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It’s only hitting me today that we haven’t offered up any Halloween-y content yet. Strange. This is my favorite time of year, though season-less Southern California certainly does it no favors.
Last year we got the contributors together to name the top 20 horror films of all time, an installment of The Lists I’m quite proud of. This year I’ve been settling in each night to a new perennial favorite. Last night it was “Beetle Juice.” I took another look at Carpenter’s “Halloween” earlier in the week and I expect Ill be tossing in the “Coraline” Blu-ray once again, maybe a little Romero. “White Zombie” with Bela Lugosi was a novel distraction the other night.
I don’t worship at the altar of genre, but I do enjoy getting in the spirit, so to speak. Rather than cook something up for the holiday, I figured I’d point you to a pair of UK stories spotlighting the best in horror. The first, in the Daily Telegraph, announces Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” theme as the scariest horror theme of all time.
Herrmann beat out Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” from “The Exorcist” and Jerry Goldsmith’s “Ave Satani” from “The Omen,” both of which would be at the top of my list.
The second story is at The Independent, and it points to a TotalSciFiOnline piece charting the scariest films of all time. “The Shining” tops the list, while “The Wicker Man,” “Alien” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” claim top 10 spots.
What would you say is the scariest horror movie theme of all time? The scariest horror film? The best? Cut loose with your own thoughts on the genre in the comments section below!
23 responses so far
1 10-29-2009 at 10:22 am
Jonathan Spuij said...
United 93.
The Village as best score. I listened to it for the first time in the dark on my bike near some dark woods. Damn never drove home that fast.
2 10-29-2009 at 10:29 am
Chase K. said...
There is a huge grey area around the “best horror film”. Is you criteria the greatest film that happens to be in the horror genre or the greatest horror films in terms of the amount of fear and fright that it bestows upon the viewer.
For me:
Best Film in Horror Genre: “Rosemary’s Baby”
Best Schlocky Horror Film: “Poltergeist”
Best Cronenberg: “The Fly”
Best Frightener (if not for it’s terrible ending): “Suspiria”
Best All-Around: “Psycho”
“Halloween” and “Psycho” take the cake as the most iconically disturbing themes.
3 10-29-2009 at 10:33 am
Chase K. said...
I forgot one,
Best Sense of Claustrophobia: “The Descent”
4 10-29-2009 at 10:41 am
Robert Hamer said...
We should really take the time to celebrate this year’s Halloween, because for the first time in many years, a non-Saw horror film was the number one movie of the season.
5 10-29-2009 at 11:05 am
JamesC said...
I think you should mention some Japanese horror movies.
The original version of “The Ring” — “Ringu” has a very scary theme.
“Ju-on” also has a super unsettling and scary theme.
6 10-29-2009 at 11:44 am
EmsF said...
I’m a big fan of Hitchcock’s The Birds. I like my horrors to be within the realms of possibility and as I have a massive phobia of birds I totally think this can happen!
7 10-29-2009 at 11:55 am
Matt said...
The most terrifying and suspenseful movie I have ever seen is “Wait Until Dark.” Horror movies don’t the heart pounding suspense of this movie, which is the only movie to make me scream.
thefffurbelow.blogspot.com
8 10-29-2009 at 12:06 pm
AmericanRequiem said...
i dont think psycho is effective anymore, it just cant scare a modern audience, id say the shining, the poltrgeist, the others, texas chainsaw massacre, the ring, scream, the blair witch project, sleepy hallow, dawn of the dead
9 10-29-2009 at 12:06 pm
AmericanRequiem said...
GREMLINS
10 10-29-2009 at 12:07 pm
Michael said...
I agree with Chase K. in that it is damn near impossible to rank the “best” horror film. Fear is something that is so subjective that it is almost impossible for a film to be universally scary to every single person. I think within horror there are so many sub-genres that specialize in different kinds of fear.
My favorites in each sub-genre are:
Supernatural- Carrie, The Innocents, A Tale of Two Sisters, Paranormal Activity, The Changeling, The Entity, The Amityville Horror, Drag Me to Hell
Slasher- Black Christmas, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls, Halloween, Suspiria
Vampires- Nosferatu (original and Herzog), Martin, Let The Right One
Undead/Zombies- Dawn of the Dead, [REC], The Evil Dead, Zombieland
Sci-Fi/Monsters- Eyes Without a Face, The Fly, Cloverfield, The Mist
Religious- The Exorcist, The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby
Psychological- The Shining, The Tennant, The Wicker Man, The Descent, Dumplings, Orphan
Torture- Cannibal Holocaust, Audition, Martyrs, Inside, Frontier(s), Wolf Creek
There are many many more, but these are probably my favorites, or at least the ones I can think of right off the bat. (Horror is my all-time favorite genre.)
I would agree with the Daily Telegraph in that the Psycho theme is definitely the most iconic, but as for being the scariest I would probably go with The Amityville Horror, Halloween, and The Omen
11 10-29-2009 at 12:24 pm
Chase K. said...
“i dont think psycho is effective anymore”
This is what I’m talking about. Granted, “Psycho” doesn’t truly frighten me at all, really, but it’s a masterpiece of craft and storytelling that was unmatched in 1960. The shower scene may not startle anyone anymore, but it remains one of the most well-conceived and well-executed scenes I’ve ever seen. (The spiraling camera, the silence afterwards, the shadow as it approaches the curtain, the music cue, etc.)
It may not be “scary” anymore, but it’s sure as hell better than “The Ring”, “Scream”, “Blair Witch Project”, etc, etc.
12 10-29-2009 at 12:56 pm
snowballa said...
Just watched “Psycho” for the first time last night. It was more disturbing than scary although the final scene with Norman Bates’ look to the camera as his mother’s voice takes over made my skin crawl.
“It” starring Tim Curry as Pennywise gives me the shudders. “It all floats down here” has to be one of the more terrifying sentences ever.
“The Shining” because it can happen. Your husband who may or may not look like Jack Nicholson can go crazy trapped in a hotel where blood pours from the walls like wine.
13 10-29-2009 at 1:27 pm
Brent said...
One of the scariest moments is that creepy bum-thing in Mulholland Dr.
That scene still gives me chills. Especially the sound.
14 10-29-2009 at 1:50 pm
Patryk said...
“Carnival of Souls.”
15 10-29-2009 at 1:51 pm
R.J. said...
Brent that bum scared the crap out of me too! The Others and the similarly themed The Innocents are two of my favorite horror films, I love the psychological horror films – gore on it’s own just isn’t scary. Candyman is a film that I probably saw too young and can’t bring myself to watch ad an adult, I don’t even like saying it’s name! Rosemary’s Baby and The Ring are also favorites of mine. And I’m writing from my phone so I’ll finish this later. lol
16 10-29-2009 at 2:29 pm
David said...
three films that left me on edge, and unnerved:
DONT LOOK NOW
THE OTHER (not Nicole Kidman’s film but the 1970’s creepy film starring Uta Hagen)
CARRIE
17 10-29-2009 at 2:31 pm
a-mad said...
The ending of “Carrie” still qualifies as the biggest jolt I think I’ve ever experienced watching a movie… (Alan Arkin’s lunge in “Wait Until Dark is a close second…)
In recently released films, I really, really enjoyed the scares in “1408″…. an underrated flick, in my opinion.
18 10-29-2009 at 2:53 pm
Edward L. said...
My favourite horror movies are Psycho (Hitchcock’s original), Ring (the original Japanese version), Rosemary’s Baby and The Shining. There are loads of others I like, and I think that The Blair Witch Project has gone from being overrated to underrated in 10 years!
Scariest scenes include the shower scene in Psycho, the opening scenes of The Blair Witch Project (because they set up a sense of dread), the scenes involving the mirror in Dead of Night, the scene with the scrabble letters in Rosemary’s Baby, and pretty much any scene in Ring – but especially the scene in the well and the ending (you know the bit I mean!).
I also think that Come and See is as scary as any horror movie, but I suppose ‘officially’ it’s a war film…
19 10-29-2009 at 2:54 pm
Chad Hartigan said...
No movie has given me a creepy feeling more than John Frankenheimer’s “Seconds” as of late.
20 10-29-2009 at 5:00 pm
N8 said...
Jaws. I’m surprised it’s gotten no mention yet.
21 10-29-2009 at 5:42 pm
Maris said...
THE WOMAN IN BLACK (1989).
Just thinking about it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
22 10-30-2009 at 5:12 am
David said...
I’ve always been a fan of Cronenberg’s “Videodrome.”
23 10-30-2009 at 12:22 pm
CinematicallyCorrect.com said...
Ugh, “Tango & Cash”…I cover my eyes through most of it.
Seriously, “Alien” is flippin’ scary as all get out.