Best Sci-Fi Horror Films:
One of the most horrifying films ever made and push-over of this category is Ridley Scott’s Alien. The film took a blend of the haunted house and monster movie but instead of a lightning lit castle and Frankenstein, Scott gave us the dark catacombs of a space craft whose crew is being picked off one by one by one of the scariest creatures in cinema, H.R. Giger’s alien. While it’s sequel, Aliens, almost took runner-up in this category its emphasis on action rather than horror disqualifies it, bringing Mr. California himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Predator to the second position. Predator essentially holds the same plot as Alien, only changing a space craft for the jungle and the crew to a team of commandos. While the film is rather formulaic, the film’s use of the unknown is something that has long been done away with by excessive gore and disclosure.
Best Faux Documentaries:
Probably ranked in the top three of the most influential horror films ever, Tobe Hooper’s 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre still holds a great deal of horrifying potency. The film follows a group of hippies who travel to a rural Texas and fall play to the cannibalistic Leather face (based loosely upon Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein) and family. Beware that this family, however, does not follow the main horror conventions: they’ll attack you in broad daylight. Coming in at second place is the infamous The Blair Witch Project. While its place in the best horror films can be debated, it’s climatic moments remain amongst the most creepy of the horror genre. Remember how much scary it was when you thought it was real? Well, it still holds up even after your ignorance has worn off.
Best Zombie Films:
You will never find the terrible Resident Evil at the head of this category. Why? Because Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later did everything Resident Evil did wrong but managed to pull it off. Following a group of survivors fleeing from zombies within an environment ripped right from Stephen King’s The Stand, 28 Days Later is mainly effective because of its haunting images of a barren London. The film’s apocalypse doesn’t even rely on zombies to be the most terrifying force in the film, which lies in the survivors who seem to crawl right out of Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The extremely infamous influence on 28 Days Later, Romero’s Night of the Living Dead holds a close second. It’s camp factor, however, detracts from the effect of the film on modern audiences but is worth viewing nonetheless.
Best Slasher Films:
Probably the second film on this list to be considered amongst the top three horror films ever made, John Carpenter’s classic Halloween remains not only one of the highlights of the horror genre but one of the most effective horror films ever made. Owing much of its effect to Hitchcock’s Psycho, an eerie score, camera movement, and the villain’s expressionless mask (actually a William Shatner mask spray painted white), Halloween’s simple story of a knife wielding maniac going after his babysitter sister (Jamie Lee Curtis) and sexually charged friends provides a surprising amount of bloodcurdling depth. Mockingly inspired by Halloween, horror master Wes Craven’s Scream holds the runner up spot. The film single handedly revived the horror genre while it acknowledged what it was by taking Carpenter’s story up a notch for modern audiences.
Best Vampire Films:
One of the first horror films ever made, F.W. Murnau’s adaptation of Stoker’s Dracula entitled Nosferatu gave the role of the infamous count to the incredibly rat like Max Schreck. Its images of the vampire creeping out of the bowls of a ship and up a shadowed staircase will remain timeless moments in cinema history and still hold the power to chill a viewer. Nosferatu was also a major inspiration to Francis Ford Coppola’s stellar adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the second best vampire film ever produced. While much of Dracula lies in the melodrama of gothic London and a love affair between Mina (Winona Ryder) and Dracula (Gary Oldman), Coppola’s film still allows for some incredibly horrific moments while featuring an all-star cast.
Best Monster Films:
John Carpenter’s 1982 remake of The Thing holds the top spot as the best monster movie ever made. A variation on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing follows a team of Antarctic scientists who are picked off one by one by a shape shifting alien who assumes control of his victims’s dead bodies. Coming into second place is the made for TV adaptation of Stephen King’s IT. While some moments may seem tame and even cheesy by today’s audiences, when this film was originally on television is scared the crap out of most people. The film’s scariest scenes involve the child eating Pennywise the Dancing Clown (played by a creepily wonderful Tim Curry) both eating and taunting his prey.
Best Serial Killer Films:
This category holds a barrage of memorable films including Hitchcock’s Psycho, the multi Academy Award winning Silence of the Lambs, David Fincher’s Se7en and the Jack the Ripper film From Hell. Psycho, of course, tells the tale of Mummy’s boy Norman Bates (and his fascination with a woman which takes a murderous pit stop in a shower and climaxes with a classic cross dress. Silence of the Lambs marks the first outing of Anthony Hopkin’s infamous cannibal, Hannibal Lecter and his “help” in solving a serial killer case with an F.B.I. Agent (Jodi Foster). The incredibly dark Se7en follows two detectives who pursue a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his criterion. Johnny Depp’s From Hell, loosely based on a graphic novel of the same title, follows an inspector on the trail of England’s most famous serial killer and is guaranteed to keep you from sleeping or, at least from walking around dressed like a prostitute in Victorian London.
Best Ghost Films:
The little known B-movie Carnival of Souls is one of the scariest films ever made. The film follows a woman who is left for dead following a car accident and finds herself tailed by a mysterious ghost that beacons her for death. The climax of the film, which takes place in a rundown carnival and involves dancing ghouls will remained lodged in your thoughts as you try and bring yourself to sleep. The David Lynch film, Lost Highway, utilizes a similar looking ghoul (Robert Blake) who surreally taunts a jazz musician (Bill Pullman) into murder. The scene in Blake hands Pullman a phone, instructs him to dial his house, and speaks to him over the phone gives you goose bumps just thinking about it.
Best Satan Films:
Perhaps the third film of horror’s top three (depending on where you rank Psycho) is the Oscar winning film The Exorcist. The story, supposedly inspired by a true story, is simple: a young girl is possessed by Satan and two priests must perform an exorcism to draw his control off of the girl. However, director William Friedkin tells the story with an incredibly slow pace, letting the creeps take over for the film’s first two-thirds and assaulting the viewer during the climax which results in perhaps the most terrifying film ever made. This category’s second film, another Lynch film entitled Mulholland Drive, can be debated as weather or not it is a part of the horror genre at all. However, its place as a surreal masterpiece whose images can condemn one to nightmare for weeks is assured. Just take a look behind the restaurant and you’ll see the Devil.
Best Psychological Film:
Containing a climax that ranks among the most terrifying moments in cinema history, the 1955 French film Diabolique is the best psychological horror film ever produced. The plot showcases a murder of a man by his wife and mistress. The body is dumped in a swimming pool and the next morning disappears. Diabolique rivals even Hitchcock’s best. The second most frightening psychological horror film is Michael Powell’s self-reflexive Peeping Tom. The plot follows a young filmmaker who constructs a documentary of fear by murdering women in front of his camera. This voyeuristic and perverse thriller is one of the most horrific films ever made.
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