Board 8 > Gauntlet Crew Ranks 90s Horror Films - Do you like ranking scary movies?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Outlier

Inviso - 357
Genny - 308
Charon - 289
KBM - 248
Scarlet - 228
Johnbobb - 212
JONA - 218
Karo - 206
Snake - 202

Inviso handily tops the Outlier list. Scarlet ended up climbing up the middle after lurking low for a lot of the list. Charon almost caught up to 2nd place and everyone else just kind of stuck to their positions!

I want to formally thank everyone for participating in the list and suffering through Demonic Toys, and to Metalmind for posting his write-ups which I always enjoyed reading and which glad he made the effort for. I also want to thank non-participants who commented along the way and aided discussion a little bit! That seems like a wrap, until the next project, which will happen when the lambs stop screaming.
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Oh nice, I'm in the bottom 3 now

take that Scarlet
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Snake5555555555 posted...

Johnbobb - 212
JONA - 218
Karo - 206
Snake - 202

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Interview with the Vampire got robbed
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Snake5555555555 posted...

and to Metalmind for posting his write-ups which I always enjoyed reading and which glad he made the effort for.

No, thank you! I'm glad you appreciated my write-ups, even though it was shitty of me to slack on watching the full list and properly participating. I certainly enjoyed not just following a Gauntlet crew ranking, but actually contributing to some extent this time around. Here's my final two write-ups, and an overall ranking and tiering of all the movies I've seen from this list:

Seven

The movie that quite deservedly brought David Fincher to fame as a director starts with a first half high on set-up, in the form of the detective work necessary for Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitts contrasting cops to deduce the killers identity and motives. Both put up consistently compelling performances as dramatic variations on an odd-couple gambit practically as old as cinema itself. At times, this first half drags a bit; however, the extra time devoted to character development and paying attention to details (all the way down to the use of weather to set a tone) ultimately only enhances the impact of its gut punch of a climax. Here, the tension simmering through the whole movie finally boils over as the killer, played by Kevin Spacey as if he was born to play the role, goads Pitts character into committing one simple but devastating action. In fact, this ending viscerally angered me in real life, but not directly at the movie; to put it simply, I want to believe that the world we live in is better than Seven declares it is. Ultimately, however, the fact that it eschews a cop-out Hollywood ending for reflecting the reality of our world is what gives me such tremendous respect for the whole movie as a work of art.

6. Silence of the Lambs

Foster was perfect for the role. The vulnerability she brought to the part was a big part of what made the film so resonant. Nathan Rabin

This write-up will be perhaps overly focused on what I felt were the movies many flaws, so I wanted to get this out of the way first. Foster really was perfect for the role of Clarice Starling for exactly the key reason Rabin pointed out, which plays a big role in making Silence of the Lambs effective as a woman-in-jeopardy thriller.

Sadly, I must report that the movie as a whole did not resonate with me. Its laden with scattershot storytelling and characters that attempt to substitute mysteriousness for actually being compelling. Both of these flaws come to a head with Hannibal Lecter, who, quite frankly, is substantially less interesting as a character than the movie seems to think he is. This especially drags down Lecters escape sequence, which had some compelling individual moments, but mostly felt like an exercise in waiting for the plot to return. A great performance could have done for Lecter what Silences directing and writing couldnt; unfortunately, while by no means lacking, Anthony Hopkinss acting never reached that level for me. The movies old-fashioned tone and pretensions of important seriousness also help ensure that its scares dont work. I must admit, though, that the viewing experience was somewhat physically uncomfortable for me, in a way that left me unsure whether or not it was being caused by the movie itself.

To reiterate one last time, I do not dispute that Silence of the Lambs is a good movie; however, in my opinion, it does not deserve its pedestal as a true classic.
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And here's the big list, tiered for some more insight into my opinions, and with asterisks for the movies I didn't watch and rank until after this topic started:

Classic

Seven*

Great

Misery
Tremors
From Dusk till Dawn*

Good

Fire in the Sky
Jacob's Ladder
Ring
The Silence of the Lambs
Scream*
Cube*

Decent

The Sixth Sense*
Candyman
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Flatliners

Mediocre

Child's Play 2
Army of Darkness
Braindead
Interview with the Vampire*

Lacking

Arachnophobia
Nightbreed

Terrible

Leprechaun
Demonic Toys
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Snake5555555555 posted...

Johnbobb - 212
JONA - 218
Karo - 206
Snake - 202

yeah but look at the actual numbers
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oh here's some tiers

Among the all-time best
Silence of the Lambs
Misery
Scream
Se7en

Love 'em
Cemetery Man
Cube
The Sixth Sense
Jacob's Ladder
Audition
From Dusk Till Dawn
Candyman
Stir of Echoes

Pretty great
Tremors
Interview with the Vampire
Ringu
In the Mouth of Madness

Good but flawed
Sleepy Hollow
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Nightbreed
Cronos
Blair Witch Project
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Flatliners

Forgettable
Mimic
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Anaconda
Wishmaster
Halloween H20
The Frighteners
Event Horizon
Fire in the Sky
Deep Blue Sea
Urban Legend
Arachnophobia

Really not a fan
Army of Darkness
Species

Fucking atrocious
Dead Alive
Leprechaun
Child's Play 2
Demonic Toys
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Oh cool. I thought Se7en had that in the bag. Glad I was wrong. Not that Se7en is bad, but it just seemed like the obvious winner.

Sorry again I couldnt get this done in time, Snake. A newborn really puts a wrench in movie binge watching lol. You did a great job running this.

Would I have been able to rescue Demonic Toys from the bottom if I submitted? Id have put it in 3rd on my list.
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StifledSilence posted...

Oh cool. I thought Se7en had that in the bag. Glad I was wrong. Not that Se7en is bad, but it just seemed like the obvious winner.

tbh I assumed Silence of the Lambs would be the obvious winner and was surprised when people predicted Se7en

StifledSilence posted...

Would I have been able to rescue Demonic Toys from the bottom if I submitted? Id have put it in 3rd on my list.

...why
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Depending on where you put Leprechaun, that would've been a definite. Leprechaun was the last place before all the submissions got me.
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Solid winner. Somewhat feels like a cop-out to win a "Best Horror" list, since it seems more like a Drama/Thriller to me. It's not even listed as a Horror on imdb.com, though I know many do consider it to be one. It's for sure one of the best movies on the list, so it winning is fine, but it would be like Die Hard winning a Best Christmas movie list.

Was a fun read though. I wish I had seen this beforehand to participate. I've seen almost everything here, except Demonic Toys (seems like I'm not missing out!) and a couple others. Maybe next time you do horror!
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I'll try and remember to tag you for the next list if you want to participate!

I think to not have Lambs on the list would be a noticeably gaping hole in 90s horror though, compared to not having Die Hard on a Christmas movies list. However you slice the film, Lecter himself is inexplicably tied to the horror genre and future Lecter films are much more entrenched in the genre as well. When I make my lists I tend to look to the impact films had on future works as well and Lambs was definitely huge in the horror genre.
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TomNook posted...

Solid winner. Somewhat feels like a cop-out to win a "Best Horror" list, since it seems more like a Drama/Thriller to me. It's not even listed as a Horror on imdb.com, though I know many do consider it to be one. It's for sure one of the best movies on the list, so it winning is fine, but it would be like Die Hard winning a Best Christmas movie list.

Was a fun read though. I wish I had seen this beforehand to participate. I've seen almost everything here, except Demonic Toys (seems like I'm not missing out!) and a couple others. Maybe next time you do horror!

I'd suggest Discord for gauntlet crew interactions as well. Everyone who participates in these hangs out there.
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In this group Die Hard would totally beat out It's a Wonderful Life or something for best Christmas film. Like almost positive. >_>
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Good.
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Die Hard is a better movie than It's a Wonderful Life so that's fair
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GenesisSaga posted...

In this group Die Hard would totally beat out It's a Wonderful Life or something for best Christmas film. Like almost positive. >_>

Those would be my top two, with Die Hard winning. So yep!
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Johnbobb posted...

why

I had such a blast watching Demonic Toys. The ridiculous Chucky and Bible Black plotline had me cracking up the whole time. And the super aggressive dialog between all the characters, even the ones that got along, was so over the top and campy. I had a big goofy smile on my face the whole movie because it was mindless dumb fun.
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thought I had already made this post re: ghost movies, but I guess I fell asleep before I clicked 'post':

Lake Mungo sounds really interesting, I know RedLetterMedia was big on it. I've thought about watching A Ghost Story but I feel like I have to kind of be emotionally prepared for it, from what I've heard.

my top 10 ghost movies are, give or take:

The Ring
The Sixth Sense
The Others
The Orphanage
Shutter (original)
The Woman in Black
Kairo (Pulse)
The Innkeepers
Mama
The Grudge
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So, turns out I haven't actually seen that many of these, but here's my ranking of the ones I have seen (gauntlet ranking in parenthesis):

1) The Sixth Sense (4) - 9.5/10
2) se7en (2) - 9/10
3) Misery (3) - 9/10
4) Silence of the Lambs (1) - 8.5/10
5) From Dusk till Dawn (8) - 8/10
6) Ringu (13) - 8/10 (scariest of the list)
7) Sleepy Hollow (14) - 8/10
8) Audition (15) - 7/10
9) Dead Alive/Braindead (22) - 7/10
10) The Blair Witch Project (37) - 7/10
11) Event Horizon (26) - 6.5/10
12) I Know What You Did Last Summer (33) - 5.5/10
13) Arachnophobia (36) - 5.5/10
14) Army of Darkness (20) - 5/10

Seen bits of:
Child's Play 2
Candyman
Bram Stokers Dracula
Leprechaun
Fire in the Sky (seen the probe scene and heard that's about all you need to see)
Interview with the Vampire
Species
Scream
Wishmaster
Anaconda
Deep Blue Sea
Jacob's Ladder (a rare instance where a movie was so weird I didn't finish it)

Never seen any of:
Tremors
Flatliners
Cronos
Wes Cravens New Nightmare
In the Mouth of Madness
The Frighteners
Cube
Mimic
Urban Legend
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Stir of Echoes

Never heard of:
Nightbreed
Demonic Toys
Cemetery Man
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Wow I'm surprised you hadn't heard of Nightbreed!
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Snake5555555555 posted...

Wow I'm surprised you hadn't heard of Nightbreed!

I hadn't before this list tbh
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jcgamer107 posted...

Fire in the Sky (seen the probe scene and heard that's about all you need to see)

You've heard wrong, at least as long as you're willing to watch something that's not much of a horror movie otherwise. Also, I would highly recommend Tremors, which I feel like would be right up your alley based on your existing list.
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Nah probe scene is definitely all you need to see

I'll also second Tremors, and also highly recommend Cube and finishing Scream
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This project is now preserved forever on the Board 8 wiki!
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Gauntlet_Crew_Ranks_90s_Horror_Movies
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Save
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