TotalFilm.com's Top 50 Horror films...

[Jenson71]

http://www.totalfilm.com/movie_news/the_50_greatest_horror_movies_of_all_time

1 THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE 1974
Cutting deep: Tobe Hooper takes horror to the bleeding edge.

2 HALLOWEEN 1978
Hawks meets Hitchcock as the slasher cycle finds true Shape...

3 SUSPIRIA 1977
Sighs and whispers (and screams) in Argento’s baroque bloodletter.

4 DAWN OF THE DEAD 1978
George A Romero’s definitive document of the walking dead.

5 THE SHINING 1980
Loving family man tries to put an axe through his son’s head.

6 PSYCHO 1960
Come on up to the house. Oh, and don’t mind Mother...

7 THE WICKER MAN 1973
Creeping pagan terror on a remote Scottish island.

8 ROSEMARY’S BABY 1968
The horny Devil hits home and hearth...

9 DON’T LOOK NOW 1973
Nicolas Roeg’s clammy elegy to love and loss.

10 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 1980
Horror doesn’t get any harsher than this.

11 THE THING 1982
Snatched bodies and reheated Cold War paranoia.

12 CARRIE 1976
Memo to all bullies – Stop. Picking. On. The. Quiet. Ones.

13 THE EXORCIST 1973
The Devil rides into the mother of all religio-horrors.

14 THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT 1999
If you go down to the woods today... take a camcorder.

15 WITCHFINDER GENERAL 1968
Lyrical English landscapes are painted red with torture.

16 THE HAUNTING 1963
You are invited to a born-bad house. Bring your own ghosts.

17 THE EVIL DEAD 1981
Five go bloody in the woods in Raimi’s splatter-punk debut.

18 PEEPING TOM 1960
Cameraman fi lms as he kills. Such a nice young man...

19 ALIEN 1979
The ultimate hack’n’slash bad-boy monster.

20 BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN 1935
Karloff’s monster lumbers towards matrimony.

21 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 1968
A bunch of amateurs stake out a home in horror history.

22 CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE 1944
A haunting, shivery study of childhood loneliness.

23 SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE 2003
Modern horror grows some bloody big balls.

24 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 1984
Horny teens get fingered by the son of a thousand maniacs.

25 AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON 1981
More than just a shaggy dog story.

26 NIGHT OF THE DEMON 1957
Cat People helmer brings that ol’ black magic to Blighty.

27 HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER 1986
String vests and death by screwdriver.

28 BAY OF BLOOD 1971
Everyone kills everyone else in once-banned video nasty.

29 AUDITION 1999
A woman’s revenge, served with relish by Takashi Miike.

30 SHIVERS 1975
Zombies run riot in an early slab of Cronenberg meat.

31 THE INNOCENTS 1961
Subtle scares in Henry James’ clammy ghost tale.

32 THE DEVIL RIDES OUT 1968
It’s Christopher Lee versus soul-stealing Satanists!

33 LES DIABOLIQUES 1955
Murderous schemes in a French boarding school.

34 DEAD RINGERS 1988
Love, addiction, separation. Nausea guaranteed.

35 INFERNO 1980
Blood and thunder in Argento’s frenzied trip of the brain.

36 MARTIN 1977
Growing pains for bloodsucking teen sociopath.

37 THE HOWLING 1981
A tongue-in-cheek werewolf pic that likes its meat rare.

38 VAMPYR 1932
Gather, darkness: a vampire film like no other.

39 CANDYMAN 1992
Dare you to look in the mirror and say his name five times! No? Thought not...

40 THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES 1966
City quack investigates dying country bumpkins.

41 SCREAM 1996
Wes Craven rewrites the slasher textbook.

42 TARGETS 1968
Trad horror confronts modern terror in Bogdanovich’s debut.

43 THE SECT 1991
Infernal pits, Devil-worship and the son of Satan!

44 THE DESCENT 2005
Six chicks with picks. Be afraid, be very afraid.

45 BRAINDEAD 1992
Quite possibly the bloodiest movie ever made.

46 HOUR OF THE WOLF 1968
Father Merrin must exorcise a few demons of his own.

47 ERASERHEAD 1977
David Lynch presents an argument for sterilisation.

48 NEKROMANTIK 1987
Dead and loving it in a truly sick flick.

49 THE BEYOND 1981
Director Lucio Fulci goes to Hell and back.

50 HELLRAISER 1987
Demonically kinky splatter-smut in Clive Barker’s deviant debut.

[Mr. Rat Fink]

28 Days Later should definitely be on that list.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005JMA6.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[the Talking Can]

Candyman?...lol

Not one Japanese film?

[Jenson71]

Candyman?...lol

Not one Japanese film?

#29, at least.

[the Talking Can]

#29, at least.

oops, missed it..that's even the one I was thinking of...Japan cranks out some sadistic shit...

[el borracho]

Ok, I don't know all of these but I can guarantee you that Wicker Man should not be in the top 10, Blair Witch Project should not be in the top 20 and Seven should have made the list. Also what is The Exorcist doing way down at #13 and why is Alien on the list when Amityville Horror is not?

[Bearcat2005]

No way in hell that Candy man is better than hellraiser....also night of the living dead should be higher up on the list.

[Delano]

oops, missed it..that's even the one I was thinking of...Japan cranks out some sadistic shit...

Miike's mind is sooo sadistic. Ever seen Visitor Q? Wow!

[siberian khatru]

No way in hell that Candy man is better than hellraiser....also night of the living dead should be higher up on the list.

Agreed.

I think the original "NOTLD" is scarier than the original "DOTD."

Also, a movie that scared the bejeesus out of me as a kid was "The Legend of Boggy Creek." The second half of the movie was boring -- no monster! -- but the first half gave me nightmares. I still don't like being in the woods at night because of that.

Two others I found chilling: The original Dutch "The Vanishing," "The Legend of Hell House" and the original Tobe Hooper TV movie "Salem's Lot."

[Otter]

That list seems to ignore the whims of PC whiners and the only agenda seems to be what the title implies. I like it alot.

I think I'm going to have to make it a point this Halloween to watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Cannibal Hollocust. Switchblade Romance seems to have potential as well.

I love Halloween.

[Extra Point]

HM: "Last House on the Left"

"It's only a movie" was its slogan. "Back in 1972, this approach to screen violence was unheard-of." (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068833/) This Wes Craven flick was double billed with "Mark of the Devil" at the 63rd St. Drive-In summer of '72. Gruesome!

[Otter]

HM: "Last House on the Left"

"It's only a movie" was its slogan. "Back in 1972, this approach to screen violence was unheard-of." (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068833/) This Wes Craven flick was double billed with "Mark of the Devil" at the 63rd St. Drive-In summer of '72. Gruesome!

"Last House on the Left" is possibly the worst movie I've ever seen.

[Swanman]

I'm a big fan of the cheesy horror films that came out in the 80's, none of which will ever make any sort of lists:

Sleepaway Camp
Blood Diner
Silent Night Deadly Night
Ghoulies
The Puppet Master series
My Bloody Valentine
Class of Nuke'Em High
Toxic Avenger

There are a couple of sequels that should have been ahead of the originals, IMO, which are Evil Dead II and Hellraiser II. Evil Dead II is in my top 5 all time favorite horror movies and Hellraiser II took everything up a couple notches, especially the gore, from the first movie.

[the Talking Can]

Miike's mind is sooo sadistic. Ever seen Visitor Q? Wow!

no, but thanks for the suggestion..some friends are trying to put together a list of movies for Halloween, I told them we had to have one Japanese flick but I couldn't remember any names....

have you seen the original "Ring"...is that good?

also, to the list...anyone remember Motel Hell? A husband and wife would kill visitors to their motel and make sausage and jerky out of them...the movie ends with a dueling chainsaw fight, one guy is wearing a pig mask...I always remembered that as scary...

[elvomito]

#45 - braindead / dead-alive
F'n Hilarious Movie. Love the puss pudding

[Fire Me Boy!]

Of all 50, only three or four could be considers "films." They're MOVIES!!!!





















:p
.

[Nzoner]

oops, missed it..that's even the one I was thinking of...Japan cranks out some sadistic shit...

I'll never forget watching that the first time thinking,"this is a horror movie?' and then the last 30 minutes came.

[Extra Point]

Of all 50, only three or four could be considers "films." They're MOVIES!!!!]

Yeah, movies like "Magic" with Anthony Hopkins.

[QUOTE=Swanman]I'm a big fan of the cheesy horror films that came out in the 80's, none of which will ever make any sort of lists:

Sleepaway Camp
Blood Diner
Silent Night Deadly Night
Ghoulies
The Puppet Master series
My Bloody Valentine
Class of Nuke'Em High
Toxic Avenger

There are a couple of sequels that should have been ahead of the originals, IMO, which are Evil Dead II and Hellraiser II. Evil Dead II is in my top 5 all time favorite horror movies and Hellraiser II took everything up a couple notches, especially the gore, from the first movie.

And let's not forget
http://www.comic-shop.net/cover/XXL/toys-chuckie.jpg
and his alter ego
http://espn.go.com/i/magazine/new/gruden_7.jpg

[CanadianChief]

Where is Friday the 13th and Jaws???

[Nzoner]

I'm just glad to see that this list got the #1 right.

[the Talking Can]

I'll never forget watching that the first time thinking,"this is a horror movie?' and then the last 30 minutes came.
ROFL

exactly...I think I actually covered my eyes...

[Delano]

no, but thanks for the suggestion..some friends are trying to put together a list of movies for Halloween, I told them we had to have one Japanese flick but I couldn't remember any names....

have you seen the original "Ring"...is that good?

I think I may have the original Ring from netflix but I haven't had the time to watch it. As far as Miike and Japanese horror go, I think they tend to be more interested in presenting wild taboos and then of course the gruesome violence. I've seen Ichi the Killer, Audition and Visitor Q all from Miike. I have a few more but haven't had time to watch them. None of them really scared me, just made me extremely uncomfortable.

Ichi is basically a japanese, superhero version of the BTK killer that is tied to the jap mob. Visitor Q includes scenes of incest, necrophilia and the standard gruesome violence.

[Nzoner]

ROFL

exactly...I think I actually covered my eyes...

Seeing that you don't mind foreign movies may I suggest another sadistic one, Irreversible (http://imdb.com/title/tt0290673/) not so much a horror movie except for two scenes that I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it in a movie.

[Delano]

Seeing that you don't mind foreign movies may I suggest another sadistic one, Irreversible (http://imdb.com/title/tt0290673/) not so much a horror movie except for two scenes that I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it in a movie.

The important question about that movie is, does Monica Bellucci get naked?

[Chiefnj]

The important question about that movie is, does Monica Bellucci get naked?
Yeah, but not always in a good way. Extremely troubling rape scene.

[ZepSinger]

The Changeling with George C. Scott- absolutely the scariest, most edge-of-your-seat flick I've ever seen. Still get chills thinking about it.

How that one could not be on the list is beyond me...

http://ffmedia.ign.com/filmforce/image/changeling.jpg

[Reaper16]

Wow. The Wicker Man at #7? I don't even consider it a horror movie. It's not really scary, just brooding and suspensful. I sure love it though. It alone inspired the name for my movie watching club, "Pagan Movie Night."

Anyone else actually seen Wicker Man?

[kchero]

I am a huge horror aficionado and there are some films on there that are worthy of their rank. It seems to me that the best horror films were typically lower budget films that came out in the 70s and early to mid 1980's and this is a non-biased opinion because I'm only 22. Here are some of my personal favorites.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974-The Original, On a shoestring budget like Night of the Living Dead and Halloween this movie is never quits as the horror factor always remains high and their are some truely creepy scenes that will make anyone's hair rise.)

Halloween (1978- John Carpentar original classic that spawned generations of slasher film amatuers to follow this masterpiece)

Night of the Living Dead (1968- George Romero classic that shows the viewer that a great idea and execution can succeed even without a budget.)

Dawn of the Dead (1978- Romero repeats success in this classic sequel to the first Night of the Living Dead. True survivalist movie for any horror fan that has some dark humor and society truths and tellings in it as well.)

The Thing (1982-Hardly ever does a remake succeed the original, but this John Carpentar classic is truely great with its elements of horror and the presence of doubt in what character is who they really are.)

[siberian khatru]

I am a huge horror aficionado and there are some films on there that are worthy of their rank. It seems to me that the best horror films were typically lower budget films that came out in the 70s and early to mid 1980's and this is a non-biased opinion because I'm only 22. Here are some of my personal favorites.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974-The Original, On a shoestring budget like Night of the Living Dead and Halloween this movie is never quits as the horror factor always remains high and their are some truely creepy scenes that will make anyone's hair rise.)

Halloween (1978- John Carpentar original classic that spawned generations of slasher film amatuers to follow this masterpiece)

Night of the Living Dead (1968- George Romero classic that shows the viewer that a great idea and execution can succeed even without a budget.)

Dawn of the Dead (1978- Romero repeats success in this classic sequel to the first Night of the Living Dead. True survivalist movie for any horror fan that has some dark humor and society truths and tellings in it as well.)

The Thing (1982-Hardly ever does a remake succeed the original, but this John Carpentar classic is truely great with its elements of horror and the presence of doubt in what character is who they really are.)


I'm big fans of all those, especially The Thing. It's a shame it didn't do very well when it was first released, then kind of became forgotten until a few years ago.

[kepp]

Ok, I don't know all of these but I can guarantee you that Wicker Man should not be in the top 10, Blair Witch Project should not be in the top 20 and Seven should have made the list. Also what is The Exorcist doing way down at #13 and why is Alien on the list when Amityville Horror is not?
I know. Amityville Horror is the first movie that popped into my mind when I read the title.

I saw a pretty scary movie recently...White Noise. I thought that was really good. Has anyone seen that?

[jidar]

I realize The Omen isn't very scarey, but if it counts as a horror movie then it's easier a better movie than anything on that list.
All 3 of them.

[kchero]

I'm big fans of all those, especially The Thing. It's a shame it didn't do very well when it was first released, then kind of became forgotten until a few years ago.

Yea, your right...Id didnt do well, but its considered a classic by most horror fans.

[Bowser]

Two that freaked me out when I was younger were Phantasm, and The Prince of Darkness. Don't know how well they hold up over time, but back then, pretty scary.

[Nzoner]

Two that freaked me out when I was younger were Phantasm, and The Prince of Darkness. Don't know how well they hold up over time, but back then, pretty scary.

BOY!!


http://www.phantasm777.com/phantasm/phantasm4.gif

[Swanman]

I was scared shitless by a movie called Basket Case when I was about 10. It's about siamese twins that are separated, except one of the twins is nothing more than a head and an arm. They go around killing the doctors that did the separation operation throughout the movie. Here's a pic of Belial, the evil little blob twin:

[siberian khatru]

Two that freaked me out when I was younger were Phantasm, and The Prince of Darkness. Don't know how well they hold up over time, but back then, pretty scary.

Phantasm's not on that list? Son of a gun, guess it's not. Just assumed it was. Yea, verily, that is in my top 10. Maybe top 5.

I liked Prince of Darkness, too. Although if I remember, the setup was a lot better than the payoff.

[siberian khatru]

I was scared shitless by a movie called Basket Case when I was about 10. It's about siamese twins that are separated, except one of the twins is nothing more than a head and an arm. They go around killing the doctors that did the separation operation throughout the movie. Here's a pic of Belial, the evil little blob twin:

My favorite scene was when the basket thing went down on the girl in bed. Totally tasteless, but in a neat, gross-out way.

[Dremel]

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers not on the list WTF??

[siberian khatru]

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers not on the list WTF??

I think the remake (with Donald Sutherland) is very good, too.

[Nzoner]

I've got some catching up to do,I've seen 24 of those listed,still not believing a movie like Nightmare On Elm Street or The Howling made it before The Legend Of Hell House.

[Bearcat2005]

Agreed.

I think the original "NOTLD" is scarier than the original "DOTD."

Also, a movie that scared the bejeesus out of me as a kid was "The Legend of Boggy Creek." The second half of the movie was boring -- no monster! -- but the first half gave me nightmares. I still don't like being in the woods at night because of that.

Two others I found chilling: The original Dutch "The Vanishing," "The Legend of Hell House" and the original Tobe Hooper TV movie "Salem's Lot."
Agreed man!

[beavis]

How is The Exorcist not #1?

[Spicy McHaggis]

I'm big fans of all those, especially The Thing.

I love the ending of that movie. Carpenter did a good job on it.

[Bearcat2005]

I am a huge horror aficionado and there are some films on there that are worthy of their rank. It seems to me that the best horror films were typically lower budget films that came out in the 70s and early to mid 1980's and this is a non-biased opinion because I'm only 22. Here are some of my personal favorites.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974-The Original, On a shoestring budget like Night of the Living Dead and Halloween this movie is never quits as the horror factor always remains high and their are some truely creepy scenes that will make anyone's hair rise.)

Halloween (1978- John Carpentar original classic that spawned generations of slasher film amatuers to follow this masterpiece)

Night of the Living Dead (1968- George Romero classic that shows the viewer that a great idea and execution can succeed even without a budget.)

Dawn of the Dead (1978- Romero repeats success in this classic sequel to the first Night of the Living Dead. True survivalist movie for any horror fan that has some dark humor and society truths and tellings in it as well.)

The Thing (1982-Hardly ever does a remake succeed the original, but this John Carpentar classic is truely great with its elements of horror and the presence of doubt in what character is who they really are.)
I am the same way Kchero, but I would also have to add alien to that list, Dawn of the Dead was great but not in the top five, movies such as psycho and the exorcist had a larger impact on the genre. I agree however with Toby Hooper, John Carpenter and George Romero classics to me they are the top three not only because of the movie but how it they eached changed the genre.

[KCChiefsMan]

I think the Ring should be on there, and no Friday the 13th or Amityville horror? are ya kidding me?
I don't really consider Alien a horror flick,
Children of the Corn, Pet Semetary, Silence of the Lambs, Poltergyst, even Wrong turn was better than some of those movies (maybe Eliza Dushku had something to do with that)

a poor made list IMO

[onescrewleftuntwisted]

no jason, no preditor, no gremblins, no joy ride, white noise didn't even make the list


texas chainsaw massicure with Matthew McConaughey was the best one the one with jessica biel wasn't bad ether,





lets not forget lion king
that movie freaked me out

[kchero]

I am the same way Kchero, but I would also have to add alien to that list, Dawn of the Dead was great but not in the top five, movies such as psycho and the exorcist had a larger impact on the genre. I agree however with Toby Hooper, John Carpenter and George Romero classics to me they are the top three not only because of the movie but how it they eached changed the genre.

I agree, I do find it amazing that the best horror genre movies were the one's on shoestring budgets.

[Valiant]

have seen 38 of the 50..

[Valiant]

My favorite scene was when the basket thing went down on the girl in bed. Totally tasteless, but in a neat, gross-out way.


There is like four or five sequels also... All I do is netflix horror and scifi movies...

Ringu is the original Ring movie from the director..

I also like nightbreed but it is more of a action/horro movie, I believe by dark horse comics...