Kolya on 13/7/2010 at 01:28
There are some old time b&w horror films that I really like and I'm looking for more of the sort.
I'm a fan of subtle atmospheric horror that relies on story, music and camera more than on shock effects. I'll try to give a little description of a few films I like, which are also recommendations of course. Let's roll:
(
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055018/) The Innocents (1961) is about a governess (Deborah Kerr) who takes on a job of watching a girl and a boy in a remote mansion. She soon becomes convinced that the kids are possessed by the ghosts of the previous governess and her lover.
This ranks among the scariest films I've ever seen, better even than the original Hillhouse which some of you may know. It works particularly well because it's not clear whether the governess is actually going insane and dangerous herself.
Inline Image:
http://theaterofmine.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/b6a35a21cb.jpg(
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036027/) I walked with a zombie (1943)
Don't let that corny title deceive you, it was pushed on the director by his studio RKO. Jacques Tourneur made a row of excellent horror films (Cat People, Out of the past).
This one has a somewhat similar premise to The Innocents. A young nurse is sent to an island in the Carribean to take care of the bosses wife. She is barely alive and doesn't speak or do much else. She does listen to simple commands though. In other words she is very much a zombie in the original Voodoo tradition. The nurse develops a relationship with her rather gloomy husband. But there's also his brother who has a drinking problem and apparently accuses his brother for being responsible for his wife's condition. Eventually the nurse decides to take the wife to a Voodoo ritual of the natives in hopes to cure her. The camera work and stark contrasts are used quite excellently in this film.
Inline Image:
http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/files/2009/02/walked_with_zombie.jpgjune gloom on 13/7/2010 at 01:49
Night of the Living Dead is an obvious choice.
You may want to also look into The Call of Cthulhu- it's recent, but purpousely done in black and white, and was pretty well done for a budget film.
I would also recommend Pi- it's basically Jacob's Ladder for math nerds.
demagogue on 13/7/2010 at 02:26
- "Freaks" (1931) is a classic, but more of a tragic drama of weirdness than horror.
- "Nosferatu" (1922) is another very oldschool (silent) classic.
- "The Cat People" (1942) is another very good classic, where the horror is very subtle and indistinct (apparently the first to do horror this way), and it's very effective.
- "The Body Snatcher" (1945).
- The Haunting (1963).
Schechter on 13/7/2010 at 02:49
Quote Posted by Kolya
(
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055018/) The Innocents (1961) is about a governess (Deborah Kerr) who takes on a job of watching a girl and a boy in a remote mansion. She soon becomes convinced that the kids are possessed by the ghosts of the previous governess and her lover.
This ranks among the scariest films I've ever seen, better even than the original Hillhouse which some of you may know. It works particularly well because it's not clear whether the governess is actually going insane and dangerous herself.
This is an adaptation of the classic Henry James story "The Turn of the Screw". The book was somewhat ambiguous about the sanity of the governess (which was the real genius of the storytelling), but definitely leaned more towards the idea that she was completely cracked.
Angel Dust on 13/7/2010 at 03:46
Quote Posted by Kolya
Jacques Tourneur made a row of excellent horror films (Cat People, Out of the past).
isn't even remotely a horror film; it is however one the best film noirs ever made! :D You are right about
Cat People and
I walked with a zombie though, both are excellent films and Jacques Tourneur is truly underrated. I really like
The Innocents too.
Lots of good recommendations here but I'll throw in Franju's
Eyes Without a Face and Polanksi's
Repulsion. Also while it isn't in black and white,
Don't Look Now is most certainly worth a look and is much more in line with what you're looking for (bar the black and white thing of course) than something like
Night Of The Living Dead, excellent though that film may be.
Kolya on 13/7/2010 at 12:02
Yeah, by Tourneur I've only seen "I walked with a zombie" and "Cat people" so far and liked them a lot. I assumed "Out of the past" was also a horror movie from what I read, but that's fine, I like film noir as well.
I've actually seen a lot of the recommendations above, like Night of the Living Dead which is indeed not so subtle but a good film nevertheless. And I've seen The Call of Cthulhu, Nosferatu, and The Haunting (I thought it was named "Hillhouse").
The book "The Turn of the Screw" sounds interesting. So does Les Diaboliques, some beautiful women in that one too. Eyes Without a Face and Repulsion both sound quite grim but intriguing.
Thanks for the tips!
Yesterday I watched "Drag me to hell", which was a great funny horror romp but had not much in it that I hadn't seen before in Raimi's other works. The repetitive something-jumps-in-your-face shocks and disgusting oral penetrations got a bit on my nerve at the end. So I wanted to balance that out with something more subtle.
Stitch on 13/7/2010 at 14:39
Good thread, that screenshot from The Innocents is creepy as hell. It looks like I need to rent some DVDs.
Shakey-Lo on 13/7/2010 at 15:11
repulsion is awesome, my current desktop background is a still from the movie. catherine deneuve :cool: There's an awesome (
http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Charles/repulsion-poster-italian.jpg) poster at my local video store which ive had my eye on for a while. I love the whole aesthetic surrounding the film.
der golem is my favourite of the german expressionist films I've seen. another obvious suggestion would be the classic frankenstein (1931?), which is awesome. venturing even further away from "horror" you have M which is an excellent film as well.
N'Al on 13/7/2010 at 15:12
Well, there's always Hitchcock's Psycho. Depending on your definitions of 'horror' and 'subtle', of course.
