The 25 Best Horror Films of All Time (Well, 1990 - present)
Ooooh, everyone loves a list. Or ... some people love them and other people hate them, but they're still really fun to talk about on a bored Sunday afternoon. (Which today is.) So long story short: I'm friendly with a few bloggers who are part of a horror borg known as The League of Tana Tea Drinkers, and when I heard they were putting together a list of the finest "modern-era" horror films of all time, I raised my hand and went "Ooooh, ooh, pick me! I know the answers!" until they said "Fine, you can participate if you SHUT UP." And so I did.All the participants were asked to send in a list of the ten awesomest horror movies of the past 18 years. Being a mega-dork, I sent in 30. (Hey, I take this stuff pretty seriously.) That list of 30 took me about four hours to trim, and I'll paste it in right after the jump -- but the TRUE list is, of course, this one. Yes, yes, we picked The Descent as #1, and somehow Eyes Wide Shut and Halloween: Water made the list, but hey -- a list wouldn't be any fun if all it included were obvious choices. So click right here to see the final list at Vault of Horror, and also click below to see my own Top 30 (1990 -- present).
And then please leave all sorts of comments about how all these bloggers (and me) are big, fat, know-nothing weenies and how you and your poker buddies thought The Descent sucked. Because, really, that's what these lists are all about: The fun of trashing other peoples' opinions.
Again, THIS is the final list. Below is just my own personal ballot.
1. Let the Right One In (2008)
2. The Descent (2005)
3. Session 9 (2001)
4. Inside (2007)
5. [REC] (2007)
6. Frailty (2002)
7. May (2002)
8. The Devil's Backbone (2001)
9. Dead Alive (1992)
10. The Mist (2007)
11. Mute Witness (1994)
12. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
13. The Host (2006)
14. The Orphanage (2007)
15. 28 Days Later (2002)
16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
17. Tremors (1990)
18. Saw (2004)
19. Cemetery Man (1994)
20. Ravenous (1999)
21. The Living and the Dead (2007)
22. Martyrs (2008)
23. High Tension (2003)
24. Cube (1997)
25. Event Horizon (1997)
26. The Signal (2007)
27. The Ruins (2008)
28. Dog Soldiers (2002)
29. Cloverfield (2008)
30. Misery (1990)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-21-2008 @ 8:17PM
DylanG said...
A lot of my favorite horror films are on this list. High Tension, Saw, The Orphanage, The Silence of the Lambs, The Mist, [Rec], and The Devils Backbone are all amazing. I'm glad to see some love for Frailty, which is an immensely underrated film. However, for including overrated flicks like The Descent and Let the Right One In, I'm going to have to declare you a big, fat, know-nothing weenie.
In all seriousness though, I do dislike those two films quite a bit. Especially Let the Right One In.
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12-21-2008 @ 7:40PM
X said...
Excellent list, Scott.
Since "Let the Right One In" hasn't played in my city yet, I'm going to take your word on it for number one. Nice to see "Event Horizon," which is absolutely bloody terrifying to me, on the list and I'm quite pleased to see "Session 9" roll in at number 3.
I have a hard time classifying "Frailty" as a horror movie, making it the only film I would disagree with including. However, I don't disagree with its power as a well-told story and, in its own strange way, a perfect companion piece to "The Mist."
Thanks for the obviously thoughtfully made list.
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12-21-2008 @ 7:59PM
Peter Hall said...
I don't play poker, but The Descent sucks. A Lot. Like, a lot a lot. Totally lot. (Actually, I've come to tolerate it. But aggregate number one? Be still my raging heart.)
I agree that Let The Right One In is the best horror film of the past 18 years (typo in post, btw). It wasn't in my list at the time of submittable, but I've seen it thrice since and it gets better and better every time.
I like your list, Scott, but Inside at number 4? Really? No way. Also, you need to get your Adventures blog horrorcentric and join the LOTTD brethern (I'll nominate!). We're kind of pretentious, but with all manner of interesting weirdos within.
My personal 10:
10. The Hills Have Eyes
9. The Ruins
8. [REC]
7. Dead Alive
6. Dellamorte Dellamore
5. The Blair Witch Project
4. In the Mouth of Madness
3. Tremors
2. Dawn of the Dead
1. The Mist
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12-21-2008 @ 8:00PM
Peter Hall said...
And yeah, Eyes Wide Shut? What the flamingo?!?
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12-21-2008 @ 9:09PM
spyder said...
I do my best to stay away from these internet plague-like list posts because they merely put the words "best" "list" and "ever" to invoke passionate response so they can get more hits on their posts so they make more money as is the defacto way of making internet mailbox money.
But sadly I could not keep silent for this.
Saw?
The Ruins?
The Orphanage?
Blair Witch?
Cube? Thats not even horror!
You include Saw which I think to most people isn't even scary because it felt like a PG-13 TV Edit of Seven which should have been on this list.
Orphanage was the Devil's Backbone lite! I took my friends to see in theaters based on recommendations from this site and we were bored to tears. The Sixth Sense was more scary than this! I defy you to name the scene which made you scared?
The Blair Witch while a bold experiment was marketing genius not horror greatness.
Maybe the title of this piece should be modern horror films I liked not best horror films of all time.
If you think that these are the best for this time period than you should not be making this list.
The only evidence I need is this:
You put the The Ruins on here instead of:
Seven
Feast
Shaun Of The Dead
28 weeks later
If you are going to try and stretch the genre with Cube why not try Devil's Rejects.
how can you not include Midnight Meat Train? For a person who was " was pleased to see a DVD announcement for The Midnight Meat Train".
There are so many more worthwhile horror movies of this day and age that you are remiss in excluding from this list that it borderlines on disgrace.
This list is not only telling to what is happening to the horror genre but people's tastes in general. When you destroy the horror genre with Scream rip-offs and remakes gone wrong, people begin to think bad is good, mediocre is great and that great is dead.
Mr. Weinberg please stick to posting: The top 20 nude scenes of 2008 and bobble head movie memorabilia news that you are much more accustomed to.
Scary bits should be given to someone who knows what scary is.
To Cinematical Editors:
Please have some respect for the art you post about and don't be afraid to say this blog post is not good enough for cinematical.
With the death of newspapers and film critics, maybe now would be a great time to pick up some great writers and critics on the cheap for this website. Imagine people wanting to come to your website to read well written essays on the state of cinema rather than puff pieces that are meant to incite "nerd rage".
what stops me from going to another website is not the layout of your website or the funny headlines or the quality of your photoshop pun-riddled feature titles. Its the quality of your website's information and writing. One just has to click on 400 screens, 400 blows to understand that.
Another thing why not have some debate on here. I am truly tired of these copy and paste reviews. Don't let the only decent be from your commenters. What made Siskel and Ebert such a success was the debate. Having two different opinions about the same piece of artwork is what gives us the full picture and not just the one-sided view that has always been the cloud over the internet community.
So there you go, you got a sucker to give you another click just to rant. Congratulations. I can't wait to read your "list of best movie evar" where you put Sleepless in Seattle over City Lights because Sleepless in Seattle has Tom Hanks and is in color. Actually hopefully by that time, I will be reading a different website.
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12-21-2008 @ 9:32PM
Matt said...
Damn "spyder", well I hope you feel much better now after your little rant. At the very least, I'm sure you have a larger sense of superiority, which should carry you through until at least Tuesday. I'll admit, you had a few valid points, but your still come off as a whining ahole.
One little thing- if you're trying to compare this website to a newspaper- trust me every single one will be filled with boring puff pieces all this week because no one wants to work during the holidays. I have worked at dailies for the past decade and I can assure you that 90% of their content during the holiday week is done in advance so that they can operate on a skeleton crew while everyone takes vacation time.
So maybe this isn't the right time of year to attack the websites content? I don't think it is very representative of the norm. Maybe I am wrong, I'm not a horror movie fan and have only seen a handful of the movies on the list.
Damn, now I'm embarassed that I've ranted almost as long as you.
12-21-2008 @ 9:33PM
Peter Hall said...
You do realize that this post is actually referencing another list, right? And that this list is just Scott's own personal picks that served that larger project?
As long as we're going to point fingers, what in the hell does Feast have that The Ruins doesn't? Further, how could Feast ever qualify as horror greatness while The Blair Witch Project does not?
12-21-2008 @ 10:09PM
DylanG said...
Spyder, get a grip of yourself. Your taste in movies isn't the end-all for movie tastes. In fact, for someone berating others for the horror films they enjoy, you seem to have a fairly poor taste in horror films yourself (IMO of course). To say that Feast is a better film then The Orphange...wow. You are entitled to your own opinion, but don't trash other people for theirs when most horror fans would strongly disagree with you. The Orphanage was a great ghost story. Incredibly creepy and suspensful, with a strong emotional core as well. Feast was a lame Evil Dead-wannabe, with absolutely no plot and so many failed attempts at humor.
The thing I like about Weinberg's list is that it has several underrated and overlooked horror films on it (excusing the top two). Your list is comprised of the most overrated horror films to come out in the last decade or so. Seven? Shaun of the Dead? 28 Weeks Later? Come on, do you just pick your favourites based on what's in the IMDb top 250?
12-22-2008 @ 10:40AM
monstermac said...
Fuck, man. You're right !
' Seven '.
What the hell ?
12-21-2008 @ 9:27PM
Rick Bman said...
Not a bad list at all. Some on there that I really love, some that I don't like so much, and some that I've never seen.
The Descent scared the crap out of me. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the movie has me all kinds of tense before the creatures even showed up. That movie could have just been about the girls in the cave and I still would have thought it a great horror movie.
High Tension lives up to its title. It is a thoroughly intense experience. They had to throw in that unnecessary twist ending thought. The movie was still great, but that ending was not needed.
Tremors and Misery are great additions to the list.
I personally couldn't stand Cloverfield, not because of the shaky camera or anything like that. I just found the character so annoying that I was actually rooting for the monster to kill them. It was way to much melodrama and not enough monster.
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12-21-2008 @ 9:31PM
Rick Bman said...
Also, I absolutely loved Let the Right One In. It was simply an amazing film. It is a great story with a somewhat dark sense of humor and some pretty vicious horror moments thrown in for good measure.
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12-21-2008 @ 10:29PM
chuck said...
I would have Dawn of the Dead and 30 Days of Night on my list!
Chuck
http://blog.entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com/
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12-21-2008 @ 11:22PM
Beatrice Kiddo said...
This list has some good stuff on it, but I would hardly agree with most of you posters. That Dawn of the Dead remake was garbage, and Feast is a brilliant little horror movie! Definitely a top pick over The Blair Witch, The Orphanage AND The Ruins. But come on, Cube? Event Horizon? CLOVERFIELD? Gag me please.
Secondly if you're going to make a horror list, you might as well add the 80's, considering that's probably the best decade for horror films.
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12-22-2008 @ 12:36AM
doa766 said...
it's too relative to list, if silence of the lambs is horror then there's no contest
also "the shining" is from 1980 so it would qualify for the list and should be undisputed number 1
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12-22-2008 @ 4:44AM
Andrew smith said...
the American version of the desent sucks because of the edited ending. The English version with its down beat ending is a truly amazing film and beats Batman Begins as the best film of 2005.
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12-22-2008 @ 8:01AM
horrific said...
I think "Let The Right One In" is more of a drama with a few horror elements but it's got a nice mood...
"Ginger Snaps" definitly needs to be on the list - at least it is on the "Vault"-list.
Very underrated and one of my all time favorite horror movies is "If I Die Before I Wake" - although not listed as a horror movie I think it definitely is horrific...
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12-22-2008 @ 8:14AM
Herff said...
Dog Soldiers, that's awesome. Actually all I remember from that movie
was the "There is no spoon" line. I really really need to see Let the
Right One In.
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12-22-2008 @ 8:44AM
techstar25 said...
I absolutely hated "May", and just didn't understand it. That's the only one I had a problem with. It was a cool and ambitious idea, but a poor movie.
I'm glad to see "Ginger Snaps" get some love at the other list. I'm also glad to see that other people like "The Mist" despite it's unusual ending.
"The Descent" had a lot of hype, and it turned out to be very good. You guys sure are talking up "Let the Right One In". It better not be a let down.
It's also good to see to "Blair Witch" get some love. There is a lot of "playa hatin" on that movie (ie. the phenomena of people hating something simple yet successful at what it sets out to do). If you saw that in the theater and try to tell me it didn't scare you, then you're lying.
I love lists like these because, if nothing else, it's a list of must-see movies of a particular genre. I'll take these lists and go rent the ones I've missed. So, to me the order is irrelevant.
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12-22-2008 @ 8:48AM
David Musto said...
My list is fairly traditional. While I appreciate some of your entries (Session 9, The Orphanage), I can't put them in the top 10 of ALL-TIME. 1/3 of your ballot came out in the last two years. That is hardly a good example of a cinephile. I am 29 and hardly a foagy, so it is not a matter of sentimentality. My list is:
1. Night Of The Living Dead [1968] (Hello, anyone?)
2. Evil Dead 2 [1987]
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street [1984]
4. Cemetery Man [1994]
5. Suspiria [1977]
6. Dawn Of The Dead [1978]
7. Silence Of The Lambs [1991]
8. Halloween [1978]
9. Army Of Darkness [1992]
10. Ginger Snaps [2001]
11. Last House On The Left [1972]
12. The Gift [2000]
13. Scream [1996]
14. 28 Days Later [2002]
15. Hellraiser [1987]
16. Lost Boys [1987]
17. Shaun Of The Dead [2004]
18. Tenebre [1982]
19. Monster Squad [1987]
20. Zombie (a.k.a. Zombi 2) [1980]
This is the best I could do while at work.
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12-22-2008 @ 4:08PM
David Musto said...
1. Cemetery Man [1994]
2. Silence Of The Lambs [1991]
3. Army Of Darkness [1992]
4. Ginger Snaps [2001]
5. The Gift [2000]
6. Scream [1996]
7. 28 Days Later [2002]
8. Shaun Of The Dead [2004]
9. Shadow Of The Vampire [2000]
10. Mother Of Tears [2007]
Alright. I am sorry that I neglected to read the 1990-present part. Peter, you can put your torch and pitchfork away. That makes this list really hard to compile obviously. I still don't believe that the last two years have been so incredible to horror.