In keeping with the "Big Long List" thing....
as I'm here I'll share my absolute love of late 70's/80's horror. At a time just before CGI started to come into use and animatronics and make up were at their peak, this was a heyday for horror movies.

John Carpenter's early stuff was just great. Now I know, recently things have went a bit crap.... Vampires was ropey, and Ghosts of Mars was just pish, but the early years were glorious. Films like The Fog, Halloween and The Prince of Darkness were all perfect examples of Carpenter's true style... small enclosed settings, simple effective stories and his trademark eerie soundtrack. The Thing, in my opinion his best film and one of my top 10, is the perfect example of this.... the effects are stunning, the tension is incredibly well built up and the story is genuinely frightening. He also did many more films around that time, not all horrors, like Starman, Escape from New York, Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live, all of which are great and worthy of a watch. They Live is especially good for it's sheer cheese factor.... Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David have the longest fight scene I've ever seen, it's hilarious. But that was when Carpenter was at his best, when the storylines were simple.

There were many other gems, stuff like Poltergeist and The Amityville Horror were truly terrifying, Fright Night was ace, the Return of the Living Dead was hilarious and still quite gruesome and the People Under the Stairs was just classic (although that was from 1991). The eighties also had a lot of horror compendiums too which we never see these days.... things like Creepshow, Grim Prairie Tales (90's again but meh) and Twilight Zone - The Movie. Ah halcyon days.

They just don't make em like they did then any more.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 15:54, 7 replies)

Big Trouble in Little China! I'd totally forgotten about that one! You get a click for reminding me of that gem
(FerretTrout be illin', Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:00, closed)

I never realised
it was one of John Carpenter's until I began collecting his films and checked on imdb for the list! One of my childhood faves :D Still haven't bought it, gotta get around to it! *ebays* :P
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:04, closed)

Um......
In the Mouth of Madness? Damn freaky film the first time around, very un-nerving.
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 16:38, closed)

The Thing!
Damn awesome film.. must exhume from box in my parents garage. and.. watch.. agaAAAIInns..

Also thx to Jeccy, I thought, eh? Its Mountains of Madness surely? Then IMDB'd it and it clicked. Yay! Another film for the list.. HP Lovecraft FTW
(Hikikomori** watching cartoons on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 19:03, closed)

Ah mouth of Madness!
I forgot that one, only ever seen it once but it was really freaky! Hmmm the only Lovecraftian thing I've got here is Dagon and I'm not sure if I liked it or not :P
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 20:44, closed)

The Thing is loosely based on the short story "Mountains of Madness"
Lovecraft stories rock but get made into cheesy movies. I suppose that applies to most things.. I'd love to see an Iain M Banks Culture movie though..
(Hikikomori** watching cartoons on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 22:28, closed)

Culture......
Crikey, I'd give up an important organ to see either Player of Games or Excession on the big screen. *drools
(Darkmoor supplying false teeth to the masses, Tue 22 Jul 2008, 10:59, closed)