I am in the middle of watching Martyrs!! Heard lots of good things about it. Hadn’t heard of Eden Lake.
If I had to pick just one, I’d go with Suspiria.
But I also like these
Alien or The Vanishing.
I loathe Martyrs but I enjoyed Eden Lake. What an ending!
If you like Eden Lake, watch New Kids. It’s much better. The only advantage Eden Lake has is Michael Fassbinder, which was the only reason for me to watch it.
There are many threads on this very topic, so you may want to do a search before starting new ones.
But, as long as we’re here:
1) Psycho
2) The Shining
3) The Exorcist
4) Halloween
5) Bride of Frankenstein
6) Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
7) Dawn of the Dead
8) Suspiria
9) Kwaidan
10) Let the Right One In
FÖRFÖLJARE
That ending is absolutely… I have no words!
TOMMY
Thanks for the suggestion! :D
BRAD S.
Alright, I’ll see that. xD
BIJOUX
I have to see that one yet..
Mario: Go right now and watch it. Right now!! :)
Brad’s list gets a lot right – Psycho is the greatest horror film ever made. Don’t Look Now is up there too. Also think Carpenter’s The Fog, while nowhere near the top of the pile, is a really good modern ghost story.
Bunny Lake is Missing
Psycho
Halloween
The Haunting (1961)
The Descent
The Howling
Dog Soldiers
The Shining
The Fog
Scream
These are just some I really dig….
What about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre??
The Legend of Hell House is the one that scared the crap out of me, particularly the scene where the spirit tries to take over Roddy McDowell and he’s screaming his bloody head off. My choice will always go to that one.
Aside from that in no prticular order:
The Haunting (1961)
Black Sunday (1960)
Suspira (1977)
Deep Red
Bride of Frankenstein
Ringu
Ju-On
Dark Water (The original)
Don’t Look Now
Who Can Kill a Child?
Night of the Living Dead (Only the original edit)
Fellini segement from Spirits of the Dead
Tons more, those are the highlights
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes a very close second to Pyscho. In a lot of ways, I think Hooper’s film is the one horror film that comes closest to the “Perfect Horror Film”.
Yeah yeah, and that last scene is so devastating and at the same time we get such a sense of relief!
The Shining is at the top. I can watch it over and over and continually be drawn in with its atmosphere.
But Audition, The Thing, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all pretty damn close and I love the anarchy (and viscera) all of the directors in these films let happen.
>>What about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre??<<
If I expanded my top ten list to twenty, Chainsaw would be on it.
The Shining
The Thing
Alien
Videodrome
Evil Dead 1 & 2
28 Days Later
Braindead /Dead Alive
The Fly
Suspiria
Possession
Let the Right One In
While not a classic, The Mist is also very good.. and the Scream trilogy!
The Haunting (Robert Wise), Don’t Look Now (Nic Roeg), Audition (Takashi Miike), Vampyr (Carl Dreyer), Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht (Werner Herzog) for me.
Have to include The Innocents
I’ve got to go with Hitchcock’s “Psycho” not only because it still possesses the capacity to terrify 50 years later, but because it is one of the most influential of all films. “Psycho” is the demarcation point for horror films. There are scary movies made before Psycho and then everything made since. And since 1960, almost every horror film has shown the influence of Psycho to one degree or another.
A nod to Flip Trotsky for mentioning Vampyr, which can really get under your skin, even today, if you watch it in a sleep-deprived state around 3 a.m. That Criterion edition of this one is a solid package.
I would also submit the original “Alien” film as one of the scariest horror movies ever made. I assume that what is meant by “best horror movie” must include scary as a principal component. Alien is another of those hugely influential pictures that spawned, pun intended, a whole subgenre of imitations well into the 1980s, in addition to its own sequels. For me, Alien works as a horror film because it takes its time, builds methodically, and goes to some lengths to avoid revealing the monster as much as possible. In terms of what is frightening, less almost always equals more. The less we see, the more our imaginations are forced to work.
Anyone who remembers drive-in theaters might have seen Phantasm on original release and that was pretty damned scary in its day.
Finally, as I ramble about, I’d like to resurrect Herk Harvey’s “Carnival of Souls” — not so much a horror film, but an eerie and effectively creepy little no-budget chiller. That’s another film that will worm its way into your mind and lease permanent space.
HALLOWEEN – it’s the scariest movie ever made.
then there’s
ALIEN
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
THE HILLS HAVE EYES
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
JEEPERS CREEPERS
JEEPERS CREEPERS 2
in a class by themselves:
THE EXORCIST
ROSEMARY’S BABY
PSYCHO
Last House On The Left taught me how raw a movie can be..
LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT scared the shit out me too…but I think THE HILLS HAVE EYES is even scarier
OMG, the first 30 minutes of LHOTL are so… f*cked up!
Mário Coelho
What is your favorite horror movie??
My choices: Eden Lake / Martyrs