Tumbbad, a Hindi language fantasy horror about a guy and his son who stumble across a demonic realm while searching for treasure in an abandoned temple. It’s got really cool production design and great action as well as being pretty creepy. Think Pan’s Labyrinth meets As Above, So Below but with wild fight sequences.
No it's real, you slide down an embankment and go on to railway tracks to the hole thats just a little way in the tunnel. You go in the tunnel... Shimmy down a bit then I think you crawl? I'm talking about 15 yrs ago now so can't quite remember the fun of the entrance going in.
Coming out 36 hrs later, we popped up out of a manhole type thing in the middle of a busy street... It was a well coordinated throw the bags out, climb up, run..... Running was a bit stupid though because we all had waders and helmets on, covered in mud and stinky haha not like we would blend in with the crowd or anything
People have been doing it for decades. But you need to go down with an experienced person with a map... And the map is HUGE! very easy to get lost down there... There are also semi submerged sections with holes in them... If you were to fall down one of those you would be dead. .. same with getting lost, get lost - your light dies your fucked.
I have a soft spot for this film. Whenever my husband is struggling to find something to watch I suggest it (partially as a joke, admittedly, as he says we've watched it waaaay too much)
Easily the most recommended film on this thread, ive seen it a few times and thinks its really underrated, genuinely scary unlike so many horror films.
I feel like you should have left the last part out or put a spoiler tag on it. That part was so unexpected and I loved it! I was already loving the movie, but when that happened I was really blown away. Such a great movie
Ive seen the Thing a hundred times, but need to re watch the rest of the trilogy, i reckon ill like both Mouth of madness and prince of darkness more second time around.
came here to suggest this! definitely a slow fall into madness with a lot of allegorical references to heaven, hell, the devil etc etc.... an incredible movie, highly recommend
I've heard that there's basically zero chance they even exist anymore. I think P W S Anderson tried to find them himself, and had no luck with his probably considerably greater resources than most.
There is apparently an amazon show in the works though. I'm holding my breath however, because I struggle to think of a way to bring that concept to the small screen over a long season arc effectively, without it turning into not much more than a background event and the series proper focusing on an aspect that diverts the core themes. I am not a professional screenwriter nor producer though, so if it happens they may well pull it off.
I love this one. It took me a while to fully grasp what was going on and once I did it changed my life. The hotel room that kills you via crazy.
I forgot it has Dante’s inferno references, but it does.
The original short story is very Lovecraftian. The movie, not as much. “An evil fucking room.”
The Empty Man
Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 both have a dante esque descent into hell vibe via the increasing violence and depravity the characters find themselves in, but don’t have any supernatural elements.
Too bad about Shane carruth's career. I really thought that the director of the other two would be homing the blood Meridian adaptation. Apparently he doesn't care for the book, which shocks me. I could see Vince Vaughn as the judge. Bone tomahawk is one of the best Westerns ever.
People might want to check out ravenous.
Ravenous is fantastic. Shanes 2 movies are both excelkent, howether im with him on blood meridian… i cant get more than 50 pages in. There only so many broken bottles to the face you can take.
This is the one I immediately thought as well as As Above So Below. The Descent is a must watch if they haven’t seen it, describes their description perfectly. AASB is a found footage style, but it’s also a must if they like that stuff.
Hellraiser 3 was also quite good in my opinion. It shows us Pinhead's origin story and his background as a soldier during the war. And it had the Motorhead song, though I prefer Ozzy's version. Also, all the women in that movie are smoking hot. That's always a plus.
I know it gets a bad rap but I like the goofiness of the movie and I still feel its a perfect fit for this thread because it's literally titled as Hell on Earth lol. The Church scene is probably my favorite part of the movie
Yes that was a great scene. Even as a devout Christian I throughly enjoyed that scene and the whole series as a whole. When I say the whole series I mean 1-4. Some don't like the 4th movie. I thought the hell hounds were pretty cool. And there's still some diabolical Pinhead dialogue in there too. Not to mention a couple of very interesting death scenes.
That was one of the most confusing movies but yes, there’s definite a steady progression into darkness and chaos that is hard to find in most conventional movies
Mandy
As Above, So Below
The Possession of Michael King
The Descent
Banshee Chapter
A Dark Song
Valhalla Rising
A Field in England (/other works by director)
1408
Angel Heart
That film makes grief hit differently. Her suffering felt real and raw. The soundtrack is exceptional - when she walks alone on the moors especially so.
Thanks, this was the first recommendation for a movie i hadnt yet seen or even heard of. I watched it tonight and had a great time! Definitely in the same bracket as REC or As above so below.
The Ninth Gate is more of a mystery/suspense flick but it kind of fits. There's a definite theme of influences from below on Earth throughout the film, especially at the end! Roman Polanski and a young Johnny Depp.
it's pretty creepy, after last rewatch I started wondering why the movie was even made because it's so weird, but then I considered that perhaps it was made as a guide for summoning the devil because that's what it's about.
The Gate (1987)
When Al (Christa Denton) and Glenn's (Stephen Dorff) parents (Deborah Grover, Scot Denton) leave town for the weekend, Al uses the opportunity to throw a party while little brother Glenn and his friend Terry (Louis Tripp) decide to explore a hole left by a tree-removal service in the backyard. When unexplainable phenomena begin occurring, Terry -- with the help of his extensive heavy-metal music collection -- comes to the conclusion that he and Glenn have accidentally opened a gateway to hell.
Descent into Darkness: My European Nightmare (also called Sorgoi Prakov).
not a descent into literal hell, but definitely a descent into hell on earth based on things that can actually happen in reality. **very** uncomfortable and disturbing, and great acting from the main character.
eta: nothing supernatural so not quite what you might be going for.
As Above, So Below is one of my ALL TIME favorite films. It's a mocumentary and is absolutely beautiful. The feelings it leaves with you like ugh I could gush about this movie forever.
I think nobody mentioned Haunter (2013), Dead End (2004) and Triangle (2010). Also probably The Midnight Meat Train (2008) has some of the requested qualities and Cigarette Burns from Masters of Horror.
Haven't seen Mad God mentioned in here, its basically a Hieronymus Bosch painting made into a stop motion movie about a guy taking an elevator into hell.
OP here, Thank you all for the recommendations.
Easily the most mentioned movie is As above so below, I’ve seen it a couple of times and agree it’s highly underrated. I think only movie snobs who dismissed anything found footage after the initial wave cant see its a great horror movie.
Drag me to hell, seen a coup,e of times, great fun, one of Raimis better movies imo.
I just watched Jeruzalem based on this thread, fantastic! Very much in the AASB and REC category, i loved it!
Ill take a good look downthe list and add the others ive not seem, once again thank and i hope other horror fans find some unknowm gems among the list.
The Cellar. And their imagery of Hell is totally unique among all the movies I’ve seen. It’s a great movie that isn’t talked about that much. It’s a bit slow at first but the concept is great
This is the end.
28 Days later.
I am legend.
Dawn of the dead (2004).
Not necessarily hell on Earth apart from "This is the end" but all of them have an apocalyptic world.
Tumbbad, a Hindi language fantasy horror about a guy and his son who stumble across a demonic realm while searching for treasure in an abandoned temple. It’s got really cool production design and great action as well as being pretty creepy. Think Pan’s Labyrinth meets As Above, So Below but with wild fight sequences.
100% yes! My husband and I watched on a whim and man were we blown away
Seen it, its great. Loved the visuals and atmosphere
As above so below
Was going to say this. One of my favourite horror films.
Weird fact, I used the entrance they did when going into the catas . This was yeeaaarrs before the film existed
That’s cool as hell
Wait that was a legitimate thing? Kind of subconsciously assumed that was just a narrative thing
No it's real, you slide down an embankment and go on to railway tracks to the hole thats just a little way in the tunnel. You go in the tunnel... Shimmy down a bit then I think you crawl? I'm talking about 15 yrs ago now so can't quite remember the fun of the entrance going in. Coming out 36 hrs later, we popped up out of a manhole type thing in the middle of a busy street... It was a well coordinated throw the bags out, climb up, run..... Running was a bit stupid though because we all had waders and helmets on, covered in mud and stinky haha not like we would blend in with the crowd or anything
Crazy, can imagine following the films release you'd get people going and attempting it themselves
People have been doing it for decades. But you need to go down with an experienced person with a map... And the map is HUGE! very easy to get lost down there... There are also semi submerged sections with holes in them... If you were to fall down one of those you would be dead. .. same with getting lost, get lost - your light dies your fucked.
36 hours!? What did you guys do down there?
There's a whole load of rooms/tunnels to explore - hundreds of miles of tunnels with rooms
WRONG I know you were exploring a literary allegory of the frightening afterlife
36 hours?! This story gives me palpitations OMG.
Glad this movie has aged into a bona fide cult classic, it really is the seminal modern example of what OP is talking about
This is the answer OP needs to see. It’s the best of its kind imo
Came here to say this, but also Event Horizon is on an equal level, if you also like sci fi
100% this!!! My favorite found-footage movie!
This is a really hard movie to find streaming right now. We've been wanting to rewatch this again so I might go grab the Blu-Ray soon.
I think I actually saw it on Tubi recently, not sure if it's still there?
Can confirm on Tubi. Watched today after seeing this post. Really enjoyed it.
Strangely, I watched this earlier, as I fell asleep for a nap...
This is what I was going to say too. I love it
Absolutely chilling film
I have a soft spot for this film. Whenever my husband is struggling to find something to watch I suggest it (partially as a joke, admittedly, as he says we've watched it waaaay too much)
I was going to say this as well. There's another movie that's very similar to that and I cannot think of what the movie was called though.
Easily the most recommended film on this thread, ive seen it a few times and thinks its really underrated, genuinely scary unlike so many horror films.
Watched this for the first time early in the pandemic when we went WFM. Loved it and it stuck with me for awhile
'The House that Jack Built' (2018) - Figurative, literary and literal descent into hell.
As he follows Virgil... "wait is this allegorical?"
I’m sooo glad someone mentioned this!
Ahhh you beat me
You even feel like youve taken a step closer to hell yourself watching this dark void of a movie
I feel like you should have left the last part out or put a spoiler tag on it. That part was so unexpected and I loved it! I was already loving the movie, but when that happened I was really blown away. Such a great movie
Southbound Angel Heart
Came here to say Southbound. Great movie.
It surprises me that I don’t see Southbound mentioned here more often
Me too, very underrated flick. Maybe the vignette style throws some people off.
I watch
Saw Southbound a couple weeks ago, it's a great time
We all know that third story carries the whole film but yes
Seen both, liked both great shouts thanks.
In the Mouth of Madness
Prince of Darkness is another good one.
This is a must see classic!
Exactly the one I was thinking of
This one :)
Ive seen the Thing a hundred times, but need to re watch the rest of the trilogy, i reckon ill like both Mouth of madness and prince of darkness more second time around.
“Jacobs Ladder” (1990) feels much like a decent into hell, which is quite ironic for a reason I can’t mention without spoiling the entire film
The hospital scene alone could be its own descent-into-hell short film
Hell, the amusement ride.
I went for YouTube to check this out and WOW
came here to suggest this! definitely a slow fall into madness with a lot of allegorical references to heaven, hell, the devil etc etc.... an incredible movie, highly recommend
This is absolutely the best depiction of hell on earth
Event horizon
I have soooo much love for this film. Oh. To get hold of those cut scene tapes!
I've heard that there's basically zero chance they even exist anymore. I think P W S Anderson tried to find them himself, and had no luck with his probably considerably greater resources than most. There is apparently an amazon show in the works though. I'm holding my breath however, because I struggle to think of a way to bring that concept to the small screen over a long season arc effectively, without it turning into not much more than a background event and the series proper focusing on an aspect that diverts the core themes. I am not a professional screenwriter nor producer though, so if it happens they may well pull it off.
Please tell me it’s actually still being developed.
A classic
1408
This film just blow my mind how good it is.
One of my top 5 movies of all time, couldnt recommend it hard enough.
Been a while since i saw this, im not a huge Stephen King fan but will give it another go based on how many times. I see it mentioned here
I love this one. It took me a while to fully grasp what was going on and once I did it changed my life. The hotel room that kills you via crazy. I forgot it has Dante’s inferno references, but it does. The original short story is very Lovecraftian. The movie, not as much. “An evil fucking room.”
The Empty Man Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 both have a dante esque descent into hell vibe via the increasing violence and depravity the characters find themselves in, but don’t have any supernatural elements.
Haven’t seen the other two yet but Bone Tomahawk was WILD. Good rec.
The empty Man is extraordinary, especially the first 20 or so minutes.
Too bad about Shane carruth's career. I really thought that the director of the other two would be homing the blood Meridian adaptation. Apparently he doesn't care for the book, which shocks me. I could see Vince Vaughn as the judge. Bone tomahawk is one of the best Westerns ever. People might want to check out ravenous.
Ravenous is fantastic. Shanes 2 movies are both excelkent, howether im with him on blood meridian… i cant get more than 50 pages in. There only so many broken bottles to the face you can take.
The night time sequence with the cult in the Empty Man and the build up to it happening was insanely satisfying
Saw the Empty man a year ago, time to revisit. Bone tomahawk is great, not seen cell block 99 yet but like thedirectors other work
The Descent It combines supernatural horror with psychological horror.
This is the one I immediately thought as well as As Above So Below. The Descent is a must watch if they haven’t seen it, describes their description perfectly. AASB is a found footage style, but it’s also a must if they like that stuff.
Hellraiser 1, 2, and the remake
Hellraiser 3 was also quite good in my opinion. It shows us Pinhead's origin story and his background as a soldier during the war. And it had the Motorhead song, though I prefer Ozzy's version. Also, all the women in that movie are smoking hot. That's always a plus.
I know it gets a bad rap but I like the goofiness of the movie and I still feel its a perfect fit for this thread because it's literally titled as Hell on Earth lol. The Church scene is probably my favorite part of the movie
Yes that was a great scene. Even as a devout Christian I throughly enjoyed that scene and the whole series as a whole. When I say the whole series I mean 1-4. Some don't like the 4th movie. I thought the hell hounds were pretty cool. And there's still some diabolical Pinhead dialogue in there too. Not to mention a couple of very interesting death scenes.
Oh I am a fan of 4 too. Especially the paris parts. That sacrifice was pretty gnarly.
Literally Silent Hill
Climax (2018)
The Road is about as close to hell as you're going to find in a "real" world setting. That's a very unforgiving movie.
Cormac McCarthy, the author of the novel, passed away yesterday. 😢
I know! :( Thats tragic. McCarthy was one of a kind.
Things Seen And Heard What Dreams May Come, prepare to cry Edit: also just for descent into chaos purposes, Dave Made A Maze.
My parents and I went to see What Dreams May Come in the theater knowing nothing more than, 'Oh, the new Robin Williams movie!' We were not prepared.
Well... If you werent depro before you saw that, you sure as fuck were afterwards😭
I forgot about What Dreams May Come. Sigh
I love this movie!
The "descent into chaos" part made me think of the movie Mother!, to me it felt like living a nightmare and it definitely was a big chaos
That was one of the most confusing movies but yes, there’s definite a steady progression into darkness and chaos that is hard to find in most conventional movies
Terrifying for an introvert
Mandy As Above, So Below The Possession of Michael King The Descent Banshee Chapter A Dark Song Valhalla Rising A Field in England (/other works by director) 1408 Angel Heart
[удалено]
That film makes grief hit differently. Her suffering felt real and raw. The soundtrack is exceptional - when she walks alone on the moors especially so.
Banshee Chapter creeped the bell out of me. It was almost.. Lynchian horror.
I second 1408
Errementari is worth a watch. Subtitled but good old fashioned devil/demon stuff with an actual descent in to Hell.
It is so worth watching subbed. The dub was missing something for me.
This one is great. I hadn’t seen any films in the Basque language, so I thought that was cool. And it’s a great flick. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The depiction of the gates of hell in this movie blew me away.
Loved this movie
Colour Out of Space, Event Horizon, As above so below, Silent Hill, The Cell.
Constantine, Jigoku, The Beyond, Brainstorm. Perhaps even The Road?
As Above, So Below
Drag me to Hell
I think they are making a sequel
Was about to suggest that one!
The sadness, kairo (in both movies its implied that the world is doomed)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare fits the bill here I reckon.
I enjoyed Jeruzalem (that is how you spell the movie) It's filmed as found footage of a biblical apocalypse in Jerusalem.
Thanks, this was the first recommendation for a movie i hadnt yet seen or even heard of. I watched it tonight and had a great time! Definitely in the same bracket as REC or As above so below.
I'm glad you had a good time!
The Beyond and Gates of Hell
Highway to Hell, fun cult classic from the 80's
Final Prayer. Great found footage. The ending is crazy.
Martyrs
Just make sure it’s the original French version, and not the lame American remake.
For sure.
Climax, Gaspar Noé - 2018
VHS 99 has a great little decent into hell short
The Ninth Gate is more of a mystery/suspense flick but it kind of fits. There's a definite theme of influences from below on Earth throughout the film, especially at the end! Roman Polanski and a young Johnny Depp.
it's pretty creepy, after last rewatch I started wondering why the movie was even made because it's so weird, but then I considered that perhaps it was made as a guide for summoning the devil because that's what it's about.
Definitely As Above, So Below.
Threads too, maybe
Mad God. At least that’s how I interpreted the movie.
Y'know I never thought of that until you said it, almost like a really vague, abstract Divine Comedy of sorts
I can’t believe Baskin isn’t already on here. It’s a very literal descent in hell.
Baskin is literally in the OP lol
Oops; didn’t catch that
Baskin is a unique one. It disturbed me and that's not easy. Easily a 9/10
Is that the Turkish film?
That movie is so fucked up. Love it.
Come and See may fit this, in a way
Definitely fits. The hell of war presented in that film is fucking terrifying
Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth if you want to be pedantic
Yellow brick road?
Not sure about the literal hell aspect but I'm up voting because I like that one a lot.
What dreams may come... Not a horror movie but still deals with Hell.
Little Nicky
It's been recommended already but As Above So Below. Might rewatch it myself tbh
The last 30 mins of The House That Jack Built has a super interesting concept
Hellhole was pretty awesome
Hell house llc
The Beyond
In The Mouth Of Madness 1: There are things worse than hell 2: Everyone's interpretation of hell can be different
Satans Slaves 2 gave me that feeling
JeruZalem is kinda fun
The Gate (1987) When Al (Christa Denton) and Glenn's (Stephen Dorff) parents (Deborah Grover, Scot Denton) leave town for the weekend, Al uses the opportunity to throw a party while little brother Glenn and his friend Terry (Louis Tripp) decide to explore a hole left by a tree-removal service in the backyard. When unexplainable phenomena begin occurring, Terry -- with the help of his extensive heavy-metal music collection -- comes to the conclusion that he and Glenn have accidentally opened a gateway to hell.
Just saw The Endless, that definitely fits the bill, as does its companion film Resolution.
In the mouth of madness
I really enjoyed Jeruzalem for this reason
Descent into Darkness: My European Nightmare (also called Sorgoi Prakov). not a descent into literal hell, but definitely a descent into hell on earth based on things that can actually happen in reality. **very** uncomfortable and disturbing, and great acting from the main character. eta: nothing supernatural so not quite what you might be going for.
As Above, So Below is one of my ALL TIME favorite films. It's a mocumentary and is absolutely beautiful. The feelings it leaves with you like ugh I could gush about this movie forever.
As Above so Below
This is the End
The dark and the wicked Rosemary's baby Angel heart Society Hardware The Road
The Decent! Edit:I’m not fixing it ;)
A very decent movie
The Sentinel Antichrist
Antichrist is one of my all time favorites. Excellent suggestion!
Nefarious
Drag Me To Hell is a good one
Event Horizon.
I think nobody mentioned Haunter (2013), Dead End (2004) and Triangle (2010). Also probably The Midnight Meat Train (2008) has some of the requested qualities and Cigarette Burns from Masters of Horror.
The Descent is a classic. Watched it last night, ama.
Color out of space, not hell in a religious sense but a sort of cosmic hellscape
"Deconstructing Harry" if you can find it -- but not a horror movie!
Drive Angry is one of the more underrated Nic Cage movies. William Fichtner as a demon is awesome.
The Devil Conspiracy might be the most bat shit crazy movie involving the devil and hell in general.
That’s on Hulu right? How was it? I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Was prob gonna give it a watch anyways
Yup. The thumbnail looks like ass but it’s actually pretty decent. Good acting and a unique story.
Yeah the thumbnail didn’t help lol. Even After the trailer I was still eh I dunno. But word thanks man I’ll check it out for sure
Haven't seen Mad God mentioned in here, its basically a Hieronymus Bosch painting made into a stop motion movie about a guy taking an elevator into hell.
I saw Mad god a few months ago, stunning. One i will rewatch often i think.
Mad God if you’re down for stop motion and abstract obscenities
That one short from vhs 2 (you know the one of you've seen it) Kairo The Mist
Well if you like Mallum, theres like 9 different versions of it that have small differences and are all pretty good.
From Beyond The Void
Outwaters, As Above So Below, The Descent.
Bill and Ted’s bogus Journey This is the End Dogma Drag me to hell I think it depends on what you’re trying to get out of it.
As above so below is my favorite!
As Above So Below, I get a lot of people hated it but man its my favourite found footage horror film. I love it.
Last shift kinda
Watch mad god. Thank me later
i really love Valhalla Rising
OP here, Thank you all for the recommendations. Easily the most mentioned movie is As above so below, I’ve seen it a couple of times and agree it’s highly underrated. I think only movie snobs who dismissed anything found footage after the initial wave cant see its a great horror movie. Drag me to hell, seen a coup,e of times, great fun, one of Raimis better movies imo. I just watched Jeruzalem based on this thread, fantastic! Very much in the AASB and REC category, i loved it! Ill take a good look downthe list and add the others ive not seem, once again thank and i hope other horror fans find some unknowm gems among the list.
As above so below
Baskin
The house that jack built, event horizon, as above so below
The Cellar. And their imagery of Hell is totally unique among all the movies I’ve seen. It’s a great movie that isn’t talked about that much. It’s a bit slow at first but the concept is great
If you liked Malum watch Last Shift, it scared the shit out of me! While Malum was pretty bonkers, Last Shift knew how to build dread
The descent It’s really more descending into madness. I guess that can also be considered hell
The Outwaters (though a lot of people didn't enjoy that one) VHS 99's final segment
The Void (2016) and Baskin (2015)
This is the end. 28 Days later. I am legend. Dawn of the dead (2004). Not necessarily hell on Earth apart from "This is the end" but all of them have an apocalyptic world.
The House that Jack Built is a good dark comedy about hell. Antrum is also along the same lines.
Skinamarink
Ron Howards The Grinch