#201-#300
The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films: #201-#300
201. (-22) M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
Fritz Lang
1931 / Germany / 117m / BW / Crime | IMDb
Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke, Theodor Loos, Gustaf Gründgens, Friedrich Gnaß, Fritz Odemar, Paul Kemp, Theo Lingen
“Building its story on visual rhymes that are carried by dialogue that periodically turns into offscreen narration, and fusing the two great traditions of silent film–montage/ editing and camera movement/mise en scene–this astonishing movie represents an unsurpassed grand synthesis of storytelling. Lang himself correctly maintained to the end of his life that M was his best film–not so much for its formal beauty as for the social analysis that its form articulates.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
AKA: M
202. (+11) The Tingler
William Castle
1959 / USA / 82m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman, Patricia Cutts, Pamela Lincoln, Philip Coolidge
“”Be afraid. Be very afraid. And when you are afraid, for Heaven’s sake don’t hesitate to scream.” The Tingler is famous as one of the first ever audience participation cinema experiences. Chapin (Vincent Price) happens to have dedicated years of his life to studying fear, which he suspects is caused by a parasite attached to the human spine. Now he may have the opportunity to capture a live specimen – but, all moral concerns aside (every character here is quick to forsake them), can he really control it?… Opening the door for endless experiments in making more out of the cinema experience, The Tingler is one of the most important genre films of its time, and it has enough humour to remain endearing to this day. ” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for film
AKA:
203. (-2) The Hitcher
Robert Harmon
1986 / USA / 97m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey DeMunn, John M. Jackson, Billy Green Bush, Jack Thibeau, Armin Shimerman, Gene Davis, Jon Van Ness
“All in all, the film is bottomlessly nihilistic, which certainly accounts for the acidic reception it received in 1986 (it has since picked up a bit of a cult; you’ve no doubt picked up by now that I enthusiastically count myself a member). But it earns the nihilism, I think; for one, by casting things so clearly as a kind of dark fantasy, divorced from the actions of real people. And also, by being so utterly damn good at creating that nihilism: it is a brilliantly shot and acted film with drum-tight editing and a tetchy, synth-driven score that should sound irredeemably like the ’80s (and honestly, that’s often just how it does sound), but hits certain points where it’s sufficiently otherworldly to boost those scenes to an extra level of bleakness. Just because something isn’t nice doesn’t mean it can’t be well-made.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
AKA:
204. (-7) The Amityville Horror
Stuart Rosenberg
1979 / USA / 117m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton, John Larch, Natasha Ryan, K.C. Martel, Meeno Peluce, Michael Sacks
“The Amityville Horror has reached classic status not only among the “ghost story” freaks but among most horror freaks that I have had the pleasure of coming in contact with – and I believe it has earned that status. Even though the film is a little dated, The Amityville Horror stills succeeds in what the film makers set out to accomplish. It still gives you that creepy, eerie feeling that every good ghost story should create.” – Lee Roberts, Best Horror Movies
AKA:
205. (-18) Tenebre
Dario Argento
1982 / Italy / 101m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Anthony Franciosa, Christian Borromeo, Mirella D’Angelo, Veronica Lario, Ania Pieroni, Eva Robin’s, Carola Stagnaro, John Steiner, Lara Wendel, John Saxon
“The film synthesizes all the familiar Argento motifs (psycho killers, bloody violence, convoluted plot twists, pulse pounding music) into an almost perfect symphony of fear that overcomes many of his traditional shortcomings (credibility and characterization). The truly impressive achievement of this movie is that it is not just a collection of outrageous set pieces, tied together by an off-the-wall plot; it is a compact, tightly structured unit that attacks the viewer’s comfort zone with all the precision of a deftly wielded scalpel.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
AKA: Unsane
206. (-11) The Devils
Ken Russell
1971 / UK / 111m / Col / Historical Drama | IMDb
Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Michael Gothard, Georgina Hale, Brian Murphy, Christopher Logue
“It’s a blistering, raw attack on governmental misuse and perversion of religion to achieve its own end. While it presents strikingly irreligious imagery, the film itself is not irreligious in the least. Indeed, at the height of perverted insanity of the mass exorcisms, Grandier walks into the midst of it all and says, “You have turned the house of the Lord into a circus, and its servants into clowns. You have perverted the innocent.” It is this that the film attacks, not the Church itself. Bear this in mind if you choose to tackle this remarkable—and for some, remarkably difficult—film.” – Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress
AKA:
207. (+20) Dressed to Kill
Brian De Palma
1980 / USA / 105m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz, David Margulies, Ken Baker, Susanna Clemm, Brandon Maggart, Amalie Collier
“What really ups the ante in the effectiveness of “Dressed to Kill” are the long, purposefully drawn-out set-pieces. Director Brian De Palma is a wizard of mise en scene, building remarkable levels of suspense in the way that he sets up what is about to happen and then edits the material in an intoxicatingly slow fashion that allows for the viewers to be placed in the characters’ shoes, imagining all the while what they might do in a similar situation. A ten-minute museum sequence, free of dialogue, is brilliant, with Kate people-watching while making a list of items to pick up at the grocery store. When a dark, devastatingly good-looking man takes a seat next to her, she flirts with him without uttering a syllable. Their ensuing pursuance of each other through the maze of rooms in the museum is shot by late cinematographer Ralf Bode (2000’s “Boys and Girls”) with a fluid, dreamlike intrigue and a hint of danger, speaking to the desperation of Kate’s character.” – Dustin Putman, The Movie Boy
AKA:
208. (+56) The Hunger
Tony Scott
1983 / UK / 97m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young, Beth Ehlers, Dan Hedaya, Rufus Collins, Suzanne Bertish, James Aubrey, Ann Magnuson
“It’s a largely sensual movie, in both senses of that word: it is about experiencing moments communicated through just about every means other than sensible character psychology. I can easily understand why somebody would find the movie accordingly hollow and annoying in its hip violence, but for horror to have this kind of impressionist impact, it must be doing something great, even if that something isn’t quite in line with the film’s intimations that it wants to be about human experiences of sex and longing (the “hunger” of the title”). It’s one of the most viscerally impressive horror movies of the ’80s, it plays the “tragic sexual vampire” card without defanging the monsters, and it’s consistently gorgeous – I can’t quite decide whether The Hunger is successful at being the exact film it sets out to be, but it is a very successful film of some sort, and that’s close enough.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
AKA:
209. (+19) The Blob
Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.
1958 / USA / 86m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Olin Howland, Stephen Chase, John Benson, George Karas, Lee Payton, Elbert Smith, Hugh Graham
“It’s interesting to watch writers and fans scramble to find an appropriate metaphor for “The Blob” – after all, this was the 1950s, when every sci-fi horror flick had to mean something, be it a commentary on Eisenhower-era conformity or a reaction to atomic age fears or a warning of the Communist threat. The most common analysis suggests the latter, but I’d like to think “The Blob” stands for nothing but a good scare at the movies (suggested best by the classic, winkingly meta sequence where the creature oozes into a theater showing a “midnight spook show,” sending viewers screaming into the streets). Sure, it sneaks some ideas into the corners, mainly the aforementioned “the kids are alright” premise, but overall it’s harmlessly, almost admirably shallow. It works because it’s sincere in its superficiality, hoping to earn some gee-whiz reactions from an eager audience.” – David Cornelius, Popcornworld
AKA:
210. (-1) The Devil’s Rejects
Rob Zombie
2005 / USA / 107m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, Ken Foree, Matthew McGrory, Leslie Easterbrook, Geoffrey Lewis, Priscilla Barnes, Dave Sheridan
“The Devil’s Rejects is a visceral little film that reverberates with nasty attitude, a knowing smirk, and a demented gleam of the eyes. That said, this is not a film for everyone. It’s a hard R, filled with disturbing imagery and f@#k laced spurts of dialogue, but it’s all part of the package and those who get it, however, will be treated to a high-octane thriller that operates on a much deeper level than your average slash-and-gore film. In the end it’s not only a perversely entertaining yarn, but a wickedly intelligent one, as well; a film that is destined to become a cult classic of the highest caliber.” – Spence D., IGN
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211. (-23) No profanar el sueño de los muertos
Jorge Grau
1974 / Italy / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy, Aldo Massasso, Giorgio Trestini, Roberto Posse, José Lifante, Jeannine Mestre, Gengher Gatti, Fernando Hilbeck
“Even if judged on style alone, the film would be a triumph; though not much different from your typical lurching creeps, these zombies wheeze and moan like no other, a simple audio gimmick that is blatantly manipulative but absolutely creepy, not the least for its relative subtlety. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie artfully builds its atmosphere of spiritual (and social) unrest with its gliding cinematography, and the thrills pile up faster than any of its potential flaws or abandonments of logic. Though no Halloween or Carrie, this little gem is not unlike an undiscovered wine, long ripening and ready to be savored.” – Rob Humanick, Projection Booth
AKA: The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
212. (-92) La chute de la maison Usher
Jean Epstein
1928 / France / 63m / BW / Gothic | IMDb
Jean Debucourt, Marguerite Gance, Charles Lamy, Fournez-Goffard, Luc Dartagnan, Abel Gance, Halma, Pierre Hot, Pierre Kefer
“What was theoretical in Epstein’s The Three-Sided Mirror is here freer, more lucid and ethereal, and from its first image of a visitor with busy fingers wading through a tangle of trees and branches to the final orgy of poetic destruction, the director intensely considers the push-pull relationship between life and art—the precarious soul-suck between the two and the chaos their battle risks. When Debucourt’s Usher looks at his painting, he is both staring at the visage of his elusive wife’s representation and the audience itself. Epstein treats celluloid not unlike Usher’s canvas—a delicate, fragile thing to draw on (slow or fast, sometimes twice, thrice, four times over)—and to look at the screen of this film is to witness a portal into a complex, heretofore unknown dimension of cinematic representation.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
AKA: The Fall of the House of Usher
213. (+48) Dead of Night
Bob Clark
1974 / Canada / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus, Henderson Forsythe, Anya Ormsby, Jane Daly, Michael Mazes, Arthur Anderson, Arthur Bradley, David Gawlikowski
“Part of the reason that Deathdream has captivated audiences throughout the last thirty years is the understated and creepy way in which it unfolds. Although evident from the first few scenes, the film never explicitly reveals that Andy is actually dead until more than halfway through, adding a level of ambiguity to his sinister actions. This charges the film with a sense of mystery and encourages the audience to piece together the plot themselves. Although effective as a flat-out horror film, Deathdream was also one of the first films to be critical of the Vietnam War, focusing on the lingering effects of the conflict on soldiers returning to America. The stress disorders and drug addiction that many veterans experienced are alluded to, but more importantly, this film is filled with sense that the war has changed not only Andy, but the entire country. Ormsby’s screenplay portrays Andy as the ultimate corrupted innocent, a survivor (although not in the strictest sense of the word) of an experience that literally left him dead inside.” – Canuxploitation
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214. (-14) The Legend of Hell House
John Hough
1973 / UK / 95m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roland Culver, Peter Bowles
“Relying upon suggestion and anxious anticipation over violence, “The Legend of Hell House” earns a fair share of chills, many of them dealing in the expert use of shadows (one on the ceiling, another silhouetted through a shower curtain) to depict the mind games played by its encroaching apparitions. As spiritually open communicator Florence Tanner, Pamela Franklin is a standout among the above-average cast, charismatic, vulnerable and emotionally riveting in equal measure. Drenched in atmosphere and fog (and little exterior moonlight, as every nighttime establishing shot oddly appears to have been shot in the middle of the day), the film is adeptly made, if noticeably laid-back.” – Dustin Putman, The Movie Boy
AKA:
215. (-40) The Incredible Shrinking Man
Jack Arnold
1957 / USA / 81m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton, Raymond Bailey, William Schallert, Frank J. Scannell, Helene Marshall, Diana Darrin, Billy Curtis
“Not merely the best of Arnold’s classic sci-fi movies of the ’50s, but one of the finest films ever made in that genre. It’s a simple enough story: after being contaminated by what may or may not be nuclear waste, Williams finds himself slowly but steadily shedding the pounds and inches until he reaches truly minuscule proportions. But it is what Richard Matheson’s script (adapted from his own novel) does with this basic material that makes the film so gripping and intelligent… a moving, strangely pantheist assertion of what it really means to be alive. A pulp masterpiece.” – Geoff Andrew, Time Out
AKA:
216. (+73) Ang-ma-reul bo-at-da
Kim Jee-woon
2010 / South Korea / 142m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik Choi, In-seo Kim, Seung-ah Yoon, San-ha Oh, Chun Ho-jin, Bo-ra Nam, Kap-su Kim, Jin-ho Choi, Moo-Seong Choi
“I SAW THE DEVIL is a shockingly violent and stunningly accomplished tale of murder and revenge. The embodiment of pure evil, Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. On a freezing, snowy night, his latest victim is the beautiful Juyeon, daughter of a retired police chief and pregnant fiancée of elite special agent Soo-hyun. Obsessed with revenge, Soo-hyun is determined to track down the murderer, even if doing so means becoming a monster himself. And when he finds Kyung-chul, turning him in to the authorities is the last thing on his mind, as the lines between good and evil fall away in this diabolically twisted game of cat and mouse.” – Gabriel Chong, Moviexclusive
AKA: I Saw the Devil
217. (+35) A Bucket of Blood
Roger Corman
1959 / USA / 66m / BW / Black Comedy | IMDb
Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone, Julian Burton, Ed Nelson, John Brinkley, John Herman Shaner, Judy Bamber, Myrtle Vail, Bert Convy
“This is undoubtedly one of the director’s best works. It’s beautifully shot in crisp black and white, and alongside the comedy it contains some truly chilling scenes. Everything is played absolutely straight so the horror is never diminished by knowing nods. Miller is superb in the central role, somehow managing to keep viewers rooting for him as he grows increasingly unhinged. Smart, playful and beautifully composed, this may not be the most famous of Corman’s works but it’s well worth rediscovering.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film
AKA:
218. (+51) Busanhaeng
Sang-ho Yeon
2016 / South Korea / 118m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jung, Dong-seok Ma, Woo-sik Choi, Sohee, Eui-sung Kim, Gwi-hwa Choi, Terri Doty, Jang Hyuk-Jin
“Crucially, [director] Yeon has come up with a take on zombies that is rooted deep in the genre but still feels innovative. Like Romero’s undead, these are an inescapable evil spreading across the world to offer a sly commentary on our modern society… Yeon establishes himself as a gifted action director: one mid-journey stop at an apparently deserted station turns into a terrifying set-piece that’s among the year’s best. But it’s a slow struggle through carriages full of infected people to reach a stranded loved one that really stands out… In the end, Yeon goes back to the human story and delivers a surprisingly emotional climax. It may seem like a shift of tone, but maybe family ties were the point all along.” – Helen O’Hara, Empire Magazine
AKA: Train to Busan
219. (+30) Halloween II
Rick Rosenthal
1981 / USA / 92m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer, Lance Guest, Pamela Susan Shoop, Hunter von Leer, Dick Warlock, Leo Rossi, Gloria Gifford
“Actually, ”Halloween II” is good enough to deserve a sequel of its own. By the standards of most recent horror films, this – like its predecessor – is a class act. There’s some variety to the crimes, as there is to the characters, and an audience is likely to do more screaming at suspenseful moments than at scary ones. The gore, while very explicit and gruesome, won’t make you feel as if you’re watching major surgery. The direction and camera work are quite competent, and the actors don’t look like amateurs. That may not sound like much to ask of a horror film, but it’s more than many of them offer. And ”Halloween II,” in addition to all this, has a quick pace and something like a sense of style.” – Janet Maslin, New York Times
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220. (-1) Salem’s Lot
Tobe Hooper
1979 / USA / 187m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres, Julie Cobb, Elisha Cook Jr., George Dzundza, Ed Flanders, Clarissa Kaye-Mason
““Salem’s Lot” presents a very humanistic approach toward vampire folklore. Ben Mears, filled with desperation and literally nothing left to lose in the face of a fantastic situation, finds himself in a local morgue prepared to face down one of the unholy walking dead by taping together two tongue depressors and scotch tape, supplying a makeshift crucifix… It about sums up the whole of “Salem’s Lot,” a film wrapped around despair and tension where a small town’s unrest and inner turmoil of infidelity and abuse is brought to the surface when faced with a hidden menace in the shadows, in the form of a vampire striking down town residents one by one.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
AKA:
221. (-10) American Psycho
Mary Harron
2000 / USA / 102m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe
“[American Psycho] regards the male executive lifestyle with the devotion of a fetishist. There is a scene where a group of businessmen compare their business cards, discussing the wording, paper thickness, finish, embossing, engraving and typefaces, and they might as well be discussing their phalli… It is their uneasy secret that they make enough money to afford to look important, but are not very important… I have overheard debates about whether some of the murders are fantasies (“can a man really aim a chain saw that well?”). All of the murders are equally real or unreal, and that isn’t the point: The function of the murders is to make visible the frenzy of the territorial male when his will is frustrated.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
AKA:
222. (+96) Sinister
Scott Derrickson
2012 / USA / 110m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, James Ransone, Michael Hall D’Addario, Clare Foley, Rob Riley, Tavis Smiley, Janet Zappala, Victoria Leigh
“Put them all together and they make Sinister the horror film to beat this Halloween: scary and suspenseful without insulting our intelligence. The underlying concept proves sound, the development deftly avoids genre cliché, and the twist builds upon what came before instead of trying to blow our minds at any cost. It pulls threads from earlier horror movies like Ringu and The Shining, but remains beholden to none of them: creating an atmosphere that, while not completely original, remains resolutely its own. And good God, it actually comes from an original script. In an era (and a genre) littered with sequels, Sinister should be commended for standing by its ideas. It’s scary as fuck too: the only criteria that really matters for a movie like this.” – Rob Vaux, Mania
AKA:
223. (-18) Antichrist
Lars von Trier
2009 / Denmark / 108m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
“Antichrist is a boldly personal film, tossing all von Trier’s ideas about faith, fear, and human nature into an unfettered phantasmagoria, full of repulsive visions and fierce scorn. It’s also the most lush-looking movie von Trier has made in about 20 years. Antichrist starts with a gorgeous black-and-white prologue—spiked, in typical von Trier perversity, with explicit sex and operatic tragedy—then moves to woodland sequences where the edges of the frame look subtly distorted… Cinema’s leading Brechtian wouldn’t seem like the best choice for a visceral examination of real emotional pain, but von Trier makes Antichrist about how aesthetic control can be as impotent as therapeutic control when it comes to dealing with nature at its wildest.” – Noel Murray, A.V. Club
AKA:
224. (-9) Zombieland
Ruben Fleischer
2009 / USA / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Amber Heard, Bill Murray, Derek Graf
“You could argue that the film is really about ‘family’ or ‘friendship’ or ‘romance’ or ‘finding acceptance’, because these are the elements that make up life, and thus, are the building blocks of most stories. But, life in Zombieland isn’t exactly life at all. Our four protagonists struggle to find normalcy in their situation, and although they succeed to a certain degree, it is only once they learn to accept (and enjoy) the disemboweling of their undead enemies. No, this film is not some Michael Haneke-esque lecture condemning audiences for enjoying the violence within. It is a celebration. It’s nice to see a movie in which the very fabric of society falls apart, yet humanity still soldiers on; not through feats of extreme bravery or powerful self-sacrifice, but through a sense of humour.” – Simon Miraudo, Quickflix
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225. (+55) Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Scott Glosserman
2006 / USA / 92m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund, Scott Wilson, Zelda Rubinstein, Bridgett Newton, Kate Miner, Ben Pace, Britain Spellings, Hart Turner
“Once Vernon gets into character and stalks his prey, he’s a force to be reckoned with, and no one will stand in his way. The last act plays out how we suspect, but we’re left wondering if it will play as Leslie hopes or in a completely different manner. You can pretend to know what’s coming, but you don’t know shit. Either way, we’re left with one final satisfaction; Glosserman has given us a surefire horror classic, and I couldn’t be happier. And for the love of god, stick around after the credits. As a hardcore fan of the slasher genre, “Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon” is a wet dream of a slasher re-construction that sets itself apart from every other slasher film ever made. Compared to this, “Scream” is pure child’s play, a wannabe that states the obvious. “Behind the Mask” is a pure horror film masterpiece, and slasher fans would be best to acknowledge it.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
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226. (+12) The Blob
Chuck Russell
1988 / USA / 95m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca, Del Close, Paul McCrane, Sharon Spelman, Beau Billingslea
“Isolationism and false security are as much the targets of the ’88 model blob as hobos and horny jocks. For Russell and screenwriter Frank Darabont (whose The Majestic probably could’ve used an extended cameo by the flesh-eating distention), all are red herrings, and all meaning ascribed unto the attacks is strictly external to the creature itself, which only wants to eat people, and messily at that; the film belongs to the spectacular end of a special-effects era prior to the advent of CGI, and the half-campy, half-terrifying blob attacks are invariably lurid fun. Its attacks are rationalized through the corrupt filter of organized religion, though the blob is still a biological phenomenon, much like the disease that inspired so many activists to wear pink and take to the streets in protest over a needlessly politicized epidemic. Yes, the movie is more overt fun than the others of its ilk, but it tellingly ends with a holy man all too thrilled to deliver credit for the scourge directly to God’s doorstep.” – Eric Henderson, House Next Door
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227. (-17) Dèmoni
Lamberto Bava
1985 / Italy / 88m / Col / Possession | IMDb
Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny, Fiore Argento, Paola Cozzo, Fabiola Toledo, Nicoletta Elmi, Stelio Candelli, Nicole Tessier, Geretta Geretta
“Sure, when you break it down nothing about this movie (co-written by Dario Argento) makes a lick of sense, but none of that matters at all because Bava throws so much unmitigated carnage, and havoc, and blood, and rage, and sheer terror at the screen that it just becomes a minute flaw. In the midst of these clawed, mindless, merciless, cunning monsters mutilating and tearing their poor human victims to pieces one is either too excited or horrified at the madness ensuing on screen that you never once stop to think “Wait–where is the goddamn story?” It doesn’t matter at all. Lamberto Bava is one of the few directors who have gotten away with creating a horror film with zero plot because the special effects and tension and mayhem are so well played and so brilliantly crafted that it becomes utterly irrelevant. For a low budget movie from the eighties, the make up is phenomenal and these monsters look absolutely bloodcurdling as if transferred from our worst nightmares and fears.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
AKA: Demons
228. (-2) Jeepers Creepers
Victor Salva
2001 / USA / 90m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Gina Philips, Justin Long, Jonathan Breck, Patricia Belcher, Brandon Smith, Eileen Brennan, Peggy Sheffield, Jeffrey William Evans, Patrick Cherry, Jon Beshara
“Throughout, Salva’s skill as a director keeps the movie afloat, helping to propel us through some of the dodgier narrative stumbles (the “let’s go back to the obvious death trap for no reason other than to facilitate a horror film!” moment, or a weird, stretched-out, yet excellently tense confrontation with a crazy cat-lady played, distractingly, by Eileen Brennan), and making the best moments sing. Every inch of the sequence inside the pipe is carried off brilliantly, and not just Darry’s half: as Trish stands guard outside, there’s a truly breathtaking false scare that uses an out-of-focus depth of field in a profoundly clever, subtle manner; as indeed, the film consistently makes outstanding use of hiding details in corners of the frame where, because of composition or focus, we don’t necessarily expect to look.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
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229. (-27) Dog Soldiers
Neil Marshall
2002 / UK / 105m / Col / Werewolf | IMDb
Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby, Liam Cunningham, Thomas Lockyer, Darren Morfitt, Chris Robson, Leslie Simpson, Tina Landini, Craig Conway
“One of the best all-out, no-apologies, hell-bent-for-leather horror films to emerge from the beginning of the 21st century—a modestly-budgeted, action-packed effort that pits British soldiers against local werewolves with a taste for human flesh. DOG SOLDIERS is derivative of any number of previous films (reduced to its essence, one might call it a hybrid of THE HOWLING and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD), but it works on its own tongue-in-cheek terms, fillings its dialogue with references to its antecedents.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
AKA:
230. (-36) It
Tommy Lee Wallace
1990 / USA / 192m / Col / Evil Clown | IMDb
Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Adam Faraizl, Tim Curry, Emily Perkins, Marlon Taylor, Seth Green, Ben Heller, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher
“Stephen King creates the ultimate boogeyman and he happens to be a clown who is neither man nor monster. Though “Stephen King’s It” is filled with the usual King doldrums of a small town, hidden demons in the town, and at least one character that wants to be an author, director Tommy Lee Wallace’s adaptation is a very good bit of nostalgia, and a perfectly good horror film. All things considered. It gets a lot of flack for straying from the original novel greatly, but it is a 1990 television movie, so for the resources director Wallace is given, it offers up a creepy and spooky tale about the past coming back to haunt you.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
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231. (+34) The Entity
Sidney J. Furie
1982 / USA / 125m / Col / Haunted House | IMDb
Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa, George Coe, Margaret Blye, Jacqueline Brookes, Richard Brestoff, Michael Alldredge, Raymond Singer, Allan Rich
“Although this ‘dramatisation’ purports to be an accurate record of the events as they occurred, that doesn’t mean it can’t also wallow in the sheer sensationalism of it all. With a pumping soundtrack by Charles Bernstein accompanying the entity’s gratuitous attacks, and some early prosthetics from Stan Winston depicting invisible fingers groping at Carla’s more tender bits, The Entity dispenses with all subtlety in favour of shock value. But when you’re dealing with facts, how far is too far? Technically proficient, visually impressive and frequently scary, The Entity remains a highly entertaining bit of widescreen eighties hokum that delivers some genuine jolts, an over-earnest performance from Barbara Hershey, and a premise that’s so outrageously unbelievable it must be true!” – Nigel Honeybone, HorrorNews
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232. (-1) Communion
Alfred Sole
1976 / USA / 98m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula E. Sheppard, Niles McMaster, Jane Lowry, Rudolph Willrich, Michael Hardstark, Alphonso DeNoble, Gary Allen, Brooke Shields
“Alice, Sweet Alice conflates the angst of adolescent sexual development with the fury of Catholic retribution, suggesting at times an analog version of David Fincher’s Se7en. It’s a dangerous combo, and it’s all over the fierce confrontations between the film’s characters and director Alfred Sole’s surprisingly formalist compositions. Indeed, there isn’t a scene in the film that doesn’t suggest a face-off between man and God—by my count, there’s only a handful of shots that don’t have a cross or statue of Christ passing judgment from some wall or corner of a room. Possibly the closet American relation to an Italian giallo, the film is head-trippingly hilarious (Jane Lowry, as Aunt Annie, may be the nuttiest screamer in the history of cinema) and features some of the more disquieting set pieces you’ll ever see in a horror film.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
AKA: Alice Sweet Alice
233. (+38) Ravenous
Antonia Bird
1999 / UK / 101m / Col / Western | IMDb
Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, David Arquette, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, John Spencer, Stephen Spinella, Neal McDonough, Joseph Runningfox, Bill Brochtrup
“From the moment Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn’s tinny, non-traditional score rises, there’s a, “Wait, did they mean to do that?” quality to the film. Ravenous doesn’t sound or look like other movies—for better and for worse. That eccentricity helps once it becomes clearer that Ravenous is meant to function as a historical/political allegory, using the “survival of the fittest” plot as an analogue to the way the U.S. gobbled up land throughout the 19th century. The movie is really about Boyd’s ethical crisis as he realizes that being a soldier—and a cannibal—means swallowing things he finds distasteful. Bird and Griffin aren’t shy about making that point; Ravenous openly declares its meaning over and over during its final half-hour. But the rest of the film is so entertainingly odd that the lack of subtlety doesn’t seem so egregious. Whatever the circumstances that led to the cast and crew of Ravenous feeling abandoned and aimless, from scene to scene, they did their best to make something distinctive.” – Noel Murray, The Dissolve
AKA:
234. (-14) Inferno
Dario Argento
1980 / Italy / 107m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Leigh McCloskey, Irene Miracle, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, Sacha Pitoëff, Alida Valli, Veronica Lazar, Gabriele Lavia, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Leopoldo Mastelloni
“Inferno is at its core a haunted house movie, with a succession of increasingly supernatural encounters as various characters investigate the strange happenings, both in New York and Rome. Very much a mood piece, trying to decipher Argento’s ‘riddles’ is a futile exercise and one that actually detracts from the principal appeal of soaking up the incredible atmosphere and suspense filled set-pieces. This isn’t a mystery to solve, it’s one to surrender yourself to. Resist the urge to question motivations and non sequiturs and you quickly become immersed in the theatrically lit sets and mesmeric photography. Some key scares are masterfully built up too – an underwater scene early on will have you rubbing your feet for security.” – James Dennis, Twitch
AKA:
235. (+80) Valerie a týden divu
Jaromil Jires
1970 / Czechoslovakia / 77m / Col / Surrealism | IMDb
Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prýmek, Jan Klusák, Libuse Komancová, Karel Engel, Alena Stojáková, Otto Hradecký, Martin Wielgus
“Jaromil Jires’s overripe 1970 exercise in Prague School surrealism. The 13-year-old title heroine, who’s just had her first period, traipses through a shifting landscape of sensuous, anticlerical, and vaguely medieval fantasy-horror enchantments that register more as a collection of dream adventures, spurred by guiltless and polysexual eroticism, than as a conventional narrative. Virtually every shot is a knockout—for comparable use of color, you’d have to turn to some of Vera Chytilova’s extravaganzas of the same period, such as Daisies and Fruit of Paradise. If you aren’t too anxious about decoding what all this means, you’re likely to be entranced.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
AKA: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
236. (-14) Maniac
William Lustig
1980 / USA / 87m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper, Rita Montone, Tom Savini, Hyla Marrow, James L. Brewster, Linda Lee Walter, Tracie Evans
“Lustig’s film depicts this lunatic in a somewhat compassionate light, making sure to complement Zito’s grisly slayings with moments of schizophrenic introspection as he mumbles to himself about the childhood abuse that scarred his psyche. Spinell and C.A. Rosenberg’s script, however, stops short of trying to elicit outright sympathy, a wise decision given Zito’s bloody habit of stabbing whores in seedy motel rooms – an act that, like so many of his killings, has an overt sexual component – and shooting lovers at point blank range with a shotgun (leading to horror make-up expert Tom Savini’s infamous exploding head cameo). Spinell’s committed performance as the slovenly, misogynistic fiend has a frenzied intensity that only somewhat compensates for the implausible plot, which eventually involves Zito’s relationship with a way-out-of-his-league photographer. But as a grimy snapshot of early ‘80s Manhattan and an unapologetically twisted study in pathological murderousness, Maniac still exhibits a hideous pulse.” – Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
AKA:
237. (+133) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Tobe Hooper
1986 / USA / 101m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Jim Siedow, Bill Moseley, Bill Johnson, Ken Evert, Harlan Jordan, Kirk Sisco, James N. Harrell, Lou Perryman
“”The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” is as potent a follow-up as one could expect from the series, unapologetically traveling in fresh directions while serving up audiences the gory goods. The cinematography by Richard Kooris is vibrant and alive, taking full advantage of the locations and making particularly effective use of the neon colors at the radio station and the rainbow-colored Christmas lights strung along the walls of the Sawyers’ underground hell. The soundtrack is also superb, with choice cuts from The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Timbuk 3, Concrete Blonde, Lords of the New Church, and Stewart Copeland nicely complementing the action. When it comes to humor-laced horror that isn’t an outright spoof, there are few films that work quite as well (or with the same amount of bravado) as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.”” – Dustin Putnam, The Movie Boy
AKA:
238. (+40) L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo
Dario Argento
1970 / Italy / 98m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho, Renato Romano, Giuseppe Castellano, Mario Adorf, Pino Patti, Gildo Di Marco
“Now king of the spaghetti slasher, Argento made his directorial debut with this tightly constructed thriller in which an American writer is witness to an attempted knife attack, and then finds himself obsessed with tracking down a serial killer whose next victims could be himself and his lover. There are some extravagant false leads, but tension is well sustained with the aid of Vittorio Storaro’s stylish ‘Scope photography and a Morricone score. Particularly effective are the opening attack, viewed through a maze of locked windows, and a scene with the victim caught on a stairway suddenly plunged into darkness. Certain elements seem to have been an influence on Dressed to Kill and The Shining, but Argento himself zoomed into more and more abstract shock effects, neglecting the Hitchcockian principles observed here.” – Geoff Andrew, Time Out
AKA: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
239. (-3) The Dead Zone
David Cronenberg
1983 / USA / 103m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Anthony Zerbe, Colleen Dewhurst, Martin Sheen, Nicholas Campbell, Sean Sullivan, Jackie Burroughs
“It makes for gripping supernatural drama, all the more notable because it wasn’t quite what any of the principals had done before or since. Walken rarely gets a chance to play Ordinary Guy like he does here, while Cronenberg’s penchant for the weird and obtuse is abandoned without losing the exquisite sensibilities that make him such a great filmmaker. Even King moved in a slightly different direction with this one, staying away from straight-up horror for one of the first times in its career. It kind of sneaks up on you. This is not a noisy film, and won’t attract the kind of spotlights that an evil Plymouth or rabid St. Bernard might. But it delves deeper than they do for its ideas, and travels much further as a result.” – Rob Vaux, Mania.com
AKA:
240. (+8) Scanners
David Cronenberg
1981 / Canada / 103m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Jennifer O’Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside, Robert A. Silverman, Lee Broker, Mavor Moore, Adam Ludwig, Murray Cruchley
“Part conspiracy thriller, part political tract, it is Cronenberg’s most coherent movie to date, drawing a dark (but bland) world in which corporate executives engineer human conception to produce ever more powerful mental samurai. And he punctuates it with spectacular set piece confrontations which really do dramatise the abstract, ingenious premise. As always, there’s a nagging feeling that the script is not quite perfectly realised on screen, but Patrick McGoohan’s bizarre cameo performance, and the extraordinary moral and sexual ambiguity of the final scanning contest, more than make up for it.” – Derek Adams, Time Out
AKA: Telepathy 2000
241. (+13) La noche del terror ciego
Amando de Ossorio
1972 / Spain / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Lone Fleming, César Burner, María Elena Arpón, José Thelman, Rufino Inglés, Verónica Llimera, Simón Arriaga, Francisco Sanz, Juan Cortés, Andrés Isbert
“The film is not, of course, flawless; like just about every other genre film made on that continent in that time period, the plot is too flimsy to withstand even a slight breeze of scrutiny (there’s a whole entire subplot involving Virginia’s ultimate fate that is of nearly no value to the story whatsoever), and most of the characters are die-cut from cardboard, although Bet is surely a more rounded figure than we often see in these films, and reasonably well performed. But honestly, no sane person goes into a film like this for the story. They go for the atmosphere, the terror, and the zombies, and all three of those things are in peak form here. As the kick-off to the European zombie film, Tombs is just about the finest example of the form that I have ever seen.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
AKA: Tombs of the Blind Dead
242. (+17) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
David Lynch
1992 / USA / 135m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Phoebe Augustine, David Bowie, Eric DaRe, Miguel Ferrer, Pamela Gidley, Heather Graham
“The film is alarmingly dark. It isn’t especially funny, or quirky, or even much in keeping with the spirit of the series. But in its own singular, deeply strange way, Fire Walk With Me is David Lynch’s masterpiece… Laura’s world is morally confused, and Lynch presents it as basically illegible: the only way he can show us the truth is by articulating it in code, shrouding it in fantasy and mystery and conspiratorial intrigue. It’s why the film seems, at times, like a puzzle. The contrasting halves of the film’s bifurcated narrative find two worlds crashing together, the first a plane of frustrated desire and inscrutable mystery, the second a void into which a young woman is swallowed up. The procedural elements of the first are fundamentally disconnected from the tragedy of the second, suggesting that, in the final estimation, we can’t really on institutions to protect us. They’re solving the wrong case.” – Calum Marsh, Village Voice
AKA:
243. (-6) Opera
Dario Argento
1987 / Italy / 107m / Col / Giallo | IMDb
Cristina Marsillach, Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Antonella Vitale, William McNamara, Barbara Cupisti
“Opera is a violent aria of memory, bad luck, the artistic drive and the horror of the stare. Betty (Cristina Marsillach) is haunted by memories of her dead mother, once an opera diva herself. Argento’s flashback sequences are predictably opaque. Secret corridors and staircases run alongside both Betty’s apartment and the film’s opera house, evoking the secret recesses of the subconscious. An image of a pulsating brain (here, a visual signifier of the girl’s Freudian despair) precedes images of a killing spree that imply that the girl’s mother may have been more than a passive victim… [In the finale] it really looks as if the heroine has cracked. Take Opera as the last time the great Argento was cracked himself.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
AKA:
244. (+56) The Quatermass Xperiment
Val Guest
1955 / UK / 82m / BW / Science Fiction | IMDb
Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Margia Dean, Thora Hird, Gordon Jackson, David King-Wood, Harold Lang, Lionel Jeffries, Sam Kydd, Richard Wordsworth
“Other fine moments, such as an ill-fated car ride with his wife, make The Quatermass Xperiment a little more haunting than you may expect. Though it’s set up as a standard creature feature, it doesn’t capitulate to that mode until the very end, when the monster is finally revealed. It probably looks a little silly to modern audiences, and the film itself is certainly quite tame, this was the stuff of an “X” rating in its heyday (which also explains the odd spelling of the film’s title, which is a marketing ploy). Most of its terrors at the time would have been the psychologically unnerving sort, as audiences were only a decade removed from atomic horrors and UFO hysteria was about to reach manic heights. Guest’s film definitely taps into all of that, though it still works as a brisk, cool horror movie without those subtexts.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror
AKA: The Creeping Unknown
245. (+25) Night of the Eagle
Sidney Hayers
1962 / UK / 90m / BW / Supernatural | IMDb
Peter Wyngarde, Janet Blair, Margaret Johnston, Anthony Nicholls, Colin Gordon, Kathleen Byron, Reginald Beckwith, Jessica Dunning, Norman Bird, Judith Stott
““Burn, Witch, Burn” maintains both its tone and the line of ambiguity about whether the witchcraft actually works. Wyngarde is fantastic in a finely nuanced performance. He comes off as a good person but flawed; he’s not always the nicest human being and with that ego comeuppance is assured. Still, this is Hayers’ ship, and he steers it flawlessly. The film is never less than gripping, and past a certain point, you have no idea where this movie is going. With neither the budget nor the technology for flashy effects, the filmmakers had to fall back on quality acting, writing, directing, and editing. They succeeded.” – Ron Wells, Film Threat
AKA: Burn, Witch, Burn!
246. (+62) Tales from the Crypt
Freddie Francis
1972 / UK / 92m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Ralph Richardson, Geoffrey Bayldon, Joan Collins, Martin Boddey, Chloe Franks, Oliver MacGreevy, Ian Hendry, Susan Denny, Angela Grant, Peter Cushing
“Subotsky bought the movie rights for all the E. C. horror titles from their publisher, William M. Gaines, and “Tales from the Crypt” is the first film made from the material. It’s put together something like the comic books, with the old Crypt Keeper acting as host and narrator… The five stories all work on the principle that an evildoer should be punished ironically by his own misdeed… The direction is by Freddie Francis, who has something of a cult following among horror fans, and the visuals and decor have been planned in bright basic colors and gray, so they look something like comic panels. One further note: If Santa Claus knocks at your door tonight, don’t answer.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
AKA:
247. (-33) Cube
Vincenzo Natali
1997 / Canada / 90m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett, Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, Andrew Miller, Julian Richings, Wayne Robson
“When one slows down to consider the amount of energy and planning that had to go into setting up shots and piecing them together and focusing on just the right bits of the walls to make sure that scenes would flow right, and transition from one to the other properly, Cube can only be regarded as a titanic masterpiece of resource management. That’s just about the least sexy thing you could ever praise a filmmaker for doing, but making the movie this seamless required tremendous skill and attention, and at the level of pure craftsmanship, Cube is among the most genuinely impressive low-budget films that I have ever seen.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
AKA:
248. (+45) Rabid
David Cronenberg
1977 / Canada / 91m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver, Howard Ryshpan, Patricia Gage, Susan Roman, Roger Periard, Lynne Deragon, Terry Schonblum, Victor Désy
“Much more than just another zombie movie, this is really about epidemics and the fear of disease, and the scene where a train full of commuters realise there are infected people among them is one of the most riveting depictions of mass panic ever recorded. When he made Rabid, Cronenberg was not an auteur with a reputation to defend. He’d barely even established himself as a cult favourite. What he delivers, then, is unrestrained by any such concerns – he never expected it to win fans or make money, so it follows his own vision, raw and uncompromising. Its disorganised nature is entirely appropriate to the story it tells, so that whilst it may drag in places, whilst there are plot inconsistencies and loose ends, the overall effect is very powerful. It was an unforgettable calling card signalling the start of a unique career, and it’s well worth looking back on now.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film
AKA: Rage
249. (+42) The Loved Ones
Sean Byrne
2009 / Australia / 84m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson, John Brumpton, Andrew S. Gilbert, Suzi Dougherty, Victoria Eagger
“An Australian horror picture in the tradition of New French Extremism, Sean Byrne’s The Loved Ones adheres to the principle that if you delve into full-tilt repulsiveness wholly enough, the rest will just sort of take care of itself. You could call it “torture porn,” as many critics have since it was released in its native Australia two years ago, but then this isn’t exactly Hostel either; its tone is too light, its manner too cavalier, to be bogged down by the kind of portentous posturing that made Eli Roth’s film reek of self-importance. Byrne, a first-time director, has a lot of fun with what is essentially rote slasher material, endowing it with the kind of blackly comic wit and levity that virtually guarantee its entry into the contemporary midnight-movie canon.” – Calum Marsh, Slant Magazine
AKA:
250. (-29) The Spiral Staircase
Robert Siodmak
1946 / USA / 83m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Gordon Oliver, Elsa Lanchester, Sara Allgood, Rhys Williams, James Bell
“With its stark expressionistic design and cinematography, to say nothing of its atmospheric Gothic set, The Spiral Staircase hss not just the feel but the actual living substance of the darkest nightmare. The enormous swathes of shadow which drape the sinister mansion interior and dwarf the protagonists resemble the talons of some gigantic night beast that is constantly on the verge of striking. From the very first shot to the very last, there is a sense of menace and anticipation that is both spellbinding and terrifying, slowly building to a dizzying climax in the final nerve shattering ten minutes. No wonder the film shocked audiences when it was first released – it has much the same impact today, particularly if you watch it alone, with the lights turned out – preferably in a dark old house…” – James Travers, French Film Site
AKA:
251. (-26) Dead Ringers
David Cronenberg
1988 / Canada / 116m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon, Shirley Douglas, Stephen Lack, Nick Nichols, Lynne Cormack, Damir Andrei, Miriam Newhouse
“[Cronenberg] clearly understands that a small amount of medical mischief can be more unnerving than conventional grisliness. Even the film’s opening credits, which present antiquated obstetrical drawings and strange medical instruments, are enough to make audiences queasy. Who, then, will be drawn to this spectacle? Anyone with a taste for the macabre wit, the weird poignancy and the shifting notions of identity that lend ‘Dead Ringers’ such fascination. And anyone who cares to see Jeremy Irons’s seamless performance, a schizophrenic marvel, in the two title roles. Mr. Cronenberg has shaped a startling tale of physical and psychic disintegration, pivoting on the twins’ hopeless interdependence and playing havoc with the viewer’s grip on reality.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times
AKA:
252. (+60) Asylum
Roy Ward Baker
1972 / UK / 88m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Barry Morse, Barbara Parkins, Robert Powell, Charlotte Rampling, Sylvia Syms, Richard Todd
“All in all, “Asylum” is one of the best anthology films ever made. Especially eerie is the tale where a killer is pursued by the severed body parts of his victim, all of which are wrapped in paper. The film makes effective use of Moussegsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Night on the Bare Mountain” as the basis of the soundtrack. With performances that are all top notch and great direction from Baker, the film is a flawless piece of horror moviemaking — a well-made gem from the 1970s that is unlike anything that studios can produce today.” – Lucius Gore, Esplatter
AKA:
253. (+63) The Brides of Dracula
Terence Fisher
1960 / UK / 85m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Martita Hunt, Yvonne Monlaur, Freda Jackson, David Peel, Miles Malleson, Henry Oscar, Mona Washbourne, Andree Melly, Victor Brooks
“Terence Fisher proves just as adept at action in this film as he was with atmosphere and space in the original, resulting in a tremendously exciting climax with just enough imagination to leave us unconcerned about how much it borrows from other sources. Besides that, Brides is not just the equal of Dracula as a triumph of craftsmanship; in at least one important way, it’s a major step up. Though the film is still lighter than the modern viewer would think proper, it offers a much deeper collection of musty shadows than the first film had, and a crazy motif of colorful detail lighting that makes no sense in a strictly motivational way (i.e. there’s no reason that bright green lights should pour out of the inn’s back rooms), but serves a much greater purpose in showing just how off-kilter and nightmarish this whole Gothic world really is.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
AKA:
254. (-30) House of Usher
Roger Corman
1960 / USA / 79m / BW / Gothic | IMDb
Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe
“Price is his usual impressive self as the almost certainly incestuously inclined Roderick Usher who, having buried his sister alive when she falls into a cataleptic trance, becomes the victim of her ghostly revenge; but it is Corman’s overall direction that lends the film its intelligence and power. The sickly decadence and claustrophobia of the Usher household – which is both disturbed and temporarily cleansed by the fresh air that accompanies Damon’s arrival as suitor to Madeline Usher – is admirably evoked by Floyd Crosby’s ‘Scope photography and Daniel Haller’s art direction, the latter’s sets dominated by a putrid, bloody crimson. But Richard Matheson’s script is also exemplary: lucid, imaginatively detailed and subtle.” – Time Out
AKA:
255. (-14) Der Student von Prag
Stellan Rye & Paul Wegener
1913 / Germany / 85m / BW / Supernatural | IMDb
Paul Wegener, John Gottowt, Grete Berger, Lyda Salmonova, Lothar Körner, Fritz Weidemann, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Alexander Moissi
“One of the earliest films to leverage the camera, and film technology more generally, as means of expression in their own right (as opposed to ‘passive’ recording devices), The Student of Prague indicated a radical shift in the conception of the cinematic medium. The film brought to the screen a central motif of nineteenth-century fantastic literature, namely the figuration of the uncanny doppelganger as the embodiment of anxieties associated with the disintegration of a unified ‘self’ in a rapidly modernising world. In representing fears of psychic and social fragmentation and relating them to filmic reproduction, The Student of Prague scrutinises the uncertain status of modern subjectivity and acknowledges the cinematic medium as part of that very predicament.” – Katharina Loew, German Cinema: A Critical Filmography to 1945
AKA: The Student of Prague
256. (+11) The Beast with Five Fingers
Robert Florey
1946 / USA / 88m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Robert Alda, Andrea King, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen, J. Carrol Naish, Charles Dingle, John Alvin, David Hoffman, Barbara Brown, Patricia Barry
“Curt Siodmak’s screenplay, from a story by William Fryer Harvey, uses a standard but sturdy setup for a supernatural whodunnit. Everybody is a suspect, even the ostensibly innocent Julie. Events go pretty much as expected until Hilary Cummins’ nightmarish scenes kick in, at which time the combined talents of director Florey, the special effects department and Max Steiner’s dynamic music raise the chill factor to the ceiling. Peter Lorre takes the effect the rest of the way, finding a dozen ways of appearing haunted, shaken and finally terrorized by a horrifying hand crawling under its own power. A shocking sight for the 1940s, the hand has been raggedly sawed or chopped off – the stump of a bone is even visible in the wound.” – Glenn Erickson, DVDTalk
AKA:
257. (-24) The Lodger
John Brahm
1944 / USA / 84m / BW / Thriller | IMDb
Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood, Aubrey Mather, Queenie Leonard, Doris Lloyd, David Clyde, Helena Pickard
“If “The Lodger” was designed to chill the spine—as indeed it must have been, considering all the mayhem Mr. Cregar is called upon to commit as the mysterious, psychopathic pathologist of the title—then something is wrong with the picture. But, if it was intended as a sly travesty on the melodramatic technique of ponderously piling suspicion upon suspicion (and wrapping the whole in a cloak of brooding photographic effects), then “The Lodger” is eminently successful.” – The New York Times
AKA:
258. (-11) The Company of Wolves
Neil Jordan
1984 / UK / 95m / Col / Werewolf | IMDb
Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Graham Crowden, Brian Glover, Kathryn Pogson, Stephen Rea, Tusse Silberg, Micha Bergese, Sarah Patterson, Georgia Slowe
“The movie is based on a novel and a screenplay by Angela Carter, who has taken Red Riding Hood as a starting-place for the stories, which are secretly about the fearsomeness of sexuality. She has shown us what those scary fairy tales are really telling us; she has filled in the lines and visualized the parts that the Brothers Grimm left out (and they did not leave out all that many parts). The movie has an uncanny, hypnotic force; we always know what is happening, but we rarely know why, or how it connects with anything else, or how we can escape from it, or why it seems to correspond so deeply with our guilts and fears. That is, of course, almost a definition of a nightmare.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
AKA:
259. (+16) The Mummy
Terence Fisher
1959 / UK / 86m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Eddie Byrne, Felix Aylmer, Raymond Huntley, George Pastell, Michael Ripper, George Woodbridge, Harold Goodwin
“Despite the overwhelmingly cliché story, it is so well told that you never realize you’re watching something familiar. The pacing is fantastic, never too slow, never too fast. The story begins in the past, offering a brief backstory and explaining both John Banning’s limp and the motivations of the mummy. Once in the present, the story jumps right in with a crazy old man’s stories of living mummies, a mysterious box falling into the bog, and the mummy arising from the mud and murk into turn-of-the-century England. The instant you start to get bored, the story changes yet again, moving into a flashback sequence that explains how the mummy came to be, creating not just a monster, but a character we can sympathize with. Before you know it, the film is half over. And then the fun really begins – the last sequences being filled mostly with mummy attacks and anti-mummy stratagem.” – Julia Merriam, Classic-Horror.com
AKA:
260. (-14) The Blood on Satan’s Claw
Piers Haggard
1971 / UK / 97m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, Barry Andrews, Michele Dotrice, Wendy Padbury, Anthony Ainley, Charlotte Mitchell, Tamara Ustinov, Simon Williams, James Hayter
“The Blood on Satan’s Claw, a 1971 horror potboiler from English genre studio Tigon, lacks the moral underpinnings of Michael Reeves’ cautionary classic Witchfinder General but resembles it in setting and atmosphere… The Blood on Satan’s Claw clarifies the relationship between wickedness and virtue by showing how evil, in the guise of rebellious children and especially a seductive teenager, can be vanquished by vigilance and bravery on the part of Christian men… It’s not just an enjoyable chiller with sex, violence, costume drama, and some amusing hairstyles, but also a dramatization — using the abolition of Catholic royalty from the English throne as a historical marker — of the tension between reason and superstition, between modern science and the long, regularly irresistible history of mythology.” – Bryant Frazer, Deep Focus
AKA:
261. (-26) Mystery of the Wax Museum
Michael Curtiz
1933 / USA / 77m / BW / Mystery | IMDb
Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Allen Vincent, Gavin Gordon, Edwin Maxwell, Holmes Herbert, Claude King, Arthur Edmund Carewe
“Compared to other horror movies of the same vintage, the thing one primarily notices about Mystery of the Wax Museum is that it doesn’t spare anything: right from the images of wax models melting in a grotesque parody of human decay and rotten, near the very start of the film, the filmmakers pile on images that are more concerned with scoring fast knockouts than sidling around behind us to be creepy and subdued. Mystery of the Wax Museum has many wonderful characteristics, but not subtlety. The camerawork is often heavily artificial and exaggerated, a clear and rather exciting attempt to bring the discordant angles and geometry of Germany Expressionism into the by-necessity well-lit interiors and florid colors of red-green Technicolor. Farrell’s performance, which I find absolutely captivating, has all the grace and insinuation of a machine gun nest.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
AKA:
262. (-4) Sleepaway Camp
Robert Hiltzik
1983 / USA / 84m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet, Mike Kellin, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Thomas E. van Dell, Loris Sallahian, John E. Dunn
“The combination of edgy themes, a shocking twist, appropriately nasty violence, and some humorously amateurish moments of filmmaking make Sleepaway Camp kind of fun, even though it’s by no means a great work of art. Rose, Tiersten, and Fields all give good, authentic performances, and the twist ending really is surprising. Sleepaway Camp ends with that twist, freeze-framing on an image that has become iconic to hardcore horror buffs everywhere. The movie won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those with a strong interest in cinematic scares, it is most definitely a gutsy picture that deserves to be seen and discussed.” – Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
AKA: Nightmare Vacation
263. (-70) The Picture of Dorian Gray
Albert Lewin
1945 / USA / 110m / BW / Gothic | IMDb
George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Lowell Gilmore, Richard Fraser, Douglas Walton, Morton Lowry, Miles Mander
“Albert Lewin’s direction is masterful. He uses shadow to crank up tension and atmosphere, without ever going over the top into out and out horror. The set design is brilliant, Dorian’s childhood school room, where he hides the painting, is wonderful. Lewin shot the film in black and white, save for a couple of Technicolor shots of the portrait. The portrait’s original beauty, when it is simply a painting of Dorian, and the later incarnation, as it takes on all of Dorian’s faults and turns the figure into a monster, are all breathtaking. The supporting cast is wonderful, George Sanders steals every scene he is in, rattling off Wilde’s rich and wry observations without stopping to breathe… The glaring mistake here is Hurd Hatfield in the title role… As Dorian commits murders and suicides begin swirling around him, Hatfield looks oblivious, not unfeeling or menacing.” – Charles Tatum, eFilmCritic Reviews
AKA:
264. (-35) Prince of Darkness
John Carpenter
1987 / USA / 102m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Anne Marie Howard, Ann Yen, Ken Wright, Dirk Blocker
““Prince of Darkness,” while still the same trapped in a house formula, manages to hold up as a creepy and dread soaked horror film that Carpenter is able to direct with immense flair. Carpenter is a genius about confining stories to one setting and building an incredible narrative from it. “Prince of Darkness” garners a considerably low budget, but the terror and urgency is so present, you can’t even care. The characters are stuck in the church with no holy presence, and trapped by possessed armies of the homeless that tear anyone apart who dares to attempt escape. Meanwhile, there is no one aware they’re in this church, so they’re an island in an urban setting, along with zero hope. Much of “Prince of Darkness” is based around mounting dread and an ultimate pay off, and Carpenter builds every scene to a great crescendo.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
AKA:
265. (+18) It
Andy Muschietti
2017 / USA / 135m / Col / Evil Clown | IMDb
Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hamilton, Jake Sim
“I’m no expert on Stephen King, and I leave it to other writers to weigh up this movie’s faithfulness to the canon from which it derives. But a look into the grief of children can only come across in a movie that’s been put together well, and this one has. Go expecting jump scares, and you will be rewarded handsomely. But you’ll also find a well-crafted meditation on the pain that communities refuse to see and the effect that pain has on the young and powerless. It is study in trauma to match the best of them.” – Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic
AKA:
266. (+37) Das Wachsfigurenkabinett
Paul Leni
1924 / Germany / 65m / BW / Anthology | IMDb
Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss, William Dieterle, Olga Belajeff, John Gottowt, Georg John, Ernst Legal
“Don’t let the lack of horror chops deter you from this; after all, it is close enough, plus it has an early treatment of the Jack the Ripper story that’s been mined dozens of times for the genre. Plus, the technical display is quite astonishing; this was a huge production for the age, and it shows in the elaborate set design, especially in that first segment. Taking us from Arab streets to lavish palaces to dingy, humble abodes, Leni masterfully transports us through a fancifully realized land that recalls the whimsy of the Arabian Nights tales. Toss in some dazzling color tinting and you’re basically treated to an Expressionist feast.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!
AKA: Waxworks
267. (+27) The Raven
Lew Landers
1935 / USA / 61m / BW / Crime | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lester Matthews, Irene Ware, Samuel S. Hinds, Spencer Charters, Inez Courtney, Ian Wolfe, Maidel Turner, Anne Darling
“In ‘The Raven’, Lugosi gives one of his very best performances – the image of his maniacally laughing face, looking down through a grate as a traumatized and newly disfigured Karloff is confronted by a series of mirrors is one of the most memorable of the era. His ice cold, simple declaration of “Yes. I like to torture,” is absolutely bone-chilling and despite a great and relatively understated showing by Karloff, it remains Lugosi’s show and the fact that he was given second-billing is something of a travesty. Thankfully Bela’s performance is so strong and has such impact that no mere credits will affect viewer’s perception of who the true star of this movie really is. All in all, while it may lack a marquee monster at its center, ‘The Raven’ is completely unmissable for any fan of classic horror.” – Michael Rose, Mysterious Universe
AKA:
268. (+30) Viy
Konstantin Ershov & Georgi Kropachyov
1967 / Soviet Union / 77m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin, Nikolay Kutuzov, Vadim Zakharchenko, Pyotr Vesklyarov, Vladimir Salnikov, Dmitriy Kapka, Stepan Shkurat, Georgiy Sochevko
“Running a tight 72 minutes, this film never overstays its welcome and wisely leaves the viewer wanting more. The second and third witch attacks are among Ptushko’s finest work, as the witch rides her coffin in circles through the air, monsters pour from the walls, giant hands erupt from the floor, and “Viy” himself makes an appearance for the grand finale. The rest of the film is a skillful example of the balance between wonder and dread, with religion playing a prominent role from the opening moments to the final, ironic closing lines.” – Mondo Digital
AKA:
269. (+70) Yabu no naka no kuroneko
Kaneto Shindô
1968 / Japan / 99m / BW / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Rokko Toura, Kiwako Taichi, Taiji Tonoyama, Hideo Kanze, Eimei Esumi, Shôji ôki, Kentarô Kaji
“Shindô eventually buries viewers in the sprits’ ghastly abode, a suffocating set piece bathed in the shadows of bamboo reeds. Most films would be content to drop you in the middle of the forest, and this one does thrive on the basic, primal isolation of the situation (it also helps that there’s really only one other major location, so the audience truly does feel cut off). However, Kuroneko is especially atmospheric in its choice of locales, as the remote hut is an extension of its wraithlike inhabitants. The film’s most memorable shot seems like a simple establishing shot of the hut; however, one can see that it’s subtly gliding among the bamboo grove, as if it exists outside of space and time. A brief but vital scene, it perfectly captures the understated, unnerving creepiness of the film.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror
AKA: Kuroneko
270. (-52) Gwoemul
Joon-ho Bong
2006 / South Korea / 120m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Kang-ho Song, Hie-bong Byeon, Hae-il Park, Doona Bae, Ah-sung Ko, Dal-su Oh, Jae-eung Lee, Dong-ho Lee, Je-mun Yun, David Anselmo
“The mood shifts wildly between comedy, horror, serious drama, and action – but Bong always seems in control and by the end leaves one feeling satisfied (though not overstuffed) with the results as it’s both exciting and ballsy. Even our protagonists have an endearing everydayness about them which makes them easy to root for. In spite of its assorted lumpy bits, this is a far more successful monster movie than any creature feature Hollywood has churned out in a LONG time.” – Garth Franklin, Dark Horizons
AKA: The Host
271. (+35) You’re Next
Adam Wingard
2011 / USA / 95m / Col / Home Invasion | IMDb
Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Margaret Laney, Amy Seimetz, Ti West, Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton
“Given its title, you can be forgiven for assuming that Adam Wingard’s home-invasion thriller will be just another blood-soaked body-count flick. But You’re Next is better than that… The relentless violence does get to be a bit much, but what juices this bare-bones premise and lifts it above the weekly slew of run-of-the-mill splatterfests is Wingard’s canny knack for leavening his characters’ gory demises with sick laughs and clever Rube Goldberg twists (razor-sharp piano wire hasn’t been used this well since 1999’s Audition). It’s like Ordinary People meets Scream… It’s so deliciously twisted, it will make you walk out of the theater feeling like you just endured a grueling, giddy workout.” – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
AKA:
272. (-19) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Tommy Lee Wallace
1982 / USA / 98m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O’Herlihy, Michael Currie, Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor, Brad Schacter, Garn Stephens, Nancy Kyes, Jonathan Terry
“Was it a cheat that Halloween III skipped out on more Michael Myers mayhem? Well, it certainly was annoying that the advertising didn’t let audiences know that little fact in the teasers and trailers. And a great many fans are still pissed about that to this very day… But, to be frank, people need to lighten up about this third entry because Season of the Witch is actually a pretty terrific little midnight movie, in keeping with John Carpenter’s other chillers of the era, specifically The Fog and The Thing. On many levels, the films kinda play like an eerie trilogy of haunting ghost stories, filled with monsters, mad men and vengeful ghouls… Season of the Witch has grown in popularity over the years as fans have healed from the initial sting and gave the film a second chance.” – R. L. Shaffer, IGN DVD
AKA:
273. (-11) Duel
Steven Spielberg
1971 / USA / 90m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Gene Dynarski, Lucille Benson, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Shirley O’Hara, Alexander Lockwood
“‘Duel’ might almost have been a silent film, because it expresses so much through action and so little through the words that are here. Mr. Weaver is David Mann, the film’s only real character, and he’s given a few internal monologues that only awkwardly express Mann’s anxiety… These and a few whimsical conversations from a call-in radio show are really all the character development the movie provides, and they’re much weaker than the ingenious visual effects. Mr. Spielberg wasn’t purely a special-effects director in those days, and he isn’t one now, but the people in ‘Duel’ seem particularly remote… The vehicles are the real stars” – Janet Maslin, New York Times
AKA:
274. (+43) Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Eli Craig
2010 / USA / 89m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon Jay McLaren, Christie Laing, Chelan Simmons, Travis Nelson, Alex Arsenault
“High-concept horror comedies that actually work are a rare breed, yet Tucker & Dale vs. Evil manages to continually make the comedy-of-errors shtick work. Props should go not only to Labine, but Tudyk as well, who bears the brunt of the comic violence heaped upon the clueless duo. Thankfully, the laughs are evened out with a heaping of gore that’ll please the horror hounds in the crowd. Amazingly, even the unbelievable romance between Allison and Dale comes off as rather sweet. In its own pleasantly blood-soaked way, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil delivers a whole lot more than just a one-joke concept, making it a very worthy watch for genre devotees.” – Jeremy Wheeler, TV Guide’s Movie Guide
AKA:
275. (+55) A Quiet Place
John Krasinski
2018 / USA / 90m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward, Leon Russom
“While it is mostly devoid of dialogue, it is a film rich in subtle textural detail. From the sand-strewn paths on which the family carefully tread to their simple white-light/red-light warning system, the visual tapestry of their everyday life is a constant reminder of how they cope with their predicament… despite its well-played jump scares, it operates at a deep emotional level. Aside from the fleeting appearance of an ill-fated elderly couple, there are no other human characters on screen; this apocalyptic tale is told entirely through the prism of a single family, one struggling to cope not only with actual monsters, but also with insidious personal demons of grief, blame and guilt.” – Nikki Baughan, Sight & Sound
AKA:
276. (-70) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Chuck Russell
1987 / USA / 96m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Heather Langenkamp, Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette, Robert Englund, Ken Sagoes, Rodney Eastman, Jennifer Rubin, Bradley Gregg, Ira Heiden
“After the misstep of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, New Line resolved to make a better sequel, calling in series creator Wes Craven (with Wild Palms writer Bruce Wagner) to craft a more elaborate storyline (and set-piece bad dreams), casting more interesting up-and-comers as Freddy fodder (Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne) and giving director Chuck Russell something like an effects budget… the film delivers amazing scenes in spades, bringing to life the sort of bizarre images which used to be found only on comic book covers: a boy’s veins are pulled from his limbs and used as strings to puppet-master him towards death, an antique tap grabs a girl’s hand and sprouts Freddy’s razornails, a victim is literally tongue-tied… It’s always a pleasure to see obnoxious American teenagers slaughtered like dogs, but it’s especially nice to see them wiped out in such surreally imaginative ways.” – Kim Newman, Empire Magazine
AKA:
277. (-92) Tremors
Ron Underwood
1990 / USA / 96m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire, Robert Jayne, Charlotte Stewart, Tony Genaro, Ariana Richards, Richard Marcus
“With a tip of the hat towards its ’50s forefathers, this canny genre entry exploits its novel subterranean threat to the max, the ingenious situations being orchestrated with considerable skill by first-time director Underwood. Bacon and Ward project a wonderful low-key rapport, based initially on jokey ignorance before giving way to terse apprehension. It’s great to hear authentic B movie talk again, especially when the cast takes it upon itself to name the monsters, only to come up with ‘graboids’ by default, and to debate their probable origin: ‘One thing’s for sure…them ain’t local boys’. This is what a monster movie is supposed to be like, and it’s terrific.” – Time Out
AKA:
278. (-55) Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Wes Craven
1994 / USA / 112m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Jeff Davis, Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes, Matt Winston, Rob LaBelle, David Newsom, Wes Craven, Marianne Maddalena, Gretchen Oehler, Tracy Middendorf
“Ten years after ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ first scared the daylights out of audiences, Wes Craven returns to his now classic horror premise and takes it to a new dimension. With equal debts to Pirandello and P. T. Barnum, Mr. Craven brings his prize creation, Freddy Krueger, out of the realm of Halloween masks and into the so-called real world. Realism is fundamental to the “Nightmare” series. Mr. Craven does not deal chiefly in phantasmagoric demons; he deals in terrifying extensions of everyday experience, the stuff of which true nightmares are made.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times
AKA:
279. (+46) Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
Pier Paolo Pasolini
1975 / Italy / 117m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto, Elsa De Giorgi, Hélène Surgère, Sonia Saviange, Sergio Fascetti, Bruno Musso
“Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last feature (1975) is a shockingly literal and historically questionable transposition of the Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom to the last days of Italian fascism. Most of the film consists of long shots of torture, though some viewers have been more upset by the bibliography that appears in the credits. Roland Barthes noted that in spite of all its objectionable elements (he pointed out that any film that renders Sade real and fascism unreal is doubly wrong), this film should be defended because it “refuses to allow us to redeem ourselves.” It’s certainly the film in which Pasolini’s protest against the modern world finds its most extreme and anguished expression. Very hard to take, but in its own way an essential work.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
AKA: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
280. (-38) The Hunchback of Notre Dame
William Dieterle
1939 / USA / 117m / BW / Drama | IMDb
Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O’Hara, Edmond O’Brien, Alan Marshal, Walter Hampden, Harry Davenport, Katharine Alexander
“The first thing that is noticed right off the bat, at least in relation to the Disney version of the story, is that this film is much more dramatic, serious and dark than Disney’s, which makes sense. The nature of the beast that is Quasimodo is much more terrifying and the job the filmmakers do on Charles Laughton is spectacular. The make up and everything else that went into making Laughton look like the hunchback is true movie magic. In addition, Laughton gives a good performance in the role. There isn’t a whole lot to do with the character except look a bit forlorn and misunderstood, but when given the chance he does a good job.” – Adam Kuhn, Corndog Chats
AKA:
281. (+9) Scream 2
Wes Craven
1997 / USA / 120m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Neve Campbell, Liev Shreiber, Timothy Olyphant, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Jerry O’Connell, Laurie Metcalf, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps
“It would be unfair to reveal too many twists, but the windy plot allows Wes Craven to demonstrate again just how good he is at punching your scare buttons, employing sharp editing and a superb sound mix to make even the hokiest sudden-appearance-out-of-the-dark a moment guaranteed to spill your popcorn. In-joke fans will especially relish the extracts from Stab, in which – as she feared in the first film – Sidney is played by Tori Spelling. In Stab, key moments from Scream are done again with caricature cheap horror movie twitches that pile up on what were already essays in textbook genre-making. Clever parody of the sequel trend; once again we are treated to a movie mocking its own conventions.” – Kim Newman, Empire
AKA:
282. (+41) Cloverfield
Matt Reeves
2008 / USA / 85m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Annable, Anjul Nigam, Margot Farley, Theo Rossi, Brian Klugman
“Reeves, who’s been near anonymous in the pre-release hype, is masterful at choosing shots without appearing to do so. We view this unlovely goliath from all angles – a fleeting leg here, full-length in crafty helicopter shots on news footage there – but he’s even more effective as an unseen presence. There’s equal, if not more, dread in hearing furious roars as our band cowers in a side street, watching the military throwing everything they have uselessly at the beast. This is as much a triumph of sound design as of seamlessly blended CG and unsettling camerawork. Wise to the fact that the most frightening attack is the one without apparent reason, Cloverfield never chooses to explain its monster’s arrival. It’s suddenly there and, as one soldier notes, “it’s winning”. It intends to scare, not educate. The constant air of panic is so pervasive that it’s easy to miss the skilful creation of the sequences, which include a rescue from a collapsing skyscraper and a tunnel sequence so butt-clenching you’ll crap diamonds for a week.” – Olly Richards, Empire Magazine
AKA:
283. (+49) Wait Until Dark
Terence Young
1967 / USA / 108m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack Weston, Samantha Jones, Julie Herrod
“Young’s remarkable ability to create a believable oppressive locality in Wait Until Dark obscures plot holes and irrationalities right up to the film’s extended final showdown. By the time Suzy realizes she’s completely and hopelessly alone in her apartment (she’s sent the dorky Lisa off on a futile mission to locate Sam at Asbury Park), the cumulative effect of Hepburn’s palpable desolation and Arkin’s ruthlessness (combined with Henry Mancini’s overpoweringly harrowing score) bring the film to a justly celebrated climactic bacchanalia, complete with one of suspense cinema’s first and most effective shock leaps.” – Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
AKA:
284. (+4) Slither
James Gunn
2006 / Canada / 95m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Don Thompson, Nathan Fillion, Gregg Henry, Xantha Radley, Elizabeth Banks, Tania Saulnier, Dustin Milligan, Michael Rooker, Haig Sutherland, Jennifer Copping
“It’s no surprise that the majority of laughs are ably captured by Fillion, showing off the knack for deadpan delivery previously tapped by Joss Whedon in Serenity. As Pardy, he fills out the role of an unlikely hero dealing with extraordinary events, bringing bumbling affability to a part that could so easily have been lost to square jaws, steely eyes and other clumsy stereotypes. Tipping its hat at everything from the original Puppet Masters to bargain-bin trash like Ted Nicolaou’s TerrorVision, Slither is a carefully crafted parody (the Predator nod in particular will bring a smile to your face). But this is the scalpel to the Scary Movie series’ bludgeoning sledgehammer, skirting cheap imitation in favour of affectionate irreverence and managing to produce a genre hybrid that’s far more than the sum of its pilfered parts.” – James Dyer, Empire Magazine
AKA:
285. (-13) Shutter
Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom
2004 / Thailand / 97m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana, Unnop Chanpaibool, Titikarn Tongprasearth, Sivagorn Muttamara
“If you’ve seen any Asian horror movie of the last ten years, you know the drill: ghosts with bad hairdos, a Grudge from beyond the grave and technophobia that turns ordinary household objects (here the humble 35mm camera) into gateways to the next world… For all its technology-obsessed focus, Asian horror’s always been fascinated with the relationship between the living and the dead. Shutter’s no exception. “We think spirits long for their loved ones,” claims the editor of Ghost magazine (Thailand’s answer to The Fortean Times) as our heroes look for answers. It’s a line that’s laced with irony, although you won’t get it until after the credits roll.” – Jamie Russell, BBC
AKA:
286. (-26) Christine
John Carpenter
1983 / USA / 110m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Roberts Blossom, William Ostrander, David Spielberg
“Technology running amok and turning against humans is one of Stephen King’s favourite topics for creating suspense stories, but Christine also works as a metaphor for the destructive impact of the automobile age. Christine succeeds in effortlessly transforming the staid and cerebral Arnie to a self-obsessed anti-social maniac, and destroys all his relationships, in other words a direct if exaggerated parallel to the impact of the auto industry on overall societal behaviour.” – The Ace Black Blog
AKA:
287. (+37) Pontypool
Bruce McDonald
2008 / Canada / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, Rick Roberts, Daniel Fathers, Beatriz Yuste, Tony Burgess, Boyd Banks, Hannah Fleming
“Scriptwriter Tony Burgess knows that by entering the world of cinematic zombiedom, he has a responsibility to comment, to satirise – to not just tear open and chew on but also engage the mind of his characters and audience. He does this via a stunning reveal as to the nature of the ‘plague’ that has corrupted the collective mind of society (a clue is in Mazzy’s role as a lowbrow social commentator). In the hope of curing the population of its new-found fleshy hunger, Mazzy unleashes a last-gasp broadcast that is a wild, frenzied meld of brilliant scripting and tour-de-force acting. Spouting nonsensical gibberish at an electrifying pitch, Stephen McHattie throws himself into the film finale with wild abandon and it is a sight to behold. Horror fans may gripe at the lack of blood-&-guts (though a couple of moments keep the ‘that’s gross!” factor high). Fuelled by committed acting, tight direction and a wonderfully focused script, Pontypool proves a winning combination of shuddery suspense and intelligent observations.” – Simon Foster, SBS
AKA:
288. (+41) Gin gwai
Oxide Pang Chun & Danny Pang
2002 / Hong Kong / 99m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Angelica Lee, Lawrence Chou, Jinda Duangtoy, Yut Lai So, Candy Lo, Edmund Chen, Yin Ping Ko, Florence Wu, Wisarup Annuar, Yuet Siu Wong
“The story winds up going to familiar places, with Mun and her doctor (Lawrence Chou) doing the obligatory investigation into the former owner of Mun’s new eyes. But while this is stuff we’ve seen before, the screenplay (written by the Pangs and Jo Jo Hui) goes the unexpected route and finds an emotional base to these later scenes. There’s a great sadness hanging in the air here, mixing with the horror in such a way that the frights never feel cheap. This movie understands that while ghosts may be here to scare the crap out of us, whatever happened to make them ghosts must add some sort of tragedy to their existence. This is a ghost story that cares about its ghosts as much as it cares for its living characters. By giving their movie such emotional weight, the Pangs have crafted a horror movie that’s more effectual than most because it reaches us on a more complete level. But don’t think it’s all emotion here – there are plenty of powerful shocks and nifty spook-outs to satisfy anyone looking for a strong horror treat.” – David Cornelius, eFilmCritict
AKA: The Eye
289. (+201) Us
Jordan Peele
2019 / USA / 116m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, Madison Curry
“Peele develops a genuinely thrilling, heart-in-the-throat-scary horror picture. The archly creepy doubles – called “the Tethered,” after the manner in which they are existentially bound to their above-ground versions, like shadows – are a monster worthy of the Universal logo that precedes the film’s opening titles. Peele exhibits a mastery of his camera, of managing suspense, and of teasing (and rewarding) the intimation of violence. He’s also an exceptionally talented director of actors. Nyong’o’s physicality in her dual role as both herself and her Tether is revelatory.” – John Semley, Globe and Mail
AKA:
290. (-24) Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Tony Randel
1988 / USA / 97m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham, Imogen Boorman, Sean Chapman, William Hope, Doug Bradley, Barbie Wilde, Simon Bamford, Nicholas Vince
“‘Hellbound’ is a film of many excesses – beyond the blood, there’s the heightened sound of pain, some bizarre sexuality and a slew of sadistic effects. Barker’s original conception was intriguing: an ornate puzzle box serves as a passage into an underworld (the Outer Darkness) where the thin line between pleasure and pain is constantly being tested both by weak-willed humans who fall under the box’s power and its citizen Cenobites, ghastly demons who embody, in extremely visual ways, all their realized perversions… Even if you discount the cliche’s, there are enough bizarre and shocking effects here to satisfy all but the most demanding genre fans.” – Richard Harrington, Washington Post
AKA:
291. (-59) Sleepy Hollow
Tim Burton
1999 / USA / 105m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough
“Tim Burton’s take on this classic ghost story is at once eerie, atmospheric, and darkly humorous. As with most of his films it is extremely rewarding visually, and in this case is shot with such diluted use of colour as to be almost black and white in places. Depp’s performance as Crane, is a sympathetic one… The pace and tension are both kept up throughout the film, aided and abetted by Danny Elfman’s dramatic score and the remarkable visuals. There is, however, surprisingly little warmth or connection between the audience and the characters. For ghostly aesthetics this film takes a lot of beating, but in striving to achieve the perfect atmosphere, the rest of the film is left out in the cold.” – Ali Barclay, BBC
AKA:
292. (+18) Black Swan
Darren Aronofsky
2010 / USA / 108m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied, Ksenia Solo, Kristina Anapau, Janet Montgomery, Sebastian Stan
“By the end, resentment has entered a psychotic dimension, and melodrama has morphed irretrievably into horror movie. Of course the possibility of it has been there, perhaps from the very first minutes when we saw Nina at home in her mother’s bedroom, plastered with self-portraits, a shrine to herself. If you think it all sounds overblown – nuts – you’d probably be right. But The Red Shoes was nuts, too, and it’s still a masterpiece. Black Swan dances itself dizzy in its urge to overwhelm us, but Aronofsky’s boldness and Natalie Portman’s exquisite, raw-nerved performance make the surrender very enjoyable.” – Anthony Quinn, The Independent
AKA:
293. (-49) From Beyond
Stuart Gordon
1986 / USA / 85m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ted Sorel, Ken Foree, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Bunny Summers, Bruce McGuire, Del Russel, Dale Wyatt, Karen Christenfeld
“From Beyond is an updated adaptation of an old H. P. Lovecraft tale about those malignant creatures that share our world, unseen, existing in their fourth dimension just waiting to get back into ours. With the help of computer technology and something called a ”resonator,” Dr. Pretorious has provided the means by which these beings can return… The film’s most spectacular moments belong to the sebaceous cyst school of special effects, pioneered in ”Alien” and in the films of David Cronenberg: lumps, on or in various parts of the body, which swell up and then burst to reveal something oozily unspeakable within.” – Vincent Canby, New York Times
AKA:
294. (+40) Mulholland Dr.
David Lynch
2001 / USA / 147m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya, Justin Theroux, Brent Briscoe, Robert Forster, Katharine Towne, Lee Grant, Scott Coffey
“As difficult as Mulholland Drive may appear at first glance, every trajectory in this metaverse is the equivalent of dreams spiraling into REM sleep… [It] isn’t a movie about dreams, it is a dream (or, at least, until the blue box is opened) — a Hollywood horror story spun by a frustrated actress yet to cross into consciousness. Lynch’s narrative is carefully configured, painstakingly difficult to decipher, but boldly obvious should one embrace its dream logic… Mulholland Drive is a haunting, selfish masterpiece that literalizes the theory of surrealism as perpetual dream state.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
AKA: Mulholland Drive
295. (+12) Grave
Julia Ducournau
2016 / France / 99m / Col / Cannibal | IMDb
Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas, Joana Preiss, Bouli Lanners, Marion Vernoux, Thomas Mustin, Marouan Iddoub, Jean-Louis Sbille
“This exhilarating French-Belgian debut from writer/director Julia Ducournau is a feast for ravenous cinephiles, an extreme yet intimate tale of identity crises that blends Cronenbergian body horror with humour and heartbreak as it sinks its teeth deep into the sins of the flesh… Directed with the same cross-genre dexterity as Kathryn Bigelow’s seminal vampire western Near Dark, Raw is a thrillingly confident and vigorously executed work. From the chilling opening shot of a car crash to the woozy, single-take sojourns through drunken student raves, Ducournau and cinematographer Ruben Impens lead us effortlessly into Justine’s underworld. A tethered horse on a treadmill canters in slow motion through Justine’s tortured dreams, while scratching fits and metamorphosing sweats are captured from within the claustrophobic confines of imprisoning bed-sheets.” – Mark Kermode, The Observer
AKA: Raw
296. (-41) Honogurai mizu no soko kara
Hideo Nakata
2002 / Japan / 101m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Yu Tokui, Isao Yatsu, Shigemitsu Ogi, Maiko Asano, Yukiko Ikari
“Nakata is a master of the uncanny, able to transform something as innocent as a little girl’s shoulder bag into an object to inspire terror. “Dark Water” positively oozes atmosphere, building up the tension slowly before allowing it to overflow into irrational shocks and strange epiphanies. Yet just beneath its surface horror this film conceals a deep reservoir of tragedy, addressing themes like family breakdown, isolation, abandonment, and – something of a taboo in Japan – the terrible legacy of mental illness. In the end, the keynote of “Dark Water” is not so much horror as an overwhelming sadness, in this masterpiece of tormented souls.” – Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
AKA: Dark Water
297. (+110) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tim Burton
2007 / USA / 116m / Col / Musical | IMDb
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders, Gracie May
“In lesser films, songs can prove to be an alienation device by emphasising the constructed artifice of the film, foregrounding the performance aspect and losing the audience’s belief in the onscreen events. Here, they fit in seamlessly as part of the cohesive and bold direction from Burton. The calibre of acting is uniformly sublime from the veteran thespians to the younger performers. Depp and Bonham Carter complement each other well as the devious couple, their sunken eyes often saying more than several pages of script. Similarly, Burton’s expressionistic landscapes also convey a great deal, with the rare flashes of bright colour serving a narrative function by transporting us into the warmer memories of Barker/Todd. They also highlight the brutal barber’s potential for compassion and good, eroded by the injustices of humanity.” – Ben Rawson-Jones, Digital Spy
AKA:
298. (+55) House of 1000 Corpses
Rob Zombie
2003 / USA / 89m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Bill Moseley, William Bassett, Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Matthew McGrory, Judith Drake, Dennis Fimple, Chris Hardwick, Walton Goggins, Sid Haig
“The movie has absolutely no interest whatsoever in sanitized horror. Rob Zombie wallows quite comfortably in squalor, doling out mutilation, gore, sweaty close-ups, bad teeth, bad skin, fetid-looking clutter everywhere. Even the four college students — two male, two female, by the book — whose agony provides most of the fuel for the plot motor are not empty UPN/WB clones. Zombie has made a conscious and, yes, loving throwback to nuclear-family geek shows like Chainsaw, Mother’s Day, and Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes. If it doesn’t sound original, well, it isn’t. Zombie never designed this to be the new fresh thing in horror; he simply wants to blow away all the shiny teen crap that passes for horror nowadays and cover the audience in grime, spit, intestines.” – Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic
AKA:
299. (+50) Tetsuo
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
1989 / Japan / 67m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Naomasa Musaka, Renji Ishibashi
“Though it may just seem like one big geek show gross out, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is actually a movie about revenge. It’s about man’s revenge against man, technology’s revenge against humans, nature’s revenge against technology and the neverending revenge between elements of karma and the primal forces of the universe. It’s a sick, cyclical meditation on physicality, mixing imagery both derivative and disgusting. It plays tricks with cinematic convention, drops narrative in favor of nastiness, and always manages to make sense, even if it is in its own obtuse, offensive way. It’s part comic book, part alien autopsy, and all visual violence, laced with enough wicked cinematic style to make other wannabe cyberpunks pale in comparison.” – Bill Gibron, DVDTalk
AKA: Tetsuo, the Iron Man
300. (+2) Eden Lake
James Watkins
2008 / UK / 91m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Tara Ellis, Jack O’Connell, Finn Atkins, Jumayn Hunter, Thomas Turgoose, James Burrows, Tom Gill, Lorraine Bruce
“Though nightmarish and visceral, it’s the most intelligent horror film to have been made by a British director since Jack Clayton’s The Innocents in 1960. And it fulfils the two purposes of horror: it involves you emotionally and it’s frightening… It’s a thoroughly credible set-up and the process of escalation whereby Jenny and Steve alienate, then anger these feral youths until they’re ready to stab, torture and even burn them to death is worryingly authentic. Unlike most horror films, in which the heroes steer themselves into danger by their own stupidity, Jenny and Steve behave with complete plausibility and a tragically unrequited sense of kindness and social responsibility.” – Chris Tookey, The Daily Mail