the horror genre is home to a lot of
quality flicks as well as low-budget
schlock making it hard for a viewer to
determine what's good and what's a waste
of time fortunately we patched together
a list of those films that are worth the
watch though these movies are all pretty
different in subject matter and tone
they're all worthwhile horror films that
have helped to find the genre The
Exorcist even four decades after its
release 1973 The Exorcist is still the
possession thriller by which all others
are judged and for good reason its
ability to infuse a stewing sense of
dread alongside moments of body horror
stands alone the grotesque tour de force
made no apologies for its use of
profanity or gross body fluid spewing
and it's a lasting classic as a result
the Texas Chainsaw Massacre existing at
the perfect intersection of art and
schlock the Texas Chainsaw Massacre from
1974 is a tangibly dirty grungy and
frightening moving launching sequels and
a remake franchise that are by turns too
loud and too trashy the movie that
started it all is an exercise in
unpleasantness its characters are
largely unlikable its villains the
perfect version of incomprehensible
hillbilly cruelty the plot essentially
about a Texas road trip that goes south
fast will remind you why they tell you
to not ever talk to strangers pick up
hitchhikers or ask questions about
what's going on in the rickety old house
at the edge of town invasion of the body
snatchers
the very definition of a time-worn tale
in cinema the 1978 version of invasion
of the body snatchers is a story that's
been remade over and over again which
speaks to the strength of its premise
the feeling of being helpless in an
unrecognizable society is something many
might identify with but the slow-burn
introduction of these alien invaders is
deeply disturbing thrilling to the final
frame it's a story that stays with you
anchored by an excellent cast of smart
unique characters that you root for
making it hurt all the more when they
fail and fall alien Ridley Scott's alien
from 1979 continues to resonate so many
years later because it has a lot of
unique qualities a female protagonist
who is just as strong and capable as
anybody else a profound sense of
isolation and an enemy that cannot be
reasoned with
if characters are constantly under the
gun tasked with identifying their threat
while simultaneously struggling to
survive against it beyond the impressive
intellectual framework there are also
some shock and awe themes that have
since become iconic moments of cinema
The Shining with brilliant performances
from its cast quotable lines unmatched
cinematography and those awful twins The
Shining from 1980 is an absolute
masterpiece here's Johnny it warms its
way into your head with beautiful
imagery and a hypnotic pace showing the
disillusion of one man's sanity over the
course of an isolated winter at the
Overlook Hotel Stanley Kubrick's at his
best here with deliberate choices made
for each frame that's as visually
stunning as it is packed with
unforgettable tension the thing John
Carpenter is considered the master of
horror and this may well be his best
effort in the genre taking creature
feature elements and combining them with
the who's who paranoia of a Body
Snatchers remake the thing from 1982
plants its characters an isolated
Antarctica and tasked them with
surviving against an alien life-form
that can assume their likenesses it's a
rich premise that combines subtle
character based interplay with
full-blown body horror like a human head
scuttling around with spider legs with a
cast to root for and a villain to fear
the thing is Exhibit A in the argument
for John Carpenter's primacy among
horror engineers a remake that runs laps
around its source material and best any
modern attempts to do better Return of
the Living Dead an offshoot of George
Romero's living-dead films this
spiritual cousin is easily one of the
most goofily enjoyable zombie movies
ever 1985's Return of the Living Dead
follows a group of dirtbag ravers whose
graveyard party gets upset by a zombie
uprising caused by acid rain return take
the lively approach to its material that
still feels fresh even if the
hilariously dated fashion of the
characters decidedly does not why do you
read people deeper breathe being too
self serious about zombie material is a
trap that lots of movies fellows fall
into but return side steps that problem
with aplomb it's not a parody just a
great ride Jacob's Ladder this quiet
character study from 1990 follows Jacob
singer a Vietnam veteran and postal
service worker who slow
comes to believe that either his sanity
or reality itself is falling apart the
film is notable for some standout
sequences
take for example singers longer knee
ride through a hellish hospital littered
with body parts blood and inhuman
monsters gone mad
the sequence of influence horror media
for decades afterwards so even if you
haven't seen this movie you've
definitely seen its impact in the
decades since its release it's developed
into a noted cult classic lauded for its
indelible imagery as much as the deep
melancholy at its core screen the first
film ever to kick off the self-aware
horror trend is also still the best I'm
Justin scary movie like scary Maha Wes
Craven who was already horror royalty
thanks to the Hills Have Eyes the people
under the stairs and The Nightmare on
Elm Street franchise outdid himself with
scream in 1996 this funny
freaky slasher flick subverted every
troph in the book and roundly mocked the
horror genre at large while still
scaring the hell out of its audience oh
you want to play psycho killer can I be
the helpless victim the Blair Witch
Project
the found-footage project that started
it all 1999 the Blair Witch Project
launched plenty of copycat projects that
never got anywhere close to the Haunted
pine scented quality of the original the
forest itself becomes the monster in
this ultra low-budget camcorder picture
where every tangle of twigs and leaves
takes on an eerie suspicion following a
group of hapless young filmmakers as
they circle the wilderness lost and
increasingly certain they're being
hunted the film is a story about madness
isolation and distrust while still
infusing a classic ghost story in its
bones its title antagonist is never
truly seen and maybe not even real but
that's part of the beauty of the film
the witch's absence offers an
uncertainty that gets to the heart of
what horror is fear and a sense of
helplessness in the face of the unknown
audition back in the days before OkCupid
or eHarmony a widowed middle-aged
businessman had to get creative when it
came to finding a date or at least
that's the premise of audition from 1999
this Japanese horror film is a very slow
burn with a screen worthy finale as the
poor lovelorn protagonist realizes that
the young lady he's auditioned to be
new bride comes with a checkered past in
some disturbing baggage in addition to
boasting stellar performances and a
creative scary script audition has the
added benefit of making your worst
tinder date look like a great time by
comparison the descent claustrophobics
be wary if you've got a fear of being
trapped in tight spaces the descent from
2005 as one of the scariest movies you
could watch
the unique story of a group of female
cavers who get lost in the Uncharted
depths the descent is a top-notch horror
experience that gets taken to the next
level when the hero stops belong keen
and at the start caving in monsters
skulls they've got a fight for survival
all while waiting through massive lakes
of blood be sure to catch the version
with the original ending which was
deemed too dark for us audiences and cut
from the theatrical release the missed a
lot of Stephen King's horror novels have
been made into movies or TV shows but
only some of them have been successful
at translating the tension in terror of
the source material to the screen topic
is legend Henry the mist was of the few
to get it right thanks to the unsettling
plots we'd sprinkled in by writer
director Frank Darabont the 2007 film
tells the story of a New England town
beset by unspeakable otherworldly
horrors that descend under the cover of
an impenetrable mysterious mist it's a
solid monster movie but it's scariest
moments are the ones that reveal the
dark tribalism of human beings who
believe they're witnessing the end of
the world and it pulls no punches on
that front King even famously said the
Darabont gut-wrenching twist ending for
the film is the one he wishes he'd
written himself Paranormal Activity
found footage horror got a fresh face
with this 2007 movie which proved that
you don't need adopted mansion or
dilapidated cabin in the woods to make a
highly effective honking flick all the
action of paranormal activity takes
place in the comfy carpeted setting of a
suburban town home as a pair of
newlyweds learned they're not entirely
alone in their house like it's onra
predecessor the Blair Witch Project
Paranormal Activity is all about the
slow burn even the most ordinary
occurrences like a door swinging shut or
a hall light illuminating off-screen are
imbued with foreboding and the
teeny-tiny cast of the convincing job of
making the found-footage premise feel
real martyrs
profoundly disturbing to the point of
being unwatchable 2008 martyrs was one
of the progenitors of the French extreme
horror movement and earned that
distinction in every single way from the
opening sequence which depicts the
chillingly merciless murder of an entire
family the movie only gets harder to
watch it's a curiosity killed the cat
parable about revenge mercy and humanity
search for meaning and it's unlike
anything you've ever seen it challenges
you to keep watching right up to the
cruel and bitter end watch the original
rather than the 2016 remake because that
one's scary for a whole different series
of reasons
let the right one in not to be confused
with letmein
the regrettable American remake let the
right one end was a sleepy Swedish
surprise in the 2008 pic a bullied young
boy named Oscar makes friends with an
unusual new neighbor who only comes out
at night because well she's a vampire
but let the right one in doesn't go the
way of Twilight or True Blood and try to
get too campy about human vampire
relations instead it's a smart piece of
commentary on the loneliness of the
human condition that is when people
aren't being drained of blood bursting
into flames or getting torn to shreds by
a bunch of cute little kitties your next
home invasion thrillers are a staple
sub-genre within the horror films family
and you're next is a perfect specimen of
this often mishandled storyline with an
opening theme that sets just the right
mood of stylish execution and a badass
final girl who you'll be rooting for
from the get-go
there's nothing about this 2011 movie
that isn't utterly on point except maybe
for the fact that there's no sequel
goodnight mommy this Austrian feature
from 2014 is a masterclass and making
the audience feel very very bad to twins
develop a syndrome that makes them
believe their mother lost in depression
after being disfigured in an accident
has been replaced by an imposter the
story unfolds with trainwreck
inevitability as their investigation
turns from curious to cruel playing with
the allegiances of the audience in an
excruciating way the story is riddled
with blank spaces and patches of silence
where a lesser film would try to tell
the audience too much the amazing result
is that the viewers have to do the
legwork I'm figuring out what's really
going on and the film is not so much
about jump surprises as it is about the
pure horror of watching innocent
children do terrible unspeakable things
the witch not only is the witch
historically authentic to an eerie
degree but it's careful approach to
introducing scary supernatural elements
into the real-life religious anxieties
of colonial New Englanders is intensely
unsettling and the climax of this 2015
film is an emotional piece of hell a lot
hinges on the Indians of horror movies
and this one sticks the landing with
confidence it's an unsparing picture the
very meaning of dreadful and a modern
classic get out a meet the parents
situation goes terribly awry in Jordan
peels directorial debut get out which
hit theaters in 2017 amid a wave of
well-deserved buzz the movie follows
interracial couple Rose and Chris who
are visiting for a weekend at roses
parents estate a classy place where the
polished veneer of white liberal
tolerance turns out to be masking some
deep dark terrifying secrets about why
there aren't more black folks in town
get out fully lives up to the hype
delivering suspense and scares while
also tackling complex and uncomfortable
racial issues with incisive wit if it
doesn't make you scream it'll definitely
make you squirm thanks for watching
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