SFX Magazine's Top 20 Horror Films
Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 4:28 am
UK Science Fiction and Horror Magazine SFX have recently published a Horror Special, in which they include a "Top 20 Countdown" of the greatest horror movies ever made. When judging eligibility they marked on impact and how influential the film has been over the years. Here's the countdown (with a few comments of my own)
20 The Devil Rides Out
It's ironic that the only Hammer film showing in this top 20 should be uncharacteristic of the Studio That Dripped Blood, indeed there is barely a splash of scarlet to be seen…
2099 says: I've never seen this film, but it's modern day setting, combined with devil worshipping undoubtedly influenced other, much better films, such as Roesmary's Baby and The Wicker Man.
19. The Masque of the Red Death
Cinema's unholiest trinity? How about Edgar Allen Poe, Roger Corman and Vincent Price? They all made significant individual contributions to the genre. Occasionally two of them would 'team up' to produce superior celluloid scares. But when all three came together, the widescreen witchcraft unleashed was a force indeed…
2099 says: Actually this film is rather poor. It really hasn't dated well at all, and I don't think it actually belongs on this list. Still, Vincent Price is superb (as always).
18. Don't Look Now
Nicolas Roeg's stylish masterpeice is an experience in paranoid awareness. It's like watching a film that's been filtered through the mind of someone for whom there's no such thing as casual coincidence, only a network of patterns. At the end when all the fragments of information fall into place, you feel as if the blinkers have been removed…
2099 says: Masterpeice is not too strong a word for this film. It is an amazing piece of cinema. It's one of those films that fills you with dread from the very beginning and it is actually quite hard and uncomfortable to watch, but you end up riveted to the screen. Should have been in the top 10.
17. Peeping Tom
Most works of art swell in importance with age. But some start from a place of such impoverishment, their propulsion into the artistic stratosphere is nothing short of astronomic…
2099 says: Well, I have seen this a few years ago, and it left no impact on me at all. Many cite it as the first serial killer film, but that's nonsense – films like The Lodger in the 1920's dealt with serial killers (but of course, they weren't titled as such then). But it probably did influence later films greatly.
16. Dawn of the Dead
Americans love shopping. In a 1985 survey of American teens, 92% named shopping as their favourite leisure activity. Only 7% chose spending time with their friends and family…
2099 says: I have not seen any of Romero's "Dead" trilogy. [Hangs head in shame]
15. Suspiria
Critics can't help discussing Argento using musical terminology. His films are described as "operatic" or "balletic", as "symphonies" or "arias" of outrageous violence…
2099 says: Not seen this either. But Argento is known for his gore, so I'm not sure I particularly want to.
14. Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes? Without A Face?)
Les Yeux Sans Visage remains the crowning achivement of the almost forgotten director Georges Franju, a film that plays hard with art in a genre that is so often anti-art…
2099 says: Never even heard of this before. Sorry if my English translation is a little off, but I'm convinced it's true in sprit.
13. An American Werewolf in London
"Well, it is a marvellous night for a moondance…" Ah, those musical moon jokes that litter the soundtrack… not since Grease has a film made more effective use of the song 'Blue Moon'; never has lycanthropy sounded better…
2099net: While other films already in the list have flirted with comedy to some extent (such as the satire in Dawn of the Dead) An American Werewolf in London is the first film that is just as much a comedy as a horror film. Comedy has always partnered horror well, it helps to relieve the tension. Something James Whale knew as early as the 1930's. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is an excellent film, and the transformation, despite being totally practical effects with no CGI still impresses and disturbs today.
12. The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead is a threat to civilised values, literally an evil film. At least that was the opinion of many back in 1984 when it fell foul of the hysteria about the dangers of 'video nasties'…
2099 says: Yes. This film was banned for untold years in the UK. Of course now it is freely available and has even been shown uncut on the television. After all the hype when finally seeing it I wondered what the problem was. Its so OTT that I doubt it could corrupt anyone. A landmark film, but Evil Dead II is streets ahead – again through its use of humour.
11. The Wicker Man
Horror musicals aren't as rare as you may think. But the Wicker Man must be the only serious horror musical. Those of you who haven't seen the film are probably getting the wrong impression. It does not feature a chorus line bursting into song…
2099 says: The Wicker Man is another genuine masterpiece. Everything about this film is spot on, and even if the shock ending is known, you can't help a chill running down your spine when it is finally revealed. Acting from all is faultless, its Christopher Lee's best role to date (forget his Lord of the Rings pantomime performance). Should be higher.
10. The Shining
Like many of Kubrick's films, The Shining inspires debate. Some regard it as a satire of horror film making. Some, a metaphor for the treatment of Native Americans. Some, a study of communication breakdown. Some only see it as a classic haunted house mystery. For some it’s a masterpiece, for others a mess…
2099 says: I'm with those who don't particularly like the shining. I think it has some excellent set-pieces and chills, but the sum of the parts just don't add up for me. That said, it has been a while since I've seen it fully.
9. Alien
It's 1979. There's a poster that promises cinematic terror like no-one has ever known before. An egg hangs suspended against a black background. An egg with an unfamiliar underlating surface. At the bottom there's a slit. Some thing green and obviously evil is seeping through it…
2099 says: What can be said about Alien that hasn't already been said for over 7 hours on the Alien Quadrilogy set? Alien is a film that delivered everything the poster promised, and it undisputedly changed the expectations of film audiences over night. But is it really a horror film? I'm not sure myself, and I think perhaps the makers of this countdown weren't either. If it was a haunted house of slasher movie, there's no doubt in my mind it would be placed higher.
8. The Exorcist
Today in 2004, The Exorcist basks in the sunny glow of critical respectability. Not bad for a movie that, only 10 years ago was seen by the enlightened masses as a sleezy bedfellow of sludge such as Zombie Flesh Eaters…
2099 says: … again due to the BBFC banning the film from Home Video (like The Evil Dead). It's now freely available and has been shown on TV uncut. I don't like The Exorcist much, and in all honestly I'm not sure it's influenced later movies much. But I do like The Exorcist III, which to my mind is a much more superior film to the original. (We won't even mention The Exorcist II)
7. Ringu Aka Ring
On its release Ringu became the biggest box office hit in Japanese history; it also became the film that launched a new wave of Japanese horror; and brought it to the attention of Western audiences…
2099 says: Ringu is a superb film, and in many instances it beats the pants off the Dreamworks "reimagining". Sadly, it also falls short of the Dreamworks film several times as well, so it's not fair to call either better or worse then each other. The Sadako of the Japanese film is a much more frightening figure than Samara, and the low budget effects actually help build more atmosphere and horror – I defy anyone not to be freaked out by Sadako's misshapen limbs, jerky walk and the accompanying soundtrack of clicking and snapping bones.
Ringu has influenced a whole range of movies – Dark Water, The Eye, The Grudge. All are excellent Japanese films well worth tracking down (and coincidentally all are in the process of Hollywood "reimaginings"). Also check out Ring 0: Birthday, a fitting prequel to Ringu. Give Ring 2 a miss though – it only confuses matters. Wait for the American sequel, which promises to go in an all new direction…
6. The Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is the rarest of treasures: a sequel to a great film that surpasses the original. Not only does it contain some of the most dazzling images in cinematic history, but it is also one of the most slyly subversive films of its era…
2099 says: Bride of Frankenstein was not the first horror comedy (Whale himself had made one a few years before – The Old Dark House), but it was perhaps the first to make an impact. This film is another where everything just falls into place, but it is hard to classify. Is it a horror film or is it a dark comedy? Dr. Pretorius is perhaps the best character to come out of the Universal horror cycle, and is played to perfection by Thesiger. He seems comic, but has an air of dark menace underneath, a perfect mirror of the movie.
5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The film you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin… For them an idyllic Summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annuals of American history. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
2099 says: Those words, which opened the film were nothing but rubbish. Such a pseudo-documentary style was used for films like The Last Broadcast and The Blair Witch Project. I've noting else to say, as I've never seen the film (or its recent remake).
4. Psycho
It would be fatuous to claim that without Psycho the slasher film would never have existed. Someone, at sometime, would have made a film about a psychopath who stabs people to death. But most likely it wouldn’t have been the masterpiece that Hitchcocks film is…
2099 says: Again, Psycho has been discussed and written about so many times in the past, there's nothing I can really add. Personally I wouldn't rate it as high as Don't Look Now or The Wicker Man. So there.
3. The Haunting
A dialogue heavy black and white film, with zero gore and the barest minimum of effects. Hardly sounds like a contender for the top 5 horror films does it? The Haunting, though is proof that script, direction and acting counts far more than flash visuals, especially when it comes to scaring the daylights out of an audience…
2099 says: I adore The Haunting. It is one of the best movies ever made (a shame Warner didn't treat this to a 2 disc set when it was finally released last year). The soundtrack for the film is absolutely terrifying – and it's only in mono sound! The Haunting is absolute proof that less is more (and the abysmal Dreamworks remake is absolute proof that more is less).
2. Night of the Living Dead
On paper is shouldn't work. One of the scariest movies ever made, a black and white first feature made for $114,000 and in Pittsburgh?…"
2099 says: Not seen. No comment.
1. Halloween
Though it kickstarted that so-often dubious horror sub-gene, the slasher film, Halloween to the surprise of most who'd rather kneecap themselves than go to see a serial killer movie, is almost totally bloodless…
2099 says: Another film made on a shoestring budget that went on to not only be a commercial success, but was generally atmospheric and scary. Halloween also influenced a whole new genre of horror films – from the Friday the 13th series to the Sleepaway Camp series, even to the Scream series. All can trace their origins to Halloween. If you do see Halloween, make sure you get a widescreen version, Carpenter has always been a master of making full use of the cinemascope frame and Halloween is no exception. It looses so much when cropped to a 4:3 format.
I'm not sure about all the selections. I would have included Carpenter's The Thing (a huge influence on animatronic and physical effects) and one of the compilation anthology pictures (perhaps Dead of Night or Creepshow). The scariest movie I ever saw was called Magic about a ventriloquist dummy, which is coming to UK DVD sometime this year (but being as I was only about 10 at the time, it will probably be disappointing on watching today).
20 The Devil Rides Out
It's ironic that the only Hammer film showing in this top 20 should be uncharacteristic of the Studio That Dripped Blood, indeed there is barely a splash of scarlet to be seen…
2099 says: I've never seen this film, but it's modern day setting, combined with devil worshipping undoubtedly influenced other, much better films, such as Roesmary's Baby and The Wicker Man.
19. The Masque of the Red Death
Cinema's unholiest trinity? How about Edgar Allen Poe, Roger Corman and Vincent Price? They all made significant individual contributions to the genre. Occasionally two of them would 'team up' to produce superior celluloid scares. But when all three came together, the widescreen witchcraft unleashed was a force indeed…
2099 says: Actually this film is rather poor. It really hasn't dated well at all, and I don't think it actually belongs on this list. Still, Vincent Price is superb (as always).
18. Don't Look Now
Nicolas Roeg's stylish masterpeice is an experience in paranoid awareness. It's like watching a film that's been filtered through the mind of someone for whom there's no such thing as casual coincidence, only a network of patterns. At the end when all the fragments of information fall into place, you feel as if the blinkers have been removed…
2099 says: Masterpeice is not too strong a word for this film. It is an amazing piece of cinema. It's one of those films that fills you with dread from the very beginning and it is actually quite hard and uncomfortable to watch, but you end up riveted to the screen. Should have been in the top 10.
17. Peeping Tom
Most works of art swell in importance with age. But some start from a place of such impoverishment, their propulsion into the artistic stratosphere is nothing short of astronomic…
2099 says: Well, I have seen this a few years ago, and it left no impact on me at all. Many cite it as the first serial killer film, but that's nonsense – films like The Lodger in the 1920's dealt with serial killers (but of course, they weren't titled as such then). But it probably did influence later films greatly.
16. Dawn of the Dead
Americans love shopping. In a 1985 survey of American teens, 92% named shopping as their favourite leisure activity. Only 7% chose spending time with their friends and family…
2099 says: I have not seen any of Romero's "Dead" trilogy. [Hangs head in shame]
15. Suspiria
Critics can't help discussing Argento using musical terminology. His films are described as "operatic" or "balletic", as "symphonies" or "arias" of outrageous violence…
2099 says: Not seen this either. But Argento is known for his gore, so I'm not sure I particularly want to.
14. Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes? Without A Face?)
Les Yeux Sans Visage remains the crowning achivement of the almost forgotten director Georges Franju, a film that plays hard with art in a genre that is so often anti-art…
2099 says: Never even heard of this before. Sorry if my English translation is a little off, but I'm convinced it's true in sprit.
13. An American Werewolf in London
"Well, it is a marvellous night for a moondance…" Ah, those musical moon jokes that litter the soundtrack… not since Grease has a film made more effective use of the song 'Blue Moon'; never has lycanthropy sounded better…
2099net: While other films already in the list have flirted with comedy to some extent (such as the satire in Dawn of the Dead) An American Werewolf in London is the first film that is just as much a comedy as a horror film. Comedy has always partnered horror well, it helps to relieve the tension. Something James Whale knew as early as the 1930's. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is an excellent film, and the transformation, despite being totally practical effects with no CGI still impresses and disturbs today.
12. The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead is a threat to civilised values, literally an evil film. At least that was the opinion of many back in 1984 when it fell foul of the hysteria about the dangers of 'video nasties'…
2099 says: Yes. This film was banned for untold years in the UK. Of course now it is freely available and has even been shown uncut on the television. After all the hype when finally seeing it I wondered what the problem was. Its so OTT that I doubt it could corrupt anyone. A landmark film, but Evil Dead II is streets ahead – again through its use of humour.
11. The Wicker Man
Horror musicals aren't as rare as you may think. But the Wicker Man must be the only serious horror musical. Those of you who haven't seen the film are probably getting the wrong impression. It does not feature a chorus line bursting into song…
2099 says: The Wicker Man is another genuine masterpiece. Everything about this film is spot on, and even if the shock ending is known, you can't help a chill running down your spine when it is finally revealed. Acting from all is faultless, its Christopher Lee's best role to date (forget his Lord of the Rings pantomime performance). Should be higher.
10. The Shining
Like many of Kubrick's films, The Shining inspires debate. Some regard it as a satire of horror film making. Some, a metaphor for the treatment of Native Americans. Some, a study of communication breakdown. Some only see it as a classic haunted house mystery. For some it’s a masterpiece, for others a mess…
2099 says: I'm with those who don't particularly like the shining. I think it has some excellent set-pieces and chills, but the sum of the parts just don't add up for me. That said, it has been a while since I've seen it fully.
9. Alien
It's 1979. There's a poster that promises cinematic terror like no-one has ever known before. An egg hangs suspended against a black background. An egg with an unfamiliar underlating surface. At the bottom there's a slit. Some thing green and obviously evil is seeping through it…
2099 says: What can be said about Alien that hasn't already been said for over 7 hours on the Alien Quadrilogy set? Alien is a film that delivered everything the poster promised, and it undisputedly changed the expectations of film audiences over night. But is it really a horror film? I'm not sure myself, and I think perhaps the makers of this countdown weren't either. If it was a haunted house of slasher movie, there's no doubt in my mind it would be placed higher.
8. The Exorcist
Today in 2004, The Exorcist basks in the sunny glow of critical respectability. Not bad for a movie that, only 10 years ago was seen by the enlightened masses as a sleezy bedfellow of sludge such as Zombie Flesh Eaters…
2099 says: … again due to the BBFC banning the film from Home Video (like The Evil Dead). It's now freely available and has been shown on TV uncut. I don't like The Exorcist much, and in all honestly I'm not sure it's influenced later movies much. But I do like The Exorcist III, which to my mind is a much more superior film to the original. (We won't even mention The Exorcist II)
7. Ringu Aka Ring
On its release Ringu became the biggest box office hit in Japanese history; it also became the film that launched a new wave of Japanese horror; and brought it to the attention of Western audiences…
2099 says: Ringu is a superb film, and in many instances it beats the pants off the Dreamworks "reimagining". Sadly, it also falls short of the Dreamworks film several times as well, so it's not fair to call either better or worse then each other. The Sadako of the Japanese film is a much more frightening figure than Samara, and the low budget effects actually help build more atmosphere and horror – I defy anyone not to be freaked out by Sadako's misshapen limbs, jerky walk and the accompanying soundtrack of clicking and snapping bones.
Ringu has influenced a whole range of movies – Dark Water, The Eye, The Grudge. All are excellent Japanese films well worth tracking down (and coincidentally all are in the process of Hollywood "reimaginings"). Also check out Ring 0: Birthday, a fitting prequel to Ringu. Give Ring 2 a miss though – it only confuses matters. Wait for the American sequel, which promises to go in an all new direction…
6. The Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is the rarest of treasures: a sequel to a great film that surpasses the original. Not only does it contain some of the most dazzling images in cinematic history, but it is also one of the most slyly subversive films of its era…
2099 says: Bride of Frankenstein was not the first horror comedy (Whale himself had made one a few years before – The Old Dark House), but it was perhaps the first to make an impact. This film is another where everything just falls into place, but it is hard to classify. Is it a horror film or is it a dark comedy? Dr. Pretorius is perhaps the best character to come out of the Universal horror cycle, and is played to perfection by Thesiger. He seems comic, but has an air of dark menace underneath, a perfect mirror of the movie.
5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The film you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin… For them an idyllic Summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annuals of American history. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
2099 says: Those words, which opened the film were nothing but rubbish. Such a pseudo-documentary style was used for films like The Last Broadcast and The Blair Witch Project. I've noting else to say, as I've never seen the film (or its recent remake).
4. Psycho
It would be fatuous to claim that without Psycho the slasher film would never have existed. Someone, at sometime, would have made a film about a psychopath who stabs people to death. But most likely it wouldn’t have been the masterpiece that Hitchcocks film is…
2099 says: Again, Psycho has been discussed and written about so many times in the past, there's nothing I can really add. Personally I wouldn't rate it as high as Don't Look Now or The Wicker Man. So there.
3. The Haunting
A dialogue heavy black and white film, with zero gore and the barest minimum of effects. Hardly sounds like a contender for the top 5 horror films does it? The Haunting, though is proof that script, direction and acting counts far more than flash visuals, especially when it comes to scaring the daylights out of an audience…
2099 says: I adore The Haunting. It is one of the best movies ever made (a shame Warner didn't treat this to a 2 disc set when it was finally released last year). The soundtrack for the film is absolutely terrifying – and it's only in mono sound! The Haunting is absolute proof that less is more (and the abysmal Dreamworks remake is absolute proof that more is less).
2. Night of the Living Dead
On paper is shouldn't work. One of the scariest movies ever made, a black and white first feature made for $114,000 and in Pittsburgh?…"
2099 says: Not seen. No comment.
1. Halloween
Though it kickstarted that so-often dubious horror sub-gene, the slasher film, Halloween to the surprise of most who'd rather kneecap themselves than go to see a serial killer movie, is almost totally bloodless…
2099 says: Another film made on a shoestring budget that went on to not only be a commercial success, but was generally atmospheric and scary. Halloween also influenced a whole new genre of horror films – from the Friday the 13th series to the Sleepaway Camp series, even to the Scream series. All can trace their origins to Halloween. If you do see Halloween, make sure you get a widescreen version, Carpenter has always been a master of making full use of the cinemascope frame and Halloween is no exception. It looses so much when cropped to a 4:3 format.
I'm not sure about all the selections. I would have included Carpenter's The Thing (a huge influence on animatronic and physical effects) and one of the compilation anthology pictures (perhaps Dead of Night or Creepshow). The scariest movie I ever saw was called Magic about a ventriloquist dummy, which is coming to UK DVD sometime this year (but being as I was only about 10 at the time, it will probably be disappointing on watching today).