Entertainment Swindon

It’s time for the top horror movies ever!  From Nosferatu to Silence of the Lambs.

Coming up with a list of the best horror movies of all time was tough! It’s a genre of movies that have iconic, legendary movies through out decade after decade since the 1922 Nosferatu to the early 2000’s.

To put together this list, several factors needed to be looked at. each movies impact on the genre of Horror, their legacy and the fright factor.

A number of the films in this list date back 40-50yrs before I was born, classic traditional horror to those that were pure fright, shock gore factor. But one thing that ties all these movies together, is that they will scare the living hell out of you.

No1: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

In 1992, The Silence of the Lambs did something unimaginable! A horror movie for horror that won an Academy Award for Best Picture. The film, directed by Jonathan Demme, also snagged a Best Actor Oscar for Anthony Hopkins and a Best Actress award for Jodie Foster. Three Academy Awards!

Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Foster as FBI Academy student Clarice Starling, develop a strange friendship based on their roles as outsiders. Lecter a depraved serial killer, and Starling, an FBI cadet who faces endless misogyny from her male cohorts. Together they search for a serial killer known as “Buffalo Bill” whose M.O. is that he skins his victims alive. ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ is in our opinion, the best horror movie of the decade, and one of the best ever. A mix of horror and thriller, with plenty of moments to give you a jump. Not your typical horror, especially coming off the back of the decade of slasher movies, but a movie with a great script, great actors, iconic unforgettable scenes and storyline.

No2: The Thing (1982)

Quite possibly the best horror film ever made! It was only pipped into number 2 spot because of the superb acting of Silence of the Lambs as well as the movie received 3 Academy Awards, something that has never received by a movie of the horror genre.

John Carpenters 1982 version of the Thing has stood the age of time, still gaining new younger fans for this horror classic.

During an exploration in Antarctica, a group of researchers come across a Norwegian facility near their research station. They soon come to realise Something horrible happened there. After discovering that the Norwegians had stumbled across something horrific; they leave, but something comes back with them.

No3: Halloween (1978)

I would say like many others that Psycho was the film that birthed the slasher genre, and Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an integral step in its progress, making things more visceral. But it was Halloween that truly defined this sub-genre of horror, inspiring a million sequels, rip-offs, imitations and homages.

Take an instantly identifiable holiday, add in a chillingly silent, unstoppable masked killer and a feisty, resourceful heroine and you have Halloween… And of course all the slasher movies that came after it.

The genius of John Carpenter brought a sense of tension and suspense few others could match in a slasher film, as we watched Michael Myers stalk Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) from afar, before going on his inevitable killing spree.

Michael himself is the ultimate villain, wearing a blank, emotionless mask that perfectly captured the black soul of someone who simply killed and killed, and seemingly couldn’t be stopped. It’s no wonder Michael became a horror icon.

No4: Friday 13th (1980)

The 1980s saw the genre of slasher movies go into overdrive! In this film, campers and camp counsellors start being killed one by one. Even after watching the movie, if you ask who does the killing, most will say the hockey mask wearing Jason Voorhees. But actually, the killer in the original movie that goes on to spawn many more sequels, including a cross over with Freddy Krueger is Jason’s mother Mrs Pamala Voorhees avenging the death of her child Jason at the camp in 1957 who died because camp counsellors who were supposed to be supervising Jason were busy having sex.

Crystal Lake turns into a slasher bloodbath, typical of 80s Horror and still a popular horror to sit back on the sofa to watch on Halloween.

No5: An American Werewolf in London (1981)

I remember the first time I saw this movie, it was on VHS rented by my parents, I was about 7 or 8yrs old, and that first transition into the werewolf in nurse Alex (played by the legendary Jenny Agutter) living room haunted me for years, even now watching the movie, hairs on the back of my neck prick up sending a shiver down my spine! When you think it was a movie made back in 1980, way before the age of CGI, it’s amazing how realistic the special effects were.

This is one horror that still gets me today as an adult, so sit back on the sofa, have your popcorn at the ready, turn out the lights and when it gets to that living room scene, press pause at the moment David has transitioned into the werewolf, just after he drops out of picture and then the head of the wolf pops back onto the screen. Wonder round your living room and see how eerie it is as the wolfs eyes follow you round the room wherever you stand as if it is going to jump out of the screen and attack you. Its worth watching just to see that for yourself!

No6: The Exorcist (1973)

Who would ever have imagined that “Tubular Bells” would become one of the scariest music arrangement ever made.

The movie’s focuses on a little girl possessed by a demon, and if that isn’t is scary enough, director William Friedkin does with it in a way that makes us feel as if it were really happening next door to us.

The scares come from a place based in faith, where Heaven and hell are as real as your beliefs in them care to be. Faith, for all the documentation on the subject, is tethered to the intangible; it’s not something science can define or strategise. The demon that comes from The Exorcist’s interpretation of that idea is something more powerful than a Freddy or a Jason. Something that can’t be shot or stabbed or detonated.

No7: Psycho (1960)

Psycho is such a classic of the genre that it inspired a shot-for-shot remake in 1998. It’s also had sequels and a TV show based on the tale.

Psycho is not only one of the best horrors ever made, but also one of the greatest thrillers of all time also. You cant have the greatest horror movie list without having the legendary Alfred Hitchcock.

Hitchcock crafted a memorable horror experience with a limited cast and even more limited budget. Like so many great horror movies, Psycho’s scares far exceed its limited scale.

The film tells the story of crazy old Norman Bates and his even crazier mother. When a young woman on the run from the law arrives at the remote Bates Motel, she falls victim to a knife-wielding killer. Several more victims are claimed before the true secret of the Bates family stands revealed.

The content of Psycho isn’t as shocking as it was way back in 1960. After all, girls get stabbed in the shower all the time in modern horror cinema. However, it’s a testament to Hitchcock’s skill as a director that Psycho remains a tense and nerve-wracking experience. The killing of Janet Leigh’s character and the accompanying musical key by Bernard Herrmann is one of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history.

No8: Alien (1979)

Alien you ask… Is it not a Sci-FI movie?… No, it is definitely a Horror movie set in space.

Alien movies are generally thought of as being planted in the science fiction realm. However, with the original at least, Alien was as much a horror film as a sci-fi one, in fact as I’ve already said, more a horror than sci-fi. With a small cast being hunted by a lone, terrifying creature, Alien was a long way removed from the Star Wars and Star Treks of Hollywood.

The film is set several centuries in the future when humanity has ventured into the stars It seems like Elon Musk did it!). The crew of the mining vessel Nostromo become unwitting hosts to a bloodthirsty alien life-form, and one by one they fall to an enemy that hides in the shadows and springs from above. Only Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is savvy enough to survive the alien’s onslaught. Too bad for her it was only the first round.

Alien doesn’t resemble many sci-fi movies of the time. Artist H.R. Giger designed a world full of twisted tubes, cold hallways, and pervasive darkness. Before Alien, pop culture never warned us how dark, dirty and scary the cold depths of space were.

Director Ridley Scott adopted a “less is more” approach that later sequels sadly abandoned; modern directors can cram all the Aliens and Predators (and Michael Fassbender androids) they want into their films, but none can match the sheer claustrophobic terror generated in the original film.

No9: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced us to serial killer, Freddy Krueger. An evil spirit returning to Elm Street through the dreams of kids, lurking in the dream world, ready to rip you apart with his razor sharp clawed glove. I remember seeing this movie for the first time on good old VHS. My parents had rented it from our local video store and whilst they were out, my 10yr old self, popped the nightmarish video that had me staying awake for many nights to come!

I did see however a way to make money from it and using our video recorder, I copied the film onto a blank tape which I copied again and again to sell to my mates at school.

This first outing by Krueger was definitely the best in the franchise and still very much one of the best horror films ever made.

No10: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

There are few movies more bloody and brutal than this movie! And back in 1974, there was truly nothing like it! Tobe Hooper’s grusome 1974 indie flick brought us face to face with a family of inbred canibal mountain folk.

Take a van full of “young adults” on their way to, let’s say, smoke weed and hang out at a cemetery, and let them run out of gas in the wrong part of Texas. Then throw in the skin-suited Leatherface and some meat-hooks and you’ve got yourself a film that barely found a distributor because of its extreme levels of graphic violence.

Psycho might have been the first “slasher” film per se, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre simultaneously elevated and de-elevated the genre with its disturbing levels of sadism.

No11: Scream (1996)

Scream would end up 30years later continue to spawn movies and a tv series continuing the biggest horror franchise since Friday the 13th and Halloween.

In the early 1990s, the American slasher movie was dying an undignified death. Sequels to franchises that were born in the 1980s were decreasing in quality, and new slasher movies tended to rely on gimmicky killers and comedic plots to grab the public’s waning attention. Then ‘Scream’ came along and made the aging slasher formula feel fresh and exciting, with a great plot and keeping you guessing who ghost face is.

Scream is a postmodern, self-referential homage to the horror movie genre that plays on the fact that its audience knows the “rules” of slasher films. Rather than being a parody of the slasher genre though, Scream honours the format while creating a new, modern interpretation of it. The influence of Scream was felt across the entirety of horror for years, even today. This is the huge reason why it is one of the best horror movie from the 90s. It could have easily been placed No1, it was a very tough choice, but the chemistry between Hopkins & Foster in Silence of The Lambs, pipped it to the top spot. That, plus the fact that it’s a highly entertaining movie by one of the masters of horror, Wes Craven.

No12: 28 Days Later (2002)

I would say the most original zombie movie made since zombie movies ever hit our screens with George Romero… Danny Boyle and screen writer Alex Garland really gave zombies a much needed shot of adrenaline, no longer a docile heard of living dead, these zombies, sorry “infected” were a feral vicious that run at you with the speed of Usain Bolt!

What mattered most is that 28 Days Later was more than a visceral horror experience. A great cast and a smart script treated the concept with sincerity and severity, and Boyle’s digital cinematography gave the film an immediacy that hadn’t been matched at that time. If zombies did take over the Earth, this is surely what it would look and feel like. And it would be terrifying. What made this a great movie was its gritty realism of documentary style of filming which was sadly lost in its sequel 28 Weeks Later that succumbed to its success and went Hollywood.

BUT… Dont let that stop you from watching 28 Days Later, as this was one of the best zombie genre movies ever made.

No13: Hellraiser (1987)

Initially Hellraiser was banned in Ontario by the Ontario Film and Video Review Board, deemed not approved for the films entirety, contravening community standards due to brutal and very graphic violence and torture. It took several cuts for the film to finally be passed by the Ontario Film Board before being released in August 1987.

Sexual deviant Frank, played by Sean Chapman inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a box he bought while abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, who tear Frank’s body apart. When Frank’s brother and his wife, Julia, move into Frank’s old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life. Frank then convinces Julia, his one-time lover, to lure men back to the house so he can use their blood to reconstruct himself.

If you want a brutal gorefest, then this is the movie for you this Halloween.

No14: The Lost Boys (1987):

This movie is worth watching just for the sound track!… The instant I saw this movie, I couldn’t wait to race out to buy the sound track on LP. The movie starring Kiefer Sutherland has become a cult classic, a movie that just screamed out I love the 80s! The hair, the fashion, it was pure 80s all over the screen and watching back now, just brings back such fond nostalgic memories growing up in the 80s.

Teenage brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) move with their mother (Dianne Wiest) to a small town in northern California. While the younger Sam meets a pair of kindred spirits in geeky comic-book nerds Edward (Corey Feldman) and Alan (Jamison Newlander) a pair of self-proclaimed vampire hunters. Older brother Michael becomes fascinated by Star, a beautiful girl he spots on the boardwalk, though she seems to be with David (Kiefer Sutherland), the leader of a biker gang.

Whilst hanging out with Star and David’s biker gang in a cave, Michael is offered a bottle of blood which he drinks and turning him into a half vampire. Younger brother with the help of his new vampire hunter friends work out that Michael’s condition is reversible if the head vampire David is killed.

Definitely a movie worth watching.

No15: The Fly (1986)

When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) creates a teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unknowingly whilst teleporting himself between two teleportation pods, a housefly slips into the pod, merging Seth and the fly which leads to a mutation giving him superior strength and fly characteristics.

As Seth becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle’s girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster, but Seth becomes obsessed with becoming a family by using the teleportation pods to merge them to become one.

No16: The Fog (1980)

The Northern California fishing town of Antonio Bay, built 100 years ago over an old leper colony, is the target for revenge by a killer fog containing zombie-like ghosts seeking revenge for their deaths.

It’s the towns centennial, and the crew of a clipper ship is about to take revenge on the town for causing the ship ‘Elizabeth Dane’ and its crew to drown after it crashes into the coastal rocks. At the strike of midnight, a fog drifts in from the sea upon the town, anyone caught in it wont survive.

Town priest, Father Malone, discovers his grandfather’s diary. The journal reveals that a century earlier, in 1880, the 6 founders of Antonio Bay (including Malone’s grandfather) deliberately wrecked a clipper ship, so that its wealthy, leprosy-afflicted owner Blake would not establish a leper colony nearby. The conspirators used the gold plundered from the ship to establish the town.

Local radio presenter broadcasting her show from the the towns lighthouse realises whats going on and begs anyone to save her son from the fog who is at home and to head to the church for safety.

At the church the townsfolk find a large gold cross in the church wall from the Elizabeth Dane, the Priest offers to hand back the gold to the ghosts from the fog to save the towns people from retribution for their ancestors crimes that led to the death of the ships crew.

No17: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

In 1968, director George A Romero took the frightening idea of zombie’s which up until that point had been relegated to creepy voodoo tales and extra-dimensional Lovecraft-ian lore, and created a terrifying new genre of horror: the zombie apocalypse film.  “They’re coming to get you Barbara” became the first official “I’ll be back” of horror, as poor Judith O’Dea has to flee a cemetery because the dead have inexplicably come back to life and started walking the Earth in search of human flesh.

Hitchcock discovered, with 1963’s The Birds, that the sheer terror of “not knowing” the reasons behind the sweeping global outbreak of evil can be the most horrifying part of the entire story. The “Zombocalypse” genre is so enduring that it’s still going strong today (hello, Walking Dead fans…).

With this one film, Romero was able to tap into so many things we’re afraid of: death, desecration of the flesh, cannibalism, brainwashing, disease and hopelessness. There’s also a stinging underlying social message about racism, media and paranoia where viewers got to learn that they could be just as dangerous and cruel as the mindless hordes of undead they were hiding from.

No18: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

It was George A Romero who practically created the zombie movie genre single-handedly in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead. Ten years later he refined the formula with Dawn of the Dead. Far bigger, gorier, and funnier than its predecessor, Dawn of the Dead remains Romero’s definitive work.

Whereas Night featured a small cast of survivors holed up in a remote farmhouse, Dawn opens with a glimpse of a major metropolitan area falling to chaos during the zombie outbreak. It isn’t long before our four heroes are forced to leave town and barricade themselves inside a shopping mall.

The true brilliance of Dawn is how it combined straight-up zombie carnage with a healthy dose of satire and social commentary of the time. At the end of the day, are modern Americans really so different from the shambling undead? They crave warm flesh; we crave iPhones.

No19: The Shinning (1980)

This film is truly one of the scariest movies of all time and is not for the faint hearted. A film that actually hated by its author Stephen King, he hated how Kubrick relegated Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall as a weak character who seemed to just be there to cry and be a punching bag to Jack Nicholson’s character Jack.

That said although I would say the book is better, one of the few horror novels I’ve actually read, BUT… Kubrick’s 1980 movie adaptation of The Shining was one of the greatest horror movies of all time.

At first, the film feels a bit empty. Nicholson’s Jack seems nutty from frame one, providing little arc for his character. Each character sees visions, leaving the audience no easy points of identification. The apparitions seem to know more about the story than we do, fostering some very real twists and turns. Kubrick constantly pulls the rug out from under us in relation to what is real and what is not.

This film is truly one of the scariest movies of all time and is not for the faint hearted.

No20: Dracula (1931)

All of today’s mega-popular vampire franchises owe a debt of gratitude to Count Dracula. And as much as Bram Stoker’s original novel helped popularise the vampire story, it was Universal’s 1931 adaptation that cemented the image of Dracula in the minds of most moviegoers.

Dracula condenses and combines many of the main characters from the novel, opening with the poor Mr. Renfield’s arrival in Transylvania. After falling victim to Dracula’s influence, the pair head to London so Dracula can feast on the city’s inhabitants. Only the courageous Dr. Seward, his ally Professor Van Helsing, and their friends can prevent Dracula from slaughtering innocents and making the fair Mina his newest bride.

Dracula isn’t the scariest film by modern standards. What it does have is plenty of atmosphere and a very memorable take on the lead villain. This adaptation diverged from the source by making Dracula a handsome, charismatic figure, and Bela Lugosi captured the imaginations of millions with his performance as Dracula. For better or worse, it was a role that would follow him for the rest of his life. And it remains the definitive portrayal of this classic villain for many.

No21: Wolf Man (1941)

Lon Chaney Jr, plays the 1941 ‘Wolfman’, written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner.

This is one of the best classic monster movies of all-time. An absolute must watch for any true horror fan and an excellent introduction to horror history.

After learning of the death of his brother, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his ancestral home in Llanwelly, Wales to reconcile with his estranged father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). While there, Larry hi becomes romantically interested in a local girl named Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), who runs an antique shop.

As a pretext to converse with her, he purchases a silver-headed walking stick decorated with a wolf. Gwen tells him that it represents a werewolf (which she defines as a man who changes into a wolf “at certain times of the year.”)

Throughout the film, various villagers recite a poem, whenever the subject of werewolves comes up:

Even a man who is pure in heart

and says his prayers by night

may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

and the autumn moon is bright.

That night, Larry attempts to rescue Gwen’s friend Jenny from what he believes to be a sudden wolf attack. He kills the beast with his new walking stick, but is bitten on the chest in the process. A gypsy fortuneteller named Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) reveals to Larry that the animal which bit him was actually her son Bela (Béla Lugosi) in the form of a wolf. She also reveals that Larry will transform into a wolf as well since anyone who is bitten by a werewolf and lives will turn into one themselves.

Talbot transforms into a wolf-like creature and stalks the village, first killing the local gravedigger. Talbot retains vague memories of being a werewolf and wanting to kill, and continually struggles to overcome his condition. He is finally bludgeoned to death by his father with his own silver walking stick after attacking Gwen. Sir John Talbot watches in horror as the werewolf transforms into his son’s human form as the local police arrive on the scene.

No22: Nosferatu (1922)

Count Orlok is moving to Germany, and he’s bringing pestilence and shadows with him. F.W. Murnau’s shameless rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula does away with the sensuality that many associate with the undead monster, revealing the vampire to be a sad and rat-like creature, tormented by isolation and completely wrong for the modern world.

Murnau seems to have a queasy fixation on Orlok and his eery appetites, and his movie paints them out with thick shadows and grotesque imagery. Max Schreck’s performance as the Count is so bizarre and hypnotic that, years later, he stills ranks as one of the most iconic horror monsters. Indeed, the horror genre is still using the language that Murnau helped invent with Nosferatu, and his film feels as deliriously creepy today as it ever did.

Unfortunately this 1922 cinematic piece of history that is over 100yrs old is no longer complete, for cost reasons, cameraman Fritz Arno Wagner only had one camera available, and therefore there was only one original negative.

The most recent restoration of Nosferatu was completed in 2005/2006 and is available on DVD and Blu-ray.  It features a reconstruction of the original score by Berndt Heller.  Some say this is the most complete and best-looking version of the film

No23: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992):

For me, one of the best Dracula movies ever made. Director Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a stunning example of gothic horror that is mostly faithful to the original novel.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula tells the story of Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) as he searches for Mina (Winona Ryder) who he believes is the reincarnation of his long-dead wife. The cast is perfect! Including Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, and Tom Waits as Renfield.

As good as the acting is though, the most memorable aspect of the movie has to be its incredible visual gothic style which won Academy Awards for makeup and costume design.

No24: Childs Play (1988)

There’s nothing innocent about Child’s Play!…

He’s just a cute doll that wants to be friends… What could be scary about that? Well, how about a vicious serial killer transfers his consciousness into a doll called Chucky using voodoo.

Child’s Play would be the movie to close the door on a decade of slashers. Stepping into the 90s, Child’s Play would spawn a franchise of movies and more recently, a TV series that would pay homage to the slasher genre with a twisted sense of camp humour.

Sit back and enjoy this classic horror that has definitely stood the test of time.

No25: Evil Dead (1981)

A true ‘Cult Classic’!… This movie has truly cemented itself over time as one of the cult classics of horror. Filmed in 1979 and released in 1981, this is the first film in what would become a franchise. It introduces the franchise’ protagonist Ash, the Book of the Dead (the Necronomicon), and the Deadites.

The film instantly from the get-go attracted controversy, particularly for its scene where a possessed tree, yes thats right a possessed tree rapes a young woman. This scene landed film maker Raimi in hot water and was subsequently highly censored and even banned in many countries.

No26: Misery (1990)

This movie has to be placed in the top 5! This was an age before the internet was at everyones fingertips, an age before mobile phone obsession, an age where humans gathered round at work and chatted about what they did at the weekend and the movie they saw at the cinema. Misery was on everyone lips! Words of shock and You have to go watch this movie! It was a movie where everyone watching felt the pain, cringing up in their seat as a sledgehammer is smashed into Novelist Paul Sheldon’s ankles to stop him from escaping the deranged superfan Annie Wilkes. Today, you don’t have to explain what you saw, you just have to say “That Scene” and there isn’t a person you speak to that doesn’t know what you are referencing.

The movie is about famed novelist Paul Sheldon who is taken in by his superfan, Annie Wilkes, after a chance rescue when he gets into a car accident during a blizzard. After he attempts to escape her remote cabin, she hobbles him with a sledgehammer to the ankles. The power of Misery lies in the performance of Kathy Bates who gracefully blends dark humour and terrifying madness into Annie Wilkes while still making her feel as if someone like her could actually exist in the real world. This is what really makes this movie once of the scary movies you will what, you really watch, feeling there really could be a deranged superfan out there in real life that makes this movie jump out of fiction and feel like a real life story.

No27: Poltergeist (1982)

Released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer through MGM/UA Entertainment on 4th June 1982, gaining instant major critical and commercial success, becoming the 8th highest grossing movie of 1982.

Since then the movie has gone on to be recognised as a horror classic that subsequent movies in the franchise never really lived up to. Poltergeist was named by the Chicago Film Critics Association as the 20th Century’s scariest film ever made, nominated for three Academy Awards, and made No:84 on American Film Institute’s 100 Years 100 Thrills.

Definitely one of my favourite Horror movies, unlike many of the genre in the 80s, this movie wasn’t a slasher and didn’t rely on gore and violence to hook its fans.

No28: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The old black and white movies of the 1921 Dracula, the 1941 Wolf Man and this 1935 Frankenstein story are the movies as a young kid that introduced me to the amazing genre of ‘Horror’, the film is the apex of the Universal cycle of classic monster pictures in terms of quality, it’s really the first zombie story.

Rather than simply regurgitating a cheap variation on the first Frankenstein (which is basically what many of the Universal sequels would go on to do), Whale opted to, dive into the story and characters of the original (which he also directed). Karloff, in his second turn as the Monster, granted his most famous creation the gift of speech here, and of friendship, and even love. There was also humour in this movie, it’s a comedy as much as it is a horror film.

Brimming with wonderful side characters (oh, Doctor Pretorius, how we miss you) and often unsettling imagery (Jesus H. Christ, did they just crucify the Monster?), the film is 90 years old and we’re still talking about it and loving it today.

No29: Se7en (1995)

“Whats in the box!” The line that anyone who’s watched this movie will never forget. Morgan Freeman stars as a cynical veteran detective teamed who is teamed up with a hotheaded new partner played by Brad Pitt. The two of them hunt for a serial killer who they quickly realise is selecting his victims for committing the Seven Deadly Sins—envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath.

The film is essentially a crime thriller, but director David Fincher’s unrelentingly dark tone and suitably horrific unforgettable finale helps edge it over into the horror genre.  Se7en also contains some of the best scares seen in any mainstream movie from the 1990s.

No30: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

I will not apologise for putting The Blair Witch Project this high up in our top Horror Movies of the 90s. This movie is not only one of the most influential movies of the 90s, it’s one of the most influential movies of the horror genre that still today influences horror movie makers today.

I remember walking out of the cinema in Greenbridge with a group of friends thinking what an awesome movie! Wow! So clever! Not one of my friends agreed, they thought they had just wasted their evening and money of a crap movie made by a couple of students. For me, I thought it was genius!

The Blair Witch Project was catapulted to the forefront of mainstream horror in 1999 thanks to its unique style, clever marketing, and word of mouth. The movie is follows three film students who get hopelessly lost in the forests of Maryland while attempting to document a local legend, the titular Blair Witch.

The film popularised the “found footage” style, and its innovative online marketing played up the idea that the movie was supposedly pieced together from actual footage of three missing people. A buzz was created, and the film became a surprise hit. While The Blair Witch Project could earn its spot on this list based on innovative genius alone, the movie is great just by itself. The style makes the movie feel real, tension is built slowly, and the finale is restrained enough to feel believable without going overboard like many future found footage movies would go on to do.

No31: Stephen King’s It (1990):

Some will say, this is not a movie… Well, OK, I understand your argument, but I disagree, this was a movie made for TV broken up into two parts.

Stephen King, himself wasn’t actually keen or interested in the idea of attempting horror on TV. But luckily for us, ABC pushed and decided to go ahead with adapting ‘It’ to the small screen in a two part film, which went on to be one of the most iconic Stephen King movies and in fact one of the most iconic scary horrors ever.

The two-part movie adapts the story of a group of misfits, known as the ‘Losers Club’, who come together as kids and later as adults to fight against a mysterious supernatural presence killing children in their hometown. The limits of what could be shown on television forced filmmakers to scale back some of the more gruesome aspects of Stephen King’s novel, thereby increasing the story’s focus on character development, making it one of the best psychological horrors ever made.

While the limited budget caused some of the more elaborate special effects to miss their mark, this TV movie really worked, especially due to Tim Curry’s iconic & terrifying portrayal of Pennywise the Dancing Clown scarred legions of kids and adults alike.

No32: The Sixth Sense (1999):

A boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

Not only one of the best horror movies ever made, but one of the best movies ever made!

This extremely clever script brought alive by Bruce Willis & Hayley Joel Osment written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan follows child psychologist Malcolm Crowe played by Willis and his patient Cole Sear played by the young Hayley Joel Osment who are working through the boys issues, particularly the issue of seeing ghosts everywhere.

If you lived through the 90s, you’ll remember Osment’s famous line “I see dead people.” Osment was robbed at the Academy Awards, his performance was the single best child performance of all time.

Everyday life interjected with brief moments of disturbing supernatural images makes The Sixth Sense one of the most memorable movies of the 90s, and its finale is widely regarded as one of the best twist endings of all time. For those who know, I don’t need to explain, so for those who have shockingly never seen this movie, I will button my lips and just let you see for yourself. Anyone thats says they worked out the ending before the final scene is a liar. This movie is a flawless piece of perfection.