1FF's Top 100 Horror Films

[Martino Knockavelli]

Fourteen Pointers
Lost Highway
From this inventory of imagery, Lynch fashions two separate but intersecting stories, one about a jazz musician (Bill Pullman), tortured by the notion that his wife is having an affair, who suddenly finds himself accused of her murder. The other is a young mechanic (Balthazar Getty) drawn into a web of deceit by a temptress who is cheating on her gangster boyfriend. These two tales are linked by the fact that the women in both are played by the same actress (Patricia Arquette).

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #7. David Lynch, 1997. Neo-noir with a horror flavour. Nightmarish tale of psychological breakdown in the aftermath of appalling event, a retreat into poisoned fantasy and psychosis, mediated in terms of Hollywood and cinematic gaze. There are lot of films that deal with that (and several on my list), but in Lynch the rupture infects the entire gestalt of the film, the mental discontinuities manifested in narrative and continuity etc. In terms of horror chops Robert Blake's character is one of the more chilling characters ever preserved on celluloid, his creepiness hardly helped by real life events....

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

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #6. 1971 giallo by Lucio Fulci. He's better known for his gorefest zombie jobbies but I think this is his best. Usual sleazy giallo biz, filmed in London (great use of Alexandra Palace in one sequence), completely garish, bonkers and OTT. Nice little subtext of class and generational antagonisms.

Sixteen Pointers
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.

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #5. 1982 giallo by Dario Argento (who is getting bollixed here by splitting his vote between half a dozen different films...). Arguably the last really good film the genre produced. It's got all the set pieces and the plot shenanigans you'd expect, but I keep coming back to it for the aesthetic. The giallo (and maybe even most horror films in general) tend towards the baroque or the gothic, the decrepit and grimy and cobwebbed, but this is all whitewashed post-war modernism. Shot mostly in the EUR district of Rome (a minor obsession of mine), and impersonal, antiseptic locations (airport lounges, hotel rooms and lobbies etc), w/ Italo-disco style soundtrack... could have been a breath of fresh air in the genre, but the party was already over...

Eighteen Pointers
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.

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #3. 1965. Another portrait of a mental breakdown. Could combine what I said about Lost Highway and Peeping Tom really. The film hitches itself to its protagonist's POV and we follow her all the way down the rabbit hole. Not to the sort of self-subverting, text-busting degree of LH perhaps, but still it makes the quotidian seem strange and threatening, a paranoiac mise en scene of close ups, weird reflections, focal length distortions. A lot of it is kind of rote (or maybe it has become rote)... cracks in the pavement, odd framings, faces shot from unusual angles, look at this skinned rabbit... but what can I say, I love the lumpen poetry of cleverly redeployed cliche, so screw you Tarkovsky. Like Peeping Tom it couldn't really have been set/made any other time, either... a portrait of carnal dread against a backdrop of sexual liberation. Also, and this is probably over-sharing (not that more than 3 people will read it), but going and looking at some screen grabs to write this has prompted the connection that Catherine Deneuve in this REALLY reminds me of some wor lassy I've been making a fool of myself over, which cannot be a healthy thing for anyone involved.

Nineteen Pointers
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.

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #16 (though I meant the original). Not my fave De Palma, but my fave that you can sensibly call a horror. With this and the previous it occurs to me that for all the virginal Final Girl archetypes and buxom babes getting stabbed up in the showers, maybe the horror genre isn't so bad for interesting portraits of female characters after all? This is a prime slice of BDP anyway, and great for it, but my fave sequence by far is the shot of Carrie arriving home covered in blood and walking upstairs thru the candle lit house, w/ the mournful church organ cue in the background. If there's anyone else in cinema history who could have shot that and make it seem sincere then I dunno who it is.

 

[Cas]

They're here!

Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings -- Steve (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenaged Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke) -- when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when Carol Ann goes missing, Steve and Diane turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.

Released: 1982
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Heather O'Rourke, Craig T Nelson and JoBeth Williams
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

 

[Cas]

A vengeful ghost and a mysterious baroness are the keys behind bizarre murders in a Carpathian village.

Released: 1966
Directed By: Mario Bava
Starring: Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Erika Blanc and Piero Lulli
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

 

[Cas]

Gunned down by Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), dying murderer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) uses black magic to put his soul inside a doll named Chucky -- which Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) then buys for her young son, Andy (Alex Vincent). When Chucky kills Andy's baby sitter, the boy realizes the doll is alive and tries to warn people, but he's institutionalized. Now Karen must convince the detective of the murderous doll's intentions, before Andy becomes Chucky's next victim.

Released: 1988
Directed By: Tom Holland
Starring: Alex Vincent, Chris Sarandon, Catherine Hicks and Brad Dourif
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

 

[Cas]

After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, where her obsession takes a dark turn when she discovers Sheldon is killing off her favorite character from his novels. As Sheldon devises plans for escape, Annie grows increasingly controlling, even violent, as she forces the author to shape his writing to suit her twisted fantasies.

Released: 1990
Directed By: Rob Reiner
Starring: James Caan and Kathy Bates
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

 

[Cas]

David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he's plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast.

Released: 1981
Directed By: John Landis
Starring: David Naughton and Griffin Dunne
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

 

[Cas]

Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur) is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane (Edith Scob), who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise (Alida Valli), kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.

Released: 1960
Directed By: Georges Franju
Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob and Alida Valli
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

 

[Smudge]

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #5. 1982 giallo by Dario Argento (who is getting bollixed here by splitting his vote between half a dozen different films...). Arguably the last really good film the genre produced. It's got all the set pieces and the plot shenanigans you'd expect, but I keep coming back to it for the aesthetic. The giallo (and maybe even most horror films in general) tend towards the baroque or the gothic, the decrepit and grimy and cobwebbed, but this is all whitewashed post-war modernism. Shot mostly in the EUR district of Rome (a minor obsession of mine), and impersonal, antiseptic locations (airport lounges, hotel rooms and lobbies etc), w/ Italo-disco style soundtrack... could have been a breath of fresh air in the genre, but the party was already over...

Spoiler: tldr

Mine #16 (though I meant the original). Not my fave De Palma, but my fave that you can sensibly call a horror. With this and the previous it occurs to me that for all the virginal Final Girl archetypes and buxom babes getting stabbed up in the showers, maybe the horror genre isn't so bad for interesting portraits of female characters after all? This is a prime slice of BDP anyway, and great for it, but my fave sequence by far is the shot of Carrie arriving home covered in blood and walking upstairs thru the candle lit house, w/ the mournful church organ cue in the background. If there's anyone else in cinema history who could have shot that and make it seem sincere then I dunno who it is.

Probably right on Argento, everyone has a favourite, and is tending to just pick on by the looks of it! I havent see Tenebre yet but its on my list to watch.

Ive also only just realised that the Carrie listed is the remake! Boooooooo! I also voted for the original, yes its well known for the big set piece at the end, but it is a truly horrifying film throughout. Carrie's mum scared me so much, Piper Laurie the actress who played her, manages to creep me out in every film Ive ever seen her in since! Even when she's not trying to!

They're here!

Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings -- Steve (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenaged Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke) -- when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when Carol Ann goes missing, Steve and Diane turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.

Released: 1982
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Heather O'Rourke, Craig T Nelson and JoBeth Williams
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Not really a big fan of the Poltergeist films, but the mud scene plays on some of my absolute deepest fears and scares the shit out of me. I think thats why I wont watch it again and give it another chance!

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

I voted for Carrie too but it was definitely the original I had in mind.

 

[voltage]

Misery made part of my list, good to see it received a good amount of points. Awesome movie and Kathy Bates performance in it is very impressive. This is the adaptation to cinema of a Stephen King’s work I enjoyed the most.

 

[Smudge]

Misery is a great film. Missed out on my list because I wasnt sure it fully constituted horror! So many cross genre horrors out there!

 

[Cas]

I voted for Carrie too but it was definitely the original I had in mind.

Sorry, dunno why this one happened. Googled the one from the 70's and copied and pasted the text from there.

 

[Cas]

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorizing his family.

Released: 1980
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

 

[Cas]

When Sally (Marilyn Burns) hears that her grandfather's grave may have been vandalized, she and her paraplegic brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain), set out with their friends to investigate. After a detour to their family's old farmhouse, they discover a group of crazed, murderous outcasts living next door. As the group is attacked one by one by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), who wears a mask of human skin, the survivors must do everything they can to escape.

Released: 1974
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Marilyn Burns and Gunnar Hansen
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

 

[Cas]

At a fair in the village of Hostenwall, Dr. Caligari obtains a permit to set up his tent show featuring Cesare the 23 year-old Somnabulist who has slept for 23 years. Francis and his friend Alan visit the popular show and Alan asks Cesare in his trance-like state to tell him his future. Cesare predicts that he will die that night and when Alan is in fact found dead in the morning it seems to be just one of many such crimes recently. Frances is determined to find his friend's killer, all the more so after Cesare tries to kidnap his fiancée. He follows him to an insane asylum but not all is as it seems.

Released: 1920
Directed By: Robert Wiene
Starring: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt and Friedrich Feher
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

 

[Cas]

A devout woman (Nicole Kidman) with two sunlight-sensitive children believes ghosts inhabit her darkened island mansion.

Released: 2001
Directed By: Alejandro Amenábar
Starring: Nicole Kidman
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

 

[Cas]

In 1944 Spain young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her ailing mother (Ariadna Gil) arrive at the post of her mother's new husband (Sergi López), a sadistic army officer who is trying to quell a guerrilla uprising. While exploring an ancient maze, Ofelia encounters the faun Pan, who tells her that she is a legendary lost princess and must complete three dangerous tasks in order to claim immortality.

Released: 2006
Directed By: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ivana Baquero and Ariadna Gil
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

 

[Cas]

Ashley "Ash" Williams (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend and three pals hike into the woods to a cabin for a fun night away. There they find an old book, the Necronomicon, whose text reawakens the dead when it's read aloud. The friends inadvertently release a flood of evil and must fight for their lives or become one of the evil dead. Ash watches his friends become possessed, and must make a difficult decision before daybreak to save his own life in this, the first of Sam Raimi's trilogy.

Released: 1981
Directed By: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

 

[Cas]

Adore The Evil Dead.

 

[Cas]

As hordes of zombies swarm over the U.S., the terrified populace tries everything in their power to escape the attack of the undead, but neither cities nor the countryside prove safe. In Pennsylvania, radio-station employee Stephen (David Emge) and his girlfriend, Francine (Gaylen Ross), escape in the station helicopter, accompanied by two renegade SWAT members, Roger and Pete. The group retreats to the haven of an enclosed shopping center to make what could be humanity's last stand.

Released: 1978
Directed By: George .A Romero
Starring: Ken Foree
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

 

[voltage]

The Others was a very impacting movie for me (consequently finished on my top 3). So mysterious and a worthy plot twist in the end.

Spoiler: spoiler

Watched it for the first time on my early teen age and kept like a month reflecting I could be dead without realizing lol.

Glad to see I wasn’t the only one to indicate Pan’s Labyrinth and that it finished at top 25. Probably it was the one I got the biggest doubt about putting on my list or not because of the cross genre. But what can I say? It’s an amazing movie and strongly meaningful. I like how Del Toro, despite not being sequels, made its “intertextuality” with The Devil’s Backbone that is also a great movie and, as The Orphanage – released after both and also containing strong references to its precursors – figured in my list.

 

[KevinMcallister]

Dawn of the Dead is one of mine aswell as Evil Dead

 

[Craig]

My votes.

Gunned down by Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), dying murderer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) uses black magic to put his soul inside a doll named Chucky -- which Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) then buys for her young son, Andy (Alex Vincent). When Chucky kills Andy's baby sitter, the boy realizes the doll is alive and tries to warn people, but he's institutionalized. Now Karen must convince the detective of the murderous doll's intentions, before Andy becomes Chucky's next victim.

Released: 1988
Directed By: Tom Holland
Starring: Alex Vincent, Chris Sarandon, Catherine Hicks and Brad Dourif
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%

Spawner of several unnecessary (though mostly enjoyable tbf) sequels, another favourite of mine from my childhood that quite easily took my killer toy spot. The aforementioned sequels unfortunately ended up turning the films into a bit of a joke, so bad it's good, tongue in cheek, horror for hipsters type bollocks, which is a damn shame, because Child's Play really is a great example of a nightmare scenario in kids toy turns out to be killer monster. The lead child actor (Alex Vincent) is likeable as Andy, a lonely kid desperate for friend, his mother is a sympathetic character, single mother struggling to provide for her son, into the fray comes Chucky, a popular kids doll (which Andy's mum buys cheap in a back alley) recently possessed by serial killer Charles Lee Ray. All hell ensues of course, no one believes Chucky is alive, until it's too late. Brad Dourif (well his voice anyway) steals the show as Chucky, a performance Andy Serkis can only aspire to.

David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he's plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast.

Released: 1981
Directed By: John Landis
Starring: David Naughton and Griffin Dunne
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

There are lots of werewolf films I love, but this is by far my favourite. From the eerie Yorkshire moors of the opening scenes to the menacing lurking fear of the London underground and the chaotic final scene in Leicester square the whole film is perfect imho. Funny, scary and interesting, all you need in a horror.

As hordes of zombies swarm over the U.S., the terrified populace tries everything in their power to escape the attack of the undead, but neither cities nor the countryside prove safe. In Pennsylvania, radio-station employee Stephen (David Emge) and his girlfriend, Francine (Gaylen Ross), escape in the station helicopter, accompanied by two renegade SWAT members, Roger and Pete. The group retreats to the haven of an enclosed shopping center to make what could be humanity's last stand.

Released: 1978
Directed By: George .A Romero
Starring: Ken Foree
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%

My number one. All time favourite zombie apocalypse film, I'm yet to see one that comes close. It's a little dated now, and has no doubt lost a little appeal due to the huge saturation of the genre with zombie apocalypse films in recent years. For me the opening scenes are the best of the film, of course it's primarily remembered coz they hole up in an abandoned mall (where would you set up shop in a zombie apocalypse jajaja and all that) but the main theme of it I reckon is that in the event of something like that actually happening in the end you'd be better off dead anyroad.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Has Cas died or something?

 

[KevinMcallister]

tbf to Cas how brilliant would it be if the number 1 horror movie was revealed on Halloween?

only 6 months to go!

 

[Cas]

I'll do some tonight and then we'll be finished by either Saturday or Sunday.

 

[Cas]

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings and canines in the camp and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims. A resourceful helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell) and the camp doctor (Richard Dysart) lead the camp crew in a desperate, gory battle against the vicious creature before it picks them all off, one by one.


Released: 1982
Directed By: John Carpenter
Starring: Kurt Russell and Keith David
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

 

[Cas]

Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

Released: 1991
Directed By: Johnathan Demme
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Ted Levine
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

 

[Cas]

Suzy (Jessica Harper) travels to Germany to attend ballet school. When she arrives, late on a stormy night, no one lets her in, and she sees Pat (Eva Axén), another student, fleeing from the school. When Pat reaches her apartment, she is murdered. The next day, Suzy is admitted to her new school, but has a difficult time settling in. She hears noises, and often feels ill. As more people die, Suzy uncovers the terrifying secret history of the place.

Released: 1977
Directed By: Dario Argento
Starring: Jessica Harper
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

 

[voltage]

Suspiria is an apple of the eyes. I never get full of it. My favorite of Argento. To begin with its delightful photography, very colorful frames aand consequently catchy to the sight. I enjoyed very much the mix of this artistic atmosphere with horror elements.

Looking forward the top 10!