perspectives and changed the horror game
forever
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top ten
innovative horror movies that did
something brand new before we begin we
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this list we’re looking at those great
horror films that changed formulas
brought a creative spin to the genre and
inspired so many to words
spoiler alert let’s see they see and
they don’t know and they’ll say she
wouldn’t even hammer
number ten the Evil Dead crafted in a
style that still resonates today this no
budget DIY 80s classic inspired a legion
of followers to pick up their cameras
and put their vision on film with or
without the resources the dark humor and
creative makeup effects paved the way
for so much 80s horror cinema Sam
Raimi’s gruesome story single-handedly
created the cabin in the woods Jarrah
but his fearless filmmaking attitude
showed the world that gritty indie films
with heaps of imagination can become
worldwide phenomena it clearly helps to
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it’s dizzying to think that a
full-length movie this terrifying was
made almost a century ago while not the
first horror flick ever made it is
certainly the first feature-length one
to be put on the silver screen this
effectively the gothic settings the
shadowy figures the gruesome makeup
audiences had never seen anything like
this before the Germans had created
surreal cinematic Expressionism and
Nosferatu became almost synonymous with
gothic silent horror
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and although the story was directly
lifted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula
moviegoers were too busy being horrified
to worry or care
number eight saw our trends come in
bloody waves and following the terrible
resurgence of cheesy slasher films in
the late 90s audiences were looking for
even more gruesome entertainment entered
the delightful world of torture porn
brought to us thanks to a little indie
film known as saw you are still alive
the surprise popularity of the cheaply
produced fan favorite with its brutal
story and shocking ending paved the way
for a decade’s worth of controversial
hits it not only created a huge
franchise but also taught studios that
smartly written horror films can be
economically made and fun in mainstream
audiences will not shy away from gore
most people are so ungrateful to be
alive but not anymore
leave it to Wes Craven to constantly
change up the horror genre when masked
killers we’re already getting stale in
1984 he gave us Freddy when Freddy
himself was becoming a bore Craven
turned his own franchise on its head and
gave us new nightmare a meta horror film
where the idea of Freddy seeps into the
real life of the actors and creators of
the series this is still aspect we’re
talking about right Wes although he
again reinvented the genre soon after
with scream another meta classic new
nightmare was praised for its uniqueness
Craven thankfully broke from dying
number six Halloween any all right while
the honor for creating the slasher genre
goes to other films like the Italian
jell-o blood and black lace John
Carpenter brought the world something
wholly unique the savage but muted
experience of a slow stopping killer the
later sequels establish a backstory and
motive for Michael Myers but this
faceless unrelenting killer initially
had a horrifying and disturbing lack of
apparent motive
the opening sequence unveiling the blank
face of a young murderer shocked
audiences to their very course Michael
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the popularity of Halloween spawned its
own unending franchise with innumerable
knock-offs
and holiday themed thrillers
number five The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
so you’re some stop stop The Exorcist
just a year prior to this entry
prepared audiences for a new horizon of
brutal horror realism however these were
still supernatural terrors nobody was
prepared for tobe Hooper’s vision of
violent realism anyone well sorta can
see themselves falling prey to a
cannibalistic family of crazies or at
least being chased by a chainsaw
wielding maniac innovative in more ways
than we give it credit for the original
massacre popularized the teenagers in
peril motif as well as using the based
on a true story opening which can still
to this day make any horror movie seemed
even scarier
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number four Night of the Living Dead
back having to get you Barbara some of
you may be tired of seeing zombies
everywhere but they are enduring movie
and TV monsters and it’s all thanks to
the genius of this little passion
project before 1968 the term zombie
meant something different usually as
sometimes dead sleepwalker controlled by
a voodoo priest
although 28 days later made them more
aggressive our slow lurking decomposing
brain eating undead made their first
appearance in George Romero’s Night of
the Living Dead unique for its
underlying message about race and for
featuring the first black hero in a
horror movie it is still analyzed and
praised half a century later good shot
number three the Blair Witch Project
we know that the Blair Witch Project is
far from being the first use of found
footage with that honor going to the
equally classic Cannibal Holocaust
however the way the found footage method
was brilliantly used to elevate the
tension in the film and innovatively
exploited to create buzz in its sly
viral marketing campaign was beyond
anything audiences had encountered
before do I look like I’m laughing at
all the film’s bare minimalist approach
allowed the crew to save money on lavish
effects and equipment this Sun
fortunately inspired Studios to later
number two alien horror was experiencing
a resurgence in mainstream cinema by the
late 70s and slasher films were becoming
a huge commodity so what was the next
evolutionary stage at that point slasher
in space of course audiences all fired
up to see another space epic on the big
screen were shocked horrified and
thrilled to find an amalgamation of a
classic sci-fi monster movie with a
modern
stockin kill thriller Dallas
what’s more alien broke the convention
of what an on-screen alien looked like
not to mention it featured a powerful
brave and intelligent heroine audiences
could really root for before we unveil
our number one pick here are some
number one psycho we all go a little mad
sometimes haven’t you already a
world-renowned master of suspense Alfred
Hitchcock knew he had to not just break
the mold but smash that bad boy into a
million pieces and flush it down the
toilet
enter a deranged killer brutal on-screen
deaths and psychosexual stocking
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the overshadowed peeping tom may have
covered similar ground but psycho
changed everything by reaching the mass
audience a campaign was even launched to
keep moviegoers from entering theaters
too late you know cuz of the whole
killing the main character early in the
film thing and warning audiences about
revealing the twist ending
was another innovation in viral
marketing do you agree with our picks
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