10-Star Horror
The must sees. Not all of them are strictly "horror", but there is at the very least quite a bit of suspense and mastery of "tension" in all these great films. If you have the same taste as me, start here. If you've seen them all, skip to my "8-star horror" list :)
List activity
16K views
• 13 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
31 titles
- DirectorKim Jee-woonStarsLee Byung-hunChoi Min-sikJeon Gook-hwanA secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.Just amazing. So sophisticated are the Koreans. This is probably my favorite horror in the past decade.
- DirectorRoar UthaugStarsIngrid Bolsø BerdalRolf Kristian LarsenTomas Alf Larsen5 young Norwegians head up to the mountains to snowboard. One breaks his leg and it's getting dark soon, so they spend the night in a big, abandoned hotel, closed 30 years ago. They are not alone.Top notch Norwegian horror. Powerful women characters in a very "Shining-esque" arrangement. There are 3 of them, maybe a tad monotonous on the story, but all VERY good. See them all if you know what is good for you.
One and two need to be seen in order, 3 pretty much can stand on its own. Notice the homage to "The Shining" with the room number used in number 1, room 237. - DirectorMats StenbergStarsIngrid Bolsø BerdalMarthe Snorresdotter RovikKim Arne HagenJannicke wakes up in the hospital. All of her friends are dead. As she walks through the dark corridors, she thinks she is left alone. But the nightmare isn't over yet.Top notch Norwegian horror. Powerful women characters in a very "Shining-esque" arrangement. There are 3 of them, maybe a tad monotonous on the story, but all VERY good. See them all if you know what is good for you.
One and two need to be seen in order, 3 pretty much can stand on its own. Notice the homage to "The Shining" with the room number used in number 1, room 237. - DirectorMikkel Brænne SandemoseStarsIda Marie BakkerudJulie RustiKim FalckTakes place in the 80's where a group of teenagers go to visit an abandoned hotel, only to find themselves hunted by a psychotic killer through the Norwegian woods.Top notch Norwegian horror. Powerful women characters in a very "Shining-esque" arrangement. There are 3 of them, maybe a tad monotonous on the story, but all VERY good. See them all if you know what is good for you.
One and two need to be seen in order, 3 pretty much can stand on its own. Notice the homage to "The Shining" with the room number used in number 1, room 237. - DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsChoi Min-sikYoo Ji-taeKang Hye-jeongAfter being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.Dark and stylish. Don't get much better than this.
- DirectorGuillem MoralesStarsBelén RuedaLluís HomarPablo DerquiJulia, a woman suffering from a degenerative sight disease, finds her blind sister Sara hung in a basement. Despite all signs pointing to suicide, Julia decides to investigate what she intuitively feels is a murder case.Very well done, yet I just happen to be partial to French and Korean horror more, but this is a very stylish production.
- DirectorKim Jee-woonStarsLim Soo-jungYum Jung-ahKim Kap-suAfter being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.Watch this, then watch the American version (The Uninvited), and tell me what you think.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.Unrelenting at times. Very well made.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.Wow. You simply can't delve into this genre much more profoundly than this. This film has set a new bar as far as i'm concerned. Sophisticated, extreme, unrelenting. We have entered a whole new dimension in horror, thanks to the French.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsRyo IshibashiMasatoshi NagaseMai HôshôA detective is trying to find the cause of a string of suicides.There is something so eerie about this film's sentiment that rings possible.
- DirectorGeorge SluizerStarsBernard-Pierre DonnadieuGene BervoetsJohanna ter SteegeRex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.A must see for sure.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsLeon NiemczykJolanta UmeckaZygmunt MalanowiczA couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.I'm trying to keep this list fairly recent, but some of this stuff just has to go on. This one is amazing.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsSusanne LotharUlrich MüheArno FrischTwo violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.Just see it, wow -- good stuff.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future.A given but i'll put it anyway.
- DirectorAlexandre AjaStarsCécile de FranceMaïwennPhilippe NahonBest friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.This is what modern horror should be as far as I am concerned. Just can't say enough good things about this.
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsChristian BaleJennifer Jason LeighAitana Sánchez-GijónAn industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.Why oh why can't a movie like this get made in America?? Because we have no clue I think is the answer.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesAlex DeLarge and his droogs barbarize a decaying near-future.Another old one that is hard to omit from any list.
- DirectorMary HarronStarsChristian BaleJustin TherouxJosh LucasA wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.Delve into the mind of a warped, albeit "successful" modern day businessman. Never was Huey Lewis and the News this scary.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.The music alone would put this in the 10 star section. One of the best ever. Even those opening credits are amazing.... when "The Thing" burns away, that is all done by hand.... just amazing stuff start to finish.
- CreatorJames Manos Jr.StarsMichael C. HallJennifer CarpenterDavid ZayasHe's smart. He's lovable. He's Dexter Morgan, America's favorite serial killer, who spends his days solving crimes and his nights committing them.TV, but it deserves to be on this list. Catch it if you haven't already started.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsJon VoightBurt ReynoldsNed BeattyIntent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.Again, I try to keep it current, but this is another older one not to be missed. This film probably paved the way for many of the "Hills have eyes" and "Wrong Turn" deformed slasher-style flicks -- yet this one pushes way past any of that new stuff. I know the new French horror directors probably love this one. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, don't miss it.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.I'm deciding when I put old ones like this, it is because they hold up so well today, and you wont be disappointed.... some of these are just timeless. This one is perhaps scarier in a way than anything you will ever see.
- DirectorPål SletauneTony SpataroStarsKristoffer JonerCecilie A. MosliJulia SchachtJohn has just been left by his girlfriend Ingrid. That day he allows himself to be seduced into a mystical and scary world, where it is impossible to separate truth from the liesMore great stuff from Norway.
- DirectorSean HoganAndrew ParkinsonSimon RumleyStarsLuke de LaceyHolly LucasSiubhan HarrisonComposed of three disturbingly sensual and terrifying short narratives, unified by the twin themes of sex and death.This gets 5 stars from IMDB members? Don't believe them!! This one is great.
- DirectorBanjong PisanthanakunParkpoom WongpoomStarsMarsha WattanapanichVittaya WasukraipaisanRachanu BoonchuduangPim is a Thai woman living in Korea with her husband Wee. At her birthday a friend reads her fortune with a deck of cards and informs that something she has lost will soon return to her. But some lost things are better off staying lost.At least one Thai horror movie has to make the 10 star list. This is such a great film. Simple, scary, well-done.... all on a very tight budget. You simply gotta love it.