Time Out's 100 Best Horror Films

[Spinal]

Link (http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/2494/best-horror-films)

The best part of this is being able to see individual contributor's lists.

Examples:

Alice Cooper -

Salem's Lot (Tobe Hooper, 1979)
Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1976)
The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)
Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)
The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
30 Days Of Night (David Slade, 2007)
Silent Hill (Christopher Gans, 2006)

Simon Pegg -

Dawn of the Dead (George A Romero, 1978)
The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)

Joe Dante -

The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (William Dieterle, 1941)
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)
The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945)
The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941)
The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
Lisa and the Devil (Mario Bava, Alfredo Leone,1974)
Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958)
Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1959)

[Dukefrukem]

I like Guillermo del Toro's the best.

1. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
2. Possession (Andrzej Zulawski , 1981)
3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
4. Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens (FW Murnau , 1922)
5. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
6. The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
7. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
8. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
9. Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Benjamin Christensen, 1922)
10. Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)

[Spinal]

That's pretty solid. Even though I don't like Rosemary's Baby.

It's really odd to see my friend, Fred Walton's name at the top of Sybil Danning's list for When a Stranger Calls.

[Pop Trash]

The Omen is too high.

[D_Davis]

The Orphanage is too high, in that it's on the list at all.

Seriously though, that's a very good top 100. Some I haven't seen, and they sound interesting.

[Ezee E]

BFI's Sight and Sound is due this year. Looking forward to that a ton.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Fun.

[Winston*]

Surprised how low Braindead ranks.

[Boner M]

Absence of Who Can Kill a Child? aside, this is a pretty fantastic list. Will be returning to the contributors' lists often for recos.

[Dukefrukem]

The Omen is too high.

It shouldn't even be on the list if Rosemary's Baby is on there.

[Rowland]

I've seen 79 of them, and while I could nitpick endlessly about some films placing higher than others, I would consider nearly every one a worthwhile recommendation, so it's definitely a strong list. That said, what is Switchblade Romance doing nearly breaking into the top 50? I liked it just fine, more than many around these parts for sure, but come on. Also, the individual lists are worth going through for some more idiosyncratic suggestions.

Martyrs!

[Rowland]

OF COURSE Tom Six's favorite horror movie would be Saló. :lol:

[Boner M]

Disappointed by how strictly canonical Ti West's list is.

Also realising how much better the 00's and onwards has been for the genre than the 90's.

[Rowland]

1920s: 1
1930s: 6
1940s: 3
1950s: 6
1960s: 16
1970s: 27
1980s: 22
1990s: 8
2000s: 12

The number of entries broken down by decade. The '70s really were awesome.

[Rowland]

Disappointed by how strictly canonical Ti West's list is.Yep. Ditto Roger Corman, Frank Darabont, and Simon Pegg, not that I expected the latter to be a huge horror connoisseur.

Some of the more interesting lists include:

Nicholas McCarthy (never heard of him, apparently has a movie being released this year):

Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932)
I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
The Thing That Couldn’t Die (Will Cowan, 1958)
The Vampire and the Ballerina (Renato Polselli, 1960)
Burn, Witch, Burn (Sidney Hayers, 1962)
Les Possédées du Diable (Lorna the Exorcist) (Jesus Franco, 1974)
The Last House on Dead End Street (Roger Watkins, 1977)
The Car (Elliot Silverstein, 1977)
Don’t Go in the House (Joseph Ellison, 1980)
Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, 2008)

Zack Carlson (horror programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse):

Sleepaway Camp (Robert Hiltzik, 1983)
Tourist Trap (David Schmoeller, 1979)
Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004)
Xtro (Harry Bromley Davenport, 1983)
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
God Told Me To (Larry Cohen, 1976)
The Pit (Lew Lehman, 1981)
The Abominable Dr Phibes (Robert Fuest, 1971)
Race with the Devil (Jack Starrett, 1971)
Devil Fetus (Hung Chuen Lau, 1983)

Josh Saco:

Horrors of Malformed Men (Teruo Ishii, 1969)
Viy (Georgi Kropachyov, Konstantin Yershov, 1967)
Alice, Sweet Alice (Alfred Sole, 1976)
Deep End (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1970)
Faust (FW Murnau, 1926)
The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981)
Who Can Kill a Child? (Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, 1976)
Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)
Ils (Them) (David Moreau, Xavier Palud, 2006)

Brad Stevens:

Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)
The Driller Killer (Abel Ferrara, 1979)
Dawn of the Dead (George A Romero, 1978)
La Vie Nouvelle (Philippe Grandrieux, 2002)
Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! (Monte Hellman, 1989)
Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975)
Lisa and the Devil (Mario Bava, 1973)
Dillinger Is Dead (Marco Ferreri, 1968)
Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)
God Told Me To (Larry Cohen, 1976)

Tim Sullivan (His Top 10 Queer Fear Horrors):

Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
Dracula’s Daughter (Lambert Hillyer, 1936)
The Brides of Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1960)
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)
Daughters of Darkness (Harry Kümel, 1970)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975)
Sleepaway Camp (Robert Hiltzik, 1983)
Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (Jack Sholder, 1985)
Fright Night (Tom Holland, 1985)

Reg Traviss:

Madman (Joe Giannone, 1982)
Witchboard (Kevin Tenney, 1986)
Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Deardon, Robert Hamer, 1945)
Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004)
The Witchfinder General (Matt Reeves, 1968)
Basket Case (Frank Henenlotter, 1982)
Children of the Corn (Fritz Kiersch, 1984)
Asylum (Roy Ward Baker, 1972)
Twins of Evil (John Hough, 1971)
The Hills Have Eyes (Alexandre Aja, 2006)

I was happy to see Nakata's Dark Water appear on a few lists, since I consider it one of the most undervalued J-horrors, superior even to Ringu. Coffin Joe's list reminded me of Rowland V. Lee's wonderfully atmospheric Tower of London, which so few people have seen. Alice Cooper and Sybil Danning are cool for including Silent Hill, ditto Ben Rivers and Christopher Smith for Mamoulian's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Guillermo del Toro for Häxan. Also noticed several inclusions of Lake Mungo, which I've heard of but never had the impression it had much of a reputation. I'll have to seek it out now.

[Boner M]

Lake Mungo's very good, perhaps not a top-tenner but def. one of the best Australian films of recent years. Said I, here: "Creepy-ass flick; more a meditation on grief using supernatural film tropes rather than a flat-out horror film, but I can see a lot of people here digging it. Lays on the Twin Peaks references a little too flick ('bout a recently deceased small-town teen girl, surname's Palmer) but I still found it really affecting."

[megladon8]

Very cool.

I was a little disappointed with some of the contributors' lists (not to mention confused by some of the choices of contributors). Particularly when I looked at Ti West's list hoping for a neat little peak into the mind and taste of one of the most exciting young directors working today. I was hoping for a few more original choices in his list, but instead it's pretty much a paint-by-number, who's who list of all the stuff that's generally considered "a horror classic".

[Pop Trash]

Disappointed by how strictly canonical Ti West's list is.


I dunno...despite seeing a myriad of other horror films in my life, if someone asked me to make a list like this, I'd still go with The Shining, The Exorcist, and Psycho as my top three. Dawn of the Dead and perhaps Poltergeist would be in the top ten as well.

[Ezee E]

-The Shining
-The Exorcist
-Texas Chainsaw Massacre
-Alien
-Possession
-The Descent
-Misery
-The Thing
-The Fly
-Scream

Mine's pretty norm too. Whatevs.

[Dead & Messed Up]

My top ten would probably be crammed with familiar films. Most of them have earned the reverence they inspire.

What's a little disappointing is that most of the filmmakers don't give any supporting commentary. Yuzna talking up Nosferatu is unexpected but cool.

[EyesWideOpen]

I can't believe not a single director picked House.