This year Halloween is different. I personally will be choosing to stay in and social distance on my favorite holiday. That doesn’t mean I’m not celebrating and acting miserable, I am going to make the best of it by watching some of my favorite horror movies. Growing up I was a horror fan because it always felt like taboo. Like any child I would watch scary movies and wouldnt be able to sleep for fear of nightmares. Now as an adult I can appreciate the art behind these movies that set them apart as some of the greats. Here are my top 5 Horror films of all time and why I love them.
1 – The Thing
A Team of scientists discover a crashed spaceship discovering a deadly shape shifting alien that recreates itself in the image of its victims. What was once a box office bust is now considered a masterpiece for many cinephiles and holds up to this day as my favorite horror film of all time. The pacing of this film is incredible because as the story moves the more confused you are by who is the imposter crew member. My favorite aspect is the incredible use of practical effects or puppets that creates a horrifyingly realistic monster that is flat out unexplainable. The actors also do an amazing job of playing off of each other making the story believable. With an ensemble cast that includes Wilfred Brimely, Kurt Russell, and Keith Davis the plot creates a microcosm of society on the brink. Who would freak out? Who would keep their cool? How do humans react to an uncertain enemy? Watching the crew get picked apart one by one amazing because you never know who is infected and who’s not. This uncertainty is a reason why it has a high rewatchability and is continually debated to this date of who was infected the whole time.
2 – The Shining
A Stephen King adaptation of the book of the same name is the story of Jack Torrance Played by Jack Nicholson, an alcoholic father who takes the job of watching the Overlook Hotel for a whole winter isolated from the world with his family. Unknowing to him the hotel is a center for evil energy and has a dark history that includes murder. Jack’s son has the gift of premonition and clairvoyance which burdens him with seeing the evil spirits that inhabit the Hotel. As time goes on Jack begins to slip deeper into insanity until he explodes into a murderous rage succumbing to the evil force of the hotel while all the secret inhabitants become visible to Jack’s wife. For me this Movie is amazing because of it’s camera work and attention to detail as well as the lore that follows those details. Like any film by Stanley Kubrick you can pause this movie at any point and you would be looking at a framable painting. From the wide shots of the mountains to represent isolation to the constant color work and camera movement in the hotel makes this movie a roller coaster that consistently intensifies. The layers of the film leave a lot for the imagination because you never know if the hotel is evil or is Jack just going insane and all of it is in his head?
3 – Alien
A distress signal is received by a crew of space mercenaries who inspect a crashed spaceship to discover a lifeform that sequentially evolves into a killing machine. Most of the film takes place on the ship “The Nostromo” whos set designs is one of the most breathtaking spectacular feats in the history of Cinema. Director Ridley Scott creates a unique aesthetic that breaths a realistic and gritty version of the future that eventually becomes his calling card. Alien is another film that masterfly uses practical effects and amazing camera work to create tension and fear in the viewer. The main reason I love this movie is the hero Ripley played by Sigorny Weaver rises to the occasion to face off with this Alien monster after all of her male counterparts have been whipped out. In a time where heroes were mostly men this role broke barriers and changed the narrative by showing strength from the perspective of a woman. This movie has a soul and top to bottom is a masterpiece because everything is perfectly placed.
4 – Scream
A killer stalks a group of High Schoolers in middle class suburbia using classic horror films as part of the game he plays while he hunts each of them down. A Modern take on the classic slasher film brought to you by the genre’s Godfather Wes Craven. This movie keeps you guessing who is the killer throughout but in the end we find out the killer was one of their own friends. I love that this movie doesn’t pull from the supernatural or science fiction end of horror because it makes the plot believable parralleling a vicious murder next to the innocence of young developing adults. Probably the most iconic aspect of this movie is the use of realistic stabbing not cutting the camera away but making you watch the victim get stabbed and not dying immediately but rather showing the suffering in the aftermath. Drew Barrymore’s screams still haunt me.
5 – The Exorcist
A young girl is possessed by the devil forcing her mother to request the help from two priests who do everything possible to expel the demon while being terrorized by the entity. This by far the scariest movie on this list. So scary I choose not to watch it anymore because the imagery, writing, and subject matter chills me to the bone. Growing up going to Catholic school it was beat into my skull that the devil is real and if you were bad he could infect your body and put you into a prison of suffering. The Exorcist is that idea manifested. Many people believe this film to be cursed due to the odd circumstances during filming and after the movie’s release like fires on set, one of the extras being an actual killer, as well as the death of multiple cast members. All of this adds to the lore of the movie being evil, everytime I watch it I feel uneasy and it leaves me staring at the ceiling before I go to bed that night.
Honorable Mention – Saw
Strangers wake up in an abandoned bathroom chained to the walls with no recollection of how they got there to find out that they are pawns in a brutal game set by an evil serial killer going by the name of Jigsaw. I had to add this movie because of it being my favorite modern horror film and this changed the trajectory of what horror could be in the new millennium. Combined with good writing, irreverent gore, fun plot structure, and one of the biggest twists in the history of all movies Saw is a movie that keeps me coming back. Though it spawned an iconic franchise that is still going to this day the original is head and shoulders above its sequels. The original film creates a setting of a game show hell bent on brutality and disturbing choices that karmically reflect on how the victim lived their life. I loved these movies because it puts you in the place of the characters by asking you the question “what are you capable of if it meant life or death?”
