Elegant and Sophisticated Horror Films

The Innocents (1961)

Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Troll 2

The Uninvited

The Others with Nicole Kidman

The Haunting, the original 1963 film, not the 1990's crap remake.

It won Best Costume Design Oscar. The wedding dress alone was worthy.

Was Vincent Price elegant and sophisticated?

The Hunger

R5 Which one?

The Haunting (1963)

Also, this thread might be of some interest.

The Haunting, the 1990s remake with the beautiful Aiden Quinn, not the 1963 drowse fest.

The Woman in Black (1989)

Strongly disagree R14. The set is pretty but the acting and story are atrocious.

Weapons Talk to me on Netflix (very good)

The Shining

The Human Centipede Trilogy

Rebecca (1940) It’s not really a horror film but it’s certainly gothic and creepy

Rosemary’s Baby

The Others (2001)

Long time ago there was a movie with Uta Hagen about two young boys, called The Other. It was shot in black and white. It was scary to me and very suspenseful.

Sorry, R24, but The Other was in color. It also starred Diana Muldaur and a young John Ritter. It's very good.

The Blood on Satan's Claw. It's a potent mixture of elegant period piece and Satanic, gory witchcraft horror. Very atmospheric, haunting score and visuals.

R14, all your taste is in your mouth.

And the book, The Other, was written by that gay hottie Tom Tryon.

The Butcher

The Changeling. The George C. Scott one.

The 1982 remake of Cat People.

The only good thing about The Haunting was the movie theater in which i saw it was ice cold. It was a sweltering summer day and I had a tiny apartment with a tiny window unit AC. I was grateful for the cold, dark theater and some laugh out loud moments, especially the lesbian undertones with CZJ and Lili Taylor.

Two movies from the 1970s staring child actress Susan Swift, Audrey Rose from 1977 and The Coming filmed in 1979. Good, but not perfect movies with a little blood and a lot of atmosphere.

I think The Woman in Black is underrated.

Don't Look Now, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. Directed by Nicolas Roeg.

Well, R25 it should have been in black and white...

[quote]The Coming filmed in 1979

Horrible title for a non-porn film. No wonder it was barely released and then usually under the “Burned At The Stake” alternate title. Susan Swift is a MAGAt now

The Neon Demon 2016

Infinity Pool 2023

The little girl who lived down the lane

Here's one for each decade:

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Cat People (1942)

Curse of the Demon (1957)

The Devil Rides Out (1968)

The Haunting of Julia (1977)

The Shining (1980)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Let the Right One In (2008)

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Oddity (2024)

Byzantium 2012

A Girl Walks Alone Home a Night 2014

Neither Elegant nor Sophisticated, I would still watch "Grave Encounters” creepy as fuck!

Daughters of Darkness (1971). Frigid chic at its greatest.

Young Frankenstein

I disagree with a lot of these on this list as being elegant or sophisticated.

R45 Which do you agree with?

The Exorcist, of course.

I don't know about elegant and sophisticated but Bava's Black Sunday with Barbara Steele scared the hell of out me when I was eleven.

Crimson Peak

Man, I couldn’t stand Deborah Kerr’s cracking whining voice in The Innocents when I was less than 10 years old. It was watching a madwoman imagining things, not a real ghost story.

Jack Clayton's masterful The Innocents (1961)

Time Out London Cath Clarke-You can watch The Innocents twice and walk away with different conclusions. Psychological horrors have imitated its ambiguous ending ever since. Few have pulled it off half as creepily.

Total Film-The heart-stopping climax offers no answers: just the lingering unease of uncertainty.

TV Guide Magazine-The Innocents manipulates the viewer's imagination as few films can, with Kerr and Redgrave doing a masterful job of creating a sense of repressed hysteria.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson-Clayton's filmmaking, mustering frisson by both candle and blazing daylight, could serve as an object lesson in its genre.

Susperia from 1977 beautiful rich color and sets, the suspense leading to horrific deaths set to an insanely great score, scared the shite outta me.

R42, I agree.

Goblin - Suspiria "Main Theme" (Original Score) Dario Argento Classics

They're not "films", but BBC has a series called Ghost Stories for Christmas (I didn't know that was a thing!). The qualities of the older episodes are not great, but Mark Gatiss revived the series & the most recent episode is based on a Conan. Doyle short story starring Jon Snow himself, Kit Harrington and Freddie Fox (very. gay, BTW).

“Get Out”

Janet Leigh adds a touch of elegance and sophistication to Halloween H20.

Her scene with daughter and DL Supreme JLC warms up a gay heart.

The movie also has Michelle Williams at her most cherubic, Marion the chain-smoking world-weary nurse, Josh Hartnett at his just-of-age hottest, Adam Arkin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt at his of-age? cutest, LL Cool J because why not, and that Dimension Films late 90s sheen.

A classic.

The 2015 BBC miniseries [italic] And Then There Were None [/italic] , based on an Agatha Christie book, is full of dread and low-key horror. This is the best film, so far, to tell this particular story.

This production is so compelling, I rewatch it about once a year.

With only three episodes, with a total watch time under three hours, it's easy to watch in one sitting.

Night of the Demon.

It's a mix of monster/horror and cinema noir. The making of the film was as bizarre as the end result.

The House on Haunted Hill is fun too but it's low camp. The actual house they used for the exterior shots is worth a look too.

When Linnea Quigley took out her tits and danced naked on the gravestone as "Trash" in Return of the Living Dead it was the height of sophistication.

Elegant and sophisticated horror?

Anything directed by James Whale, including "Show Boat."

But I'd suggest, because it is a savagely parodic takedown done with elegance and sophistication, Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Slayers."

"The Hunger" and "Only Lovers Left Alive."

Any version of "Nosferatu."

Horror Hotel - creepy little movie.

1964's Onibaba

Toshio Konya’s medieval horror, “Onibaba,” which translates as “Demon Hag,” is a wonderful example of how to turn a thrill movie into fine art. Full of searing basic emotions of lust and greed, this is a film that any horror fan can sink their teeth into.

Diabolique - the original

The Others starring the always wronged Nicky Kidman..that’s an elegant horror movie

R61 I prefer my horror creepy over bloody . Ill look your movie up

The Others is one of my favorites also. That's the role Kidman should have won an Oscar for.

R16 And the CGI effects with the furniture and the statues moving were atrocious and unnecessary, the 1963 original did it much better without any of that crap.

1. Deep Red, glorious Argento.

2. Blood and Black Lace, best Bava ever.

3. Se7en, psychologically terrifying.

4. Rosemary's Baby

Burnt Offerings

Eye of the Devil (1966) starring David Niven and Deborah Kerr

Village of the Damned (1960)

What Lies Beneath.

Rosemary’s Baby

"Bhoot" from India 2003. Bhoot means Ghost. Turn off the lights and turn up the sound. It really should have been nominated for sound that year. WARNING the clips have major SPOILERS

The Devils

Carnival of Souls the original Candyman

A Dark Song. Also the closest film representation of magic I’ve ever seen

*

Let's Scare Jessica to Death

Deep Red, Inferno, Tenebre and Opera by Dario Argento.

Phantom of the Opera 1929

Phantasm

Osgood Perkins makes sophisticated films. I might even go so far as to call them elegant as well. I’m not a huge fan of every single one of his films, but I loved:

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

The Blackcoat’s Daughter

LongLegs

I’m looking forward to “Keeper,” next month.

John Carpenter’s THE FOG is my fave horror movie. He crafts an impeccable atmosphere of a small CA coastal town. The lighthouse scenes with Barbeau are ethereal.

I agree, Nic Kidman really should have been nominated and won for The Others. I’ve seen that movie many times and always love it. She totally sells it.

A little-seen scary gem is “Dead of Winter” with Mary Steenburgen. It’s kind of silly and a bit campy, but I’ve always liked it.

It’s interesting how people answer the question they want to answer rather than the one that was actually asked.

Here’s this tv show

Here’s this silly campy movie

Here’s a comedy spoof

Here’s this gross out body horror

Sometimes it's about filling the thread with lesser entries when the obvious choices have been stated r86.

Well-executed parry r36. Admirably executed riposte over a misremembered piece of cinema trivia.

The Night of the Hunter 1955

Roman Polanski's The Tenant 1976

click on original trailer

Some oldies:

Cat People

Curse of the Cat People

The Seventh Victim

The Uninvited

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

VAMPYR (32) Carl Theodor Dreyer's dream-like horror classic.

The VVitch 2015

I rather liked Oddity and Luca's remake of Suspiria (could have done without the old man storyline)

I'm pleasantly surprised no one has posted any of Ari Aster's works.

Maybe the Ugly Stepsister 2025

Please tell us which films fit the bill, R86.

I agree with r94, r86. Put up or shut up.

Dressed to Kill is elegant, sophisticated and trashy.

The Lost Bus, currently on Apple TV+

[bold]Short Night of Glass Dolls[/bold] (1971). Elegant, sophisticated, and supremely creepy.

In Cold War Prague, a journalist (the incredibly handsome Jean Sorel) awakens in the morgue, unable to move or speak. As he struggles to make it known that he is alive, he recalls the events that led to his present state and his search for his missing girlfriend (Barbara Bach). Also starring Ingrid Thulin.

Village of the Damned

Eyes Wide Shut

Diabolique, the original.

I do think Audition counts.

"Images" by Robert Altman. A very effective, spooky film.

Friday the 13th part 5 . Two characters watch ‘A Place in the Sun’ before they get killed..

Curse of the Cat People is elegant and sophisticated, but I'd argue it's only a horror movie in that it features the ghost of Irena from its predecessor. It's really more of a dreamlike fairy tale with no sinister elements I can recall. (Still worth watching though, just don't expect scares.)

REPULSION (65). Polanski's masterpiece of female madness and horrific murder.

[quote]Night of the Demon. It's a mix of monster/horror and cinema noir. The making of the film was as bizarre as the end result.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes this movie; it's a good adaptation of the MR James short story & the demon is so cheesy as to be entertaining all on it's own

r59, "Return of the Living Dead" is 100% exploitation but it did introduce the meme of zombies saying "Braaaaains."

Thirst 2009

And Old Boy 2003 elicits more horror than most horror movies. It's a masterpiece.

The early Hammer reboots of classic Universal horror properties are quite elegant and sophisticated.

Tales From The Crypt with scream queen Joan Collins.

The Servant (1963) sophisticated creepy horror

Recent one is Nosferatu by Eggers, very elegant.

Joshua (2007) is a Bad Seed variation that probably fits the bill. Although maybe I just think that because the kid wears a suit and the apartment reminds me of Rosemary’s Baby. It’s definitely aimed at adults and more psychological horror than gore and jump scares

The Awakening (2011)

The last Republic Party Convention

[Quote] I agree with [R94], [R86]. Put up or shut up.

Sure, how about reading the thread title and OP?

“Elegant and Sophisticated Horror films.”

As I said, tv shows, horror comedy, schlock, and gross-out body horror are not elegant and sophisticated horror. Neither are non-horror films.

My observation was a straightforward one, why did it get under your skin so much?

r117 - IMO, it doesn't necessarily need to be frightening. The movie needs a dark beauty in art direction, costumes, visual scenes that fills it with a miasma of escalating dread. Until at long last, you look upon the horrified results. Although VVitch is a favorite of mine, Nosferatu burgeons with disquieting, every more disturbing scenes, until the last shot of the lovers.

Below, last scene of Ellen and Nosferatu.

R118, here’s the definition of horror film:

[Quote] Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers.

r119 - then many on the films on this thread don't meet the criteria

R120 is catching on

r119 - you copied that definition from the Google AI. Here's a more detailed definition:

Horror films do not always need to be frightening to be considered a part of the genre. While a primary purpose is to evoke intense feelings like fear, dread, and disgust, many films achieve a "horrific" effect through other means, such as comedy, psychological tension, or grotesque imagery.

The subjectivity of fear

What one person finds terrifying, another might find tame. An older classic like Frankenstein (1931) is less likely to scare a modern audience but is still a canonical horror film. Similarly, many horror fans become desensitized to common tropes over time but continue to appreciate the genre for its artistry.

The role of dread, disgust, and atmosphere

Fear is just one tool in a horror filmmaker's kit. Many movies focus on creating a lingering sense of unease or disgust rather than sudden frights. Psychological horror often relies on a deeply unsettling mood and characters' mental instability, which can be horrifying without being "scary". Body horror, like The Fly (1986), can be more about revulsion and the gross-out factor than overt terror. Atmosphere alone can be enough to qualify a film as horror, creating a mood of angst and dread through its setting and cinematic techniques.

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula”

OMG everybody watch Bring Her Back now streaming on HBO MAX. I'm adding it to the list.

The Spiral Staircase

Any Val Lewton film

R124, did you see their first film, "Talk to Me"? Those boys are talented.

'With r132's definition, definitely Old Boy, Requiem for a Dream, and Mother! would be added.

I wouldn't call "Bram Stoker's Dracula" elegant, just meretricious.

‘Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam’ - Nick Broomfield is to documentary as Hannibal Lecter is to Psychiatry

Ángel Heart (for. Alan Parker, 1987)

Wonderfully atmospheric and visual and a sustained creepiness throughout.

Jacob's Ladder.

I think the original Candyman is sort of elegant. Candyman is one of the classiest horror movie villains ever. It’s a bit bloody but not a slasher or stupid

Maybe more quirky than horror because - I’m a big chicken- but these recent films certainly filled me with creeping dread at times. In the first, zombies chase world leaders around a deserted estate, and in the rest, lots of very terrible things happen to lots of very posh people.

-Rumours

-Silent Night

-All My Friends Hate Me

-Triangle of Sadness

-Saltburn

Honourable Mention: Vivarium, about a young couple who go to view a home in a stylish new housing development, but end up spending far more time there than they had ever imagined.

[Quote] [R119] - you copied that definition from the Google AI.

Unsurprisingly, you’re wrong.

I got it from Wikipedia.

Did you get your worthless definition from AI? Do you also think comedy doesn’t have to be funny?

AI recently had this to say:

The omen

The Birds is Hitchcock's most elegant and sophisticated film (to me).

Good choice r135. I have posted others for this thread but The Birds might typify the OP's definition.

Four Ken Russell horror movies: The Devils (1971), Altered States (1980), Gothic (1986), and Lair of the White Worm (1988).

Daughters of Darkness 1971- featuring a Countess who was based upon Marlene Dietrich.

R136, I'm admittedly not a huge Hitchcock fan (Psycho bores me) but I love Lifeboat, Vertigo and The Birds. The last one is even better today than it was back then.

I Walked With A Zombie (1943) with Tom Conway and Frances Dee

R106 agree about Polanski's REPULSION—starring the gorgeous young Catherine Deneuve.

Is Arachnaphobia horror or more of a creature feature? I though it was fairly well done.

Whatever it is it's not sophisticated, R142.

[Quote] Daughters of Darkness 1971- featuring a Countess who was based upon Marlene Dietrich.

Actually, she was based on Countess Elizabeth Bathory {1560-1614)

[quote] I love Lifeboat, Vertigo and The Birds. The last one is even better today than it was back then.

In what way is The Birds itself better now vs. 60+ years ago? The film hasn’t changed, only the audience.

The Little Stranger with Domhnall Gleeson & Ruth Wilson; it's based on a book by Sarah Walters (very good!); while not exactly "scary", Gleeson is great as the protagonist that you can't quite figure out until the end.

r144, I meant her look, not the character.

Delphine Seyrig looked nothing like Dietrich in that film R147.

r148,. Director Harry Kümel deliberately styled the actress, Delphine Seyrig, to reflect Dietrich's iconic look and persona.

Little women