I’ve made it no secret on this site that horror is my home genre. I’ve been a fan of horror films since before I could walk. Not really sure why. When people ask me why I like the genre so much, I’m hard pressed to come up with a solid answer. This is partly because there are a lot of reasons why. When I was a kid, I liked their forbidden nature. I liked walking through video stores, staring at their gruesome covers, and wondering what lurked behind that VHS box art. As I grew older, I started appreciating them as an art form. I liked how George Romero used zombies to comment on consumerism and how Wes Craven’s films reflected the brutality of Vietnam. More than that though, I liked when horror films tapped into real human emotions. The best horror films are as much about common feelings such as grief, love, ambition, anger, and depression as most Oscar winning dramas are. They use supernatural, frightening elements to tap into the human condition. But there’s yet another reason I love the horror genre so much; a visceral, primal reason: I love being scared.
So, inspired by my colleagues Mike Staub and Noah Redfield’s lists of the 100 Greatest Video Games and the Bond Film Rankings, (which you should read as soon as possible if you haven’t yet) I’ve decided to finally sit down, crunch the numbers, and present to you my definitive 100 Greatest Horror Films. As is the case with any list of this nature, I have a few ground rules:
1. This list is, of course, completely subjective. There’s no need to rail that one film should be higher, lower, or excised all together. No need to scream about how The Exorcist isn’t on the list. If you like that film, good for you. Put it on your own list. These are simply my choices for the 100 Greatest Horror Films of all time. Disagree? GREAT! I’d love to hear why but please don’t scream at me and curse my name. It’s a stupid list on the internet, one of millions, and nothing to get upset about.
2. No TV movies will be included. This rule is here solely to prevent people who ignore rule #1 from shouting, “Where is Stephen King’s IT?” Sorry, IT won’t be found here. This may cause Pennywise the Clown to come out of my sink and kill me but I’ll take the risk.
3. As with Noah’s Bond rankings, I will not be judging these films by ‘today’s standards’. Fuck that. What scares one person may be laughable to another anyway so to dismiss a film because its effects are dated or the atmosphere is cheesy would be adding insult to injury. I am ranking the films based on quality and impact only.
Alright then, with the rules out of the way, let’s take a stroll through the graveyard and see what I’ve unearthed.
100. Scream
For almost everyone in my age bracket, Wes Craven’s Scream was THE horror film. It was the first one our parents allowed us to see and we watched it as often as we could. As funny as it was suspenseful, Scream became an important part of horror culture quicker than anyone involved suspected. It’s become more of a joke over the years and the ‘self-aware’ horror film has become as much of a cliche as the found footage genre. But as I said above, we’re not talking about today. In the doldrums of the 90’s–one of the worst decades for horror films–Scream was a breath of fresh air, the real kick in the ass the genre needed. The sequels weren’t as successful (I still like them though, even 3 and 4) but that matters little. Scream brought the slasher film roaring back to life with a fiery vengeance and, for that alone, it deserves a place on this list.
99. Dracula
Tod Browning’s masterful adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel created one of the most iconic horror villains of all time in Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of the titular Count. It’s been parodied as much as it’s been celebrated and if that doesn’t prove its success, nothing does. I watched the film again for the first time in many years this past October and was struck by how fully in command of itself it is. There’s not a wasted frame. Browning layers on the mist so palpably you can almost see it coming out of the TV screen. The gothic sets are gorgeous, the score rousing, and the acting perfectly suited to the material. Lugosi plays the Count with nothing less that total conviction and his performance is haunting and operatic. And for those of you who think it’s dated or boring, I defy you to watch the scene where the camera slowly reveals Dwight Frye’s mad Renfield gleefully giggling in the lower decks of the ship and not be at least a little creeped out.
98. Day of the Dead
George Romero is going to pop up on this list more than any other director. From the late 60’s to the early 80’s the man churned out masterpiece after masterpiece. His third zombie film, Day of the Dead, is considered his weakest and that’s true only if you discount everything he made afterwards (which you probably should). Even as his weakest film in the original trilogy, it’s still terrific and way more engaging, daring, and human than the zombie stories we get today, including The Walking Dead. What’s most memorable and effective about the film is not the human characters but the zombie themselves. This was the first time he tried to humanize them a little bit, resulting in the creation of Bub, the most sympathetic zombie to ever grace the screen. He’s the hero of the third act and it’s unbelievably satisfying to watch him take down Joseph Pilato’s over the top villain, Colonel Rhodes. As for the human characters? They’re great too and anyone who thinks they talk too much has the attention span of a gnat. I mean, when you’re stuck in a bunker with millions of zombies outside on a daily basis, what else is there to do but drink and talk?
97. The Sentinel
Coming along after the success of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, Michael Winner’s The Sentinel was dismissed by most as a rip off when it first came out. Wrong. The Sentinel is a creepy nightmare that’s scarier than Rosemary’s Baby and a whole lot better The Exorcist (SIDE NOTE: I really dislike The Exorcist). Cristina Raines stars as an actress with anxiety issues who moves into a New York apartment that may guard one of the gates of hell. This is a slow burn of a movie with lots of bizarre imagery. The last twenty minutes are something else entirely though. The film explodes into a balls to the wall depiction of Hell that remains as striking a depiction of the Pit as we’ve ever seen on screen. Also, EVERYONE is in this movie, from John Carradine to Martin Balsam to Christopher Walken to Jeff Goldblum to Beverly D’Angelo. Whenever you’re not cowering in terror, you’ll be sitting there saying, “hey, it’s so and so!”
96. Sauna
This Finnish horror film from the late 2000’s is notable for several reasons. It takes place in the 1400’s, most of the action occurs during the day, and it’s as interested in dealing with the moral complications of guilt as it is in scaring the piss out of you. The story focuses on two brothers tasked with drawing out a map to mark the new border between Russia and Sweden. They commit a terrible crime and soon find themselves in a small village. Wary of the new arrivals, the villagers point them to a mysterious building in the middle of the woods and tell them that going inside will ‘wash them of all their sins’. It’s a tempting idea to both brothers, one wracked with guilt and the other consumed by denial. The visions they experience after entering the sauna are surreal and profoundly haunting. I’m not crazy about ambiguity but director AJ Annila makes good use of it here, leading to a conclusion that makes you wonder what truly happened while not at all robbing the film of its devastating impact.
95. An American Werewolf in London
You’re not going to find a lot of werewolf films on this list because I generally find their metaphors too obvious to be successful and their conclusions too foregone to have any impact. That being said, John Landis’ seminal horror comedy is terrific. Combining fantastic effects (Rick Baker rules) with a truly irreverent sense of humor worked exceedingly well when it came to telling this stripped down werewolf story. Sure, ‘Bad Moon Rising’ is used one too many times but that only adds to the fun. And the conclusion, while jarring upon first viewing, is simply the natural end to the story. It’s a werewolf movie without any filler, with a comedic edge, and with no interest in ham-fisted metaphors.
94. The Stepfather
Terry O’Quinn created one of the most unique horror villains in Joseph Ruben’s terrific 80’s horror picture. In a decade where Jason and Freddy where everywhere, here was a monster with a simple, even noble, goal: to have the perfect family. Watching O’Quinn switch from being a kindly daddy dearest to an unhinged lunatic is genuinely unnerving. That moment when he forgets his own identity for the briefest of seconds chills me to the bone every time I watch it. The level of detail present in how he moves from one life to another is equally fascinating and unsettling. This is also one of those ‘dark side of the American dream’ movies that doesn’t hit you over the head with that message. It tells its story and lets you draw your own parallels. But it’s O’Quinn who makes the movie so damn memorable. He walks the fine line between malice and benevolence with perfect ease. It’s a wonder it took so many years and a certain Lost island for people to start fawning all over him.
93. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
I must admit, I hesitated to put this film on the list because I sort of loathe it. I’ve seen it twice and that is way more than enough. It’s hateful, nihilistic, and unrelenting in its depiction of sadistic violence. I know, I know, that’s the point but I’ve never been a fan of that defense. After thinking long and hard about it though, I cannot deny that John McNaughton’s film about a serial killer who murders for no discernible reason is uncommonly powerful. Michael Rooker and Tom Towles are so good at portraying their violent, idiotic characters that there are times you feel like you’re watching a documentary. The whole movie has that raw feeling about it; a sense that we should not be seeing what’s happening right before our eyes. It never compromises in its vision and there’s something to be said for that, no matter how dark that vision is. If I were making a list of the 100 Most Disturbing Films of all time, this might be #1. It portrays these monsters without any frills, without romanticizing them, and without explaining them. And that leads to the horrifying idea that sometimes there are no rational explanations for awful crimes. Sometimes, there are just evil people who have nothing else to do.
92. The Ordeal (Calvaire)
Slow burn horror flicks are tricky. You’ve got to keep the viewer interested in what is going to happen while not doing much of anything for awhile. The French film, The Ordeal, pulls this off with flying colors. A singer’s car breaks down on the way to a gig and he winds up staying in the house of a local man who is mourning the loss of his wife. The man seems friendly at first but eventually reveals himself to be a deranged lunatic. Can’t say much more than that cuz the main pleasure of this film is watching the level of insanity on display increase frame by frame. The film contains one of the most shocking and terrifying reveals I’ve ever seen and ends on a note that makes you feel as if you’ve gone completely mad yourself. It’s a truly unique story that messes around in several genres and never quite settles on one, which only serves to keep the viewer much more on edge than usual.
91. The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi’s student film that catapulted him and Bruce Campbell to success is as much a great horror film as it is a great example of how to make an effective movie with absolutely no money. The home-made effects add to the weirdness of the film rather than make it look cheap and the movie has an energy that very few big budget motion pictures can ever hope to achieve. Its quirky sense of humor helps things a great deal too. One moment, we’re staring at the screen in complete shock and the next we’re laughing our heads off. Raimi pulled off that balancing act to even greater effect in Evil Dead 2–which will undoubtedly make an appearance on this list–but the tightrope walk began right here.
That’s it for part one! Stay tuned for part two!
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