These 100 Favorite Horror Movies are not necessarily what I think are the best or scariest of the genre, but the ones that I love the most for various reasons, the scare factor being only one of them. It could be the mood, or the acting of the cast, or the music, or something unusual. Some might not even be widely considered as horror films, but they connected with me as such on some level. Whatever the reason/s, these are the horror films that have defined the genre for me since my childhood, and that I love talking to my friends about.
Part One: #s 61-100
100. GREMLINS (1984)
Director: Joe Dante
Cast: Zach Gilligan, Phoebe Cates
Scare Meter: 4/10
Scare Tactics: mischievous killing monsters
IMDb Plot Summary: "A boy inadvertently breaks 3 important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/
I was three years old when this came out, so I probably didn't get to watch it until much later, but I have fond memories of both cute Mogwai and his ugly, sinister clones. They can be pretty scary, although the movie is certainly more of a comedy.
99. SPOORLOOS aka The Vanishing (1988)
Director: George Sluizer
Cast: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: psychopathic criminal
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096163/
The title of this Dutch film may sound like the sweet cookie butter spread but it is anything BUT sweet. It's not so much terrifying as chilling, and it's a slow burn, but the last few sequences are ultimately rewarding.
98. KULAY DUGO ANG GABI aka Blood is the Color of Night/The Blood Drinkers (1964)
Director: Gerardo de Leon
Cast: Ronald Remy, Amalia Fuentes, Eddie Fernandez
Scare Meter: 5/10
Scare Tactics: atmosphere, vampires
IMDb Plot Summary: "This weird and chilling tale of vampires and the undead seeking to bring their kind back to life features the evil Marco, an updated version of the vampiric Count Dracula..."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060175/
Some elements of the film, one of legendary Filipino director Gerry de Leon's handful of international horror B-films, border on absurd (such as the bat Vasra), but it's an effective vampire movie with its dark, washed out look. It's also a pretty interesting take on vampires.
97. THE DEVILS (1971)
Director: Ken Russell
Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: nuns. And many other disturbing religious imagery.
IMDb Plot Summary: "In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when he is accused of witchcraft by a sexually repressed nun."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066993/
Witchcraft and demonic possession in a nunnery: it's a strong hook to get into this infamous Ken Russell picture, but watching Vanessa Redgrave's over-the-top performance as a physically deformed and depraved Mother Superior is reason enough.
96. SOLYARIS aka Solaris (1972)
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Juri Jarvet
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: hallucinations due to the crushing weight of an overwhelming alien mind
IMDb Plot Summary: "A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069293/
This is the least "horror" of all the films on this list; it's as sci-fi as a film of that genre can get. But whatever, the film messed with my mind, so there. It's psychological horror of the highest order.
95. SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL 2 (1990)
Directors: Peque Gallaga, Lore Reyes
Cast: Janice de Belen, Eric Quizon, Eddie Gutierrez, Manilyn Reynes, Anna Roces
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: shapeshifting vampiric monsters
Skip the first two of three segments and go straight to the superior third, "Aswang," widely considered to be the all-time best in this overstaying franchise.
94. REPULSION (1965)
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: imagery, especially those hands
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "Left alone when her sister does on vacation, a young beauty finds hereself besieged on all sides by the demons of her past."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059646/
If there were a "woman coming unhinged" genre, this would probably be the most disturbing of them all. Catherine Denueve is aces as the mentally unstable woman who begins seeing strange doings...and performing even stranger deeds.
93. GIN GWAI aka The Eye (2002)
Directors: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Cast: Angelica Lee, Chutcha Rujinanon, Lawrence Chou
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: Asian ghosts, atmosphere
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she would be able to see again. However, she got more than what she bargained for when she realized she could even see ghosts."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/
What Ringu (1998) did for TVs, this film did for cornea transplants. It's definitely a less common fixture in our lives, but the thought of inheriting the ability to see spirits from a cornea donor is chilling. Asian horror films usually find their strength in the unique, mystical atmosphere, and this is no different.
92. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
Director: Don Siegel
Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: aliens taking over human bodies
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/
This is paranoia at its finest, a Cold War allegory that scares by making you doubt others' "humanity." Still the best among several versions.
91. HELLRAISER (1987)
Director: Clive Barker
Cast: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: hip demons and ultra-violent torture
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "An unfaithful wife encounters the zombie of her dead lover, who's being chased by demons after he escaped from their sado-masochistic Hell."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093177/
Before Saw and Hostel, there was Hellraiser. It is true "torture porn," and the supernatural elements take the scares to an altogether different level. Plus, it has one of the most iconic horror monsters EVER.
90. CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)
Director: Herk Harvey
Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Herk Harvey
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: restless and relentless spirits, atmosphere
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055830/
When I asked my aunt to buy me a copy of Romero's Night of the Living Dead, she included this cult classic (previously unknown to me) as a bonus. I'm glad she did, because it's positively creepy. And they keep on coming.
89. WAXWORK (1988)
Director: Anthony Hickox
Cast: Zach Gilligan, Deborah Foreman, Jennifer Bassey
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: the dwarf museum guide, and various popular monsters
IMDb Plot Summary: "A wax museum owner uses his horror exhibits to unleash evil on the world."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096426/
The second Zach Gilligan starrer in the list (he was Hollywood's go-to actor for horror teen flicks in the 80s), this has also latched itself in my memory primarily because of the creepy dwarf who guides the guests in the waxwork museum. Everything else doesn't quite hold up with repeated viewing.
88. DAS CABINET DES DR. CALIGARI aka The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Director: Robert Wiene
Cast: Werner Krauss, Conrad Weidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Scare Meter: 5/10
Scare Tactics: the Expressionist sets, a somnambulist
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "Dr. Caligari's somnambulist, Cesare, and his deadly predictions."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/
This is one of the oldest legitimate horror movies, and it's a glorious viewing experience with the surreal German Expressionist art direction and Conrad Weidt's immortal, mesmerizing portrayal of the somnambulist Cesare.
87. VAMPYR (1932)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Cast: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: atmosphere, imagery
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A traveler obsessed with the supernatural visits an old inn and finds evidence of vampires."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023649/
This is a truly haunting (while not altogether scary) film, with its gloomy atmosphere and its uniquely derived images of restless, pale undead. From one of cinema's true masters.
86. VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960)
Director: Wolf Rilla
Cast: George Sanders, Barbara Shelley, Martin Stephens
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: blonde-haired, glowing-eyed children with mind powers
IMDb Plot Summary: "In the English village of Midwich, the blond-haired, glowing-eyed children of uncertain paternity prove to have frightening powers."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054443/
You want scary kids? Forget Children of the Corn. Here's the real deal. They're murderous blondes with alien intellect and detachment.
85. THE HOWLING (1991)
Director: Joe Dante
Cast: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: honest-to-goodness scary werewolves
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082533/
Of the two werewolf pics in this list, this is hands-down the scarier one. And it has many of the lupine monsters! But the other one is ultimately more watchable as a whole. The transformation sequences in both films are priceless.
84. POLTERGEIST (1982)
Director: Tobe Hooper
Cast: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: imagery and sounds
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084516/
A classic in the haunted house subgenre, it's a guaranteed visual feast with effective scares. This is the film that made me (and many others) realize that it's never a good idea to build a house on burial grounds.
83. LAS YEUX SANS VISAGE aka Eyes Without a Face (1960)
Director: Georges Franju
Cast: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: the mask and the operations
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A brilliant surgeon, Dr. Génessier, helped by his assistant Louise, kidnaps nice young women. He removes their faces and tries to graft them onto the head on his beloved daughter Christiane, whose face has been entirely spoiled in a car crash."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053459/
It's ultimately not as scary as the title suggests, but the imagery is rather disturbing, not only for its appearance but also its implications. This is one of the sadder horror films that I've seen.
82. BLACULA (1972)
Director: William Crain
Cast: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: a whole lot of sass. And vampires, of course.
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
IMDb Plot Summary: "An ancient African prince, turned into a vampire by Dracula himself, finds himself in modern Los Angeles."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068284/
Yes, an African prince turned vampire. What a fun film! A classic of the blaxploitation genre, it has enough of the scares but A LOT of the sassiness that makes it such a welcome and unique entry in the field.
81. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hadman
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: undead horde, claustrophobia
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE zombies, and Romero is THE God of zombie movies. This is the undisputed daddy of zombie films. But I like my zombies decayed and ravenous and aggressive, and I just didn't get enough of that here. Still, respect where it's due.
80. EL ORFANATO aka The Orphanage (2007)
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: kids. From beyond. Atmosphere and music.
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/
Such an effectively creepy movie, this one. There's just something about abandoned kids and orphanages that is positively eerie, and the direction here is top-notch.
79. PATAYIN SA SINDAK SI BARBARA aka Kill Barbara with Panic (1974)
Director: Celso Ad. Castillo
Cast: Susan Roces, Dante Rivero, Rosanna Ortiz
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: spirits and possessed dolls
Plot Summary: Barbara returns to mourn the death by suicide of her sister Ruth, who married a man whose true love is Barbara. Ruth's spirit is restless, and her daughter, Barbara's niece, becomes involved in the spiritual attacks.
The film is a mess and the acting is all over the place, but this landmark Filipino horror film featured genuinely scary scenes with possessed dolls and long-haired restless spirits. Easily worth the more cringe-worthy scenes.
78. THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
Director: Terence Fisher
Cast: Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Christopher Lee
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: the monster
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "Victor Frankenstein builds a creature and brings it to life. But his creature behaves not as he intended."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050280/
The original Frankenstein is a deserved classic, but it's not a personal favorite. And of course, Boris Karloff's iconic makeup is THE signature Frankenstein look. But this 1957 film was a glossy, well executed update whose monster makeup on Christopher Lee made the creature both sympathetic and scary.
77. FENG SHUI (2004)
Director: Chito S. Rono
Cast: Kris Aquino, Jay Manalo, Lotlot De Leon
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: culture-appropriate conceit, spirits
IMDb Plot Summary: "A wife must save her family from a curse of a "bagwa" bound to them."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430082/
This is one of the better Filipino horror films, with a memorable hook, some creepy images, and more than a few witty contrivances. Still rather derivative, but at least it was adapted to local (Filipino-Chinese) culture.
76. SIGNS (2002)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: slinking mysterious aliens, some nice surprises
IMDb Plot Summary: "A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286106/
It was still a strong follow-up to Shyamalan's phenomenally successful The Sixth Sense, and the few appearances that the aliens made were positively creepy, whether it's a just a searching hand or a candid video shot.
75. YANGGAW (2008)
Director: Richard Somes
Cast: Ronnie Lazaro, Tetchie Agbayani, Joel Torre, Aleera Montalla
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: atmosphere and sounds
IMDb Plot Summary: "A young girl develops an unknown infection that causes her to evolve into a horrifying monster."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1332644/
In this film, the horror is felt and imagined rather than actually seen, although of course the lead character's torment is very much evident. A unique and though-provoking take on the Filipino vampire (i.e. "aswang") mythology.
74. PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975)
Director: Peter Weir
Cast: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: atmosphere, the uncertainty
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A story about the disappearance of several Appleyard College students, and a teacher, from Hanging Rock."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073540/
There is something sinister, diabolical, and almost certainly otherwordly in Hanging Rock, but it is essentially never seen. The stifling atmosphere and the head-scratching circumstances make this one of the finest horror mysteries of all.
73. CHAKUSHIN ARI aka One Missed Call (2003)
Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Ko Shibasaki, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukiishi
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: ghostly sounds (especially that ringtone) and images
IMDb Plot Summary: "People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, in the form of the sound of them reacting to their own violent deaths."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366292/
And now it's the mobile phone. That insidious ringtone was quite popular for a while, a testament to the power of this creepy Japanese movie helmed by the prolific mad genius Takashi Miike. Very memorable.
72. THE BAD SEED (1956)
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: little Rhoda
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A housewife suspects that her seemingly perfect 8-year-old daughter is a heartless killer."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/
Village of the Damned is a sci-fi/horror hybrid that features a gang of kids who'll kill with their minds. Little Rhoda Penmark is as real as girls can get...and she's not afraid to get her hands dirty. Truly eerily cold and manipulative until the very end.
71. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)
Director: Robert Aldrich
Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: the bitter and horrifying hag
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A former child star torments her crippled sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056687/
Hollywood legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford--allegedly real-life bitter rivals--are both excellent here, but it is Davis's terrifyingly demented Baby Jane Hudson that owns the movie and elevates it to pure, almost Grand Guignol horror.
70. HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)
Director: John McNaughton
Cast: Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: cold unfeeling violence
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "Based on the true life serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099763/
Before he became the redneck that everyone loved to hate on "The Walking Dead," Michael Rooker was a more quiet, more intense, but also more amoral killer, whose emotionless murdering spree is what really makes this a memorable gem in the serial killer subgenre.
69. THE RUINS (2008)
Director: Carter Smith
Cast: Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: an unexpected creeping horror in the ruins
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A group of friends whose leisurely Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when they, along with a fewllow tourist, embark on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil lives among the ruins."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963794/
I did not expect to like this film, with its teen actors (though Jena Malone is nearly always reliable) and common "tormented tourist" vibe, but it was a very pleasant surprise. There are too few of those lately. Among other things, like the nice tension build-up, it's the unusual antagonist that makes this film worth viewing.
68. NECO Z ALENKY aka Alice (1988)
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Cast: Kristyna Kohoutova
Scare Meter: 6/10
Scare Tactics: puppetry...and it's Lewis freakin' Carroll
IMDb Plot Summary: "A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095715/
Any version of Lewis Carroll's immortal story can be properly thought of as a bit of horror, with its mind-messing imagery and themes, but it's this one, which has the brilliant Jan Svankmajer's eerie stop-motion puppetry that takes the surrealistic plunge into a visual creep-fest.
67. IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Sam Neill, Jurgen Prochnow, Julie Carmen
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: Lovecraftian goodies
IMDb Plot Summary: "An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact of a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113409/
It is commonly lamented that there just aren't enough good or faithful cinematic adaptations of the great H.P. Lovecraft's works. In the Mouth of Madness is neither very good nor very faithful, but boy does it try. Its disturbing images are at least truly Lovecraftian in spirit, and for that it must be seen.
66. SAW (2004)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: sheer helplessness
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "With a dead body lying between them, two men wake up in the secure lair of a serial killer who's been nicknamed 'Jigsaw'. The men must follow various rules and objectives if they wish to survive and win the deadly game set for them."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387564/
This film came at us like a sledgehammer with its refreshing plot and gruesome inevitability. James Wan would go on to direct even stronger, more horrifying stuff, but this is an amazingly strong start to both a career and a subgenre. It hasn't been matched by anything of the "torture porn" mold since.
65. PROFONDO ROSSO aka Deep Red (1975)
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: giallo violence, visuals and atmosphere
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A musician witnesses the murder of a famous psychic, and then teams up with a feisty reporter to find the killer while evading attempts on their lives by an unseen killer bent on keeping a dark secret buried."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073582/
Perhaps the most well regarded of the Italian giallo subgenre, this Argento classic is as muddled as other giallo films but with very interesting visuals (mostly red, of course), twists and turns, and a healthy dash of lightheartedness that only makes the dark that much darker.
64. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2007)
Director: Oren Peli
Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Scare Meter: 9/10
Scare Tactics: videotaped unnatural sounds and images, atmosphere
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/
While the follow-ups are not too shabby as far as sequels/prequels go, this is where it all started. Genuinely spine-tingling. The "video footage" style works excellently.
63. PERFECT BLUE (1997)
Director: Satoshi Kon
Cast: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: a truly creepy fan
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "A retired pop singer turned actress' sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156887/
What the Japanese animated film Akira is to science fiction, Perfect Blue is to psychological horror. Forget The Fan and other fandom horror films. This is the real deal. And the movie theme is very catchy...though it will make you think of crazy fans and killers for some time.
62. FIRE IN THE SKY (1993)
Director: Robert Lieberman
Cast: D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer
Scare Meter: 8/10
Scare Tactics: alien abduction and surgical operation
IMDb Plot Summary: "An Arizona logger mysteriously disappears for five days in an alleged UFO encounter in 1975."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106912/
A caveat: I have seen this film only once, and a very long time ago at that, so it's probably a worse film than I remember it being. All I remember is that the scenes of alien abduction and dissections scared the bejesus out of me when I was young. I was restless and couldn't look out windows for quite some time after that, and there are times even now when I still remember it. Shudder.
61. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
Director: John Landis
Cast: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher
Scare Meter: 7/10
Scare Tactics: the drawn-out transformation
*Listed in 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die (Schneider, ed. 2009)
*Listed in Horror! 333 Films to Scare You to Death (Marriott and Newman 2010)
IMDb Plot Summary: "Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082010/
This came out in the same year as The Howling and has proven to be much more famous and influential. That's not because it's scarier (far from it), but it's much more humorous, sentimental, and re-watchable. And of course, the drawn-out transformation scene showcases Rick Baker's astounding Oscar-winning makeup design.
#s 21-60 will be posted here tomorrow.
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