Before I get to the last 15 horror movies on the list, I thought I would give out some honorable mentions. These few are quite possibly worthy of being on the list but I needed to narrow it down so I cut these but decided to put them in here instead.
April Fool's Day
Jacob's Ladder
Innocents (The Turn of the Screw)
An American Werewolf in London
House of Wax (1953 version)
Fall of the House of Usher
The Ring
Targets
Black Sunday
Hound of the Baskervilles
Uninvited
Sixth Sense
Now the last of the top 50
15. Phantasm - Phantasm is that rarest of horror films, one with a truly original premise. The villain of the piece, the Tall Man, is one of the all-time great scary monsters and interestingly enough, we never discover if he is human or ghoul.
14. The Haunting - The Haunting is that rarest of beasts, an excellent novel that was turned into a film that just about matches the quality of its printed source. From start to finish, the director slowly builds the eerie tension of this horror classic until it reaches its shattering conclusion. A first-class production on all fronts, this timeless ghost story may have been made four decades ago but it still remains one of the all-time I'm-gonna-sleep-with-the-lights-on-after-this films. There are few ghosts tories ever made for the cinema that can even compare.
13. Sean of the Dead - This ranks up there, even though more comedy than horror, as one of the best zombie movies ever made.
12. Bride of Frankenstein - Sequel titles such as "Bride Of" are usually associated with B-movie sequels that are quickly forgotten and one day mocked on Mystery Science Theater. Bride of Frankenstein is the exception. Not only the greatest horror sequel of all time, Bride is in many ways superior to the original.
11. The Omen - I haven't seen the remake yet but I would imagine it won't be as good as the original. Shocking and scary with some really disturbing death scenes, this movie caused the name Damien to be associated with the devil for the rest of time.
10. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? - Bette Davis and Joan Crawford star in this inspired psychological horror. They play over-the-hill sisters and former child actresses who, after a lifetime of rivalry, are now both full of bitterness. "But you are Blanche, you are!" More disturbing than scary, but psychologically tormenting.
9. Phantom of the Opera - Lon Chaney Sr.'s best film is also the best screen version of Gaston Leroux's novel. As the scarred composer hiding in the bowels of Paris Opera House, Chaney is unforgettable. He tutors beautiful singer Mary Philbin, whilst seeking revenge on those that ended his career and ruined his features. Some amazing make-up (by Chaney of course) and great over-zealous acting make this a real treat. Chaney's character is also both pitiful and irreversibly insane. One of the first in the Universal gothic cycle, it was remade by the same studio in 1943 with Claude Rains. There are at least four other versions (one by Hammer), but this is the best, an American classic of the silent age.
8. Peeping Tom - Karl Boehm plays Mark, a photographer driven mad in his childhood by the cruel father's photographical experiments. Now Mark himself enjoys filming 'the face of death', closing in on his victims whilst impaling them on his spiked tripod. Although devoid of blood and gore, this was truly a shocking film for it's time, and it's still disturbing today. Released about the same time as Psycho or else it would have been a hit.
7. Invisible Man - A scientist, Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) invents a serum that causes invisibility in living beings. However, after testing it on himself, Griffin soon disocovers the serum has the unfortunate side effect of driving the recipient murderously insane! Great Special effects and a bizarre form of jet-black humor make this an early sci-fi/horror masterpiece.
6. Repulsion - Roman Polanski produces his first horror masterpiece with this psychological terror-tale. As with the later 'Rosemary's Baby', it features a vulnerable female lead, Catherine Deneuve, who finds herself in a claustrophobic situation. Deneuve plays a Belgian manicurist living in London. She is repelled by sex, so when her flatmate goes away, she begins to feel alone in a foreign country surrounded by sex-hungry men. Naturally, all this pushes her over the edge and she locks herself in her apartment, but nobody will leave her alone. A gripping insight into psychotic paranoia.
5. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari - A Nightmarish, almost indescribable silent German Expressionism film. Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss), a carnival hypnotist, uses his somnambulistic zombie (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. A basic plot, but more unforgettable images than in most modern features. Wild make-up, incredible acting, and Dali-esque sets will have you doubting your own sanity. Inevitably dated, but still surprisingly original when you consider it's probably the earliest important horror movie.
4. When a Stranger Calls - High school student Jill Johnson is traumatized over an evening of babysitting by a caller who repeatedly asks "Have you checked the children?". It's scary, creepy, and downright eerie.
3. The Fog - A Northern California fishing town, built 100 years ago over an old leper colony, is the target for revenge by a killer fog containing zombie-like ghosts seeking revenge for their deaths. What you can't see can't hurt you ... it'll kill you! A rare real scary movie. John Carpenter has always been a master in creating scary, creepy scene's with minimal resources but maximum scare.
2. House on Haunted Hill - Five diverse people are invited to a 'haunted house' party. They are offered $10,000 each by an eccentric millionaire and his wife to spend the night in a house with a murderous past. Vinnie (as in Vincent Price) Throws One Heck of a Party! The updated remake is also just as good, weaker acting but better effects, pick your poison.
1. It - Seven youths have to defeat a demonic creature named Pennywise which dresses in a clown suit and terrorizes a 1960's town in Maine. I'm not one of those people who is afraid of clowns, but this film doesn't make me like them any more either. Like Jaws, this one has caused many people to wonder just what they hide behind those fake smiles.
Well that's the list, 50 (or so) of my favorite horror movies. Did I miss any of yours?
4 comments:
Just got back from seeing Saw III. Don't bother, it was a waste of money! Can't believe the same guy that did the first two actually made this one. Like I said this could go on forever as long as they come up with good, original ideas, which they didn't do for this installment! Unfortunately it looks like the muse is dead, too bad because they will make more of these and they will probably be just as bad as this one was. Now I'm stuck with the dilema of figuring out which movie was worse, this one or Pirates of the Carribean 2. It's a close race Saw 3 is that bad!
Well, at least I still have the first 2 Saw movies to look forward to.
First for your "also-rans": I've never seen April Fool's Day or Jacob's Ladder. The Innocents is quite simply one of the greatest ghost movies of all time (and obviously ripped off in spirit by The Others). American Werewolf in London is half a good movie for me: the werewolf sequences kinda bore me; I like the Griffin Dunne sequences though, they're a hoot. House of Wax (1953 version) -- I prefer the original Mystery of the Wax Museum starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray in two-strip technicolor but that's me. BTW Phyllis Kirk, star of the Vincent Price House of Wax just died a week ago. The Ring - Are you referring to the original Japanese Ringu or the so-so American remake? The Japanese film is, of course, incredibly good. Targets - awwww Karloff's sentimentally (if not actually) final film -- a beautiful tribute from Peter Bogdanovich as well as a terrifying horror film. Hound of the Baskervilles - um, which version, dude? The Uninvited - yay, the first "seriously treated" ghost movie in history. Chilling! The Sixth Sense - a great movie although once you know the surprise ending it loses quite a bit.
Now onto your list:
15. Phantasm - you is so right! A truly original idea and a wacky, seat-of-your-pants independent production but some folks who care.
14. The Haunting - one of my favourite films of all time. Not just horror films but FILMS. A classic no matter how you slice it.
13. Shaun of the Dead - I concur: it ranks as one of the best. So what if it's half comedy. So was Dawn of the Dead, after all. Simply one of the best horror movies of the last decade.
12. Bride of Frankenstein - surely a bona fide classic horror film. Another case of a horror film that's half comedy. And most film critics do call this one better than the original. However, I STILL prefer the original Frankenstein with Bride a close second.
11. The Omen - Didn't see the remake either but I heard it was pointless and just plain bad. This is another movie which I've revised my opinion about: I used to think it was only so-so but now I quite enjoy it. It's sort-of The Exorcist for protestants.
10. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane! - But you ARE, Blanche! You ARE in that chair!!! Horror hags at their finest!
9. Phantom of the Opera - Quite right-it's the best Lon Chaney film as well as the best film version of the story. Universal's sound remake with Claude Rains is unwatchable. The Hammer version is universally bad-mouthed but I didn't think it was that bad; it was actually pretty good -- but that's all. I won't discuss the musical version by Andrew Hack Webber. However, Dario Argento made a very interesting version in the 90's which, while having NOTHING to do with the original story, is probably the second best film version after Chaney's. Oh, and I've never seen the Robert Englund version.
8. Peeping Tom - Wow, you surprise me, you perve! Picking such an obscure British horror which audiences and critics hated. Good for you, doodly. There's an OCEAN of sick psychology going on in this film, ain't there?
7. The Invisible Man - Hmmm, never quite a fan of that one either. The special FX are admittedly excellent, as is the opening reel. But, while I like it, I can't say much more for it. Interesting but doesn't blow my hair back.
6. Repulsion - Yay! A paranoid masterpiece. Good for you, once again!
5. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Now you DO surprise me. How is a blonde bimbo supposed to be watching all these silent movies? Don't you know you're ruining your stereotype. Oh well, Caligari is indeed an extremely important horror film and Conrad Veidt is masterful as the somnambulist. To actually sit down and watch the whole film, though, let me just say it's not one I come back to again and again. But it should be seen at least once by any true horror fan.
4. When a Stranger Calls - I saw this on HBO back in the early 80's and I haven't seen it since. So I'll take your word on it.
3. The Fog - Good for you ad infinitum. I'm glad you picked this one because it's a really great horror film which for some reason usually gets either trashed (like Carpenter's The Thing) or ignored.
2. House on Haunted Hill - William Castle's film is a funhouse ride and a classic. I also agree that the remake was quite good also. In fact, I very much like all 3 of the Dark Castle remakes in recent years (House on Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts and Ghost Ship) and become quite annoyed at snotty critics or dismissive horror fans who say they're crap. They are not. They are fun, scary, interesting, imaginative horror movies -- and that's more than you can say for most of the Hollywood product coming out from 1999's The Haunting remake (execrable) to Saw 3 (I'm taking your word for it).
1. Stephen King's It - yet another Stephen King TV mini-series. While I thought the first half was quite excellent I thought the second half fell off a bit. Tim Curry, as always, was excellent as Pennywise the Clown. However, the stupid unscary giant spider thing at the end almost ruined it for me. Quite a good Stephen King mini-series but I still prefer Salem's Lot.
Anyway, what a great list you have wrought (see I can use that word TOO) and I applaud you. While I may not have chosen some of these films for MY list, I cannot at all critisize their inclusion on your list as they are ALL worthy. Maybe one day I'll do a similar list. Does that mean I'll have to pay you copyright royalties???
Nah you needent pay me any royalties. Just as long as I get to write my comments on your list as well!! Thanks for your review of my list, glad you liked it. Was surprised you were surprised by some of my lists. A lot of them I don't actually own. I can still remember watching some of them on betamax wholly shit remember them? I've since seen them again but alas I don't own most of them. Whenever I am in the mood for a good scare though I either search them out on that thing called cable or I actually se what Blockbuster has to offer. Speaking of which, Blockbuster online who I subscribe to is quite surprising at what they have to offer. For 14 bucks a month (which is how much 3 movies rented at Blockbuster would cost) I get to pick as many movies I want 3 at a time. And the fact that I get a coupon for 2 free rentals a month at Blockbuster stores, it kinda almost pays for itself with those alone so I get to watch alot of movies, even if I don't own them.
Wow, considering I haven't been in a Blockbuster (or any other rental store) for about 10-15 years, I think it's safe to say that I can do without them. I'm not one of these people who likes to rent movies. If there's a movie I want to see, I'll want to watch it over and over again so I just buy it. Can't be bothered with this renting fersnizzle. There's nothing that pisses me off more than renting a movie, watching it, seeing that I really like it and then having to go out and buy it after wasting money renting it. That's just me; I'm bizarromundo. I own a good chunk of the movies on your list so, if you ever wanna have a movie marathon let me know. . .I'll be right over for a bowl full of Count Chocula and some scary movies! Heh heh.
You're of course more than welcome (and expected) to comment on my lists but mine isn't quite what yours is. The one I've been thinking of doing (but lazily haven't started yet) is...well, different let's just leave it there. It won't be a list of my favourites, I'll tell you that. Anyway, one of these days. . .
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