Mystery, esoteric, horror movies. What are the ones you'd recommend?
 

What are the best mystery (ghost, spirits, unfathomable situations, etc NOT gore and torture; stuff that makes you want to throw up but mystery), horror movies you've ever seen and would suggest people watch? I'll go with The Others, Kairo, (a Japanese one), Stir of Echoes and Hombre Mirando al Sudeste (Man Facing Southeast), an enthralling Argentinian movie. These ones left me wondering, and so much. So, what are those movies that made you unable to doze off for entire nights?

Not many films cause me sleepless nights but if we are talking atmosphere and not gore then Session 9 and The Squad (a fairly recent Colombian movie) are well worth your time.

All right! I'll get hold of The Squad on the spot. I've seen session 9! Yeah, no gore for me, please! I don't enjoy throwing up; I enjoy an intense atmosphere! "The Hidden Face" is another supreme suspense film that I'd recommend!

Everyone I've recommended Session 9 to has gone on to watch and love it. It's like the XTC of films.

Picnic At Hanging Rock's got a great atmosphere to it - really mysterious and eerie, should maybe check that out. Jacob's Ladder's another one too. There's a Norweigan film called Naboer (Next Door) as well.

All right, Bulldog! I'll get "Picnic at..." Is it from the UK? I saw Jacob's ladder last month, which I really enjoyed indeed! Now I've got to get back to watching films because I'm enthralled by a the novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by Lovecraft. Amazing Top-notch stuff. I'll watch the ones that you people have suggested and let you know my thoughts on them!

Weird, I always found Session 9 to be just Bad, and not because the capital B means B as hell (although the B actors sure didn't help things). My favorite parts of the movie were when the actors weren't even there. That's at least something to say.

Jacob's Ladder, though, that is in a whole different ballpark IMO and I don't think that should even be in the same recommendation. I'd recommend Jacob's Ladder as a primer for watching Lynch movies or something, then going further. Maybe as far as The Holy Mountain, although that kinda diverges into uncomfortable at points.
I guess there really isn't a logical progression, but if there would be, I wouldn't consider Session 9 to even be in the logical progression of anything other than maybe a progression that peaks at the original Evil Dead and righteous cheese.

Maybe it's just me.
You're definitely not the first person that I know to prop Session 9. I've been not liking that movie since it came out, and I seem to be largely alone on it, so it's probably just me.

See, I thought the characters and the acting was basically the strongest part of the movie, at least next to the cinematography and overall atmosphere as well. Just goes to show how movies can mean anything to anyone. I mean, I liked Titanic, so I'm certainly no arbiter of conventionally 'good' taste in film or anything.

A different ballpark from Session 9 as an individual film, yeah. I'd say it's worth watching if it's a good, mysterious and deeply psychological horror that anyone's after, similar to the atmosphere and tone I got from watching Session 9. At least, that's what I got from it anyway.

And as for Session 9, if we're talking logical progression, I'd put it alongside films like the Shining and the Changeling. Again, it's just me though.

And yeah, Ivan, it's a UK film. Definitely worth a shot :)

I found The Changeling beyond amazing. How come I forgot to mention it? Well, and how come I forgot to mention Triangle (2009) and The Hidden Face? Riveting suspense ones. One more: A Tale of 2 Sisters: a literally enthralling mystery one from South Korea. I'd suggest you people have a go at them. I'll watch Picnic At Hanging Rock and let you know my thoughts on it. It's one of a series of goals I've set myself to achieve by the end of the weekend!

There's a relatively recent film called The Innkeepers that was a pretty solid ghost movie, although there wasn't really much of a mystery to it. In some ways it wasn't even much of a horror movie, although there were some tense moments. It felt more like a melancholic old school Gothic movie, which was pretty nice.

There was also a good claymation kids movie from last year called ParaNorman that might be up your alley, albeit that's even less ghosts and more to do with witches, curses, and zombies (not the brain eating kind). There's not a lot of scary moments for adults but it really hits the right notes and isn't like your typical animated family movie.

Lastly... I am hesitant to recommend it because again, no ghosts, but it's from the same director as Session 9. It's from 2004 and it's called The Machinest and it's a pretty good psychological thriller with some great horror moments thrown in and a very well executed twist.

The Machinist is definitely a good one. Reminds me that I need to watch that again.
Following that one, Memento is just as brilliant.
I fear those two are more esoteric and less horror though. Still great watches.

LoathsomePeter, I agree with you: I've already seen The Innkeeper and I think it's a pretty good one, taking into account that it's kind of new (and for me it looks as though the newer the worse). It left me wondering, which was good. It has some American clichéd stuff, though, but I'd give it a 7+. The Machinist is an excellent one; I really liked that one though there's not much of a mystery to it; but it's psychollogically brilliant. Memento is a classic indeed, unforgettable film! There's a relatively new one which is a bit similar to Memento as for its style... can't place it now, though.

Here's one you might like.
I'm not normally into vampire type movies, but this one was both different and very well done, despite being low budget. You may enjoy it. It's not mind-bending or twisty, but it's esoteric in its execution, and it has one of the most simple, but best ending scenes I've seen. It's one for the collection, imo.

Here's a trailer:



And you can watch it here, free of course:

Midnight.Son.2011.DVDRiP.AC3-5.1.XviD-AXED.avi | PutLocker

Just saw the trailer. Not very fond of vampire ones but I'll have a go at this. Have you people heard anything about Fire in the Sky (1993)? Just checked it out on imdb and looks pretty interesting... same with some Donnie Darko film. BTW, I went low key and stayed in last night: guess what film I took in? The Conjuring: I'd heard the film was unbelievably great, flawless, etc; well, I found it just quite good. A clichéd one, but we had a nice evening in front of the stupid box.

Yea, I saw The Conjuring at the theater on a boredom trip. I didn't expect much, but it was relatively decent. I'd watch it again. They could have done without the whole under the floor part where it got super cheesy, but overall it wasn't what I'd call a waste of 8 bucks.

Also, let me know what you think about Midnight Son when you watch it.

I liked The Conjuring :) Compared to the average relatively big budget horror flick these days, it was rather good, I think. Of course it was clichèd and the jump scares were predictable, but I knew that before the movie started. I think they should remove the "true" from "based on a true story", though.

A couple of ghost movies I like are The Innocents (1961 I believe), The Changeling (1980) and The Woman in Black (Made for TV and came out in 1989, but quite good). Don't confuse these for The Changeling with Angelina Jolie or the recent The Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe!

Of those, The Innocents is probably my current favorite, but they're all great ghost stories. Or at least may appear as such.

Paranorman was rad, it kinda looks like a Radiohead video towards the end.

David Lynch if you're looking for esotericism, or at least vagueness and confusion. Blue Velvet can be pretty gutwrenching if weird freudian rape-like sex freaks you out, and Mulholland Drive is perhaps intentionally ambiguous/vague. Still haven't seen Eraserhead, though.

I thought Black Swan made for a really great thriller too, with some really striking imagery. But it makes me remember a time when movies were just a man with a hat being chased by a man without hair.

Aside from those, there's also Cronenberg, who's kind of a mind**** kind of, in a more sci fi way. Naked Lunch has a kind of noir going for it as well as drug hazed, hyper conscious, and pretty well impenetrable unless you're some kind of Borroughs-scholar or heroin fiend, which may be interchangable. Maybe i just don't get it :(

And yeah! the conjuring is pretty nuts too, very chilling. House of the Devil also plays on tension really well, so does VHS, which is pretty ridiculous at points but really neat.

PS: I've heard good things about that Hanging Rock picture, it lookss pretty rad

I've seen them all! The Changeling, Changeling (both pretty good films, though the one with N. Kidman doesn't belong in the mystery-esoteric field), The Woman in Black... well, there's one exception: The Innocents, which I'll get hold of asap (just went to IMDB and had a gander). And there's another huge gap in my Mystery-Horror repertoire: Rosemary's Baby. Anyway, let me suggest (again) you get and watch A Tale of 2 Sisters (Korea): your enthusiasm for it will prosper beyond your highest expectations if you like mystery. It's slow; there's no blood, but it's literally esoteric.

I adore that movie. I'd be interested to know if people have seen Candyman as a intense horror movie with a decent storyline and interesting twists. It's my all time favourite. It's based on a black man who had slept with a farmers daughters (they employed him) and he was accused of raping them (but he didn't) so the cut off his hand, poured honey over his wound and set a whole hive of bees on him.

VHS is so horrible though, I hate those found footage movies but ugh....I don't know what people see in VHS. What's so special about it?

The more interesting part of Candyman is that it touches on gentrification.

I'll check it out! And Rosemary's Baby is brilliant as well :)

Well 1: I'm a sucker, and 2: i thought it was a neat concept. Even though the second one's really slow, i like how there's that big shock at the end of it. The third one has an interesting premise too, don't remember the fourth one, the fifth one had cool effects though, and to not leave it out the first one was pretty jacked.

Really it comes down to the fact that i'm a huge sucker for these movies. I really liked all but the 4th PA (and the 2nd wasn't scary the second time seeing it), but i do remember being bored by Blaire Witch when i was five. maybe i just didn't get it : (

On a side note, Rosemary's Baby is wayyyyy rad, very tense.

More plot dependent, but Del Toro's "The Devils Backbone" sent a few chills up my spine.

Aside from that, The Baby's Room is creepy, as is Ringu, and The Orphanage.

The Orphanage is great, Devil's Backbone is one i keep almost renting but no one wants to watch it.

Yeah! The Baby's room's a pretty good one! Got me to sleep with the lights on, hehehe. Ringu was supreme in those days. Seen it a couple of times. Nothing bad can be said: really good horror film. So, let's get hold of The Devil's Backbone, which I haven't seen yet! How come? Anyway, I plan on getting hooked on Rosemary's Baby first; so then I'll let you know my thoughts on these films! Then I'll need to lay off horror films for a while and get riveted on some silly love comedies, won't I? =)

I went and had a gander at "The Innocents" on IMDB just to find out that it was based on the well-known novel by Henry James! That novel is enthralling; I devoured that book some years ago. Indeed I'll watch this film! Saw "Mullholland Dr" the day before yesterday... don't know if it belongs in this film field we're talking about here, but it surely was a really good one. Must see it again, though, if I want to take it all in!

If you liked Mulholland Dr, you'll probably also like David Lynch's Lost Highway :)

By the way, did anyone mention Jacob's Ladder yet? It's an enthralling and surreal mystery horror with some interesting twists. I wouldn't be surprised if Lynch learned a trick or two from this movie.

edit :

Derp, page 1 mention!

Yes Jacobs Ladder was mentioned.

Trilogy of Terror had me looking under my bed at night when it first came out, but I was 9 at the time. I don't recall any movie having that same effect on me ever since.

Trilogy of Terror (TV Movie 1975) - IMDb

Hey, Plankton; just got "Trilogy of Terror"... I'll let you know my thoughts on it as soon as I watch it... need to muster up the courage to sit and watch it first though =) I also came across some "13 Real Asian Horror Stories" film and got it... saw one of them and quite enjoyed it. Tore, I've read that "Lost Highway" is a bit violent... lol must admit I've been somewhat sensitive lately and don't feel up to putting up with seeing some lad getting his head kicked in... now teasing aside, I have been like this recently, true, but I won't chicken out... I'll get hold of this one as well!

Just finished watching "Picnic at H..."; old but enthralling! Not precisely a horror one I'd say, but pretty interesting and keeps you wondering how it'll all end. Thanks for recommending it! Next one: "Oldeuboi", a film from South Korea. Heard it's really really good!

Downloading that now. Trailer looked interesting.

Maybe someone should make a movie version of my life. That would be the greatest horror story ever told. Think Ridley Scott might be interested?

Wow, just finished watch, "Oldboy".

Sinister really freaked me out. I'd do anything not to have to watch another one of those super 8 videos that were in the movie.

Deviouz, is that "oldboy" as good as they say? You watched the Korean version, right?

Yeah, the Korean version. It's amazing. I highly recommend it.

Took in "2 moons" last night... good... not majestic, unforgettable etc... but it was good to spend a stormy night watching "2 moons". Korean. Enjoyed it. Any of u guys seen it?

Ravenous, was a killer horror movie, well done, well acted...
The Conjuring was also ****in killer...

Ink completely esoteric, but brilliant film...(deffinately watch it... it's the only science fiction thiller that has ever made me burst into tears, well ok the only movie ever...)

Dead Silence is pretty decent..

For Japanese stuff
Always, look for Mermaid in a Manhole, Audition, and Imprint...

I dig the **** outta Italian giallos too...

I'm looking for horror in a deranged environment, a strong psychological maze or twist to maneuver around. I've been picking terrible movies lately. Really in the mood for some intense viewing.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV..._V1_SX214_.jpg

something you might be interested in besides CUBE...

Type the title. I can't even see the picture. Stop being lazy :p