Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Has there ever been a good mummy movie?

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Bubba Ho-Tep is good.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

+1 for Bubba Ho-Tep. Elvis and JFK team up to stop a mummy from preying on the elderly. great fun.

depending on what you consider a good movie and what you consider a mummy...
Bubba Ho Tep director Don Coscarelli has some mummy-ish minions in his Phantasm franchise - Angus Scrimm's creepy little oompa loompas are made by embalming and then shrinking human remains, so they are mini-mummies.

Christopher Walken did a druid mummy movie. it is listed as "trance" on IMDB/Wikipedia, but i saw it under the title The Eternal.

There is also The Monster Squad, which has the mummy and other Universal monsters trying to plunge the world into eternal darkness.

for cartoons, the animated show Adventure Time has a mummy villain called The Lich who shows up from time to time. R'as Al Ghul shows up in various Batman animated movies as a magically immortal villain who has been around since ancient egypt, which may qualify him for mummyness.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Hell-Ghost you are proven connoisseur in everything weird/horror related, but in this case you fail immensely! Suspiria - la prova provata del vero genio!

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

I had forgotten about suspiria. I watched that but had no idea what was going on as i had to turn the sound almost all the way down because the music was very annoying and very loud. other Argento movies seem to have the same problem.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

- Granted later Argento scores are pretty hit and miss; Inferno suffers from Keith Emerson's bombastic prog-rock overload and after Opera they get cheesily metal-sounding, but I think Goblin's work on Suspiria is great and serves as a perfect complement to the film; it's also one of the few horror scores I have on cd.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Goblin always deliver in Argento films.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

I think I said this on another thread but Italian horror film soundtracks of this era tend to be primary components rather than in the background. They're an acquired taste for sure.
Yes, sometimes they're too jarring but often the juxtaposition is no accident. But for all the mixed levels of success as films, taken collectively I don't think there is any other time or place in horror film history that betters the sheer amount of good music they had to offer.

Like a lot of soundtracks, I think Goblin's Suspiria is maybe more powerful just as a music disc. I love the film but the soundtrack by itself is overall more intense. Actually, I'm not sure but I love both experiences.

Emerson's operatic theme music is placed in a bizarrely abrupt fashion (to a comedic extent) but I think it's a classic tune.

If you get used to these guys breaking the rules it yields interesting pleasures.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

James, that crazy Phenomena theme tune is a perfect example. It turns what could have been a clumsy overlong scene into something wonderful that I don't see often.
The scene/acting is quiet and leisurely but the music is totally over the top.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

"Hellraiser" and "Dawn of the Dead". I couldn't get halfway through either of them.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

"Candyman" made me adverse to Clive Barker till I read "In the Hills, the Cities".

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

I really like "Hellraiser", I even like its bat#### crazy sequel with its mixture of horror and 80s fantasy.

But yeah, "Candyman" is kinda godawful. No idea why some folks like/defend it so much.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Is this just classics we don't like, or films that are often called classic but don't seem that influential?

In the first category, I have to admit Silence of the Lambs was extremely influential, but I've always thought it was a really dumb film. Lecter's escape always irked me: the idea that within a short period of time , Lecter skins two guards and manages, single handed, to crucify one and then hoist the other up through the ceiling hatch of an elevator without leaving a blood trail is bad enough - but then add to this that the paramedics fail to notice Lecter's vital signs, lack of injuries, and mask during their examination. The final chase scene in the basement is really bad too, but I've seen far more people criticize and/or spoof this part of the film at least.

I likewise hated Scream and The Exorcist, although I'd still count both as classics in terms of impact on horror cinema.

So far as films that seem over-hyped in terms of impact, I both dislike The Shining and don't really see it introducing anything new to the horror films or pushing them in a particular direction. I happen to really like Candyman, but I neither see it as influential nor have personally seen much fanfare for it as a classic.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

I enjoy the Kharis films as a pulpish silly serial, but the Hammer film took elements from them and made the better movie, even if I prefer the oddly dark ending of The Mummy's Ghost to the ending of the otherwise superior Lee/Cushing film.

After rewatching the complete Universal monster series over the last few months, I have been let down by how quickly the sequels tend to lose their horror edge. The Hammer Dracula sequels are (delightfully) shlocky, but none of them feel sanitised in a way the Universal monster rally films do.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Someone once told me the crucifixion scene wasn't supposed to be taken literally, but there's not much indication of that. I remember the basement chase being tense and impressively grotty but it's been a long time since I seen it.

Re: "Classic" Horror Films You Don't Consider Classic
 

Fair point. I guess that's what I was doing-- taking shots at popular horror films that I didn't care for on a personal level. Although I think the topic at hand is a bit murky.