20) Nightmare on Elm Street – A man in the neighborhood gets burned to death and then chases teenagers in their dreams while their bodies rest. What’s not to fear? Wes Craven’s breakthrough film has scared hundreds of millions of children and adults with a fine tuned director’s razor that hadn’t been seen since Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. We’ve been thanking him ever since.
19) Psycho – It’s amazing that people of every generation since 1960 have had problems showering alone. It is guaranteed that couple showering developed after this film was made. Everyone knows it’s just so a lover can push their partner into the knife and flee unscathed while the butcher has his way with their beau’s wet body.
18) Dawn of the Dead – George Romero always had a thing for submitting his audiences into the gory commentary of his time. Certainly he saw the breakdown of society due to the advent of the shopping mall. A killer scene includes the heroes surprise when they observe the zombies continue to window shop through the mall. One character notes that the zombies have returned to a place that was familiar to them — an observation that is utterly depressing.
17) The Descent – A group of sporty women go spelunking in the Middle of Nowhere, Nowhere only to find their zeal interrupted by a deformed offshoot of homo sapien. A more sensitve viewer would have noticed the degenerative breakdown of women when they’re caught in a bind. One might have noticed another theme to the story: Women shouldn’t be out in caves looking for adventure or they might get hurt. What century are we in? Either way, it’s a fun, horrific film that will add to your list of things you once wanted to do (spelunking) but no longer have the appetite to do so.
16) The Ring/Ringu – Although fans of both films will quickly correct you on the distinct differences between each, all will agree that they are scary as hell. Ringu tends to recieve more critical acclaim but when the American version was released, it was hailed as an instant horror classic. Creepy little girl and a cursed videotape? Brilliant.
15) The Amityville Horror (original) – This is the only film on this list that was based on a supposed true story. The controversial haunting has been on the hot plate of debate since it was first publicized in the late ’70s. Since then, it’s made a fortune for the reported victims who shared their story with the members of the press and their bright lights. As frightening as this movie may be, it still doesn’t compare to all of the horrors revealed in Cap Anson’s book of the same name.
14) 28 Days Later – Before Danny Boyle won an Academy Award for Slumdog Millionaire, he directed this intelligent horror film that altered the zombie genre forever. Fast, strong, and infected, these marauders of carnage tore through the empty London and Manchester streets to take out their victims. In our disease-fearing age, it’s good to have a visionary remind us how defenseless we are to tiny little organisms genetically modified in labs throughout the world. True story? Let’s hope not.
13) Hellraiser – A sexy, gore fest of pain and pleasure with a character who recites a quote made by Jesus in one of his last breaths. No one has ever made raw muscle and tendons look as sexually appetizing than Clive Barker. It’s S&M with a little more Sado and more Mascochism than we are used to seeing. Something for everybody…
12) Night of the Living Dead – The film that started it all. This was George Romero’s first film. Upon completion, Romero and one of the filmmakers were on their way to New York to edit the film when they heard the most disturbing news that they had ever heard on radio — Martin Luther King, Jr. had just been assasinated. This is more poignant when you consider that the main character, a black man, who is mistaken for a zombie, murdered by white lawmen, and then taken away on tenterhooks to burn in a pile of the undead
11) Jaws – If any movie had scared people clear away from the murky side of the beach, it’s this one. Enough has been said about this to even scare people who haven’t seen it to steer clear from the Great White’s dominion of savage murder. But can an animal be a murderer? Let’s consider that a great white shark doesn’t need to feed that often. This guy was out on a spree and guess what…he can keep the ocean.
10) Alien – The first film from this fantastic series can be summed up in one word – chestburster. Yes, that lovely scene in which a character is afflicted by a parasitic alien has left many people from the ’80s recoiling in fear every time some gas becomes lodged in your chest. More importantly, it is one of the few movies that transcended the horror genre and landed in many all time top films lists. Ridley Scott gave horror fans a film that they could argue the genre’s legitimacy.
9) Hostel – Eli Roth’s landmark film did two things — both of which become a single paradox: 1) Suddenly made Eastern Europe a desirable place to visit. 2) Made Eastern Europe a place that must and always be avoided. After viewing, many wondered if murder could be marketable like a spa or mud bath but most of us refused any further consideration and just booked our tickets to find the single hot women of that region, thinking, “We’ll take our chances.”
8) Saw – A character known as the Jigsaw killer who tortures, maims, and murders in the most creative of ways to teach his victims a life-changing lesson. Sounds like someone else I know…(see: Catholic Religion). That is all that will be said about that — oh, and also that the guy from Princess Bride is in it.
7) Shaun of the Dead – Who doesn’t love a cross-genre film? Have that scaredy cat beau who won’t entertain your favorite version of Dawn of the Dead? Put this great zombie film in your DVD player and worry no more. It’s both funny and terrifying with a second half that could be placed side-by-side to many of horror’s most frightening films. You’ll be laughing and scared while your partner decides how to feel
6) Rosemary’s Baby – Roman Polanski’s great horror these days is wondering how much time he might have to do for having sex with a 13 year old but before then, he was legendary Roman Polanski who made a film about a woman who incubated the seed of Satan in her womb. It was shot in a way that no other commercial horror film had ever been shot and was therefore a boxoffice hit.
5) Texas Chainsaw Massacre – For years we have wondered: was it really a true story? The answer is “no”, however it was based on real events and murderers such as Ed Gein whose home was decorated with lamp shades made from human skin and a woman, hung upside down with a slice that was made from her ____ to her head. Those open Texan roads have made many people squeemish, including Whiskey Dregs writer, Tamara Riddle who has on several occasions driven on that highway and admitted, “That little stretch is just eerie at night.”
4) Halloween – John Carpenter was a big fan of Psycho, which is why Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis is the star of Halloween. Carpenter was so disturbed by the shower scene that he continued where Hitchcock left off and passed the knife on to a little boy named Mike Myers to murder his sister with, again illustrating that no one or no place should be trusted.
3) The Omen – What is up with kids and eerie music? Most likely, we can trace the beginning of that creepy combo to this film. The story goes like this: The kid has these arcane powers because he is the son of the devil. Mom doesn’t believe it until she finds the mark of the beast on his scalp. The kid or his Satan-worshipping nannie don’t want Mamma to get in the way and they do what they have to do to make sure the kid’s rise from prep-school killer to antichrist superstar is complete. The end.
2) The Shining – All work and no play make Jack a dull boy so Jack’s writer’s block causes him to attempt the destruction of his family. Most of us would have been ok with offing the meddling mom but not Danny Torrence. We liked Danny with his Shining and little pinky friend. Stanley Kubrick’s telling of Stephen King’s book was met by the author’s disapproval, however the filmmaker’s vision secured The Shining its place in cinematic history — RedRum!
1) The Exorcist – This is the film on which all others of its genre is judged by. It has caused nightmares galore and a curiosity of its subject that has secured many bestselling books discussing the rite of excorcism. Along with the film’s notoriety, is the legend behind a mysterious curse that caused the fires and deaths of nine crew members and actors, most notably that of Jack McGowan. No other film ranked as high on our writers’ lists as this one.
