Classic B&W Horror Movies

hollywoodrox

The leopard man 

Philly_Q

darthed1981 said:

Philly_Q said:

After all this chat I'm going to watch Night of the Demon tonight.

Now should I watch Night or Curse?  The pre-release version or theatrical version?  And in 1.75:1 or 1.66:1?  Too many choices...

The longer version of Night definitely, the extra scenes are important if I recall correctly.

Bet you won't be letting people hand you paper for days...

Fortunately the office has been paperless since Covid....

west

Gawd i love this thread      I have a real soft spot for the universal films, apart from the ones mentioned so far i would include Son of Frankenstein with basil rathbone , allthough its hard to ignor the lampooning of it from young frankenstein ( which i love too )

lon chaney/ claud reins in the wolfman is great too ....

"even a man who is pure in heart,

and says his prayers by night,

maybe become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright ...."

when i was a nipper i had all those Aurora glow in the dark models ... frankenstein /mummy /creature/dracula/forgotten prisoner/hunchback etc  ....

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AqREBgsHIHI/VFQxavcbIqI/AAAAAAACgqk/4HfEzPQ5Ong/s1600/01_e_frankenstein_1961_model.jpg

darthed1981

Philly_Q said:

darthed1981 said:

Philly_Q said:

After all this chat I'm going to watch Night of the Demon tonight.

Now should I watch Night or Curse?  The pre-release version or theatrical version?  And in 1.75:1 or 1.66:1?  Too many choices...

The longer version of Night definitely, the extra scenes are important if I recall correctly.

Bet you won't be letting people hand you paper for days...

Fortunately the office has been paperless since Covid....

@Philly_Q ;

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Runic_letters_elder_futhark.svg/310px-Runic_letters_elder_futhark.svg.png?20090115122232

DrCornelius

Not a horror but as a youngster I found the Basil Rathbone Hound of the Baskervilles absolutely terrifying !

Snap

Another vote for Night of The Demon, not watched it for a long time though.

I'd add in the original Blair Witch Project - I thought it was very original and tense when it first came out. It was b&w wasn't it? Wondering now...

Philly_Q

Snap said:

I'd add in the original Blair Witch Project - I thought it was very original and tense when it first came out. It was b&w wasn't it? Wondering now...

It's colour, but very washed out.  And some of the key scenes are shot with night vision of whatever it should be called, so it's almost and honorary B&W film.  I think it's much maligned - most people saw it after reading all the hype and dismiss it as rubbish, but in its own right I think it's bloody scary.  And it pretty much started a whole sub-genre of horror movies.

That reminds me, I'm going to throw in the Uruguayan film The Silent House.  It takes place almost entirely in the dark (and supposedly in a single take) so it's not so much black and white as... black!  That really is a film where your imagination does most of the work.  I was absolutely shitting myself when I saw it.

earwighoney

Philly_Q said:

Snap said:

I'd add in the original Blair Witch Project - I thought it was very original and tense when it first came out. It was b&w wasn't it? Wondering now...

It's colour, but very washed out.  And some of the key scenes are shot with night vision of whatever it should be called, so it's almost and honorary B&W film.  I think it's much maligned - most people saw it after reading all the hype and dismiss it as rubbish, but in its own right I think it's bloody scary.  And it pretty much started a whole sub-genre of horror movies.

That reminds me, I'm going to throw in the Uruguayan film The Silent House.  It takes place almost entirely in the dark (and supposedly in a single take) so it's not so much black and white as... black!  That really is a film where your imagination does most of the work.  I was absolutely shitting myself when I saw it.

I have a lot of time for the original Blair Witch.  Found footage films seem to be an acquired taste even in the horror film fraternity.  

earwighoney

LordBucketHead said:

'Whistle And I'll Come To You' (1968) - One of the Ghost Stories For Christmas broadcasts. The wonderful Michael Hordern is simply mesmerising for me in this role (look for the actual video rather than the book reading audio). 

It's not B&W but the Ghost Strories for Christmas adaptation of 'The Signalman' is wonderful. 

Philly_Q

earwighoney said:

I have a lot of time for the original Blair Witch.  Found footage films seem to be an acquired taste even in the horror film fraternity.  

There was a period when there were so many of them that I was almost inclined to dismiss each new one rather than giving it a chance... one of the reasons horror's a successful genre is that horror movies are cheap to make, and found-footage is even cheaper.  There are a lot of terrible, lazily-made found-footage horror movies.  But also some excellent ones, like Lake Mungo.

bobblehat

Surprised Night of the Living Dead hasn't been mentioned. True classic 

Philly_Q

bobblehat said:

Surprised Night of the Living Dead hasn't been mentioned. True classic 

I could've sworn someone mentioned on the first page, otherwise I would've.  You're right of course.

hollywoodrox

Not black & white but I love the British horror anthology films 
  There were four or 5 produced each containing 4 or 5 stories and starring actors such as Peter Cushing ,Terry Thomas ,Tom baker ,Ian ogilvy ,Christopher Lee etc .

one was called The vault of horror 

Philly_Q

^ From Beyond the Grave, Dr Terror's House of Horrors, Asylum etc.

DrCornelius

Philly_Q said:

Snap said:

I'd add in the original Blair Witch Project - I thought it was very original and tense when it first came out. It was b&w wasn't it? Wondering now...

It's colour, but very washed out.  And some of the key scenes are shot with night vision of whatever it should be called, so it's almost and honorary B&W film.  I think it's much maligned - most people saw it after reading all the hype and dismiss it as rubbish, but in its own right I think it's bloody scary.  And it pretty much started a whole sub-genre of horror movies.

That reminds me, I'm going to throw in the Uruguayan film The Silent House.  It takes place almost entirely in the dark (and supposedly in a single take) so it's not so much black and white as... black!  That really is a film where your imagination does most of the work.  I was absolutely shitting myself when I saw it.

I remember watching it with my brother and within 15 mins we had totally switched off and started chatting. The interesting thing is that we must have been paying attention subconsciously as during the final scene (no spoilers) the whole story came together - that couple of minutes was probably the most terrified I've ever been watching a film 

darthed1981

earwighoney said:

LordBucketHead said:

'Whistle And I'll Come To You' (1968) - One of the Ghost Stories For Christmas broadcasts. The wonderful Michael Hordern is simply mesmerising for me in this role (look for the actual video rather than the book reading audio). 

It's not B&W but the Ghost Strories for Christmas adaptation of 'The Signalman' is wonderful. 

I've said it before, I'll say it again, railway tunnels are fucking scary, the end.

See recent study on toxic masculinity "Men" or the Underground scene in American Werewolf...

"Men" is on prime btw, call me amazon's bitch. 

Offset

darthed1981 said:

See recent study on toxic masculinity "Men" or the Underground scene in American Werewolf...

"Men" is on prime btw, call me amazon's bitch. 

Despite watching 'Men' through to the bitter end, I really didn't like it.  Bit too clever for its' own good.

Philly_Q

Offset said:

darthed1981 said:

See recent study on toxic masculinity "Men" or the Underground scene in American Werewolf...

"Men" is on prime btw, call me amazon's bitch. 

Despite watching 'Men' through to the bitter end, I really didn't like it.  Bit too clever for its' own good.

Or not clever enough....

The aforementioned early scene with the railway tunnel is the best part of the film, though.

Philly_Q

earwighoney said:

LordBucketHead said:

'Whistle And I'll Come To You' (1968) - One of the Ghost Stories For Christmas broadcasts. The wonderful Michael Hordern is simply mesmerising for me in this role (look for the actual video rather than the book reading audio). 

It's not B&W but the Ghost Strories for Christmas adaptation of 'The Signalman' is wonderful. 

I've got a "Complete Works" of Charles Dickens.  It's got all the novels, loads of his non-fiction, loads of short stories including collaborations with other authors.  But for some strange reason it has not got "The Signal-Man".  It makes me wonder what else is missing.

Offset

LordBucketHead said:

darthed1981 said:

LordBucketHead said:

'Whistle And I'll Come To You' (1968) - One of the Ghost Stories For Christmas broadcasts. The wonderful Michael Hordern is simply mesmerising for me in this role (look for the actual video rather than the book reading audio). 

Indeed brilliant!

Psa - you can currently get the entire first batch of "Ghost Stories For Christmas" including this one on Amazon Prime video for £4.99 if a prime member.

I bought the box set one Christmas many years ago. Such a beautiful step back in time. Michael Hordern was level genius actor. Absolutely wonderful.  

He was indeed, but I must admit 'Whistle' is one of my least-favourite M.R. James adaptations in the GSFC series.  One of my absolute favorites is 'A Warning To The Curious' - not least because I was growing up around many of the locations used in the production (north Norfolk) at the time it was made, but also because it featured the utterly brilliant Peter Vaughn.

"No diggin' ere!"