I'm a huge horror fan so glad I've just seen this thread. Never seen Orphanage so must do sometime.

All good things to those who wait.

 

 

20. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

 

Don't get me wrong, this is one of the greatest films of all times but as far as my favourite horror films go, it's "only" scraping into the top 20. Hopkins' undeniable performance is the clear highlight of it and the key reason why the film is so critically appreciated - he doesn't just portray a menacing Hannibal Lecter, he is Lecter. It's a frightening indictment to psychological disorders and the power of the mind to compel others and do evil. It's one of the most highly praised films of all time and it's clear to see why. A true behemoth of horror cinema!

 

Best scene: As i've said the entire performance is worthy of mention, but the escape scene gives me biggest thrills :mellow:

YES. This is one of my favourite psychological thrillers ever, and if I ever did a ranking of my favourite films this would probably be within the top 10 :o This film is entirely gripping and fascinating throughout :heart:

Silence Of The Lambs is a movie I've always wanted to watch but have never got round to watching it!

Yes, I agree this is much more of a thriller than horror. Fantastic though.

Never seen Pan’s Labyrinth’ so can’t comment on that one, but the rest I have seen.

‘The Birds’, Yes a really great film, I never found it scary but always found it entertaining and it still really holds up well today effects wise considering the time it came out. I suppose if they remade it now they’d use awful CGI which would look fake and wouldn’t have anywhere near the same impact. I haven’t seen this for a while, but always remember that it was really good and loved how the first half kinda takes you off guard by being a light hearted comedy, then the tone totally shifts when the birds arrive and it was just truly excellent.

‘Evil Dead’ – Another alltime fave horror movie of mine, always remember the first time I saw this when I was a kid over a friend’s house on an old worn out VHS tape and instantly loved it. I own it on DVD now and it’s still fantastic even now, Bruce Campbell is a legend. But honestly when I first saw it, I thought that girl who attacked by the trees was gonna be the main character, I dunno maybe it’s just me, but I do recall that for the first bit of the film it does focus on her quite a bit.

‘Kill List’- I saw this about 2 years ago and found it really enjoyable and not overexposed like a lot of other films. This really takes you off guard at times and that ending was just cruel, but I liked it overall, it’s something really different and stands out on its own, along with some fantastic performances especially Neil Maskell in his first leading role, really outstanding.

‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ – Well what can I say about this, again another classic that stands the test of time, funnily enough this was the first DVD i owned as it came free when I had my first DVD player. A truly great and gripping film filled with suspense and Anthony Hopkins just steals the show making every minute of his screen time worth watching and also Jodie Foster was great as well, they really bounce of each other and makes for a great viewing experience.

^ thank you for the comments guys! I'm reading them all and it's good to see you're liking a lot of the picks so far. :heart:

 

Top 20 time ~~

Did I get any in my mouth?

 

 

19. Drag Me To Hell (2009)

 

Raimi is back, this time with his much more recent delving into the zany horror genre with Drag Me To Hell. It's a brilliantly well built up film, particularly in the loan office when we meet the old gypsy woman and while it plays on weird stereotypes at times, it's a fantastical and fun horror flick filled to the brim with brilliant shocks and twists. The ending loses focus a bit and it becomes a bit TOO supernatural but it's an otherwise brilliant romp of a film and always a joy to watch among the scares.

 

Best scene: The build up in the loans office, the woman's nails, the handkerchief in the car park.. Just watch it :mellow:

I LOVE this film. Perfect blend of real thrills and old school, tongue in cheek camp horror. Due a rewatch!

I rewatched this one recently, and I really do forget how fantastic it really is! :wub:

Drag Me to Hell is one of my fave movie theatre experiences - it's rare that I like an audience making a load of noise but the communal feeling of terrified hilarity really added to the quality of the film for me.

 

I saw Lambs again recently and Jodie Foster is so magnificent in it. Some really masterful scenes of tension and Lecter's escape certainly qualifies as horror - proper fingers over eyes moment. Kill List is great too, very disorientating filmmaking.

LOVE Drag Me To Hell :wub: One of the best modern horror films, so twisted in it's scares and humous, but all the better for it, and the ending left me completely :mellow:

 

Much love for The Birds as well, probably my favourite Hitchcock film, he does such an incredible job making something we see as so mundane (birds) into a serious threat and making them a hell of a lot more scary, I imagine people must've been a bit freaked out by birds at the time it came out! :kink:

 

Silence Of The Lambs is brilliant and a worthy entry even if I would class it as a Thriller with Horror elements.

 

Drag Me To Hell I'm not so keen on. It's good but I wouldn't rate it this highly personally. I remember being a bit disappointed with it after all the hype but I should probably watch it again at some point

There is an explanation for this, you know.

 

 

18. Alien/Aliens (1979/1986)

 

Two of the biggest, baddest, boldest horror films crash landing in the top 20 now. I've decided to include both Alien and Aliens as one post because a) I can barely separate them and b) means I can fit an extra one in the countdown, because both are worthy are appearing. The former for its ability to build up horror at an expert pace and then release in gut-wrenching (literally) glory and the second for its all-out all guns blazing cacophony of action and screams. Both films are classics obviously, I have so much time for them.

 

Best scene: Chest-burster :mellow: I am trying to include favourite moments from these films that are perhaps more obscure or personal to me, but really here there is only one contender. It is often parodied and so influential as part of body horror and it's just a brilliantly done scene.

 

How did you manage to get through that write up without pointing out the huge importance of Ripley as a groundbreaking/glass ceiling shattering role for cinema? With all due respect to Leia, she re-wrote the rules on what women could do in movies. Even today, nearly 40 years later, female roles often exist in films only to be saved by the hero.

 

 

However, Alien is one of the three films that at any given moment could be called my favourite film (it depends on mood).

 

It's also really rather impressive that it hasn't dated that badly either.

 

Aliens is great too (Special Edition of course) but it's less a Horror film and more 'Rambo in space'. After that it all went tits up for the franchise.

Drag Me To Hell = Honestly never saw the fuss with this, it's okay and everything and it does has it's good points, but overall it just kinda fell flat for me.

 

 

Alien/Aliens = Yes yet another fantastic choices, you have great taste, both of these are instant firm faves of mine and are definitely classics. Although I do prefer the first one, I've always have with it's perfect tension and sense of dread throughout. I remember being blown away when I first saw this and yes I do agree that the chest burster is probably the best scene, I remember watching the documentary where it was stated that the cast had never even seen what the alien looked like and their reactions at all the blood gushing out was actually real, and that Lambert woman did actually faint for real. I personally found all the cast members in that one truly great with Sigourney Weaver being the major standout of course, she was excellent in this and all the other Alien movies as well. Everybody thought that Dallas was gonna be the main character when this first came out and so did I at first (before I knew of the other films) and that just takes you by surprise throughout, and considering this came out in the 1970's, the alien still looks fantastic and the effects have still aged really well. Then there's 'Aliens' which is unfortunately the only other great movie in this franchise (3 & 4 sucked), the totally different turn this takes is very effective, going for a more action route and it's really pulled off well and yet again we get another bunch of great cast members Michael Biehn, Lance Hendrickson & Bill Paxton and my fave scene in this is when Ripley fights the queen alien in that machine thing (I always forget what's that called) and overall a fantastic movie.

How did you manage to get through that write up without pointing out the huge importance of Ripley as a groundbreaking/glass ceiling shattering role for cinema? With all due respect to Leia, she re-wrote the rules on what women could do in movies. Even today, nearly 40 years later, female roles often exist in films only to be saved by the hero.

Oops big oversight :/ I thought about it when I realised it was next but feel silly not mentioning her and the performance and the impact now. Oh well, you've done a good job (as has SamJudd) of detailing it, so consider these extended commentaries to add onto mine :P

Death is the most beautiful part of life.

 

 

17. Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

 

The final (I think) "is it a horror? isn't it a horror? does it really matter when the film is this scary?" flick to appear here before we really get into the true CLASSICS is included here because it does terrify me in a way that few other films can. Another film about cults, and a cult film too, it stars Elizabeth Olsen as a recluse from a controlling abusive cult trying to reconnect with her family. The fear in the film comes from the paranoia it creates and the INTENSE relations and disintegration of Olsen's character. It's one of the finest performances I have ever seen in cinema history and Olsen is totally intoxicating in the role. A chilling film throughout, with ambiguity aplenty and a reserved, melancholic type of horror that is so real and gritty, you forget you're watching a film at times. The script is phenomenal.

 

Horror doesn't just come in the form of ghouls, goblins and the supernatural. Some of them most terrifying things are in our own minds and this film exemplifies and portrays those intensely.

 

Best scene: Patrick's "death/love" speech :mellow: The first time I saw this I rewinded this tiny moment to hear it said again. So powerful a script and film - subtlety at its best.

this is the first one on the list I don't think I've heard of before, but definitely want to check this one out!

All you fans of Alien really need to check out Alien: Isolation, my RA has that game and I was so terrified the first time I saw him play it