The Classic Horror Thread
 

So we've discussed what slick horror (if any) people on the Shameless forums enjoy, now I'm interested in what classic horror people enjoy. By "classic" I guess I'm mostly referring to those films released from the 1920s up until around the 1950s.

I particularly love the Val Lewton RKO flicks from the 1940s like Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie and The Body Snatcher but I'm also a sucker for the good old Universal monster movies. My particular favourites are Son Of Dracula and Son Of Frankenstein. I'm also pretty keen on the sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s like The Incredible Shrinking Man and It Came From Outer Space. The original House Of Wax is another firm favourite.

As you can probably tell from my avatar, though, my ultimate favourite is the German Expressionist classic, Nosferatu!

So are there any classic horrors that you guys love? Or is it gore all the way? ;)

Big fan of the Universal & RKO days here too. There's something about those movies that remains genuinely atmospheric to this day.

I agree that Nosferatu is one of the greatest horror movies ever. I also love the Quatermass Experiment for real atmosphere.

There's nothing better than a creaky dusty portmanteau of stories from Hammer and especially Amicus. I adore Vault of Horror (although for some reason my old VHS looks better than the DVD!) - it's the spooky atmosphere that they seemed to be able to generate. That and you get proper veteran actors who will treat a role seriously no matter how naff the storyline and effects resulting in effective chills. :eek:

Best to hold on to the Vipco video/DVD release of Vault Of Horror. The new release by MGM features the uncut Tales From The Crypt but the cut U.S print of Vault Of Horror (with the freeze frame endings) for some peculiar reason.

Yeah I'd read about that DVD. I guess materials must be tough to find for that film - certainly the Vipco master isn't up to much - must be an old 1-inch. What I couldn't understand was that the old Vipco VHS sleeve for Vault was fine so why they didn't at least re-use that rather than the odd block letting gold and black DVD covers they started favouring.

Some of their older DVD (& video) releases had pretty good artwork considering (apart from that ludicrous Incredible Melting Man cover). Whenever I see their gold lettered Screamtime Collection sleeves I want to throw a shoe at them. :)

I love their Digitally Remastered release of The Bogey Man. I think the digital remastering stretched as far as the cover. The film looks like the print came straight out of a George Foreman mini-grill. http://shameless-films.com/forums/im...es/biggrin.gif

Yeah I enjoyed their 90s video covers and some of the 80s ones were pretty nifty. I'm starting to understand why they went for the Screamtime Collection covers after staring at drafts of our efforts until my eyes bleed. Next time I'll choose something more soothing to stare at than yellow!

Shogun Assassin has to be Vipco's finest.......

STRONG UNCUT VERSION!!!!!!!
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP A BODY COUNT!!!!!!!
HE WHIPS OUT HIS SWORD AND RELIEVES HIS VICTIMS OF THEIR HEADS!!!!!!!
THE BLOOD GUSHES OUT ALL OVER THE SCREEN AS IF BEING HOSED INTO THE CAMERA!!!!!!!
WATCH OUT FOR JUNIOR AS HE RELEASES THE BLADES FROM THE WHEELS OF HIS RICKETY WOODEN PRAM!!!!!!!
I REALLY LIKE EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!

You had to love them. :) :)

I keep culling exclamation marks from our sleeves - maybe I should unleash them!!!!!! I don't join into the Vipco bashing out there. They did plenty for the videotape days that was cool and in fact their policy of listing cuts in the 90s was something we thought at least showed respect to fans hence us doing it for NYR (although I wish we hadn't been duped by that 34 secs when it's now clearer it was closer to 19). Essentially they were a company for the video era and back in the 90s when collecting horror was very difficult they and Redemption brought a lot of cheer to store shelves.

I'd still like a lovely pristine Vault of Horror but I don't mind the crackles on the Vipco version - it's all part of the charm of the era. This of course though is an anathema to the DVD generation! ;)