lucifer Valentine, please get off the heroin, and check yourself into a mental hospital.

p.s. Isn't Marilyn Manson the devils right hand man?

[the_NatureBoy_WOOOOO]

After watching that preview of Slaughter Doll Vomits or whatever the hell its called, I actually want to become a christian. I have never felt as dirty as I do right now after watching that preview.


Seriously, Lucifer Valentine, GET OFF THE HEROIN!!

I'm going to try and call the Howard Stern show and recommend this freak as a guest. He would be a worthy edition of the whack pack. He could battle the homeless guy that thinks hes Jesus.

[std]

Originally Posted by Raymond Casta

You are referring to Lucifer Valentine, who directed the "Vomit Gore" pic, Slaughter Vomit Dolls. If anything, the press and critics are the ones who went beserk on Nick, accusing him of a child molester and a sadist for the acts depicted in his film. I saw Slaugher Vomit Dolls and have spoken to the director, who is passionate about his film and doesn't hide how he is a Satanist and an Emotiphile.

Didn't that guy post here about his film a while ago?

[the_NatureBoy_WOOOOO]

Originally Posted by atticus-alaric

I tell ya I will never understand the love for Last House on the Left. It wasn't scary, totally out of nowhere humor that fell flat on it's face, the villains were goofy which made them as threatening as a parakeet in a cage, and overall the whole movie is unbearably amatuer. All this hype about it being terrifying, Ebert giving it ***1/2 stars, the cover art on the DVD was most certainly misleading, and also WHERE WAS A HOUSE?? 1/10

Last House was the worst blind buy I've ever made.

[Metapharstic]

Originally Posted by the_NatureBoy_WOOOOO

After watching that preview of Slaughter Doll Vomits or whatever the hell its called, I actually want to become a christian. I have never felt as dirty as I do right now after watching that preview.


Seriously, Lucifer Valentine, GET OFF THE HEROIN!!

I'm going to try and call the Howard Stern show and recommend this freak as a guest. He would be a worthy edition of the whack pack. He could battle the homeless guy that thinks hes Jesus.

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was a hard movie for me to watch, seeing as that I have a pretty weak stomach for regurgitation. Having interviewed Valentine for a website I write for, the man is VERY serious about his work. It must be hard to defend a movie of this nature, but he does so in a very intelligent and articulate manner. While it may be easy for you to label him as a freak, I think you're way off the mark.

[andarsoninflame]

Originally Posted by Metapharstic

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was a hard movie for me to watch, seeing as that I have a pretty weak stomach for regurgitation. Having interviewed Valentine for a website I write for, the man is VERY serious about his work. It must be hard to defend a movie of this nature, but he does so in a very intelligent and articulate manner. While it may be easy for you to label him as a freak, I think you're way off the mark.

While he doesnt compare to Pasolini
thinking in comparison.. they are both artists who make hard to watch films for each of their Generations

[the_NatureBoy_WOOOOO]

Originally Posted by Metapharstic

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was a hard movie for me to watch, seeing as that I have a pretty weak stomach for regurgitation. Having interviewed Valentine for a website I write for, the man is VERY serious about his work. It must be hard to defend a movie of this nature, but he does so in a very intelligent and articulate manner. While it may be easy for you to label him as a freak, I think you're way off the mark.

When I read something as sick as this, its pretty hard to imagine him as anything else but a freak. When you promise to kill for satan, and raise your kids as satanists, that says something about your mental health. I'm sure guys like this have to be intelligent so the guys in white coats don't take them away.
http://www.slaughteredvomitdolls.com/pact.html

[Atticus is HIGHLY TENSE]

Originally Posted by the_NatureBoy_WOOOOO

Last House was the worst blind buy I've ever made.

Heh yeah, same here. I ended up taking it back, and got something else..... It was the Teen Wolf/TeenWolf Too double feature DVD which was what I was wanting to get along with Last House but lacked enough money. Go figure. Just too bad I had to have Teen Wolf Too attached to it. Kinda like buying a cancerous tumor.