1FF's Top 100 Horror Films

[Gilly?]

Couple of my choices in there in 28 Days Later and Re-Animator. Good stuff, surprised 28 Days Later isn't a bit higher though.

 

[Cas]

Fifteen Pointers

The Thirst
SoC will give us a write-up for this one.

Maniac Cop 2
Renegade police officer Matthew Cordell (Robert Z'Dar) once roamed the streets of New York City unleashing his murderous brand of vigilante justice upon its denizens before being struck down by good cop Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell). Now, Forrest is eager to move on from those heinous events, but he is stopped short when a familiar killing spree begins. Though thought dead and gone, Cordell is back from the grave and ready to wreak his merciless havoc once more.

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
A woman tormented by strange, drug-induced hallucinations finds her fantasies giving way to violent reality.

Frankenhooker
A New Jersey mad doctor (James Lorinz) rebuilds his girlfriend (Patty Mullen) with body parts from exploded hookers.

The Prowler
A crazed World War II veteran gets revenge on his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, then stalks teens 35 years later.

Phenomena
An American (Jennifer Connelly) at a Swiss finishing school calls on insects to help a paralyzed scientist (Donald Pleasence) fight a monster.

 

[Cas]

Sixteen Pointers

Martyrs
Martyrs is a 2008 French-Canadian drama horror film written and directed by Pascal Laugier. It was first screened during the 2008 Cannes Film Festival at the Marché du Film, and the film's French release was on 3 September 2008.

Jack Frost
As notorious serial killer Jack Frost (Scott MacDonald) is being driven to his execution, the truck carrying the murderer encounters a bizarre accident that transforms him into a mutant snowman. Sheriff Sam Tiler (Christopher Allport), who caught the psychopath originally, has remained concerned about his return, and it seems that his fears were well-founded. Before long, bodies pile up, all killed in gruesome wintry ways. Can the sheriff stop Frost's icy reign of terror?

Tenebre
Visiting Rome on a promotional tour for his new novel, writer Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is pulled into a murder mystery as someone familiar with his work begins a series of killings. While the police look into the crimes, Neal investigates on his own, aided by his beautiful assistant, Anne (Daria Nicolodi), and a tenacious young local named Gianni (Christian Borromeo). As the murderer brutally dispatches of other victims, Neal gets closer to discovering the psychopath's identity.

The Gate
When Al (Christa Denton) and Glenn's (Stephen Dorff) parents (Deborah Grover, Scot Denton) leave town for the weekend, Al uses the opportunity to throw a party while little brother Glenn and his friend Terry (Louis Tripp) decide to explore a hole left by a tree-removal service in the backyard. When unexplainable phenomena begin occurring, Terry -- with the help of his extensive heavy-metal music collection -- comes to the conclusion that he and Glenn have accidentally opened a gateway to hell.

Friday the 13th Part IV (That's four btw, for those of you who've never played Final Fantasy games)
A carefree lakeside vacation is interrupted by the re-emergence of killer Jason Voorhees (Ted White). After he escapes from a morgue, leaving bodies in his wake, Jason travels to Camp Crystal Lake where a group of friends is staying. The teens meet some locals: Tommy (Corey Feldman) and Trish (Kimberly Beck), as well as secretive hiker Rob (Erich Anderson). As the group of teenagers engages in drunken debauchery, their numbers begin to dwindle, and pieces of the past resurface.

 

[Cas]

Seventeen Pointers

Candyman
Skeptical graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) befriends Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Williams) while researching superstitions in a housing project on Chicago's Near North Side. From Anne-Marie, Helen learns about the Candyman (Tony Todd), a knife-wielding figure of urban legend that some of her neighbors believe to be responsible for a recent murder. After a mysterious man matching the Candyman's description begins stalking her, Helen comes to fear that the legend may be all too real.

Mirrors
In a bid to pull his shattered life back together, troubled ex-cop Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) takes a job as a security guard at the burned out ruins of a once-prosperous department store. As Ben patrols the charred hallways, he begins to see horrifying images in the ornate mirrors that still adorn the walls. Ben soon realizes that a malevolent force is using the mirrors to gain entrance into this world, threatening the lives of his wife (Paula Patton) and children.

Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2
The younger sibling of the teenager who killed while dressed as Santa carries on in his brother's bloody footsteps.

The Eye
After 18 years of blindness, 20-year-old violinist Wong Kar Mun (Lee Sin-Je) regains her vision when she undergoes a corneal transplant. She's overjoyed with the procedure, but Mun's elation dissipates when she begins experiencing ghostly encounters. Desperate to discover why she now sees ghosts, Mun turns to a psychologist, Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou), who believes the new corneas are causing the problem. When Mun and Wah travel to her cornea donor's hometown to investigate, her symptoms worsen.

Signs
Everything that farmer Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) assumed about the world is changed when he discovers a message - an intricate pattern of circles and lines - carved into his crops. As he investigates the unfolding mystery, what he finds will forever alter the lives of his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and children (Rory Culkin), (Abigail Breslin). A unique story that explores the mysterious real-life phenomena of crop signs and the effects they have on one man and his family.

 

[Cas]

Loved Candyman when I was younger.

This still scares me a bit...

 

[Cas]

Eighteen Pointers

Gremlins
A gadget salesman is looking for a special gift for his son and finds one at a store in Chinatown. The shopkeeper is reluctant to sell him the "mogwai" but sells it to him with the warning to never expose him to bright light, water, or to feed him after midnight. All of this happens and the result is a gang of gremlins that decide to tear up the town on Christmas Eve.

Silent Night Deadly Night Part 1
An orphan raised by nuns (Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick) grows up to be a killer toy-store Santa Claus.

Repulsion
In Roman Polanski's first English-language film, beautiful young manicurist Carole (Catherine Deneuve) suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend (Ian Hendry), Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.

IT
Seven friends engage in a struggle with the demon they first encountered 30 years earlier in their Maine hometown. From the Stephen King book.

 

[Cas]

Nineteen Pointers

Kwaiden
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai (Rentarô Mikuni) marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden (Keiko Kishi), but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi (Katsuo Nakamura) is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author (Osamu Takizawa) relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Insidious
Parents (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne) take drastic measures when it seems their new home is haunted and their comatose son (Ty Simpkins) is possessed by a malevolent entity.

I Know What You Did Last Summer
A year after running over a fisherman and dumping his body in the water, four friends reconvene when Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) receives a frightening letter telling her that their crime was seen. While pursuing who he thinks is responsible for the letter, Barry (Ryan Phillippe) is run over by a man with a meat hook. The bloodletting only increases from there, as the killer with the hook continues to stalk Julie, Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.).

Switchblade Romance
A beautiful young Frenchwoman, Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco), travels out to the country to visit her family and brings along her friend Marie (Cécile de France). Soon after they get settled in the secluded home, Alex's parents are brutally attacked by a psychotic truck driver (Philippe Nahon), who proceeds to stalk the two women as well. When the killer kidnaps Alex in his truck, Marie hides in the back to try and rescue her, but the bloodshed is far from over.

Carrie
High school can be tough for many teenagers, but for Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz), it's especially hellish. A shy and awkward teen being raised by a religious zealot (Julianne Moore), Carrie is frequently the target of bullies. But Carrie has a secret talent: She can make things move with her mind. One fateful night, an especially cruel prank at her senior prom pushes her over the edge, and Carrie unleashes her telekinetic powers on all who get in her way.

 

[Cas]

Speaking of IT...

 

[Cas]

Twenty Points

Just the one!

The Wicker Man
HOW'D IT GET BURNED?! HOW'D IT GET BURNED. Nah. It's the original.

Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives on the small Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the report of a missing child. A conservative Christian, the policeman observes the residents' frivolous sexual displays and strange pagan rituals, particularly the temptations of Willow (Britt Ekland), daughter of the island magistrate, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). The more Sergeant Howie learns about the islanders' strange practices, the closer he gets to tracking down the missing child.

 

[Cas]

Twenty One Pointers

Sinister
True-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims' home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.

The Beyond
Gruesome deaths occur when a woman (Katherine MacColl) inherits a hotel that is one of seven gateways to hell.

Children of the Corn
As physician Burt Stanton (Peter Horton) and his girlfriend, Vicky (Linda Hamilton), drive across the Midwest to his new job, their trip comes to a sudden halt when they encounter the body of a murdered boy in the road. In trying to contact the authorities, Burt and Vicky wander into a small town populated only by children, followers of sinister young preacher Isaac Chroner (John Franklin). Soon the couple is fleeing the youthful fanatics, who want to sacrifice them to their demonic deity.

 

[Cas]

That's all for the films that finished outside the top 25. Top 25 starts shortly.

 

[Cas]

A troubled widow (Essie Davis) discovers that her son is telling the truth about a monster that entered their home through the pages of a children's book.

Released: 2014
Directed By: Jennifer Kent
Starring: Essi Davies and Noah Wiseman
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

 

[Cas]

Doctor Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) moves his family to Maine, where he meets a friendly local named Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne). After the Creeds' cat is accidentally killed, Crandall advises Louis to bury it in the ground near the old pet cemetery. The cat returns to life, its personality changed for the worse. When Louis' son, Gage (Miko Hughes), dies tragically, Louis decides to bury the boy's body in the same ground despite the warnings of Crandall and Louis' visions of a deceased patient.

Released: 1989
Directed By: Mary Lambert
Starring: Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne, Denise Crosby and Miko Hughes
Rotten Tomatoes: 43%

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Twenty Points

Just the one!

The Wicker Man
HOW'D IT GET BURNED?! HOW'D IT GET BURNED. Nah. It's the original.

Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) arrives on the small Scottish island of Summerisle to investigate the report of a missing child. A conservative Christian, the policeman observes the residents' frivolous sexual displays and strange pagan rituals, particularly the temptations of Willow (Britt Ekland), daughter of the island magistrate, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). The more Sergeant Howie learns about the islanders' strange practices, the closer he gets to tracking down the missing child.

I couldn't have been the only one to vote for this, surely? Number one on my list, I love the film. Creepy as hell. Surprised no one else had it!

 

[Cas]

I couldn't have been the only one to vote for this, surely? Number one on my list, I love the film. Creepy as hell. Surprised no one else had it!

I was surprised too which is why I triple checked.

 

[KevinMcallister]

The Gate ridiculously low, was I the only one voting it?

 

[Cas]

The Gate ridiculously low, was I the only one voting it?

Yep.

 

[KevinMcallister]

FARCE!!!!

STEFAN DORFF people ffs

 

[Son of Cod]

Nice work there, Cas. You banged loads out yesterday!

Thirst and The Beyond were both on my list, will write about them over the next few days at some point.

 

[Smudge]

Phenomena
An American (Jennifer Connelly) at a Swiss finishing school calls on insects to help a paralyzed scientist (Donald Pleasence) fight a monster.

NO! So low? I bloody love this film. Its got a monkey, a midget, and a spundtrack by Goblin and Iron Maiden FFS!!!

 

[Gilly?]

So many good films outside the top 25. Many of my choices are there.

 

[last request]

Damn, forgot to include Predator on my list.

 

[Cas]

Will do quite a few of these tonight.

 

[Cas]

In 1970, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed (Patrick Wilson) Warren are summoned to the home of Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger (Ron Livingston) Perron. The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known. Though the manifestations are relatively benign at first, events soon escalate in horrifying fashion, especially after the Warrens discover the house's macabre history.

Released: 2013
Directed By: James Wan
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Lili Taylor
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

 

[Cas]

Photographer Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) and oncologist Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) regain consciousness while chained to pipes at either end of a filthy bathroom. As the two men realize they've been trapped by a sadistic serial killer nicknamed "Jigsaw" and must complete his perverse puzzle to live, flashbacks relate the fates of his previous victims. Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon's wife (Monica Potter) and young daughter (Makenzie Vega) are forced to watch his torture via closed-circuit video.

Released: 2004
Directed By: James Wan
Starring: Tobin Bell and Cary Elwes
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Photographer Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) and oncologist Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) regain consciousness while chained to pipes at either end of a filthy bathroom. As the two men realize they've been trapped by a sadistic serial killer nicknamed "Jigsaw" and must complete his perverse puzzle to live, flashbacks relate the fates of his previous victims. Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon's wife (Monica Potter) and young daughter (Makenzie Vega) are forced to watch his torture via closed-circuit video.

Released: 2004
Directed By: James Wan
Starring: Tobin Bell and Cary Elwes
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%

I loved Saw when it first came out. It had me gripped and had a fair few scares. The whole franchise is awful but the first film is still good.

 

[Craig]

 

[Craig]

Mines.

Fourteen Pointers
The Amityville Horror
Chiller about a family who is terrorized by supernatural forces when they move into a new house in New York State which was the scene of a recent mass killing and the home of an 18th-century satanist. When swarms of flies appear from nowhere and the pipes and walls begin to ooze slime and blood, they call on a local priest to exorcise the evil

First watched it when I was about 12/13, couldn't sleep so went downstairs to get something to eat, put the TV on and it was just starting so I stayed up and watched it, didn't move off the couch til my mum came down at around 6am. Recently watched it again and it didn't have the same effect on me obviously but made my list out of nostalgia more than ought else, there are a few similar films that are just as good, The Entity and Poltergeist spring to mind, but this was came before those so took the possessed house spot on my list.

Seventeen Pointers
Candyman
Skeptical graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) befriends Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Williams) while researching superstitions in a housing project on Chicago's Near North Side. From Anne-Marie, Helen learns about the Candyman (Tony Todd), a knife-wielding figure of urban legend that some of her neighbors believe to be responsible for a recent murder. After a mysterious man matching the Candyman's description begins stalking her, Helen comes to fear that the legend may be all too real.

One of my all time favourites, another one that traumatised me as a kid and contributed to my undying love of horror films, I had a fear of mirrors til I was about 16 because of it. Has it all, urban legend, dilapidated ghetto sets, awesome flash back scenes, unsettling soundtrack and lots of gore. Mixes eerie atmosphere with shameless jumps and graphic depictions of violence perfectly, the best horror film of the 90's imho.

Eighteen Pointers
Gremlins
A gadget salesman is looking for a special gift for his son and finds one at a store in Chinatown. The shopkeeper is reluctant to sell him the "mogwai" but sells it to him with the warning to never expose him to bright light, water, or to feed him after midnight. All of this happens and the result is a gang of gremlins that decide to tear up the town on Christmas Eve.

Best Christmas film ever made. My number one creature feature, can watch it any time. Dismissed as a kids films quite often it's far from it, more atmospheric in parts than most other horrors aimed at a more adult audience. Perfect blend of comedy and horror.

Twenty One Pointers
Children of the Corn
As physician Burt Stanton (Peter Horton) and his girlfriend, Vicky (Linda Hamilton), drive across the Midwest to his new job, their trip comes to a sudden halt when they encounter the body of a murdered boy in the road. In trying to contact the authorities, Burt and Vicky wander into a small town populated only by children, followers of sinister young preacher Isaac Chroner (John Franklin). Soon the couple is fleeing the youthful fanatics, who want to sacrifice them to their demonic deity.

'OUTLANDER, WE HAVE YOUR WOMAN OUTLANDER'

What's not to love? middle of nowhere town is overtaken by the children who murder all the adults after an evil presence in the surrounding corn fields compels them to. They then proceed to worship 'he who walks behind the rows' and sacrifice anyone who reaches the age of 19, throw in a young couple in love come across the nightmare scenario and you're onto a winner. It's not aged well really, and it isn't the first, or indeed best, example of children turned monsters type dealio, but it does it so damn well and the mythology behind the story outscores a lot of them I reckon. Great soundtrack too, which is one of the most important aspects of a horror film if you ask me.

Doctor Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) moves his family to Maine, where he meets a friendly local named Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne). After the Creeds' cat is accidentally killed, Crandall advises Louis to bury it in the ground near the old pet cemetery. The cat returns to life, its personality changed for the worse. When Louis' son, Gage (Miko Hughes), dies tragically, Louis decides to bury the boy's body in the same ground despite the warnings of Crandall and Louis' visions of a deceased patient.

Released: 1989
Directed By: Mary Lambert
Starring: Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne, Denise Crosby and Miko Hughes
Rotten Tomatoes: 43%

'Sometimes, dead is better'

Terrified me. Just a great story well presented again with a healthy mixture of understated creepiness and shocking gore. I challenge anyone to have a peaceful nights sleep after watching the flashback scene of Rachel's bed ridden sister.

 

[Son of Cod]

Thirst is about a Roman Catholic Priest who agrees to be infected with a virus in the aid of research. The virus momentarily kills him, however he is saved via a blood transfusion which then turns him into a vampire. The ensuing reluctant struggles of needing blood but not wanting to kill and his former lifestyle vs the carnal lust that come with his new found vampirism form the basis of the film. It all reaches boiling point when he falls in love with the mistreated wife of an old school friend and they plot to dispose of the husband. While it's not an altogether scary horror film or even one of Park Chan Wook's more shocking or perverse films, it is one of the more unique takes on the vampire genre that I've seen. Not that I'm claiming connoisseur status or anything. Visually and aurally, its bold palette and often intimate slurping sounds heighten the flash points and freakouts that are woven into what turns out to be a rather twisted love drama between the two lead characters.

 

[Cas]

Will do loads of these tonight.