The Exorcist is easily the scariest movie of all time.
I saw it on New Years Day when it was released, in a city theatre with few people. As I drove home in my Kombi van I was convinced someone was in the back.
I can’t do a full list.
The Shining is number one, but it’s so damn good that I don’t even think of it as a horror.
Evil Dead for definites.
I know I’m on my own here but I don’t rate The Exorcist at all.
Not scary to me and neither was it particularly interesting.
Is American Werewolf in London a horror?
Love that.
The original Halloween stands up, has a fantastic opening scene.
The Ring, The Grudge.
Texas Chainsaw isn’t B Grade, it’s Z Grade and I can’t really be having with it.
Cabin in the Woods is very good.
If Jaws is horror then it has to be included.
Saw, I guess.
I’ve seen a lot of horror films, a lot of it really terrible. And that’s sort of okay.
I’ll put one terrible one in.
Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!
Jay Laguia is in it.
He has one line.
It is, ‘Aaaaaaagh.’
Not my ideal genre, so l am unsure if l can even do a personal top 10, but my # 1, hasn’t been mentioned, the original Alien by Ridley Scott.
l went to see it in the city with a mate when it first came out. We had no expectations and didn’t even pay much attention to the film’s tag line; ‘In space no one can hear you scream.’
We were both visibly shaken after the experience of watching the xenomorph burst out of John Hurt’s chest. So were the rest of the cast, as they weren’t informed in advance what was going to happen in that scene. A nervous walk back to the car followed by some equally nervous jokes, as we tried to calm our nerves and scanned the shadows to be extra sure there was nothing lurking in them.
My mate was more shaken up than l was, to the point where he refused to acknowledge that the movie was in anyway a science fiction. To him it was straight horror, l said it was both, a stance l still maintain today. Good idea for a thread, l will be back with more later.
#2 - The Devlis - Ken Russel. Also not mentioned here, but a movie that made my stomach turn just from the opening scene (maggots crawling out of the eye sockets of a skull, the camera pulls back to show what remains of the body is mounted on a wagon wheel, held up high on a pole, as the camera continues to pull back, more and more of these grisly wagon wheels come into view… France!
I was nearly going to put Night of the Living Dead (1968) but saw Dawn of the Dead (1978) before, George A. Romero really started a genre which is still hot property today, Night of the Living Dead is a true classic.
Poltergeist , House of Wax, Invasion of the body snatchers, Tremors, Creepshow, Maximum overdrive, The Omen 2, Night of the creeps, House. Thats a few of my faves not yet mentioned.
