Must See Classic Horror Movies

What is it that makes us come back, again and again, and receive 'enjoyment' out of scaring the heck out of ourselves?

Is it to feel alive? To get a quick shot of adrenaline? To provide us of dose of a jolt to know we are still alive? Or is it a morbid curiosity to know how bad and depraved mankind can become, yet experience it all from the safety and comfort of our living rooms.

There is also scientific theory that we enjoy an excitement of terror, simultaneously, in other words we sometimes are happy to feel unhappy, at the same time. Ok What ever floats your terror boat, onwards to having a look at those classics that have happily made us unhappy for years. Enjoy!

Alfred Hitchcock - The Master Of Suspense presents - The Birds.

A surprisingly suspenseful movie based on a news article and short story read once by Hitchcock.

Melanie Daniels heads to Bodega bay to meet with a man she has only recently met. Before too long, black birds start to terrorize the inhabitants of the town and also highlights the enigmatic tension and loneliness that pervade in between each attack of the birds. Initially not favored by critics, it has become one of Hitchcock most revered films over time.

Trivia - The female lead, Tippi Hedren, is the mother of actress, Melanie Griffith.
Rod Taylors last role was as Winston Churchill in a scene in the Quentin Tarantino movie, Inglourious Basterds.

Alfred Hitchcock - The Master Of Suspense presents - Psycho.

Arguably, the first 'slasher' film made, this type of genre of film would not occur until much later. Now in a 50th Anniversary edition, the film that horrified a generation comes back with more choc full of extra's on and about the film.

Norman Bates runs the Bates motel and also has a domineering mother, and Marion Crane finds solitude at the Bates motel whilst after an incident of theft, becomes a fugitive from the law. Once Hitchcock slowly draws you in to identify with the characters, you are not prepared for what happens next. The film that spawned a genre and defined a generation of film making to come.

Trivia - Janet Leigh is the mother of actress, Jamie Lee Curtis, who incidentally become something of a 'scream queen' in her early acting career.

The classic John Carpenter film 'Halloween' gave us the genre of films known as 'slasher' and The Nightmare On Elm Street made it popular.

Fred Krueger was a child killer, now after a technicality releases him from the courts, enraged parents hunt him down and corner him in a shed, burning him alive. Years later, Krueger returns to haunt the children of those parents who once harmed him. But now, once these children die in their sleep, they die for real.

Trivia - Jackie Earle Haley traveled with Johnny Depp when on audition for the first film. Jackie also became the new Fred Krueger in the latest release of the film. It is the only film not to have Robert Englund play Fred Krueger.

The Thing - Based on the 1951 film The Thing From Another World and the short story 'Who Goes There' by John W. Campbell. 12 American researcher and support crew become witnesses in a tragic accident from a couple of Norwegians researchers hunting down a Husky dog. Investigating the Norwegian research station they uncover an alien ship and a strange creature frozen in ice is returned to the US station.

When the alien starts to attack the sled dogs and its discovered that the entity can copy life on a microscopic level, albeit destroying the original. Fear and distrust reign amongst the surviving men as it's discovered man is the warmest place to hide.

Trivia - John Carpenter took all his movie failures quite hard and this film on release in 1982 had to compete with the powerhouse film, E.T. Although universally panned by critics and audiences for its violence and bleak outlook, it has become a huge cult classic on video and DVD / Blu Ray, only surpassed by the cultism of the film, Blade Runner.

The horror film started in 1968 that spawned the zombie genre. Almost every other zombie film ever made uses the rules, or pays homage to Romero's classic. A satellite crashes on earth and causes the dead to rise and attack the living, a girl and her brother attend the grave of their diseased mother and are attacked by a crazy man. Holing up in an abandoned farm house with other survivors, they must band together against the onslaught of the dead that feast on the living as well as each others fears.

Trivia - Tom Savini auditioned for a role previous to a George Romero film, although unable to act ion that previous film Tom being a special EFX makeup artists, did the effects for this film. Tom Savini also played a cameo and directed the remake in 1990.

After the remakes of The Grudge & The Ring this film shows us why sometimes classics can originate from another cultures original film making. This American remake shows how Mattie attempts to find out why her boyfriend committed suicide and discovers electronic devices serve as gateways for a terrifying evil that can’t be turned off

Trivia - Kirsten Dunst was set to star in this film before appearing in Spiderman II.

Based on the Brian Aldiss novel - Frankenstein Unbound follows a scientists, Dr Buchanan, experiment in 2031 that inexplicably implodes space and time sends him back to 19th century Switzerland. Here he meets Mary Shelley & Percy Shelly as well as Dr Frankenstein and the monster (one of the best and most realistic shown in a film) who has created misery by already killing the Dr's younger brother and inadvertently is coerced into creating a mate for the monster!

Trivia - The title is both a reference to Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and to the lyrical drama by Percy Blysse Shelley, 'Prometheus Unbound'

Combination of Science fiction and modern gothic horror, this film packs it quite well with a who-dun-it kind of thriller mix in as well. A hard boiled cop and a detective from another area, way out there are on the hunt for a seemingly unstoppable killer that is causing mayhem in downtown LA with no rhyme or reason. This killer is a lot more than meets the eye.

Trivia - One of the actors saw a scene of stop motion photography that utilized a latex form of his 'head'. The scene called for things to enter the actors heads mouth and disgusted by this, had to leave the filming area.

The classic horror from both a master of horror novels and a genius of film making.

The Overland Hotel is taken after a man and his wife and young son who look to stay and care take the hotel in its downturn during the winter months spirits invade the family and the father sees red and the son gathers visions from the past & future. Yet solitude is not always what it is cracked up to be, and sometimes with murderous consequences. This is the movie that put Jack Nicholson into the lime light as an A list actor.

Trivia - Stanley Kubrick, for the lead male role portrayed by Jack Nicholson, did think of but then decided not to cast, either Robert Deniro or Robin Williams, Stephen King suggested he cast either Michael Moriarty or Jon Voight, even Harrison Ford was considered at one stage.

A virtually unknown and classic horror film in the vein of 'Se7en'. This film shows us how a detective played very well by Christopher Lambert (Highlander) virtually unliked within his precinct must battle more than his colleagues to hunt down a religious and very disturbing serial killer that's working towards something very special. One of the most disturbing films ever made. Not for the faint hearted and surely one to shock you to the core.

Trivia - A major continuity slightly spoils the film, supposed to be set in Chicago, yet some scenes at train stations can be seen displaying both English and French signs, giving away it's actual Toronto location.