Already a thread of top twenty, Dude. :)
http://mubi.com/topics/top-20-horror-films?page=1
In alphabetical order:
The Exorcist
Halloween
The Haunting (original)
The House of the Devil
Let the Right One In
The Omen
Psycho
Rosemary’s Baby
The Shining
Suspiria
P.S. – I don’t consider Jaws and Alien horror films so they’re not on here.
@ari: But a top 10 is better!
@santino: The House of the Devil is indeed awesome. Ti West is a woefully underrated director
Shooting from the hip.
The Exorcist
Rosemary’s Baby
Psycho
Altered States
The Brood
Alien
Child’s Play
Repulsion
Carrie
The Silence of the Lambs
But, Ari – 10 is easier than 20!
Anyway, I’ve finally seen more than 10 horror movies that I really like, so here are 10:
1. The Shining
2. House of the Devil
3. Drag Me to Hell
4. Vampyr
5. Rosemary’s Baby
6. The Blair Witch Project
7. Sisters
8. Videodrome
9. Evil Dead
10. Candyman
Honorable mention is Eraserhead, but I don’t consider that a horror movie, so I didn’t include it.
Pshhh… how is Altered States a horror movie, Nathan???
How is it not?
Touche!
The lines get blurred on a lot of titles. Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs, Alien, etc.
Yeah I wouldn’t count Silence of the Lambs, but I would count Jaws. I kind of want to talk about how to define a horror movie, but I already know that the answer will be “however you want to.”
However, can anybody recommend any good books about the theory of horror films? I know there are a ton of like encyclopedias on horror films, but I want one that gives a little history and talks conceptually about what a horror film is.
>>how is Altered States a horror movie<<
Classic Jekyll/Hyde story.
Using a larger definition of the term:
1) Psycho
2) The Shining
3) Jaws
4) The Exorcist
5) Se7en
6) Silence of the Lambs
7) Halloween
8) Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
9) Bride of Frankenstein
10) Let the Right One In
11) Dawn of the Dead (‘78)
12) Susperia
13) Alien
14) Kwaidan
15) Carrie
16) Night of the Living Dead
17) The Thing from Another World
18) Dressed to Kill
19) Frankenstein
20) The Thing
21) The Wicker Man (‘73)
22) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
23) Nosferatu (‘22)
24) Phantasm
25) The Others
26) Black Sabbath
27) Rosemary’s Baby
28) Masque of the Red Death
29) The Haunting (‘63)
30) The Fly (’86)
No Audition? Pfft… get outta here!
Audition is super lame! 90 minutes of boring followed by 30 minutes of underwhelming.
More like… horror films are lame!
I do like Psycho, The Shining, Silence of the Lambs and Let the Right One In from Bad S.‘s list… but that’s because those are just good films, nothing to do with this contemptible “horror genre”.
Dawn of the Dead
The Tenant
Kwaidan
The Fly (remake)
The Haunting
The Shining
Funny Games (original)
Nosferatu (both versions)
The Thing (remake)
DFFOO: I really love The Horror Film Reader edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini, because it has a lot of essays about horror from different subgenres. If you are interested in an in-depth (albeit gender slanted) book on Slasher films, Carol Clover’s Men, Women and Chainsaws is pretty good, even if I disagree with 95% of her arguments. Also, someone posting on this forum right now might also have written an amazing (not to brag) thesis on slasher films that is floating out in library database systems (and here ends my embarrassing piece of bragging for the year).
oh cool! Do you have a link, Bijoux?
My top 10 are:
Suspiria
A Nightmare on Elm Street (original)
Halloween (original)
Friday the 13th (original)
Theatre of Blood
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (I’m counting only the ‘70s version here, because even though I love the original, I might classify that more as sci-fi, but the final scene of the ’70s version is enough for me to count it as horror)
The Thing (’80s version, though I also love the original and love how they are almost two entirely different films)
The Wicker Man
Deep Red (the hatched murders)
The Shining
As you can tell, I usually enjoy the blood and guts films, but I included a few less gory ones as well.
And for an honorable mention, I’d like to throw in Pontypool as a really neat newer horror film.
The Brood and The Changeling are honorable mentions for me.
P.S. – I don’t consider Repulsion a horror film, which is why it’s not on here.
“I kind of want to talk about how to define a horror movie, but I already know that the answer will be “however you want to.”
If a movie transcends the genre, I’m not including it in the genre. This is why Alien and Jaws are left out for me.
P.S. – I don’t consider Sisters a horror film, which is why it’s not on here.
Well, I have the Amazon link, but I know you can borrow it for free through I-Share (which is an Illinois interlibrary loan database), so it might be available on others. I certainly would not ask anyone here to purchase the book. I know I shouldn’t say this, but the amount asked is ridiculous. I’ll send you the name and my name through a pm, DFFOO, that way you can look it up if you want and see if you can find a library copy, but I don’t feel like a forum salesperson hahaha.
I don’t consider Sisters a horror film
Yeah, I don’t really know why I do… it just feels like a horror film to me, and I can’t shake that even though I know that technically it probably shouldn’t be called horror. …And hence my answer to “how to define a horror film.”
Thanks, Bijoux! I just bought a used copy of the Silver / Ursini book on Amazon! And I’m excited to try to find your thesis, even though I’m not very well-versed in slasher films (it’s my second-least-favorite subgenre, after zombies).
How to define a specific subgenre of horror was actually a question I was asked by a professor once. It really does depend on personal aspects in a way. Like I said with Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I’d almost categorize the ‘70s as horror and the ’50s as sci-fi, and I’d do the same with The Thing (older more sci-fi, ’80s more horror).
Would agree with most of those listed above, one horror I always think is overlooked is Session 9
So I just went to IMDB to see how they define “horror”. I figured I’d look up a horror film, click on the genre, and then see what it says. Now it was not much more than a month ago I had used IMDB’s advanced search function to find all of the horror films I had rated. So I know for a fact that Jaws was listed as horror on IMDB because it came up on that list. But now when I just searched for Jaws and looked at it, it is only called a “thriller” now!!!! WHAT!?!? How can IMDB suddenly just declare after such a long precident that Jaws is now no longer a horror film. I thought I’d also check Jurassic Park because I know that was listed previously as “horror” and now that one is listed only as “adventure” and “sci-fi”!!!
This angers me.
That’s really odd, Risselda, especially since you said JP is listed as both adventure and sci-fi. I’m not sure why Jaws couldn’t have kept the horror tag and just had the thriller tag added as well. There are a lot of thriller films that I think could be cross-listed with horror.
Yeah that is odd. Here’s the definition of the difference as IMDB defines it:
Horror-
Should contain numerous consecutive scenes of characters effecting a terrifying and/or repugnant narrative throughout the title. Note: not to be confused with Thriller which is not usually based in fear or abhorrence. Subjective.
Thriller-
Should contain numerous sensational scenes or a narrative that is sensational or suspenseful. Note: not to be confused with Mystery or Horror, and should only sometimes be accompanied by one (or both). Subjective.
I don’t know about you, but I think there are a lot of people who would agree that Jaws contains numerous consecutive scenes of terror.
1.) The Shining
2.) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
3.) The Haunting
4.) Night of the Living Dead
5.) Audition
6.) Alien
7.) Funny Games (original)
8.) The Evil Dead
9.) Carrie
10.) Dawn of the Dead
11.) The Exorcist
12.) Rosemary’s Baby
13.) Suspiria
14.) Cat People
15.) Psycho
16.) The Thing
17.) The Fly
18.) Deep Red
19.) Halloween
20.) Jaws
21.) Black Christmas
22.) Dead of Night
23.) Eyes Without a Face
24.) Misery
25.) The Tenant
I think Jaws and Alien definitely have elements of “terror” so they more convincingly fit into “horror”. However The Silence of the Lambs and Seven don’t easily fit that description so much. I think of those films much more as thrillers (or suspense).
No-Limb Joe
I’ll start.
1) Dawn of the Dead (Romero; my favorite movie of all time)
2) Suspiria
3) The Fly (Cronenberg)
4) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper)
5) Night of the Living Dead
6) Alien
7) The Evil Dead
8) Eraserhead
9) Halloween
10) Deathdream
11) Jaws (even though it’s not a horror movie) or Possession (Zulawski) or The Wicker Man (HARDY)
This is in response to Time Out’s Top 100 Horror Films of all time contributor’s lists, featured here on Mubi.