My all time favorite is Trilogy of Terror starring Karen Black. She has died but will not be forgotten. I watch these often, because they are so entertaining! This movie has 3 different stories and the last one (my favorite)was Karen Black with a Voodoo doll in her apartment. The doll loses the chain around him,which kept the spirit of someone imprisoned. Anyway the doll comes to life and chases her around the apartment. I saw this when I was a kid and it really did scare the hell out of me, had me looking under the bed for a long time!
Insidious By my own standards, I'd say I'm a rather jaded horror fan when it comes to these kinds of movies. I've seen gory, deprived, creepy, comedic and almost everything in between. It wasn't until I kept hearing about this sleeper title Insidious that everyone kept talking about that finally peeked my interest to see just what all the fuss was about. I rarely whence, or cringe at scenes but when it came to this movie I jumped several times throughout and had chills during certain parts of the movie. This movie gave me that old feeling again, like it did when I first started watching horror movies.
I've always loved Dark Night Of The Scarecrow because of the cornfield, small town, country atmosphere. It draws me in to the story
I'll go with another Karen Black classic: "Burnt Offerings." Saw it at a very young age and it really got under my skin. I think it was the son's death by chimney - he wasn't much older than I was at the time and I'd never seen a movie that would kill off a little kid. That and the roughhousing with dad that got out of control. My dad and I would play like that all the time and it was a scary idea that he might cross a line and actually try to hurt me.
The original A Nightmare on Elm Street. Freddy's schtick may be well known now, but I can only imagine how scary this must have been during its original theatrical run. The combination of slasher and supernatural elements works wonderfully. It's a truly iconic horror film that spawned a long-running franchise. This is such a wide-ranging category that there are plenty of runner-ups (or is it runners-up?): The Fog, Evil Dead 1 & 2, Fulci's City of the Living Dead aka The Gates of Hell (which I prefer over his more widely-acclaimed The Beyond), Halloween III, Paranormal Activity 1 - 3, and of course The Exorcist and The Omen.
Alison's Birthday, one of my quiet favorites. About a girl who is lured by a cult to have a body transfer. Joan Samuel was in Mad Max, definitely wanted to see more of her.
I have to go with Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem. Zombies best movie to date, and a complete mind fuck.
My favorite supernatural horror movie is definitely The Entity. While I think it shows some wear over the years the impact that it had on me as a child will forever remain.
I'm choosing The Blair Witch Project for a multiple of reasons, first it's one of the first found footage movies. Second the media campaign for this film was great, the mockumentary they made almost had me convinced that this film was real. And the third reason I picked this movie is just on first viewing this movie was very unique and made me believe in the characters and their plight. The actors brought a authenticity to their parts. The directors brought a fresh perspective to a genre that would become bogged down in endless entries and contrived concepts.
Have to go with the 1982 remake of Cat People. Me, my brother, and our Mom saw it when it was originally released. It has atmosphere, gorgeous scenery of New Orleans, and that both Malcolm McDowell's and Nastassha Kinski characters, Paul & Irena, must make love to each other, in order not to turn into a black cat. And when Paul makes an advance towards Irena, she doesn't think that Paul is her brother at all. I actually quite enjoy this movie, and actually revisited the movie just 2 weeks ago, and when it comes out in January 2014 on Blu-Ray, I'm going to purchase it. For me, this brings back memories of my mother, who was a horror fan, and my mom was the one that got me started on my love of horror films.
It's hard to pick a favorite, but if demon movies count, then Demons. The disgusting and inventive gore effects, soundtrack and Tony the Pimp make it highly rewatchable.
I'll go with Poltergeist. It's an effective ghost film, a fairy tale and a classic of the horror genre.
