A Bloody Good Time 10.30.08: The 100 Greatest Horror Films Ever Made, Part 5: #20-1

Posted by Joseph Lee on 10.30.2008

Celebrate Halloween with the twenty greatest horror films ever made!

Welcome to A Bloody Good Time. It's time for the final 20, and I'm not going to hold up the list by answering the comments from last week. I agree with most of them, except in the case of Seven and Silence of the Lambs, but let's just all agree to disagree.

Here are all the previous parts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

And now, the top 20. Enjoy.



#20: American Psycho(2000)

Directed By: Mary Harron

Starring: Christian Bale, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe, Josh Lucas, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis

Plot: A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

American Psycho is a disturbing, funny and excellent portrayal of one man's insane perception of the world. It's not really a tale of descending into madness, because Patrick Bateman is already there when we meet him. However he begins to have more and more sociopathic tendencies and psychopathic fantasies and eventually begins to act on them. We get to watch as this man kills people and acts like a crazy person and no one notices. Of course there is a twist ending, but it's also somewhat ambiguous. It lets the viewer decide what the situation really is. Christian Bale put himself on the map with this film, as I was a fan ever since. His performances makes the entire picture.



#19: The Shining(1980)

Directed By: Stanley Kubrik

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers

Plot: A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

Stephen King may not have liked what had been done with his novel, but Stanley Kubrik's version of The Shining still remains an all-time classic. As becomes common with the genre, the feeling of isolation and one slowly going insane is strong. Jack Nicholson delivers an iconic performance, one that is still thought of when reflecting on his career. This also features some scary scenes involving mutilated girls and a grotesque rotting old woman. It's still the scenes of Jack losing his mind that are the best, and most frightening.



#18: The Eye(2002)

Directed By: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang

Starring: Lee Sin-je, Lawrence Chou, Chutcha Rujinanon

Plot: A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she can see again. However, she gets more than what she bargains for when she realizes she can see ghosts.

I really enjoyed The Eye. It's a smart ghost story, one rich in development and genuine scares. The fact we get emotionally attached to the main character of Mun is great. That's how movies like this should be. You should become attached, that way when everything starts going crazy, it affects you more. The script was well-written to achieve this feat, although the acting is top-notch as well. It really sets us up later for a punch to the stomach. And what a punch to the stomach it is. Unsettling creepy visuals occur throughout the movie. I won't give away any, but it's just bizarre and worked very well. There are some genuinely frightening moments and I don't think the impact would be as great if there wasn't character and story development. That's the biggest thing that works for this movie. The sense of dread is drenched in this movie. I also liked how they played with the lighting and shadows for greater effect. This made me a fan of the Pang Brothers and I hope that eventually they live up to the promise this exceptional ghost story shows.



#17: Aliens(1986)

Directed By: James Cameron

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser

Plot: Ripley is found in deep space by a salvage ship, 57 years after narrowly escaping with her life - and her cat - at the end of Alien. She then discovers The Company have colonised the planet where the alien was first encountered. When contact with the colony is lost, The Company send a team of Space Marines, with Ripley as an "advisor", to find out what has happened.

While Alien was a claustrophobic tale about a single alien terrorizing a space ship, and a very scary tale, Aliens one-ups it in almost every way. The way to start that is by introducing multiple xenomorphs, as well as the Alien Queen. There is an entire colony of aliens, and that means there is more danger and more destruction. Put them against a team of specially trained space marines and you've got an all-out war. Sigourney Weaver returns, maturing since the original and experiencing some real character growth. This also features Lance Henriksen as the good android Bishop, who pretty much rules in every scene he's in. I love this movie and I think it's a case where the sequel is even greater than the original.



#16: Near Dark(1987)

Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Bill Paxton

Plot: A young man reluctantly joins a travelling "family" of evil vampires, when the girl he'd tried to seduce is part of that group.

It seems to me that Near Dark is almost a forgotten classic. I never hear it get as much talk as other horror movies. Yet it's a tremendously violent and gory, yet low-key and story-driven vampire movie. It's sort of like a vampire movie meets a Western, really. Is it any surprise to see Lance Henriksen appear twice in this list? He may not always make the best film decisions but in this two year period in the mid-eighties he did well for himself. However it's Bill Paxton who really shines here, stealing every scene he is in. The bar scene is a very bloody massacre and the final showdown is epic. Near Dark is everything a vampire film should be, yet it doesn't really play to many of the conventions.



#15: Dracula(1931)

Directed By: Tod Browning

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Herbert Bunston, Frances Dade, Joan Standing, Charles K Gerrard

Plot: The ancient vampire Count Dracula arrives in England and begins to prey upon the virtuous young Mina.

Dracula was a smash for Universal, both critically and financially. Many hailed Lugosi's performance as scary and memorable, due to his speech patterns and menacing scare. Like Karloff with Frankenstein, Lugosi is still considered the definitive Dracula. The Transylvanian (Hungarian) accent and look is regarded as the look of Dracula. It's almost blasphemous to say that Lugosi isn't the only reason this movie is great but there are other reasons. Character actor Dwight Frye as the insane Renfield, and Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing both contribute, but due to Lugosi's Count, they are overshadowed. This movie is a classic, and will remain so for years to come. The accent, the walk, the fact he's a suave foreigner...Lugosi didn't just make his stamp on the role of Count Dracula, but the role of the vampire in general.



#14: The Bride of Frankenstein(1935)

Directed By: James Whale

Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester, Una O'Connor

Plot: Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein (goaded by an even madder scientist) builds his monster a mate.

There are many who feel this is better than the original Frankenstein. I disagree, but it's still a great movie. The monster learns to speak and becomes more intelligent. The monster demands a mate. Dr. Frankenstein just wants to forget the monster, but Dr. Pretorious is even more crazy and so talks him into it. The bride is made but like everyone else, rejects the monster and so he decides "they belong dead". This is a gothic love story with horrific elements, and Boris Karloff was amazing as the Monster here, but it's not nearly as scary or epic as the original so that's why I think it doesn't beat it. However, it's still great and one of the all-time classics.



#13: The Thing(1982)

Directed By: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, David Clennon, Donald Moffat, Thomas G. Waites

Plot: Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.

Take everything that was great about The Descent and multiply it by 100. This gives you The Thing, John Carpenter's remake of The Thing From Another World isn't just one of the best remakes ever, but certainly should be considered as one of the greatest horror films ever made. Obviously you guys felt that way, which is why it made it onto this list. The level of paranoia and claustrophobia is at an all time high here. You can't be any more cut off from the rest of the world than you are if you're in Antartica. As an added bonus, the creature effects are top-notch. This is the only movie where you can see a man's chest eat another man's hands.



#12: Frankenstein(1931)

Directed By: James Whale

Starring: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff

Plot: An obsessed scientist assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses.

Karloff is known for playing Frankenstein's monster. To be more specific, Karloff is known for making the Frankenstein monster a cultural mainstay. Whenever the monster is referenced, parodied or thought of, it is Karloff's version that is thought of. Given the number of Frankenstein adaptations over the years, as well as those who played the Monster after him that's a pretty remarkable feat. This movie features some still disturbing scenes, such as the monster playing with the little girl and then throwing her in the lake. This may seem tame today, but it was so disturbing at the time that it was removed from the theatrical version. Karloff's monster is one of the greatest performances of all time, not just in horror, but in film.



#11: Scream(1996)

Directed By: Wes Craven

Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore

Plot: A psychopathic serial killer is stalking a group of teens just like in the movies!

Scream returned the slasher sub-genre to the mainstream in the late nineties. More so, it opened the door for a more "self-aware" horror style. Movies like this would be tongue-in-cheek and make fun of the typical slasher conventions while at the same time embracing and falling into those same conventions. This one in particular has numerous in-jokes and references to horror movies of the past and the entire speech about "the rules" rings very true for anyone who has seen a slasher. Other times they would have situations where a character would acknowledge how the situation would play out if it were a horror film. Scream has since earned 173 million dollars, was critically acclaimed and spawned two sequels. It remains very influential and one of the top films of the genre.



#10: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre(1974)

Directed By: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A Partain, Jim Siedow, Teri McMinn

Plot: Five friends visiting their grandpa's old house are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper, is regarded as a classic of the genre. Although the title implies lots of graphic gore and violence, Chainsaw relies on its stalk scenes and general madness to scare audiences. There is surprisingly little gore to be had in this movie. A group of kids travel through Texas, where they pick up a crazy hitchhiker, then ditch him and become victims of the maniacal Leatherface, who wears human skin for a mask. This was also inspired by Ed Gein. Chainsaw has become a cult classic since it's release spawning several sequels and a remake (and a sequel to that remake). It was at one time the highest-grossing independent film ever, until another slasher film made more money in 1978. It was falsely marketed as a "true story" in order to gain a bigger audience. Critics enjoyed the performances, intense moments and overall gritty, realistic feel, but not the gory special effects. Some people wanted it to be banned, but the saw lives on even today.



#9: Black Christmas(1974)

Directed By: Bob Clark

Starring: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marian Waldman, Andrea Martin

Plot: A sorority house is terrorized by a stranger who makes frightening phone calls and then murders the sorority sisters during Christmas break.

Black Christmas deserves just as much credit as any of the others. It pioneered several techniques used in slasher and horror and both the concept of killing on a holiday and the killer being in the house predate other films of the genre by several years. But on top of that, this film is genuinely chilling, something that other slasher movies cannot claim. The calls themselves are disturbing (if funny out of context) and frightening. These girls are picked off one by one in graphic fashion and the killer calls each time with increasingly threatening phone calls. The finale, from the jump scare to the last moments never failed to keep me on the edge of my seat. Black Christmas needs to be seen, not only from a historical standpoint, but because it's a good movie.



#8: Dawn of the Dead(1978)

Directed By: George A. Romero

Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross

Plot: Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.

Not only was Romero's Dawn a masterpiece of film scares and gore, it's also a political statement on the nature of commercialism. The film has held up over time because of the strength of it's script and lead actors. The zombies hold up their end of the bargain but this is mainly about the four main people who bond in the face of a terrifying event. This makes what happens to them later all the more horrific. This movie is highly regarded and while the remake was liked by some, the original Dawn is still one of the greatest of all time.



#7: Hellraiser(1987)

Directed By: Clive Barker

Starring: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Sean Chapman, Oliver Smith, Doug Bradley

Plot: An unfaithful wife encounters the zombie of her dead lover, who's being chased by demons after he escaped from their sado-masochistic Hell.

It's great for several reasons. Ashley Laurence's performance as Kirsty is a start. She is a very competent, and let's face it, beautiful actress whose character is dragged through hell in this movie. The makeup effects are astounding. The cenobites themselves, the skinless man, the various scenes of gore. The practical effects make this movie and it's a feast for the eyes. I can't even imagine the hard work that went into it and so I applaud them. The story itself is one of the most bizarre and original as there's been in a long time.



#6: Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens(1922)

Directed By: F.W. Murnau

Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Alexander Granach, Georg H. Schnell, John Gottowt, Fanny Schreck

Plot: Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.

While Bela Lugosi is the definitive Dracula, Max Shreck's Count Orlok is still one of the creepiest vampires ever placed on film. While the silent film era was known for it's over the top performances, Shreck's is so over the top that he becomes the character. It's hard to imagine that this man is not the ghoul presented on the screen. You can watch this film anywhere due to it being public domain, and it remains one of the classics. That's pretty good for a movie that was almost erased from history thanks to a lawsuit from Bram Stoker's wife.



#5: Night of the Living Dead(1968)

Directed By: George A. Romero

Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Kyra Schon

Plot: A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.

For forty years, Night of the Living Dead has been synonymous with the horror genre and zombies. It changed the zombie film from voodoo and African jungles to the incarnation that is still used today. Romero chose Duane Jones for the role of Ben, allowing an African-American to star in the lead of his film. Not just as the lead, but as the hero. This seems like nothing today, but back in the late sixties it was a big deal and unexpected. Romero wasn't intending this when he cast Jones, he just felt he gave the best audition. However, both the choice for the lead and the apparent critique of capitalism made Night of the Living Dead more than a mere horror film, it made it very politically minded and a film that commented on society. Night was also known for breaking many taboos for an American horror film. The amount of gore, while possibly tame by today's standards, hadn't been seen before. Showing the zombies actually consume the flesh of their victims was also very unusual at the time. There's not many movies prior to this one, especially in America, that can claim to show things such as that. Night broke down the door in terms of what horror films could show and what they couldn't show.



#4: Psycho(1960)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire

Plot: A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.

Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece rightfully ranks as number three on our top ten list. Psycho is considered the father of all slasher films, as it gave birth to a whole new style of horror film-making. Norman Bates gave way to Leatherface, Jason, Michael, Freddy and many more and without him they may not have existed. It is also infamous for advertising star Janet Leigh very prominently, then killing her off within the first twenty minutes. This is something that Wes Craven's Scream would steal thirty years later. Psycho also features a score that was highly memorable. Like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Bates was based on Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. While not as brutal as the other film, Psycho provides the suspense and psychological thrills that only Hitchcock could give you.



#3: A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984)

Directed By: Wes Craven

Starring: John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund

Plot: In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.

Nightmare gave the world Freddy Krueger, one of the most recognizable names and faces in horror history. He's a modern movie monster in the same vain of Dracula or The Wolf Man. The sequels may have made him somewhat of a joke, but Freddy is as frightening as ever. This film also blends real and fantasy into one fun ride. Sometimes the viewer isn't quite sure whether or not the character is in a dream or not, and this movie takes advantage of that. It also features some special effects that were surprisingly good and have aged really well. The makeup effects are also wonderful, such as the scene where Freddy cuts off his own fingers or has his face pulled off. It's a really disturbing blend that makes for a classic.



#2: The Exorcist(1973)

Directed By: William Friedkin

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Mercedes McCambridge

Plot: An adolescent girl is possessed by a mysterious entity and her mom seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

This movie's ten Academy Award nominations, 2 award wins(for Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay) and lifetime gross of 402.5 million raise a strong argument as to why it's one of the best of all time. You can also add in the facts that it still holds up as quite the visceral ride into terror. It's still disturbing to see a sweet little girl become slowly possessed by a force that claims to be the Devil. She turns into a foul-mouthed, blasphemous and evil monster. This film also features many great performances from it's cast, and subplots that all have something to do with the grand finale of the exorcism itself. For a movie to hold up and be as beloved as long as this one has is truly a testament to it's quality.



#1: Halloween(1978)

Directed By: John Carpenter

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, Nancy Loomis, PJ Soles, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews

Plot: A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood escapes on a mindless rampage while his doctor chases him through the streets.

What could I say that hasn't been said really? Halloween is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Carpenter took a small budget, a simple plot and a cast of mostly unknown people(with the exception of veteran Donald Pleasance) and crafted a masterpiece. With this review it's not a simple task of explaining what's good and bad, but informing you why exactly this movie is so great. Let's start with the script. While it's a basic story(guy returns home to kill people) it works because of the subtleties within. Dr. Loomis is a very well-written character, and gets some good lines explaining why, in his view, Michael Myers is not simply a man, but pure evil. Those lines are delivered excellently by Donald Pleasance.

He gives you the very briefest of introductions of Michael, just showing him as some kid who killed his sister, without ever saying why. Then he escapes and you know right then that someone is going to get hurt. The teens he stalks are normal and look like everyday people. People that you could know, in a town that you could live in. Only on this night, evil has arrived. It's simple, sure, but it's the simplicity that makes it so damn scary. Would this have been as frightening if say, there was some giant monster with four arms killing people? Not really. This is a story that could actually happen.

Carpenter's direction I feel is very top-notch. My favorite shot in the film is when Laurie is in the house, and you see a flash of white in the darkness..while you question what you could have seen, Michael slowly appears and attacks. Other great moments such as the Shape being visible, then disappearing, the killer POV shots and the entire opening sequence all add up to a very good visual style. The cast turn in good performances, including Jamie Lee Curtis who pretty much made her career off of this one movie.What else is there? This movie doesn't rely on blood at all, which is superb. Coming from someone who enjoys his gore, I can say this doesn't need it at all. It relies on suspense and scares, which still can get you today, even if you know they're coming. It has a sense of dread just filling the entire thing and you know something is going to kill these innocent kids. The score, which Carpenter himself provided, is haunting and is very memorable. The opening theme is easily recognized for a reason. It's very chilling.

This movie deserves all the acclaim it gets, and it still holds up today. I couldn't imagine why you wouldn't have seen it(really, I can't think of a single reason). Go watch it again and relive the greatness. It's the night HE came home, after all.

That's it for me and my top 100 horror movie list. It was a lot of work and so I'm tired. I'm taking a break for a couple of weeks but then will be back with more editions of A Bloody Good Time.