HF's top-10 horror films of all time: #1

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

No need to propose other selections, these films are the winners of each decade's polls.

Please refrain from posting your own personnal top-10 until the last poll (if I get there!)

I'll replace each winner with the next film in line from its decade.

Click to read more...

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

A few of our nominees mashed up in there

 

[Trap Jesus]

I went with The Thing and The Witch, I think those are my top 2 even outside of HF's favorites (at least of movies I would definitely consider horror).

 

[kihei]

Voted Nosferatu and Les Diaboliques.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Many good choices (obviously), but went with Night of the Living Dead. Great not just on its own merits, but widely influential as well. It effectively creates an entire subgenre. It's a prime example of horror's ability to Trojan horse real world issues/thoughts into the fantastic (even if in this case it was a little more luck than skill) and be something more than just blood and guts. Beyond horror-specific issues, I think it's still a hallmark for down-and-dirty, low-budget indie filmmaking regardless of genre.

Honorable mention: Psycho, The Exorcist

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

While I thought they'd be clear favorites, this is wide open...

 

[Hammettf2b]

Nothing does horror better for me than The Exorcist.

 

[Legionnaire]

NotLD & Exorcist out of those.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Wouldn't be too mad with The Exorcist winning that thing, but I'm giving it the day.

 

[Newsworthy]

So many great choices and so many great films.
Went with "Night" because of its impact on culture today and to me that's truly
definition of horror.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I hope this doesn't derail the thread here, but a thought occurred to me and it's somewhat relevant given the two movies involved. Was in a discussion yesterday about Psycho and it occurred to me that I rarely see it challenged as being "not horror." As far as I can tell it's universally embraced as a horror movie. Then you have Silence of the Lambs, which I think certainly qualifies as horror though I understand when people want to say "well, it's really more of a thriller ..." I sorta feel that way myself, though I have no objection to its inclusion in horror discussions.

Are they really that different?
Why is one almost unquestionably horror while the other is seen as kinda/sorta horror?

Not sure I have an answer. Curious what others think.

 

[Osprey]

I hope this doesn't derail the thread here, but a thought occurred to me and it's somewhat relevant given the two movies involved. Was in a discussion yesterday about Psycho and it occurred to me that I rarely see it challenged as being "not horror." As far as I can tell it's universally embraced as a horror movie. Then you have Silence of the Lambs, which I think certainly qualifies as horror though I understand when people want to say "well, it's really more of a thriller ..." I sorta feel that way myself, though I have no objection to its inclusion in horror discussions.

Are they really that different?
Why is one almost unquestionably horror while the other is seen as kinda/sorta horror?

Not sure I have an answer. Curious what others think.

Perhaps it's because Psycho definitely counted as horror in 1960 and went on to be hugely influential to the horror genre. 'Silence', on the other hand, came out after slasher films and such changed the perception of what "horror" is and wasn't nearly as influential to the genre (or was influential to only a sub-genre, the psychological horror). If 'Silence' had come out in 1960 and Psycho in 1991, they might both be perceived the way that the other is.

 

[NyQuil]

I also have a hard time with some of these definitions.

Silence of the Lambs and Jaws are right up there, but I'm not sure I'd call them horror films. Aliens is a science fiction action thriller.

I ended up voting for the Shining, but as a film I might put it behind some of the others. Alien was pretty impressive - I might have voted for it instead.

 

[kihei]

I also have a hard time with some of these definitions.

Silence of the Lambs and Jaws are right up there, but I'm not sure I'd call them horror films. Aliens is a science fiction action thriller.

I ended up voting for the Shining, but as a film I might put it behind some of the others.

Both should have an asterisk beside their title claiming "Can also be viewed as a horror film." I agree. I never think of them as horror films either, but clearly they are. Psycho killer tries to outsmart federal agent; giant shark menaces New England beach--that's horrifying material to me, even if the horror is derived from a non-traditional approach to genre conventions.