You also get to see Britt Ekland romp around naked.

yay another thread to recommend Martyrs in I bet it will scare some of you guys!

Yep this and inside who knew the French could make horror.

Amber (or anyone)

Did you check out the links? I was interested in your thoughts on Dom's and my selections.

I didn't see most of the ones on your list, but some that I have seen that I definitely agree with are Rosemary's Baby (one of the best ever), Psycho, and Night of the Living Dead. I saw Cat People and didn't think it was that scary. I might check out some of the others mentioned as well. I am going to check out Dom's thread next.

I agree with some of Dom's but am a little confused by his choice of Sixth Sense. No doubt, it was a great movie, but he discluded some because he didn't consider them horror. I personally wouldn't consider Sixth Sense horror at all, but that's just me.

Carrie, The Last House on the Left, The Shining, Halloween and The Exorcist, definitely agree.

Not so much on Re-Animator or The Omen, I didn't find them scary at all. Re-Animator did make me laugh though.

All time scariest for me would be a toss up between Halloween (original) and the Strangers, I think.

That was "Amelia."

Check out “the devils backbone” I wouldn’t call it a horror film more of a ghost story but one of the best ones.

The best horror movies I can think of the ones id recommend to some one who doesn’t particularly like horror.
The haunting
Evil dead
A nightmare on Elm Street
Night of the living dead
Day of the dead
The Thing
Night of the hunter : which doesn’t feature any supernatural element and is arguably some other genre but is still scary and tense
Phycho

I was very happily surprised by "Splinter," a movie about an unusual type of monster. It's still on Netflix instant-watch, I think. Very much recommend.

Is it scary/suspense or is more scary/comedy? I can't tell from the title which one to expect...

Straight scary.

Splinter was pretty freaky. I liked it.

Oooo...I'm excited. I haven't seen a GOOD straight scary movie in awhile...

Pretty fun and I love seeing new ideas. They're a rarity.

+1...and it especially seems to be true of horror/scary movies. Do you think that there's really only a limited number of situations that are frightening? Or it's just laziness on the part of screenwriters/producers/Hollywood etc.? Or it's just really difficult to get a scary movie right?

-- Limited number of scary situations: Only limited by imagination IMO. If that girl you have a crush on in the second grade turns around at her desk and starts talking to you and smiles, you might be ready to pee in your pants. Yet who from the outside looking in would even think that could be scary in the first place? The psychology is the same, but the situations are infinite and just take an alert eye.
-- Lazy thinking by creators: Big part of it. But also you can be hard working but untalented/uncreative. No water to draw from the well. Plus everybody likes sequels and repeating stuff, cuz it's a safer bet.
-- Tough to get a scary movie right: Yeah, and almost as tough to care. So many look like the director and writer could barely be bothered.

I think the real problem is that fresh thinking is hard. And a bit unnatural. Horror tends to fall into patterns and it's hard to break out of your natural patterns of thinking. "This is a Jekylll & Hyde story"; "Ghosts can't make themselves solid and touch you."

That's why I rarely find anything but Asian horror scary anymore. Their cultural background gives them a different set of patterns. Their ghosts and monsters work differently, so they can still surprise me and keep me on edge. Horror works best when there is some uncertainty in it. But it's hard for westerners to keep surprising westerners, as we tend to think of possible new stories in terms of all the old patterns.

This is why I recommend people try out some Japanese or Chinese written horror too. Even the really old stuff can seem remarkably fresh, because it comes from a different background and set of assumptions.

When you get a chance, would you mind giving some recommendations of your favorites in Japanese and Chinese movies AND written horror...I've really only see the American remakes like The Ring and The Grudge so I've got no real experience with either genre...

I'm not well versed in Asian horror at this point, but I can say a few things to get your own wheels turning:

Kwaidan -- Criterion Collection has this movie out. I would like to hear commentary on it if I could. I only recall seeing the flick itself. Very atmospheric. This movie was taken from selections from a book of the same name by Lafcadio Hearn that I liked much more than the movie. It's an anthology type piece. He has written at least one more that I would like to check out too.

Onibaba -- Also on Criterion, this is a superior movie in every way IMO. Great psychology, scary, and absolutely mesmerizing overall texture and feel due to fantastic photography, editing, and sound. Interesting and likable actors, interesting moral questions, that wonderful grittiness of older Japanese period dramas. I would be surprised if most women wouldn't like this one a lot, because the main characters are strong and interesting women.

A Chinese Ghost Story is pretty universally raved about.

I've already recommened Ju-on quite highly. The Japanese version, not the American remake.

The Eye is creepy and fun, and so is the first sequel. I think it has a million sequels by now.

There's a fun modern Japanese gangster/zombie flick that I liked a lot, but I forget the name and my searches are coming up blank ATM. I'll see if I can find it tonight. Began with a V or an X or Z ...grrr...

Tsui Hark made a movie called Green Snake, about two sister snake demons. It's at Netflix and Amazon.

I really loved Strange Tales from A Chinese Studio, by Pu Songling. Very highly recommended.

The Pantheon folktales collections are incredible. Here are two from them, which I haven't read, but intend to:

Japanese Tales

Chinese Fairytales and Fantasies

Note that the introductions to written Asian horror often help a great deal in understanding what's going on, especially if you are not familiar with traditional Asian customs or Confucian social ideas, so do read them, or at least give them a good skim. This is not to say the tales don't stand on their own, but context helps.

Eyes without a face is very good too. i think it's made by those frenchies

One of my favourite Hammers, and one of the few movies ripe for a remake given CGI technology, is 'The Devil Rides Out', with Christopher Lee playing a sympathetic role for a change. Not the scariest movie, but very entertaining.

Thanks very much Blarg...one follow-up question: all of your recommendations are subtitled and/or translated into English, right?

I seem to recall some Japanese flicks in the Criterion Colllection not having subtitles. Pretty much every Chinese or Thai movie has English subtitles these days though.

If possible, I'd recommend subtitles strongly, as always. The changes in English translations can be surprising, telling, and arbitrary.

The reading material is all in English. I've gotten mine from Amazon.

Not the scariest movie but the ice skating scene in curtains freaks me out big time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSNw_-SHkI

Cant ever watch this and have good nights sleep.

BLARG -

Why in the hell are they not trying to light this Splinter thing on fire? That's the first damn thing I try regardless of anything else...