My top 40 horror movies!

[Gelflingboy]

1. Psycho (Original).
2. The Shining.
3. Dawn of the Dead ( 1978).
4. Evil Dead.
5. Evil Dead 2.
6. Re-Animator.
7. Night of the Living Dead ( 1968).
8. The Exorcist.
9. From Dusk Till Dawn.
10. Day of the Dead.
11. Demons.
12. Halloween 1 & 2.
13. Hellraiser 1 & 2.
14. Poltergeist.
15. Zombie.
16. City of the Living Dead ( a.k.a. The Gates of Hell).
17. House By The Cemetery.
18. Maniac ( 1980).
19. Vampire Hunter D ( 1985 & Bloodlust).
20. Resident Evil.
21. Nightmare City ( a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead).
22. The Beyond.
23. The Others.
24. Inferno.
25. Tenebre.
26. Suspiria.
27. Scream.
28. Final Destination 1 & 2.
29. Friday The 13th parts 1, 3, 4 and Jason Lives.
30. Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 3.
31. Freddy Vs. Jason.
32. Versus.
33. Dawn of the Dead ( 2004).
34. Shaun of the Dead.
35. Frankenstein ( 1931).
36. Dracula ( 1931).
37. Perfect Blue.
38. Blade 1 & 2.
39. American Werewolf in London.
40. Urban Legend.

[myPandaNY]

Thats a damn fine list! I'd a thrown the following in there somewhere, don't know what I would have taken out....maybe just made it longer :)

Phantasm
Night of the Deamons
The Omen
When A Stranger Calls
Friday The 13th Part 2
Blair Witch Project
Pumpkin Head
The Ring (not Ringu)
The Grudge

[Ben Thomas]

Resident Evil? Urban Legend?

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA............. .

[computersaysno]

28 days later
romansanta
ginger snaps
undead
dagon
pumpkin head
dog soldiers
below
brotherhood of the wolf
salems lot (new and old)
the thing
texas chainsaw (new)

may i take this time to make a point that i think the original TCM isnt a patch on the remake. i also think that people are SO scared to admit that fact, because they think that if they accept that a remake is (god forbid) better then the original, they will burn in hell. anyway, i think these movies should be added to any horror fans collection.

[myPandaNY]

Resident Evil? Urban Legend?

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA............. .


The first Urban Legend movie was pretty good.. had Freddie Kruger in it :)

[AshInVegas]

ginger snaps
...
pumpkin head
...
the thing


These are exactly the three I would have added. Ginger Snaps (all three of them , in fact, but especially the first two) are among the most underrated horror movies of recent years.

And thanks to myPandaNY for being one of the few to admit that The Ring was better than Ringu.

-AiV

[computersaysno]

here here, i have yet to see ginger snaps 3 (called ginger snaps back in aus, not sure of thr name in the states) but i was really surprised when i saw it, one of those really surprises. sadly over here, only a bare bones edition was released, i suspose we were lucky it was released in 16x9 and not full screen like poor old pumpkin head:(

[myPandaNY]

here here, i have yet to see ginger snaps 3 (called ginger snaps back in aus, not sure of thr name in the states) but i was really surprised when i saw it, one of those really surprises. sadly over here, only a bare bones edition was released, i suspose we were lucky it was released in 16x9 and not full screen like poor old pumpkin head:(

I dug the first one... haven't had a chance to see the other two yet... I should add Dog Soldiers to the list as it was quite good also. Looking forward to the next outing.

[Ben Thomas]

Okay, The Ring remake is better than Ringu - in terms of enjoyment, at least - i'll give you that. But the original TCM is way better than the remake. Its actually quite intense and brilliantly shot for the budget and nothing in the remake even approaches the sickening and disturbing sight of a) the family sat around trying to get grandad to hold the hammer to beat the girl's brains in with or b) that final shot of a demented, loose Leatherface dancing, wounded, in the sunset, twirling his chainsaw. That, my friend, is iconic brilliance. The remake was merely entertaining.

I really liked the Dawn of the Dead remake, but again it sacrificed subtext and atmosphere for big-budget thrills.

And trying to defend Urban Legend is fighting a losing battle. No matter what its got going for it, no way does it deserve to be within sneezing distance of a top 40 horror list.

[myPandaNY]

Okay, The Ring remake is better than Ringu - in terms of enjoyment, at least - i'll give you that. But the original TCM is way better than the remake. Its actually quite intense and brilliantly shot for the budget and nothing in the remake even approaches the sickening and disturbing sight of a) the family sat around trying to get grandad to hold the hammer to beat the girl's brains in with or b) that final shot of a demented, loose Leatherface dancing, wounded, in the sunset, twirling his chainsaw. That, my friend, is iconic brilliance. The remake was merely entertaining.

I really liked the Dawn of the Dead remake, but again it sacrificed subtext and atmosphere for big-budget thrills.

And trying to defend Urban Legend is fighting a losing battle. No matter what its got going for it, no way does it deserve to be within sneezing distance of a top 40 horror list.

TCM remake was indeed subpar to the original but it was genuinly a thriller. I'll give casting and atmosphere a nod for the reasons behind that. The orignal WAS good and disturbing but more so due to the fact people thought it was real... kind of why blair witch project would be on the list, by itself, not that scary.

The Dawn of the Dead remake was better then Romero. I'm sorry... it is. Realistic horror. While dawn was more of a political statment and had a lot of subtext it wasn't a true horror story.. there were a few moments of tension and it played out masterfully however the new one had an edge. I know running zombies is an oxymoron! that aside they made the film more frightening. The director should be given some credit because he wanted stuntmen that were missing an arm, or missing legs and work around that to add an element of realism. The guy in the gun shop LOOKED frail after a while, as if he was starving and lacking food. Yes a budget played into it but Romero himself liked elements of the film, the gun shop being farther away the tanked shuttle at the end (he said he would incorporate that into his movie Land of the Dead (note i haven't seen land of the dead yet waiting for the unrated dvd to come out)

Take out the aspect it was a remake in title and setting and it would have been a supurb horror movie that more people would have flocked around. It isn't as deep but it sure was more frightening.

[S Nabors]

Dawn of the Dead remake better than Romero's? You're nuts. I absolutely love the remake, but it's not better than the original. It's a different kind of film and it succeeds at what it was trying to do, but overall as a film it's in no way superior except in use of music and explosions, maybe.

As for Urban legend, it's one of the worst horror films I've ever seen and one of the few times I almost walked out of thetheater. Only reason I didn't was because I was with other people. Sadly enough, they wanted to leave too and were also being polite. It had a great idea. Potentially, a can't miss idea. Yet, it managed to fuck it up royally.
Same with Resident Evil. Can we get past the Paul Anderson apologist phase now, stop saying that people hate this guy because it's the trendy thing to do and admit that he's horrible? If you ruin two properties like Resident Evil and Aliens vs Predator, which are both complete gimmes, then you have no business making any more films. people don't hate these films to impress people. They hate them because they are complete shit and you should be able to get at least most of these films right.
As much as I hate to agree with Panda, I will agree that the Ring was better than Ringu. I’ve heard all the arguments as to why Ringu is superior, but I’ve watched it and I don’t see it. I like Verbinski’s color pallette more, I like Naomi Watts more, I like Samara(sic) more and I like the American video tape more. The more I watch, the more I feel Asian horror is seriously overrated. I like quite a few movies, but overall it's really starting to bore me.

[Lee]

I'll throw in my list just for the hell of it

Not necessarily in any order...

1. Night of the living dead (Original)
2. 28 Days Later
3. Dawn of the dead (Original)
4. The Ring (original, although I enjoyed the remake I didnt like the final CGI heavy TV appearance)
5. Halloween
6. The Fog
7. Alien
8. Psycho
9. Evil Dead 2
10. The Blair Witch Project
11. American Werewolf in london
12. The Shining
13. The Thing
14. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original)

After that they all get a bit samey for me but these onese truely stand out in the memory for me...

I would add The Descent in there but I think I need to see it a few more times as I couldnt decide if I liked it as a horror movie or as a episode of Buffy I still have yet to see...

[myPandaNY]

Dawn of the Dead remake better than Romero's? You're nuts. I absolutely love the remake, but it's not better than the original. It's a different kind of film and it succeeds at what it was trying to do, but overall as a film it's in no way superior except in use of music and explosions, maybe..

I speak only of as a horror movie. A movie that is terrifying and makes you scared. There are genuine fright moments in DOTD remake while the original had far less of those moments. The original was a better STORY and is a better ZOMBIE movie, this the remake is a better horror movie.

As for Urban legend, it's one of the worst horror films I've ever seen and one of the few times I almost walked out of thetheater. Only reason I didn't was because I was with other people. Sadly enough, they wanted to leave too and were also being polite. It had a great idea. Potentially, a can't miss idea. Yet, it managed to fuck it up royally.

I wouldn't call it the worst... I've seen FAAAAAR Worse horror films. Its commerical and more mainstream I would go so far as to label it the worst commerical mainstream horror movie :) Then again i dig bad horror movies. I watch them to poke fun with a group of people but we know they're bad.

Same with Resident Evil. Can we get past the Paul Anderson apologist phase now, stop saying that people hate this guy because it's the trendy thing to do and admit that he's horrible? If you ruin two properties like Resident Evil and Aliens vs Predator, which are both complete gimmes, then you have no business making any more films. people don't hate these films to impress people. They hate them because they are complete shit and you should be able to get at least most of these films right..

OK, gotta disagree here. How were they ruined? were they handled in the uber geek fashion? no... but then again a true geek RE or AvsP would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars. I think for the budget they were great movies and I own all of them becaue I like them. I think the sequel for RE was great and I look forward to the next two sequels in the pipe. So far as AvsP I thought it was great. Sure I would have prefered more of a graphic novel approach, I think it was a good fun film. I believe they're thinking about making a sequel due to DVD sales.

[Lee]

As much as I hate to agree with Panda, I will agree that the Ring was better than Ringu. I’ve heard all the arguments as to why Ringu is superior, but I’ve watched it and I don’t see it. I like Verbinski’s color pallette more, I like Naomi Watts more, I like Samara(sic) more and I like the American video tape more. The more I watch, the more I feel Asian horror is seriously overrated. I like quite a few movies, but overall it's really starting to bore me.


I think Asian horror is pretty samey itself with the nasty's in Ring, Dark Water and Ju-On all basically being the same lank haired zombie kid thing... but with regard to Ring specifically against its remake is I think it comes down to when you saw it.... kinda like Star Wars.... see it for the first time now and you'll be hard pressed to see how its so great compared to the latest blockbusters around but see it in '77 and its a different matter entirely....

When Ringu hit in 1998/9 it was a real shock to the western systems all geared up on Slipknot themed one liner riddled gorefests .... Now the US remake captured (and in some ways improved) the original but in the end its just a remake and as such when it does try its own thing (specifically, Samara's / Sadako's final show stopping appearance) it goes high tech and showy killing the carefully built atmosphere of dread with a hail of CG set piece which frankly was nowhere near as frightening as a broken fingered ghoul inexorably clawing its way towards you....

Both are good films in their own way, dont get me wrong BUT as ever sometimes the appreciation of a film is sometimes buried in the moment you saw it... The Ring was never going to match the shock of Ringu's appearance and that is, as much as anything, ingrained in the memories of the fans that saw it.

[Lee]

Same with Resident Evil. Can we get past the Paul Anderson apologist phase now, stop saying that people hate this guy because it's the trendy thing to do and admit that he's horrible? If you ruin two properties like Resident Evil and Aliens vs Predator, which are both complete gimmes, then you have no business making any more films. people don't hate these films to impress people. They hate them because they are complete shit and you should be able to get at least most of these films right..

OK, gotta disagree here. How were they ruined? were they handled in the uber geek fashion? no... but then again a true geek RE or AvsP would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars. I think for the budget they were great movies and I own all of them becaue I like them. I think the sequel for RE was great and I look forward to the next two sequels in the pipe. So far as AvsP I thought it was great. Sure I would have prefered more of a graphic novel approach, I think it was a good fun film. I believe they're thinking about making a sequel due to DVD sales.

I sincerely hope that doesnt happen..... Resident Evil was passable popcorn tosh, but its sequel was frankly the most piss poor bit of horror film making I've seen since the horrifically overrated Cabin Fever. The acting was attrocious (SP?), the pacing all over the show, the editing oh god the editing... how many under cranked blurry whip pans can you fit in to a single shot of zombies coming up the stairs? Nemesis was (until Ben Grimm in FF) the most rubbish "man in a duvet" monster I've ever seen... the cod Robocop bollocks about the humanity within Nemesis being reached by the love of a good woman was risible in the extreme.... saints alive I honestly didnt think there was anyone alive who wasnt a member of Paul Andersons family who liked this film!

As for asking the question whats wrong with Aliens vs Predator? the simple answer is to watch ALIEN and ALIENS, then watch Predator and I mean really watch them.... take a few minutes to appreciate the craft that went in to making these three modern classics and then watch AvP again.... and tell me if its even in the same class let alone the same series as any of the other three.... As Sacrilicious Supersucker mentioned quite rightly AvP was a gimme.... the comic existed and proved that there was a story to be made, and an audience around to watch it... the three films I mentioned before gave you everything you needed to know about the main villains... in essence there was little that could go wrong on paper yet somehow in a no brainer setup Anderson still manages to fucking insult my inteligence, whilst simultainiously shitting over both franchises under the banner of being a geek. Sorry Paul ol chum, if you're a fan then stop copying all the best shots from the other films, let the Aliens gestate in the humans in more than 5 mins, give the predators something to do... write a script that is as good as the comic you should have copied... dont use fucking bullet time, dont stick a pathetic "ooh shocker" ending on the film, treat the critters with respect and hey heres a good one, try getting one tenth the characterisation of any of the other films in to this one so we actually care what happens to them.....

AvP is utter shite... I wasted opportunity that has finally killed both franchises off.....

[computersaysno]

ringu is good, but i agree that the remake is better, on many levels, the only part that creeped me out in the asian original is when samara crawled outta the tv.

the eastern grudge is better then the western remake, thats what i feel any way.

the eye, i feel, is overated, so is the eastern grudge 2, which wasnt so much creepy, as annoying.

and ill still stand by my comment that i think the tcm remake is better:P

[Gelflingboy]

I forgot to mention for honorable mentions: " Cannibal Holocaust", " Se7en", "Silence of the Lambs" and " Vampire Hunter D".

[Brad Millette]

Not a prime number, not a valid Gelflingboy list.

[Gabriel Williams]

There are 49 movies on the original list (a prime number, thus valid). However, adding the 4 new movies from Gelflingboy's second post, and taking into account one repetition (Vampire Hunter D), there are 52 movies in total.

Gelflingboy, you sabotaged your own post!!!

[Nada]

Where the hell is the 70's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

That's my name in the hat.