Top Horror Films of the Past 20 Years

[Smokey]

As we approach Holloween, this top 20 compliation from Entertainment Weekly Magazine range from slasher films to J-horror to thrillers. But somehow the first SAW film is missing from this list.

Countdown from the top:

20. DEAD-ALIVE (1992)
Before he became a respectable filmmaker, Peter Jackson directed this slapstick carnival of gore. The movie is one outrageously gruesome set piece after another, with limbs, eyeballs, and — especially — intestinal tracts taking on an exuberant life of their own.


19. DARKMAN (1990)
In Sam Raimi's thrillingly demented horror-pop spectacular, Liam Neeson plays a mad scientist whose face gets dunked in acid; he then perfects a recipe for synthetic skin.


18. EVENT HORIZON (1997)
In 2046, a spaceship voyages beyond Neptune to find out what became of the Event Horizon, an exploratory vessel that vanished into the cosmic void. With Laurence Fishburne.


17. THE KINGDOM (1994)
Made for Danish television (but released here as a feature), Lars von Trier's sinister soap opera about the hidden goings on in the neurosurgical ward of a hospital in Copenhagen is a cheeky gothic medical bad trip: It's like a twisted ER crossed with The Shining.


16. THE DESCENT (2005)
This British shocker about a group of women who go spelunking — that is, exploring caves. What's memorably unsettling is the movie's icy claustrophobia: It's a nightmare of damp rocky crawl spaces you would never want to be wedged into.


15. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)
Alert! The dead have risen and are feasting on the living — but in the lumpish working-class Britian of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's zombie satire, everyone is so blitzed and jaded and drunk that it's hard to tell the difference.


14. HOSTEL 2 (2007)
In Eli Roth's splatter sequel, wealthy businessmen make bids to travel to Slovakia, where, in a network of dungeons hidden inside an abandoned factory, the top bidder will murder the victim he has bought.


13. MISERY (1990)
As a mousy, vengeful nurse who kidnaps a romance novelist (James Caan) and tortures him into keeping her favorite character going, Kathy Bates has a homicidal gleam under her hilariously sunny, apple-pie earnestness.


12. FROM HELL (2001)
Johnny Depp plays a Sherlockian police inspector on the trail of the world's legendary first serial killer. The movie gives us flickering vérité flashes of the human soul turned inside out.


11. PLANET TERROR (2007)
The Robert Rodriguez half of Grindhouse is a deliciously bottom-of-the-barrel living-dead thriller, set in a present day that feels just like 1974, with zombies that get shot and spurt raspberry Jell-O blood.

[Smokey]

10. RINGU (1998)
Still the greatest of all J-horror films, Hideo Nakata's shivery tale of a videotape that kills whoever watches it is a movie that gets under your skin by indelibly fusing mossy Victorian return-of-the-repressed imagery with the twitchy, staticky jolts of 21st-century technology.


9. ALIEN 3 (1992)
David Fincher made his directorial debut with this criminally underrated sequel, which resurrects the fear-sick mood and squishy-obsidian look of the original Alien (1979).


8. DRAG ME TO HELL (2009)
Lohman plays a loan officer who refuses to renew the mortgage of a one-eyed, rotten-toothed old gypsy woman. She then spends the rest of the film assaulted by flash-cut visions of baroquely grotesque and evil things, which unite the audience in a collective moan-laugh-shriek.


7. THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)
M. Night Shyamalan made this elegantly spooky and original modern ghost story, with a twist that earns every inch of its ''Whoa!'' factor. Haley Joel Osment is innocently creepy as a kid who sees dead people, and Bruce Willis is touching as the lost soul he befriends.


6. WHAT LIES BENEATH (2000)
Though it's never gotten the respect it deserves, Robert Zemeckis's terrifying gothic-feminist ghost chiller may be his most satisfying movie since Back to the Future. The final bathtub scene is sheer shivery bliss.


5. 28 WEEKS LATER (2007)
Richer, darker, crazier, and even scarier than 28 Days Later (the movie it's a sequel to), Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's jittery shocker is a piece of visionary apocalyptic zombie pulp. It's set six months after the rage virus first annihilated London.


4. SCREAM (1996)
Poised on the knife's edge between parody and homage, Wes Craven's mock thriller revived the slasher films of the '80s in all their gruesomely ritualized glory.


3. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
This ingenious mock-documentary jumps off from the premise that three young filmmakers, journeying into the Maryland woods in search of the legendary Blair Witch, have mysteriously disappeared. What we're seeing is the recovered footage they shot.


2. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Jonathan Demme's dark-as-midnight thriller might be described as the modern movie masterpiece of serial-killer culture. It would be a mistake to call Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins' jovially homicidal cannibal shrink, a ''villain'' — he's more like a devil with twisted ethics.


1. AUDITION (1999)
In a movie world saturated by routine horror, how does one create...true horror? A lonely widower (Ryo Ishibashi) arranges to ''audition'' women for a movie (he's really looking for a wife). He meets Asami (Eihi Shiina), a passive and seductive mystery girl, who acts out her damage by putting men through the tortures of the damned.


http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,2031...310521,00.html

[dakatabg]

Great list, I can add the movie "Wrong Turn"

[RGA]

Some of those I must say I have not seen so I will try and check them out.

Still I would not stop at 20 years since most of the best seem to me to be done a little further back. Not in a particular order but the ones nearer the top are my favorites.

1) The Exorcist (spawned all the movies that followed it and are not as good).

2) Dawn of the Dead (1979) Also spawned the likes of Shaun of the Dead but was the great anti-consumerism movie dressed up with a lot of gore and humour.

3) The Thing (1982) somewhat cheesy now but it was a major special effects treat at the time and solid acting and mood made it stand apart.

4) The Shining - Redrum.

5) Halloween (the ultimate slasher movie - though the pacing for today's audience doesn't allow it to hold up quite as well.

6) Nosferatu - twisted

7) Aliens ( the best of the Alien movies)

8) Arachnophobia (made my skin crawl while making me laugh)

9) Tremors (Rednecks shooting giant worms - I mean you gotta love it)

10 Dead Snow (recent German zombie movie with Nazi zombies killing college kids in horrendously over the top gore fest

11) Shaun of the Dead - what do people have against Sade? LOL

12) Scarecrows (1981) often missed horror film but underrated.

13) Return of the Living Dead - "more Braaaaaaaaaaaaains"

14) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - one of the best endings in movie history.

15) The American Werewolf in London - if the ending had been a bit better it would have been near perfect

16) Scream - really quite a fine film

17) Psycho (original) - terrific

18) Poltergeist - The snowy channel has the evil lurking

19) 28 Days Later - when experiments go wrong

20 The Corporation - they kill more people in one year than all the serial killers over the last 100 years combined. A Serial Killer gets the death penalty - the corporate board of directors get bailouts and millions of dollars - now THAT is scary!

[emaidel]

From both a cinematic and nostalgic point of view, the 1958 Hammer classic, "Horror of Dracula" is at the top of my list. I saw it in 1958 as a 13 year-old, and have never forgotten the experience! "Horror of Dracula" had loads of cinematic firsts: real looking fangs; lots of RED blood (it was in Technicolor!); a cross burning on the forehead of a female vampire; a stake driven into the heart of same vampire (almost lost my lunch the first time I saw that!); and the famous ending with Dracula (Christopher Lee) falling into a beam of sunlight and rotting away, while Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) forces him back with two candlesticks formed into the shape of a cross. To me, this movie has never been topped, and is far and away the best Hammer ever made. It still holds up today.

[Smokey]

Thanks dakatabg and emaidel for movie suggestions.

I have not seen "Wrong Turn" nor heard of it. That is what I love about these posts. A member mention a movie that other wise will go undetected.

emaidel, I am not sure if I've seen "Horror Of Dracula" or not. Always get Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing mixed up when watching old horro movies, so have to see the movie to be sure.

1) The Exorcist (spawned all the movies that followed it and are not as good).

2) Dawn of the Dead (1979) Also spawned the likes of Shaun of the Dead but was the great anti-consumerism movie dressed up with a lot of gore and humour.

3) The Thing (1982) somewhat cheesy now but it was a major special effects treat at the time and solid acting and mood made it stand apart.

4) The Shining - Redrum.

5) Halloween (the ultimate slasher movie - though the pacing for today's audience doesn't allow it to hold up quite as well.

6) Nosferatu - twisted

7) Aliens ( the best of the Alien movies)

8) Arachnophobia (made my skin crawl while making me laugh)

9) Tremors (Rednecks shooting giant worms - I mean you gotta love it)

10 Dead Snow (recent German zombie movie with Nazi zombies killing college kids in horrendously over the top gore fest

11) Shaun of the Dead - what do people have against Sade? LOL

12) Scarecrows (1981) often missed horror film but underrated.

13) Return of the Living Dead - "more Braaaaaaaaaaaaains"

14) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - one of the best endings in movie history.

15) The American Werewolf in London - if the ending had been a bit better it would have been near perfect

16) Scream - really quite a fine film

17) Psycho (original) - terrific

18) Poltergeist - The snowy channel has the evil lurking

19) 28 Days Later - when experiments go wrong

20 The Corporation - they kill more people in one year than all the serial killers over the last 100 years combined. A Serial Killer gets the death penalty - the corporate board of directors get bailouts and millions of dollars - now THAT is scary!

RGA, great list. I like the inclusion of The Thing and Tremors. The Thing is also my favorite and probably one of John Carpenter best film as director. And Tremors was just fun to watch as it did not took itself too seriously.

[Mr Peabody]

It's hard to take a horror film list seriously that would include the Blair Witch

I thought Hide & Seek was pretty good and that movie Secret Window.
How about the original Nightmare On Elm Street?

Halloween and Friday the 13th were iconic, doesn't Friday The 13th hold some kind of sequel record

[Smokey]

It's hard to take a horror film list seriously that would include the Blair Witch

Well, this list like every other movie lists tend to be little bit subjective. Personally I would not also include Silence of the Lambs as Entertainment Weekly did, but it does contain few good ones that did raise my curiosity.

Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th were pretty original and scary, but I thought Holloween might be overrated as pace of movie was kind of slow.

[Mr Peabody]

Wasn't Hannibal the 2nd in that series? I liked it better. The sceen where Hannibal is talking to his victim, still alive in the chair with the top of his skull off and Hannibal is cooking pieces of his brain.... that's something I'm not likely to forget

[RGA]

Well, this list like every other movie lists tend to be little bit subjective. Personally I would not also include Silence of the Lambs as Entertainment Weekly did, but it does contain few good ones that did raise my curiosity.

Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th were pretty original and scary, but I thought Holloween might be overrated as pace of movie was kind of slow.

Halloween was the first though. In the running commentary Carpenter notes that certain scenes would not work with an audience today. There is a very long scene where Jamie Lee Curtis is walking up to the house and the audience knows Michael is in there. On the big screen people would be yelling - he's in there don't go etc. But everyone has scene so many horror films that that is not new.

There are other good horror films out there. I enjoyed the recent "The Last Exorcism" which was sort of a Blair Which meets the exorcist. The Blair Witch was an interesting and well crafted movie considering the budget and hype at the time. Was it real or wasn't it LOL.

I personally prefer Felicia's Journey to Silence of the Lambs - the latter is big hollywood over the top and the former is a little more realistic in the way of serial killers IMO.

The entire series Dexter is IMO vastly better to any of the Silence of the Lambs movies on every front. Neither I consider horror movies.
You could also add Jaws to any list but I treat it more as an action film.

I also like Death Proof/Planet Terror Grindhouse set. Death Proof I liked a lot better the second time through and I think it doesn't quite get the credit it deserves.

Nightmare on Elm Street - the start of Johnny Depp.

Friday the 13th - never cared for any of them.

[SlumpBuster]

Horror/Gore movies have really undergone a revival in the last 10 years.

I'm so glad to see Hostel 2 on Smokey's list. I think that movie is great but is much maligned. Has a real dark feel with some surprising twists. Just a matter of taste I guess.

Poltergeist scared the crap out of me as a 9 year old. My poor mother had no idea going into the theater, it was the perfect argument for PG-13 ratings.

Candidates for some of the best that have not already been listed are:

1. House of the Devil - Good retro fun. The last act pays off big time.


2. Pan's Labyrinth - While not strictly a horror movie, its got plenty of spine tingling imagery and it's a blood bath.


3. The Devil's Reject - Could it be that this grandfatherly looking man is a serial killer.


4. Jeeper's Creepers - This is an awesome B-movie that had my wife and I literally yelling at the TV when we happened across it on cable.


5. Funny Games - I know that this is an English remake of a supposedly better Austrian version, but I've only seen the English version. Two thirds of the way in a twist of Sixth Sense/Crying Game proportion left viewers sharply divided.

6. Teeth - A campy romp that is propelled by a great, if unknown, lead actress. My favorite trivia piece is that while it enjoys and 82% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, only 46% of viewers liked it. You know its pushing some buttons when you see a spread like that.

[Smokey]

There are other good horror films out there. I enjoyed the recent "The Last Exorcism" which was sort of a Blair Which meets the exorcist. The Blair Witch was an interesting and well crafted movie considering the budget and hype at the time. Was it real or wasn't it LOL.

Blair Which was kind of fun to watch (althought hated camera work), but don't think want to see it for second time. The camera jitter get to you

I think the most innovative horror film I seen in last few years is probably the first SAW movie. It was pretty original and story made the viewer pay attention. But the sequels did not measure up.

6. Teeth - A campy romp that is propelled by a great, if unknown, lead actress. My favorite trivia piece is that while it enjoys and 82% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, only 46% of viewers liked it. You know its pushing some buttons when you see a spread like that.

I just read the review for this film, and man this sound like a wierd one. A high school virgin who unknowingly has a set of mutant teeth between her legs. And when a supposedly likeminded boyfriend forces himself upon her, her vagina dentata start chomping. OOOCH!

Now I got to see it