Underrated Horror Movies

[Adrift]

Finally got around to watching As Above, So Below. Been hearing a lot about this movie, some good and some bad, but I loved it!! It was the sort of horror film that was made just for me. Supernatural Horror? Check. Mind-Bending/Nightmare Weirdness? Check. Pretty Protagonist? Check. Ancient Freaking Artifacts/Archaeology? Double Check.

This film is a found footage film, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for some reason these things still work for me. Not all of them, there's definitely some stinkers out there, and I'd rather a standard non-found footage film, but I still jump at the scares in the Paranormal Activity films.

And I don't know what's going on, maybe my tastes have been changing as I get older and I've watched more and more films. I usually agree with critics on films, but this film and the recent Batman V. Superman have demonstrated how disconnected I seem to be compared to the average reviewer. This film got a lowly 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, which I just don't get. This was a really fun, non-stop action scare film. It reminded a lot of both Grave Encounters and The Descent, which both have a very decent rating on RT. Anyways, if you still enjoy the found footage genre, I give this a strong recommend.

[rogue06]

Finally got around to watching As Above, So Below. Been hearing a lot about this movie, some good and some bad, but I loved it!! It was the sort of horror film that was made just for me. Supernatural Horror? Check. Mind-Bending/Nightmare Weirdness? Check. Pretty Protagonist? Check. Ancient Freaking Artifacts/Archaeology? Double Check.

This film is a found footage film, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for some reason these things still work for me. Not all of them, there's definitely some stinkers out there, and I'd rather a standard non-found footage film, but I still jump at the scares in the Paranormal Activity films.

And I don't know what's going on, maybe my tastes have been changing as I get older and I've watched more and more films. I usually agree with critics on films, but this film and the recent Batman V. Superman have demonstrated how disconnected I seem to be compared to the average reviewer. This film got a lowly 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, which I just don't get. This was a really fun, non-stop action scare film. It reminded a lot of both Grave Encounters and The Descent, which both have a very decent rating on RT. Anyways, if you still enjoy the found footage genre, I give this a strong recommend.

Mentioned

Anyone seen "As Above So Below"?

It's about a professor seeking the Philosopher's Stone in the catacombs under Paris hidden by an alchemist centuries before. The professor (who's father went mad and hung himself searching for it), her cameraman, (ex?) boyfriend and three guides set off looking for a secret chamber, get lost (of course), and end up in a section where reality gets turned upside down as they figure out the clues.

Spoiler: Half die, at least one bizarrely and it seems that the only way out has a lot to do with confessing their deepest secrets.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8885[/ATTACH]

I mostly agree with your review and why. I didn't "love" it but it definitely was entertaining and worth the watch

[Adrift]

Mentioned

I mostly agree with your review and why. I didn't "love" it but it definitely was entertaining and worth the watch

Oh, sorry about that. I thought someone else had mentioned it, but I couldn't find it in a thread search. And I thought I had already seen it, but I definitely had not. Now I'm wondering what film it was that I thought I had seen. Pretty sure it was another found footage film. They all start to blur after awhile.

[rogue06]

Oh, sorry about that. I thought someone else had mentioned it, but I couldn't find it in a thread search. And I thought I had already seen it, but I definitely had not. Now I'm wondering what film it was that I thought I had seen. Pretty sure it was another found footage film. They all start to blur after awhile.

No need to apologize, after 400+ posts movies are bound to get mentioned more than once (I've done it a couple times). And with that title it is hard to look up (I had to put "Paris" in the search function).

[Adrift]

So I've recently been on a horror splurge and have a few new ones I'd like to recommend.

Spring: Man I love this film. Briefly, it's the story of a young man who, after the death of his mother, his life starts falling to pieces around him. He decides to get away from it all by visiting Italy where he meets a beautiful woman with a mysterious and ancient secret. This is an indie film that feels like a professional production. It's absolutely stunningly shot, the dialogue is smart and funny, the acting is phenomenal, the characters are memorable, lots of very well done practical FX. It's horror romance (?) with maybe a hint of comedy, fantasy, and science fiction. The closest thing I could probably compare it to is maybe An American Werewolf in London. Great stuff. Highly recommended.



Hush: I don't really know how to talk about this film without giving its premise away, so, yeah, it's a movie about a psycho killer who taunts a deaf-mute author. I don't typically care for psycho killer horror films. I'm not the biggest fan of the Michael and Jason films. HATED Funny Games. But this is a very well thought out, edge of your seat film. The film is mostly wordless, but occasionally you hear the victim's inner voice, which is an interesting way of building tension or intelligence into a scene. I went in trepidatious, and left really liking it.



Coherence: This is a trippy, low budget film about a dinner party among friends while a comet passes close to the earth. Somehow a sort of space/time anomaly is caused that leads to a very bizarre series of events that the guests have to find a way to deal with. This isn't a perfect film. The acting feels a bit stilted, and the character motivations are a bit thin, but the overall narrative is very Twilight Zone-y, which is a nice change of pace in your average horror. For fans of films like Pi or Primer, but not quite as well produced/directed as either of those films. I still recommend it for something completely different. It's a good Netflixer.



The Nightmare: This is a documentary, but man, it really got to me. I couldn't even get halfway through it the first night. It's a film about night paralysis. I guess it hit close to home for me, because I used to date a girl who used to get night paralysis, and I think I may have experienced it once. I also think it's possible that there's a very real, very spiritual component to this phenomenon. The film plays on a number of things I find creepy, like characters on TV aware of and talking to the viewer, or the idea of shadowy figures hovering over your bed breathing fear into your mind. There's a powerful testimony towards the end of the documentary about an atheist who, for some reason, found the name of Jesus on her lips during an intense night paralysis, that led to her conquering the issue, and led to her conversion to Christianity. And no, this isn't a Christian film. It just happened to have that one interview in it.




Ok, I think that'll do for now.

[Zymologist]

I think I had night paralysis once, though I haven't studied the phenomenon or anything. It scared me to death at the time.

[Adrift]

I think I had night paralysis once, though I haven't studied the phenomenon or anything. It scared me to death at the time.

Yep. I can't imagine having that happen on a regular basis. It'd be madness.

[Cerebrum123]

I've sleep paralysis repeatedly. Nothing has ever been able to make mine go away though. It's always when I'm getting my deepest sleep, which for this aspect is not that often. I can say what I experienced with sleep paralysis was nothing compared to seeing a demon face to face while awake. I'm of the opinion that demons could very well use sleep paralysis, but that not all sleep paralysis is demonic.

[Adrift]

I've sleep paralysis repeatedly. Nothing has ever been able to make mine go away though. It's always when I'm getting my deepest sleep, which for this aspect is not that often. I can say what I experienced with sleep paralysis was nothing compared to seeing a demon face to face while awake. I'm of the opinion that demons could very well use sleep paralysis, but that not all sleep paralysis is demonic.

Interesting perspective. The documentary does touch on different experiences with sleep paralysis, but the overriding sensations included extreme fatigue and sometimes a tingling sensation just before the paralysis, then the feeling of having awareness or being conscious, and finding that you could not move your body/could not wake yourself up. Only with great effort could you eventually force yourself awake, but it's not always guaranteed. Most of the interviewees reported a great sense of fear, often the feeling that someone or thing was sitting on their chest. Many of them reported feeling or actually seeing a shadowy presence, or several shadowy presences. Often these presences would approach them, hover over them, lay in the bed with them. One woman claimed to be sexually molested by the presence, and that it would often seem to lay next to her. Later she claimed that after her mother died the presence was replaced by a temporary sense that the spirit of her mother would lie next to her, whispering calming things in her ear. When pushed by the interviewer whether or not the malevolent presence was gone, she paused and then said she wasn't sure. That sometimes the spirit of her mother didn't seem right, and that she wasn't completely certain whether or not the malevolent presence was mimicking her mother. One interviewee mentioned the similarity between his image of a presence and that of gray aliens. I think he concluded that many reports of alien abduction were likely forms of sleep paralysis.

At any rate, regardless of what they are, it was a very interesting documentary. Watch it with the lights on.

[Cerebrum123]

Interesting perspective. The documentary does touch on different experiences with sleep paralysis, but the overriding sensations included extreme fatigue and sometimes a tingling sensation just before the paralysis, then the feeling of having awareness or being conscious, and finding that you could not move your body/could not wake yourself up. Only with great effort could you eventually force yourself awake, but it's not always guaranteed. Most of the interviewees reported a great sense of fear, often the feeling that someone or thing was sitting on their chest. Many of them reported feeling or actually seeing a shadowy presence, or several shadowy presences. Often these presences would approach them, hover over them, lay in the bed with them. One woman claimed to be sexually molested by the presence, and that it would often seem to lay next to her. Later she claimed that after her mother died the presence was replaced by a temporary sense that the spirit of her mother would lie next to her, whispering calming things in her ear. When pushed by the interviewer whether or not the malevolent presence was gone, she paused and then said she wasn't sure. That sometimes the spirit of her mother didn't seem right, and that she wasn't completely certain whether or not the malevolent presence was mimicking her mother. One interviewee mentioned the similarity between his image of a presence and that of gray aliens. I think he concluded that many reports of alien abduction were likely forms of sleep paralysis.

At any rate, regardless of what they are, it was a very interesting documentary. Watch it with the lights on.

Well, one time I had one where something that looked exactly like E.T. The Extra Terrestrial chewing on my foot. It was unpleasant, but not particularly frightening or unsettling, just weird. Then there have been times where only the paralysis kicks in, and I just lay there awake not being able to move. One time the only thing that happened was that I heard the doorbell ring, and that might have been actually happening.
I've had scary ones too, but they never came close to the sheer terror, and well, hate[1], that I experienced while awake.

Anyway, I think I've had enough of the experience, and would rather not watch a documentary on it. I don't want any ideas in my head that might influence it. It's bad enough with the weird dreams doing that, but sleep paralysis too.

1. Meaning the hate it felt was literally something you could feel. It didn't look angry, or resentful, or anything. Just a blank stare.

[Yttrium]

I enjoyed Event Horizon more than I thought I would. It's about a spaceship that's designed to pass through a wormhole to get to another star. It comes back wrong. Lovecraft-style wrong.

eventhorizon.jpg

It's old, but Island of Terror was one of my favorite horror films.

islandofterror.jpgiot-thing.jpg

If you include giant monster movies, Gorgo is one that often gets overlooked. It starts out a bit like King Kong, where people capture a giant monster and put it on display. Unfortunately, it turns out that the monster is a baby, and his mother comes looking for him.

gorgo.jpg

[Adrift]

I'm not sure Event Horizon is an underrated horror movie. It's definitely well regarded in the horror community, and I'm always a little surprised that it's as popular and well known as it is in the mainstream. For example, I have a couple coworkers who are about as far away from horror fans as can be, and they've both watched it at some point (and found it pretty terrifying). But it does have a deserved reputation for not living up to its promise, and it falls apart at the end. Some of the directing is wonky, and the acting questionable. This is one of those films that's a gem in the rough, because when Paul Anderson gets it right, he gets it really right, but he fumbles it up quite a bit. It's got a very B movie quality about it, which, as time has gone on, probably works on its behalf.

Paul Anderson's films are a guilty pleasure for me, though. In my opinion he's a poor man's John Carpenter. Event Horizon has some truly terrifying moments, and maybe if he had gotten more support from the studio when he was making it, it could have been considered one of the greats.

The other two films you mentioned I haven't seen. I have a huge back catalog of old timey horror films I need to catch up on, and I've been doing that recently with the Universal classics as part of completing my 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list.

[Yttrium]

Huh. I didn't realize Event Horizon was that popular. Island of Terror and Gorgo aren't well known in the US, though, since they're British films. But I found both on DVD some time back, so they may still be lurking around.

[Zymologist]

I'm not sure Event Horizon is an underrated horror movie. It's definitely well regarded in the horror community, and I'm always a little surprised that it's as popular and well known as it is in the mainstream. For example, I have a couple coworkers who are about as far away from horror fans as can be, and they've both watched it at some point (and found it pretty terrifying). But it does have a deserved reputation for not living up to its promise, and it falls apart at the end. Some of the directing is wonky, and the acting questionable. This is one of those films that's a gem in the rough, because when Paul Anderson gets it right, he gets it really right, but he fumbles it up quite a bit. It's got a very B movie quality about it, which, as time has gone on, probably works on its behalf.

Paul Anderson's films are a guilty pleasure for me, though. In my opinion he's a poor man's John Carpenter. Event Horizon has some truly terrifying moments, and maybe if he had gotten more support from the studio when he was making it, it could have been considered one of the greats.

The other two films you mentioned I haven't seen. I have a huge back catalog of old timey horror films I need to catch up on, and I've been doing that recently with the Universal classics as part of completing my 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list.

Maybe I need to watch Event Horizon again, because I liked it a lot when I saw it. To this day it has some of the most disturbing imagery in any horror movie I've ever seen. I've never really understood why so many people dislike it as much as they do.

[Adrift]

Maybe I need to watch Event Horizon again, because I liked it a lot when I saw it. To this day it has some of the most disturbing imagery in any horror movie I've ever seen. I've never really understood why so many people dislike it as much as they do.

I saw it in the theater, and remember leaving with the feeling that it had elements that made for a truly great horror film, but that I was overall unsatisfied. I haven't watched the original cut in years, but I did watch a fan edit a couple years ago. I guess there's a long cut of the film that was thought completely lost, but a VHS copy was discovered recently. Will be interesting to see if a new directors cut will ever come out based on that.