Top Fifteen Horror Films

Hi All,

Thanks, David, for giving me another list to obsess on! haha Actually, I think we all know I love lists, so let me get started. In honor of Halloween, I present my Top Fifteen Horror Movies. I've seen these lists in magazines. In fact, EW did a Top 50. 'The Exorcist' generally tops the list for everyone, because it was ground-breaking, disturbing in places, and was probably the first horror film to really go mainstream and offend legions of people. The religious aspect of it bothered a lot of viewers.

It was based on a novel of the same name, but was not based on a true story (despite rumors to the contrary). I guess what still bothers most people is that exorcisms and demon possession are things that really happen. Whether you believe in them or not, is another story. But I've seen the 20/20 story that showed a possessed girl, speaking in languages she didn't know. It could have all been a hoax, or she could have been truly schizophrenic or with multiple personalities, but since The Bible gives examples of demon possession, I tend to believe that it could happen. So that part of it is slightly disturbing, as are some of the scenes from the movie.

But 'The Exorcist' is not in my top fifteen, because the movie just didn't scare me, really. So horror fans and critics may yell about this, but it just wasn't a favorite. The numbers are for organizational purposes, not an order of quality, except for numbers one and two.

My Top Fifteen Horror Movies

1) 'The Shining.' No surprise there, since I always comment about this movie and how great it is. It just really scared me when I saw it, and it still does.

2) 'The Sixth Sense.' This one's a close second. I'll have to review it sometime in detail; the story had a lot to it, and it was so well done! Ghost stories tend to be my very favorites.

3) 'Scream.' The film that reinvigorated the horror genre, while making fun of it. Very hip, great twisty plot, and plenty of slasher killings, without being gory. And Neve Campbell. I always liked her.

4) 'The Amityville Horror.' When my brother and I tried to watch it as young teens, we had to turn it off, it bothered us so much. I read the book too, and loved the idea of a haunted house that attacks its inhabitants. Also, flies are scary when they smother people. What made this truly horrifying to me, though, was that it was based on a true story. Imagine how upset I was last year when I learned that it was NOT BASED ON A TRUE STORY AT ALL. The people who lived in the house worked with filmmakers to create the whole story. Damn! And I would have trekked to the house in real life just to see it.

5) 'Ghost Ship.' The opening sequence is very disturbing, but it's over really quickly, and from there, the story is all ghosts on a ship, and the poor souls who discovered the ship. Great twist ending, good actors in the cast (Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Marguiles), and plenty of genuine scares.

6) 'House of Wax.' The newer version, starring Paris Hilton. But lest you think I have bad taste, she dies a pretty horrible death, and was a pretty likable character. But it was the characters' tour through an entire town of wax figures that house real dead people inside of them that spooked me. When the heroine runs yelling for help in a church, only to realize that all of the people in there are actually mummified in wax, it spooked me good.

7) 'The Birds.' One image says it all: Tippi Hedren being attacked mercilessly by flocks and flocks of black birds. I saw this as a young child, and never forgot it. Hitchcock was an incredible master of horror.

8) 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.' Before Freddy got comical, he was one creepy guy. I love dreams, so the idea of being killed in your dreams was original and frightening. Great dream sequences, a terrible and effective villain, and body bags being dragged down the school's hallway. Yikes!

9) 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.' We'll never look at the Gorton's fisherman the same. I love the beginning: Teens drive along a windy road at night, oblivious until they hit a man. They dump him into the sea...and live to regret the whole night. The only movie to make Bean yell out in the theater from fright. Quite a feat, this.

10) 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.' The original 'slasher' movie. Based on real-life serial killer Ed Gein, this is the only horror movie loosely based on any fact. Except, there have been no deaths by chainsaw in Texas, ever. But Gein did kill many victims and use them much in the way this film portrays. We laugh more than anything at this film now, due to some hilarious memories of watching it for the first time, smashed. Horror films are hilarious when smashed. :)

11) 'The Ring.' I realized I had to extend this to fifteen, because there are some really great horror movies out there, and I didn't want to exclude them. I will watch Naomi Watts in anything, and this movie didn't disappoint. Patricide, little girls in wells, ghosts coming out of the TV, and weird deaths. I loved it.

12) 'Alien.' This is considered a horror movie, but I usually view it as sci-fi. It does have that 'Ten Little Indians' feel to it. The pacing is very slow and deliberate, and you have to admit, horrible-looking aliens popping out of people was an original and downright unsettling idea. Plus, this film had Sigourney Weaver. You had to love Sig.

13) 'Halloween.' Watching Jamie Lee Curtis run for her life was fun. haha I like Jamie Lee, and can't really see her as a horror queen. But Michael Myers as the ultimate escaped mental patient gone on a rampage, was very entertaining and more than a bit creepy in that Captain Kirk mask.

14) 'Darkness.' I don't hear people talk much about this one, but it's actually one of my very faves. I'm all about the classic haunted house tale, and this was a great one. Anna Paquin is always a plus.

15) 'Jaws.' Who doesn't hate sharks? I won't swim in the ocean. Because I can't swim, but still, this movie gives us all food for thought. I'm not sure I consider this totally 'horror,' but it was included on other lists I researched. I don't think any of us has ever forgotten that girl as she went under.

You'll notice I didn't include any Dracula, Frankenstein, or Wolfman movies. In my mind, they haven't made the definitive versions of these stories yet. I love Dracula and Frankenstein, though; classics both. And I think of 'Silence of the Lambs' as a thriller more than horror.

As Halloween looms, here's hoping you pick out a good one to watch.

Have a great day!