Road to 2000 (My Ten Favorite Horror Movies)
As I approach movie #2000 on my list of every movie I’ve seen ranked from favorite to least favorite, I’ve taken a look back at some of my favorites from various genres. In this post, I’ve called out my top ten favorite horror movies.
It takes a lot to scare me, since I don’t count jump scares as real earned scares. This list holds the movies that have given me genuine frights or that are the most fun to watch. My recommendation for watching these though: alone at night using headphones to maximize the terror.
[#10] Talk to Me (2022)
My dad and I were lucky enough to be the first people in the world to see this movie when we went to a screening at Comic Con, and we knew immediately how special Talk to Me was. 10 minutes into the screening, people were already walking out due to the high octane thrills. Centered around one of the great horror movie props, a group of friends find a hand that when you touch it causes you to be possessed by something from the other side until you let go.
Talk to Me is the newest movie on this list, and it perfectly skewers current internet culture without being overindulgent about it. Filmmakers Danny & Michael Phillippou got their start on Youtube, and call out the fact that if teenagers did find this power, they’d of course be using it at parties and recording everything for their Snapchats. To be honest, I get it. If I saw someone pull this thing out at a party, I would definitely want to try.
Now streaming on Paramount+
[#9] A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
The first A Quiet Place movie was one I liked but was never blown away by. It was John Krasinski’s directorial debut, so my expectations weren’t high, but any doubts were shot away by Part II, which improves upon the original in every conceivable way. It’s deeper thematically, more complex in its narrative, and finds genuinely chilling moments with its ingenious use of sound.
Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, and especially young deaf actress Millicent Simmonds turn in pitch perfect performances. In a world where you can’t make a sound for fear of being attacked, these actors need to convey every emotion through their bodies. Although most of the film is silent, A Quiet Place Part II has one of the best opening scenes to any horror movie, covering the first day the monsters show up. I couldn’t be more excited for A Quiet Place: Day One, coming later this year, to get a feature length version of that scene.
Now streaming on Hulu
[#8] The Shining (1980)
The Shining is only one of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces, but that shouldn’t diminish the importance of the impact this film has left. Adapting Stephen King novels in Hollywood has been hit or miss, but The Shining may just be the best of the bunch. Kubrick’s attention to detail and character is unparalleled, brought to life by a terrifying Jack Nicholson and an equally terrified Shelley Duvall.
Jack’s rapid descent into madness is one of the all time great horror performances, leaving you on the edge of your seat for when he’s going to snap. Driven to that point by the Overlook Hotel, Kubrick also succeeds in making the hotel feel like a character itself. Every room and hallway hold dark secrets that you may not want to know the answer to, but Kubrick shows just enough to draw you in with a hand around your throat.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
[#7] Suspiria (1977)
The Dario Argento classic, Suspiria, represents everything I love about one of my favorite subgenres of horror movies: giallo films. The term “giallo” refers mostly to pulpy Italian movies that go over the top on gory kills and erotic themes, but there are great movies from other countries that try to recreate this aesthetic. In Suspiria, a ballet dancer attends a mysterious school in Germany where things tend to go bump in the night.
Suspiria boasts some of the most striking cinematography I’ve seen in any movie for its use of bright neon colors. The school is draped in deep reds and blues that give it an otherworldly feeling as Suzy (played by Jessica Harper) navigates through an endless maze of terror. With some outrageously campy kill scenes, Suspiria is one you go into for fun.
Not currently available to stream (physical media is important!)
[#6] Alien (1979)
In space no one can hear you scream, but they might in your living room. The Alien franchise has a few great movies, but none have been able to capture the singular magic of the original. Ridley Scott’s close-confines sci-fi horror crafts a sleek vision of the future with incredible production design and then has one of cinema’s scariest creatures thrown in the middle of it. The practical effects are next to none.
In Alien, Sigourney Weaver also proves herself as one of the horror genre’s best “final girls”. The “final girl” is always the last one standing in a horror movie after the rest of the cast has been killed off in excruciating ways. Weaver’s Ripley is resourceful, intelligent, and down right bad ass. She was the perfect protagonist, because you’re truly rooting for her to survive.
Now streaming on Hulu
[#5] It Follows (2014)
Many classic horror movies, especially slashers, always have a great sex scene. Two teenagers hooking up at camp? You know they’re goners. A babysitter inviting her boyfriend over late at night? It was nice knowing you. It Follows takes that trope and turns it on its head, using sex as a weapon for terror. In this movie, there’s a creature that hunts its targets down until they have sex with someone else, passing off the monster to them.
This creature has the ability to shape shift into any human it wants, so although it can’t talk or move very fast, the horror of It Follows comes from this thing…following. It’s a slow burn, but the chill-inducing atmosphere never lets up.
Now streaming on Paramount+
[#4] Raw (2016)
Raw is not a movie for the squeamish. This French film follows a vegetarian in her first year of veterinary school, who after being forced to try meat develops a craving for human flesh. Justine (played brilliantly by Garance Marillier) tries meat for the first time to fit in with her peers, and the rest of the movie is a horror-tinged coming of age story about her journey to find herself, albeit through the lense of canabalism…
Going off on your own to college for the first time can sometimes be scary enough. Director Julia Ducournau channels all of that anxiety people feel about new situations into Justine’s unsureness surrounding her new obsession. Is what she’s doing wrong? Well…yes…but she needs to figure out why for herself. On top of that rich thematic message, the body horror is delicious (pun-intended).
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
[#3] Under the Skin (2013)
Before Under the Skin, Scarlett Johansson had spent much of her career being sexualized both on and off screen by men seeking to make her their dream girl. She turned all of that, and the feelings she had about it, to her advantage in Jonathan Glazer’s atmospheric horror movie. Here, Johansson plays an extraterrestrial who has taken human form in order to lure men back to her lair where she can feast on them.
It’s a fantastic premise, made even more so by the use of non-actors as the men Johansson’s E.T. picks up. Behind the scenes, hidden cameras were attached to the inside of a van Johansson drives around in as she pulls up to real people in Glasgow. She then improvises real conversations with these men in an attempt to get them to follow her home. Once they agree, they’re told they’re a part of a new horror movie, and all men shown agreed to come back and film scenes of them later in the alien’s lair. It’s haunting, beautiful, bold work from a fearless actress and director.
Now streaming on Max
[#2] Hereditary (2018)
Hereditary is the movie in my life that has truly scared me the most. I’m talking blanket covering your eyes, sleep with a night light, leave the door locked scared. There are images in this movie that will be burned into the back of your eyelids every time you close your eyes. Director Ari Aster doesn’t resort to cheap jump scares, but finds ways to creep up on you, sometimes hiding terror in the corner of a frame until you finally adjust to the darkness and can notice it hiding.
The plot follows a mother who, after losing her own parent, must wrestle with past demons that have come to haunt her family. In the central role, Toni Collette gives the best performance I’ve seen in any horror movie. The tiredness she’s facing, from life in general let alone the unnatural, weighs on her in every scene. It all builds up to one of the most unbelievable third acts in horror, marking the arrival of Ari Aster as one of the genre’s up-and-coming greats.
Now streaming on Max
[#1] The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter is a master of horror, having directed Halloween, The Fog, and They Live. His crowning achievement, however, is The Thing. Set on a remote arctic base, a crew of scientists begin to turn on each other when they discover a shape shifting creature has infiltrated their ranks. The remote location and cold environment fuel the men into paranoia, driving you as the viewer mad worrying about who the creature is going to inhabit next.
The Thing also features a lost art in most horror movies today: stunning practical effects. When not inside of a host, or once its been discovered, The Thing contorts into horrifying shapes and figures, all brought to life through the very real magic of the movies. If you’re going to have an actor fight such a thing, Kurt Russell is the only man for the job. His grizzled no B.S. helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, is one of Russell’s finest roles. This is one movie you could watch a million times and find new secrets hidden in the ice each with each viewing.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
