Thehorrorgenre is arguably the hardest to get right. Even tougher than attempting to garner laughs in comedy films, horror filmmakers not only have to perfect the art of pacing and building tension, but they often need to locate something that sets them apart. This could be a variety of things — knowing their audience about the myriad subgenres within horror and really specializing in one; reflecting the neuroses and fears at the heart of the human subject through allegory; or, perhaps most crucially, having their finger on the pulse ofcontemporary sociopolitical issues and commentary, whether timeless or topical. This latter classification is often what makes scary movies truly important.
Whether they’re seeing slasher, supernatural, psychological, or body horror films, horror audiences are extremely well-informed and often overly critical of genre clichés. Alongside this, culture, morality, politics, and special effects technology are all changing constantly. As such, horror continuously has to reinvent itself, both for its audience and to keep up with the times. Some films have navigated this constant fluctuation extremely well and have become not just scary but utterly important in the process. Whether for their allegorical messages and theories, for their cultural impact, or just for being damn terrifying and visually stunning, these are not just thebest horror movies ever made, but the most important, too.
100Begotten
The uncompromising arthouse filmBegottenpresents an abstract narrative grounded in cosmology and mythology about the creation of the world, but it hardly matters if you’re cognizant of that. The main thing here is the visual style of mysterious director E. Elias Merhige (who would go on to make the brilliantShadow of the Vampirebut hasn’t made a feature film in 20 years). He creates terrifying imagery that seems to exist beyond reality, beyond the kinds of things we’re able to see (or ever should see); even without a concrete narrative, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Creepand its subsequent projects are a brilliant example of how effective minimalism can be if you have the right combination of artists. Like a horror version ofMy Dinner with Andre, Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass are perfectly in sync for this two-person slow-burn, having developed it together and reworked it during the intimate production. It’s a found footage film about a videographer hired to record footage for a dying man’s unborn child, but the arrangement between strangers becomes increasingly tense with mind games, fake-outs, and genuine threats. The tension builds to an unbearable climax in this masterpiece (and leads to an excellent sequel).
98Fiend Without a Face
Fiend Without a Face
A scientist on an air base in Canada experiments with the materialization of thought waves, but things get wildly out of control when his own dark thoughts take the form of floating killer brains.
Fiend Without a Faceis notorious for being one of the first horror films to focus on actual gore, which would of course become synonymous (almost to a fault) with the genre. That’s because the monsters of the film were human organs, invisible brains to be specific, and when they were killed, boy did they splat. The film follows the catastrophic results of atomic radiation (the standard for ’50s horror), which leads to the physical (but invisible) materialization of human thought in the form of disgusting flying brains with attached spinal columns and freaky eyeballs. It all leads to an ahead-of-its-time ‘protect the castle’ ending when the brains attack a military base.
A Random Horror Delight
A strange anomaly in the history of horror cinema,Fiend Without a Faceis the kind of film you couldn’t really plan; the story behind it could make a great film in itself. There was L. Ron Hubbard’s literary agent behind the scenes; a bunch of expatriate Americans from Canada and the UK; a stuffy director who didn’t realize he was making a monster movie and went AWOL for periods of time; a pair of weird Austrian special effects artists with only a handful of films; and a marketing ploy that presented a caged, live brainstem monster outside movie theaters. Read up on this film for sure, but watch it regardless.
97A Tale of Two Sisters
A Tale of Two Sisters
Based on a classic Joseon-era folk story,A Tale of Two Sistersis one of the great genre films that kicked off a new generation of Korean cinema in the 21st century. An enigmatic, complicated psychological thriller with increasingly creepy imagery, the film follows a girl’s return to her sister and parents after time spent at a mental institution, and the disturbing, ghostly events which follow.
96All the Colors of the Dark
All the Colors of the Dark
A woman tormented by frightening nightmares decides to join in with satanic rituals out of fear that a man is trying to kill her, but the sinister ceremony seems to bring her nightmares to life.
One of the more bonkers giallo films of the ’70s (and that’s saying something), filmmaker Sergio Martino unleashes his abstract style in the most unbridled way inAll the Colors of the Dark. The film is a hallucinogenic trip, appropriate for a story about a woman who is losing her grip on reality after a car accident, and who believes she is being stalked and pursued. The plot winds through slasher and occult territory, but the main appeal is the tortured, desperate performance from the great Edwige Fenech, who is simply unforgettable here.
95Insidious
Insidiouscombines three of the leading names in modern horror — director James Wan (The Conjuring), producer Jason Blum (of Blumhouse), and writer Leigh Whannell (Sawand director ofThe Invisible Man). Their combined knowledge of horror works together brilliantly here in what a scientific study has deemed ‘the scariest movie of all time.’ Whether that’s applicable or not, Insidious is undoubtedly a brilliantly crafted scare-machine about parents trying to recuse their child from demonic possession.
94The Host
The Hostimmediately became beloved internationally despite being a somewhat niche South Korean creature feature, but it’s obvious to see why. It’s just such a wholesome, fun, entertaining movie. It feels exactly like a slightly modernized (and visually improved) throwback to the classic monster movies of the 1950s, likeThem!andAttack of the Crab Monsters. The film (from Bong Joon-ho, future Oscar winner forParasite) follows a man and his family after his daughter is snatched by a river-dwelling monster, which still serves as a great allegory for pollution, disease, and environmental disaster.
93Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
While it may seem goofy to feature a buddy-duo comedy in a list of the best horror films, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were actually responsible for continuing the Universal monster legacy years after it had slowed down. Multiple films find them ‘meeting’ the Wolf Man, Dracula, the Mummy, and the Invisible Man. The best of all of them, though, isAbbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, not only because it actually includes a good narrative and some real scares, but because of its great performances. Bela Lugosi reprises his role as Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr. does the same for the Wolf Man, and Glenn Strange plays Frankenstein’s monster (with Vincent Price voicing the Invisible Man for a bit). It’s just a pure delight to see these icons having fun in their classic monster personas.
92Island of Lost Souls
Island of Lost Souls
Long before the legendary failure of Richard Stanley’s attempt atThe Island of Doctor Moreauwith Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer (and even before the oddlyfine1977 adaptation with Burt Lancaster), there was the 1932 masterpiece,Island of Lost Souls. A pre-code early talkie, the film was able to get away with a surprising amount of sexuality and horror, featuring a man trapped on the mad doctor’s island, surrounded by his mutant experiments, lusted after by ‘Lota, The Panther Woman.’ The atmosphere is perfect throughout, Charles Laughton’s portrayal of Moreau is astounding, the makeup is terrifying, and the screams are unforgettable.
Park Chan-wook’s excellent filmography includes some extremely disturbing moments and a lot of graphic violence, butThirstis technically his only horror film. A vampire romance with an apocalyptic streak,Thirstis a bizarre epic obsessed with the notion of desire and its intersection with destruction. The film has a wonderful gimmick — a Catholic priest accidentally becomes a vampire after an experimental medical procedure. Is he liberated from the cloth? Can a vampire be a man of God? Will his desire for his friend’s wife save him or destroy him? Directed with pure style, the underrated film is a beautiful oddity.
