Scary old movies for Halloween, a list of favorites

[betsuni]

Dracula (1931). The actors are so good, eccentric, especially the guy playing Mr. Renfield. He is warned: "We people of the mountains believe that in the castle there are vampires -- Dracula and his wives -- they take the form of wolves and bats!" Sealing one's fate: "Oh, but that's all superstition." "The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly. The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield."

The Spiral Staircase (1945). Great storm action keeping the sound effects department busy, gaslights, big old Victorian house. Sealing one's fate: "My suitcase is in the basement. I'll only be a minute."

The Dark Old House (1932). Storm action, dinner scene featuring roast beef, pickled onions, a large loaf of bread and potatoes. "Have a potato." "It's only gin. I like gin."

I Married a Witch (1942). Upon suggesting the witch's father has a hangover: "Don't tell me what I've got. I INVENTED hangovers."

The Mummy (1932). Sealing one's fate: "Surely a few thousand years would take the mumbo-jumbo out of any old curse."

Arsenic & Old Lace (1944). Gary Grant, it goes without saying. The aunts give out jack-o-lanterns to trick-or-treaters!

An American Werewolf in London (1981, not so old). "I'm certain if there were a monster roaming around Northern England, we'd have seen it on the telly." "A naked American man stole my balloons."

[bigwillq]

1. The original Halloween is the best horror movie ever.

And features very little gore.

Just a great story, great soundtrack and great direction. It's a classic!

[betsuni]

2. I've never seen Halloween

because I thought it was gory. I'll find it and watch, thanks.

[bigwillq]

3. No prob

It's worth the viewing, imo.

[betsuni]

7. I watched it, but since I'm not a fan of horror movies

I guess I can't really appreciate it. A boogie man who kills teenagers, especially horny ones. I didn't understand why he went after the Jamie Lee Curtis character, she wasn't horny. What was that scene about fate, why was her fate to be chased around by the boogie man? Because she dropped off a key at his old murder-house? Did the boogie man have asthma, is that why he breathed so loudly? I don't know...

[PasadenaTrudy]

10. I lived in the house

that was used as Jamie Lee Curtis's in the film. We would be mobbed with Halloween fans this time of year taking pics.

[bigwillq]

11. Cool!

[sarge43]

4. Taste of Cinema put up a great list

http://www.tasteofcinema.com//2014/the-20-best-black-white-horror-films-in-the-sound-era

[betsuni]

5. Ugestsu is a great movie...

and I also like The Innocents, Cat People, and Frankenstein. The first time I saw Frankenstein I was 12 years old. My family went on a summer road trip and stayed at a motel. My brother and sister and i had our own room and of course stayed up late watching TV. I was the only one who saw the whole movie to the end, and it frightened me so much that I couldn't sleep for a long time.

[sarge43]

6. The Innocents and Night of the Hunter are my favorites

I love the psychological horror films

You might enjoy Gods and Monsters with Ian McKellen. It has insights why Whale did such brilliant work on Frankenstein.

[orleans]

8. ever seen "don't look now" -- it used to be my favorite. n/t

[sarge43]

9. No, I haven't. I'll check it out. Thanks. n/t

[shenmue]

12. Nosferatu

[betsuni]

20. Now that is a creepy film, those shadows...

I saw part of a movie that I can't remember the name of that was about filming Nosferatu, and the actor was a real vampire. I'll have to try to find it.

[betsuni]

23. It's "Shadow of the Vampire"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. The Spiral Staircase is one of my favs

Great suspense in that one. These four by master of atmospheric suspense director Jacques Tourneur are classics:


The Leopard Man

Cat People

I Walked With A Zombie

and Tourneur's great horror masterpiece, Night Of The Demon

[betsuni]

17. Thanks, I've seen Cat People (love the stalking in Central Park scene),

but not the others, will watch!

[Bosonic]

14. a few

Dead of Night (1945)

The Haunting (1963)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

The Shining (1980)

[betsuni]

18. I didn't see "The Shining" until a few years ago,

and then I had to watch it several times because there are so many little things you can't catch right away. Very creepy music in the opening scene.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

15. And for sheer atmospheric creepiness

I recommend this 1960 episode of the the TV horror anthology series Thriller entitled The Hungry Glass. This is the episode that caused controversy all across America as reported in newspapers when parents complained that their children couldn't sleep after seeing it. Some kids were hospitalized from fright. The ghost story probably seems tame by today's standards but it was probably the scariest thing ever seen on TV up to then. I was 10 at the time and didn't go near a mirror for days after watching it. It was written by Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19ys7s_the-hungry-glass-1961_shortfilms

[betsuni]

19. Thanks, will watch!

[hibbing]

16. The Tingler

Great story behind this one.
"Percepto!" was a gimmick where Castle attached electrical "buzzers" to the underside of some seats in theaters where The Tingler was screened.[6] The buzzers were small surplus airplane wing deicing motors left from World War II. The cost of this equipment added $250,000 to the film's budget. It was predominantly used in larger theaters.

During the climax of the film, The Tingler was depicted escaping into a movie theater. On screen, the projected film appeared to break as the silhouette of the Tingler moved across the projection beam. The film went black, all lights in the auditorium (except fire exit signs) went off, and Vincent Price's voice warned the audience "Ladies and gentlemen, please do not panic. But scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this theater!"[7] This cued the theater projectionist to activate the buzzers, giving some audience members an unexpected jolt, followed by a highly visible physical reaction.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tingler

I always loved it as a kid because it was really cheesy and the Tingler looks like a lobster.

Peace

[Aristus]

21. I'll never forget the first time I saw the 1932 Boris Karloff 'The Mummy'.

It was at a Halloween party, 1979 at a friend's house. They had rented the film (this was before home VHS. You had to rent the actual film, wound on a spool and played on a projector, and everything) and screened it for us partygoers. I remember that when the mummy revived and lurched out of the archeologists' shack, it drove the young British archeologist crazy.

" 'Ee went for a li'l walk!..."

[Tom Kitten]

22. Carl Dreyer's Vampyr

An early sound film but creepy- I've never forgotten it!

Also, pretty much all the previous suggestions I agree with- many classics indeed! I have a fondness for "The Haunting" but I don't feel like watching it alone...in the dark...

Oh - another obscurity is the 50s film Daughter of Horror (aka Dementia)...This is the movie people were watching in "The Blob" when it attacked! The narrator is Ed McMahon!