I would like to start the Undisputed Horror Movie Hall of Fame. 

As we've seen, there is an enormous range of opinions on this site about what constitutes great horror.  And that's a good thing.  I enjoy our discussions of the merits of a film and our disagreements on even the existence of said merits. And I get it that overrated does not equal bad.

But I'd like to start a list of films that we all agree are great.  Even if just one person says "nay" , that removes the movie from the list. We all have to like it or it's not indisputable.  Don't worry about the ones your undecided on--someone else will probably "nay" it anyway.  But if you "nay" a movie, you have to give a explanation, but the "Nay" still stands regardless--"undisputed" is either "undisputed" or it's not--and that is indisputable.

I start with saying The Descent is a great horror movie.

Any Nays?

K, I'm putting The Descent on my Netflix queue right now...the premise looked a little iffy to me but I'm seeing too many praises of this film on this site to ignore it any longer.

I'm going to nominate the original "Dawn of the Dead" for a share of this title.

Hall of Fame so Far:

Dawn of The Dead (original)

The Descent

Hmm. This is tough, because I didn't like The Descent. But on the other hand, I can understand why other people like it. How does that work? I don't want to nay a movie that everybody else likes so much.

I'm nominating John Carpenter's The Thing (one of my personal faves)

I'm going with a personal fave too: Re-Animator (1985)

Hall of Fame so Far:

Dawn of The Dead (original)

The Descent--what's it gonna be Pastor?

Re-Animator

The Thing (Carpenter's)

I have to nominate Halloween (the original)

The Creeping Flesh... classic

House on Haunted Hill

The legend of Hell House

noone wants to be the first to kick out someone else's fave...so I'll make it easy on someone who wants to use their boot...I nominate um.."The Blob" remake.

So we have 9 movies that are without a challenge?  hmmmm

The Blob-remake

The Creeping Flesh

Dawn of The Dead (original)

The Descent

Halloween (original)

The House On Haunted Hill

The Legend of Hell House

Re-Animator

The Thing (Carpenter)

House on haunted hill (1959) or (1999)? If it's 99 I nay that one. I would like to nominate The Howling  (1981) and a personal favorite of mine Fright Night. 

well, I'll do it then...I nix my own suggestion of "the Blob".

Seriously...Jaws has to be on this list.  No movie has made people scared to go to summer camp, check into a motel, go trick or treating, or that they were going to be demon possessed...but a movie has made people scared of swimming in the ocean.

sorry guys, I'm naying the descent. It good and all but it certainly doesn't belong with the likes of the Thing, Halloween, Dawn and Re-animator. But y'know what does? Evil Dead.

I'm going to nominate Night of the Living Dead, so now we have:

The Creeping Flesh

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Evil Dead

Fright Night

Halloween

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Night of the Living Dead (original)

Re-Animator

The Thing (Carpenter's)

I'll nominate "Near Dark".

second that.

H-O-M-E-R mispronounce it and I wouldnt wanna be you.

I nominate The Omen (1976) and Freaks

agreed

now, how about the original Psycho AND American Psycho

yes - one of the excellent quotes to come out of this thoroughly creepy, enjoyable movie

So our Undisputed Hall of Fame expands to this seventeen movies:

American Psycho

The Creeping Flesh

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Evil Dead

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Psycho

Re-Animator

The Thing (Carpenter's)

And nayed were: The Blob (remake) and The Descent

naying American Psycho, based on the fact that A) the movie was nowhere near as good as the book and B) The movie was nowhere near as good as the other 16 in this list. And where the hell is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? And A Nightmare on Elm St? I nominate them both!

My fav ---> the beyond

Wow this is really opening it up to alot.

I also nominate Phantasm cuz i just rewatched it for the first time in a few years and damn that movie is so underrated!

LtAWM

Oh and I would agree that House on Haunted Hill would have to be the original....other wise no.

Is the Omen the new one or the original?  I didnt see the new one so I have no opinion on that suject but you should still differaniate (sp?).

tways: dude, the blob was a great film....dont second guess yaself!  I renominate it!

Cheers!

LtAWM

I would also like to nay American Psycho for the same reasons as Horrorshowpony: great book, good movie but not hall of fame quality.

There are so many movies that deserve to be on this list but for the sake of contributing, here are a few:

I nominate An American Werewolf in London, The Hidden, Dead and Buried, and The Wicker Man (original).

http://www.rejecttheherd.net/blog/citizen-irene/month-october-beautiful-time-year

ya know i really cant see everyone agreeing on all these movies!  Its awesome but it just doesnt seem possible...

I gotta re-nay the Blob (remake).  It was bad thus my nominating it sarcastically...I personally enjoy "bad" movies but there's no way it can go on a list with some of these movies.

UNDISPUTED GREAT HORROR FILMS

American Werewolf in London

The Beyond

The Creeping Flesh

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Dead and Buried

Evil Dead

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

The Hidden

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Phantasm

Psycho

Re-Animator

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing (Carpenter's)

The Wicker Man (original)

And nayed were: The Blob (remake), The Descent.  and American Psycho

the exorcist?

sneaking a sequel in....Evil Dead 2

Man, i thought The Exorcist was on there already. Do we have a definitive list, Pump? Coz I'm gonna brew some strong coffee and watch all of these at some point hehe

Definitive list--so far

UNDISPUTED GREAT HORROR FILMS

American Werewolf in London

The Beyond

The Creeping Flesh

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Dead and Buried

Evil Dead

Evil Dead 2

The Exorcist

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

The Hidden

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Phantasm

Psycho

Re-Animator

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing (Carpenter's)

The Wicker Man (original)

And nayed were: The Blob (remake), The Descent.  and American Psycho

Cool. I'm likin that there's a few on there I havent seen yet

Hellraiser. Where's the Pinhead love? And Rosemary's Baby.

I was gonna say The Car or Return of the Aliens the Deadly Spawn. Both faves in my book.

oooh...I gotta nix these.  Though I've personally enjoyed both films...indisputable??  I can't see these in there with the rest of the list.

Damn.  Horrorshowpony beat me to it.  I was gonna say Hellraiser.  lol

Carrie. We gotta get some Stephen King in here. Ooohh, and IT.

sorry, but I'm going to have to vote "nay" on "Rosemary's Baby"

overacting, predictable, and somewhat melodramatic

poorly fleshed out protagonist, and one of the worst "supernatural sex" scenes I've ever seen (IMHO)

I would like to nominate "The Exorcism of Emily Rose"

A feeling of dread and evil pervaded the film from begining to end, and the uplifting, yet tragic conclusion helped to reinforce the film's realism.

I agree.

Nay to Rosemary's Baby, and yes to The Exorcism of Emily Rose

I liked Exorcism of Emily Rose a lot, but to me it's not an Indisputable. Now, Carrie, that's a great call. That's an Indisputable, indisputably 

 Call me odd, but I have not cared for most of Stephen King adaptations.

The Mist was better than average, Kubrik's The Shining was unrelenting in its tension, but flawed on many levels, and It.....the papier mache spider had me rolling on the floor.

Carrie was OK, but I did not think it was "great"; above average compared to a lot of the other drivel produced at the time, but......

If I were to nominate a Stephen King film for this list, it would have to be the short "Mother", from the short story in his Night Shift collection.

{Sorry, couldn't find a link, and the last time I saw it was PD (pre-dvd)...}

but being that it was only a 12 min. short, I don't think it qualifies for this list.

Oh, don't even get me started on Stephen King. I can't stand the guy's stuff, either in writing or, normally, on film. But I love Carrie, for reasons that may some day become clear if I ever finish writing my ponderous review of it. There's more to that movie than meets the eye. But even what meets the eye is impressive. The whole drenched-in-blood thing, that creepy wide-eyed stare, Carrie wandering dazed down the street, trailing burning buildings behind her...maybe you should watch it again if you haven't seen it lately to remind yourself just how much contemporary horror owes to that movie.                                                                  Or maybe not. I'm not saying you don't have a right to your opinion, but...well, I'll put it this way: I'm not a huge fan of Psycho, but I'd never deny that it's a great and hugely influential horror movie.

so our indisputable list is now:

UNDISPUTED GREAT HORROR FILMS

American Werewolf in London

The Beyond

Carrie

The Creeping Flesh

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Dead and Buried

Evil Dead

Evil Dead 2

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcist

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

Hellraiser

The Hidden

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

It

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Phantasm

Psycho

Re-Animator

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing (Carpenter's)

The Wicker Man (original)

And nayed were: American Psycho, The Blob (remake), The Car, The Descent, Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn, Rosemary's Baby 

correct?  or are you naying something Bob?  or just bashing King movies?

Not naying anything, or bashing King movies, per se......

I just feel that he does not translate well from page to screen, and the movies seldom live up to the hype....

Salem's Lot kept me up nights after rteading it, the film put me to sleep.

I would like to nominate a King flick, though.....The Dark Half....

The acting was good, the characters were not caricatures, and it had several scenes that scared the crap outta me

so our indisputable list is now:

UNDISPUTED GREAT HORROR FILMS

American Werewolf in London

The Beyond

Carrie

The Creeping Flesh

The Dark Half

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Dead and Buried

Evil Dead

Evil Dead 2

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcist

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

Hellraiser

The Hidden

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

It

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Phantasm

Psycho

Re-Animator

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing (Carpenter's)

The Wicker Man (original)

And nayed were: American Psycho, The Blob (remake), The Car, The Descent, Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn, Rosemary's Baby 

I have to nominate Alien and Aliens so we have:

UNDISPUTED GREAT HORROR FILMS

Alien

Aliens

American Werewolf in London

The Beyond

Carrie

The Creeping Flesh

The Dark Half

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Dead and Buried

Evil Dead

Evil Dead 2

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcist

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

Hellraiser

The Hidden

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

It

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Phantasm

Psycho

Re-Animator

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing (Carpenter's)

The Wicker Man (original)

And nayed were: American Psycho, The Blob (remake), The Car, The Descent, Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn, Rosemary's Baby 

I'm naying Exorcism of Emily Rose.  And I'll tell you why.  I can forgive a lot of things in horror and I can also forgive movies that are not horror but have horrific elements.  But Exorcism of Emily Rose was advertised purely and strictly as a horror movie.  It is not a horror movie.  It is a courtroom drama with a couple of horror flashbacks.  I'm not saying I didn't like it, but I will say I felt like I was promised a movie I wasn't given when I saw it.

To me, I felt that whatever Demon lived inside King fled at some point.  It may be as simple as he lost his edge as he got older and fatter and wealthier.  I loved his early stuff: Carrie, The Shining, Salem's Lot, The Stand, etc--his later stuff became a little hit or miss in my opinion.I thought what he did that was so great was his characters--he actually created characters that you liked and then fucked them up, instead of just fucking up cardboard characters that you don't really care about or you're actually glad to see  killed--modern film-makers and writers can still learn that lesson. Maybe it was getting run over by the van that caused him to mellow (it sure caused him to fuck the dark tower stories up), but I think he was already changing. 

 I can't blame him for the movies--he just wrote the books, but I will give him complete credit for being the driving force behind making Horror popular and marketable again and allowing Horror writers to actually make a living at their craft. 

It reminds me of something Elvis Costello said in an interview when asked why he didn't write angry songs anymore.  He said, "I used to write angry songs when I was an angry young man--now I'm a rich old happy fat man, so I write happier songs now."

That's exactly the way I felt about The Village.

UNDISPUTED GREAT HORROR FILMS

Alien

Aliens

American Werewolf in London

The Beyond

Carrie

The Creeping Flesh

The Dark Half

Dawn of The Dead (original)

Dead and Buried

Evil Dead

Evil Dead 2

The Exorcist

Freaks

Fright Night

Halloween

Hellraiser

The Hidden

The House on Haunted Hill

The Howling

It

Jaws

The Legend of Hell House

Near Dark

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night of the Living Dead (original)

The Omen

Phantasm

Psycho

Re-Animator

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing (Carpenter's)

The Wicker Man (original)

And nayed were: American Psycho, The Blob (remake), The Car, The Descent, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn, Rosemary's Baby 

What King did was move horror away from its short-story roots into full-length novel form, which I've never felt it is suited for. But even at that, I've just never liked his writing. There's just no there there. Unlike, say, Poe, his horror is a mile wide and a half inch deep. Like you, I read all his early novels (except, interestingly enough, Carrie), mostly because my friends told me I should be loving them, but, well, I really didn't. I also agree that he lost whatever he had as he went along, which is why I won't even give later stuff like It or The Tommyknockers a chance. (I realize you only said his later stuff was hit or miss, but I think, based upon the bits and pieces I've seen, that it all looks pretty worthless.)

WELL!

Yeah lol. He lost his touch. It makes me sad :(

You know Pastor, Carrie's actually very interesting since you mention you dont think horror should be in novel form.  See, Carrie's structured as a series of newspaper clippings, excerpts from Sue Snell's book, police reports, etc.  So in a manner of speaking, it is kinda a short story collection...just all telling a greater story.  Very interesting.

heh.....nothing personal...

Yeah, same here. I hope nobody takes offense at me voicing my opinion. It's just my opinion and I respect others' opinions here that may not--probably don't--agree with mine.

I think we ALL know that horror in general is just a matter of opinion, and that goes for everything and everyone involved. That's why these forums are here. So that we can discuss things and give our opinions. I don't think anyone meens to offend anyone!

Everybody chill!

:D

OK, I'll go along with that, however......

1}Is a movie ever what it is advertised as?

2}Aren't the best horror films stories about mundane topics with horrific elements? ie The Thing - a scirntific station in the Antarctic, w/out the alien, is pretty boring

1) Some are.  See, if you watch the trailer for...say...The Thing.  (since you mentioned it)  If you watch it, it starts with a shot of the words The Thing with the sound of them radioing about finding something in the ice.  It then talks about something hiding inside people, something hidden away.  You see shots involving paranoia, bizarre effects, etc.  That is exactly what it is.  (Visual aid).  Now this is the trailer for Exorcism of Emily Rose.  In 2 minutes and 32 seconds, there are 4 that take place in a courtroom and one mention of the word "trial".  The rest occur in a manner quite similar to the original Exorcist.  Someone asking other people questions about what happened/whats happening to a girl.  And visual imagery of strange things that happened to the girl.  There is a single screen that says "Witness the story", thus implying the primary thing in this movie is that you're witnessing her exorcism and possessed actions.  Maybe I'm wrong, as its been a few years since I saw it.  But all I know is, I remember this movie was mostly about the trial and not as much about flashbacks to horriffic possession and exorcism.  That's my problem with that.  I'm not saying its not a GOOD courtroom drama, I'm saying its more of one than the other, and that's why it shouldnt