December 21, 20168 yr Don't bother with the Evil Dead remake. The only thing I can remember about it is that I was left completely bored and underwhelmed. The original is the place to start and Evil Dead II is equally brilliant. Then you can be disappointed by 3 before thoroughly enjoying Ash Vs Evil Dead TV series. Ju-on is great and should be higher but I'm glad the original has beaten the terrible remake. Friday The 13th has a certain charm, and I'm quite fond of it for some reason. Gave up on the Final Destination films after the 2nd one but did see some of 3 and turned it off. No idea if 4 is worth watching.
January 25, 20178 yr 67. Jeepers Creepers 168pts | 2001 | America Top 20's: JACOB (#05) akFUWf5xe6k Finally continuing with this and in 67th position, we have the 2001, modern classic, 'Jeepers Creepers'! Jeepers Creepers is a horror movie about a brother and sister who are off to celebrate Spring break and as they drive through a nice countryside, they come across a flesh-eating monster. As it just so happens, the day is it's last day of a ritualistic eating spree. It manages to live up to it's name and the creature will definitely creep you out. It only had a budget of $10m, but it absolutely SMASHED it at the box office and received fair to good reviews! I really enjoyed this! The 2nd, it was ok if you like silly horror sequels, but the first one, as it introduces you to the creeper, it's truly creepy! A third one has been announced too, I believe! 16 years after the first one did the business!
January 25, 20178 yr The first 40 mins or so of Jeepers Creepers is an exercise in brilliance. It;s just a shame the film can't keep that standard up into the final act.
January 25, 20178 yr 66. SAW 168pts | 2004 | America Top 20's: JONJO (#03) S-1QgOMQ-ls At #66 is a movie by 21st Century, suspense and horror master, James Wan. It's the very first SAW movie. SAW is one of those torture, horror movies and the first one follows two guys who have been kidnapped and it's their job to figure out how to "play the game" and escape from the room, all whilst the viewers have flashbacks of various other death traps. If they manage to escape and survive, they'll walk free. Not only that, but they find out that they actually know each other and things get interesting! Can they work together to escape the room? Such a tense and suspenseful horror movie, that has one of the greatest movie twists of all time. The first one seemed to be a bit of a sleeper hit, but the next few were huge money spinners! Really saddened that this isn't higher (ofc). It's truly a masterpiece. One of my favourite movies of all time and I remember watching it for the first time when I was 14 and thinking holy shit, this is the greatest thing ever. So twisted and gory, but not OTT like the franchise has come to be. In fact, I'd say that the first movie could well stand on it's own and people could just leave it as that tbh. Although I do enjoy the sequels even if they have gone into 'Final Destination' territory (and 8th one is expected this year!)
January 26, 20178 yr Author I was really shocked when I saw Saw that low (and it is the only saw to appear in this countdown). Thought it was more popular than that!
January 26, 20178 yr I really like Saw, and yes it should be higher. It's a lot better than many films from the same era and is much smarter than it needs to be. The sequels are mostly terrible though
January 26, 20178 yr Final Destination 4 is by far the worst of the worst of the franchise INO. Just lands into jokey territory rather than horror I need to watch Friday The 13th and orginal saw!
February 3, 20178 yr 65. Battle Royale 168pts | 2000 | Japan Top 20's: JONJO (#16), JACKJONES (#18) N0p1t-dC7Ko Following 'SAW' and finishing at #65 is the Japanese classic, 'Battle Royale'! The premise is pretty much identical to 'The Hunger Games' (the author denied she ever saw this though... hmm...), except in this version, Hollywood don't have a hold of it and it ends up being as gruesome and gruelling as you'd probably have expected from 'The Hunger Games' had that been an 18 certificate film instead or something. The Japanese government capture a class of ninth graders and forces them to fight and kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale Act". Absolutely adore this movie. I'm glad to see it get some recognition here on Buzzjack too! It's managed to become a bit of a cult classic, which was obviously helped and elevated by 'The Hunger Games' a bit. Some of the deaths in this are really horrifying! There's a sense of realism to it all too, which makes it even more harrowing!
February 3, 20178 yr 64. Martyrs 168pts | 2008 | France Top 20's: JONJO (#09) -7Qx2dT-lUw Up next is another non-English language film, this time it's the original 'Martyrs' film. Fifteen years after a horrifying experience of abduction and prolonged torture, Lucie embarks on a bloody quest for revenge against her oppressors. Along with her childhood friend, Anna, who also suffered abuse, she quickly descends, without hope, into madness and her own delusions. Anna, left on her own and begins to re-experience what Lucie did when she was only twelve years old [iMDb]. Resulting in one of the most harrowing, dark and hardest movies to ever have been produced. This is a movie that you simply can not "enjoy". Possibly the hardest film I have ever had to sit through. What a film though. Really dark, twisted and unnerving! I highly recommend this, but do be warned that it really isn't easy to watch!
February 4, 20178 yr 2 utterly brilliant films but I didn't really consider either to be a Horror although I acknowledge many do
March 25, 20178 yr 63. Final Destination 5 171pts | 2011 | USA Top 20's: CODY (#14), HARRY (#17) PI87-0g_SI8 Up next and continuing to prove the popularity of the Final Destination franchise on Buzzjack is film #5 in the series. Continuing on in much the same formula as the previous films number 5 this time centres around a bridge collapse, and although the film received mixed to poor reviews it appears that this key scene was highly praised for its wit and inventiveness. I gave up on the series much earlier than this but to do justice to this review I have watched much of it. Many people have praised the bridge scene and I must say it is well executed and made much more distinguished use of the 3D format than most other films have managed. The other scene of note is that of Candice whose death plays out in a gymnasium and is an exercise in cleverly orchestrated Hitchcockian suspense as a series of near misses pass before the inevitable moment arrives. As of this moment Final Destination 5 is the final film in the series and it's ending cleverly ties the whole series into one big loop
March 25, 20178 yr 62. Child's Play 172pts | 1988 | USA Top 20's: MACK (#14), CODY (#16) sjiyV8mtXiU In his final moments, a fugitive serial killer transfers his soul into a child's toy doll which he then uses to continue his murderous antics. Child's Play is as daft as its premise suggests but despite that it is played straight with the excellent Brad Dourif as Chucky the killer doll and it actually works rather well. The film has become known as something of a cult classic among Horror buffs and did surprisingly well at the box office too. It is very much a child of the 80s slasher movie boom and Chucky himself became one of the decades iconic Horror villains alongside the like of Freddie Kruger and Jason Voorhees. Perhaps not quite in their league but strong enough to inspire six sequels and even recently there was still talk of a remake , again with Dourif in the role. At the time of its release the film garnered much criticism with some suggesting that it may inspire children to acts of violence. Indeed one of the films sequels, Child's Play 3 was cited as inspiration for the Suzanne Capper and James Bulger murder cases of the early 90s. Director tom Holland has always argued in defence of the films and no link has even been proven in the cases. Nevertheless it remains that the Child's Play film series' legacy is a tightening of the UK laws regarding home video rental and BBFC certification, an 80s Horror icon and at least one cult classic slasher film. Not bad. Edited March 25, 20178 yr by Severin
March 25, 20178 yr Child's Play 3 was considered to be the most controversial regarding the James Bulger case. Not sure about a remake of this though. Would it work?
March 26, 20178 yr 61. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master 179pts | 1988 | USA Top 20's: JACKJONES(#1) jc-9vF9F_eg From one iconic 80s villain to the one who is probably the decade's most famous and most loved - Freddy Krueger in the 4th installment of the Elm Street series. Once again Freddy is resurrected and begins to murder his way through the adolescent population in increasingly inventive ways and with Freddy's now obligatory quips. Whilst none of the sequels are as highly regarded as the original the series isn't without merit. If the first film was a more cerebral and serious consideration of a genuinely frightening idea, the sequels had moved to a more comic feel. Focusing less on Freddy's history as a child killer and shifting towards a more anti-hero role. Viewers now came to the cinema to see how many kids Freddy could off before the credits rolled. Episode 4 is one of the better sequels. 3 is generally considered the best of them, followed by this, indeed ur very own JackJones gave this his top score. This particular entry was for a long time the biggest box office success of the series, only being beaten after the crossover Freddy Vs Jason film. I quite like this one but my over-riding memory is of drifting in and out of sleep during my first viewing of it at the all night cinema in London. Consequently for some time I thought it was a lot weirder and creepier than it actually is but if you like the first film and want more, I'd say you could skip number 2 and go straight to 3 followed by this and then probably stop. Edited March 26, 20178 yr by Severin
March 27, 20178 yr Author Final destination 5 and Childs play are two horrors that I really want to check out at some point!
March 31, 20178 yr 60. 10 Cloverfield Lane 181pts | 2016 | USA Top 20's: FROOT(#10), UV (#11) saHzng8fxLs JJ Abrams ‘blood relative’ to the original Cloverfield was announced via a trailer in January. Less than 3 months later the film was in cinemas. Whilst it has thematic similarities with Cloverfield the film is a stand-alone that doesn’t require viewing the original. Instead of a monster on the rampage film this time we get a claustrophobic psychological thriller which centres on a young girls who survives a car crash only to awaken in the bunker of a survivalist who claims it is unsafe for her to leave. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays the lead role of Michelle and turns in a great performance of strength, ingenuity and vulnerability but the stand out here is John Goodman as Howard. The film plays out from Michelle’s perspective and like her we don’t know whether or not we can trust him. Howard appears decent and honourable but is just creepy and odd enough that we can’t tell quite how things will play out later. Director Dan Trachtenburg keeps things taut and claustrophobic but still allows the occasional moment of humour before ramping up the tension again, until finally the big revelation come and we think we know where this is going before the film throws one final curveball at us. 10 Cloverfield lane showed us that you don’t need huge stars, budgets or special effects to make a success as it went on to make over 7 times its budget at the box office and become a critical hit too.
March 31, 20178 yr 59. The Thing 181pts | 1982 | USA Top 20's: SEVERIN(#8), CHEZ (#17) 5ftmr17M-a4 The residents of a US Antarctic research station unexpectedly encounter a seemingly crazed member of the nearby Norwegian camp who is attempting to kill one of his own dogs. After one of the Americans kills the Norwegian and befriends the apparently healthy dog, they visit the Norwegian base and make a startling discovery. They soon come to realise the dog may be hiding a terrifying secret. Legendary director John Carpenter cemented his reputation with this classic Cold War paranoia allegory. Based on the novel Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. and the original movie The Thing From Another World, this version features what many consider to be the greatest practical effects ever committed to film. At the time the effects were considered so realistic and so disgusting that many gave the film a negative review despite appreciating the technical brilliance. The film has since come to be regarded as one of the greatest Horror movies of all time by many critics and regularly features at the top end of polls for Horror films. Kurt Russell in the lead as MacReady gives one of his defining performances and the score by Ennio Morricone is haunting, sparse and beautiful. To describe the plot in any greater detail would spoil the film for any who haven't seen it and the first time viewing of this film is a great example of tension and 'guess who'. Probably one of my favourite films ever. Edited March 31, 20178 yr by Severin
April 1, 20178 yr 58. 28 Days Later 188pts | 2002 | UK Top 20's: NONE c7ynwAgQlDQ When bicycle courier Jim awakes for a coma he discovers a deserted London and soon learns that a virus has transformed most of the population into rabid, blood-thirsty'zombies'. I'm genuinely surprised nobody put this in their top 20 as it really is among the best Horrors of the last 20 years. The film was directed by Trainspotting's Danny Boyle and built even further on the reputation he had built. It introduced Cillian Murphy and Naomi Harris to a much larger audience than before and was a critical and commercial success. The soundtrack (like most Danny Boyle films) featured a written score and music from contemporary bands. The film has a strongly British feel to it and can switch from tenderness to a visceral terror within seconds. Alongside Murphy and Harris the actors Christopher Eccleston and Brendon Gleeson, both well known in the UK at the time, provided excellent support. The film was succesful enough to warrant a sequel 28 Weeks Later which, whilst not quite as brilliant as the first, managed to continue the story with different characters and a new spin on the set up. A third film, set elsewhere in the world, has long been mooted (28 Months Later) but no confirmation has ever been given for a production to begin. If we put to one side, for stylistic reasons, the Comedy-Horror of Shaun Of The Dead then 28 Days Later is easily the greatest British 'zombie' film
Create an account or sign in to comment