This is my Top 10 list - Horror movies of all time
First I want to say that this list does not mean “most gory” movie. That’s a whole different list. This is a list of the top 10 movies that are really scary. Now I wanted to put Silence of the lambs on this list. But the problem is I don’t find it scary anymore, since the sequels sort of turn Hannibal into a protagonist from a antagonist. If they hadn’t made the sequels, Silence of the lambs would have been in the middle of my list. This list was really hard to make, I had so many more nominated movies, like Salems lot, Mothman prophecies, Audition etc.
Top 10 (starting with the last on the list)
10 The Mist (2007)
People are trapped in a grocery store surrounded by a fog that hides something terrible. That is the basic lay out for the story. It is exciting, but mostly scary. Some gore, but mostly it is the suspenseful feeling of not knowing what is in the mist. And even when you see what is in the mist, it is still scary to figure out how they will survive. But the scariest part of the story is how people behave to save themselves.
Scariest moment: The brutal and annoying ending.
09 The Happening (2008)
There is something happening around the world. Suddenly people are talking strange and then committing suicide. People (including Mark Wahlberg) try to hide to get away from whatever this happening is. I sort of fell in love with this movie, when I saw it. It was directed and written by genius M. Night Shyamalan. It is very suspenseful. And the scariest moment is realizing the message of this movie. “that sometimes there are acts in nature that we will never fully understand.” This movie can be interpreted as a tribute to global warming. Personally I think that the scariest thing about the movie is that history and the future will show us events that nobody will be to blame for and we won’t understand it.
Scariest moment: “An act of nature that we will never fully understand.”
08 Event Horizon (1997)
Paul W.S. Anderson is one of my favorite directors actually, but a bit on the slow side (to my great disappointment). He makes the kind of movies I enjoy watching. Now this is his space-horror story. A great visual horror. About a group of people trapped on a space ship (that has been gone for the last 10 years), and it turns out that this ship has been in another world, and brought back something, infinite horror.
Scariest moment: The gory video feed from the last crew.
07 1408 (2007)
John Cusack basically plays a writer who investigates claimed haunted houses. And after never finding anything ghostly, he finally hits a jackpot. Room 1408 in a new York hotell. This movie is really disturbing. He is locked up in the hotel room, and his feeling of being trapped there forever is something the viewer also feels. Great direction. And somehow this movie is so good that I want it to have a higher place on this list, but it is basically not as scary as those that follow.
Scariest moment:”realizing that he is still in the room” after a dream.
06 Dawn of the dead 2004)
This is the remake of George A. Romero, which is good and original on its own. But the “realism” of this remake makes it much scarier (if you ask me). The script is good. The ending is depressing. And sure it has a LOT of gore. But it actually adds to the realism. The sense of being trapped inside a shopping mall hiding from zombies trying to get in to eat you, and knowing that nobody is going to help you. Well, that is scary.
Scariest moment: The sad ending.
05 The ring (2002)
The remake is better! Don’t believe the people who praise originality. A cursed video tape, that makes a ghost girl climb out of the TV and kill you. You never really learn why it is done this way. But perhaps that is what makes the movie scary. And the video itself is wonderfully created. This must be the best remake out there. It has a sense of discomfort that prowl through the entire movie. I remember actually being really scared coming out of the theater.
Scariest moment: Naomi Watts trapped in the well.
04 Halloween (2007)
Yes, I know, some people prefer the original. And I understand why. It is a classic. But what haunts and scares me more with Halloween, is Mike Myers himself here. He is big, and you get to see him as a kid during the first 30 minutes of the movie. And you sort of slowly see him evolve into a “evil” that I have not seen since. And when he attacks his victims, he does so without regret, remorse or anything that resembles a human emotion. And that is scary!
Scariest moment: When he drowns the guard that was kind to him.
03 The thing (1982)
According to IMDb, this is the scariest movie of all time. And of course it is high on my list. It has everything a good horror movie should have, a dark and almost depressing soundtrack. Another thing would be the haunting sense of not knowing what to expect. It is about a group of people in the north pole that get a visit from a dog who is hunted by Norwegians. The dog turns out to be a shapeshifting alien! John Carpenter did his best work here. The special effects are really creative. A bit old perhaps, but somehow these classic effects are scarier than CGI. Don’t you agree?
Scariest moment: When Kurt Russell tests the blood samples to see who is the alien.
02 Prince of darkness (1987)
John carpenter did it again. Perhaps “the thing” is a better movie than “Prince of darkness”. But this one is a bit scarier as far as my eyes are concerned. Starts of with a group of quantum physics students who have to study a old artifact, that according to a priest who is guarding it, is the container of the devil himself! As they study the artifact, things around the building start to become weird. Homeless people stare, Alice Cooper shows up, food turns into maggots.
Scariest moment: I have to pick two, first, the dream sequence that everyone shares. And 2nd scariest moment is when the devil emerges in the liquid mirror.
01 Session 9 (2001)
The absolute scariest movie I have ever seen is Session 9. It was even directed inside a abandoned mental institute. It has a real intense feel to it. About a cleaning crew that are all alone, cleaning this place which is filled with awful stories about patients. Great actors like David Caruso, Josh Lucas and Peter Mullan (amazing performance). It has very little scary scenes or frightening moments. It is more the suspense of actual horror that make this masterpiece scarier than most horror movies. The script has so many scary “stories” told by people and scary lines.
Scariest moment: Probably the session tapes of a patient with multiple personality.
And that is my Top 10 - horror movies of all times.
other top 10 lists you might enjoy:
Top 10 - Mindbending movies
Top 10 Comedy movies
No comments:
Post a Comment