Must Watch Documentaries

[kidgloves]

Ok i'll start The American Nightmare History of the Slasher Movie - Mark Kermode

[Purge]

I was gonna suggest American Nightmare when I saw the thread title. It's a frequent rental from Netflix.

[kidgloves]

I was gonna suggest American Nightmare when I saw the thread title. It's a frequent rental from Netflix. Aye. Superb doc. Watched it again last night for probably the 50th time.

[kidgloves]

Spine Tingler. The William Castle Story is a great watch if anyone can track it down. Some real history right there http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795473/

[Danny]

Not a documentary but an interesting time sink from 2004 halloween in the UK, 'channel 4's top 100 scariest films'. I showed this to some american friends last month and they were surprised by what was found scary over here and some things they had never heard of before, check it out.

[MinionZombie]

I agree with Danny - Top 100 Scary Moments is a spiffing list, surprisingly. I've actually got it videotaped somewhere, if memory serves. A couple of recommended ones from me: 1) The American Nightmare (by Adam Simon) - it's a wonderful doc (that I've watched several times now) on the state of American horror in the 1960s and 1970s. Fantastic. *edit* Just saw the rest of the thread - hehe - already mentioned ... however it cannot be stated enough how spiffing that doc is. 2) American Grindhouse - I caught this on Sky Arts quite a while ago now and it was brilliant; it's all about grindhouse cinema in America from it's inception onwards. If you're into that kind of cinema, it's an absolute must-see. I really want to see it again, but the Region 1 import isn't cheap. 3) Blue Planet / Planet Earth / Life / The Frozen Planet - these BBC nature documentaries are all wonderfully produced and fascinating. The style is starting to get very familiar/similar these days, but they're still colossal achievements in nature filmmaking. 4) 30 Days In Hell - the 2.5 hour Making Of for Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects". Everything you want to know, you find out. Very in depth, and you really get a vivid sense of a tightly packed filmmaking schedule. 5) Dangerous Days: The Making of Blade Runner - a truly epic and extremely detailed look into the film (if memory serves, the main doc is 3.5 hours long). Add in the vast sum of other material found on the 5-disc DVD and you'll not have a question left to answer. Superb! I'd also agree with Kidgloves - Kermode's "Scream and Scream Again" is a great look at the slasher genre of the 1970s/80s/90s.

[kidgloves]

Fantastic Flesh - The Art of Make Up EFX - heavily featuring Nicotero

[Geordie9]

im going to watch that american nightmare, dont think ive seen it. One i have just watched is this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tKYnMwyzm4 and a Night At The Movies - The Horrors of Stephen King

[Geordie9]

any 1 got any more good documentary recommendations??

[Neil]

Cosmos... A total work of beauty. http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/cosmos/

[shootemindehead]

'Ban the Sadist Videos' http://stagevu.com/search?keywords=b...ght=&language=

[Staredge]

[MinionZombie]

'Ban the Sadist Videos' http://stagevu.com/search?keywords=b...ght=&language= Ooh! I must check that out! Similarly, I rather enjoyed this one: Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740712/ I got the three-disc DVD a while back and it's good stuff (and I absolutely loved the lurid, painted cover art ). The 2nd and 3rd discs have trailers and intros for all the films on the two lists (the "final" list and the "dropped" list). A lot of love for the video age in the doc. ... And of course, one of my all-time favourite horror documentaries is "The American Nightmare" (Adam Simon, 2000) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259182/?ref_=nv_sr_1 - I've seen it multiple times. It dives into American (and some Canadian) horror during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s - if any of you haven't seen it, then defininitely check it out!

[shootemindehead]

Ooh! I must check that out! Similarly, I rather enjoyed this one: Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740712/ I have that. It was ok. But I really was expecting a bit more TBH.

[MinionZombie]

I have that. It was ok. But I really was expecting a bit more TBH. I just watched "Ban The Sadist Videos!" - very good, if a tad dry in its presentation, with a solid roster of interviewees from all spectrums of the video nasties debate. A very informative doc, which even contained some info that I didn't know about. I think with "Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape", it's a far more stylish presentation, but also from a more personal viewpoint. It's not so much about information on the history of the video nasty era like BTSV was/is, it's more about the nostalgia factor (although VNMPCV does get some good interviewees on, including about the only bloke to stand up in support of the video nasties at the time on a public platform). VNMPCV is also probably more about the films themselves - detailing them and giving views on the films, and how they rank then versus now (as illustrated by the extensive run-through of every single listed film across two extra discs). The main documentary is more cursory, more nostalgic, more personal, and more stylish. BTSV is far more informative, albeit in a rather more straight-laced manner, but it does dig deeply into the politics, morals, and cultural aspects of the era ... so I dig both docs for different reasons and collectively they provide an idea overview of the whole thing.