Horror for Angela
by AdamCatalyst | created - 02 Oct 2019 | updated - 02 Nov 2021 | PublicSome of my favourite horror films, including some critical darlings, some fan favourites, and some lesser known entities. A mix of archetypes spanning seven decades. Emphasis on suspense over visceral gore or violence, unless otherwise noted.
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1. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,114 | Gross: $44.02M
Essential classic. My all-time favourite film.
2. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 951,256 | Gross: $78.90M
Essential classic. The archetypal “space-horror” film.
3. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,846 | Gross: $13.78M
The 1982 version is superior to every version released before or after. It opened to mediocre reviews, but over the years it’s been rightfully acclaimed as a classic.
4. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 455,119 | Gross: $232.91M
Essential classic.
5. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,876 | Gross: $47.00M
Essential classic. But you know that already.
6. Possession (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Horror
A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
Director: Andrzej Zulawski | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent
Votes: 42,890 | Gross: $1.11M
Not known as a horror movie, yet the word “horror” is probably the best one word descriptor for this dark twisted Polish gem. Not for the prudish.
7. Suspiria (1977)
R | 92 min | Horror
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé
Votes: 105,477
A visual masterpiece. The recent Italian TLE restoration is very good, but the American “Synapse” restoration is incredible, one of the best independent restorations ever.
8. The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
Director: Robert Eggers | Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Julian Richings
Votes: 301,059 | Gross: $25.14M
Future classic in my opinion. A new American folktale based on 17th century New England writings, complete with some dialogue lifted directly from the historical research.
9. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,466 | Gross: $2.40M
Classic low budget “cabin in the woods” archetype that inspired countless filmmakers.
10. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Votes: 262,602 | Gross: $25.50M
It spawned a myriad of sequels for good reason. While some scenes fall flat, there is still an air of innovation and imagination. Also, Jonny Depp’s first film.
11. The Wailing (2016)
TV-MA | 156 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Soon after a stranger arrives in a little village, a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min, Kwak Do-won, Chun Woo-hee
Votes: 82,044
It starts as a drama, but it’s a long slow burn into something else.
12. Don't Look Now (1973)
R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania
Votes: 62,345 | Gross: $0.98M
Classic film. Not exactly scary, but an excellent telling of the Daphne DuMaurier story.
13. It Follows (2014)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
Director: David Robert Mitchell | Stars: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe
Votes: 269,109 | Gross: $14.67M
A meta-horror without a trace of irony. Instant classic.
14. Insidious (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye
Votes: 339,116 | Gross: $54.01M
A modern classic from arguably this generations most influential horror auteur, James Wan.
15. Candyman (1992)
R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd, Kasi Lemmons
Votes: 100,177 | Gross: $25.79M
Underrated classic released after the horror heydays of the 80s. Shot on location in the notorious Cabrini Greene, with some interesting social political subtext.
16. Evil Dead (2013)
R | 91 min | Horror
Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
Director: Fede Alvarez | Stars: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci
Votes: 197,326 | Gross: $54.24M
Classic film re-made well enough, with shocking visuals that will raise the hair of even the most desensitized. Warning: gratuitous gore. Not for the squeamish.
17. Oculus (2013)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A recently released inmate from a mental asylum learns from his sister that the murders he was convicted of committing were actually orchestrated by a supernatural entity, the Lasser Glass mirror.
Director: Mike Flanagan | Stars: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 139,771 | Gross: $27.70M
I love this premise, love this film.
18. The Conjuring (2013)
R | 112 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor
Votes: 555,063 | Gross: $137.40M
Another modern classic from arguably this generations most influential horror auteur, James Wan.
19. The Omen (1976)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner
Votes: 132,627 | Gross: $4.27M
Essential classic.
20. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 340,562 | Gross: $25.59M
A simple American short story, with obvious but engaging subtext, very Stephen King. If you watch this, the Black and White version is the director’s choice and plays much better than the colour version. This was a passion project for director Frank Darabont.
21. The Babadook (2014)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.
Director: Jennifer Kent | Stars: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney
Votes: 247,360 | Gross: $0.92M
I personally don’t think this film will age well, but it has a unique tone and it’s certainly worth a watch.
22. Paranormal Activity (2007)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong
Votes: 256,258 | Gross: $107.92M
One of the few decent “found footage” films. Very simple and low budget. I actually prefer the more complex third installment in this series, but this is the one everyone else points to as the classic.
23. A Dark Song (2016)
Unrated | 100 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them what they want.
Director: Liam Gavin | Stars: Steve Oram, Catherine Walker, Susan Loughnane, Mark Huberman
Votes: 21,420
Not a great film, but a great film for the horror movie buff who thinks they’ve seen everything.
24. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,280
Essential classic.
25. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,742 | Gross: $33.80M
The first good Stephen King movie.
26. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,888 | Gross: $24.95M
Remake of the cold-war classic. I prefer this version to all others before or after.
27. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
R | 101 min | Action, Horror
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Jake Weber
Votes: 272,553 | Gross: $59.02M
Fun superficial remake made in a suburban Toronto shopping mall.
28. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Five college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.
Director: Drew Goddard | Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz
Votes: 450,870 | Gross: $42.07M
A fun meta-horror for those who are all too familiar with the tropes of horror movies. Contains possibly the best fan-service sequence ever.
29. Sinister (I) (2012)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A controversial true-crime writer finds a box of Super 8 home movies in his new home, revealing that the murder case he is currently researching could be the work of an unknown serial killer whose legacy dates back to the 1960s.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson
Votes: 280,315 | Gross: $48.09M
Typical and predictable 2010’s American horror flick, but this one gets under my skin for some reason.
30. Phase IV (1974)
PG | 84 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Suddenly, desert ants form a group intelligence and wage war on the humans. It's up to a couple of scientists and a girl to stop them
Director: Saul Bass | Stars: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford
Votes: 9,578
Not a great film, perhaps not even a good one, but this peculiar oddity is notably the only feature film directed by Saul Bass.
31. Pulse (2001)
R | 119 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka
Votes: 25,606 | Gross: $0.05M
Bleak subtle existential dread.
32. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 285,679 | Gross: $140.54M
The archetypal “found-footage” horror film. A curious blend of a no budget indie film and a reality show. Worth watching once if you’ve never seen it.
33. Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
R | 83 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity called Toby, who resides in their home.
Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman | Stars: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Christopher Nicholas Smith, Lauren Bittner
Votes: 99,762 | Gross: $104.01M
If this was the first “Paranormal Activity” film released, I argue it would have been received as an unequivocal classic. Unfortunately it came out third, and while critics rated it the highest of any of the sequels, the law of diminishing returns degraded its potential effect.
34. Hereditary (2018)
R | 127 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.
Director: Ari Aster | Stars: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff
Votes: 378,373 | Gross: $44.07M
Despite its flaws, this was best horror movie of 2018.
35. Kill List (2011)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.
Director: Ben Wheatley | Stars: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson, Michael Smiley
Votes: 45,356 | Gross: $0.03M
This film is nothing like a horror movie when it starts, but eventually it can’t really be called anything else. Highly original and genre defying. It’s also a challengingly oblique film, that doesn’t spoon feed the audience, but rewards a close attention to detail (or repeated viewings). Highly recommend for the horror movie buff who’s seen everything else.
Warning: disturbingly realistic scenes of horrifying violence.
36. The House of the Devil (2009)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery
In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
Director: Ti West | Stars: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig
Votes: 51,286 | Gross: $0.10M
Part of the new genre of retro homage horror films. I didn’t love this one, but my fiancé did, and she asked me to include it for you.
37. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman
Votes: 139,184 | Gross: $0.09M
Essential classic. Interesting note. Romero considers this the first American film to feature a black man in a lead role that wasn’t specifically written for a black man.
38. REC (2007)
R | 78 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza | Stars: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano, Pablo Rosso
Votes: 196,769
One of the best “found-footage” films.
39. Scream (1996)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich
Votes: 388,571 | Gross: $103.05M
The archetypal meta-horror, heavy on the irony, but still manages to engage on a visceral level.
40. Demon (2015)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A bridegroom is possessed by an unquiet spirit in the midst of his own wedding celebration, in this clever take on the Jewish legend of the dybbuk.
Director: Marcin Wrona | Stars: Itay Tiran, Agnieszka Zulewska, Andrzej Grabowski, Tomasz Schuchardt
Votes: 6,124 | Gross: $0.10M
Not exactly a horror, but not exactly anything else either. Taps into Polish history, Jewish folklore, and the director’s autobiography. Sadly, the director ended his own life after the film’s premiere.
41. Mandy (I) (2018)
Not Rated | 121 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
The enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.
Director: Panos Cosmatos | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy
Votes: 89,542 | Gross: $1.21M
The best psychedelic action horror of recent years. Hypnotic sensory experience with fantastic visuals. Warning: some intense gore and violence.
42. House (1977)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ôba, Ai Matsubara
Votes: 33,743
If you want to see a wildly imaginative surreal horror comedy fantasy, look no further.
43. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
R | 96 min | Fantasy, Horror
A psychiatrist familiar with knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.
Director: Chuck Russell | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette
Votes: 90,346 | Gross: $44.79M
Arguably the most imaginative of the Nightmare in Elm Street films. Not as good as the original, but the closest any sequel ever came to capturing some of the original’s magic.
44. Friday the 13th (1980)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of teenage camp counselors attempt to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past, but they are stalked by a mysterious, relentless killer.
Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan
Votes: 157,499 | Gross: $39.75M
Cunningham’s film wasn’t exactly original, and went so far as to lift entire scenes from other films, such as Bava’s “Bay of Blood.” Yet these elements had never been put together quite like this before, and this mixture of teen hormones and Gialli and Slasher references became the prototypical 80’s teen horror.
45. Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
Not Rated | 70 min | Horror
A family gets lost on the road and stumbles upon a hidden, underground, devil-worshiping cult led by the fearsome Master and his servant Torgo.
Director: Harold P. Warren | Stars: Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Adelson, Harold P. Warren
Votes: 37,543
One of the worst movies ever made, and arguably the worst horror movie ever made. So bad, it’s painful to watch.
46. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan
Votes: 54,780
The essential cold-war classic.
47. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
R | 87 min | Horror
A teenage boy is haunted in his dreams by deceased child murderer Freddy Krueger, who is out to possess him in order to continue his reign of terror in the real world.
Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Robert Englund, Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler
Votes: 77,463 | Gross: $30.00M
An inferior sequel, rushed to market from conception within a year of the original’s release. So why list it here? Well, in the mad-dash of production, no-one seemed to notice that the writer had thrown together a subversive script about repressed homosexuality. No-one, except the lead actor, who happened to be gay, and addressed the scripts subtext in his performance. It’s a weak film, but a subversive LGBT classic that flew under the radar.
48. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,714 | Gross: $30.86M
I don’t personally like this film, but there is no arguing that it’s successful in what it sets out to do, with a gut wrenching tone, genuine chills, and a lasting impression seen in countless other horror films.
49. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,995 | Gross: $40.46M
Utterly grotesque and convincing remake by David Cronenberg. Possibly his only film to stay true to his body horror roots, while appealing to both mainstream audiences and critics alike.
50. Event Horizon (1997)
R | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson
Votes: 197,241 | Gross: $26.67M
This is arguably the best space horror movie not widely seen. It was critically panned, yet salvaged for parts by other filmmakers numerous times (i.e. Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine”).
51. The Others (2001)
PG-13 | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.
Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Alakina Mann
Votes: 393,339 | Gross: $96.52M
Another entry in the meta-horror genre, done in the old gothic haunted house style.
52. Honeymoon (2014)
R | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A newlywed couple finds their lake-country honeymoon descend into chaos after Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night.
Director: Leigh Janiak | Stars: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Ben Huber, Hanna Brown
Votes: 27,500 | Gross: $0.01M
An unassuming little film that doesn’t overstay welcome. It’s more enjoyable if you are tracking the heavy foreshadowing and clues placed throughout the first half of the story.
53. The Birds (1963)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Votes: 204,575 | Gross: $11.40M
Essential classic.
54. Life (I) (2017)
R | 104 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life form that caused extinction on Mars and now threatens all life on Earth.
Director: Daniel Espinosa | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada
Votes: 253,987 | Gross: $30.23M
A typical space horror plot, executed with above average craft.
55. The Haunting (1963)
G | 112 min | Horror
Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn
Votes: 42,498 | Gross: $2.62M
Classic adaptation of “The Haunting of Hill House.”
56. The Innocents (1961)
Not Rated | 100 min | Horror
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 33,073 | Gross: $2.62M
Classic adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw.”
57. Tremors (1990)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Horror
Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.
Director: Ron Underwood | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross
Votes: 150,591 | Gross: $16.67M
Horror comedy at its funnest.
58. Angel Heart (1987)
X | 113 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 95,853 | Gross: $17.19M
While this ostensibly seems like a thriller, there is something deeper and darker going on in this mystery.
59. Cemetery Man (1994)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Horror
A cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.
Director: Michele Soavi | Stars: Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Mickey Knox
Votes: 23,350 | Gross: $0.25M
An absurdist horror comedy, with something serious to say. I’ve never seen anything like this.
60. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
R | 77 min | Horror
A female high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.
Director: Amy Holden Jones | Stars: Michele Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso
Votes: 17,910
An early eighties low-budget slasher that differentiates itself with its purposeful Feminist undertones, brought to the screen by a female director and writer. The young female characters who dominate the screen time have much more personality than in similar titles, and the whole piece moves along at a brisk pace with an irreverent sense of fun.
61. The Lighthouse (I) (2019)
R | 109 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
Director: Robert Eggers | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Valeriia Karaman, Logan Hawkes
Votes: 255,138 | Gross: $0.43M
An atypical horror movie, if it can be called that. Every aspect of the production is impressive, even if the story is obvious and at times underwhelming. It a two man play, and they are more than capable of carrying the film. The cinematography is incredible, and all the more impressive if you read about the process they used. The sound editing and mixing is among the best I have ever heard. An incompetent disgrace that the Academy didn’t recognize the sound editing and mixing with even a nomination.
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