13 Best Horror Flicks

by Elliot
(Chicago, Illinois, USA)

1. The Shining (1980). I love horror movies. I worship Stanley Kubrick and Jack Nicholson. The best acting, directing and camerawork I've ever seen in a scary film. Not the scariest, but very stylish and (rather ironically) hilarious thanks to Jack.

2. The Exorcist (1973). I'd say The Exorcist is to horror as Metallica's Kill 'Em All is to heavy metal, or Rene Descartes is to western philosophy. The birth of the extremely grody! I'm an atheist but this film made me question, if only for a second, my beliefs. The acting is amazing, the effects are disgusting and believable and I have to admit...yes, I cried when the priest died, and I know you did too.

3. The Birds (1963). Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds may not be the "scariest" movie I've ever seen, but it is the creepiest. Hitchcock can combine mystery and fear so well, its hard to not doubt that he has, and he has, influenced every horror director since. A simple plot, with profound reactions from characters is how this movie works out. Awesome!

4. Jaws (1973). A masterpiece of the thriller. Its not profound or experimental by today's comparison but just made so perfectly you can't help but admire it. I admit I have a slight grudge towards Spielberg, its hard not to blame him and George Lucas for the death of art cinema, but like Star Wars (1977), you can't resist this.

5. Psycho (1960). Possibly the most influential horror of all time, along with The Exorcist. Anthony Perkins takes on one of the hardest roles ever, as a psychopathic mother and a shy, young son at the same time. Pretty gruesome for its time and very radical in how it told its terrifying story. I love it though I still slightly prefer The Birds.

6. Rosemary's Baby (1968). This movie does not have one jump scene in it, not one drop of blood, but simply relies on great acting, directing, psychedelic-shots and the unspoken notion that your whole life is nothing but a lie for the purpose of bringing Satan back to his rightful place. Creepy, brilliant, minimalist and you may realize by the end of the movie that the forces of evil might not be as negative as we are taught to believe.

7. The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Take your average '40s film noir, give it to the best filmmakers there are in the '90s, slightly increase the gore factor, and you have The Silence of the Lambs. This movie is made by Anthony Hopkins's and Jodie Foster's brilliant performances that take detective-horror-thrillers to the new level. If anybody can scare the hell out of you with some ominous words and a glance, its Hannibal the Cannibal.

9. Halloween (1978). Now on to the epic '70s slashers! In the tradition of Hitchcock, John Carpenter takes his way of filmmaking but made it less dramatic and more gory, but not to dull and not to gross. This movie's jump scenes are numerous and always keep you on the edge of your seat, and also it creates many of the oh-so important rules of the slasher Wes Craven's Scream (1996) would mock.

10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Probably the first slasher (if you don't consider Psycho, Peeping Tom, etc. to be slashers) its still not nearly as generic as its predecessors would soon be considered. Remember, at the time the only movie we would still consider extreme that existed was The Exorcist. So right after we get the vomiting-Satan-girl we get a movie more quiet and at ease? No. We get movie of cannibalism, high speed chases, masochists chaotic trippiness, that created, but didn't define, a new genre.

11. Friday the 13th (1980). A bit of a rip off of Halloween but still was very important for the young slasher film. Sure, for the most part its more tame then John Carpenter's masterpiece, but that last scene in the canoe makes the movie totally worth it. Also it is pretty cool (though at times awkward) that the serial killer is a mom.

12. Suspiria (1977). Scary and arty as it gets. The best way to put it is if you took The Cabinet of Dr, Caligari (1920) and made it a big, over-produced, 80s art house flick. Cool...just plain cool. German Expressionism meets '80s glamour is the best way to put it.

13. Scream (1996). Generic (in a successfully ironic way), funny and shocking are some of the words that come to mind when talking about Wes Craven's Scream. It is a mocking, yet scary homage to the horror movie, made by one of its most popular directors. It truly is frightening but there was a little too much gore and too little tension. Awesome nonetheless, and worth the watch.