A film I don't often see mentioned but that I still think is a good watch is Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Requiem for a Dream falls into that first category as well for me.
Incidentally, I first heard the music when I watched the movie. The whole casting and TV selling and drug buying scene was framed by this music, and it felt very dirge-like. A foreshadowing of what was to come. And my mind associated it very strongly with those kind of tragic scenarios. But later I started seeing videos on Youtube about football or dogs with the same music.
On the other hand, I'm actively avoiding A Clockwork Orange...
Big budget horror movies are nothing new; look at the Alien franchise.
"elevator horror" is a funny term but I definitely meant "elevated horror"; edited.
I want to genuinely watch a $100M Excorcist or Carrie or The Omen. Something original by a master.
Another recommendation for the kids out there is John Landis' An American Werewolf In London from 1981. Still holds up. Maybe its time to return to analog effects!
The way he introduced movies and in particular the horror ones made me never forget them.
But with the blockbuster success of films like It, Get Out, and A Quiet Place we will see something never witnessed before in cinema history: the coming of the big budget horror flick. I think The Conjuring 2 budget was upwards of $40M. And it looked terrific. The upcoming Venom and Shane Black's The Predator are no doubt deeply influenced by classic horror tropes.
But for the real deal. Still nothing compares to the classics. I finally got to screen David Cronenberg's Videodrome the other night. Holy Guacamole. They don't make anything quite like that anymore ;)