The best horror films ever made
With Halloween approaching, let's have fun ranking my favourite scary movies
Hi there. Me again. Back with more internet fun and games. I hope you’re doing well. I have some more links and opinions for your consideration. As always, feel free to comment. I have some of my best conversations with readers who reply. Here we go:
– We’ll start with the Toronto Blue Jays, who absolutely mauled the Baltimore Orioles Saturday to stay alive in the American League wild card playoff race. The Jays have been on a roller-coaster ride this season, but the last few weeks have been phenomenal. In early Fall, getting fans out to Rogers Centre for truly meaningful games is an achievement for this franchise. And they win games playing an entertaining style, which hasn’t been seen at this level for years in Toronto. Regardless of whether they earn a wild card spot, the Jays have great depth and some bigger seasons ahead.
– It’s getting close to Halloween (some of my neighbours began decorating two weeks ago!) and that brings my attention to the greatest horror films ever made. It’s quite difficult to narrow it down to ten of them, but that’s the point of these lists, right? We’ll go in reverse order for this list.
Honorable mentions: The Blair Witch Project; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Near Dark; Let The Right One In; Midsommar
10. The Omen. The legendary Gregory Peck and Lee Remick helped make this 1976 movie into an unforgettable, utterly disturbing masterpiece. Director Richard Donner used a foreboding score:
and a diabolical-looking child actor (Harvey Spencer Stephens) to conjure the ill-at-ease aura of the picture, and Peck in particular totally bought into a role that, in other hands, could’ve been hammed up and poked fun at. And the ending does not fit in nicely to the “good guys conquer all” conclusions of many movies of this genre. The Omen spawned three sequels and a 2006 reboot, but none of them can touch the original.
9. The Exorcist. Director William Friedkin hit a home run with this 1973 film, which stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow and, of course, Linda Blair. Using some cutting-edge-for-its-era technology and a terrific adaptation of William Peter Bladdy’s 1971 novel, The Exorcist set a high bar for 1970s horror, and very few ever got close to it. Once you’ve seen it, go watch the documentary on the making of the film:
You’ll have an even greater appreciation for the production and end product. Friedkin has never made a better film, but that’s as a compliment on The Omen, not a critique of his other work.
8. Get Out/Us (tie). Jordan Peele first made his name in entertainment as a brilliant comedian, but in his first two directorial projects, he’s shown that he’s equally adept at making compelling horror movies that simultaneously serve as comments on modern society. These two films aren’t the same, but they’re both wry, hugely compelling works that pay homage to numerous horror classics:
Peele’s next project is slated for release in 2022, and he’s earned the hype that is building around it. How well do we know each other? How well do we know ourselves? Those are questions from Us and Get Out that Peele is likely to continue exploring.
7. The Babadook. At once a meditation on mental health and a commentary on single parenting, The Babadook won over millions of movie watchers around the world when it was released in 2014:
with Australian Jennifer Kent hitting all the right keys in her directorial debut. Star Essie Davis deserved an Oscar nomination for her astonishing performance, but the entire production is first-rate. After watching it, you’ll never look at children’s books the same way again.
6. The Silence of the Lambs. Some people feel like Silence of the Lambs is a drama and not a horror film, but c’mon, people – there are so many unsettling and terrifying moments in this, there’s no way you can categorize it simply as a drama. Anthony Hopkins never was better, Jodie Foster is mesmerizing in the lead role, and Ted Levine shines as the grotesque “Buffalo Bill” character:
Director Jonathan Demme made excellent movies before and after he directed SOTL, but he never made as relentlessly gripping of a film as this one. Still watchable, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.
5. It Follows. Director David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 film focuses on teenagers coming of age and their sexuality, but it generates hyper-paranoia in its audience with deliberately wide shots that make it clear – anybody you see could be harboring the force that kills you. It Follows is creepy as hell in every scene:
and its open-ended conclusion leaves the viewer unnerved. You can’t look away, even as your expectations for a resolution are thwarted. Mitchell has made only one film since this one, but even if he never makes another horror movie, he’s got It Follows in the pantheon of the genre.
4. The Birds. The first time I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 movie about birds that terrorize a Californian coastal town, I was hugely frustrated with its ambiguous ending. But then I got older and wiser, and recognized Hitchcock’s choice on the final scenes were more terrifying than any stock/boring horror film resolution. The Birds has since become my favorite Hitchcock movie, in no small part because of its ending. There are iconic scenes like this:
throughout the film, and the famous crows-in-the-playground scene sequence:
is one of my favorite scenes of any kind. Don’t let its age fool you – The Birds remains powerful and bewildering.
3. The Vanishing. Let’s be clear: the movie I’m raving about here is the original 1988 Dutch production:
the one directed by George Sluizer, not the English-language remake Sluizer helmed in 1993. The Vanishing lays bare the banality of horror, and deliberately chooses not to fall back on horror clichés – for example, revealing the killer very early in the picture. Sluizer gets superb performances out of French actor Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Belgian star Gene Verboets and Dutch actress Johanna ter Steege, and expertly builds to a climax that will leave you shaken. This is as psychologically-haunting a movie as any that’s been made.
2. Hereditary. Director Ari Aster is an auteur filmmaker, and he made that evident in this, his first feature release. Bolstered by a cast that includes the marvelous Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne, Hereditary gives viewers a sinking feeling from its first frame, and Colin Stetson’s original score is as jarring as it is disturbing. As well, character actress Ann Dowd is stellar and sinister, and youngsters Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro are perfectly cast as the Collette/Byrne’s characters’ son and daughter. Aster followed this up with Midsommar, another psychological horror that was tremendous. But he really struck a chord with Hereditary, which you can watch again and again and almost always find new easter egg homages:
to the directorial greats that came before him. The moral of the movie: you can’t choose your family, and you can’t alter your fate. That’s some pure horror right there.
1. The Shining. Stanley Kubrick’s twisted, 1980 film adaptation of a Stephen King novel is a flawless movie. Every scene moves smoothly to the next, and the paranormal element of the plot is made to feel, well, normal. He also gets quintessential performances out of Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall:
And he doesn’t need over-the-top gore or special effects to put the audience on edge. He puts together all-time great scene after all-time great scene, and perfectly sticks the ending. Nicholson’s journey into a psychological abyss remains one of the most entertaining acting jobs ever, and Kubrick’s directorial genius is on full display. Every horror aficionado has to see this film, and more than once, to truly appreciate it.
And that’s that. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and feel free to subscribe here: