Halloween is coming up and with the holiday comes the attendant slew of horror movies. They're in the theaters, on the television and on the shelves of your local Blockbuster. But Halloween is not Halloween if you see the wrong horror movie. The genre is filled with many, many, many horrid, toxic examples of would-be scare flicks (Bats anyone?). For the people celebrating Halloween, here is a list of the 25 best modern horror films to rent for the Eve of All Saint's.
But before I get to the actual list you're probably wondering how I compiled this list. First of all, I limited it to any movie that was released after 1970, which is why proven classics like Psycho (1960), Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Nosferatu (1922) are not on the list. And the entrants were chosen for a variety of factors. Some were chosen, not by my own personal opinion, but by their importance and cultural significance - i.e. the way they have impacted popular culture in the years that have followed. Others were chosen, because they deserve to be discovered by a wider audience. And, yes, a few were chosen for my own personal preference. And, instead of igniting riots by declaring a best horror movie of all time, I opted to put the list into alphabetical order.
Alien (1979) Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi/horror masterpiece created the first female action hero - Sigourney Weaver's Ripley - and spawned an entire subgenre of horror. But none of them ever lived up to the level of tension that Alien established.
An American Werewolf In London (1981) Many horror films combined humor with horror, but few did it as successfully as John Landis' black comic werewolf tale. Griffin Dunne steals the show as a wisecracking cadaver.
Army of Darkness (1993) Sam Raimi's wild, warped second sequel to The Evil Dead is the best third entry in a horror trilogy ever.
Blade (1998) Wesley Snipes kicks ass as a half-human/half-vampire vamp hunter in this sleek adaptation of a Marvel comic.
The Blair Witch Project (1999) Three film students disappear in the Maryland woods while filming a documentary. Love it or loathe it, the most profitable film of all time is a masterpiece of marketing and filmmaking ingenuity.
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2002) Christophe Gans' French lycanthrope tale is a mad hothouse of gory horror, whirling martial arts action, busty costume drama and more. Never once are you allowed to catch your breath over the course of its 150 minutes.
Candyman (1992) An urban legend comes to life in the best ever Clive Barker movie (and I haven't forgotten Hellraiser.) Tony Todd lends the titular character chilling grave menace.
Dawn of the Dead (1978) Zombies lay siege to a shopping mall in George Romero's meta-Night of the LivingDead sequel.
The Evil Dead (1982) Bruce Campbell's campy, square-jaw heroism, Sam Raimi's maverick direction and a whole load of cheaply made forest horror flick sprang from this B-movie classic. Manages to be both loopy and scary.
The Exorcist (1973) Little Linda Blair is possessed by Satan in what many consider the scariest movie of all time.
Friday the 13th (1980) You all know the "ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah." Now see the campfire classic that inspired nine sequels, most of them lousy. Not the greatest movie ever, for sure, but a must-see for horror buffs.
Ginger Snaps (2001) How has this teen-girl werewolf tale been overlooked? Scary, dark and acted with amazing power (especially by young newcomer Katherine Isabelle) this isn't just a teen horror flick, but one of the best looks at teen angst of all time. The emotional honesty in Karen Walton's screenplay may be why the distributors backed out of a wide release.
Halloween (1978) John Carpenter's landmark horror film is single-handedly responsible for spawning a new genre: the slasher film.
In the Mouth of Madness (1995) Carpenter hits the list again with this overlooked literature-as-hell film. The best Lovecraft movie - and it wasn't even based on anything by Lovecraft.
Jaws (1977) If only because it created the summer movie and launched Steven Spielberg. Oh, and because it was really scary.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Wes Craven's career was launched by this clever take on the burgeoning slasher genre. Robert Englund played the role of pockmarked supernatural killer Freddy Krueger to perfection. Believe it or not, this featured Johnny Depp's first major role.
Poltergeist (1982) The freaky little tale of a family's house being haunted by angry spirits is a Halloween weekend tradition.
Ravenous (1999) This utterly unclassifiable cannibal Western flopped big time when it was released into theaters. But this gory period piece has deservedly found a cult follwing on video. Stars Guy Pearce, pre-Memento.
Scream (1996) Homage to the 80s slasher film, parody of 80s slasher film, or a just a new version of the 80s slasher film? Kevin Williamson's witty screenplay never gave us any doubt - this clever satire is all three at once.
The Shining (1980) Many people consider Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel one of the scariest movies ever. Pretty damn creepy, but too bad it never actual follows Kings novel closely enough.
The Sixth Sense (1999) "I see dead people" was permanently added to the American lexicon with this tale of a boy who sees ghosts. M. Night Shyamalan's thriller was the first horror film in years to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, thanks to a terrific performance by young Haley Joel Osment.
Suspiria (1977) Dario Argento's creepy tale of mysterious goings-on at an Italian ballet school is a terrifying example of the genre called giallo.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Teens run into a family of backwoods cannibals in Tobe Hooper's frighteningly all-tension classic. Introduced the world to chainsaw wielding Leatherface.
The Thing (1982) John Carpenter's remake of the 1951 classic stayed closer to the original source material, and created a generation's worth of state-of-the-art gore effects. Effectively claustrophobic.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) Freddy Krueger invades the reel world and terrorizes actress Heather Langenkamp (played by Heather Langenkamp), the heroine from the original Nightmare film, in Craven's clever post-modern spin on the Krueger mythos.
And now, briefly, ten of the worst:
Child's Play 3 (1991)
Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood (1988)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Lord of Illusions (1995)
Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
Pet Cemetery 2 (1992)
Soul Survivors (2001)
Tales from the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood (1996)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1997)
Village of the Damned (1995)
(Avoid these films at all cost. Not even alcohol will help.)
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