Horror movie night - need help!
 

So, instead of using my very first post on here to go introduce myself as a new member I'd rather get straight into things. Stepping into the unknown and bracing myself for whatever may happen.

But that is besides the point. My friends want me to host a horror movie night. Not usually a problem, ordinarily I'd whip something which has been born from the mind of a very disturbed individual from Japan and just enjoy the senseless carnage of blood and organs. However the problem I have is that a couple of my friends can't handle that stuff. At all. Which is a darn shame in my mind.

So, what I want help with is horror movies with minimal blood. So, psychological horrors.

Which ones would you guys recommend? Keep in mind that it has to have minimal blood in it. No brutal death scenes.

Pi

Blair Witch

In the Mouth of Madness

Jacob's Ladder

Clockwork Orange

I don't think I could ever sit through Blair Witch project again. 'Found footage' type things just drive me crazy - I can't see anything that's going on.

Clockwork Orange I just didn't find to be scary in any way. Good movie, though.

Jacob's Ladder I've heard plenty of good things about - so might give that one a try.

The other two I haven't heard of, but In the Mouth of Madness sounds kinda like something by Lovecraft. So I'll have a look at both of them.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Definitely Jacob's Ladder. Great surreal, psychological horror. There is a little bit of carnage, but nothing over the top.

I recommend Session 9. It's one of my favorite atmospheric, psychological horror movies of all time. Carnage is sparse, but effective.

Black Swan, unfortunately, is not talked about much in horror circles, but it should be. Amazing film. Tense, moving, and psychologically twisted.

Sauna is a great psychological horror film set in medeival times with a ghost/supernatural theme. Highly recommended -- it's in my top 20 films of the decade.

Vinyan is a great survival horror film set in the jungle -- an atmospheric & psychological take on the cannibal theme. Not much blood is spilled, but you're expecting it to at any time. Thematically, a little depressing though, in case that's a concern.

Clean, Shaven is perhaps the best example of psychological horror/thriller I can think of. I can't remember if any blood is spilled at all. However, thematically it is very disturbing, so it still might be a difficult watch for the squeamish ones in your group.

I don't know how far you want to go down the weirdness path, but one of my favorite psychological arthouse horror films is Possession (1981). However, it's a bit on the existential side, and the acting is intentionally overboard, so a few in your group are guaranteed to hate it.

A pretty good indie psychological horror flick is Absentia, which might still be on Netflix streaming. No blood that I can remember, but pretty effective tension is built. Not very fast moving, so it requires some patience.

Bug is purely psychological. Claustrophobic and tense, the horror is purely in the minds of the main characters. A small amount of body horror, but no carnage.


Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

I agree with all of these, but just be warned that Black Swan, while not "gory," has some blood that is little more along the lines of wince-inducing. Also, it's a total powerhouse, and I have to admit that it totally made me cry at the end the first time I saw it.

This might not be majority opinion, but Grave Encounters was pretty tense and had minimal gore.

Good luck, and hello. :)

Tale of Two Sisters and Shutter (2004). These are brilliant psychological thrillers that I consider very scary. I do not remember much, if any, gore. Cube (1997) would be a good choice too. I would not consider it scary though. By the way, you are correct, In the Mouth of Madness is clearly influenced by the works of Lovecraft. A very underrated Carpenter gem, in my opinion.

I considered including A Tale of Two Sisters and Cube, except AToTS has the chick beating her sister in the bloody gunnysack, and Cube has a guy getting minced into a million pieces (although it's really not that bad). Great selections though, but they might be above the gore threshold.

Cube might be, but I doubt Tale of Two Sisters is. That is probably the only scene and it was not really that bad. It is excellent as a psychological thriller.

Sweet, new avatar!

No arguments there. One of the best.

True, a lot of the violence is off-screen, but personally, I thought it was pretty rough. Beating a child in a sack with a stick... dragging the bloody sack around the house... And although, off-screen, the part where she bashes her head with a statue was kinda nuts. Maybe I'm not remembering it right, but that's my lasting impression. The OP is specifically asking for non-violent horror, so personally I wouldn't recommend it.

It's definitely not as violent as the movie poster would imply though. You're right, it's really only during the movie's climax -- just one part. I was expecting a more violent movie.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uZSlRbrAL.jpg

I really do not think it is that violent. In my opinion, it is a non-violent horror movie, except for this part. It is primarily psychological. I think he meant that he did not want carnage like in the Hostel movies. Also, from what I saw Bug had some pretty brutal scenes (or at least scene), if it is the one I am thinking of (where the guy pulls out his tooth(eth)). It seems worse than A Tale of Two Sisters.

There's plenty of good choices for the couple you described. I think you want to have a horror film that not only isn't gory, but one that doesn't include material you don't want to see in mixed company -- like graphic sexual or very obscene material. You just want to have a good time and some conversation. Could be psychological, but I wouldn't limit yourself to that.

I'd recommend one of these. Whatever fits best, maybe grab a few to have one nobody has seen, or not seen for years:


Magic 1978 - (excellent psychological thriller that's scary too. Ventriloquist (Anthony Hopkins) struggles with putting his dummy down for a few seconds. If you haven't seen it, I don't want to give any spoilers)
Insomia - (excellent psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. Williams as serial killer)
Frankenstein 1931 - (bone chilling realism and topic, striking visuals)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978 - (creepy and thought provoking)
The Amityville Horror 1979 - (scary, interesting, personal experiences conversation provoking)
Jacob's Ladder - (dark and thought provoking)
Donna Darko - (dark, mildly scary, strange, thought provoking)
Red Dragon 2002 - (Ed Norton and Hopkins battle witts, psychological thriller)
Sixth Sense -
Scanners 1981 - (people with unusual telepathic and telekinetic powers)
Se7en -
The Night Stalker 1972 - (excellent movie, reporter discovers real vampire in 1972 Vas Veges)
The Butterfly Effect 2004 - (well made thrill ride, thought provoking, more sci-fi than horror)
The Thing 1982 -

Thanks guys for all the suggestions.

I'm not much of a fan of the psychological stuff myself. Most psychological movies I've watched tend to require you to follow the plotline - something I'm not much good at. I like my horror to be of the more visual kind than the thinking kind. But a lot of what you've all suggested looks good.

And my friends - well, they've only recently decided that they might be into horror. So a rather mixed bunch and trying to appeal to their tastes is going to be hard.
I'm thinking that they're expecting something that's going to be somewhat frightening, otherwise I'd have just sat them down and stuck on something with Vincent Price or Boris Karloff, but I don't think they'd really appreciate plastic bats on strings. But oh well, I can always work them up to that kind of stuff.

Anyway. I'm rambling. Thanks again everyone. I'll let you all know how things turn out.

Good luck.

Personally, visual horror is good, but I prefer the thinking kind of horror and I love films with intricate plots in horror or elsewhere. Good luck with your friends. If they can't tolerate violence, then they will have a hard time getting into horror, since the vast majority are violent, at least to some degree. Hopefully, as you said, you can work them up to it.

I get easily distracted. Usually by the set. Nothing like trying to follow what's going on only to be distracted by a chair, or perhaps some wallpaper, or maybe that one guy has a rather awkward facial expression.

And yeah, it's just one friend in particular. She doesn't like to see people getting hurt, even when she knows it's fake.

Is this a joke?

Name some horror movies that aren't violent, no old stuff, and nothing with a plot, just good visuals, but you know- not violent visuals.

Are you sure you're looking for horror movies? Maybe a nice romcom would be more appropriate... or maybe The Village.

I think you're misunderstanding what I've said. I mentioned my preferences of horror movies aren't towards the psychological stuff and that I prefer strong visuals of violence and gore, hence why I am asking for opinions on psychological with minimal violence.
I further described why I'm not a particular fan of the genre I'm asking for, but I'm taking into account what people are saying and hoping to be able to expand my horror interests. And if not I have people with me to explain what I just watched.

Does this clear things up for you?

Cry_Wolf

Poltergeist

Pan's Labyrinth

The Sixth Sense

Rosemary's Baby

Cloverfield

Disturbia

The Caller

Buried

Frozen

Memories of Murder

Mother

Memories of a Murder is really violent and has some pretty gory parts.

Does it? It's been awhile since I've seen it. I don't remember any violent or gory parts. I'm gonna have to re-watch it soon, its a damn good movie.

Honestly i don't get what the point is in watching horror movies with these parameters they've set. There should be no limits when it comes to horror.

Pan's Labyrinth also has a brutal beating scene. It's not critical for the flow of the film though, so maybe he could fast forward after like the 11th bash in the face.

No doubt, it's a little tough finding good horror movies that are current, interesting and not too violent. I know exactly where the OP is coming from though. I do the same thing -- always looking for stuff I can watch with my mom or wife, but still satisfy my desire for something shocking or visceral. Most of the films in the list I posted do that. Also, I bet he and his friends haven't seen most of them.

Admit it, MaskOfPersona... You're just trying to impress this girl so you can get some action without having to sit through a chick flick. ;)

I forgot about that part of Pan's Labyrinth too. Honestly though why should one scene of violence matter? Are these people really that timid and easily frazzled that one scene of violence, no matter the degree, disturbs and unhinges them to an unhealthy level? There is some pretty graphic violence in dramas, action movies and even comedies too.

I just don't get the point of watching a horror movie if you have to find movies that are the least horrific. Like NE said, maybe they would be better off watching something else.

Heh... well one scene is all it takes. Think "Audition."

I get that notion, but like I said, it's definitely doable, and for whatever the reason, that's the situation the OP's in. My situation is different. I'm just selfish and want to watch horror movies, even with people who don't like them. Whatever the reason, it's a challenge. I'm not gonna knock the guy for trying.

Hahaha, I wish. But I'm a girl. And already have a boyfriend who I don't think I'm yet ready to impress with how hungry I can get while watching cannibals.

But anyway. Yeah, I admit this is a bit of a weird request and when it was first put forward by my friends I was filled with dread. I didn't think it could be done. But sometimes it doesn't take a single drop of blood for something to be scary.
I mean, I watched Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011) and that managed to scare me more than the hand eyeball monster from Pan's Labyrinth. It just hit me somewhere deep inside. Probably because those evil fairy thingies were blue. And I really didn't like that idea at all.

But there's been some awesome suggestions here and so I'm quite looking forward to this challenge.
It's not like there must be no blood at all, I'm capable of telling people to close their eyes if it comes to it.

I personally found 'Mama Mia' to be one of the most terrifying cinema experiences ever.
Minimal gore as well. ;)

Dancing Queen can be horrifying...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u71tIJj7Nno

ha! love it