I go through a lot of crap movies. I go through a
lot less crap than I used to. To be fair, the crap was always by design,
but that's beside the point. The more movies I see and cover, the harder it is
to make it clear what I'm really recommending and what was just ok. In an
effort to streamline that process a little and because there's nothing I love more
than creating, sorting, and curating lists, I've decided to make a monthly top
10 list. I have three set goals with each list: Transparency, proving
familiarity, and seeking recommendations.
Let me explain. I want to be transparent, so I will
include a list of the pool of movies that I'm selecting from. So, if you don't
see a movie you love in the top ten or in the big list, you know that's because
I haven't seen it. It would be pompous of me to call any list definitive,
because I know I haven't seen everything. This is a good counter-measure to make
sure the list isn't seen as an attempt to be definitive. To prove familiarity I
have one hard rule for any top 10 list. I have to have seen at least 100 movies
of a given example. 100 is arbitrary, but it's a nice round number. That's
enough that if I'm making a top 10, I feel confident that I'm considering a lot
of movies rather than forcing something that isn't there. No one wants my top
10 French movies if I've only seen 20 total. I'm always looking for more good
movies to see, so if I'm missing a good one in a given list, let me know. I'd
like to remedy that.
Being October, it's only natural that I start with
my top 10 horror movies. And when I say "horror", I mean movies that
are horror-first. Not horror-comedies. Those are almost always more comedy than
horror. That might be its own list one day. I'm also not referring to films
from directors who like dark subjects like Tim Burton or David Fincher. Some of
their movies can apply, but not most of them. The hardest omissions to make
were dark mysteries and thrillers. Just because a movie is about murderer or
something mysterious happening, doesn't necessarily mean it's a horror movie.
You'll notice that I didn't include classics like Jaws and Silence of
the Lambs. The horror aspects of the films are the result of other things,
not the impetus for the films. In fact, for clarification, I think I'll include
some movies that weren't being considered as well.
I love horror movies, but I have very specific taste
for them. I'm not into torture porn. Over-reliance on jump scares bores me. I
prefer simmering dread over occasional bursts of excitement. It's nice when the
protagonists are smart or at least in a situation in which they couldn't know
any better. Stylistically, I like found-footage a lot. Normally that's because
it forces the filmmakers to have the characters act like real people would in a
situation, and the filmmaker doesn't rely on the score to do all the work. All
that is worth considering when going through the list. A few movies I cut
quickly ended up being more a matter of taste than quality.
Excluded Movies:
There's are all movies that I don't consider to be
horror that I wanted to mention so you know why they aren't there. These are
almost all dark crime, thriller, mystery, or fantasy movies. Just because a
movie is dark, doesn't make it horror.
8MM
American Psycho
Donnie Darko
Edward Scissorhands
Heavenly Creatures
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Irreversible
Joy Ride
King Kong
Lady in the Water
The Machinist
Misery
Monster
Mulholland Drive
One Hour Photo
Pan's Labyrinth
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Shutter Island
The Silence of the Lambs
Zodiac
First Cut: Horror Comedies
Nothing against them. That's just not the kind of
horror movie I'm considering.
The Addams Family
Addams Family Values
Arachnophobia
Army of Darkness
Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Birdemic 2
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
The Gingerdead Man
Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust
Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver
Gremlins
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Hocus Pocus
Idle Hands
My Name is Bruce
Shaun of the Dead
Teen Wolf
Troll 2
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
What We Do in the Shadows
Young Frankenstein
That leaves a list of 168 movies. The easiest cut to
make is all the sequels and remakes that don't compare to the original. I won't
distinguish between the ones I'm excluding because they are awful and the ones
that merely aren't as good as the original, but you should be able to piece
that much together.
Second Cut
Sequels (Franchise: What's being cut)
28 Days Later: 28 Weeks Later (2007)
The ABCs of Death: ABCs of Death 2 (2014)
The Blair With Project: Blair Witch (2016)
Carrie: The
Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
Child's Play: Child's Play 2 (1990), Child's Play 3 (1991)
The Conjuring: The Conjuring 2 (2016)
The Evil Dead: Evil Dead (2013)
The Exorcist: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Exorcist III (1990)
Final Destination: Final Destination 2 (2003), The Final Destination (2009)
I Know What You Did Last Summer: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Insidious: Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)
Halloween: Halloween: H20 (1998)
A Nightmare on Elm Street: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), ANightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4:The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989),
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994).
Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
Paranormal Activity: Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 4
(2012), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Paranormal Activity: TheGhost Dimension (2015)
The Purge: The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
The Ring: TheRing Two (2005)
Scream: Scream
2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011)
Urban Legends: Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
V/H/S: V/H/S:Viral (2014)
Remakes
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Carrie (2013)
Halloween (2007)
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The Thing (2011)
Thirteen Ghosts (2001)
That's 36 sequels and 8 remakes that are out. That
leaves a still large set of 124 movie. Here's where it starts getting personal.
I made a pass through the list and took out the truly dreadful movies, a few
that I had trouble calling "horror", several that were pretty
anonymous or mild, and a couple that I admittedly don't remember well enough.
Easy Cuts
Dreadful
Anaconda (1997)
Jack Frost (1997)
Hollow Man (2000)
House at the End of the Street (2012)
The Lazarus Effect (2015)
Mad Love (1935)
Pet Sematary (1989)
The Purge (2013)
Red State (2011)
Satanic (2016)
The Unborn (2009)
Valentine (2001)
Wolf (1994)
Not Really Horror
Deliverance (1972)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
The Happening (2008)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
(2007)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
World War Z (2013)
Anonymous
The ABC's of Death (2012)
Angel Heart (1987)
Annabelle (2014)
The Awakening (2011)
Cabin Fever (2002)
Child's Play (1988)
Crimson Peak (2015)
The Faculty (1998)
The Final (2010)
Final Destination (2000)
Flatliners (1990)
From Hell (2001)
Gothika (2003)
The Grudge (2004)
The Haunting (1999)
Hide and Seek (2005)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Jennifer's Body (2009)
Lights Out (2016)
Mama (2013)
The Mothman Prophecies (2001)
The Mummy (1932)
The Mummy (1959)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Species (1995)
Stephen King's Thinner (1996)
Stigmata (1999)
Unfriended (2014)
White Noise (2005)
The Woman in Black (2012)
Wrong Turn (2003)
Forgot Too Much
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
The Last House of the Left (1972)
That's 54 down. 70 movies left. At this point, all
of these movies are watchable and at least worth a weak recommendation. Most of
these films have stand out moments if nothing else. For one reason or another,
I just didn't connect with them.
Slightly Harder Cuts
Byzantium (2012)
Candyman (1992)
Carrie (1976)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Dark Skies (2013)
The Den (2013)
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Escape From Tomorrow (2013)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Green Room (2015)
Honeymoon (2013)
The House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Insidious (2010)
The Invitation (2015)
Krampus (2015)
Let Me In (2010)
Life (2017)
mother! (2017)
The Neon Demon (2016)
The Others (2001)
Quarantine (2008)
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975)
Saw (2004)
The Skeleton Key (2005)
Stir of Echoes (1999)
The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)
The Village (2004)
The Visit (2015)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
XX (2017)
That brought the list to 38. At this point, I
recommend all of these without reservation. I'm not in the business of making a
top 38 list though. I'm making a top 10. The next two waves of cuts have no
unifying principle behind them. I just had to narrow it down somehow. After a
bunch of head to heads, these are the movies that ended up at the bottom.
Difficult Cuts
28 Days Later (2002)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
The Conjuring (2013)
Creep (2014)
The Descent (2005)
Get Out (2017)
Hush (2016)
It (2017)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The Omen (1976)
The Orphanage (2007)
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
Psycho (1960)
Scream (1996)
The Shining (1980)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Southbound (2015)
You're Next (2011)
Very Difficult Cuts
It Follows (2015) - Excellent premise that
they didn't always know what to do with.
Alien (1979) - Perhaps I think of it more as Sci-Fi
than horror.
Open Water (2003) - Terrifying movie because there's
nothing supernatural about it.
The Exorcist (1973) - The most important horror
movie since Nosferatu?
The Thing (1982) - An unsettling film, that's a
little more of a Sci-Fi thriller than a horror movie.
Trick 'r Treat (2007) - I love anthologies. This is
one of the best and most purely entertaining you'll find,
The Babdook (2014) - The scares are almost
oppressive. (That's a compliment)
Goodnight Mommy (2014) - Those Germans know how to
tell a creepy kid movie.
The Nightmare (2015) - A horror documentary that has
no business being as unsettling as it is.
Top 10
10. Suspiria (1977)
My rankings are lousy with recency bias and that
takes many forms. Normally, it's newer movies (5 of my 10 came out 2012 or
later). Suspiria is another case of recency bias. I only recently saw
the movie for the first time so it's very fresh in my mind. Maybe it's because
I actually saw it in a theater, but it really blew me away. The music beats you
down. The cinematography is the opposite of subtle. The story is simple and
effective. This is the horror movie with the most style points on my list.
9. Paranormal Activity (2007)
I love found footage when done right. Thanks to the
avalanche of bad films and imitators that followed, people tend to forget how
effective this movie is. It's small and simple. Most impressive though is its
patience. That's hard for most horror movies. Directors love to do too much to
earn a reaction. Paranormal Activity takes a different approach. If
almost nothing happens for 98% of the time, then the 2% when something does
happen has a compounded effect.
8. Under the Skin (2014)
I'm breaking my own rule by including Under the
Skin. It's more of a dark Sci-Fi thriller than straight horror. I'm
including it because few movies have been as unshakable as this one. Scarlett
Johansson is an alien who lures and kills men in a highly ritualized fashion.
It's another film that doesn't get too caught up with a lot of plot. The film
is quiet, dark, and Scottish to the point of being incomprehensible at times.
It's a bonus that it's arguably Jonhansson's best performance to date.
7. The Witch (2015)
If there's a unifying theme to my list of top horror
movies, it's that they are movies I can't shake. They lingered in my mind long
after I saw them. Only a few of the movies rely on jump scares. A lot more of
them are most effective at a low boil the whole time. That's exactly how The
Witch works. I can think of maybe two or three "scares" in the
film. Instead, this film is about dread that hangs over everything from
beginning to end. It has a command of tone that rivals the best horror movies
you'll find.
6. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
What can I say? It's a classic and it holds up very
well. A lot of the time with older movies you have to make considerations about
the time period and what could and couldn't be done at the time. No need with
this one. Roman Polanski gets great performances out of the whole cast. He
basically tears down poor Mia Farrow for two hours then ends it in the most
unsettling place possible.
5. The Ring (2002)
OK, OK, remember, these are my top 10 horror
movies. I make no claims about where the films belong in the horror pantheon.
That's how I can include The Ring so high. I know that it's based on a
Japanese film which is probably scarier. I know that the story is convoluted.
I know that some of the dialogue is laughable. I saw this film when I was 15 or
16 and I love it. I revisit it often. It left a mark on me, for one reason or
another. The film isn't awful either. It doesn't a lot of things well. It has a
great dreary, damp look to it. The ending is unsettling. I even like that the
technology involved has made the movie a relic after 15 years. That's also why
I'm in no hurry to see Rings.
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
You'll notice that my top 10 pulls from two eras:
late 60s and 70s and post 2000. That's because I never connected with the
monster movies or the 30s and 50sm the slasher movies of the 80s, or the
deconstruction of the genre in the 90s. There's nothing wrong with them. I just
like things that feel more grounded. I'd rather feel like I'm seeing something
I shouldn't be seeing than watch something that is being obviously presented to
me. That's why I love the low-fi aesthetic of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
It looks cheap at a time when it still cost a lot of money to even look cheap.
It's messy and blunt. This is the very beginning of the era when the monster
became the star of the horror movie, when films were still more concerned with
scares than creative kills or effects. That's partly why it's held up so well
for so long.
3. V/H/S/2 (2013)
This top three is a surprise to no one who knows me.
I'm obsessed with these three movies and their specific ranking could change
daily. The V/H/S series is simple: a horror anthology all shot as found
footage shorts. I'll get to the first movie shortly. The sequel is all the
things you want out of a sequel. It's bigger and more ambitious. This film is
really held up by the middle two shorts. The first, fourth, and bridging
stories are fine. It like them. They pale in comparison to the middle two
though. The second story, with a POV zombie transformation is clever as hell.
The third story, about a doomsday cult is just insane. Despite a limited amount
of time and budget, that story ramps up and escalates like few movies I've ever
seen..
2. Oculus (2013)
I'm picky about horror movies. The biggest reason is
because I hate when a movie relies on characters being stupid to movie the
story forward. "Let's split up" kills any momentum a film has going
for it in my eyes. What makes Oculus special is that it's about people
who are legitimately being smart. Obsessive? Yes. Emotional? You bet. Stupid?
Not really. The idea of this haunted mirror story is that it's smarter than the
people it's affecting. What I find most chilling about this movie is the way
that the evil force waits for the main characters to let their guard down and
make a mistake rather than actively doing anything itself. It also helps that
it's one of the few movies that legitimately gave me trouble sleeping the night
after I saw it. Normally, I can compartmentalize enough that it's not a
problem.
1. V/H/S (2012)
What I said about the sequel applies to the original
as well. This movie is all the things I like about horror. There's a great
variety of stories. Everything is pretty short, so nothing gets over-explained.
The found-footage style works especially well in small doses like this. I've
rewatched this movie many, many times and I never get tired of it, even after
the scares stopped surprising me.
FULL LIST
#
28 Days Later (2002),28 Weeks Later (2007)
A
The ABC's of Death (2012),ABCs of Death 2 (2014),Alien (1979),The Amityville Horror (2005),Anaconda (1997),Angel Heart (1987),Annabelle (2014),The Awakening (2011)
28 Days Later (2002),28 Weeks Later (2007)
A
The ABC's of Death (2012),ABCs of Death 2 (2014),Alien (1979),The Amityville Horror (2005),Anaconda (1997),Angel Heart (1987),Annabelle (2014),The Awakening (2011)
B
The Babdook (2014),Blair Witch (2016),The Blair Witch Project (1999),Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Byzantium (2012)
C
Cabin Fever (2002),Candyman (1992),Carrie (1976),Carrie (2013),Child's Play (1988), Child's Play 2 (1990),Child's Play 3 (1991),A Clockwork Orange (1971),The Conjuring (2013),The Conjuring 2 (2016),Creep (2014),Crimson Peak (2015)
D
Dark Skies (2013), Deliverance (1972), The Den (2013), The Descent (2005), Drag Me to Hell (2009)
E
Escape From Tomorrow (2013), The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead 2 (1987), Evil Dead (2013), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Exorcist (1973), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Exorcist III (1990)
F
The Faculty (1998), The Final (2010), Final Destination (2000), The Final Destination (2009), Final Destination 2 (2003), Flatliners (1990), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Freddy Vs. Jason (2003), From Hell (2001)
G
Get Out (2017), Ginger Snaps (2000), Goodnight Mommy (2014), Gothika (2003), Green Room (2015), The Grudge (2004)
H
Halloween (2007), Halloween: H20 (1998), The Happening (2008), The Haunting (1999), Hide and Seek (2005), Hollow Man (2000), Honeymoon (2013), House at the End of the Street (2012), The House on Haunted Hill (1959), House on Haunted Hill (1999), Hush (2016)
I
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Insidious (2010), Insidious Chapter 2 (2013), The Invisible Man (1933), The Invitation (2015), Interview with the Vampire (1994), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), It (2017), It Follows (2015)
J
Jack Frost (1997), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Jennifer's Body (2009)
K
Krampus (2015)
L
The Last House of the Left (1972), The Lazarus Effect (2015), Let Me In (2010), Life (2017), Lights Out (2016)
M
Mad Love (1935), Mama (2013), mother! (2017), The Mothman Prophecies (2001), The Mummy (1932), The Mummy (1959)
N
The Neon Demon (2016), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), The Nightmare (2015)
O
Oculus (2013), The Omen (1976), Open Water (2003), The Orphanage (2007), The Others (2001)
P
Paranormal Activity (2007), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Pet Sematary (1989), Psycho (1960),
The Purge (2013), The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
Q
Quarantine (2008)
Q
Quarantine (2008)
R
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), Red State (2011), The Ring (2002), The Ring Two (2005), Rosemary's Baby (1968)
S
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975), Satanic (2016), Saw (2004), Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), The Shining (1980), The Sixth Sense (1999),The Skeleton Key (2005), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Southbound (2015), Species (1995), Stephen King's Thinner (1996), Stigmata (1999), Stir of Echoes (1999), Suspiria (1977), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
T
The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014),The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), The Thing (1982), The Thing (2011), Thirteen Ghosts (2001), Trick 'r Treat (2007)
U
The Unborn (2009),Under the Skin (2014), Unfriended (2014), Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
V
Valentine (2001), V/H/S/2 (2013), V/H/S (2012), V/H/S: Viral (2014), The Village (2004), The Visit (2015)
W
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), What Lies Beneath (2000), White Noise (2005), The Witch (2015), Wolf (1994), The Woman in Black (2012), World War Z (2013), Wrong Turn (2003)
XX (2017)
Y
You're Next (2011)
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