Coming up with a list of Top 25 Horror Films is a good way to weed out the manly sort from the pants pissers. You can spot 'em every time a jump scare happens, or a devil-possessed girl crab walks upstairs, or an alien missiles out of some poor bastard's chest.
A lot of big, fat scaredy cat tears were shed as we revisited the best of the best scary movies, just in time for All Hallow's Eve. Using overall movie quality, impact on the genre, legacy potential, fright/creepy factor and Editor's Choice, we assembled a list of movies that guarantee your date will want to stay the night, unless of course she grows tired of telling you to "stop crying 'Mommy'" or is too busy making fun of you for sleeping with a blankey to keep Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers away.
With each member of the Top 25, we cut right to the good part and call out a scary scene you need to watch with the lights on. Some of the movies here are more traditional horror fare, others are just damn twisted and creepy in a "permanently scarred for life" sorta way (e.g. The Silence of the Lambs). But all of them will scare the living s!@# out of you. So enjoy, and fire off your suggestions and hate-fueled opinions in the comments.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Alice has survived a hellish night that saw all her friends butchered around her. She managed to take down the killer herself and sought refuge in a small boat. The cops arrive. She is relieved. And then the deformed boy, Jason, leaps out of the water behind her. And we all scream like hell.
"Ki ki ki, ma ma ma!" There were a ton of movies that attempted to emulate the success of Halloween, but only one of the imitators, Friday the 13th, would prove to be a juggernaut in its own right a huge hit that spawned one of the most successful and long-running franchises in film history.
Sure, we might scoff at some of the cheesier elements of the film, like Crazy Ralph (and some amazing 1980s fashion), but Friday the 13th worked where it counted. Aided by the invaluable makeup effects of Tom Savini, it brought us more vivid (and dare we say, creative) murder scenes than we'd seen before in this type film, and has plenty of "Did you see that?" memorable moments, such as the arrow pierced through the back of poor Kevin Bacon's neck.
Pamela Voorhees is the killer in this film, and her son, Jason, is little more than a memory, only appearing in the "Was it a dream or not?" final scare. But the ground had been laid for a legend that would be built upon in sequels, eventually evolving into the story of a hockey-masked, seemingly immortal juggernaut that audiences still can't seem to get enough of 30 years later.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Scream's opening scene was incredibly strong and scary, instantly grabbing the audience by the throat. Watching a high school girl (Drew Barrymore) get a series of increasingly ominous phone calls, we (and she) begin to realize just how vulnerable she is. And that's when the guy with the ghost-faced mask shows up.
Both director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson have plenty of successes in their career, but Scream remains a big highlight for both men. Williamson's script managed to deftly be so many things it was a sly meta/self-parody about the horror genre that didn't cross the line into goofiness, while also playing as a successful whodunit and, most importantly, an effective horror film in and of itself.
Finally, a group of horror movie characters made it clear that yes, they'd seen all the same movies we had, and were aware of the rules and clichés that come with the genre. But no one was more knowledgeable than the killer (or is that killers?), who toyed with his victims by asking them horror movie trivia that plenty of us in the audience could have fun playing along with.
But when the killer actually showed himself, it was terrifying, with several extremely well-executed suspense scenes by Craven, which proved again just how good he was with this sort of material. A movie that set out to simultaneously make the audience laugh, cheer and yes, scream, Scream deserves a lot of credit for pulling off all these elements so well.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Renfield's midnight ride is full of dramatic tension as he meets the world's creepiest carriage driver and passes unearthly lights burning in the fog. By the time Renfield finally arrives at the castle and is introduced to its master, he and the viewer are much the worse for wear.
All of today's mega-popular vampire franchises, from Blade to Twilight, owe a debt of gratitude to Count Dracula. And as much as Bram Stoker's original novel helped popularize the vampire story, it was Universal's 1931 adaptation that cemented the image of Dracula in the minds of most moviegoers.
Dracula is a fairly straightforward adaptation of the novel, with many of the main characters being condensed down and combined. The film opens with the poor Mr. Renfield's arrival in Transylvania. After falling victim to Dracula's influence, the pair head to London so Dracula can feast on the city's inhabitants. Only the courageous Dr. Seward, his ally Professor Van Helsing, and their friends can prevent Dracula from slaughtering innocents and making the fair Mina his newest bride.
Dracula isn't the scariest film by modern standards (though the alternate Spanish cut is superior in that regard). What it does have is plenty of atmosphere and a very memorable lead villain. This adaptation diverged from the source by making Dracula a handsome, charismatic figure. Bela Lugosi captured the imaginations of millions with his performance as Dracula.
For better or worse, it was a role that would follow him for the rest of his life. It's a role that remains the definitive portrayal of this classic villain for many.
Scene to watch with the lights on: The last 10 minutes of the movie, where we see what the house has planned.
Jackson's chilling novel The Haunting of Hill House has been adapted twice to the big screen. Avoid the 1999 Jan de Bont failure, and instead watch with the lights on director Robert Wise's 1963 original.
The movie provided early audiences with a legitimized look at dealing with the paranormal, as Dr. John Markway leads three others all touched by the supernatural at some point to an old mansion with a sinister past. Of the group, a lonely woman named Eleanor is the one most sensitive to the evil spirits moving throughout the house, spirits we never really see but rather sense through ambient sound cues, brooding music and stark shadows.
The Haunting has appeared on many a "Top Scary Movie" list, which says a lot for a horror film that doesn't have a drop of blood in it. If you like a movie that relies on mood and character to deliver scares, as opposed to Jigsaw traps and entrails, then put The Haunting at the top of your Netflix queue.
Scene to watch with the lights on: A night in the woods full of tent shaking and lots of screaming leads to a morning where one character discovers a nice gift wrap of anatomy no longer attached to its person.
The movie that gave birth to the whole "horror movie as faux-documentary," that inspired such films as Paranormal Activity, is quite an effective scare fest in retrospect.
Some of its then-inspired choices in the realm of "is it or isn't real" seem dated and obvious now, given the fact that the Internet seemingly sets out to reveal spoilers that surround projects like this. (Also, we know it's all fiction at this point.) But Blair Witch came out in 1999, when the Internet was in its infancy and could be used as a tool to successfully convince audiences that maybe the story of a three-person documentary crew going Snipe hunting for what turns out to be pure evil is in fact real.
Blame the gift/curse of the shaky cam on this movie, but give it credit for delivering scares in such a way that changed the way we like to be scared... that changed the way Hollywood goes about making the things that scare us.
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