Pretty straight forward topic: a discussion of what Horror film(s) you consider to be overrated.

By "overrated" I mean films that have obtained some form of notariety (critical acclaim, cult status, mainstream success, or horror film staple).  Also, note that 'overrated film' does not necessarily translate to 'bad film'.  Instead 'overrated' means that the movies hype did not live up to your expectations.

I will get the ball rolling. I have a feeling that some of my choices may be considered blasphemous.

5 Overrated Horror Films according to Electric_Lettuce:

1. The Exorcist - (1973) - When I was growing up people were always telling me this was THE Scariest movie.  By the time I watched it I was 14 ~1990. I was horribly let down and essentially bored.  Over the years, I have watched the movie a couple other times.  While I do accept that the movie is well executed, I still found the whole ordeal rather tedious.
2. The Omen - (1976) - First time I watched this movie, I feel asleep.  Second time I tried to watch the movie, I fell asleep.  People say that the third times a charm? I disagree, the 3rd attempt is still sleepy-time.  Finally, last year this movie was playing on TV at 5pm, I figured this was my big chance to stay awake.  I did make it through the movie, and my final opinion was "While it's better than I initially thought, it's still pretty boring."  NOTE: I am not the type of person who falls asleep during a movie.  It's actually a rare phenomenon for me.  The only other movie which caused me to continuously fall asleep with each viewing was Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
3. The Shining - (1980) - Kubrick, Nicholson, and Steven King how could that go wrong?  Unlikeable characters and over the top performances are how.  Throw in long periods of nothing happening and you got yourself an overrated film. 
   
4. The Others - (2001) - Meh.  I said meh! M-E-H.
5. Aliens - (1986) - I admit, this is a good movie, but I don't understand the love affair most fans have for it.  I really couldn't stand Newt and her constant wails of "RIPLEY!".  There is no way that this movie surpasses the original Alien.  I even rate it beneath Aliens3 (probably because they kill Newt at the start of the film).

There's my list of 5.  Please feel free to comment on my list and make your own suggestions.

Yes I'm gonna say it again: Hostel is my vote for most overrated horror flick

Interesting list, dude. As an aside, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Tomb Raider...woeful excuses for "films", those.

I disagree strongly with Aliens. To me thats one of the best movies of all time, let alone just a great horror flick. I do agree with you on the Shining though. I know its got a huge following (and Jack's quite good in it) but I could never get into it either. And I hugely agree with you on The Others. I yawned my way through that, and when the big reveal came towards the end, I was sighing like I aint never sighed before...lame!

Ok, I can accept that these movies didn't live up to your expectations, particularly the older, religious ones. The culture has changed tremendously over the last thirty-five years, and the general neglect of and hostility to religious matters manifests itself in younger viewers as, well, cluelessness and apathy. Most can't imagine what anyone sees in these movies, nor how anyone could take them seriously (I don't take The Omen seriously, btw, but The Exorcist I take very seriously, indeed, except for that spinning head nonsense).

I'm somewhat in sympathy with you on Aliens. I find Newt obnoxious in the extreme and her and Ripley's relationship unconvincing. I also (as I never tire of repeating ) find the boss fight at the end pretty ridiculous. BUT the rest of the movie kicks major ass, and I think that's what people were referring to when they hyped the movie to you. I don't know anyone who watches it for those soft, tender moments between Bulldyke Ripley and The Brat.

The Shining: check. We're in perfect agreement.

The Others: non-check. uncheck. I liked The Others a lot. In fact, it's in my Top Five Supernatural Films list. It suffers, I think, from the impression that it was trying to cash in on the Sixth Sense mania of that period, but looked at objectively it really is a first-rate ghost story (and Nicole Kidman, who I don't normally think much of, gives a performance that has grown on me over time). Maybe the difference between us on this one is that I never really heard any hype about it. I just watched it and liked it.

My own list of overrated horror movies:

5. Night of the Living Dead

4. Psycho (yeah, you heard me)

3. Evil Dead/Evil Dead II

2. Shaun of the Dead

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street

(Pastor runs for cover...)

I actually agree with Psycho...but the rest of that list....wow, brave soul!

I have one that may get me in trouble but I think "Silence of the Lambs" is over-rated.

The most serious are the first two. I just can't see what anyone sees in those movies. I thought Shaun was unfunny, and Nightmare...well, I've just always thought it was incredibly stupid. I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to swallow the premise.

And yeah, I agree on Silence of the Lambs. Good movie, but overrated (except for the scenes inside Gumm's house; those make the whole movie).

Overrated horror movies. In general, I agree with Lettuce on The Shining. Stephen King novels are one thing the movies usually don't hold up..at all. I like Pastor's list. All vastly overrated. I am confused on some of the other choices. For example:

The Excorcist ( 1973 ) nuff said. Imagine seeing that movie for the first time 25 yrs ago. Way, way ahead of it's time.

Aliens            ( 1986 ) A great sequel. One of the best sequels ever.

A movie that I liked that is considered horror, and isn't, is also billed as "scary", and isn't would be "The Orphanage".

So I would have to consider it as overrated. Not in my top 5. That would be:

1. An American Werewolf In London. To me it is the definition of awful.

2. Night Of The Living Dead. I like it. It's overrated.

3. Phantasm

4. Open Water. Blair Witch in the Ocean. Dreadful.

5. Jaws. Sorry. not scared of something in the ocean that i don't  need to go in to. It's not even a freakin horror movie.

I just watched "30 Days of Night" on watch-movies.net and i have to say, thank God I didn't pay for this shit!!  I mean, from what I've read on here I thought it's gotta be good but damn, I just sat in front of this screen listening on these uncomfortable ear buds and now I just want my 112 minutes back so I can make better use of them.  Dusting the ceiling fan or painting the tires on my car to give them that showroom black or anything.  I won't say this is the worst movie I've ever seen but I expected so much more.

The vampire's in this movie were either very dumb or very lazy.  These people just holed up in an attack for most of those 30 days  and the vampires still couldn't figure how to find them...and they knew they were there somewhere.  In a small Alaskan town with a population of less than 1000, how many houses or buildings can there be where they couldn't search every nook in the town?  It's not like daylight was a problem...they had 24/7 to look for these people.  And Josh Hartnett (sp?) is not a good actor...noone in this movie was.

What am I missing here?  I kept watching expecting, I don't know, something.  If I were to do a worst movies of the year list, this one is a contenda!

Um, hello. Ear buds?

Small screen w/ear buds, maybe watched in daylight, guarding against hype = no movie can stand up to that.

I don't think 30 Days is the best movie ever made, but seen under the right conditions and in the right frame of mind it's pretty tense. Sure, you can ask why the vampires didn't just go get an infrared heat scanner and locate the humans that way, but it's not like they were starving to death or something. They had food. Also, my impression was that in becoming vampires (as vampires are portrayed in that movie), they became more like animals and lost some of their human qualities. I mean, for that matter they could have jumped in the bulldozer and leveled the town building by building if they wanted to (or used a car to chase people down), but they didn't seem that interested in a) technology or b) mapping out a brilliant battle plan in some war room somewhere.

Josh Hartnett is a retard. People in Alaska are suppose to be tough. One of the Vampires was cross eyed. Hell, it took like 5 people to beat a 3yr old vampire! I agree 100%. 30 Days of Night is lame on any size screen. I wouldn't consider it overrated because most people I know think it sucks too.

 Oh how funny I don't like Josh Hartnett either. The movie made Vampires look like mindless killing machines. I didn't like it for that reason

overrated:  The Devil's Rejects

I did enjoy House of 1000 Corpses, watched TDR, tried to like it but it didn't happen.  Rob Zombie's use (overuse) of every cliche in the book was too much and quite frankly this movie bored me.  I couldn't even get through 30 minutes of his Halloween remake.  I'm sure I would find that overrated as well.

Underrated:  Session 9

Excellent psychological thriller and pretty creepy

Don't mean to be a 30 Days fanboy here, but I guess you missed the point. These are not polite, refined Bela Lugosi vampires. These are animals. They're dangerous and vicious, even the little ones, just like baby rattlesnakes. There was some inconsistency in the movie concerning their speed, but at the beginning they were also lightning fast and Superman strong. They could snatch you and drag you away before the guy next to you could even turn around. What exactly is it you wanted Hartnett to do, stand there and prove how tough Alaskans are by pointlessly firing his handgun into them while they ate him for dinner?

.

The whole crux of the movie was that the townspeople had no effective defense against this particular style of vampire. Moreover, Hartnett thought of his job as protecting the citizens and keeping them alive, rather than abandoning them so he could run around in a loin cloth like fucking Rambo to please the ADD crowd. Now that would have been ridiculous.

.

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P.S. bloodlust, I agree with you on all counts.

I don't think it sucks - I like 30 Days of Night and consider it to be one of the better vampire flicks to come out in a while. A new take on the legend and the vampires that everyone is used to which took balls and shows originality - destined to earn the scorn of "vampire traditionalists" but that's the point.

I liked 30 Days of Night, but I thought that whole bit about how they were supposed to be able to survive as long as they did in a relatively uninsulated attic with minimal food and no supplemental heating in -40 degree weather stretched the whole suspension of disbelief thing just a bit.  People in Alaska are supposed to be tough, but there are a couple of laws of physics being violated here.

The Shining is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I have to admit it had some pretty severe flaws.  Shelly Duvall's portrayal of Wendy as being so weak, pathetic, and simpering was just sad.  Also, you have a hotel as large as The Overlook in an area in Colorado that gets that much snow, and it's NOT a ski resort.  Give me a break.

I found The Exorcist entertaining and there were parts which they did an unsurpassed job in creating an unnatural, menacing atmosphere, but very little of the movie was in any way scary, and I can certainly go along with folks who think it's over-rated.  Oooh--a little girl was mouthy towards authority figures and did questionable things with a crucifix--if it weren't for the voice, she'd probably pass for the typical kid these days.

I think the orginal Dracula movie (with Bela Lugosi) is overated.  Don't get me wrong--it was a good movie for the time and certainly has its place in pop culture, but it just isn't all that.  I don't even know why it's considered to be a horror movie these days.  I wonder if Bela Lugosi would have even had a place in community theater in this day and age.

I think Shelley Duvall did a very good job with her  character.  Unfortuately, I've a good friend who for years was living under the oppresion of a husband who dominated her life...not to get to deep here, some women get like this after years of mental abuse which I think was very clear in the Shining that was the case with the Torrences.

With the Exorcist...try to remember the year it came out and what happened to audiences who saw it...the pure impact it had on people at that time.

Whoah!  Dudes!--best Keanu impersonation or is it Spiccoli in my case?

The Exorcist is one of the best horror films ever made--it's impossible to over rate it.  In the early seventies, little girls did not spew green pea soup, turn their heads around, fuck crucifixes, tell priests that their mothers sucked cock in hell, or pee in the floor--not on film , anyway.  It horrified folks--very effective --and the ability to scare the hell out of audiences nationwide and be argued about over 35 years later--what does that say? The Church doesn't mention it anymore, but they sure railed against it then. It made exorcism a household word--nobody talked about exorcisms before this movie-- I'd never even heard the word until the book came out. 

Which brings me to the Omen, one of the few satanic-themed movies that should even be mentioned in the same post as the Exorcist.  Very well-made, superb acting, an unseen tension that built throughout the whole movie and some great film making skills shown-- the scenes from the monkeys  to mom's look of disbelief as she fell. That whole sequence in the graveyard when they find the jackel's corpse and gett attacked by the dogs--beautifully filmed.  Great atmosphere and a very scary scene.  Great movie.  Great original deaths from the priest and the photographer.  Satanic dogs and nannies.  Underated if anything.

The Shining is the best haunted house movie ever filmed--another movie that is impossible to overate.  Kubrick did an excellent job--pay attention to the camera work and the carefully manipulated colors-- This movie is a work of art before you even get into the characters and the plot.  The lack of characters in that big place created such a great reverse claustrophobia even without the real claustrophobia brought by the snow.  The imagery has been mentioned throughout this site--the girls, the old woman, the furry.  "REDRUM"  "Here's Johnny"  "I'm not gonna hurt ya ..."--what a great scene it was when she finally saw what he was writing--remember the first time you saw it.  That was a definite "Oh shit" moment.  Shelly was great portraying an isolated, emotionally abused woman--who sometimes found just enough guts to do what she needed to.  Even the leaving out of the hedge beasts was probably a good thing.  The special effects of the time would have probably just made some cheesy stop-motion things that would have ruined the feel of the movie.  But the whole hedge maze scene was great as well-- no escaping the claustrophobia even outdoors.  I could go on and on about this movie--do I need to?

Aliens-- I and others have spoken very highly about this film all over this site.  I understand completely both camps in the Alien Vs Aliens arguement and I love both movies.  Aliens is easily one of the best sequels ever.  We had seen and loved the first one when it came out and then we saw the trailers for Aliens--space marines vs a bunch of those bastards-- we were in heaven anticipating that film and it didn't dissapoint--what a great romp it was.  I even loved Newt--"They come out at night--mostly"  and although Sigourney was tough in Alien, she expanded into total bad-ass mode in Aliens.  I'll even give you that the whole robot/forklift battle at the end was somewhat contrived-- I bet it was kick-ass fun to film and the rest of the movie easily makes up for it.  That battle in the dark was awesome.  The tension as they listened to the last of their auto-guns stop firing.  The complete worminess of Reiser and the hilarity of Paxton--great great movie.

Night of The Living Dead is very very close to being the best horror movie ever made.  A work of genius even if Romero didn't realize it at the time.  From the use of the news broadcasts to give it a "this could really happen" War of the Worlds feel.  The seemingly un-ending parade of ghouls  (weren't called zombies til later)--the tensions between the characters trapped in the house-- the zombie feast after the burning of the truck, I know is tame now, but it was the first time I ever saw intestines or flesh eating on the screen.  Little girls didn't murder their mothers with garden tools either, not did they eat them.  One of the most groundbreaking films of all time.  Impossible to over rate what this movie did for the genre.

I know I'm going on and on but y'all started it.--Psycho?  Until NOTLD, possibly the scariest movie made.  No one worried about getting stabbed in the shower until this movie-- it influenced the collective thoughts and fears of an entire generation--a masterpiece--impossible to overate and brings me to

Jaws--one of the best MOVIES of all time.  A primer on how to do everything right when making a movie and no one ever worried about getting eaten by sharks at a beach before this movie and since then, most folks have while at the beach.  Hell--some folks still don't go swimming because of that movie.  Shouldn't be mentioned in the same thread as overrated.

I would also like to defend Shaun of the Dead, 30 days of night-- I think they are both great examples of modern day horror and dark comedy.  I also defended American Werewolf in London in the Werewolves thread earlier tonight.

I guess Tequila, The Rolling Stones, the '66 Packers, a pre-emission controls 442 Oldsmobile, fried chicken, and pussy are over rated too.

I think Psycho is a great movie, but I just feel like the amount of attention lavished on it due to the name of its director is a bit much. Everytime anything about horror movies is mentioned somewhere, Psycho has to be trotted out and ritually paraded around like some sort of totem or fetish. Yeah, yeah, guys. We get it. Psycho was groundbreaking, it was scary, it was slashery. But how many times do we have to watch that shower scene over and over as if it were the best scene ever filmed? It wasn't. Great scene, but let's get some perspective, you know?

Everything is overated if you dig deep enough.  ;-)

I'm sticking to my guns on Duvall's performance; although, I will concede that I might be biased in that I find people with her mannerisms disproportionately irritating (there were points in the movie in which I wanted to kill her myself and that was when I was a child).  I thought the actress who portrayed Wendy in The Shining miniseries did a much better job with the character, but that was the only thing about the miniseries that was better than the movie even though the miniseries was a closer adaptation to the novel.

Didn't I already make a two post long diatribe in my blog as part of the serializing of my thesis?  Yeah I think I did.  I think everything I said in that paper is all I need to say on the subject.  It's a great movie, but lets not delude ourselves into claiming its the groundbreaking be-all end-all of horror.

I still say it was the best horror movie made before NOTLD--great story by Bloch turned into a great movie by Hitchcock-- "kill her Norman" is a joke now-- it wasn't in it's time-- it scared folks something fierce.

Horror movies have to be judged by their effect in their era.  The job of a horror flick is to scare the folks at the theater.  Psycho  did it's job tenfold and inspired much of what we've seen since.  I don't think my beloved Halloween would even exist without Psycho being filmed.  Hitchcock wasn't trying to scare folks as jaded as we've become--he was trying to scare his audience and he performed faultlessly and delivered the goods.

 --the be-all groundbreaking one would be NOTLD barely edging out Halloween.

I agree more with that sentiment even though I disagree with the general idea of there being a be-all.

not to be all nick-pickety because I prefer twitchy things over picky things, but I left out "end-all" on purpose.

I bow down to you, Pump. Well said. Great post!

I'll say this loud and proud: 30 DAYS OF NIGHT SUCKED BALLS!!! No offense but how can anyone who calls themselves a horror fan say the Evil Dead 1 and 2 and NOTLD are over rated then turn around and stick up for 30 days of night a film that sucked balls both on it's own merits and as an adaption of a comic book. I know these are your opinions but I'm just dumb founded. Evil Dead 1 and 2?!? NOTLD?!? You have balls the size of grapefruits my friend.

fixed

Again, the vampires couldn't find/sense/smell the remaining townspeople that were left. They had to lure them out. So let's get this straight for all the defenders of this movie.... They had enough cunning to use humans as bait but not enough sense to check a freaking attic in ( reaching for calculator ) 720 hours!?!?!? I realize that the snaggle toothed guy

burned their satellite phones and killed their 4 or 5 sled dogs but he didn't go door to door and gather up all the axes, chainsaws, knives, pistols, rifles and shotguns. I know it's tough to imagine a shotgun as a effective weapon if you've already struggled through watching The Strangers but I can assure you IT WILL REMOVE THE HEAD of any Vampire, in any movie, anywhere. The vampire, now without teeth, is as useless as Scott Speedman was in The Strangers.

Then the ending! Aw God, if a punch through the face of a bloodsucker kills it wouldn't that retarded deputy have been better suited to put 2 bullets in the head of a vampire than his own freak'n kids?!?!?!?!? Then the whole "Im a Vampire now, but I don't want to suck your blood cause Im good and I don't want to chase mean Vampires cuz I'd rather see what happens when the sun comes up" crap was the kernel on top of a big ole smelly pile -a-poo! I consider this the worst Vampire  movie "with a budget" ever made. Just wait til "30 More Days Of Night: 28 Months Later" is released. See Killer vs. Killer topic. In this movie a group of Vampires invades a small Alaskan town on the eve of the Rage virus outbreak! Can you say.. "rude awakening"?

Speaking of the vampires in 30 Days of Night using people as bait...how did they communicate to the woman that she was bait?  She obviously knew cuz she was saying "I tried" or whatever.  They were speaking Klingong.

Whether I watched it on this computer with ear buds or watched it in a theater or on a 150 inch  Ultra Supersonic Plasma Bestest TV of all time...same result.

My take on it was that a lot of what the vampires were doing with the townspeople was for shits and giggles.  The premise, I guess, is that they didn't really feel the need to kill everybody in town themselves, they wanted to gorge on all the food they could, have their fun, and then burn down the entire town before they left to insure there were no survivors hiding in the attics (if you already have a tried and true plan for dealing with a problem, why overexert yourself?).  Seems fairly reasonable...and it was funny as Hell.  Also, I thought it was a rather unique take on the whole vampire mythos (maybe not the best take, but certainly an interesting one) and was certainly better than any of the other derivative crap that passed for horror movies that year. It wasn't that 30 Days of Night was so friggin' great--it wasn't.  I'm not even arguing that it wasn't over-rated--it totally was, but, in my opinion...for what it's worth...so mote it be...with full acknowledgment that I'm not the almighty, all-knowing Oracle of Horror or anything, I didn't think it was total garbage, and it was the closest thing we've had to a half-original, vaguely entertaining vampire flick in a long damn time.

Should the townspeople have put up more of a fight?  Granted.  It was a big glaring plot hole.  I haven't seen a movie yet that didn't have them--Hell, all my favorite movies did.  I pointed out another one in this forum earlier.  The thing about entertaining movies is that they have something for everybody, particularly those who like to nitpick.  ;-)

Besides, in this late, decadent hour with movies becoming increasingly crummy, you gotta learn to see the forest for the trees. 

As for the goofy, noble yet nauseatingly sentimental suicide scene at the end, well, I don't know about you, but if I had been infected with something incurable that gave me a growing, uncontrollable hunger/lust to mercilessly kill everybody around me (including loved ones), I'd take the "really severe sunburn" option (as quickly as I could so I couldn't rationalize my way out of it) as well, but I guess I'm just funny that way.  

You honestly think 30 Days of Night was worse than From Dusk Till Dawn II, John Carpenter's Vampires, or that poor, pitiful excuse of a sequel to Vampires.  I'm sorry you were subjected to it, then.

I am glad to see that this topic is getting some lively discussions.  It’s also interesting to see people’s rebuttals and their personal overrated horror film picks.

I see that there are numerous arguments against some of my selections; the Exorcist and Aliens in particular.  I expected as much and appreciate your comments.  Remember, overrated movie doesn’t equate to bad movie.  As I originally stated the Exorcist is well executed and Aliens is a good movie.  I just don’t find they live up to the hype.

I suppose I should provide a more thorough rebuttal.  Please note that there are spoilers contained in my composition.  If you haven’t seen Exorcist, The Bad Seed, Night of the Living Dead, or Psycho then you may not want to read this post.

Regarding the Exorcist (directed towards Pastor’s comments),

You are correct to identify my top 2 picks as religion centric choices.  If you look even closer you will notice that all 5 of films revolve around children (I admit that Aliens doesn’t revolve around a child as much as portraying an annoying one).  I myself was not aware of this child relation when I compiled the list.  I guess I learned something new about myself, thanks Pastor. 

You are also correct in assuming that I am not a religious individual.  That’s right I am an old fashioned atheist.  However, I have always been interested in the mythos of religions and consider myself well versed in the topic.  While I agree this may have some bearing on my opinions, there are religious horror films I do enjoy (to name a few: Rosemary’s Baby, The Wicker Man, Night of the Hunter, and even Exorcist III). 

To be honest I don’t believe in vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, creatures from the Black Lagoon, or people that have received multiple machete blows to their head and continue to thrive.  But I do enjoy many films that contain the aforementioned subjects.

I also find it interesting that you attribute a lack of appreciation in the Exorcist to younger viewers that are clueless and apathetic.  I would like to point out that logically speaking this sentiment is an ad hominem fallacy.  Perhaps, if I was born a decade sooner I would have a better appreciation for the film.  What year is the cutoff before you are able to truly appreciate the film? Regardless, I do agree that the film did break some barriers with respect to mainstream audiences and the socially acceptable norms. 

As for the evil little girl performing such atrocious acts, I think people are forgetting some film history.  Reagan was possessed i.e.: not in willful control of her actions.  In the end it was the evil demon that was responsible.  Contrast this with the 1956 film The Bad Seed (an exceptional film).  The movie was released nearly 2 decades earlier and dealt with a legitimately evil and homicidal little girl.  Not only was this movie ground breaking, but it also had to conform with the strict censorship laws outlined in the Hays Code.

Now for some comments regarding overrated movies selected by other members.

Night of the Living Dead:

How can people claim I am overlooking the Exorcist’s ground breaking performance and taboo subject matter then list NOTLD as an overrated film?  This movie had it all.  An African-American protagonist that was willing to cross the line of good and bad.  Zombies cannibalizing the living (from my knowledge this was the first movie to portray zombies in this manner).  Strangers trapped in a secluded farm house and portrayed in a realistic manner.  Then finish it off with an unhappy ending.

Who can forget the matricidal zombie child?  I found her way more disturbing than Reagan. Yes, I am aware that the girl was not in control of her actions.  Still it was a chilling scene. 

Yes, NOTLD is an amazing film made effectively on a shoe-string budget.

Psycho:

This falls in the same category as NOTLD, ground breaking.  I agree that the Robert Bloch screenplay was great (HP Lovecraft mentored him). And Alfred Hitchcock’s direction and suspense techniques were second to no one (they called him the “Master of Suspense” with good reason).  Then there were the new movie devices that the film introduced.  Killing the main character (Janet Leigh) halfway through the movie was both gutsy and genius.  Dealing with a character that suffered from multiple personality disorder was also ground breaking.  Remember that at the time MPD was not yet a standard movie gimmick.  The shower scene is still one of the ultimate cinematic masterpieces and extremely brutal.

There is only one problem with Psycho; it has been spoiled to death. Everyone already knows the major scenes and plot twists of the movie, at least I did.  Unless you had the luxury of living in a cave for the last 40 years, you more than likely know what’s going to happen in this movie.  This movie would have been amazing to see when it was first released and no one knew what the outcome would be.  That being said the movie still holds up in my opinion.  I was lucky enough not to know about the scene where Mrs. Bates meets a P.I. on the staircase.

I am sorry for the long rant.  I look forward to reading your replies, rebuttals, and lists of overrated movies.

Rock On!

If anyone hasn't seen Exorcist or Night of the living dead, turn in your membership card and dont let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Because the topic is overrated films and I never thought of 30 Days as being particularly highly rated. Get it now?

No I told you I was dumb founded. Do you get it now? Well enough of that shit a new movie to pick on: Hard Candy. That was complete shit disguised as a supposedly, hip and cool indy horror flick. What garbage. Oh yeah wasn't it directed by that no talent shit stain who helmed 30 days of night? I thought I smelled a stinker. And once again I will mention that steaming pile Scream. What a bad turning point for horror films.

Heres my list:

Hostel

The Host

Well I think Jaws is a bit overrated. I didn't get scared once when I saw it. But then the people I know who saw it in theaters when it came out, when those special effects were still state of the art say they were scared shitless and didn't dare to swim for a long time. Well I think it's an overrated movie anyway.

I think the Exorcist is a bit overrated too it's not like it's a work of genius. The scene were she crawls down the stairs on her hands was unpredictable and scary but overall not that good.

I don't really think the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre is that good either. I mean it1s not bad I just don't see how it became so big when you see all those other movies from that period.

But to the original poster : I really think the Shining was a great movie. And so was the Omen. Of course you think it sucks if you fell asleep, the ending is really what makes the movie.

What other films from the same era of TCM are you trying to compare it to? It blows all of them out of the water. There is no movie I can think of from that era that even comes close to it in terms of being truly terrifying. People like to tell me how gory that film is and it didn't have almost any blood what so ever, that to me speaks volumes. It managed to get under people's skin without being gratuitous. Now if you were talking about the piss poor remake I would agree with you. Sad... 

 I have to agree with Doc.  TCM was a very intense and brutal film for it's time, and as Doc pointed out , it was very effective and scary without being gory.  The meathook hanging and the sledgehammer!--very, very brutal for it's time.  Leatherface was a scary fucker.  The sound of the fuckin' chainsaw--you have to remember--no one used chainsaws in haunts or movies then--now they're cliche.  That movie rocked-- I saw it at the drive-in when I was 14 or 15 and it was probably the most brutal movie movie I'd seen at that time and probably the scariest since NOTLD or the Exorcist, although it beat them both in sheer fear inspiration.  I loved the Hammer versions of Dracula and the mummy, but it was for their visuals, atmosphere, actors, --beautiful,beautiful horror movies,  but they couldn't hold a candle to TCM in the raw power department. Remember this was before Dawn of the Dead, Jaws, or even Halloween.

Great Horror movie.

I will agree with only 2 that I've seen on this topic

Jaws-its just not horror to me

Blair Witch Project

and shame on whoever said Evil Dead/ Evil Dead 2- I take personal offense

I get hostel, but as a monster movie fanatic I don't understand how the Host is over-rated.  The only way this film is bad is when you view it dubbed.  Otherwise, it's great.  The monster is never truly explained, it just is.  It may well revive the atomic monster movies.  It was a great movie.

I hear that.

Anyhow. I definitely could NOT overlook Pastor's list as all of these movies probably fall somewhere within my top 20. Heck maybe even top 10. However, I respect the right to an opinion and I'm not above saying that ALL of these films are probably (maybe) a bit overrated in one way or another :(

I do however, feel the need to defend Shaun of the Dead as well as this is a movie of my time and I feel it's an original in the way that it's somewhat of a spoof on zombie films while still having a well balance of gore and humor (I would never categorize it with the likes of Scary Movie or Shriek if you know what I did last summer or whatever it's called).

And I think everyone knows where I stand on Psycho.

Now being a youngin on the forum I'm also on the 'Jaws is overrated' bandwagon.

And I proceed to end my list with:

-Troll/Troll 2

-The Ring

-Devil's Rejects (yikes I'm in for it)

Troll 2?  really?  I'm curious what you mean since I tend to think the only way one can watch it is as an absolutely hilariously awful movie.  That's all.

 I agree with you on Devil's Rejects.  I loved House of 1000 Corpses--the whole craziness, clowny, sideshow, murderous, Dr. Satany parts combined to make a funny,scary, horror ride of a movie complete with some intense killings and fried chicken.  After they left the house in Devil's rejects, they seemed to lose the fun--they just became murderous thugs.

I Like the Ring a whole lot but I don't overate it.  I think the folks who overrate it are the ones who grew up on Scream and I know what you did Last Summer.

I absolutely agree. And that's what prompts me to think it's overrated. It is a hilariously awful movie that (IMO) kind of borders on just awful :/.

I love hilariously awful movies, but this isn't one that I particularly care for.

And pumpboy is probably right about The Ring. Even though I know what you did last summer definitely isn't anywhere near my list of favs, that would be my era.

Ah.  Okay, I can work with that Mrsbates.  Thanks for clarifying.

I can see your points on all of these, but especially agree with Aliens. It's a great action movie but nothing like the intense and forboding Alien.

Here are a few more I'd throw out there

1) Childs Play

2) Scream

3) Creepshow (I can see the flames a comin' on this one)

4) Night of the Living Dead ( I actually prefer the Savini version)

5) Reanimator (very good, but I like From Beyond much better)

After rereading this thread, I'd just like to remind everyone that the title is "Overrated Horror Films." It is not "Films That Suck." Other people introduced the "suck" theme into the proceedings. Myself, I never said that (for instance) Night of the Living Dead or Evil Dead sucked--although I admit I came close with Nightmare on Elm Street since I didn't even like that one. What I said was I thought they were overrated, and I still do. Particularly Evil Dead. It's a good movie, I liked it, but I do not think it's worth going on and on about the way others do. It's fine that others feel that way about it, but it should also be fine that I am content merely to like it.

darkstar: I agree with you on NOTLD. The other four I never really thought of as highly rated, so they couldn't really disappoint me on that level.

NOTLD is over-rated because so many people have called it great, when in fact it wasn't. Thats not to say its not great in some opinions, but when you consider it was extremely low budget, they had to shoot in black and white and used chocolate syrup for blood of course its wasnt meant to be a great movie, but  if not for that film zombies would probably still be under some voodoo witch doctor spell.

p.s. I love Romero's but Savini's version was better, especially Barbara

I still almost absolutely disagree with everything said here

 I dissagree... lol

and that is your prerogative.  lol

Your forgetting that there are rabid fans of Childs Play, Creepshow, Scream, and Reanimator who feel they are highly rated. I doubt anyone would say any of these films suck for sure.

In no particular order:

Nightmare On Elm Street

Friday The 13th

Halloween (original)

Child's Play

Puppet Master

Psycho

Shaun Of The Dead

Blair Witch Project

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Scream

And I'll go ahead and say that I personally think these films suck. I do not now, nor did I ever see what all the hype was about. The only one of these I wasn't around for when released was Psycho, and I'm not buying into the "for it's time" thing. I thought they were crap then and still do.

Silence Of The Lambs (it's a good thriller in a way, but there is no way you could have got me to see a man's vagina if you had warned me it was in the film. I would have turned it off right then and there.)

A Nightmare On Elm Street - I liked it, but I thought it could have been a lot better. It's in my top 100, but it ranks around the 70's area from memmory.

Hostel - for geeks who think they know what a horror movie is, but wouldn't know one if it hacked them to pieces.

The Host - Absolutely hated it with a passion

Ringu - It's like when the director realised that he had created a film so outlandishly silly that there was seemingly no possible way of rapping it up he decided to solve it with psychics who have the ability to kill people with their mind. Major WTF.

30 Days Of Night - WTF was with the timing in this film. One second it's day 1, then 9, then 18, then 27 and then it's a few hours before sun-up. And Blood Trails was even worse.

Friday The 13th - Same reason as Elm Street. I do like it and I think it has a pretty cool premise. I also respect what it did for the slasher genre, but it never did much for me.

Carrie - It's well made and sticks close to the book, but I never liked the book much either, and I never understood why the house caved in.

Audition - Really, really boring in my opinion

Imprint - Fantastic, until the really stupid ending

WOW, people unloading there hatred of the classics.

The Exorcist, what's not to love?

Psycho? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? It's a filming masterpiece as is The Shining.

Night Of The Living Dead is a triumph of low budget filming and has good artistic insight that is lacking in most films.

Evil Dead 1 & 2 are so good I didn't think it was possible to dislike them.

An American Werewolf In London is supposed to be silly, and it is still a fantastic film. The special FX are amazing.

Jaws - While I don't refer to it as a horror film, it is a classic movie that terrified audiences and I love it.

Texas Chainsaw is one of the few films I actually find scary. It is dated, and not acted the best (except by the lead actress) but it just doesn't let up for a moment. It also contains some very memorable and surreal scenes (i.e. when they pick up chop top in their car). This is my second favourite horror movie ever made.

Shaun Of The Dead - Well if you didn't like NOTLD, I guess you wouldn't really get Shaun Of The Dead.

Aliens - Ashamed to say I never saw it. That's it, I'm getting it out tonight.

Halloween is a fantastic exhibition of Carpenter's directing talents and has some fantastic ideas in it (i.e. the opening sequence from the killers eyes, then slow reveal of it being a child)

Pumpboy, youdaman.

I think a lot of people who are attacking the classics watch horror solely to be scared, and therefore can't be bothered sitting through more than 5 minutes of film in which someone's head isn't machette'd off.

PS.

No One mentioned Saw, that's a change.

the biggest let down ever for me has to be 28 days later.  it was built up so much before i got to see it, that it was a huge disappointment.  however with movies like this that are built up and let you down i think always deserves a second watch with a different perspective going into the movie. even though i was disappointed i found it to be entertaining the second time around.

Snakeman is my new hero. Always good to meet someone else who hates Hostel. I agree completely with the sentiment. But for gods' sake man...I hope you saw Aliens.

Eh? Fuck y'all.  Nah, y,know I love ya.  Well hell yes, I am loaded. 

Amen on Hostel

I have always said that Hostel was for people who really don't like horror movies, but like to appear that they do.

Saw

Rosemary's Baby

Blood Feast

It's Alive

The last two are more cult films, but I tend to like cult films and didn't really care for these.

The only one i disagree with is The Shining. i will now and forever love that film for it's long periods of nothing happening. when i watch it i actually feel like i'm there. and i love the ending of his picture on the wall. that's fucking awesome.

 i hope i don't offend anyone, but my husband and i said the vampires in this looked like they had down's syndrome. i appreciate their attempt to make the vampires unlike any other (all frilly and beautiful for the most part) but the eyes just didnt' work for me. the teeth were pretty fuckin cool though.

You know, I actually saw that exact description before on another website.  That the vampires looked like they had Down's syndrome.  lol

I'm just your friendly neighbourhood Snakeman (Ok, I'll cut the crap)

And yes, I saw Alien. Absolutely amazing, but I don't consider it a Horror film. First it's a sci-fi, second it's an action, third its a horror film. But I don't really consider Jaws a horror films as such either. Both great films though.

I agree with The Exorcist. By the time I actually got round to watching that movie, people had me believing it was the greatest thing in the world. If I'm honest, it didn't really keep my attention when Linda Blair wasn't on the screen.

I'm going to disagree with The Shining though - it was a lot more than I expected it to be.

My most overrated horror movie is Saw. I just don't see the point.

i agree Saw is overrated, so is hostel,

30 days of night was horrible, i am not a vampire traditionalist either, i was just not affraid of it, i did not get scared. they could have tried harder to get me scared. so as a horror film it was overrated

I've attempted to watch 30 Days of Night three times, and twice I feel asleep halfway thru. Loved the creepy intro with the ship in the artic, but everything after that was boring.

Yeah I feel like The Exorcist is the movie people are conditioned to say is "the greatest horror film of all time."  It's becoming the horror version of Citizen Kane over the years.  Glad to see I wasn't the only who thought so.

My wife doesn't get the Exorcist. She tells me how it was silly. She watched it with 10 friends in the daytime while they were all cracking jokes. Like many great haunting/demonic movies an investment of attention and atmosphere is required. With the new TCM and DOTD remakes the action and gore are fast paced and stand up even under distraction. But these movies that invest in building tension don't work that way. Maybe this doesnt apply to everyone who didn't like it, but I find that the people who didn't appreciate it, didn't really give it a fair chance. But then again, maybe that style of movie isn't for them. A recent film that built tension is Paranormal Activity. People wanting a rollercoaster are going to hate it. People ready to invest and put themselves in the characters shoes will find it chilling.

 I agree with you.  I was looking forward to seeing it.  Like you I am sooooooo glad I did not spend the money to see it.  I just kept wondering why the hell the vamps didn't sniff them out if they're so superior.  I have to agree about the dumb part.  These vampires are/were the worst I've seen, I'm thinking that next to Edward they are the lamest and couldn't find their way out of a paperbag.

 Didn't much care for her in this movie.  She was more like a whinny windbag who say all the bad things in a person.  I can say this with gusto cuz I met the lady and she is really a crazy rude bitch with too many problems.  Actually she only lives about 20 miles from me.

 With most of King's older novels if you don't do them right or justice they are just a fucking mess.  Look at the remake of Salem's Lot for tv, need I say more?             Your list though I have to agree with a few of them.  Open Water, what a crock of shit that was.  Glad I didn't spend money to see it  Wasn't too thrilled with An American Werewolf in London either.

 I saw the Japanese version before I saw the American version and saw simularities with them.  But the Japanese version was way better then the American version.  The same goes for Ju-On (The Grudge).

Paranormal Activity...

Jeepers Creepers 2.

Saw is overrated.

Exorcist is overrated.(yes I like it, but its no where near number 1 on my list. I think people just put it at number 1 because its the cool thing to do)

The Scream series was HIGHLY overrated!(didnt even like the original AT ALL!)

M. Night Shalamn.....Shalamalalan?....oh well, his movies are overrated, except for UNBREAKABLE. Criminally overlooked and, while not horror, still one of the greatest hero movies ever made! Dark!

and last but not least......Army Of Darkness. Its like The Three Stooges made a horror movie. I dont see the appeal in it at all! It sucked!

Funny story...I recently bought The Shining on bluray.  And I always check them after I get them to see how good they look.  So I put in The Shining.  Looks good, skipped a scene ahead.  Looks good....skipped a scene ahead.  I actually yelled out HOLY HELL and JESUS CHRIST and paused the movie and proceeded to babble for a bit.  I suppose that's what happens when one sees Shelly Duvall in HD without warning.  (And up until then, I'd actually defended her at least appearance wise.)

I liked the Documentary that comes with my dvd version of The Shining, and it shows just what a nutbatch Shelly Duvall is/was.

Somehow I can't help but think that Jack Nicholson's performance wasn't inspired by her wininess

LOL. My thoughts exactly. Possibly the most unappealing actress ever. Yes, she was a perfect Olive Oyl, but beyond that..................

holy hell i thought the same way you did last night!! i figured this movie would be appropriate with my snowbound situation (we got 2 feet of white stuff!) and i didn't remember how utterly skeletal she appeared!

I for one, have never really been a fan of "Friday the 13th", it's too standard. That said, I've only seen the first one, and Jason X and Freddy Vs. Jason, so maybe I need to see the older ones with Jason in them.

For the Psycho haters out there, I really do think that the cultural saturation of Psycho, coupled with the fact that the expectations for horror movies have changed make it harder for people to actually be scared by it. I can imagine that if you spent your whole life seeing Psycho referenced in all portions of pop culture, not just in horror movies, but in freaking Looney Toons movies (Loony Toons: Back in Action), and hearing how scary it is, and when you finally watch it, and realize that there's more gore in an episode of CSI than in this film, I can see how that can be a disappointment.

I think that's why I don't really like Friday the 13th. By the time I had already seen that movie, I had seen Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and a host of other slasher flicks. I had known who Jason was since I was 5, so I figured that the film had to be one of the greatest horror films ever. When I watched it, i enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was amazing. It was entertaining, for sure, but Sean S. Cunnigham is no Wes Craven or John Carpenter director-wise, and I can't even remember any of the kills-except for Kevin Bacon's death scene, and I already knew the "big twist", so that wasn't a big deal. In other words, if it weren't for the movie being a pop culture juggernaut, I would have figured it for a low budget slasher destined for the bargain bin, and to me, that is the definition of overrated.

Hope this makes sense, I am posting at 3 in the morning

There ain't no maybe about it! Just kidding, but I'm not a fan of the first one either, they got a lot better from Parts 2-4, then the others are sort of only good if you are a dedicated fan of the series, which you say you're not, so fair enough. But I highly recommend Parts 2 and 3 for some night when you've got nothing else to watch :)

I'll throw in my current red headed stepson - Laid To Rest. Excellent gore effects but the story was horrible/