Top 10 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time

Hello, dear reader!

Many great horror films have been released in the last few years, and the future of the genre looks exciting; the highly anticipated A Quiet Place: Part II hits theaters this month, the superhero genre gets a horror twist with The New Mutants in April, and the rest of the year will include Edgar Wright's Last Night In Soho and a Halloween sequel. I will look at my favorite horror movies of all time on today's list; I have excluded certain psychological horror films such as The Lighthouse (2019), Eraserhead (1977) and Shutter Island (2010), for their brand of horror is too difficult to compare with the more conventional wing of the genre. Honorable mentions for today include: A Quiet Place (2018), Alien (1979), Jaws (1975), The Blair Witch Project (1999) and The Exorcist (1973).

Now let's see about that list!

10. Godzilla (1954)

Ishiro Honda's classic monster flick started a cult movie franchise spanning several decades and an insane amount of sequels, reboots and crossovers centering around the titular Godzilla and other creatures of the Kaiju lore. While these films may be known for big monster vs. monster fights and cities being destroyed, the original Godzilla is actually a very smart and thought-provoking film. It criticized nuclear weapons and the destructive nature of humanity through its story of a monster created through reckless nuclear bomb tests, and the metaphor is quite powerful. In addition to the movie's philosophy and debates, there is also time for intense scenes of the monster making its way towards Tokyo, and the practical effects have held up marvelously well - not many 1950's monster movies can still look formidable and terrifying today, but Godzilla manages to do just that.

9. Saw (2004)

James Wan's low-budget horror experiment Saw became a gigantic hit, redefining the modern horror genre and (in typical horror fashion) spawning countless sequels. A majority of the film is spent in a room where protagonists Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Lawrence (Cary Elwes) find themselves trapped - there's also an entertaining police subplot and multiple flashbacks throughout the movie. Saw is like seeing an escape room game on steroids, with the traps and twists being violent and brutal. The mysterious Jigsaw makes for a great villain, and the viewer becomes very invested in the main characters' attempts to get out of the strange room. The film also features a fantastic score by Charlie Clouser, as well as a magnificent twist ending, making for an awesome modern horror classic.

8. Scream (1996)

One of the many Wes Craven works to appear on this list, Scream is a strange and wonderful production. It's a very specific kind of parody of slasher horror: it isn't a downright comedy like Scary Movie, but it still does make fun of the genre through plentiful meta commentary. And here's the amazing part: Scream works both as a hilarious parody and as a legitimate horror film. Even with all the meta jokes, it still is a story with scary parts, decent directing, an interesting villain and characters the viewer cares about. The parody element is always subtle enough, being very present in the dialogue but never being too slapstick or distracting.

7. Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele's debut film is truly one of a kind - just like one needs to be in order to win the Oscar for best screenwriting for a horror film. This extremely rare honor was very much deserved, as is the rest of the plentiful acclaim that Get Out has gotten. On one hand, it's a horror movie with a creepy soundtrack, scary sequences and edge-of-your-seat thrills. On the other, it's a masterfully crafted social allegory, taking a strong stance against racism and exploring various forms of racial tensions and injustice. And in addition to these elements, Get Out somehow manages to be wonderfully entertaining and even hilarious at times with its well-timed humorous side. Scary while not being cliché horror, poignant while not being obviously preachy, and funny while not being a comedy, this film does an expert job in balancing these very different sides in order to build a unique and amazing work of horror and societal criticism.

6. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Before Wes Craven made meta horror mainstream with Scream, he tested the waters with this severely underrated Nightmare On Elm Street reboot. The premise in genius: whereas previous Elm Street films followed the demonic Freddy Krueger killing teenagers in their dreams, this one takes place beyond the 4th wall and in 'real life'. The main character is Heather Langenkamp, who played protagonist Nancy in the original Nightmare On Elm Street, and is here played by herself. Craven himself appears, as do many of the franchise's actors and crew members, in this pseudo-sequel where Freddy Krueger turns out to be a real entity who begins to haunt the people who worked on the Elm Street movies in their real lives. This may be the creepiest horror film I've ever seen, and that is largely thanks to its blurring of lines between what's real and what's behind the screen: the idea of Krueger following the real people into their lives is a stroke of genius from Craven, making for a film that uses its meta concept not for humor like Scream, but rather for a creepy, dark and unique story.

5.  It (2017)

Stephen King's It (1986) is one of the greatest books I have ever read. It was adapted into a miniseries in 1990, and while that version follows the concrete plot events of the book very faithfully, it fails to capture the atmosphere and themes of the book (this is just my view on the subject). Andy Muschietti's smash hit from 2017 does the opposite: there are multiple glaring changes from the source material, yet the film feels incredibly much like the book. It's Nightmare On Elm Street meeting Stand By Me, as intense horror sequences are balanced by a powerful and uplifting coming-of-age story about a lovable group of children. The child actors are perfect for their roles, as is Bill Skarsgård as the horrific Pennywise the clown. It is a violent and creepy movie, yet it is also remarkably beautiful, and a deserving adaption for King's novel.

4. Psycho (1960)

The most legendary horror movie of all time is sitting comfortably at fourth place on my list. The reasons for this being one of the best horror films of all time are quite obvious, as it is such an extraordinary cinematic production on all fronts. The cast is great, with original scream queen Janet Leigh and the delightfully creepy Anthony Perkins being especially impressive in their roles. The score by Bernard Herrmann adds a lot to the film's impact, especially the beyond-iconic string piece in the famous shower scene. The black-and-white cinematography and the unconventional plot are also great, yet the element truly behind this film's greatness is Alfred Hitchcock's impeccable directing. His ability to build tension and shock throughout the movie is one of a kind, cementing Psycho as a true horror classic.

3. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare On Elm Street is a horror movie for everyone. If you're into graphic and violent horror, the film has quite a bit of that. If you're sick of typical slashers and want to watch a quality movie, the film has an exceptional cast (Heather Langenkamp and a young Johnny Depp knock it out of the park) and a well-written, original plot. If entertainment is what you're looking for, the film has you covered with its riveting and engaging style. And if you're into strange, different and groundbreaking films, Nightmare is definitely the movie for you with its crazy and wild aesthetics and bizarre dream-worlds created from the brilliant mind of (once again) Wes Craven. A Nightmare On Elm Street is so good in so many ways, being one of the scariest films I've ever seen with its brilliant use of horror on both a jump-scare level but also in the underlying dark creepiness of its lore, but also just being a great movie with an awesome cast of characters and an unforgettable villain. The sheer creativity of the film's premise and style is what especially gets me every time.

2. Halloween (1978)

The Citizen Kane of the slasher genre, Halloween is an absolute horror masterpiece. In a world increasingly filled with violent, gore-based horror, John Carpenter creates one of the creepiest movies of all time where most of the horror is just based on masterful suspense-building from the directing and editing departments. Simple shots of villain Michael Myers hiding in the bushes, lurking in the street and being visible for a very short amount of time in key moments are so perfectly executed that it somehow feels even scarier than anything else in the horror cinema of the time. In addition, Halloween profits from having a dynamic main cast including Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence, a rich backstory to its intriguing villain, a climactic final act that leaves things deliciously open for sequels, and one of my all-time favorite movie soundtracks. All in all, I salute John Carpenter for creating so much with so little.

1. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece transcends the horror genre itself with its groundbreaking way of creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. The simple act of playing with continuity (Kubrick often removed certain objects from the background between shots or moved them slightly) creates such an unconsciously uneasy feeling: for the duration of the film, the Overlook Hotel may not seem conventionally scary, but it scares the viewer on a deeper and darker level. There just seems to be something so fundamentally wrong with that place.

But the amazing continuity tricks and set design of the film are only a part of its greatness: much more comes from Jack Nicholson's sledgehammer performance as father-gone-mad Jack Torrance, as well as Shelley Duvall and child actor Danny Lloyd being great supporting castmembers. And then there are just so very many iconic and well-built scenes, from the creepy long take of Danny riding his tricycle and the blood flowing out of the elevator, to the mind-bending hedge maze transition and Nicholson's legendary delivery of the "HERE'S JOHNNY!" line. I hold The Shining as the gold standard of the horror genre, and thus it thoroughly deserves the #1 spot on this list.

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