While I still believe that there are exponentially more bad scary movies than good, it's understandable given that it's possibly the most difficult genre for a director to pull off well, but it's worth sorting through the garbage to find the few gems. Great horror movies allow us to confront our fears in a safe environment and posit tough questions so that we may discover new things about ourselves. They show us the unthinkable so that we may think on the horrors that exist in our daily lives. They aren't content to simply scare, they create an atmosphere, envelop us and linger in the sub-conscious long after the movie's over. They are reflexive, cathartic, therapeutic. This is what horror does better than anything else and it's why I've come to love being scared. These are the top ten horror films that provoked the strongest reactions out of me.
10. Scream
This is one of the first slasher films I ever saw (through my fingers) and it holds up beautifully. It works so well as a horror film that I often forget it's also a clever spoof that takes aim at the precise formula that the slasher genre had devolved into. The iconic opening scene ratchets the tension up to 11 and never relents. The self-aware dialogue is so funny and such a joy to behold that it makes you forget what kind of movie you're watching. This renders the resulting descent into horror so much more harrowing. Scream adeptly skewers the competition while also being better at skewering than the competition. It has guts and brains, a rare combination.
9. The Blair Witch Project
The spawn of the found-footage epidemic is still one of the best examples of how to use the convention right. This film reminds us that what we don't see is often far more terrifying than what we do see. The film purports to be an actual documentary, following a small group of kids into the woods of their sleepy New England town in search of the fabled Blair Witch. The realistic presentation absorbs us into the film as if we're one of the characters and makes the terror within feel entirely too plausible for comfort. At the time of it's release, there were even some people who didn't realize the film was fictional. For me, this is still one of the most unsettling viewing experiences of my life. The final frames haunted me for days.
8. 28 Days Later
The Walking Dead owes an enormous debt of gratitude to this British zombie flick. The film follows Jim, who awakens from a coma in an abandoned hospital (sound familiar yet) only to discover that an outbreak has turned most citizens into mindless flesh eaters. The similarities don't end there. The film also chooses to focus less on the "monsters" and more on the social decay that follows such an event and how it affects the humanity of its survivors. The difference is that the zombies here aren't zombies at all, they're rage-infected humans. They're fast, feral and probably the most frightening incarnation of the undead ever conjured. A single drop of their blood can infect a human in 20 seconds flat. There is no such thing as a comforting farewell here. The terror is relentless, the drama is poignant and the film is a masterpiece of the genre.
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
It may not be the scariest movie ever made but I dare you to dream up a more frightening concept than a man who can invade your dreams and kill you in your sleep. Sleep is necessary. Sleep is inevitable. There's no escape. No matter how much you resist, you have to succumb to it eventually. Here the teens have to face off against one of the most chilling and enduring horror icons in film history: the razor-gloved, hideously disfigured Freddy Krueger. The dialogue and acting may be a bit dated but there's no denying that the film exudes style, keeps the scares coming in rapid succession and toys with our perception of reality in some inventive ways. Freddy became a bit more comical as the series went on but here he's as serious as a heart attack and his appearance alone is likely to give you one.
6. Bug
Nevermind The Exorcist, this is William Friedkin's masterpiece. Set in a single hotel room, Bug weaves a tale warning about the pitfalls of unquestioning love and unsubstantiated paranoia. On the surface, it more closely resembles a low-key character drama than a traditional horror film. Make no mistake, the film is a foreboding slow burn that escalates into something that -- like the titular "bugs" that may or may not exist -- really gets under your skin. Michael Shannon's performance in this movie is, frankly, one of the best I've ever seen in anything. Even during scenes where it's all you want to do, you can't take your eyes off of him. He's magnetic, ferocious, uncompromising, unbelievable yet utterly convincing. He makes you want to believe in him, even though you know you shouldn't, which is where the true horror in this film lies.
5. The Fly (1986)
It may sound odd but this is the kind of movie I like to watch when I'm sick because, even though I may feel awful, I can always say, "hey, at least I'm not that guy. That guy in question is Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) a brilliant scientist who has discovered the key to teleportation. At least, he thinks he has. The only thing needed to prove his invention is a human trial. A lone fly gets trapped in the pod with him and the two become one. Goldblum's transformation is, to put it bluntly, disgusting. He's slowly falling apart but he's also slowly falling in love with Veronica (Geena Davis) which makes his decay sting with tragedy. Anyone who's had a loved one suffer from a terminal illness will know that the pain in this film is anything but fiction.
4. The Thing (1982)
Imagine an organism that can absorb and assume the appearance and memories of anything it touches. How do you know who's themself and who's... something else. The sense of paranoia in John Carpenters The Thing is almost unbearable and it's made even more tense by the atmosphere that he creates. The Antarctic setting leaves you feeling cold and isolated. The Thing forces us to question our perceptions of ourselves and our neighbors. We never know when something sinister is lurking beneath the surface of even our closest friends. Carpenter preys on that fear mercilessly. The movie has one of the best ambiguous endings of all time and Kurt Russel is the ultimate badass. His beard alone should have been enough to scare the thing away. It would me.
3. Jaws
It's kind of strange to think that the world's first blockbuster was a horror movie. Alas, Jaws is the quintessential horror movie and launched the career of one of the world's most renowned directors, Steven Spielberg, though I can't give him all the credit. The malfunctioning shark prop prompted Spielberg to only give us fleeting glimpses of the shark until the big showdown at the end. The gamble worked. It capitalizes on our fear of the unknown and keeps us shaking in our seats in anticipation of the big reveal. It doesn't hurt that the rest of the movie is top-notch too, with well-rounded characters, memorable lines and that dreadful John Williams score, it's amazing to think that it was considered a huge risk before it was released. Though, I guess not as big of a risk as skinny-dipping off the coast of Amity Island.
2. Let Me In
Let Me In is the story of two young misfits growing up in New Mexico, dealing with bullies, family drama, etc. Oh, did I mention that one of them (Chloe Moretz) is a vampire? Easily the most poetic of all the films on the list, the film works beautifully as a both a melancholic coming-of-age tale and a new take on the vampire mythos. The performances are magnificent, especially the mature turns from the two young leads, who were around 12-years-old at the time of filming. The characters are vividly drawn, the story is moving and the horror is understated yet affecting. Many think the original Swedish film Let the Right One In is superior, and maybe it is, but I'm a sucker for the American setting and 80s pop culture references.
1. Alien
Alien often feels like a dream. The way the camera floats around the halls of the richly detailed spaceship is mesmerizing. It lulls you into a feeling of comfort early on, and then betrays you by setting a deadly alien loose aboard the ship. Much like The Thing, the sense of alienation is overwhelming. There's no means of escape and the Alien's acidic blood means you can't destroy it without punching a hole in the ship and killing the entire crew. What's more interesting is that the Alien's nature isn't really homicidal at all, it's simply trying to survive. The "And Then There Were None" formula has rarely been put to better use, if ever. This is achieved mostly by making us care about the characters, especially Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), film's greatest heroine. It also looks like it was filmed yesterday and includes some extraordinary practical effects which have rendered the film timeless. Oh, did I mention it's scary? It's not only the best horror movie ever made, it's also one of my favorite movies of all time.
Honorable Mentions: Evil Dead II, The Cabin in the Woods, Cabin Fever, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, The Crazies, Dawn of the Dead, Frankenstein.
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