Martin Scorsese lists his top horror movies on The Daily Beast

Here it is.

Great list. Any comments? I’m surprised “Don’t Look Now” didn’t make the cut. What horror movies will you guys be watching (if any) to set a mood for the Halloween season?

Interesting list. I haven’t heard of half of those films. The choice I’d have to agree with most is “The Exorcist”.

Good list.

Yeah, those are semi-obscure, I suppose, but they wouldn’t really make my list. I’m more of a 70s guy anyway. Scorsese (with the exception of films like The Shining and The Changeling – though The Changeling is very traditionally and minimally done) has always had that classic, old-timey influence (as he never tires of telling us in interviews and such like) so it’s not a huge surprise on some of those listed.

Personally, my all-time ‘best of’ list would be something like:

The Thing
Don’t Look Now
The Shining
Dead Alive
Alien
Night of the Living Dead (original)
Dawn of the Dead (original)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
Blood Feast
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (70s ver.)
Seconds
Dead Ringers
Frankenstein (original)
Nosferatu (Herzog ver.)
An American Werewolf in London
Haxan
Onibaba
Evil Dead 2
Repulsion
Hour of the Wolf
Tenebre
Hellraiser

…and I’m probably forgetting a whole bunch more. The Mist and The Descent were pretty decent recent ones. I’d also throw in Calvaire and Re-Animator, but I perfectly understand if most people would contest those in a ‘best of’ list, heh.

“The Innocents” and “The Exorcist” are excellent choices. “The Changeling” is also a great haunted house film. “Psycho” is an obvious choice. Personally I’d add “Don’t Look Now” and all of Roman Polanski’s apartment trilogy films.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Robert Wiene
Nosferatu F.W. Murnau
Dracula Tod Browning
Frankenstein James Whale
Freaks Tod Browning
Creature From The Black Lagoon Jack Arnold
Carnival of Souls Herk Harvey
Rosemary’s Baby Roman Polanski
The Exorcist William Friedkin
The Legend of Hell House John Hough
Friday the 13th Sean S. Cunningham
The Shining Stanley Kubrick
The Dead Zone David Cronenberg
A Nightmare on Elm Street Wes Craven
Hellraiser Clive Barker
Prince of Darkness John Carpenter
Dead Ringers David Cronenberg
Hellbound: Hellraiser II Tony Randel
Santa sangre Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Orphanage Juan Antonio Bayona
Let the Right One In Tomas Alfredson

Any list that doesn’t have Black Christmas is a complete failure in my opinion ;-)

Meh. Pretty boring list, frankly.

Carlos

Spot on with Don’t Look Now. it’s on Netxflix Instant right now. Polanski ones are great too. Nosferatu and the original Ringu are two more.

Oh and I forgot to include Blood for Dracula!

@Uli: I’m impressed that you include Prince of Darkness on your list, well done.

in no particular order:

The Thing
The Shining
Alien
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (70s)
Frankenstein (original)
Nosferatu – murnau and herzog
An American Werewolf in London
Evil Dead 2
Halloween
Black Christmas(70’s)
The Devil’s Backbone(if it even counts as horror)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Texas Chainsaw Massacre(original)
The Exorcist
NIght Of The Creeps
Dracula(1992)

Wow, I’ve only seen one of those movies on his list. I need to get caught up on my horror movies, I totally forgot that Halloween is right around the corner!

Halloween bump:

In no particular order…

Jaws
Devil Doll
Halloween
Psycho
The Hills Have Eyes (77)
The Shining
The Brood
The Funhouse
Mother’s Day
The Exorcist

Also from the Daily Beast:

Rob Zombie’s Top 9 Zombie Films"

Wes Craven’s Favorite Scary Movies

Apparently, according to Craven, The Virgin Spring is a horror film.

Interrogation
Onibaba
Vampyr
Eyes Without a Face
Audition
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom
Nosferatu
Benny’s Video
The Execution of P
Pulse

Murnau’s Nosferatu
Kairo
The Seventh Victim
Rosemary’s Baby
Cat People
The Shining
The Brood
The Devil’s Backbone
Night of the Living Dead
Halloween
Alien
Janghwa, Hongryeon
Jacob’s Ladder
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Body Snatchers
Ju On: The Grudge
The Hands of Orlac
Dracula
The Old Dark House
Vampyr