# Master of Horror/suspence



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

So who do you think deserves the title? Clive Barker? Stephen King? Wes Craven? Stanly Kubrick? someone else? who???

I have to say Stephen King. I've seen almost every single one of the movies based on his novels and short stories, except some stuff that was made in the 80's, ie Cats Eye, Children of The Corn. I own about 25 of his movies on VHS. I like the way King tries to work himself into the movie in some small way. I also like is non horror work, Shawshank and Green Mile. The Stand is probably my absolute favorite. Storm Of The Century, Carrie, Cujo, Silver Bullet, Christine, Night Flyer and It are my favorite King horror movies 

Clive Barker, nah! The Hellraiser series ain't that horrifying. I've see the first 3, but have yet to see Bloodline and whatever the 5th one is called.

Wes Craven, out side of 7 Freddy's (Nightmare on Elm Street) and 3's Ghostface's (Scream) he needs to focus more on the suspense. Wishmaster was okay, kinda low budget, especially since the first one and second one are sold together in the same case for a total of $9 on DVD. 

Stanly Kubrick, now there's a very dark man. Never got a chance to see any of his movies besides the original Shining, which is MUCH better the Shining '97. I wanna see Clockwork Orange and some of his other work. The Remake of The Shining seemed like a kids move compared to the original. And whats a croquet mallet compared to an ax.

Oh ya forgot John Carpenter, who brought as 7 Halloweens and one on the way, Vampires and The Fog. 2 Halloweens was all I could bear, everyone is the same thing, Micheal is on a rampage, slashes people and doesn't die, although sometimes we think he's dead he keeps coming back, not what I call suspense. Vampires was pretty good.


any thoughts?


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## invaliduser88 (Apr 23, 2002)

Don't forget John Carpenter's remake of The Thing!


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> I like the way King tries to work himself into the movie in some small way.


 This method was taken from the original master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.


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## Frapp (Apr 23, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Rking401 _
> * This method was taken from the original master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. *


Absolutely ......

Who is undoubtedly the Master of all time :righton:

Although the original "Night of the living dead" was a genuine piece of horror art even though I can not recall the director


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Some Hitchock cameo appearances: http://rhs.jack.k12.wv.us/cameo/cameo.htm


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

Alfred Hitchcock was and still is the master of suspense. All the rest are pretenders. Take a look at the movies "Rear Window", "Vertigo", "The Birds". You will find elements in those movies that have been copied by the modern "masters. You will also notice that nowhere is there a severed head or gore or a dead teenager to make you jump through your skin. The suspense and fright is built up in your head and not by shock.

The closest thing I've seen to this in recent movies was "Signs". But even then it wasn't the same.

See ya
Tony


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

alfred Hitchcock is THE master of suspense(North by Northwwest, Marnie, Vertigo, rear window, the lodger) and horror(the birds, psycho)...

James whale follows a close second, as does robert florey, roman polanski, mario bava, dario argento, tod browning, and william friedkin....


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I think my favorite Hitchcock movies have to be Rear Window, North by Northwest, and The Birds. I can still recall the ads for The Birds when it first came out and the incorrect sounding, but grammatically correct line from the ads: "The Birds is coming". 

I had the honor of meeting Jimmy Stewart, star, along with Perry Mason, of Rear Window, in about 1970 or so when I was working part time in a brokerage office and he was touring the country visiting all of the offices of the company I worked for. He was a large investor in a natural gas drilling company that we were putting together a partnership for. He came into the office and spent the whole day meeting with customers and employees. The great thing about him is that he went around and spent a few minutes speaking to everyone in the office, no matter what the position of the person. I was just about the low man on the totem pole there, being a part time college student at the time, and he took about 5-10 minutes to come and sit at my desk and talk. I was a nervous wreck, never having met a famous person before, but he had a great way of putting everyone there at ease. (By the way, don't tell anyone, but he wore a toupee).


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

NO!!!????!!!!!


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

::::GASP:::::::


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

...geez, next you'll be telling us that john wayne didn 't like horses and his first name was really marion....


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## gcutler (Mar 23, 2002)

I think that M. Night Shyamalan The Writer/Director of "Signs", "Unbreakable" and "The Sixth Sense" is the closest thing we have to Hitchcock today. Now granted only 3 movies in that realm, so he has a little catching up to do before we can say for sure. But he is the only one running IMHO.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> geez, next you'll be telling us that john wayne didn 't like horses and his first name was really marion...


 :lol:


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I have seen the Sixth Sense, and very much agree with you on that one. I haven't seen the other two movies. I guess it's time to go shopping.


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## JBKing (Mar 23, 2002)

M. Night Shyamalan is the most promising director in years. I was disappointed with Unbreakable, but it still had that same _feel_ as his other movies. I've got great hopes for this guy. The Sixth Sense is probably the only movie in years that actually _scared_ me. Oh sure, I might jump now and then because the thought the slasher was going to come from the left and not the right, but that isn't fear. I'm talking about creepiness that stays with you for days and gives you nightmares!

Shyalaman can do it. So can John Carpenter, Hitchcock of course, George Romero in Night of the Living Dead, but that is his only claim to fame, IMHO.

Kubrick was a master and I would have seen any movie he made. The Shining still scares me. A Clockwork Orange is a fantastic movie, but not scary. I find myself laughing more than anything else. Of course that is after seeing the movie umpteen times.

Friedkin did it in the Exorcist, and the Exorcist III. I still think III is a great movie.

I haven't been a big fan of Stephen King's movies. His novels are good, but the movies never live up to the book. Has he even directed any?

Although not scary, Carpenter's Escape from New York (not LA) is a great flick. Carpenter makes the perfect movie. Good, but simple story, great music, creepiness, and lots of surprises. I wish he would come out of his semi-retirement.

Tod Browning's Dracula with Bela Lugosi is my all-time favorite. You have to realize this was made over 70 years ago. Yes, the middle drags. But there has never been any scene like the one where Bela first appears in his castle, descending the stairs. Things were so much scarier when the blood and gore was left to your imagination. I still get creeped out, with the scene on the boat ride to England. All you see is the shadow of one of the dead crewmen tied to the wheel, guiding the ship. You know what happened to everyone else, and the film didn't show one second of the carnage.


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

oh, God-King directed this absolutely awful film several years ago about cars and trucks and toasters coming to get ya!!!!!I don't remember the name of it, but even king will tell you it was enough to slam and lock the door of his directing career...

JB, if you want to see a better Drac film than Brownings, catch the Spanish language version film at the same time using the same sets-this one doesn't have the lag in the middle...

and if you saw "signs", i'm curious-did you jump at the dog????I sure did...lol


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## JBKing (Mar 23, 2002)

Maximum Overdrive! That movie had only two things going for it. AC/DC did the soundtrack and the truck had a HUGE Green Goblin mask on the front grill.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> work Orange is a fantastic movie


I didn't make it through the first five minutes of this one. I went to it with my GF at the time and another couple back when it first came out. The first few minutes was more than enough for the GF's. We, along with many others, got up and walked out of the theater. They refused to refund our money, so I guess the theater won. A very large number of people actually left the theater. I think all it took was one couple to leave to start a trend that night. The popcorn was good. I still haven't seen the whole movie to this day.


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## JBKing (Mar 23, 2002)

It is a dark, twisted movie, particularly for that time frame (early 70's?). My wife can't stand it, but she isn't a Kubrick fan either. It's probably hard to understand the slang in the movie also. I still pick up something new after seeing it so many times. I think it takes a certain sense of humor also. Hard to explain how a scene of brutal violence can be funny.


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## gcutler (Mar 23, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Rking401 _
> *I have seen the Sixth Sense, and very much agree with you on that one. I haven't seen the other two movies. I guess it's time to go shopping. *


"Unbreakable" is really enjoyable especially if you read comic books as a kid. But like "Jerry McGuire" you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy it, same with being a comic fan with "Unbreakable"


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## gcutler (Mar 23, 2002)

> _Originally posted by JBKing _
> *It is a dark, twisted movie, particularly for that time frame (early 70's?). My wife can't stand it, but she isn't a Kubrick fan either. It's probably hard to understand the slang in the movie also. I still pick up something new after seeing it so many times. I think it takes a certain sense of humor also. Hard to explain how a scene of brutal violence can be funny.  *


A friend has a brother who was a big trouble maker and we expected to end up dead by 20, well brother is now a 30 year old cop (graduated NY City police academy top of his class) That reality with what happens to McDowell's fellow gang members in the movie makes for a big laugh.

But most cannot get past the brutal rape scene.


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## JBKing (Mar 23, 2002)

So the brother has a job for one who is now of job age, eh?  His name isn't Georgie, is it?


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