Just curious if there are any old movies dating from the 30's-60 like Carnival of Souls that deserve the same recognition. Does anybody have any suggestions?
Taste Of Fear (1960) is a creepy British one.
The Queen Of Spades (1948), also British, eerily playing with Dostojewsky.
Gaslight (1944), atmospheric classic mystery.
Vampyr (1930), Danish eerie nightmare.
-I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film.-
when she was in the shopping mall and the people didn't hear her it got a bit chilling and twilight zone vibe. no blood but an eerie mood, like i think real good horror movies should be like. i was about to get this on the catcom release, but then i realised it was featured on a elvira's horror classic dvd!
nothing but memories, echo in a ghost house,
a heart robbed of life,
a soul left to cry,
as my eyes go off sailing,
and it keeps on raining,
lord i don't know where to head now,
from now on in sight only grey sky,
doomed to be alone,
she abandoned my ship,
and with noone to share the treasures with,
it might as well turn into a ghost ship,
while i cry and act like a fool,
its something love makes grown men do,
in the fog no lighthouse comin through,
all thats left for me memories in this gloom.
Repulsion
The Innocents
Night of the Living Dead
Freaks
There's something wrong with Esther.
I watched this film for the first time last night on yourtub because it had a better than 7 rating. At first it seemed confusing with pasted together scenes like David Lynch films; Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, but his work is newer and with a bigger budget. Lynch may have been influenced by this film because it is surreal and cyclic. When the psychiatrist told Mary It has only been a week since your car went into the river it began to feel like a longer version of any number of Twilight Zone episodes.
I agree with Night of the Living Dead(1968) being closest due to the zombie like souls/ghosts in this film.
For sheer creepiness, a couple of other posters listed Night Of The Hunter (1955) and The Shining(1980) but is newer than what the OP was asking.
No one on this thread has mentioned Invasion Of The Body Snatchers(1956) with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. Genuinely terrifying and the 1978 remake is almost as good.
The Blob (1958) is also in the low budget category, but it's 1988 remake is awful.
_____
Books and movies are usually better than real life.
Seconds (1966)
so many movies, so little time
Dementia 13
Abominable Dr. Phibes.
++++++
Love means never having to say you're ugly. - The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Some are film noir but give me the same nightmarish, confused feeling. Some might have been listed already:
Detour (1945)
Tormented (1960)
Eye of the Devil (1967)
I Bury the Living (1958)
Fear in the Night (1947)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955) ~ some portions
Possessed (1947) ~ especially her breakdown
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) ~ It's rather a shame about the very end of the film.
I agree about Val Lewton:
Cat People
The Leopard Man
Isle of the Dead
The Seventh Victim
I Walked with a Zombie
The Curse of the Cat People
EDIT: This is much later and is obscure; I've seen it only a couple of times but keep thinking that I should suggest it: Delusion (1981) starring Patricia Pearcy and Joseph Cotten.
(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC
You may know these, but a couple original Twilight Zones episodes are quite similar:
“Mirror Image” with Vera Miles and, especially, “The Hitchhiker” with Inger Stevens.
A film that comes to mind is Dementia (1955) which is also available as a slightly shorter version with a narrator (which is either camp and enjoyable or an appalling intrusion... I opt for the second view).
This film is a surreal trip through skid row and jazz clubs by a woman in peril which is probably a result of her damaged psyche. The locations make it all the grittier and creepier and Bruno VeSota has never been sweatier.
The narrated version of this was showing in the movie theater in The Blob (1958).