1. THE SHINING 2. ALIEN 3. PSYCHO 4. THE THING 5. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 6. HALLOWEEN 7. ROSEMARY’S BABY 8. THE EXORCIST 9. JAWS 10. DAWN OF THE DEAD 11. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 12. SCREAM 13. THE...
directed by Stanley Kubrick There’s a reason cinephiles flock to Stanley Kubrick’s unsolvable 1980 puzzle film as the greatest entry into the horror genre – it uses purely the instruments of cinema to inflict its terror. Twin girls, kindly old...
directed by Ridley Scott If horror is a genre about atmosphere then Alien stands as an all-time great amongst its peers. Ridley Scott’s masterpiece is one of the few science fiction films that actually feels like space – a cold,...
directed by Alfred Hitchcock Sometimes the difference between a horror film and a thriller is the difference between a gun and a knife. Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark 1960 film skates the edge of the two genres, certainly high enough on violence...
directed by John Carpenter It was always an act of supreme foolishness to remake/prequelize The Thing (itself a remake, but that rare bird, a remake that is better than the original), because John Carpenter’s 1982 classic was already a kind...
directed by Tobe Hooper Though his profile may not be as high as Freddy, Jason or Michael, Leatherface remains one of the strangest horror killers to exist — because of his mental state, he’s basically a 3 year old boy...
directed by John Carpenter The film that started a long run of slasher films set in the suburbs, Halloween proved that horrific things could happen to us white middle-class types — playing directly off of the old Universal horror film...
directed by Roman Polanski Aside from a supernatural plot, the true terror of Roman Polanski’s 1968 game-changer is saved until the very final scene – for all the possible plots the titular protagonist imagined, she could not possibly envision just...
directed by William Friedkin The Exorcist is that rarity seemingly made just for movies – a pulp horror film with depth. Couched in the battle between God and the Devil, with an old priest and an unleashed horror as stand...
directed by Steven Spielberg The shark in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is described as “an eating machine. All this machine does is swim, and eat, and make little sharks.” There is something chilling about that simplicity. While other monsters of horror...