Kelly WandA Hundred and One Great Horror Movies
December 1st 2006 06:02
ONE HUNDRED AND ONE GREAT HORROR FILMS
Forget pretending this is a “best of list”. I’ve been adding and dropping things for a week now and I’ve probably still left out all kinds of frighteningly obvious choices. You can, however, still feel free to argue away about what I should have included and what I should not. That’s part of the fun of doing something like this.
The hardest thing about writing a list like this is deciding what constitutes a horror movie these days. Supernatural themes alone don’t make a horror movie. You won’t find “Ghost” (Demi Moore version) on the list even though that has a supernatural theme. That isn’t just because it isn’t a horror movie either. I think one of the operative words here was supposed to be great and, unless I follow that with “big pile of steaming dog shit” I don’t think I can honestly use that word in connection with this Academy Award winner. There is a film that looks worse and worth the further we get from the decade that spawned it.
Besides, if it was only about supernatural themes, you couldn’t include “Psycho” on a list of horror movies and that just isn’t going to happen, is it? Well, maybe I’ll prove to be really fickle and leave it off just for kicks. You’ll have to scroll down and see.
Does a serial killer movie instantly fit the bill of a horror movie? Whilst “Silence of the Lambs” has all the hallmarks of a horror movie, it runs close to the line of crime drama too. Based on its structure and the climactic scene where Foster hunts Buffalo Bill through the darkened catacombs, I called it in as a horror movie. “Seven” is a similarly dressed film and, I’ll go out on a limb and say it is superior to “Silence”. It even shares a plot with some of the work of Vincent Price (“Theatre of Blood”, “The abominable Dr Phibes”) but you wouldn’t call it a horror movie.
“Henry: Portrait of a serial Killer” probably is a horror movie whilst the notorious “Man Bites Dog” isn’t. You see what I mean about working out what constitutes a horror movie. Sometimes it just seems to boil down to someone calling it a horror movie.
“The House of a Thousand Corpses” is a horror movie but it’s sequel “The Devils Rejects” is not. The second film is equally horrific but is more of a cops versus baddies kind of a deal.
Mental distress and breakdown often constitute a horror movie. Polanski’s “Repulsion” is considered to be a horror movie but Sam Fuller’s “Shock Corridor” isn’t. Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant” is about as scary as a film gets but that isn’t a horror movie either. So, is Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” a horror film? Well, probably not. I sat in the bath and thought about it but life is too short and I had to go to work.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of the best realised of all movie monsters but the films just aren’t that good. King Kong is a classic monster too but King Kong just isn’t a horror movie.
There were other choices I ummed and ahhed over. “Witchfinder General” is often included in horror movie lists but it isn’t a horror movie either. Or is it? Some would also argue that the most frightening thing they have ever seen on the screen was Britney Spears in “Crossroads”. If only the ads had gone “A film so shocking we guarantee you will throw up.”
Some might ask why there are no inclusions from the “Friday the Thirteenth” saga. Well, I’ve seen them but they all bored the living shit out of me.
1: THE ADDICTION
Abel Ferrara and writing partner Nicholas St John bring us a tale of vampirism expressed as addiction. Despite being in Black and White, this is one of Ferrarra’a most accessible recent films.
2: ALIEN
Originally this was advertised as being like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Space” and I’ve heard worse descriptions. Ridley Scott knows what scares you. The sequels are good too but Aliens is more of an action flick and, despite a setting of fear, by Aliens3 the franchise is more about heroics than horror.
3: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
Whilst this film is partially spoof, Jon Landis keeps the scares coming. The transformation sequence will be frequently copied but seldom bettered.
4: ANGEL HEART
De Niro is the devil and Mickey Rourke is in deep shit. Alan Parker directs expressionist voodoo and one day he’ll realise this was the best film he ever made.
5: ARMY OF DARKNESS
The third film in the Evil Dead trilogy and the whole franchise has gone insane. So insane in fact that it stands alone as a credible film in its own right. Medieval Dead, Harryhausen style effects and a little Bruce versus Bruce action. Rocking.
6: AUDITION
Miike Takashi directs this serious piece of Japanese nastiness. I won’t give away the end but consider yourself warned.
7: BASKET CASE
Cheap and cheerful tale of man and evil mutant twin going ape shit in New York. Equal parts black comedy and total gross out.
8: THE BEYOND
Lucio Fulchi’s surreal masterpiece. An old hotel in Louisiana, a gate way between hell and earth. It’s like a dream; a very scary dream.
9: BLACK SUNDAY
Mario Bava goes gothic in this tale of a witch burned at the stake but now back to reap vengeance. Atmospheric and influential, It’s Bava’s finest moment.
10: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
There are two schools of thought about this one. Some say it is boring and that nothing happens and they don’t know what all the fuss is about. These people have no imagination or empathy (a medical definition of sociopathy). Something is happening out there but we don’t know what it is. As scary as it gets.
11: BLOOD AND ROSES
Roger Vadim directed this version of the Carmila story. Mostly ignored, it has its fans. Gothic atmosphere, hallucinatory sequences, sexual overtones. Sounds like everything a vampire film should be to me.
12: BLOOD FOR DRACULA
Andy Warhol has his name al over the packaging but has little to do with the finished product. Udo Kier plays the Count as a pathetic figure only able to drink the blood of virgins (a resource in short supply). Kier gives this a real emotional kick that raises the film above the low water mark it was aimed at. Interesting two edged sub text too. On a popularist level it preaches socialism but its real sympathies lie with the outsider.
13: BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW
Satanism and sacrifice. Once, this was a popular sub genre and here was its zenith.
14: BLUE SUNSHINE
Bad drugs taken in the sixties deliver worse side effects in later life. Murder and mayhem follow.
15: THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTIEN
An all time classic of the cinema and not just the genre. Our sympathies are well and truly with the monster. Karloff’s acting is superb.
16: THE BROOD
Cronenberg makes a film about divorce and its effect on children. He does it, however, his own way and it isn’t for the faint of heart.
17: CANNIBAL HOLLOCAUST
It has been described as the nadir of a genre that is the nadir of taste. “The Blair Witch Project” stole plenty of plot and stylistic ideas from this film but the difference is we can see what is going on and it isn’t very nice. The documentary feel makes this truly terrifying but it is also a very well made film.
18: CARRIE
Remember a time when Stephen King wrote quality and not quantity? Do you remember a time when you didn’t have to pay excess luggage charges to take his work on a plane? This film does and is all the better for it.
19: CAT PEOPLE
Let’s make myself unpopular with purists. I am convinced that critics of Paul Schrader’s must have been watching a different film than me. Full of doom and poetry, this is a classic. Look, the original has its moments too but it doesn’t have Nastassja Kinski.
20: THE CHURCH
It started off with the lowly aspiration of being Demons 3 and instead became a classic of Italian Horror.
21: THE CRAZIES
George Romero is on familiar territory with a military accident that releases a biological agent that turns folk into psychos. I saw this for the first time at the Electric Cinema in Brixton. Emerging into the night, the police had set up barricades to control (unrelated) public disorder. It didn’t feel unrelated after watching that flick.
22: CRONOS
A scarab beetle powered device turns its owner into a vampire like creature. It walks the line between horror and fantasy but it should be on your must see list.
23: DARK WATER
Grim apartments. Ghosts. Isolation. Despair. Go for the brilliant Japanese original every time.
24: DAWN OF THE DEAD
Romero teams up with Argento to take zombies shopping. Lots of scares, thrills and comment on consumerism. The European version (called Zombi) has the jokes cut out and a full on score by Goblin. Double your money and double your fun.
25: DEAD ZONE
Forget the television series and forget the novel. Cronenberg’s version gets to the emotional core of the story and delivers. Christopher Walken is at his absolute best playing a fragile caring human being.
26: DEEP RED
Really, it’s a simple murder mystery but that pounding Goblin score and atmosphere mark the moment Argento defined his style. Much of the dialogue was recorded in English but it is better to watch the Italian dubbed version. Unfortunately, the English track is incomplete and the sound of a different voice on an actor can be disconcerting.
27: DON’T LOOK NOW
Death (gets scary) in Venice. A couple attempt to get over the death of their child by taking a holiday in Venice (which always seems like a bad idea in movies).
28: DRACULA
Bela Lugosi is great but the movie less so. Fortunately, Lugosi is so good in the first thirty minutes that the rest of the film doesn’t matter.
29: DRACULA
Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t really do the straight adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel he advertises but he delivers one of his career best films by finding an emotional core for his story and dressing it in expressionism. Some people don’t like the theatricality of the design and others don’t like Keanu Reeves. Me, I don’t give a shit about some people.
30: DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
Some would name “Horror of Dracula” as the obvious choice but this is certainly one if not the best of the Hammer Dracula films. Its predecessor “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” had been so terribly written that Christopher Lee had refused to read the lines. This film strives to make amends. There is plenty of sacrilegious imagery and sexual overtones are bought to the fore and the effects are more graphic but it is Lee’s film and he personifies evil. I was close to including “Horror of Dracula” in this list but that is a straight telling of the familiar Dracula story and I thought the four other versions I have listed did it better. (See also Nosferatu). Honorary mention should also go to Dan Curtis’ TV Movie version.
31: DRILLER KILLER
Abel Ferrara brings us one of the original video nasties. The title is particularly vile but the film concerns an artist who lives with the fear of his own failure. His dad was a drunk and he fears he’ll go the same way. Meanwhile, the world’s worst punk band rehearses endlessly downstairs. You’d crack too. The only mystery is why he attacks drunken bums and not the punk band.
32: THE EVIL DEAD
A log cabin full of kids attacked by the demonic dead. Nobody had their tongue in their cheeks when they were making this one. The tongue had climbed out of the mouth, run along the floor an d strangled someone first. Gruelling. Terrifying and essential genre viewing.
33: THE EVIL DEAD 2
Sequels have had to do something very special to earn a place on this list and the Evil Dead 2 succeeds by combining the horror genre with three stooges style comedy. The “Farewell to Arms” sequence can only be described as god like brilliance.
34: THE EXORCIST
Catholic Propaganda it may be. That doesn’t mean it isn’t genuinely scary even for a confirmed Atheist like me.
35: THE FLY
The Vincent Price version may be camp funny but trust David Cronenberg to really coin a phrase and underline it. This is body horror. Some say it is an AIDS allegory but it isn’t that simple. Life is a journey of discovery of the new things your body can do to disgust you. If you thought puberty was bad, wait until you hit your forties. It is funny that so many of these eighties horror remakes improved on the originals whilst modern remakes of films from the seventies consistently fail to impress.
36: THE FOG
After Halloween, no one wanted an old fashioned ghost story. Their mistake. Viewed away from the hype, this immediately stands out as an all time classic and clearly needs no kind of lousy remake.
37: FRANKENSTEIN
James Whale and Boris Karloff bring us the original and the best. Time may have wearied it but which of the many re-makes added anything of worth to the story. (Bride of Frankenstein is more a continuation than a sequel or remake).
38: FREAKS
Director Todd Browning makes a film about real circus freaks but the real monster here is the scheming woman who marries for money but finds herself turned into a most unnatural attraction. Banned for many years this may or may not be politically correct viewing depending on how you approach it. It certainly maintains a power to attract and repulse.
39: FROM BEYOND
More H P Lovecraft inspired mayhem from the team behind Re-animator. Gory, repugnant and amusing in about equal quantities. I particularly like the mutated organ that grows out of the head. It makes me laugh every time.
40: FROM HELL
There have been so many Jack the Ripper films over the years and perhaps we only consider them horror movies because the fiend remained uncaught. Entering into mythology, he has become a cornerstone of horror but – to my mind – the Hughes Brother’s film puts all the others in the shade. After “From Hell” who can take any of the others seriously?
41: GINGER SNAPS
You’ll see this and its sequels haunting the cheap bins of video stores the nation over. You’ll probably think it is going to be just another crappy horror film but you will be wrong. Certainly one of the best horror franchises to arrive… ever.
42: HALLOWEEN
Well, the first one is a classic. Great Score. Great Direction. Great Camera work. See it in Widescreen or don’t bother at all. The second is okay. The third one attempts to take the series in a different direction and I’d be quite a fan if someone would release it uncut. Hey, guys. I saw it in the cinema so I know what is missing. Michael Myer fans (?) demanded a return of the Shatner mask wearing maniac and it was all down hill from there. Halloween H20 was an improvement but not enough of an improvement to rate the good reviews it garnered from some quarters.
43: HELL RAISER
Well, the first one is a classic and the second is okay. Need I go on. They’re up to number seven now and returns continue to diminish.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
44: HIGH TENSION
A surprise arrival out of France. Marred only by a plot twist too far in the closing reel, this is the film people should have been raving about instead of “Saw” and “Wolf Creek”. Of course, this one is in French so mall rats will be discouraged.
45: HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CORPSES
This one divides people. For some it is the worst film ever made but here in House Sprocket we cheer it on regardless. The only film I have watched five times in the last year.
46: THE HUNGER
Tony Scott delivers a stylish vampire movie that invents MTV and Goth without even trying.
47: THE HILLS HAVE EYES
Budgie sucking cannibal mutants wreak havoc on nuclear family. Wes Craven earns his place in the genre hall of fame with this original seventies shocker.
48: THE HILLS HAVE EYES
You know all that shit I’ve been laying on recent remakes of classic horror films. Well, every rule needs an exception.
49: THE HOWLING
Joe Dante brings us a tale of a colony of werewolves. Ignore the sequels with a vengeance- particularly the one with marsupial werewolves. What were they thinking?
50: INFERNO
The second part of Argento’s yet to be completed Mother’s trilogy, it isn’t nearly as good as “Suspiria” but it still wipes the floor with the opposition.
51: INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise get to don the fangs in Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel. The cinematic equivalent of a Radiohead song.
52: LAND OF THE DEAD
Arriving out of nowhere, the fourth (sic) instalment of Romero’s Dead tri-ology could have been a disaster. Instead, having Dennis Hopper play George Bush Junior was a masterstroke. Are the zombie’s really third world terrorists. You can think about it or stare in awe at Asia Argento. Your choice, really.
53: LIFEFORCE
Here’s one that everyone seems to have forgotten. Colin Wilson wrote a fairly serious novel about a space ship full of vampire creatures and how they are the source of all our blood drinking legends. Messrs Golan and Globus opened their cheque books and commanded Tobe Hooper to turn it into a film. He unleashes a zombie vampire horde on London. The resulting folly is almost like remaking “Plan Nine from Outer Space” with a big budget. Still, try not enjoying it. I dare you.
54: THE LOST BOYS
I have friends who go ape shit over this movie. To me, it’s pretty good but I’ve never wet my pants over it. Perhaps I just find the ending a little disappointing. It starts off as a recruitment poster for the living dead and succeeds admirably until we find out just how square the boss vampire is.
55: MARTIN
Is Martin a vampire or just a fucked up kid? Certainly, his creepy family isn’t helping any. George Romero’s masterpiece.
56: MAY
“Amelie” for the Romero (de)generation. A true original. Ask no more questions. Just go and see the damn thing.
57: MIMIC
Mutant cockroaches in the New York subways. Just saying that pretty much tells you it is going to be creepy. Great atmosphere, set design, lighting and direction from Guillermo Del Toro.
58: THE MUMMY
Another oft copied franchise but, really, the first one said it all. The recent CGI heavy retreads are undeniably fun but I’ll stick to Karloff and this tale of love surviving beyond the grave.
59: NADJA
A black and white vampire film produced by David Lynch, you know you are heading into art house territory. It won’t cheer the gore hound in your life but it’s still worth a viewing. Parts of the film were shot using a camera from a fifty dollar child’s toy. I’ll have no more talk of broadcast quality from camera store employees.
60: NEAR DARK
Part Vampire film, part Southern Gothic, part Western but one hundred percent brilliant outlaw movie. One of the best horror films ever with a great score by Tangerine Dream.
61: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
It would be hard to make a bad movie with a character like Freddy Krueger as your main villain. Unfortunately, Freddy became more and more of a pantomime cut out as the series progressed. From child killing scum bag, he slowly becomes your friendly neighbourhood pizza faced clown. The original is great, showing a true understanding of the logic of dreams. Wes Craven returned for the brilliant “New Nightmare” but the trail blazing post modern approach he employed for that film failed to find an audience until he learned to make it funny. But we’ll talk about “Scream” later. Also, don’t just take my word for it. Parts 3 and 4 have both earned good reviews from different quarters who maybe are looking for different thills than me. I cannot find many kind words for parts 2 or 5 though.
62: THE NIGHT STALKER
A great television movie directed by Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” fame. A series followed that in many ways laid the ground work for the X-Files. The highlight, however, was this film about a reporter chasing a vampire in Las Vegas. Hard boiled dialogue and breathless direction make the implausible feasible. Curtis’ grip on pacing should make this compulsory viewing for anyone who ever dreams of picking up a camera.
63: NOSFERATU
Yes. It’s a silent movie but that doesn’t mean it is crap. In fact, it is one of the few silent movies to endure into modern popular culture. Watching it through is like seeing a parade of images that have been etched into your psyche at the level of race memory. Far more than a curiosity. An unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, its survival into the modern age was virtually guaranteed when all prints were ordered destroyed.
64: NOSFERATU
One of my favourite movies of all time, this Hertzog/Kinski collaboration touches places all other vampire films have feared to tread. Kinski is utterly monstrous as the titular vampire but plays with such pathos that you cannot help feeling his pain. Filmed in English, most critics prefer the dubbed German version perhaps because it is a little painful listening to the cast wrestling with unfamiliar vowels and consonants.
65: THE OMEN
The original tale of nasty little Damien, child of Satan manages to raise some scares. It does, however, make regular appearances on “worst of” lists the world over. Clearly it works for some and not others. It is particularly effective on those with stern Christian upbringings.
66: OPERA
Spectacular sets, magnificent set pieces, camera tricks, soundtrack and atmosphere do not cover all of the shortcomings of this film by Dario Argento. For a start, it does not take an avid genre buff to spot an ending “borrowed” from a novel by a certain Mr Harris. This does, however, feature a scene involving tape, needles and the human eye that is perhaps Argento’s finest statement about his work.
67: PEEPING TOM
Michael Powell isn’t the kind of director you associate with this genre and this, his only contribution to it, virtually killed his career on the spot. The story, involving a murderer who films his crimes, has been mimicked by a hundred low budget film makers trying simply to make a bigger bang for their buck. Powell is smart enough to see the connections between cinematography and voyeurism and isn’t afraid to exploit them. Even though time has warn down its shock value, it remains a must see film.
68: THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS
Weird goings on in the home of a pair of rich psychos. Any parallel with Reagan’s America is purely intentional.
69: PHANTASM
The Tall Man takes the bodies of the recent dead, turns them into mutant midgets and sets them to work in a hideous hell world. Oh yeah, he’s also got these ball things with spikes and drills and shit and it gets real nasty real quick. Don Coscarelli directs this cult classic.
70: PHANTASM II
The Ball is back. A bigger budget means the Tall man now empties out whole towns. The Original is great but the second one successfully builds on its predecessor’s intentions. Whilst most sequels run on diminished returns, this one justifies a franchise.
71: PHENOMENON
Argento again. Don’t bother with the hacked down mess released under the title “Creepers”. This flirts with an almost fairy tale like sense of reality and, even in its uncut form, didn’t go down well with fans expecting something else. Only a step down from the dizzy heights of “Suspiria”, this is still one to watch.
72: POLTERGEIST
Tobe Hooper directs (though rumour has it Steven Spielberg had a big hand in it). A kind of haunted house film in the middle of suburban normalcy, this film has a real power to scare.
73: PRINCE OF DARKNESS
The Anti Christ is in a bottle and the lid is coming off. John Carpenter writes, directs and scores one of his all time best.
74: PSYCHO
What can you say about the grand daddy of them all? I considered both “The Birds” and “Frenzy” for inclusion in this list but “Frenzy” is more of murder mystery in the traditional sense. If I included that I would have had to include “Cat Of Nine Tails” and “Seven” and, if I included them… you get the picture. Apart from the scene in the school playground, I never found “The Birds” to be a particularly good film – even when I was ten. Some will find that sacrilege as the master’s work is considered sacrosanct. Listen, go watch “Jamaica Inn” and try telling me Hitchcock was a genius whilst keeping a straight face. “Psycho”, however, retains its power almost a half century on. It is not nearly as gory as you will remember it being. The shocks come through the editing and the amazing Bernard Herrmann score.
75: RABID
When plastic surgery goes bad it can only mean a plague of a virulent new form of rabies is unleashed. Well it could also mean Michael Jackson but let us stick to horror movies and not horror fact. Cronenberg unleashes the tide of terror. Probably the first film where Santa gets killed.
76: RE-ANIMATOR
H P Lovecraft story about a formula to bring the dead back to life. Gore. Gore. And then some more gore. It is also deliriously funny. If I tell you one of the highlights involves decapitated cunnilingus you will look at me with a disgusted look upon your face. When you watch the scene, you will laugh. Loudly. Your friends will be embarrassed by your laughter.
77: REPULSION
Roman Polanski leaves poor Catherine Deneuve in a pokey little London flat where she can go a little crazy and murder anyone who makes unwanted advances towards her. Most critics regard it to be a masterpiece and who am I to argue?
78: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
Punk rock zombies. Dan O’Bannon puts the spook into spoof.
79: THE RING
The Japanese version is the best but the American remake has its moments too. The Japanese sequels are good too but the American sequel chickens out of some good ideas. That said, any investigation of the new wave of Japanese horror begins here.
80: ROMASANTA
A truly excellent werewolf that slipped right under the radar because of “Brotherhood of the Wolf”. Whilst “Brotherhood” merrily jumped genres and thus missed a berth on this list, “Romasanta” tells the true story of a Spanish mass murderer whose defence of lycanthropy was accepted by the courts. Unusually, Brian Yuzna produces a film that looks classy. Paco Plaza directs like he’s conducting a symphony and, thankfully, Julian Sands slices his ham very thinly indeed. This may be rich in period piece detail but the transformation sequence raises the bar for any wolf flick to follow.
81: ROSEMARY’S BABY
In Polanski’s most famous scary movie, Mia Farrow is carrying the child of the devil. Soon, she would marry Woody Allen. Prophecy? Or is reality scarier than fiction.
82: SANTE SANGRE
Alejandro Jodorowski directed oddity, a kind of “Psycho goes to the Circus”. Fenix watches his father hack off his mother’s arms and promptly goes insane. He comes out of the institute to play his mother’s arm’s in a circus act. Off course, mother needs those arms for a murderous spree too or maybe Fenix is just looking for a little justification. Much of Jodorowski’s work has been allegorical and maybe I’m just too stupid to see the allegory this time around. It doesn’t matter, the film is fantastic.
83: SCREAM
It took horror movies a few years to recover from Scream. Knowing, post modern and fun, it still doesn’t forget it is supposed to be scary. Smartly killing off the biggest star off early threw audiences into a loop. This film explained the rules, appeared to break them but didn’t really. The script was genius and all director Wes Craven had to do was not fuck up. He didn’t. Unfortunately for horror fans, every two bit hack in Hollywood suddenly thought they knew how to write and, with the noticable exception of Josh Whedon, they were wrong.
84: THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW
More Wes Craven and more zombies only this time with a basis in scientific fact. However, any horror movie fan knows that, if a scientist starts looking into voodoo, things are going to get pretty weird.
85: THE SHINING
I don’t give a crap about what Stephen King says, Kubrick’s version takes the novel and nails it. If Mr King held a party for everyone who thought his ill advised authentic vision remake was anything other than a complete waste of time and money, he’d be booking a very small room indeed. “But what about my major theme of alcoholism?” whines Stephen. Hands up anyone who didn’t work out that Nicholson had a problem when he started hanging out in the bar with his imaginary friends. Don’t all put them up at once.
86: SHIVERS
AKA “The Parasite Murders” AKA “They came from within”. Dick shaped parasite slugs invade the orifices of human hosts, turn them into sex crazed psychos who go off to pass on more slugs to others. David Cronenberg’s mainstream debut is pretty much as far as you can go on the edge of the mainstream without falling off the edge. You start off being revolted but part of you is quite happy to see the façade of civilisation fall away from the mediocrity of modern apartment style living.
87: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Every one thinks of Hannibal Lector as the monster of this flick and it’s true that Anthony Hopkins plays him as evil. In the sequels, it is increasing a case of “I’m you’re friendly neighbourhood serial killer.” The real villain here is Buffalo Bill, a completely unlovable son of a bitch if we’ve ever met one. Jodie Foster (as Clarisse Starling) always seems to be in jeopardy. Everywhere she goes she is leered at. She is constantly surrounded by much larger men who never give a hint of being protective. Just this in itself is enough to give this film a chilling atmosphere but it gets worse. A genuinely scary film.
88: SLEEPY HOLLOW
Tim Burton re-imagines the world of Hammer Horror movies and creates an apex of the form rather than paying mere homage. Christopher Lee even gets a call up to play a judge. Christopher Walken gets to play the uncredited role of the Headless horseman. Perhaps it isn’t the scariest film ever made but is always a delight to watch this one again.
89: SOCIETY
Paranoid fun from those lovely people who brought us Re-animator. Here, for the first time, is the absolute truth concerning growing up. Well, maybe not the absolute truth but there’s a certain amount of allegory happening here.
90: SUSPIRIA
A dancing school run by witches. The driving rain. Grotesque set piece murders and a soundtrack that sounds like all of hell’s minions are bursting through the speakers. The first time I saw this was in London’s Scala cinema, a decaying old pile in a lousy crack selling neighbourhood. They cranked the sound up extra loud and it was like a zombie beating you across the head with a severed limb. I was lost for words. It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen (or heard). Hugely influential this classic by Dario Argento demands to be listened to at volume. Piss your neighbours off today or just invite them over to watch.
91: TENEBRAE
Another Argento classic but much more of a murder mystery than a horror movie. It is, however, very bloody and remains disturbing to this day. It is, technically, one of Argento’s tightest films. The camera that floats over the house shot is one of the director’s greatest technical achievements. The film is also quietly witty. At one stage, the murderer pretends to slash their own throat using a fake straight edged razor. This shows us exactly how the earlier stomach churning effects were achieved. Being a good magician, Argento then ups the ante with a few little tricks you couldn’t possibly explain with a faked blade. This will not be for all tastes.
92: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
Does exactly what you expect from the name on the box only more so. Tobe Hooper hits us up with gore for the first half hour and lets us ride the threat of horror for the rest of the movie. Superbly structured and utterly grotesque. Ignore all the sequels and re-makes. This is the real scary deal.
93: THE THING
John Carpenter’s finest piece of work practically put an end to his career. More a return to the original story rather than a re-make of the Howard Hawks film, it was dismissed immediately upon it’s release as grim and gory (like that was a bad thing), nobody commented on the amazing special effects (made more realistic through minimal lighting). Nobody commented on the depths of the characterisation and the growing sense of despair; the heroism in the face of utter hopelessness. To this day, I am yet to hear anyone comment on just how good Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack is. (Morricone would actually receive stunning reviews when he played pieces from this soundtrack at classical shows using different titles and neglecting to inform the audience where the pieces originated). Anyone who tells you that this isn’t a touch on the original fifties science fiction film is an idiot relying on (false) childhood memories. Though this is what many reviews claimed, you try watching the two films side by side and just see how laughable the comparison is. Hawk’s film looked at a rubber suited “Vegetable” man and asked “What is that?”. Carpenter’s monster is more like a disease. The premise of “Who is it in?” is far scarier.
94: TWINS OF EVIL
There are two twins, one naughty and one nice. There’s a vampire in the local castle so you pretty much know where the bad girl is heading. Hammer made a lot of films and I’m singling this one out because it has held up very well over time thanks mainly to Pater Cushing’s performance as the sadistic Witchfinder. This character grants the film a moral complexity that most of its contemporaries lacked
95: VAMPIRES
John Carpenter gets to sort of make a hard boiled western with vampires and vampire hunters. From the moment the opening soundtrack teases a “Suspiria” like motif, you know the film is heading in the right direction. James Wood gets to play a stake wielding son of a bitch and he revels in his tough guy role. Carpenter’s strongest film in years. His role in the name bearing sequel was “to pick up the cheque”.
96: VIDEODROME
James Wood obviously only gets to make a late appearance on this list but his contribution to any film is always worthwhile. Here he plays a shit bag of a TV Producer whose search for new sleaze brings him in contact with “Videodrome”; a kind of fly on the wall look at torture without plot, narrative or characterisation. This program is not all it seems. It is “political” in that it includes a buried signal that induces hallucinations. One of Cronenberg’s best and bravest, it confuses some audience members. I remember standing outside one of its first performances listening to two meatheads discussing the film.
“I guess it’ll all be explained in number two”.
Of course, you – dear reader – have managed to plough your way through this rather lengthy list which takes some work and at least a modicum of intelligence. In addition, (unlike the gentleman I just quoted) you probably have the ability to tie your own shoe laces.
97: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE
Bette Davis used to be a child star and her continuation of this persona into middle age is a revolting a screen image as you are likely to find. Joan Crawford plays her sister, condemned to a wheel chair after an accident. They live in a decaying old mansion and Bette gets her kick by serving up rat (albeit with silver service) to her sister. It’s like a little trip to hell. You’ll either find this revolting or funny in a camp kind of way. Either way it is great value.
98: THE WICKER MAN
Cop goes to pagan island and gets sacrificed. An amazing film. One of the best ever made (and not just in the horror genre). I dread the coming remake with a vengeance. I actually pray my doubts will be overcome but you’d only try to make a remake of this if you were hoping for some money. As soon as I started hearing about “necessary changes to the plot” I began to suspect they didn’t have a clue about the original film. Go rent the original now.
99: WILLARD
The original is fun but this Crispin Glover starring remake gives the whole notion of remakes a good name. After watching this you’ll think remakes should be made compulsory. Glover is just a genius. Director James Wong is a genius. The film is just so blackly funny that it hurts to watch. My favourite sequence involves poor strange Willard being given a little kitten to brighten his sad and lonely life. Unfortunately for Mr Kitty, Willard already has a hell hoard of rodent friends to keep him company. Try not to wet yourself laughing as the strains of Michael Jackson’s “Ben” (from the original movie) rise up to accompany the confrontation between feline and rat.
If you get the DVD, you also get a music video of Glover’s version of the theme song. He directed it himself with a bigger budget that the unreleased debut feature he is making. If this gives any indication of his talents in the directing department I’m down for the premier.
100: THE WOLFMAN
“Even a man who’s pure of heart and says his prayers at night can become a wolf when the wolf’s bane blooms and the moon is full and bright.” Lon Chaney Jr gives one of his few performances of note as poor damned Larry Talbot, bitten by a werewolf and now cursed to a similar fate. Even today, it still stands heads and tails above a hundred subsequent takes on the theme.
101: ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS
Without doubt, the best of the many Italian zombie flicks which haunted flea pit cinemas, drive-ins and video nasty lists. Combining Romero style flesh eaters with the jungle style voodoo of the original zombie films, this was a film good enough in its own right to spawn imitators. Avoid hacked up video copies and full screen prints. Lucio Fulci’s film is barely comprehensible uncut and in widescreen but the chopped up prints just become plain stupid. If you’ve tried a little Argento and you’re itching to take the deeper plunge into the Italian sub genre, here is a good a place as any.
GOD TOLD ME TO DO IT
This film didn’t make the original list but I decided it should have. However, I thought 101 sounded good because then each Dalmatian could have a movie of its own. 102 just sounded silly and it would have required a whole bunch of renumbering. This weird Larry Cohen film involves an alien (who may or may not be the second coming of Christ) ordering people to kill each other because he wasn’t too happy about the way he was treated last time. The cop who is investigating has a surprise waiting for him that I won’t spoil for you. However, any film that has Jesus as a bad guy has my vote. Did I say he was Jesus? I’m sorry, the film doesn’t say he’s Jesus. He was just born of a virgin and spends most of the film glowing, that’s all.
And now, it’s your turn to comment.
Forget pretending this is a “best of list”. I’ve been adding and dropping things for a week now and I’ve probably still left out all kinds of frighteningly obvious choices. You can, however, still feel free to argue away about what I should have included and what I should not. That’s part of the fun of doing something like this.
The hardest thing about writing a list like this is deciding what constitutes a horror movie these days. Supernatural themes alone don’t make a horror movie. You won’t find “Ghost” (Demi Moore version) on the list even though that has a supernatural theme. That isn’t just because it isn’t a horror movie either. I think one of the operative words here was supposed to be great and, unless I follow that with “big pile of steaming dog shit” I don’t think I can honestly use that word in connection with this Academy Award winner. There is a film that looks worse and worth the further we get from the decade that spawned it.
Besides, if it was only about supernatural themes, you couldn’t include “Psycho” on a list of horror movies and that just isn’t going to happen, is it? Well, maybe I’ll prove to be really fickle and leave it off just for kicks. You’ll have to scroll down and see.
Does a serial killer movie instantly fit the bill of a horror movie? Whilst “Silence of the Lambs” has all the hallmarks of a horror movie, it runs close to the line of crime drama too. Based on its structure and the climactic scene where Foster hunts Buffalo Bill through the darkened catacombs, I called it in as a horror movie. “Seven” is a similarly dressed film and, I’ll go out on a limb and say it is superior to “Silence”. It even shares a plot with some of the work of Vincent Price (“Theatre of Blood”, “The abominable Dr Phibes”) but you wouldn’t call it a horror movie.
“Henry: Portrait of a serial Killer” probably is a horror movie whilst the notorious “Man Bites Dog” isn’t. You see what I mean about working out what constitutes a horror movie. Sometimes it just seems to boil down to someone calling it a horror movie.
“The House of a Thousand Corpses” is a horror movie but it’s sequel “The Devils Rejects” is not. The second film is equally horrific but is more of a cops versus baddies kind of a deal.
Mental distress and breakdown often constitute a horror movie. Polanski’s “Repulsion” is considered to be a horror movie but Sam Fuller’s “Shock Corridor” isn’t. Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant” is about as scary as a film gets but that isn’t a horror movie either. So, is Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” a horror film? Well, probably not. I sat in the bath and thought about it but life is too short and I had to go to work.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of the best realised of all movie monsters but the films just aren’t that good. King Kong is a classic monster too but King Kong just isn’t a horror movie.
There were other choices I ummed and ahhed over. “Witchfinder General” is often included in horror movie lists but it isn’t a horror movie either. Or is it? Some would also argue that the most frightening thing they have ever seen on the screen was Britney Spears in “Crossroads”. If only the ads had gone “A film so shocking we guarantee you will throw up.”
Some might ask why there are no inclusions from the “Friday the Thirteenth” saga. Well, I’ve seen them but they all bored the living shit out of me.
1: THE ADDICTION
Abel Ferrara and writing partner Nicholas St John bring us a tale of vampirism expressed as addiction. Despite being in Black and White, this is one of Ferrarra’a most accessible recent films.
2: ALIEN
Originally this was advertised as being like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Space” and I’ve heard worse descriptions. Ridley Scott knows what scares you. The sequels are good too but Aliens is more of an action flick and, despite a setting of fear, by Aliens3 the franchise is more about heroics than horror.
3: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
Whilst this film is partially spoof, Jon Landis keeps the scares coming. The transformation sequence will be frequently copied but seldom bettered.
4: ANGEL HEART
De Niro is the devil and Mickey Rourke is in deep shit. Alan Parker directs expressionist voodoo and one day he’ll realise this was the best film he ever made.
5: ARMY OF DARKNESS
The third film in the Evil Dead trilogy and the whole franchise has gone insane. So insane in fact that it stands alone as a credible film in its own right. Medieval Dead, Harryhausen style effects and a little Bruce versus Bruce action. Rocking.
6: AUDITION
Miike Takashi directs this serious piece of Japanese nastiness. I won’t give away the end but consider yourself warned.
7: BASKET CASE
Cheap and cheerful tale of man and evil mutant twin going ape shit in New York. Equal parts black comedy and total gross out.
8: THE BEYOND
Lucio Fulchi’s surreal masterpiece. An old hotel in Louisiana, a gate way between hell and earth. It’s like a dream; a very scary dream.
9: BLACK SUNDAY
Mario Bava goes gothic in this tale of a witch burned at the stake but now back to reap vengeance. Atmospheric and influential, It’s Bava’s finest moment.
10: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
There are two schools of thought about this one. Some say it is boring and that nothing happens and they don’t know what all the fuss is about. These people have no imagination or empathy (a medical definition of sociopathy). Something is happening out there but we don’t know what it is. As scary as it gets.
11: BLOOD AND ROSES
Roger Vadim directed this version of the Carmila story. Mostly ignored, it has its fans. Gothic atmosphere, hallucinatory sequences, sexual overtones. Sounds like everything a vampire film should be to me.
12: BLOOD FOR DRACULA
Andy Warhol has his name al over the packaging but has little to do with the finished product. Udo Kier plays the Count as a pathetic figure only able to drink the blood of virgins (a resource in short supply). Kier gives this a real emotional kick that raises the film above the low water mark it was aimed at. Interesting two edged sub text too. On a popularist level it preaches socialism but its real sympathies lie with the outsider.
13: BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW
Satanism and sacrifice. Once, this was a popular sub genre and here was its zenith.
14: BLUE SUNSHINE
Bad drugs taken in the sixties deliver worse side effects in later life. Murder and mayhem follow.
15: THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTIEN
An all time classic of the cinema and not just the genre. Our sympathies are well and truly with the monster. Karloff’s acting is superb.
16: THE BROOD
Cronenberg makes a film about divorce and its effect on children. He does it, however, his own way and it isn’t for the faint of heart.
17: CANNIBAL HOLLOCAUST
It has been described as the nadir of a genre that is the nadir of taste. “The Blair Witch Project” stole plenty of plot and stylistic ideas from this film but the difference is we can see what is going on and it isn’t very nice. The documentary feel makes this truly terrifying but it is also a very well made film.
18: CARRIE
Remember a time when Stephen King wrote quality and not quantity? Do you remember a time when you didn’t have to pay excess luggage charges to take his work on a plane? This film does and is all the better for it.
19: CAT PEOPLE
Let’s make myself unpopular with purists. I am convinced that critics of Paul Schrader’s must have been watching a different film than me. Full of doom and poetry, this is a classic. Look, the original has its moments too but it doesn’t have Nastassja Kinski.
20: THE CHURCH
It started off with the lowly aspiration of being Demons 3 and instead became a classic of Italian Horror.
21: THE CRAZIES
George Romero is on familiar territory with a military accident that releases a biological agent that turns folk into psychos. I saw this for the first time at the Electric Cinema in Brixton. Emerging into the night, the police had set up barricades to control (unrelated) public disorder. It didn’t feel unrelated after watching that flick.
22: CRONOS
A scarab beetle powered device turns its owner into a vampire like creature. It walks the line between horror and fantasy but it should be on your must see list.
23: DARK WATER
Grim apartments. Ghosts. Isolation. Despair. Go for the brilliant Japanese original every time.
24: DAWN OF THE DEAD
Romero teams up with Argento to take zombies shopping. Lots of scares, thrills and comment on consumerism. The European version (called Zombi) has the jokes cut out and a full on score by Goblin. Double your money and double your fun.
25: DEAD ZONE
Forget the television series and forget the novel. Cronenberg’s version gets to the emotional core of the story and delivers. Christopher Walken is at his absolute best playing a fragile caring human being.
26: DEEP RED
Really, it’s a simple murder mystery but that pounding Goblin score and atmosphere mark the moment Argento defined his style. Much of the dialogue was recorded in English but it is better to watch the Italian dubbed version. Unfortunately, the English track is incomplete and the sound of a different voice on an actor can be disconcerting.
27: DON’T LOOK NOW
Death (gets scary) in Venice. A couple attempt to get over the death of their child by taking a holiday in Venice (which always seems like a bad idea in movies).
28: DRACULA
Bela Lugosi is great but the movie less so. Fortunately, Lugosi is so good in the first thirty minutes that the rest of the film doesn’t matter.
29: DRACULA
Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t really do the straight adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel he advertises but he delivers one of his career best films by finding an emotional core for his story and dressing it in expressionism. Some people don’t like the theatricality of the design and others don’t like Keanu Reeves. Me, I don’t give a shit about some people.
30: DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE
Some would name “Horror of Dracula” as the obvious choice but this is certainly one if not the best of the Hammer Dracula films. Its predecessor “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” had been so terribly written that Christopher Lee had refused to read the lines. This film strives to make amends. There is plenty of sacrilegious imagery and sexual overtones are bought to the fore and the effects are more graphic but it is Lee’s film and he personifies evil. I was close to including “Horror of Dracula” in this list but that is a straight telling of the familiar Dracula story and I thought the four other versions I have listed did it better. (See also Nosferatu). Honorary mention should also go to Dan Curtis’ TV Movie version.
31: DRILLER KILLER
Abel Ferrara brings us one of the original video nasties. The title is particularly vile but the film concerns an artist who lives with the fear of his own failure. His dad was a drunk and he fears he’ll go the same way. Meanwhile, the world’s worst punk band rehearses endlessly downstairs. You’d crack too. The only mystery is why he attacks drunken bums and not the punk band.
32: THE EVIL DEAD
A log cabin full of kids attacked by the demonic dead. Nobody had their tongue in their cheeks when they were making this one. The tongue had climbed out of the mouth, run along the floor an d strangled someone first. Gruelling. Terrifying and essential genre viewing.
33: THE EVIL DEAD 2
Sequels have had to do something very special to earn a place on this list and the Evil Dead 2 succeeds by combining the horror genre with three stooges style comedy. The “Farewell to Arms” sequence can only be described as god like brilliance.
34: THE EXORCIST
Catholic Propaganda it may be. That doesn’t mean it isn’t genuinely scary even for a confirmed Atheist like me.
35: THE FLY
The Vincent Price version may be camp funny but trust David Cronenberg to really coin a phrase and underline it. This is body horror. Some say it is an AIDS allegory but it isn’t that simple. Life is a journey of discovery of the new things your body can do to disgust you. If you thought puberty was bad, wait until you hit your forties. It is funny that so many of these eighties horror remakes improved on the originals whilst modern remakes of films from the seventies consistently fail to impress.
36: THE FOG
After Halloween, no one wanted an old fashioned ghost story. Their mistake. Viewed away from the hype, this immediately stands out as an all time classic and clearly needs no kind of lousy remake.
37: FRANKENSTEIN
James Whale and Boris Karloff bring us the original and the best. Time may have wearied it but which of the many re-makes added anything of worth to the story. (Bride of Frankenstein is more a continuation than a sequel or remake).
38: FREAKS
Director Todd Browning makes a film about real circus freaks but the real monster here is the scheming woman who marries for money but finds herself turned into a most unnatural attraction. Banned for many years this may or may not be politically correct viewing depending on how you approach it. It certainly maintains a power to attract and repulse.
39: FROM BEYOND
More H P Lovecraft inspired mayhem from the team behind Re-animator. Gory, repugnant and amusing in about equal quantities. I particularly like the mutated organ that grows out of the head. It makes me laugh every time.
40: FROM HELL
There have been so many Jack the Ripper films over the years and perhaps we only consider them horror movies because the fiend remained uncaught. Entering into mythology, he has become a cornerstone of horror but – to my mind – the Hughes Brother’s film puts all the others in the shade. After “From Hell” who can take any of the others seriously?
41: GINGER SNAPS
You’ll see this and its sequels haunting the cheap bins of video stores the nation over. You’ll probably think it is going to be just another crappy horror film but you will be wrong. Certainly one of the best horror franchises to arrive… ever.
42: HALLOWEEN
Well, the first one is a classic. Great Score. Great Direction. Great Camera work. See it in Widescreen or don’t bother at all. The second is okay. The third one attempts to take the series in a different direction and I’d be quite a fan if someone would release it uncut. Hey, guys. I saw it in the cinema so I know what is missing. Michael Myer fans (?) demanded a return of the Shatner mask wearing maniac and it was all down hill from there. Halloween H20 was an improvement but not enough of an improvement to rate the good reviews it garnered from some quarters.
43: HELL RAISER
Well, the first one is a classic and the second is okay. Need I go on. They’re up to number seven now and returns continue to diminish.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
44: HIGH TENSION
A surprise arrival out of France. Marred only by a plot twist too far in the closing reel, this is the film people should have been raving about instead of “Saw” and “Wolf Creek”. Of course, this one is in French so mall rats will be discouraged.
45: HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CORPSES
This one divides people. For some it is the worst film ever made but here in House Sprocket we cheer it on regardless. The only film I have watched five times in the last year.
46: THE HUNGER
Tony Scott delivers a stylish vampire movie that invents MTV and Goth without even trying.
47: THE HILLS HAVE EYES
Budgie sucking cannibal mutants wreak havoc on nuclear family. Wes Craven earns his place in the genre hall of fame with this original seventies shocker.
48: THE HILLS HAVE EYES
You know all that shit I’ve been laying on recent remakes of classic horror films. Well, every rule needs an exception.
49: THE HOWLING
Joe Dante brings us a tale of a colony of werewolves. Ignore the sequels with a vengeance- particularly the one with marsupial werewolves. What were they thinking?
50: INFERNO
The second part of Argento’s yet to be completed Mother’s trilogy, it isn’t nearly as good as “Suspiria” but it still wipes the floor with the opposition.
51: INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise get to don the fangs in Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel. The cinematic equivalent of a Radiohead song.
52: LAND OF THE DEAD
Arriving out of nowhere, the fourth (sic) instalment of Romero’s Dead tri-ology could have been a disaster. Instead, having Dennis Hopper play George Bush Junior was a masterstroke. Are the zombie’s really third world terrorists. You can think about it or stare in awe at Asia Argento. Your choice, really.
53: LIFEFORCE
Here’s one that everyone seems to have forgotten. Colin Wilson wrote a fairly serious novel about a space ship full of vampire creatures and how they are the source of all our blood drinking legends. Messrs Golan and Globus opened their cheque books and commanded Tobe Hooper to turn it into a film. He unleashes a zombie vampire horde on London. The resulting folly is almost like remaking “Plan Nine from Outer Space” with a big budget. Still, try not enjoying it. I dare you.
54: THE LOST BOYS
I have friends who go ape shit over this movie. To me, it’s pretty good but I’ve never wet my pants over it. Perhaps I just find the ending a little disappointing. It starts off as a recruitment poster for the living dead and succeeds admirably until we find out just how square the boss vampire is.
55: MARTIN
Is Martin a vampire or just a fucked up kid? Certainly, his creepy family isn’t helping any. George Romero’s masterpiece.
56: MAY
“Amelie” for the Romero (de)generation. A true original. Ask no more questions. Just go and see the damn thing.
57: MIMIC
Mutant cockroaches in the New York subways. Just saying that pretty much tells you it is going to be creepy. Great atmosphere, set design, lighting and direction from Guillermo Del Toro.
58: THE MUMMY
Another oft copied franchise but, really, the first one said it all. The recent CGI heavy retreads are undeniably fun but I’ll stick to Karloff and this tale of love surviving beyond the grave.
59: NADJA
A black and white vampire film produced by David Lynch, you know you are heading into art house territory. It won’t cheer the gore hound in your life but it’s still worth a viewing. Parts of the film were shot using a camera from a fifty dollar child’s toy. I’ll have no more talk of broadcast quality from camera store employees.
60: NEAR DARK
Part Vampire film, part Southern Gothic, part Western but one hundred percent brilliant outlaw movie. One of the best horror films ever with a great score by Tangerine Dream.
61: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
It would be hard to make a bad movie with a character like Freddy Krueger as your main villain. Unfortunately, Freddy became more and more of a pantomime cut out as the series progressed. From child killing scum bag, he slowly becomes your friendly neighbourhood pizza faced clown. The original is great, showing a true understanding of the logic of dreams. Wes Craven returned for the brilliant “New Nightmare” but the trail blazing post modern approach he employed for that film failed to find an audience until he learned to make it funny. But we’ll talk about “Scream” later. Also, don’t just take my word for it. Parts 3 and 4 have both earned good reviews from different quarters who maybe are looking for different thills than me. I cannot find many kind words for parts 2 or 5 though.
62: THE NIGHT STALKER
A great television movie directed by Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” fame. A series followed that in many ways laid the ground work for the X-Files. The highlight, however, was this film about a reporter chasing a vampire in Las Vegas. Hard boiled dialogue and breathless direction make the implausible feasible. Curtis’ grip on pacing should make this compulsory viewing for anyone who ever dreams of picking up a camera.
63: NOSFERATU
Yes. It’s a silent movie but that doesn’t mean it is crap. In fact, it is one of the few silent movies to endure into modern popular culture. Watching it through is like seeing a parade of images that have been etched into your psyche at the level of race memory. Far more than a curiosity. An unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, its survival into the modern age was virtually guaranteed when all prints were ordered destroyed.
64: NOSFERATU
One of my favourite movies of all time, this Hertzog/Kinski collaboration touches places all other vampire films have feared to tread. Kinski is utterly monstrous as the titular vampire but plays with such pathos that you cannot help feeling his pain. Filmed in English, most critics prefer the dubbed German version perhaps because it is a little painful listening to the cast wrestling with unfamiliar vowels and consonants.
65: THE OMEN
The original tale of nasty little Damien, child of Satan manages to raise some scares. It does, however, make regular appearances on “worst of” lists the world over. Clearly it works for some and not others. It is particularly effective on those with stern Christian upbringings.
66: OPERA
Spectacular sets, magnificent set pieces, camera tricks, soundtrack and atmosphere do not cover all of the shortcomings of this film by Dario Argento. For a start, it does not take an avid genre buff to spot an ending “borrowed” from a novel by a certain Mr Harris. This does, however, feature a scene involving tape, needles and the human eye that is perhaps Argento’s finest statement about his work.
67: PEEPING TOM
Michael Powell isn’t the kind of director you associate with this genre and this, his only contribution to it, virtually killed his career on the spot. The story, involving a murderer who films his crimes, has been mimicked by a hundred low budget film makers trying simply to make a bigger bang for their buck. Powell is smart enough to see the connections between cinematography and voyeurism and isn’t afraid to exploit them. Even though time has warn down its shock value, it remains a must see film.
68: THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS
Weird goings on in the home of a pair of rich psychos. Any parallel with Reagan’s America is purely intentional.
69: PHANTASM
The Tall Man takes the bodies of the recent dead, turns them into mutant midgets and sets them to work in a hideous hell world. Oh yeah, he’s also got these ball things with spikes and drills and shit and it gets real nasty real quick. Don Coscarelli directs this cult classic.
70: PHANTASM II
The Ball is back. A bigger budget means the Tall man now empties out whole towns. The Original is great but the second one successfully builds on its predecessor’s intentions. Whilst most sequels run on diminished returns, this one justifies a franchise.
71: PHENOMENON
Argento again. Don’t bother with the hacked down mess released under the title “Creepers”. This flirts with an almost fairy tale like sense of reality and, even in its uncut form, didn’t go down well with fans expecting something else. Only a step down from the dizzy heights of “Suspiria”, this is still one to watch.
72: POLTERGEIST
Tobe Hooper directs (though rumour has it Steven Spielberg had a big hand in it). A kind of haunted house film in the middle of suburban normalcy, this film has a real power to scare.
73: PRINCE OF DARKNESS
The Anti Christ is in a bottle and the lid is coming off. John Carpenter writes, directs and scores one of his all time best.
74: PSYCHO
What can you say about the grand daddy of them all? I considered both “The Birds” and “Frenzy” for inclusion in this list but “Frenzy” is more of murder mystery in the traditional sense. If I included that I would have had to include “Cat Of Nine Tails” and “Seven” and, if I included them… you get the picture. Apart from the scene in the school playground, I never found “The Birds” to be a particularly good film – even when I was ten. Some will find that sacrilege as the master’s work is considered sacrosanct. Listen, go watch “Jamaica Inn” and try telling me Hitchcock was a genius whilst keeping a straight face. “Psycho”, however, retains its power almost a half century on. It is not nearly as gory as you will remember it being. The shocks come through the editing and the amazing Bernard Herrmann score.
75: RABID
When plastic surgery goes bad it can only mean a plague of a virulent new form of rabies is unleashed. Well it could also mean Michael Jackson but let us stick to horror movies and not horror fact. Cronenberg unleashes the tide of terror. Probably the first film where Santa gets killed.
76: RE-ANIMATOR
H P Lovecraft story about a formula to bring the dead back to life. Gore. Gore. And then some more gore. It is also deliriously funny. If I tell you one of the highlights involves decapitated cunnilingus you will look at me with a disgusted look upon your face. When you watch the scene, you will laugh. Loudly. Your friends will be embarrassed by your laughter.
77: REPULSION
Roman Polanski leaves poor Catherine Deneuve in a pokey little London flat where she can go a little crazy and murder anyone who makes unwanted advances towards her. Most critics regard it to be a masterpiece and who am I to argue?
78: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
Punk rock zombies. Dan O’Bannon puts the spook into spoof.
79: THE RING
The Japanese version is the best but the American remake has its moments too. The Japanese sequels are good too but the American sequel chickens out of some good ideas. That said, any investigation of the new wave of Japanese horror begins here.
80: ROMASANTA
A truly excellent werewolf that slipped right under the radar because of “Brotherhood of the Wolf”. Whilst “Brotherhood” merrily jumped genres and thus missed a berth on this list, “Romasanta” tells the true story of a Spanish mass murderer whose defence of lycanthropy was accepted by the courts. Unusually, Brian Yuzna produces a film that looks classy. Paco Plaza directs like he’s conducting a symphony and, thankfully, Julian Sands slices his ham very thinly indeed. This may be rich in period piece detail but the transformation sequence raises the bar for any wolf flick to follow.
81: ROSEMARY’S BABY
In Polanski’s most famous scary movie, Mia Farrow is carrying the child of the devil. Soon, she would marry Woody Allen. Prophecy? Or is reality scarier than fiction.
82: SANTE SANGRE
Alejandro Jodorowski directed oddity, a kind of “Psycho goes to the Circus”. Fenix watches his father hack off his mother’s arms and promptly goes insane. He comes out of the institute to play his mother’s arm’s in a circus act. Off course, mother needs those arms for a murderous spree too or maybe Fenix is just looking for a little justification. Much of Jodorowski’s work has been allegorical and maybe I’m just too stupid to see the allegory this time around. It doesn’t matter, the film is fantastic.
83: SCREAM
It took horror movies a few years to recover from Scream. Knowing, post modern and fun, it still doesn’t forget it is supposed to be scary. Smartly killing off the biggest star off early threw audiences into a loop. This film explained the rules, appeared to break them but didn’t really. The script was genius and all director Wes Craven had to do was not fuck up. He didn’t. Unfortunately for horror fans, every two bit hack in Hollywood suddenly thought they knew how to write and, with the noticable exception of Josh Whedon, they were wrong.
84: THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW
More Wes Craven and more zombies only this time with a basis in scientific fact. However, any horror movie fan knows that, if a scientist starts looking into voodoo, things are going to get pretty weird.
85: THE SHINING
I don’t give a crap about what Stephen King says, Kubrick’s version takes the novel and nails it. If Mr King held a party for everyone who thought his ill advised authentic vision remake was anything other than a complete waste of time and money, he’d be booking a very small room indeed. “But what about my major theme of alcoholism?” whines Stephen. Hands up anyone who didn’t work out that Nicholson had a problem when he started hanging out in the bar with his imaginary friends. Don’t all put them up at once.
86: SHIVERS
AKA “The Parasite Murders” AKA “They came from within”. Dick shaped parasite slugs invade the orifices of human hosts, turn them into sex crazed psychos who go off to pass on more slugs to others. David Cronenberg’s mainstream debut is pretty much as far as you can go on the edge of the mainstream without falling off the edge. You start off being revolted but part of you is quite happy to see the façade of civilisation fall away from the mediocrity of modern apartment style living.
87: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Every one thinks of Hannibal Lector as the monster of this flick and it’s true that Anthony Hopkins plays him as evil. In the sequels, it is increasing a case of “I’m you’re friendly neighbourhood serial killer.” The real villain here is Buffalo Bill, a completely unlovable son of a bitch if we’ve ever met one. Jodie Foster (as Clarisse Starling) always seems to be in jeopardy. Everywhere she goes she is leered at. She is constantly surrounded by much larger men who never give a hint of being protective. Just this in itself is enough to give this film a chilling atmosphere but it gets worse. A genuinely scary film.
88: SLEEPY HOLLOW
Tim Burton re-imagines the world of Hammer Horror movies and creates an apex of the form rather than paying mere homage. Christopher Lee even gets a call up to play a judge. Christopher Walken gets to play the uncredited role of the Headless horseman. Perhaps it isn’t the scariest film ever made but is always a delight to watch this one again.
89: SOCIETY
Paranoid fun from those lovely people who brought us Re-animator. Here, for the first time, is the absolute truth concerning growing up. Well, maybe not the absolute truth but there’s a certain amount of allegory happening here.
90: SUSPIRIA
A dancing school run by witches. The driving rain. Grotesque set piece murders and a soundtrack that sounds like all of hell’s minions are bursting through the speakers. The first time I saw this was in London’s Scala cinema, a decaying old pile in a lousy crack selling neighbourhood. They cranked the sound up extra loud and it was like a zombie beating you across the head with a severed limb. I was lost for words. It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen (or heard). Hugely influential this classic by Dario Argento demands to be listened to at volume. Piss your neighbours off today or just invite them over to watch.
91: TENEBRAE
Another Argento classic but much more of a murder mystery than a horror movie. It is, however, very bloody and remains disturbing to this day. It is, technically, one of Argento’s tightest films. The camera that floats over the house shot is one of the director’s greatest technical achievements. The film is also quietly witty. At one stage, the murderer pretends to slash their own throat using a fake straight edged razor. This shows us exactly how the earlier stomach churning effects were achieved. Being a good magician, Argento then ups the ante with a few little tricks you couldn’t possibly explain with a faked blade. This will not be for all tastes.
92: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
Does exactly what you expect from the name on the box only more so. Tobe Hooper hits us up with gore for the first half hour and lets us ride the threat of horror for the rest of the movie. Superbly structured and utterly grotesque. Ignore all the sequels and re-makes. This is the real scary deal.
93: THE THING
John Carpenter’s finest piece of work practically put an end to his career. More a return to the original story rather than a re-make of the Howard Hawks film, it was dismissed immediately upon it’s release as grim and gory (like that was a bad thing), nobody commented on the amazing special effects (made more realistic through minimal lighting). Nobody commented on the depths of the characterisation and the growing sense of despair; the heroism in the face of utter hopelessness. To this day, I am yet to hear anyone comment on just how good Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack is. (Morricone would actually receive stunning reviews when he played pieces from this soundtrack at classical shows using different titles and neglecting to inform the audience where the pieces originated). Anyone who tells you that this isn’t a touch on the original fifties science fiction film is an idiot relying on (false) childhood memories. Though this is what many reviews claimed, you try watching the two films side by side and just see how laughable the comparison is. Hawk’s film looked at a rubber suited “Vegetable” man and asked “What is that?”. Carpenter’s monster is more like a disease. The premise of “Who is it in?” is far scarier.
94: TWINS OF EVIL
There are two twins, one naughty and one nice. There’s a vampire in the local castle so you pretty much know where the bad girl is heading. Hammer made a lot of films and I’m singling this one out because it has held up very well over time thanks mainly to Pater Cushing’s performance as the sadistic Witchfinder. This character grants the film a moral complexity that most of its contemporaries lacked
95: VAMPIRES
John Carpenter gets to sort of make a hard boiled western with vampires and vampire hunters. From the moment the opening soundtrack teases a “Suspiria” like motif, you know the film is heading in the right direction. James Wood gets to play a stake wielding son of a bitch and he revels in his tough guy role. Carpenter’s strongest film in years. His role in the name bearing sequel was “to pick up the cheque”.
96: VIDEODROME
James Wood obviously only gets to make a late appearance on this list but his contribution to any film is always worthwhile. Here he plays a shit bag of a TV Producer whose search for new sleaze brings him in contact with “Videodrome”; a kind of fly on the wall look at torture without plot, narrative or characterisation. This program is not all it seems. It is “political” in that it includes a buried signal that induces hallucinations. One of Cronenberg’s best and bravest, it confuses some audience members. I remember standing outside one of its first performances listening to two meatheads discussing the film.
“I guess it’ll all be explained in number two”.
Of course, you – dear reader – have managed to plough your way through this rather lengthy list which takes some work and at least a modicum of intelligence. In addition, (unlike the gentleman I just quoted) you probably have the ability to tie your own shoe laces.
97: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE
Bette Davis used to be a child star and her continuation of this persona into middle age is a revolting a screen image as you are likely to find. Joan Crawford plays her sister, condemned to a wheel chair after an accident. They live in a decaying old mansion and Bette gets her kick by serving up rat (albeit with silver service) to her sister. It’s like a little trip to hell. You’ll either find this revolting or funny in a camp kind of way. Either way it is great value.
98: THE WICKER MAN
Cop goes to pagan island and gets sacrificed. An amazing film. One of the best ever made (and not just in the horror genre). I dread the coming remake with a vengeance. I actually pray my doubts will be overcome but you’d only try to make a remake of this if you were hoping for some money. As soon as I started hearing about “necessary changes to the plot” I began to suspect they didn’t have a clue about the original film. Go rent the original now.
99: WILLARD
The original is fun but this Crispin Glover starring remake gives the whole notion of remakes a good name. After watching this you’ll think remakes should be made compulsory. Glover is just a genius. Director James Wong is a genius. The film is just so blackly funny that it hurts to watch. My favourite sequence involves poor strange Willard being given a little kitten to brighten his sad and lonely life. Unfortunately for Mr Kitty, Willard already has a hell hoard of rodent friends to keep him company. Try not to wet yourself laughing as the strains of Michael Jackson’s “Ben” (from the original movie) rise up to accompany the confrontation between feline and rat.
If you get the DVD, you also get a music video of Glover’s version of the theme song. He directed it himself with a bigger budget that the unreleased debut feature he is making. If this gives any indication of his talents in the directing department I’m down for the premier.
100: THE WOLFMAN
“Even a man who’s pure of heart and says his prayers at night can become a wolf when the wolf’s bane blooms and the moon is full and bright.” Lon Chaney Jr gives one of his few performances of note as poor damned Larry Talbot, bitten by a werewolf and now cursed to a similar fate. Even today, it still stands heads and tails above a hundred subsequent takes on the theme.
101: ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS
Without doubt, the best of the many Italian zombie flicks which haunted flea pit cinemas, drive-ins and video nasty lists. Combining Romero style flesh eaters with the jungle style voodoo of the original zombie films, this was a film good enough in its own right to spawn imitators. Avoid hacked up video copies and full screen prints. Lucio Fulci’s film is barely comprehensible uncut and in widescreen but the chopped up prints just become plain stupid. If you’ve tried a little Argento and you’re itching to take the deeper plunge into the Italian sub genre, here is a good a place as any.
GOD TOLD ME TO DO IT
This film didn’t make the original list but I decided it should have. However, I thought 101 sounded good because then each Dalmatian could have a movie of its own. 102 just sounded silly and it would have required a whole bunch of renumbering. This weird Larry Cohen film involves an alien (who may or may not be the second coming of Christ) ordering people to kill each other because he wasn’t too happy about the way he was treated last time. The cop who is investigating has a surprise waiting for him that I won’t spoil for you. However, any film that has Jesus as a bad guy has my vote. Did I say he was Jesus? I’m sorry, the film doesn’t say he’s Jesus. He was just born of a virgin and spends most of the film glowing, that’s all.
And now, it’s your turn to comment.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Pretty comphrehensive list you've made. I did something similar, but only did it to fifty. Check here
Since I started my blog nearly two years ago, I steadily broadened my scope to include what I call "nightmare movies" ... which include titles you said weren't horror movies, such as Man Bites Dog and Bad Lieutenant.
In the end they're horror movies, just not the kind that get called horror movies. They're movies about social disease and decay, murder and madness. All subject matter ripe for inclusion in a horror movie.
Have you checked out my blog at all?
Comment by Kelly Wand
Sprocket Holed
Also, I didn't write this post; my stuff's the 2008 meanderings. I don't necessarily hold any of the views espoused by this writer or even the ones I write. The "Willard" remake sucked; Bob Short's crazy.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Glad you like my blog!!
So who is this Bob Short character then?! Sounds like an Alan Smithee to me ... lol