NAME YOUR TEN FAVORITE HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME!

[HorrorWriter]

Name your top 10 favorite horror films of all time! Here are mine in no discernable order:

1.) The Exorcist--1973
2.) Poltergeist--1982
3.) Night of the Demons--1988
4.) Children of the Corn--1984
5.) Tales From the Crypt--1972
6.) Night of the Living Dead--1968 AND 1990
7.) Tales From the Crypt presents Demon Knight--1995
8.) Creepshow I--1982
9.) Creepshow II--1987
10.) Silver Bullet

...And too many others to name! Now, your turn! :e2teeth:
Are you afraid? :crazy:

[alleycat]

I'm not sure it's actually considered a horror flick (or even that good of a movie), but Ghost with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore gives me the creeps . . . especially when the bad guy gets it in the end.

By the way, Damon Knight wrote a pretty good book about writing: Creating Short Fiction. It's well worth reading.

[HorrorWriter]

Alley,
Uh, no. It's not horror. More like horrible, but I did like the part where the bad guy got his, but no. Thanks for replying!

Where are my horror folks at??? :flag:

[MarkN]

Hmm, scary movies? The two scariest I've seen were The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Pokemon 4... *shudder*

Oh, wait, you mean horror genre? I haven't been a horror fan up to now, so I don't have a very big list. I'd give Poltergeist a nod. Does The Abyss count? It's more sci-fi. Tremors was another one. I saw one of the Exorcist sequels that I thought was pretty good. I liked The Mummy (the recent remake) but not the sequel.

Too bad you didn't ask about books. I'm reading The Stand right now, and it's blowing me away. I'm only up to about Psalms though. (If you don't get the joke, go to your library and look up The Stand...it's about the size of an old-fashioned family Bible). Also read Dan Simmons' The Summer of Night which was awesome.

[Matt]

Top-tens are usually protean, so the following would probably be different if you asked me the same question next month… But here goes:


The Thing (John Carpenter)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
Poltergeist (Steven Spielberg… oops, sorry, Tobe Hooper)
The Omen (Richard Donner)
Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)
Candyman (Bernard Rose)
Hellraiser (Clive Barker)
Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman)
Alien (Ridley Scott)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
A bit of a mixed back, but I guess no surprises. Dario Argento would just miss out on the above, and apart from Candyman (which I guess is an urban ghost story anyway), I wouldn’t put any slasher films up there

[johnnysannie]

My top ten of scary movies would be:

The Shining
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Others
Frankenstein
The Mummy (old b/w version)
Blair Witch
Poltergeist
Psycho
The Omen
The Sentinel

[HorrorWriter]

Thanks Matt and Johnny! You guys named a couple of my favorites as well!:D

[jbal]

TYhis thread actually ran recently in office party and mine's on there somewhere.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41856&highlight=horror+movies

[WackAMole]

1. The Grudge (this movie scared the crap outta me)
2. The original 1968 version of "the Haunting"
3. Christopher Lee's "dracula"
4. The Ring
5. Poltergeist
6. The Omen
7. An episode of "In search of" about a big bottomless black hole in a field that scared the crap out of me. If anyone knows what episode PLEASE let me know!


To be honest, as a true horror fan, I find that rarely are things truly scary anymore. I was totally disappointed in Blair Witch. For some reason bloody is associated with scary BLEH...

I think you should list the top ten scary books...now books can scare ya!

[Andre_Laurent]

The Thing (Carpenter)
Alien
The Omen
Jeepers Creepers
The Cave
Dawn of the Dead
Funhouse
Interview w/the Vampire
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Resident Evil - Apocalypse

[clara bow]

no particular order cuz I just love 'em all so much:

The Exorcist
Poltergeist
Zombi 2
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Dellamorte Dellamore
Hellraiser
The Thing
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Saw
The Amityville Horror
Night of the Lepus (just kidding. Well not really)

[HorrorWriter]

TYhis thread actually ran recently in office party and mine's on there somewhere.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41856&highlight=horror+movies

jbal,
Thanks, but I never even go in the office party section. When I decided to do this yesterday, it seemed appropriate for the horror genre section; especially since I didn't see another posting like it in the horror section!:D I had to click on the link and look for yours. Cool picks!

[SMG]

Jacob's Ladder (will mess you up, be warned, not fun)
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
The Prince of Darkness
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th: Part 2
Phantasm
Phantasm 2
Dawn of the Dead (the recent remake)
The Nest (you will never like cockroaches again)
Halloween

note: forgot about Phantasm!

[HorrorWriter]

Jacob's Ladder (will mess you up, be warned, not fun)
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
The Prince of Darkness
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th: Part 2
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Friday the 13th: Jason Goes to Hell
Dawn of the Dead (the recent remake)
The Nest (you will never like cockroaches again)
Halloween

SMG,
I forgot about The Prince of Darkness! Excellent movie!

[SMG]

Yeah, P.O.D. is more than just some movie about the devil, it is really sci-fi with a heavy and much appreciated dose of horror.
Some of that stuff just blew me away, the concepts were very original.

I like Carpenter's "They Live" for much the same reasons, but P.O.D. is more horror than that one.

[sthrnwriter]

Lets see:

Pet Cemetary
The Ring
Saw
Night of the Living Dead
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Nosferatu
Poltergeist
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Childs Play
The Exorcist

[kikonie]

no one's mentioned the original version of The Fly (in black and white) - it was soooo funny when the fly-guy started saying, "Help me, help me..." in that high thin pathetic little whiny voice...anyboby else remember it - please!? Anyone????

[mdin]

Geez, 10?

in no order:

Freaks
Alien
Silence of the Lambs
Hellraiser
Body Snatchers, '78 version
American Werewolf in Londo
Dawn of the Dead
Evil Dead
Suspiria
The Hitcher

[Andre_Laurent]

no one's mentioned the original version of The Fly (in black and white) - it was soooo funny when the fly-guy started saying, "Help me, help me..." in that high thin pathetic little whiny voice...anyboby else remember it - please!? Anyone????
Oh yeah... I remember.... "Help me, help me..." creeped me out as a kid.

How about The Gates of Hell? The drill scene.

Eyeball scenes really bother me too.

[Andre_Laurent]

Yeah, P.O.D. is more than just some movie about the devil, it is really sci-fi with a heavy and much appreciated dose of horror.
Some of that stuff just blew me away, the concepts were very original.

I like Carpenter's "They Live" for much the same reasons, but P.O.D. is more horror than that one.
I like They Live but Roddy Pipers acting... well you know... it was pretty bad.

[alleycat]

1. The Grudge (this movie scared the crap outta me)
2. The original 1968 version of "the Haunting"
3. Christopher Lee's "dracula"
4. The Ring
5. Poltergeist
6. The Omen
7. An episode of "In search of" about a big bottomless black hole in a field that scared the crap out of me. If anyone knows what episode PLEASE let me know!


To be honest, as a true horror fan, I find that rarely are things truly scary anymore. I was totally disappointed in Blair Witch. For some reason bloody is associated with scary BLEH...

I think you should list the top ten scary books...now books can scare ya!
I'm not sure you're around anymore, Wack. In case you still read the threads, here's a episode list for In Search Of:

http://www.tv.com/in-search-of...../show/13149/episode_listings.html?tag=episodes;more

[Liam Jackson]

I like horror movies that go easy on the glitzy gimmicks and uber special effects, and heavy on suspense and storytelling. Not to say I don't like some of the splatter stuff, but I hate it when a director sacrifices suspense for smoke and mirrors. When a director combines both elements to a high degree, I buy the dvd. :))

In no particular order:

1. Halloween- Not a lot of story but loaded with suspense
2. The Exorcist- The best split-pea soup projectile vomiting of all time
3. Serpent and the Rainbow- Some serious mind freaking
4. Silence of the Lambs
5. Mothman Prophecies
6. Jacob's Ladder- Another seriously derranged movie. Gotta love it.
7. Night of the Living Dead
8. Ju-on
9. The Thing- 1982 version
10. Night of the Living Dead- The ultimate example of making something from nothing)

Runner-ups
11. The Ring
12. Jaws- Not exactly horror, but it made me spill the popcorn a couple of times
13. Nosferatu- This was a bad boy back in the day
14. Seven
15. Rosemary's Baby
16. Poltergeist
17. The Omen
18. The Shining
19. Carrie
20. Blair Witch Project- Concept was great. Delivery was lacking. The poor schmuck standing in the corner at the end was a great touch

[HorrorWriter]

Liam,
I agree. Gore is good, but the suspense and actually feeling scared is what gets you. I look forward to reading your work, and congratulations again!:PartySmil

[Liam Jackson]

I like They Live but Roddy Pipers acting... well you know... it was pretty bad.

Roddy was acting? Who knew?! ;)

[Andre_Laurent]

Roddy was acting? Who knew?! ;)
That's what I was told anyway. :D

[SMG]

I love his performance in They Live. Even "Hell Comes to Frogtown" was great for a late late night movie (at least if your fourteen).

[tiny]

Espinazo del diablo (Devil's Backbone)
Session 9
Darkwater
The Shining
Evil Dead
Jacob's Ladder
Prince of Darkness
Unnamable
Salem's Lot
and any cheesy B-Horror movie I can watch hanging on the guy I love.

[gabbleandhiss]

Side-bit.ch: Carpenter's The Thing was a boring movie. Love, love, love The Thing From Another World!, though.

[Jcomp]

A Tale of Two Sisters
The Woman in Black
Halloween
Ringu
Session 9
Candyman
Black Christmas
Suspiria
Alien

can't think of a tenth.

[Rolling Thunder]

Fantasia! I thought I was going in to see Phantasm, but I got confused and went into the wrong theater. That mouse in the wizard's hat was freaky though.

Okay...back on topic:

Halloween
Alien
Dawn of the dead

[HorrorWriter]

Thanks for participating folks! Hopefully some more people will give their input before Halloween! :e2chain:

[Cathedral Goth]

A list of ten would fluctuate too much for me, but the following is where I stand today, in chronological order (asterisked films would probably always make the list):

1. Nosferatu (1922)*
2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932--Fredric March)
3. The Wolf Man (1941)*
4. House of Frankenstein (1947)--saw it first as a teenager. Fun 'creature feature.'

5. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
6. The Conqueror Worm (aka Witchfinder General) (1968)
7. The Night Stalker (1972, made for TV)*--I was five years old (during a 1974 rerun) when I saw this

8. The Exorcist (1973)*
9. The Funhouse (1981)
10. The Howling (1981)

[Flapdoodle]

1) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (AkA LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE)
2) The Wicker Man
3) Night of the Living Dead (Original)
4) Day of the Dead (Original)
5) Dawn of the Dead (Original)
6) Zeder
7) Zombie Flesh Eaters (AKA ZOMBIE)
8) Frightmare (Pete Walker's British effort)
9) Excorcist III
10) The Beyond

These are ten of my favourites - I don't watch much contemporary horror, as I find most of it pretty crap apart from The Descent.

[yanallefish]

1)The Ring
2)Lord of Illusions
3)Amityville Horror (the second one: first movie didn't scare me at all)
4)Poltergeist (because I loved the tree coming through the window!)
5)Carrie
6)The Wicker Man (the original version)
7)The Ninth Gate
8)The Silence of the Lambs
9)Dawn of the Dead (ABSOLUTELY the newer version)
10)Stigmata (ok, to me, that's freaky)

I agree with whoever it was said the best part of Blair Witch Project was that last bit, with the kid standing in the corner. Great concept, I hope someone does a remake someday that is better.

I liked "Ring II" pretty well, but it wasn't as coherent as the first one to me, so I don't have it on this list.

*g*and if I'm in the mood for really stupid humor, "Scary Movie" works for me - but only if I'm in that mood! (I love Death in that)

[mdin]

A Tale of Two Sisters


Man, I just saw this recently. What a freaky movie. I was expecting one of the twists, but not the other one.

The Japanese know how to mess with your head.

[yanallefish]

Anybody seen the original Japanese version of The Ring? I'm wondering if it's better or worse than the American one.

(I really want to get a copy of Exorcism of Emily Rose sometime).

[Liam Jackson]

7. The Night Stalker (1972, made for TV)*--I was five years old (during a 1974 rerun) when I saw this


Classic television from back in the day. I've got the collection on dvd.

[Jongfan]

There has not been a real horror movie made in very long time, most are too predictable.

1) When a stranger calls ( the original)
2) Joyride
3) Breakdown
4) Killer Bees ( I have a tremendous fear of these things)
5) Cujo
6) The Shining
7) The Exorsict
8) Open Waters
9) The Deep
10) Fargo ( not scary,, but absolutely horrible movie)

[C.bronco]

All time, hmmmmmmm
This is not in a particular order:
In The Mouth of Madness
The Shining
Night Breed
The Stand
Carrie
The Silence of the Lambs
Manhunter (Original movie on The Red Dragon)
Salem's Lot
Pitch Black
The Ghost in the Darkness (was it horror? It was pretty scary! Awesome, awesome movie.)

[Jongfan]

All time, hmmmmmmm
This is not in a particular order:
In The Mouth of Madness
The Shining
Night Breed
The Stand
Carrie
The Silence of the Lambs
Manhunter (Original movie on The Red Dragon)
Salem's Lot
Pitch Black
The Ghost in the Darkness (was it horror? It was pretty scary! Awesome, awesome movie.)

I thought of The Ghost in the Darkness and Silence of the Lambs as well but I thought maybe more suspense than horror. However they were true stories, what is scarier than that

[Aubrey]

I tend more towards suspense and not so much boogie man modern day horror. Though there are people who actually found some of this scary, so I guess it counts.

The Sixth Sense. Sppoky and thought-provoking. I loved the part where the dead girl gave the kid the video and we find out later than she'd been murdered. That broke my heart.

The Eye. Again, thought-provoking and powerful. I felt just horrible for the dead girl whose eye the star got. The ending made me burst out sobbing. I'm such a sap.

Psycho. Now THAT is how you make a horror film. Dramatic without being flashy.

Carrie. I guess this was more modern horror than the others but I love it to death. Carrie was the most sympathetic villain I'd seen since Norman Bates. No wonder she snapped, her life was hell. The end part with the hand coming out of the grave makes me gasp every time, despite knowing it's coming.

The Others. It dragged on a bit, but I still enjoy analizing it all. It seems I notice more everytime I watch it.

Dark City. I guess that's more sci-fi, but it was creepy. The idea of someone going and changing everyone's lives and mind's around is such an unnerving concept. I found that so intriguing. It's a shame almost no one saw that movie.

[veinglory]

My favorite is "Near Dark". It's partly good, and partly just outrageously bad enough to be good fun. The "subtle" oil derek+biting vampire imagery, OMG

[jdkiggins]

Some of the older movies I loved are:

The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Fly
Trilogy of Terror
The Gate
The Old Dark House
The Ghoul
The Birds
The Shining
The Haunting 1963
The Exorcist
Silence of the Lambs
Psycho

More recent flicks:

Boogeyman
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (There’s a new one coming out. :))
Saw 1 & 2 (Also a new one coming out)
Seven
Wrong Turn
Jeepers Creepers
Jeepers Creepers II
Phantom

[Liam Jackson]

My favorite is "Near Dark". It's partly good, and partly just outrageously bad enough to be good fun. The "subtle" oil derek+biting vampire imagery, OMG

I forgot about Near Dark! It's a fun movie on several levels. Another is Creepers Jeepers.

Someone mentioned the Wolfman flick with Lon Chaney Jr. I love that movie. All though it's classified "horror," as a kid I saw it as a sympathetic vehicle for the misfits of the world who are what they are through no fault of their own. Loved the story and loved Chaney's performance.

[Alan Yee]

Jeepers Creepers? I'm awake. *points at avatar*

I've only seen the first one, not any of the other ones. Are the other ones any good?

[HorrorWriter]

I forgot about Near Dark! It's a fun movie on several levels. Another is Creepers Jeepers.

Someone mentioned the Wolfman flick with Lon Chaney Jr. I love that movie. All though it's classified "horror," as a kid I saw it as a sympathetic vehicle for the misfits of the world who are what they are through no fault of their own. Loved the story and loved Chaney's performance.

Never saw that one Liam, I have to check it out. You reminded me of the Elephant Man. I felt awful when he said, " I am not an animal, I am a human being!" My eyes were huge for hours! **sniffle, sniffle** Ahem, don't tell anyone!:cry:

[JaneyJay]

I just recently saw Session 9 on one of the digital channels. I must have been passed over very quickly when it came out, but I thought it was really creepy. I'm not a great fan of black and white, but there is an old movie from the 1950's called The Tingler that really freaked me out when I was younger. The Entity also was freaky. The first horror movie I saw was The Car from the late 70's. Not very scary now, but at the time I was terrified! Oh, and The Wicker Man, while not scary to me, is one of my favorite movies of all time.

[Live2Write]

Halloween
The Exorsist
The Blaire Witch Project
The Ring
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Entity
Dark Water
Suspiria
Event Horizon
The Fog (the original)

[Summonere]

Angel Heart

Man, I was a sucker reeled in by this one. Mickey Rourke and Robert DeNiro in a private-detective story set in voodoo-worshiping Lousiana at the end of WWII, hot on the heels of a missing crooner. Black magic and fans, those ever so ubiquitous twirling fans.

[shawkins]

1. Prince of Darkness
2. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
3. Alien
4. Waxwork (the very acme of '80s B-movies)
5. Near Dark
6. The Mummy (1930ish)
7. In the Mouth of Madness
8. Texas Chainsaw Massacre Pt. IV*
9. The Hunger
10. Nomads (John McTiernan + Pierce Brosnan + evil = yay!)

Honorable Mentions:
a. The Sentinel
b. Dagon (~2004ish? director Stuart Gordon's take on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth")
c. all the Phantasms. Anybody in Region II got the DVD box set?

* Admittedly not everyone's cup of tea. But Kim Henkel, the original TCM writer, turned in a fine & surreal screenplay and the direction was competent. Plus I just loved watching Matthew McConaghey chase Bridget Jones around with a Poulan.

[shawkins]

Alan Yee: If you liked Jeeepers Creepers, you'll probably also like the sequels. (I did, on both counts. Not my faves, but watchable.)

I'll add to the general applause for "Session 9" which was, in fact, creepy as hell.

A couple of the Showtime "Masters of Horror" shorts have been really, really good. They're out on DVD

* Incident On & Off a Mountain Road (dir = Don Coscarelli of Phantasm)
* Cigarette Burns (John Carpenter)

[shawkins]

Oh, and I hear that Guillermo del Toro has an adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" in the works. Yum.

[HorrorWriter]

Hi Scott! Welcome to AW :welcome: ! I love the Masters of Horror also! I've caught a few new episodes on Showtime. Prince of Darkness was crazy! Loved it though.

[shawkins]

Hi Scott! Welcome to AW :welcome: ! I love the Masters of Horror also! I've caught a few new episodes on Showtime.

Muchas gracias for the welcome. Nice place you folks have got here.

[HorrorWriter]

You're more than welcome! As you can see, we all browse around when we should be working. :e2zipped:

[Shadow_Ferret]

I cut and pasted mine from that other thread.

1) Them! (1954)
2) The Thing from Another World (1951)
3) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
4) Dracula (1931)
5) The Wolf Man (1941)
6) The Mummy's Hand (1940)
7) King Kong (1933)
8) Frankenstein (1931)
9) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
10) Evil Dead (1982)

[WackAMole]

I'm not sure you're around anymore, Wack. In case you still read the threads, here's a episode list for In Search Of:

http://www.tv.com/in-search-of...../show/13149/episode_listings.html?tag=episodes;more

LOL Thank you so much! Im gonna search out that episode. Things that bother us as children often seem silly as adults. I am dead curious to see this one again!

[a tree of night]

had to chime in on this one. In no particular order :

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
Pumpkinhead
Dellamorte Dellamore
Dead of Night (1945)
Cronos
The Changeling
The Wicker Man (original)
Psycho
Halloween
Kwaidan

A few others that aren't necessarily great films, but stood out for one reason or another :

Candyman for Tony Todd
Suspiria, Nosferatu, Hellraiser, Hellraiser Deader, Inferno for particular scenes/visuals

I'm not sure if Rope strictly qualifies as horror, but it's an absolute masterpiece of filmmaking.

[Toni1953]

1. The Omen (original)
2. Halloween
3. Black Sunday (Barbara Steele)
4. Psycho (original)
5. The Mummy (Karloff)
6. The Birds
7. Prom Night
8. Terror Train
9. Horror Hotel (also known as city of the dead - Chris Lee)
10. Wolf Man (Chaney)

[Laurawrites]

Top ten, huh? Hmm.

I have a strong affinity for horror, so that's a tough one.

1. Ring Movies (I liked the first better)
2. Ringu Movies (Excluding Rasen)
3. Grudge
4. Ju-On Movies
5. Premonition
6. Silent Hill
7. The Dark
8. Thirteen Ghosts (orig. and new)
9. House on Haunted Hill (orig. and new)
10. Exorcist 3

This is just a drop in the ocean, really. There are too many to narrow down. But, it makes an interesting subject.

[Little Red Barn]

Scary for me...
THE BIRDS
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (or was that MARY JANE) Bette Davis/ Joan Crawford

[Foinah]

Oh man! This one is hard - I love horror movies.
Let's see :

The exorcist
Pumpkin Head
Phantasm (Angus Scrimm still gives me nightmares!)
Evil Dead 2
Nightbreed
The Howling
An American Werewolf in London
Creepshow
The Thing (John Carpenter)
Pet Cemetery - I'm trying to teach my daughter Gage's*laugh. It's so very wrong, I know!!!

These are right in there though -
Mr. Frost - find this one!
Shaun of the Dead
Poltergeist
The Manitou - I saw it when I was nine or ten and I only remember one scene that scared the absolute beeeejayzuss out of me. A scalpel and a lump on someones's neck. My brother had to take me home immediately, right then and there, much to his displeasure.
Dawn of the Dead (newer version)
Alien
The Shining
Prince of Darkness
Serious nod to Silence of the Lambs



Session 9 was creepy! I really liked that one.
I forgot about Near Dark...good one!

So many more....must stop typing....no self control!