Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968): Under seige from shuffling zombies, strangers trapped in an isolated house and a shocking ending in which the hero meets his death at the hands of trigger happy rednecks, not flesh-eating monsters!
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973): Takes a long time to get going but this is still the best posession of an innocent little girl film that exists. Still terrifying, shocking and convincing nealy 40 years on.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974): Very slowly builds a sense of dread but chosen mainly for the final half hour. Once poor Sally ends up at the dinner table with the mad family, this is very scary, tense stuff!
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984): Utterly terrifying for any 10 year old who has to go to sleep every night with fears of Freddy fresh in mind.
Scream (Wes Craven, 1996): Funny, clever, gory and an unbeatable 8 minute opening of horror movie geek heaven.
The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, 1999): Clearly inspired by Cannibal Holocaust but far less nasty and with better acting, 'less is more' direction and an incredibly detailed backstory created by the website etc.
The Others (Alejandro Amenabar, 2001): Creepy ghost story with some great scares and a brilliant twist that is surprisingly emotional.
28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002): Beautiful digital photography and running rage-infected uber-zombies. Final half hour is ridiculously exciting!
Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004): Proof that horror remakes aren't all complete crap. Blasphemous maybe but for me this beats the original. Stylish, funny, less of the satire but more running zombies!
Wolf Creek (Greg Mclean, 2005): If you want your horror to be truly horrific, look no further. Grim, nasty and sadistic, this film takes it time getting to know its pleasant backpacking trio of characters. Wolf Creek has a movie monster so sick and twisted and a last half hour of rape, torture and murder that you will never forget this film.
And just because top 10s are so hard to do, here's another 5 that just missed out:
The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973): Brilliant ending!
Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1987): Hilarious!
Switchblade Romance (Alexandre Aja, 2003): Bloody disgusting!
Saw (James Wan, 2004): Twisted and clever, like Jigsaw!
Rec (Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, 2007): Mock-doc frights from Spain.
But what do you think?
Can't believe there's no horror from before the 70s?
Have I missed your favourite classic monsters; Frankenstein, Dracula?
Disgusted that Jaws or Rosemary's Baby isn't here?
Missing Hitchcock, Kubrick or Argento?
What about Jason, Michael or Chucky?
What's your favourite horror movies? Go on tell me!
So, not sure if they're the best horror films out there, but the following movies scared the absolute shit out of me (these ones made me sleep with the light on):
ReplyDeleteParanormal Activity 1
The Ring
The Grudge
Yep Paranormal Activity's amazing, just missed this list! Have you seen Insidious??? Are you talking about the American remakes of Ring and Grudge? The Ring was awesome, didnt like The Grudge so much. Also go watch the Paranormal Activity 3 trailer!
ReplyDeletedidn't realise there was a third one! Just watched it then... damn looks like I'll have more sleepless nights.
ReplyDeleteYeah I watched the american remakes before I knew they were remakes of Japanese originals.
Thanks for posting the trailer!
Great list, but not a fan of The Others, not sure why everyone loves it. I only saw it the one time back when it came out and I wasn't thrilled. I thought my opinion would improve if I watched it again, which I tried to do recently. Couldn't get through it though.
ReplyDeleteI need to see Wolf Creek.
@Robert interesting... The Others is a very distinctive horror film. I love its sadness, its end and its creepiness. I thought it deserved far more attention than Sixth Sense.
ReplyDeleteSee Wolf Creek. It's a slow, suspenseful dread builder but once it kicks off it's absolutely savage!
Thanks for reading!