Top 17 Horror Movies Of All Time

They are in no particular order.  My suggestion if you have not seen them is to buy or rent them!

•   1975 Jaws:  I was 6 years old and my mom would not let me see this one.  But once I did, I was freaked in the ocean.  Jaws is regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history, the father of the summer blockbuster movie and one of the first “high concept” films.  Jaws is a 1975 thriller/horror film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel, which in turn was inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. The police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council, which wants the beach to remain open to draw a profit from tourists during the summer season. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter.

•  The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl, and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her daughter through an exorcism conducted by two priests.  Both the film and novel took inspirations from a documented exorcism in 1949, performed on a 14-year-old boy. This film I still have nightmares about.

•   The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film that was written, directed, and produced by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. The film is the first in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.  The plot involves a group of friends who embark on a road trip to rural Texas to visit the Hardesty family grave site, which according to radio reports, had been gruesomely vandalized. On a detour to visit the Hardesty mansion, the friends fall victim to a family of cannibals, including the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.  This film was awesome back in the day.  The freakiest gore movie back then.  Such a classic and must see.

•  Pet Sematary (sometimes referred to as Stephen King’s Pet Sematary) is a 1989 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name.   Stephen King wrote the screenplay himself, having become frustrated with how his novels were represented in film adaptations, and appears briefly in the film as a minister at a funeral.  The plot revolves around the corporeal reanimation of deceased pets and humans in an abandoned Mi’kmaq burial ground outside the town of Ludlow, Maine. The Creed family moves into a new home and befriends their new neighbor, Jud Crandall, who tells them about a pet cemetery and the burial grounds nearby, leading to a series of horrifying events.  Seeing that little boy being killed and turned into a zombie is messed up!!!
•  The Blair Witch Project is a low-budget American horror film released in 1999. Though the film is entirely fictional, the narrative is presented as a documentary pieced together from amateur footage. It tells the story of three young student filmmakers who go into the Black Hills of Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about the eponymous local legend known as the Blair Witch. The three students never come back. Neither the students nor their bodies are ever found, although their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) is discovered a year later.  What a great movie and concept.  Was it real or not?  This is a must see.  I make those wooden stick things and hang them from my trees during Halloween.

•  A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American horror film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Set in the fictional Midwestern town of Springwood, Ohio, the plot revolves around several teenagers being terrorized in their nightmares by the ghost of a serial child murderer named Freddy Krueger. The film’s premise is the question of where the line between dreams and reality lies. The villain, Freddy Krueger (addressed as Fred Krueger in the movie), thus exists in the “dream world” yet can kill in the “real world”.  This the best of the franchise is a great story and freaky.  You don’t want to go to sleep.  I do enjoy Johnny Depp being turned into blood and guts.

•  Rosemary’s Baby is a 1968 American horror/thriller film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin. The story focuses on Rosemary Woodhouse, a bright but somewhat naïve young housewife, and her struggling actor husband Guy after they move into the Bramford, a New York City apartment building with a history of unsavory tenants and mysterious events. Their neighbors are an elderly and slightly absurd couple, Minnie and Roman Castevet, who tend to be meddlesome but seem harmless. Guy becomes unusually close to the pair while Rosemary tries to maintain a distance from them. Guy lands a role in a play when the actor originally cast suddenly and inexplicably goes blind.  Rosemary experiences what she perceived to be a strange dream in which she is raped by a demonic presence.  Freaky!

•  Dracula:  is a classic 1931 horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Béla Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal Pictures Co. Inc. and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.  If you have not seen Bela Lugosi as Dracula this is a classic!

•   Friday the 13th is a 1980 American independent horror film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller. The film stars Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby and Kevin Bacon in one of his earliest roles. The film concerns a group of teenagers who re-open an abandoned camp site years after a young boy drowned in a lake located nearby. One by one, the teens fall victim to a mysterious killer.  No Jason in this one just his evil mom!

•  Poltergeist is the first and most successful Poltergeist film, released on June 4, 1982 and nominated for three Oscars. The film was directed by Tobe Hooper and was co-produced, and co-written by Steven Spielberg along with Michael Grais and Mark Victor, his first major success as a producer. The plot revolves around the haunting of a suburban family home that is suspected to be the work of poltergeists.  The film is often referred to as cursed because of the murder of Dominique Dunne and early death of Heather O’Rourke, as well as the fact that actress JoBeth Williams has pointed out in television interviews that she was actually told that the skeletons used in the well-known swimming pool scene in the first Poltergeist film were real. This has been the focus of an E! True Hollywood Story on the Poltergeist Curse.  This one is pretty freaky.  Thank God for Ghosthunters!

•  Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Lawrence D. Cohen, based on the novel by Stephen King. The film and the novel deal with a socially outcast teenage girl, Carrie White, who discovers she possesses telekinetic powers after being subjected to both physical and mental harassment by her peers, teachers, and her mother. The film stars Sissy Spacek, William Katt and John Travolta.  Carrie is regarded as a watershed in the horror genre and is seen as one of the best feature film adaptations of a Stephen King work. The film was also a major success for United Artists, grossing over $33 million at the U.S. box office (over $100 million in 2007 dollars, adjusting for inflation), on a budget of $1,800,000. It was welcomed by immense critical acclaim.  This should be a warning don’t piss off weird people!

•  Night of the Living Dead (1968), directed by George Romero, is an important independent black-and-white horror film. Early working titles were Monster Flick (draft script) and Night of Anubis and Night of the Flesh Eaters. Ben and Barbra are the protagonists of a story about the mysterious reanimation of the recently dead, and their efforts, along with five other people, to survive the night while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse.  What a classic and so many spin offs!

•  The Sixth Sense is a 1999 psychological horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It tells the story of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated boy (Haley Joel Osment) who claims to be able to see and talk to the dead (with the famous line, “I see dead people”), and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the cinema public to his signatures: his appearance in cameo roles and his affinity for twist endings. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  I see dead people!

•  The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 suspense film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald and Ted Levine. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris his second to feature Dr. Hannibal Lecter, brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. In the film, Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Lecter on catching a serial killer known only as “Buffalo Bill”. The film won the top five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress.  This is a sit at the edge of your seat freaky movie. AWESOME!

•   The Omen:  The premise of The Omen comes from the end times prophecies of Christianity. The story, set in Fulham, England, tells of the childhood of Damien Thorn, who was switched at birth with the supposedly stillborn child of a wealthy American diplomat with only the husband’s knowledge, in order to keep it from affecting his wife. Damien’s family is unaware that he is actually the offspring of Satan and destined to become the Antichrist.  All I have to say is DAMNNN!

•  Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional suburban midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween. The original draft of the screenplay was titled The Babysitter Murders. John Carpenter directed the film, which stars Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, and Nick Castle, Tony Moran and Tommy Lee Wallace sharing the role of Michael Myers (listed in the credits as “The Shape”). The film centers on Myers’ escape from a psychiatric hospital, his murdering of teenagers, and Dr. Loomis’ attempts to track and stop him. Halloween is widely regarded as a classic among horror film, and as one of the most influential horror films of its era. In 2006, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.  Halloween 3 on the other hand was the worst horror movie ever made.

•   Misery:   is a 1990 American horror/thriller film from Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film received critical acclaim for Kathy Bates’ Academy Award-winning portrayal of psychotic ex-nurse Annie Wilkes. It was ranked #12 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments.  Former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) saves the life of novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) after a car accident brought on by a severe blizzard. Wilkes, an obsessive fan of Sheldon’s “Misery” romance series, takes him home and serves as his caretaker. Annie is severely mentally disturbed (very possibly suffering from schizophrenia), and she prevents him from leaving or contacting the rest of the world.  Oh his poor feet!!!!!