Best Horror Movies of All Time

[Lidgar]

Snowpiercer

 

[Deset Gled]

• House

...

• Pontypool

Which House? 1977 (Japanese) or 1985 (American)? I'd say 1977 is better, but I'll also say its weird, even by Japanese horror standards.

Pontypool is a good one I haven't thought about in a while. I liked how good of a job it did as a small scale movie. Definitely worth a re-watch. If you like this style of horror I would also recommend Bug (2006). Very tight, small scale horror with Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon.

Funny Games (original).

As someone who enjoys horror (obviously), non-traditional films, and even fourth wall breaks, I still don't know what the heck that movie was. I can't say it's not horror.

This is a tall order, "Best of All Time" and I would only repeat what others have added like Alien, The Shining, ...
Stephen King films Children of the Corn, and Pet Sematary (the 1989 one).

Stephen King is such a rabbit hole to go down. We could probably have a thread just on his stuff alone. While Carrie and the Mist are what I would probably call his traditional "best" horror and Cat's Eye is a personal favorite, I want to give special notes to "Dreamcatcher". It's generally not reviewed well, and I'll admit isn't great by traditional standards. But, as a fan who has read a ton of King's books and watched a lot of his movies, I think this movie is the perfect amalgamation of King's repeated tropes. It's the nexus of so many of his themes and characters. Which is particularly ironic considering The Dark Tower movie, which was supposed to be the core of King's shared worlds, was so horrible. If you watch Dreamcatcher with the assumption that it replaces The Dark Tower, it becomes a masterpiece.

Nope

Here's one I'll debate. I was highly disappointed with Nope as a horror movie. I felt it worked OK as a sci-fi story (very old school vibes). But the pacing and mystery was all wrong for horror. Much too slow, and overall just too complex (confusing?) to be scary. I defintely spent much more time puzzled trying to figure out what was going on than I did worried. And (I don't think this is a spoiler because it happens in the opening scene), even after watching it all the way through, I still have no idea what the heck was going on with that shoe in the beginning.

 

[Clint_L]

Wasn't the shoe something that had been vomited up - an early bit of foreshadowing? Not to give anything away? It's been awhile. Nope was a bit of a disappointment for me because his previous two films were so good, with Get Out being an all-timer. So that's a high bar. Nope was more like an ambitious Twilight Zone episode...though the scenes with the chimp certainly qualify it for this discussion all by themselves.


Speaking of which, what about horror films prominently featuring animal antagonists? The bear from Annihilation...

 

[Clint_L]

One film that I hated when I watched it, but that has never quite left me, is Lars von Trier's Antichrist. That film actively offended me, which is hard for a movie to do...and yet. Art is supposed to make us feel things, and it certainly did. I remember it far more than I do 99% of other films I've seen. So it did its job?

So what about films that you didn't enjoy, but still might qualify as good horror films, and maybe for that reason?

NOTE: If you haven't seen it, know going in that Antichrist is a hard x-rated horror film. Which you will understand within the first three minutes.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

As someone who enjoys horror (obviously), non-traditional films, and even fourth wall breaks, I still don't know what the heck that movie was. I can't say it's not horror.

It's a movie that is both horror, and a strong analysis of it. It's a very deliberate commentary on violence, but more importantly, how the audience engages with the violence and expects to be rewarded (catharsis).

I put it on the list because it one of those movies (like Audition, or Hereditary) that just sticks with you for a long time. The first time I ever saw it, I happened to stumble across it on cable (IFC maybe?) right as it was starting, and I had no idea what it was about. None. And ... it just killed me. The "rewind" bit- I still remember being floored by that.

That said ... I certainly wouldn't say that it was an enjoyable watch.

 

[payn]

While not top 10, this one was pretty great.

 

[dragoner]

Stephen King is such a rabbit hole to go down. We could probably have a thread just on his stuff alone. While Carrie and the Mist are what I would probably call his traditional "best" horror and Cat's Eye is a personal favorite, I want to give special notes to "Dreamcatcher". It's generally not reviewed well, and I'll admit isn't great by traditional standards. But, as a fan who has read a ton of King's books and watched a lot of his movies, I think this movie is the perfect amalgamation of King's repeated tropes. It's the nexus of so many of his themes and characters. Which is particularly ironic considering The Dark Tower movie, which was supposed to be the core of King's shared worlds, was so horrible. If you watch Dreamcatcher with the assumption that it replaces The Dark Tower, it becomes a masterpiece.

I agree 100% with you, and that isn't including a lot of his TV movies.

Another I'll add is (not King) The Lighthouse, that was pretty good.

 

[payn]

When it comes to King this was the best.

A good runner up.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Suspiria

THAT was the name that kept evading me!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And I too have trouble taking Midsommer seriously - my family still has a massive Midsummer party every year and the closest we get to dark rituals is when we challenge newcomers to eat surströmming.