Why isn't the original Cat People on here?

Why is Jaws under Peeping Tom?

It can certainly be up for discussion, as I see it:

Influence - Peeping Tom by a large stretch
Impact - Jaws
Innovation to the genre - Peeping Tom by a large stretch
Cultural Significance - Jaws
Critical Acclaim - Jaws, probably just, but it's difficult/unfair to compare a British movie to one of the most famous/biggest advertising campaigns in cinema history.
Popularity - Jaws, though again, difficult and unfair to properly compare a British movie to such a mainstream release in popularity

I was actually going to push for Peeping Tom for #1. I know it won't happen, but it came out just before Psycho and has so much more depth and horrific character development than Psycho, which feels like a reading from a psychiatry textbook rather than a truly cinematic exploration of a sick sick mind.
Also the critical acclaim for Peeping Tom is way greater. At the time of its release it was unanimously ostracised by the critics and destroyed Powell, but throughout the years it turned out to be probs the most respected horror film.

Which list is the latest update? Is it the first post? Because that list is pretty good, although I don't think Aliens really belongs there, 28DL is too low and so is Suspiria. Good to see recognition for Spoorloos (The Vanishing) because that movie was totally awesome.
And I had also hoped to see The Innocents and The Haunting in a top 20 spot. Those two are movies that changed the look of ghost films forever, just the way Psycho and Peeping Tom did for the slasher genre.

edit: wait, how come Ken Russel's The Devils is not on here, Avery? Is there a reason for it?

Psycho is not set in stone as #1 or anything. In fact I said a couple of pages a go that I wanted to hear people's opinions on NOTLD vs Psycho as I felt NOTLD easily had an argument as #1. Very few films have had the same cultural impact as NOTLD has. The plethora of zombie films and video games etc. It's entered everyday language as a term to mean someone who is gormless or walking round without thinking etc. All that stems from that one film. Not to mention it's also probably the most acclaimed and famous B-movie of all-time.

Suspiria is one of my favourite films and I am a huge, huge Argento fan! Not sure I can really see it above anything in front of it on the list though.

As for Cat people and The Devil's there may have been a couple I've missed. This list hasn't been updated in a while. Sorry, should get on it.

Yea, I don't really believe that Psycho should be on #1. I would definitely agree with NOTLD, but my vote does go for Peeping Tom. I think it is criminally underrated here on DDD, or at least it's left virtually uindiscussed. But yeah the cultural impact of Night Of The Living Dead is massive.

I think The Devils definitely needs to be on here, that movie is just pure madness... Also, I recently watched Carnival Of Souls, which I thought was really excellent and I feel that it deserves a spot here. Have you seen it, Avery? Another brilliant B-movie.
One more surprising oversight on this list would be The Blak Cat by Edgar G. Ulmer... A true classic, mixing supernatural horror with satanism, starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff (although he's simply credited as KARLOFF). Lovely references to expressionist and caligarist works and stale acting like you'd only find in a classic Hollywood horror flick. I also noticed an overall lack of pre-60s horror cinema. The Universal classics are here, but almost no '40s movies. Night Of The Demon, The Seventh Victim, The Isle Of The Dead, ... Maybe inclusion for those?


Of course you're an Argento fan... Wouldn't have agreed with you otherwise. What would you recommend to someone who's seen and loved Suspiria, Profondo Rosso and Inferno? I hope you wouldn't choose Fulci over Argento though, because I just watched my third Fulci picture (Don't Torture A Duckling) and I thought it suuucked. The Beyond was half decent but still the middle part was so bloody boring. I'll give him one more shot with Zombi 2, and if that doesn't do it for me, I will be hating that dude...

Yeah, I've never got the love for Zombi 2 either, really average zombie flick imo. However, the Beyond is awesome! But nah, Fulci is nowhere near Argento for me.

After Suspiria, I would say Profondo Rosso is definitely the one to go for. Though Tenebre and the criminally underrated Phenomena are also very highly reccomended. Phenomena is the most Suspiria-esque if you will. Inferno is great too but I'd watch a couple of the others first.

Yeah, so idk if that was clear or not, but I have already seen Profondo Rosso and Inferno But Tenebre and Phenomena will be next. I'm also interested in Mother Of Tears, but I don't really expect much of it. Another Argento I really want to see though is The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. I have no idea what to expect, but it's got cinematography by Vittorio Storaro and that's always worth checking out.

And then I also have to get into Bava for reals. I absolutely loved THe Mask Of Satan and I started watching than one with the three short stories (Black Sunday or Sabbath or something?) but had to stop after one story... Anyway, Blood And Black Lace and Danger - Diabolik are up next for me.

Haha, sorry read that wrong. Yeah definitely go with Tenebre and Phenomena next. Bird with the Crystal Plumage is great but I felt a little underwhelmed. Opera is good too. Mother of Tears is pretty crappy and not even in a good crappy horror film type of way, but like you I imagine, I watched it just because I wanted to finish off the trilogy.

Black Sabbath is my favourite Bava! Did you stop after the first story because you didn't like it? Also, did you make sure you got the modern re-cut, like a lot of horror films from that era it was cut to shreds by the censors. That first film is supposedly barely recognisible in it's cut form. It wasn't even cut because of gore or anything it only got cut apart because of the implication that the 2 main characters were in a homosexual relationship. I'd definitely recommend to keep watching! You haven't seen the best of the 3 stories yet (you'll know which one it is when you've seen it! Sent a shiver up my spine.)

Was a little undewhelmed by Blood and Black Lace myself. Haven't seen Danger - Diabolik myself though have heard good things. A really amazing Bava film, though it's not a horror, is Kidnapped (aka Rabid Dogs)! It's like a cult midnight movie, reminds me a lot of Scorsese's After Hours actually.

There's also a Bava film which I haven't seen but want to. Saw a Bava documentary on SkyArts back here a while back and they were going on about Bava's influence and how many people have copied his style and they were talking about this film and several people were saying how Alien basically plagarised Planet of the Vampires. Apparently Dan O'Bannon (director of Return of the Living Dead) was one of the writers on Alien and so I imagine would have seen it even id Scott hadn't. Don't know how bad the plagarism is, but I want to watch it to find out.

Get the Bava boxsets if you can! I have both volumes, there's a couple of the famous ones missing, I had to buy Blood and Black Lace separately, but there's so many great and underrated classics on there. I don't know what country you are in/region of DVD, but there's 13 films on the 2 sets between them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mario-Bava-Coll ... 133&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bava-Box-Set-Re ... 133&sr=8-1

"Videodrome" is conspiciously absent. Another important Tourneur to add would be "I Walked with a Zombie". Also the list needs some Jack Arnold.

Agreed! I wasn't aware really of Val Lewton, the "Lewton bus" and his "less is more" techniques and their influence on horror when I made this original list, so his films and in particular I Walked with a Zombie and Cat People are very underrated.

I've seen two Val Lewton produced films, The Isle Of THe Dead and The Seventh Victim, and even though I liked both, there was something missing for me. I will check out the other two you mentioned though. I like Jacques Tourneur so maybe I walked With A Zombie will change my mind about the Val Lewton pics. I do like the innovations you spoke of, though. Incredibly important to horror flicks.

Personally I agree with John Carpenter that Val Lewton's philosophy of less is more is bullshit. I understand it came about due to the lack of budget for B-movies, but where's the fun in not seeing the events happen? Thankfully Bava came on and used his background in special effects to make budget films actually show some of the fun bits.

So I really want to watch Re-Animator one of these days, but the IMDb info is a little confusing... "86 min (unrated version) | USA: 95 min (R-rated version) " Which of these should I watch?

Definitely watch the extended version! I watched the cut version and it's a load of BBFC cuts from when Mary Whitehouse and the British film board were cutting out all the best bits from horror films. It misses out several of the most gory scenes as well as the infamous self-head giving scene.

It's a great film, I like the incredibly underrated sequel Bride of Re-Animator as much, if not more as well! I haven't seen the third one.

Btw, sorry, completely forgot to check the language Bava boxset will go and do that now.