3 Days Left til Halloween! Horror Flick Top Ten Lists!

Around Halloweentime, top ten horror lists pop up like crazy. To keep up with tradition, some of the Black Phoenix crew is sharing their top ten (or so!) horror film picks here. Please share your favorites in the comments!

☠ BETH ☠
My top ten horror film list was originally published in my interview with Tom Blunt’s for AMC’s Monsterfest blog. I’m reposting it here with a little bit of yapping to go along with it.

10. The House on Haunted Hill
William Castle is awesome, Vincent Price is awesome, the Ennis House is awesome, and dangly skeleton props are awesome.

9. Otsuyu
I love ghost stories, especially traditional Japanese ghost stories, and the story of the Peony Lantern is one of my favorites. It was wonderful seeing that tale translated to film.

8. Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte
I love Bette Davis, I love Louisiana, and I love crazy.

7. Repulsion
Uniquely disturbing and intense.

6. The Omen
I was brought up Catholic – I adore anything that mixes the Church and the macabre. The first Omen was, by far, the best of the trilogy. However, the other two hold a special place in my heart, too, as two of my first crushes were Jonathan Scott-Taylor and Sam Neill. I had /epic/ crushes on both of them.

5. The Bride of Frankenstein
If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be of the same nature as myself and will be content with the same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man and will ripen our food.

When I read Frankenstein, I felt that the most interesting part of the book was the subplot regarding the monster’s desire for a companion. James Whale did a breathtaking job fleshing out the story. The Bride is a beautiful, heartbreaking film. One of my favorite movies of all time.

4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Bizarre German Impressionist sets and a creepy twist ending!

3. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
God damn, I love this movie. It’s so demented, it defies description.

2. The Exorcist
Not only is this one of the greatest horror stories of all time, it also appeals to my weird Catholic Horror fetish.

1. The Shining & Seven – tie
Seven and the Shining tie for my number one.

Seven: again with the Bible-driven horror. Incredibly dark, depressing, and suspenseful. I actually covered my eyes during the climax.

The Shining was terribly real to me, and made a tremendous impact. When I was a kid, it didn’t matter to me whether or not the supernatural aspect was real or a figment of Jack Torrance’s imagination. Either way, he went nuts, and he killed people. I think it was the first time that I was impressed by the reality that… things like this happen in the real world, not just in movies. People go mad, and they do mad things. Reality is irrelevant. The Shining terrified me when I was in third grade, and I still feel the echoes of that horror today.

Honorable Mentions: Kwaidan, the Others, the Orphanage, 28 Days Later, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Ju-On, The Devil’s Backbone, Carrie, Hellraiser (massive crush on Pinhead), the Dunwich Horror (Sandra Dee!), Re-Animator, Army of Darkness (massive crush on Ash), Psycho, the Haunting, Nightbreed (minor crush on the porcupine guy), and the Changeling. Wait – do Young Frankenstein and the Fearless Vampire Killers count?

(After I’d already made my list, Kathy reminded me of Who Slew Auntie Roo. That movie scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. I’m still a little scared of Shelley Winters.)

☠ BRIAN ☠
10. Psycho
9. Night of the Living Dead
8. Army of Darkness
7. Friday the 13th
6. Exorcist
5. Hellraiser
4. Nightmare on Elm Street
3. Jaws
2. The Shining
1. Halloween

☠ TED ☠
My 10-3 are in no particular order since everything pales after 2 and 1.

10. Rosemary’s Baby (1968): “He has his father’s eyes”
9. White Zombie (1932): More Lugosi
8. Army of Darkness (1992): Worth watching just to hear Ash say “Clatto Verata N… Necktie… Neckturn… Nickel… It’s an “N” word, it’s definitely an “N” word! Clatto… Verata… N- koff koff”
7. Halloween (1978): Scary and I got to see P.J. Soles breasts. = )
6. Suspiria (1977): Just because Jessica Harper was in it.
5. Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): Taught me never to pick up crazy hitchhikers.
4. Dracula (1931): Bela Lugosi… Nuff said

3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): So creepy and timeless.
2. Night of the Living Dead (1968): I saw this at the Drive-in in 1968 and was dropped off at home alone after. Worst few hours of my life. I was scared of the dark for years. I still look around at cemeteries
1.The Exorcist (1973): I was 14 when I saw it in the theater and it scared me then and scares me now.

☠ KATHY ☠
13. Who Slew Auntie Roo
What’s a horror list without a Curtis Harrington flick? Mark Lester, fresh from Oliver stars in a retake on Hansel and Gretel. Movies that scared me as a kid seem to be the ones that I look back on most fondly, and the reveal of what was in the bassinette completely freaked me out. Good, cheesy fun for all!

12. The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Speaking of cheesy…..Amazing set pieces, intricately staged murders and Vincent Price! What more do you need from your horror?

11. Bride of Frankenstein
I have always loved the Frankenstein story, and James Whale’s brilliant films certainly have a lot to do with that. Bride of Frankenstein is a rare beast; a film that surpasses its predecessor. When the Bride is brought to life and then rejects the Creature, it’s positively gut-wrenching.

10. The Omen
I went to Catholic school, so satanic horror films resonate with me in a way that other genres don’t. The Omen is classic satanic horror; who can forget the imagery of Damien riding around on his trike, as his mother works on a ladder.

9. Evil Dead 2
For sheer fun, I love Army of Darkness more, but in terms of horror, Evil Dead 2 wins. I remember first seeing snippets of this at an underground Halloween party in the eighties, and being blown away with the scene where Ash cuts off his own hand with a chainsaw. I hadn’t seen anything like that before!

8. Psycho
This well-deserved classic was groundbreaking in so many ways: the murder of a main character in the first act, the shower scene, the twist ending. Hitchcock at his peak.

7. Tomb of Ligeia
Vincent Price meets Poe…a match made in Hell! This really is for most of the Roger Corman/Poe series; they are all so similar it’s hard to pick one. This Robert Towne (Chinatown) scripted tale has a slight edge, although I love the Richard Matheson scripted ones nearly as much.

6. Suspiria
This glorious, oversaturated fairy tale is a triumph of style over substance, but you cease to care when the style looks this good. Gorgeous, dark and creepy.

5. Frankenstein: The True Story
I have been obsessed with this 1973 TV movie since it first aired. A fascinating retelling of the Mary Shelley classic poses the question, what if the creature wasn’t monsterous at first? Scary, literate and extremely well-acted, but beware of the 2 hour version, which screws up the pacing and cuts out way too much. The currently available 3 hour version is missing the bookends I remember, of Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron coming up with scary stories during a picnic, which was a charming addition.

4. Phantom of the Paradise
The OTHER mid-seventies rock and roll horror film. Take Phantom of the Opera, mash it up with Faust, add a sprinkle of Dorian Gray and some rock music and shake well. Brian dePalma’s massively underrated film came out at the same time as Rocky Horror, and is, in my opinion, a much stronger movie overall.

3. Shaun of the Dead
Edgar Wright took the mostly cringe-worthy horror comedy genre, and breathed life into it once again. Laugh out loud funny, and genuinely scary, all at the same time, this is a film I can watch over and over again.

2. Angel Heart
Voodoo, New Orleans, gritty noir, jazz, the Bradbury Building, and more twists than Mulholland Drive. I still have issues with the ending, but despite that, this is a pretty damned near perfect film.

1. Rosemary’s Baby
What if the people you trusted the most: your husband, your neighbors, even your doctor, were conspiring against you? In spite of its supernatural ending, this is the horror of small, familiar things. Still my favorite film of all time, I love the way the Dakota becomes a character in its own right.

Honorable Mentions: Reanimator, Pan’s Labyrinth, Nightbreed, The Shining, The Thing, Halloween, Dellamorte Dellamore, Hellraiser, The Devil’s Backbone, Black Christmas

☠ JACQUELYNN ☠
10. 976-EVIL
9. April Fool’s Day
8. Sleepaway Camp
7. Tales From the Hood
6. the Exorcist
5. Carrie
4. Mommie Dearest
3. May
2. Halloween
1. Planet Terror

Honorable Mention: All the Saw movies.

☠ BILL ☠
10. House of 1000 Corpses
9. Friday the 13th Part 2
8. It’s Alive
7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
6. King Kong
5. Evil Dead 2
4. Evil Dead
3. Phantasm
2. Alien
1. The Exorcist

☠ WILL ☠
10. Audition
9. Candyman
8. Suspiria
7. The Fly
6. Halloween
5. Night of the Living Dead
4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
3. Hellraiser
2. Evil Dead 2
1. The Haunting

☠ PIOLET ☠
10. The Thing (1982)
9. The Strangers
8. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
7. Night of the Living Dead
6. Friday the 13th Parts 2 & 4
5. Phantasm
4. Carrie
3. The Shining
2. The Exorcist
1. Halloween

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