Top Ten Foreign Horror Films

[Sara]

I'll start, though my list may be revised as I think.

Anyway, here goes so far in no real order:

Nosferatu - Murnau,1922 - silent
M - Lang, 1931
Black Sabbath - Mario Bava, 1964
Les Diaboliques - Clouzot, 1955
Audition - Miike, 2000
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Wiene, 1919 - silent
Eyes Without a Face - Franju, 1960
Faust - Murnau, 1926 - silent
Spoorloos- Shuizer, 1988

And one I have not seen, but really want to (though there are no DVD/VHS ways to see it)
The Phantom Chariot - Sjostrom, 1921 - silent - Sweden (that one would satisfy my craving to see scary chariot rides, I think)

What are your top ten?

Sara

[wpqx]

I see this list being somewhat impossible. Hard to consider M a horror film, but I'll give this a shot.

In the Empire of Passion (1980) - Nagisa Oshima
Kwaidan (1964) - Masaki Kobayashi
Vampyr (1931) - Carl Theodor Dreyer
Nosferatu (1922) - F. W. Murnau
Faust (1926) - F. W. Murnau
Bay of Blood (1971) - Mario Bava
Horror Rises From the Tomb (1972) - Carlos Aured
Eyes Without a Face (1960) - Georges Franju
Haxaan (1922) - Benjamin Christensen
The Vanishing (198 - George Sluizer

Just noticed foreign horror films kinda suck

[Sara]

"just noticed horror films kind of suck"

OK. But please tell us why you think so.

(By the way, I agree with you about Kwaidan and wish I had put it on my list. )

Sara

[trevor826]

There are a few listed that I wouldn't have thought of as horror films but I suppose it's down to what you perceive as horror. I prefer to categorise it with the fantasy element as opposed to say, serial killers etc and sometimes with a touch of humour.

Anyway I'll knock up a list when I can get on the PC.

I have to agree with wpqx, there aren't many decent horror films and the majority suck, mind you I've just forced myself to watch the pretty naff Hiruko the Goblin.

Okay, finally on the PC, here's my rough draft top 10:

Audition (1999) - Takashi Miike
Faust (1926) - F. W. Murnau
Kuroneko (196 - Kaneto Shind
Kwaidan (1964) - Masaki Kobayashi
Nosferatu (1922) F W Murnau
Onibaba (1964) - Kaneto Shind
Repulsion (1965) - Roman Polanski
Shaun of the Dead (2004)- Edgar Wright
The Devil's Backbone (2001) - Guillermo del Toro
The Eye (2002) - Pang Brothers

That was a lot harder than I expected, I didn't want to smother it in Asian films. With Europe it's one area where apart from a lot of really trashy 60/70's films, there's not a great amount to pick from, same with Latin America.

Cheers Trev.

[mcdan]

This was a good question and made me realize how few foreign horror films I have seen. My list is short.

Nosferatu - 1922/Murnau
Nosferatu- 1979/Herzog
Les Diaboliques- 1955/Clouzot

Eyes Without a Face - 1960/Franju
Peeping Tom - 1960/Boehm

Phone- 2004/Byeong-ki Ahn (and all those similar films)
A Tale of Two Sisters- 2004/Ji-woon Kim

Thanks to your lists I have added "Kwaidan", "Onibaba", "Audition" and "Bay of Blood" to my list to start.

Has anyone seen "Blade of the Ripper." (1971/ Martino) ? I have heard it was good but cannot find it to rent yet.

"Susperia" sounds intriging. (1977/Argento) but some I know say not to bother.

[trevor826]

Hi mcdan, I've never really got into Argento's films but one of the reasons is that I don't like watching dubbed movies and most appear to be slashers which I have never found appealing.

My list was in alphabetical order, if I had attempted to make it numerical then Onibaba would have been close to, if not at the top. I remember how much it changed my perspective on what a horror film could be, outstanding.

It's very difficult to pick anything Asian from the last few years simply because if it's even slightly successful you get dozens of clones coming out. What did you enjoy about Phone? I'm only asking because for me the film contained one outstanding performance.

Cheers Trev.

[mcdan]

Hi Trevor,

I picked Phone for one simple reason - the little girl (I don't know her name, sorry) - her performance just stayed with me. I'm not sure as a parent I could let a child take on that role but that is not for me to judge - maybe it adds to the horror. It is not a great film but her role was something else.

Plus there was the typical use of the elevators - such as in "Dark Water" where the actual "best actors" are the elevator and the apartment complex.

I agree that so many of these Asian horror films are just clone after clone that I have trouble even remembering definative ones. (I didn't like "Ju-on.")

I think I will postpone Argento's films and go with "Onibaba" and the others. "Kwaidan" arrives in the mail tomorrow.

Thanks,

Mcdan

[trevor826]

Agreed on Phone, the little girl made the film, the good thing is she features a lot in the UK DVD extras and it's very obvious that she enjoyed making the film and nothing seems to have caused her any distress. It's also astounding that all the facial expressions were made by her without need for special effects.

Cheers Trev.

[A]

I just noticed, that I`ve seen way too few Horror films, and most were bad.
Also, it`s very hard to categorize for me which film is "Horror", and which not...

The only ones I can recommend are:

1. Possession (West Germany, France / 1981 / Andrzej Zulawski)
2. The Shining (UK / 1980 / Stanley Kubrick)
3. Kuroneko (Japan / 1968 / Kaneto Shindo)
4. Dracula (UK / 1958 / Terence Fisher)

[Johndav]

This is one genre Britain's been quite strong in;

The Shining
The Innocents
Don't Look Now
The Wicker Man

but taking just films not in English as "foreign";

Nosferatu (Murnau)
Kwaidan - 4 ghost stories, more eerie, beautiful than horror, Snow Woman and Hoichi the Earless the standouts.
Suspiria
Onibaba
Vampyr (Dreyer)

btw, i'm a fan of Isabelle Adjani, but Possession was one i didn't like at all!