The finest horror films list
Okies, ive promised to do this for someone so here it is, my top 37 horror films.
Its not really a list of the 'best' as in some reflection of masterful film making, its just a list of my favs in the genre. Im not really big on this idea of respecting a film without actually liking it. I respect Chicago for example, whatever minutes of it i was able to sit thru at least. The Shining was one i respected more but it grew on me as a great film too afterwards.
Im not sure what to put in from when i was a wee lad in the 80s and watching every crappy horror film i could find. Did anyone else go thru that phase where they rented a film because the back had a description of a killing that youd never seen done before? Theres things like Fright Night, The Gate, Day of the Dead, Phantasm II, the Stuart Gordon/Brian Yuzna stuff that i loved and grew up on but damn it so much of it has aged really badly. Brian Yuzna was a man i idolised back in the day and jeepers but hes made some attrocious shite since then.
So heres my list of the films i remember most fondly even if some of them arent so good anymore.
From the bottom...
Hellraiser (1987 Clive Barker) (We have such sights to show you)
The Exorcist III: Legion (1990 William Peter Blatty) (Crawling about on the ceiling and surgical shears are just bloody creepy!)
Dawn of the Dead (1978 George A. Romero)
The Howling (1981 Joe Dante) (I loved the books so much way back)
Blade (1998 Stephen Norrington)
The Hidden (1986 Jack Sholder) (One of my favs from the 80s and Kyle MacLachlan didnt even have to act bless his odd wee soul)
Body Snatchers (1993) (The Abel Ferrara one, yeah thats right! Abel Ferrara!)
Suspiria (1976 Dario Argento)
Day of the dead (1985 George A. Romero)
Shaun of the Dead (2004 Edgar Wright)
Near Dark (1987 Kathryn Bigelow)
The Seventh Sign (1988 Carl Schultz) (I just loved it, also the first time i noticed the boxy Volvo 244 Estate car in a film. Ive been seeing them in every other film since, i reckon its like an injoke or something tho i cant find any mention of it)
The Omen (1976 Richard Donner)
Jacob's Ladder (1990 Adrian Lyne)
Dead Ringers (1988 David Cronenberg) (Jeremy Irons should have won an oscar here)
Re-Animator (1985 Stuart Gordon)
Night of the Creeps (1986) (Fred Dekkers masterpeice of 80s b-movie spoof comedy horror, back when it was cool to name your characters after famous directors yay!)
Don't Look Now (1973 Nicolas Roeg) (Met a dwarf that was no good, Dressed like little red riding hood, Bad habit taking life, Calling card a six inch knife)
The Sixth Sense (1999 M. Night Shyamalan) (kept thinking "was that the twist? no that must have been it! then BOOM!")
Paperhouse (1988 Bernard Rose) (Havent watched it since and im not sure if i want to cause the memories i have of it are too good to mess with)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992 David Lynch) (Just a scary fooked up headphuck)
The Shining (1980 Stanley Kubrick) (Made me believe i could make films if the shy Kubrick could do it)
Bad Taste (1987 Peter Jackson) (Stll his best film :P)
The Ring (Gore Verbinski 2002) (Mordern horror film made for adults, jeepers)
An American Werewolf In London (1981 John Landis)
The Fog (1980 John Carpenter) (Best final shot of any film EVER!!!)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 Wes Craven)
The Others (2001 Alejandro Amenábar) (Masterful)
The Fly (1986 David Cronenberg)
The Exorcist (1973 William Friedkin) (The Last film to ever scare me in the 80s)
The Haunting (1963 Robert Wise)
The Thing From Another World (1951 Christian Nyby) (As good as the remake but not as scary so down a wee bit)
Jaws (1975 Steven Spielberg) (scared the shite outta me when i was wee. As a straight film its maybe the finest film ever made but im only putting it here in a horror list cause its not really horror is it?)
Halloween (1978 John Carpenter)
Alien (1979 Ridley Scott) (A little heartburn never ended so badly before)
The Thing (1982 John Carpenter) (Snow and isolationism, the 2 best things ever and 30 Days of Night could have been a remake of it for its first 20 mins)
Night Of The Demon (1957 Jacques Tourneur) (Best horror film ever, i saw it when i was 6 or 7 and it left a big impression that wont go away, and thats that)
Theres a few things im not including in the list cause i dont consider them to be horror, like Aliens (made me see the number 57 everywhere), Predator, King Kong and Mulholland Drive etc, even tho i put Fire Walk With Me in there, sue me!
Now i wonder what ive forgotten....
Its not really a list of the 'best' as in some reflection of masterful film making, its just a list of my favs in the genre. Im not really big on this idea of respecting a film without actually liking it. I respect Chicago for example, whatever minutes of it i was able to sit thru at least. The Shining was one i respected more but it grew on me as a great film too afterwards.
Im not sure what to put in from when i was a wee lad in the 80s and watching every crappy horror film i could find. Did anyone else go thru that phase where they rented a film because the back had a description of a killing that youd never seen done before? Theres things like Fright Night, The Gate, Day of the Dead, Phantasm II, the Stuart Gordon/Brian Yuzna stuff that i loved and grew up on but damn it so much of it has aged really badly. Brian Yuzna was a man i idolised back in the day and jeepers but hes made some attrocious shite since then.
So heres my list of the films i remember most fondly even if some of them arent so good anymore.
From the bottom...
Hellraiser (1987 Clive Barker) (We have such sights to show you)
The Exorcist III: Legion (1990 William Peter Blatty) (Crawling about on the ceiling and surgical shears are just bloody creepy!)
Dawn of the Dead (1978 George A. Romero)
The Howling (1981 Joe Dante) (I loved the books so much way back)
Blade (1998 Stephen Norrington)
The Hidden (1986 Jack Sholder) (One of my favs from the 80s and Kyle MacLachlan didnt even have to act bless his odd wee soul)
Body Snatchers (1993) (The Abel Ferrara one, yeah thats right! Abel Ferrara!)
Suspiria (1976 Dario Argento)
Day of the dead (1985 George A. Romero)
Shaun of the Dead (2004 Edgar Wright)
Near Dark (1987 Kathryn Bigelow)
The Seventh Sign (1988 Carl Schultz) (I just loved it, also the first time i noticed the boxy Volvo 244 Estate car in a film. Ive been seeing them in every other film since, i reckon its like an injoke or something tho i cant find any mention of it)
The Omen (1976 Richard Donner)
Jacob's Ladder (1990 Adrian Lyne)
Dead Ringers (1988 David Cronenberg) (Jeremy Irons should have won an oscar here)
Re-Animator (1985 Stuart Gordon)
Night of the Creeps (1986) (Fred Dekkers masterpeice of 80s b-movie spoof comedy horror, back when it was cool to name your characters after famous directors yay!)
Don't Look Now (1973 Nicolas Roeg) (Met a dwarf that was no good, Dressed like little red riding hood, Bad habit taking life, Calling card a six inch knife)
The Sixth Sense (1999 M. Night Shyamalan) (kept thinking "was that the twist? no that must have been it! then BOOM!")
Paperhouse (1988 Bernard Rose) (Havent watched it since and im not sure if i want to cause the memories i have of it are too good to mess with)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992 David Lynch) (Just a scary fooked up headphuck)
The Shining (1980 Stanley Kubrick) (Made me believe i could make films if the shy Kubrick could do it)
Bad Taste (1987 Peter Jackson) (Stll his best film :P)
The Ring (Gore Verbinski 2002) (Mordern horror film made for adults, jeepers)
An American Werewolf In London (1981 John Landis)
The Fog (1980 John Carpenter) (Best final shot of any film EVER!!!)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 Wes Craven)
The Others (2001 Alejandro Amenábar) (Masterful)
The Fly (1986 David Cronenberg)
The Exorcist (1973 William Friedkin) (The Last film to ever scare me in the 80s)
The Haunting (1963 Robert Wise)
The Thing From Another World (1951 Christian Nyby) (As good as the remake but not as scary so down a wee bit)
Jaws (1975 Steven Spielberg) (scared the shite outta me when i was wee. As a straight film its maybe the finest film ever made but im only putting it here in a horror list cause its not really horror is it?)
Halloween (1978 John Carpenter)
Alien (1979 Ridley Scott) (A little heartburn never ended so badly before)
The Thing (1982 John Carpenter) (Snow and isolationism, the 2 best things ever and 30 Days of Night could have been a remake of it for its first 20 mins)
Night Of The Demon (1957 Jacques Tourneur) (Best horror film ever, i saw it when i was 6 or 7 and it left a big impression that wont go away, and thats that)
Theres a few things im not including in the list cause i dont consider them to be horror, like Aliens (made me see the number 57 everywhere), Predator, King Kong and Mulholland Drive etc, even tho i put Fire Walk With Me in there, sue me!
Now i wonder what ive forgotten....