The Halloween season is a great time to curl up with your girl to watch a horror movie. But there is nothing worse than watch a horror movie that turns out to be a complete dud like Paranormal Activity. Here is a guide to some of the best horror flicks to ensure you don’t waste a dark stormy night.
The Omen (1976)
A present for Damien
The Omen is story of the birth and childhood of the antichrist. The antichrist, named Damien Thorn in the movie, is the devil’s literal son. While that is terrible theology, it doesn’t stop the movie from being highly disturbing. For me, the most shocking scene is when Damien’s nanny hangs herself as a willing sacrifice at his fifth birthday party. I will give an honorable mention to The Exorcist here as another movie that has the devil as the main protagonist, but I feel the special effects are pretty campy by today’s standards.
The Shining (1980)
Horror, like science fiction and fantasy, is a despised genre. Actors and directors would prefer to do “serious” works about AIDS, cancer, or mental illness. For this reason, horror movies are typically low-budget affairs starring no-name actors and directed by men who will never receive an Academy Award nomination. The Shining was an exception to this rule. It was directed by Stanley Kubrick, who already had several Oscars to his name, and it starred Jack Nicolson, another Oscar winner. And the screenplay was based on a novel by one of the masters of the horror genre, Stephen King.
The Shining is a ghost story set in a hotel that caters to the very rich nestled in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Due to the harsh winters in the mountains, the hotel shuts down in the Fall leaving only a caretaker to maintain it. The caretaker is a writer named Jack Torrence who jumps at the chance to spend the winter with his wife and young son in a hotel doing almost nothing but writing. Of course, Jack gets more than he bargained for as the hotel is haunted by the evil that has accumulated from the shocking immorality that occurred in the hotel over the years.
The suspense in the movie is heightened by the fact that Jack Torrence is also an alcoholic. The viewer is never 100% sure whether the events unfolding at the hotel are caused by ghosts or by Jack himself. Kubrick does a masterful job of creating a foreboding atmosphere and the actual encounters with the ghosts are brief. Nicholson is brilliant as the tortured artist who is slipping into madness.
Out of all the movies in this article, The Shining is the only one that I watch almost annually. Even though I have the movie practically memorized, I still get sucked into the disturbing atmosphere of the movie.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street falls firmly within the slasher genre: Teenagers are pursued by the villain, Freddy Krueger. But director Wes Craven injects the supernatural into the movie. Freddy Krueger is dead and the way he kills his victim is through their dreams. If the victim dies in his dream, he dies in real life. The teenagers quickly learn that the only way they can survive is by not going to sleep. Of course, it is not possible for one to stay awake forever so the teens find themselves being picked off by Freddy.
In the movie, the viewer is never 100% sure whether he is watching reality or if it is a dream so he is constantly off-balance. And while many horror movies rely on recycled monsters (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc.) A Nightmare on Elm Street introduces a truly memorable villain in Freddy Krueger. His burnt skin and trademark glove with blades on the fingertips make him one of the most easily recognizable film villains.
Hellraiser (1987)
Some horror movies rely on pure creepiness instead of trying to surprise the viewer. Hellraiser falls into this category. The story involves a magical box that, when opened, is supposed to give the possessor of it untold wealth, power, and pleasure. When a man opens the box, it instead summons a demon that take his body and soul to hell.
The man’s mistress (his brother’s wife) starts having one-night stands with random men, and sacrificing them to bring back her paramour. She is successful, but there’s a catch—her boyfriend has come back without skin. He proceeds to kill his brother and steal his skin.
Hellraiser is disturbing from beginning to end. This is no feel-good movie. It is best watched alone very late at night.
Ringu (1998)
Ringu is a Japanese movie. There is an American version of the movie starring Naomi Watts called The Ring. For whatever reason, the Japanese version is infinitely scarier. The plot involves teens (it’s always teens) who watch a video they find in a vacation cabin. The teens all end up dying with looks of horror on their face. The heroine is a journalist who tries to figure out the mystery. In the process she watches the video herself. After watching the video she receives an ominous phone call. She realizes that anyone who watches the video is doomed to die after a certain number of days.
Disturbed, the journalist enlists the help of her ex-husband, who seems to have some latent extrasensory perception ability. Together they figure out that the video has some connection to a female psychic and her disfigured daughter. The rest of the movie is spent trying to figure out how to escape the curse of the video.
Ringu relies on a creating a foreboding atmosphere and the element of surprise. If you don’t already know the surprise, you’ll definitely enjoy Ringu.
Conclusion
You may have noticed that most of the movies I mentioned are from the 1980s. I believe that the horror movies from that period are more enjoyable because they have a supernatural element, whether that is a demon, a ghost, or someone who has returned from the dead. In contrast, the more recent movies in the horror genre tend to lack any reference to the paranormal. Instead, their subject matter involves people being tortured and killed by flesh and blood people. Movies like Saw, The Strangers, The Invitation, and Hush all involve random, gratuitous violence.
I would argue that the disappearance of supernatural horror in movies is a good barometer for the state of religious belief in the West. As more people lose their faith, all that is left is random violence.
Of course there are many other movies that I could mention, but space does not permit. I’d be interested to hear your suggestions for other high quality horror movies in the comments.
Read More: 4 Underappreciated Horror Movies
“Disturbed, the journalist enlists the help of her ex-husband, who seems to have some latent extrasensory perception ability.”
Even after initiating a divorce, women still want white knight behavior from the man they crushed to such an extent that he considered eating a bullet.
The Shining was unintentionally funny. Shelly Duvall was way over the top. Sorry, I couldn’t dig it. I would replace it with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Donald Sutherland one. The idea of the loss of identity is horrifying . That’s what creeps me out about Leah Remini’s series on Scientology .
That scream was hilarious. I wonder how will be the world if the Alien from the “The Thing” takes over the world, I imagine, copies of normal people working like if anything happen. That thing can copy even plants.
I like the scene where Scatman Crothers’s character talks to the spooky kid in the kitchen over ice cream, and while Scatman explains to the boy about the Shining, the boy starts to tell him things that creep HIM out.
Good list! I would also recommend The Thing (John Carpenter/Kurt Russell), Insidious, and if you want a goofy, campy beyond belief “masterpiece” filmed on a $5 budget, check out “Killer Nerd”. I think it is a Troma film now; if you get drunk and show it to some bros, you guys will be rolling on the floor laughing, promise!
I think The Shining is very much over-rated, whereas Hellraiser is very much under-rated. The latter is probably due to its lower production value, whereas Nicholson is in the former, but Hellraiser’s score makes up for that in spades. The Omen should be replaced by The Changeling (1980), starring George C. Scott, which is a vastly superior film and story; it creeps you out and pisses you off at the same time.
“directed by Stanley Kubrick, who already had several Oscars to his name”…Stanley only won one Oscar, ever…Best Effects, Special Visual Effects, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Might wanna fix that (but to your credit, should have had way more).
I would also add 1963’s The Haunting based on Shirley Jackson’s excellent novella, The Haunting of Hill House. Ignore the execrable 1999 remake.
I recommend Cabin Fever. Not much of a “pshychological” horror but definitely disturbing and will leave a bad taste in your mouth.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956)
“Carnival of Souls” (1962)
“Repulsion” (1965)
“Night of the Living Dead” (1968)
“Wake in Fright” (1971)
“The Exorcist” (1973)
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)
“An American Werewolf in London” (1981)
“30 Days of Night” (2007)
“Sinister” (2012)
Great list. Much better than the one in this article.
“An American Werewolf in London” (1981)
I second this one. It scared the crap out of me as a kid.
Found “Hush” from 1998 when I looked it up. Jessica Lange held together pretty damn well through her years.
Good scary movie – Event Horizon. It is pretty gory but the premise is truly scary.
(Brad Dourif in) Exorcist III
Dario Argento:
Profundo Russo
Suspirio
Opera
Phenomena
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
(Brad Dourif in) Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood (not actually a horror)
The remake of Maniac Cop, but only if its starring Brad Dourif
Basically, a lot of trendy, acceptably permitted titles…
I recommend Jacob’s Ladder. It’s about a Vietnam War veteran who’s suffering from horrendous hallucinations and memories of his past marriage and has to prevent himself from losing his sanity. It also has one of the most disturbing plot twists I have ever seen and if anyone knows a better plot twist, I’d like to know.
‘Horrors of war’ little bitches shouldn’t join up if it’s gonna scare them for the rest of their lives. Loads of vets aren’t weak little pussies.
The brain equates fear with arousal so horror movies are a good move for a date. What is not a good move however is jumping at a scare like a little bitch, so make sure you skimmed through the film yourself and know where they are.
The films you’ve suggested are quite infamous for their gore, and a lot of girls don’t actually like that shit, so don’t watch Saw, whatever’s recently been released should be fine, the goal is to smash, not enrich her in the medium of film.
Rosemary’s Baby is the creepiest movie of all time. Very disturbing.
Saw it for the first time today.
It’s on cable
Polanski is brilliant
I agree but Ringu but I disagree about the rest. Omen might fit as well, but what about the Exorcist? It’s a definite classic. However, Shutter mentioned in the related post is really good. I would include Annabelle and It in a more extensive list.
“The Haunting,” (1963) is good but dated.
“Jaws” (1975) had one especially frightening scene.
The most frighting film I ever saw was an episode of the T.V.
program “Thriller,” M.C’d by Boris Karloff titled “Pigeons From Hell.”
Pigeons from Hell is an adaptation from Robert E Howard’s story, whom you probably know best as the creator of Conan the Barbarian. He wrote some fantastic horror stories(not surprising, he was inspired by Lovecraft).
Audition. It’s also great to watch people watching Audition.
I’m a big fan of horror movies, so allow me to recommend my fellow ROK brethen some titles:
-Cube (the first movie, stay away from the sequel and only give the prequel a chance if you have time to spare)
-The Cabin in the woods
-Event Horizon (one of my all-time favourite movies)
-1408 (great to watch with a chick)
-At the mouth of madness (don’t watch this one late at night)
In the mouth of madness is one of my favorite horror films. It bombed at the box office and doesn’t get the respect it deserves. That kid on the bike alone makes it a classic.
The Omen is a good choice; but the music I found to be much scarier.
Carrie scared the shit out of me when I was a kid, while Trilogy of Terror scared the crap out of my sister.
Carrie is a classic. Scariest scene: Carrie learning she’s a woman because she’s bleeding down there.
Questions: why doesn’t menstruation feature more commonly in horror movies? Why has there never been a horror movie about an abandoned haunted menstruation hut where teenage girls dare each other to spend the night?
Why wasn’t the film Ragtime about chicks bleeding once a month?
Usually the black characters in horror movies die first. Why doesn’t that make these movies racist?
Great list and I realize that you don’t want random dude but Halloween is my all time. Definitely the best theme.
If white nationalists allegedly scare the crap out of the people who run Hollywood, then why don’t we see horror movies where WN’s do horrible things?
Texas chainsaw and Leatherface.
Hills have eyes.
Ehh, pretty generic list. Here’s mine.
Green Room (2016)
Inland Empire (2006)
Session 9
Jacobs Ladder
28 Days Later
Wolf Creek
Sleepaway Camp
The Burning
The Beyond (Lucio Fulci)
Suspria
Gummo
Anti-Christ
Martyrs (Only movie I ever thought about turning off as it was too much to sit through. Seen it twice. A great piece of work, but my god what a harrowing experience.)
Kill List
We Need To talk about Kevin
The Vanishing (The Orginal, Spoorloos)
Lake Mungo
Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 (Overlooked gem. A great study of PTSD and the only film to hold a candle to the original artistically. And I thought his first remake was a mess.)
I love “Martyrs” but as far as disturbing goes, hats off to “Irreversible”. Jacob`s ladder is also very cool. The Japanese “Audition” is my favourite horror movie of all time.
Clive Barker is gay so Hellraiser is actually about the horrors of the LGBT community.
Quite possible:
“We have such sites to show you” sounds like pretty much like a “gay pride”- parade
The Conjuring and Anabelle movies are not bad, very recent (2010s) supernatural films. Pretty entertaining for a Hallowen date.
OMG !! What happened to the movie lovers !
I am surprised to see that no body mentioned about “Evil Dead” !
Roosh, Do NOT worry about the “Maximum limit” for “like Button” or any other “limitations”. No hurry, take your time and choose the best possible (and affordable) comment platform.
*** Have a great weekend folks ***
Dale and Tucker vs Evil is a great movie
The Shining and The Ring were shit IMHO.
And you missed out Friday 13th, biggest horror success of all time.
Hellraiser (The Hellbound Heart)
As a huge Clive Barker fan I feel he is above Stephen King,but that’s only my opinion.
Hellraiser based on the novella The Hellbound Heart,is primarily about people who having exhausted all the pleasures of this world long for something along the lines of supernatural ecstasy.there is a puzzle box that can take one there.those who find the puzzle box must work it out and if they succeed the infamous sadomasochist demons called The Cenobites (led by that notorious being with pins on his head appropriately called Pinhead) appear and do their thing on them.Our guy in the story finds that box,works it out and the Cenobites materialise, using chains with hooks they drag him off to torture hell where the demons act out their cruel perversions on him for all eternity.too late he learns that the promised pleasure is not for him to enjoy but for the demons to derive by devouring his body with all manner of torture instruments in a place where he cannot die and has to endure this 24/7.but he is not alone.past victims of these demons are here and a rumour keeps circulating that an escape from this nightmare is possible,that others have gotten away.and so our guy attempts his own escape,enlisting the help of his brother’s wife as per the OP’s explanation above.
The book is brilliant.but somehow that fails to translate in the movie.the movie did the book a huge disservice.
The part in the Shining where the red Volkswagen Beetle is smashed on the road in the snowstorm was a message from Stanley Kubrick to Stephen King who drove a red beetle at that time.
King detested the film adaptation and still does to this day.
It is filmed mostly in Oregon and Montana not Colorado. The Overlook is actually the Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood Oregon.
The interior sets were loosely based on the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Park, California.
No one ever mentions John Carpenter’s “Prince Of Darkness” in these lists. One of my favorite horror movies. Still creeps me out no matter how many times I’ve seen it……….
Halloween III The Season of the Witch is an overlooked slept on classic.
Happy Happy Halloween Halloween, Silver Shamrock!
Bambi
(scary forest fire, dude)
:p
Les Diaboliques – 1954
10 Rillington Place – 1971
I was surprised at how good The Babadook was
The best thing about “The Shining” was the set design. Now for a movie that will get under your skin, try the original “Wicker Man.”
The Devil wasn’t in The Exorcist, it was Pazuzu, from ancient Babylonia.
OMEN is best though, since it is the The True Story of Barac Obama.