they’re full of ghouls goblins and just
about everything else that goes bump in
the night horror has roots dating back
to pretty much the beginning of cinema
itself and while the genre has expanded
to include many different subcategories
of horror they all have one goal in mind
to scare the pants off you
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our definitive list of the
top 50 most influential horror movies of
all time
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
doing the unthinkable and ranking 50 of
the most definitive horror flicks to be
released since the dawn of cinema we’ll
be going in depth on just a few of the
entries dissecting why they’re iconic
why they’re memorable and better yet why
they’re downright terrifying if you’re
interested in a more in-depth look at
our picks be sure to check out watch
mojos magazine on the 75 most
influential horror films of all time
available now at watchmojo.com slash
store I do wish we could chat line
I’m having an old friend for day number
50 get out
when Chris Washington goes on a weekend
trip to visit his girlfriend’s parents
he doesn’t realize the danger he’s in
for there’s more to this family their
friends and their servants than meets
the eye
turns out they may be connected to the
abductions of some African American
individuals in the area and
unfortunately for Chris he’s next on
their list
get out marks the directorial debut of
Jordan Peele who perhaps strangely is
known more for his comedy work he
co-created and co-starred in the comedy
central sketch show key & peele and has
appeared in shows like MADtv drunk
history and The Daily Show Peele sense
of humor has definitely found its way
into his work as a director as get-out
does a brilliant job of mixing racial
tension with his unique style of comedy
what’s more it simultaneously pays
homage to some of the classic horror
films that helped define the genre while
also setting up some of the most
original and genuinely terrifying
sequences to appear on the silver screen
in the 2010s
[Music]
the film deals heavily with racism and
how the allies of marginalized people
can actually do more harm than good the
main antagonists of the film don’t come
across as stereotypical racists but
rather as a friendly and warm middle
class family however if you dig deeper
the family can actually be seen as an
allegory for anti racists who hurt more
than they help while Chris’s girlfriend
Rose can be seen as a representation of
Caucasian female complacency with
modern-day racism much like political
horror of the 60s 70s and 80s get-out
explores issues of race and oppression
which in 2017 we’re as important as ever
you’ll be able to see and hear when your
body is doing but your existence will be
as a passenger number 49 invasion of the
Body Snatchers
[Music]
suspense terror great acting a director
distributor disagreement political
propaganda this film really does have it
all based on the novel The Body
Snatchers by Jack Finney the film sees
dr. miles Bernal retelling the story of
how his town was overtaken by pod people
he realizes that what he first mistook
for a delusion actually turned out to be
a silent alien invasion the town is
filled with pods which when placed next
to a sleeping human are able to create a
copy of them that’s devoid of emotion
and that copy then replaces them in
society
once dr. Bernal realizes what’s
happening he manages to escape with his
life only to see trucks filled with pods
driving off to neighboring cities the
film ends with the FBI ordering that
barricades be put up and a sense of hope
that the rest of the world will escape
the pods and pod people but this isn’t
the ending the film was originally meant
to have according to director Don Siegel
he had wanted to film the end with Vanel
screaming in horror as the trucks drive
off with hundreds of pods
however allied artists didn’t like the
pessimistic sentiment and forced Seagal
to change his ending
[Music]
over sixty years and two remakes of the
story have come and gone since the
original film’s release and it’s still
seen as an allegory for communism
dehumanization and the fear of losing
one’s individuality in a society
obsessed with conformity and while the
Soviet Union may be gone the sentiment
of this film is still relevant today
across the globe
[Music]
number 48 the witch
[Music]
it seems like the horror films of today
want us to look not at our present but
at our past as a result 2015’s the which
is a wonderfully detailed and disturbing
look at a Puritan family in New England
at the height of which paranoia in the
1600s after a disagreement over the New
Testament a family leaves their village
and ventures off to build a farm near a
secluded forest things take a turn for
the worse almost immediately when the
family’s newborn disappears as he’s
being watched by their daughter Thomasin
oh it gets worse illness plagues the
young son and various other odd
occurrences happened throughout the run
time including a demonic presence known
as black Phillip taking the form of the
family goat director Robert Eggers
explores the concept of New England
witchcraft convincingly but without
relying on the overused Salem witch
trials to make everything feel more
authentic Eggers consulted with museums
and 17th century agricultural experts
and relied only on natural light when
filming outdoors and candlelight when
filming inside the movie has the feel
and tension of 1996 is the crucible but
with an added horror element similar to
the omen even so it’s still holy its own
being hailed by critics for its
originality and take on puritanical life
in New England as is the case with so
many classic horror films the fear stems
from what isn’t seen rather than what is
shown on screen Eggers uses a slow burn
tactic that results in a memorable
climax and as a result the witch is one
of the more uncomfortable
hour-and-a-half sittings you’ll ever
experience
[Applause]
number 47 28 days later number 46
misery now don’t be afraid I love you
number 45 The Silence of the Lambs
based on the novel The Silence of the
Lambs by Thomas Harris this movie
follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling as
she attempts to track down and stop a
serial killer dubbed Buffalo Bill who’s
been skinning women and dumping their
bodies with the help of dr. Hannibal
Lecter an incarcerated serial killer
cannibal and former psychiatrist
Starling hunts bill down before he can
claim his next victim Katherine Martin
the daughter of a u.s. senator
although Jodie Foster is now famous for
her performance as Clarice
she wasn’t director Jonathan Demi’s
first choice despite her tenacity at
pursuing the role it wasn’t until
Michelle Pfeiffer passed on it that she
was cast Anthony Hopkins faced a similar
situation with the role of dr. Hannibal
Lecter
it was only after Sean Connery turned
the part down that he was cast in the
now iconic role I ate his liver with
some fava beans and a nice Chianti
funnily enough the film wasn’t an
instant hit
instead it slowly gathered critical
acclaim and box office success however
it was well liked among critics and
audiences and it’s still considered one
of the best horror films ever produced
mixing literary finesse and symbolism
with spine-tingling scares The Silence
of the Lambs proves that horror can be
more than just blood gore and horny
teens running naked through the woods
and we’re not the only ones who think
this film is a game-changer for the
genre so far this movie is one of only
three to win all top five awards at the
Oscars and it’s still the only horror
film to win the Academy Award for Best
Picture we’ll drink some Chianti to that
place the loggia the bass
[Music]
number 44 Paranormal Activity number 43
The Cabin in the Woods number 42 the
conjuring what is it number 41 saw yeah
doesn’t want us to cut through a change
he wants us to cut through number 40 the
fly before Jeff Goldblum was the
brilliant oddball mathematician from
Jurassic Park
he was the brilliant oddball scientist
who accidentally turned himself into a
fly monster
Seth Brundle has invented telepods x’
that allow teleportation of inanimate
objects from one pod to the other he
meets and falls in love with science
journalist Veronica Quaife and tries to
keep her interested by teleporting
himself even though he knows it can
cause mutation unfortunately a fly gets
into the telepods with him and its DNA
fuses to his own he evolves into a fly
as the film progresses which comes to a
tragic conclusion involving Veronica and
a second telepods accident a remake of
the 1958 film of the same name 1986 as
the fly is considered director David
Cronenberg’s most successful work
[Music]
it was met with critical acclaim and was
the top grossing film in the US for two
weeks an impressive feat given how
people had reacted to his previous
movies although the movie won the
Academy Award for Best makeup and
hairstyling along with three Saturn
Awards people felt that Goldblum was
shortchanged for not receiving an Oscar
nomination for his performance and
speculated he was snubbed because of the
Academy’s supposed dislike of horror
cinema the makeup for the film was the
work of Chris Wallace who would go on to
direct the massively unpopular sequel to
fly to Wallace designed the costumes
around the idea of aging which is why
Goldblum’s character ends the movie
without any teeth or hair and with his
skin wrinkled and discolored it’s also
been interpreted as an allegory for AIDS
especially given its high profile at the
time of the flies release either way
it’s classic Cronenberg and a terrifying
case of body horror have you ever heard
of insect politics number 39 rec number
38 they live I have come here to chew
bubblegum and kick ass
[Music]
all number 37 child’s play number 36
Nosferatu
[Music]
number 35 scream by the mid-90s horror
cinema was essentially dead beloved
films like a Nightmare on Elm Street and
Friday the 13th had grown into massive
franchises that were basically parodies
of themselves most horror flicks felt
contrived and relied heavily on tropes
people were familiar with to scare
audiences but this knowledge of horror
cinema is what Wes Craven was banking on
when he created scream the film opens
with Casey Becker falling victim to a
murderer who kills her when she
incorrectly answers horror trivia we
then cut to the story of Sidney Prescott
who starts receiving threatening phone
calls near the anniversary of her
mother’s murder
which becomes even more suspicious when
a slew of other murders are reported in
her neighborhood the film comes to a
gripping conclusion when the brains
behind the crime spree are revealed
through a series of tongue-in-cheek nods
to horror tropes and cliches it’s a
standard horror movie stuff scream is a
meta film which in this case means it’s
a witty deconstruction of a love letter
– and a commentary on the horror genre
that’s full of in jokes and references
aimed at fans it opens with the killers
using horror trivia to determine if
their first victim should live or die
the killer attacks people following the
rules of horror and quotes lines from
classic movies like psycho it does a
great job of serving as a commentary on
the predictability and formulaic nature
of slashers while simultaneously being a
fresh take on the style which is
impressive given that some critics blame
Cravens work for the decline of
originality in the genre in the first
place never ever under any circumstances
say I’ll be right back cuz you won’t be
back I’m getting another beer you want
one yeah sure I’ll be right back numbers
for Eraserhead
number 33 Hellraiser want the man who
did this number 32 the haunting scream
number 31 the wicker man number 30 the
Blair Witch Project this groundbreaking
found-footage flick follows the story of
three young adults who venture into the
woods in search of the Blair Witch while
on the hunt they get lost have their
belongings toyed with and end up
breaking down mentally best trip ever
the Blair Witch Project had a sixty
thousand dollar budget and a less than
forty page script that relied heavily on
the improvisational abilities of the
main actors it was a big gamble but one
that paid off to the tune of over two
hundred and forty million dollars
grossed by the end of its theatrical
release plus this movie essentially
kicked off two important horror cinema
crazes viral marketing and an innovative
sense of realism The Blair Witch Project
is thought to be the first big movie to
depend primarily on the Internet to grow
its audience they framed the events in
the film as factual gave out missing
persons posters and played fake police
interviews with supposed friends and
family to make it seem like the stars of
the film had actually disappeared on
their quest to uncover the truth behind
the Blair Witch it’s found footage style
was so cutting edge that people were
genuinely not sure if the stars of the
project really had gone missing during
production this wasn’t the first film to
use the shakey cam technique and as we
saw in the 2000s it certainly wasn’t the
last but it was one of the first and
most successful instances to employ the
technique
number 29
Godzilla didn’t know any yeah come on oh
my gosh me mocha zircon Oh daddy my yoga
[Music]
number 28 the curse of Frankenstein
[Music]
number 27 The Last House on the Left
number 26 Shaun of the Dead
number 25 Friday the 13th
[Applause]
[Music]
whether you love it or hate it you have
to admit that Shauna’s cunningham’s
Friday the 13th made a lasting
impression on horror cinema although
Halloween black Christmas and the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre had already introduced
the slasher formula we’re familiar with
Friday the 13th popularized and added to
it
in addition to killing off teens as
punishment for premarital sex or drug
use relying on the final girl trope and
setting up the origins of one of the
genres most iconic villains and Jason
Voorhees the minds behind Friday the
13th also used the now classic summer
camp backdrop and are credited with
creating the familiar comic relief
character that would become a staple of
the genre in addition the film flipped
expectations on their head by casting
Betsy Palmer as Jason’s mother Palmer
had been known for her more innocent
roles in TV and film which allowed her
to play against type by taking on the
role of the killer in this movie
although she accepted the part because
she was tight on cash and even admitted
to disliking the film when she signed
onto it
Palmer showed moviegoers that anything
and anyone can be scary also important
was the fact that this movie shifted the
role of women in horror before this
horror movie females were mostly
beautiful young women who are either
evil incarnate or damsels in distress
however Palmer played a kindly
middle-aged woman who goes on a murder
rampage through the woods as she tries
to get revenge for the death of her son
and if that’s not game-changing we don’t
know what is number 24 dr. Jekyll and
mr. Hyde
number 23 Ringu
number 22 the birds number 21
cat people number 20 Night of the Living
Dead that coming to get you Barbara
Night of the Living Dead might seem
cheesy to today’s audiences especially
in a world filled with updated takes on
the zombie formula like The Walking Dead
and zombie land but at the time it was a
cutting-edge film that spoke to issues
in America with a controversial story
and graphic imagery set in rural
Pennsylvania the movie shows what
happens after radioactive contamination
from a space probe causes the recently
deceased to become reanimated not dead
but not alive these creatures roam the
countryside looking for human flesh to
feast on many critics lambasted the
movie for its disturbing content and
extreme gore with some even questioning
how it found a distributor other critics
felt it did a great job of pushing the
boundaries of horror and an even better
job of commenting on the United States
at the time people drew a comparison
between Night of the Living Dead and the
Vietnam War thanks to its graphic
black-and-white imagery the Search and
Destroy mentality of the undead and the
concept of surviving but never escaping
the impact of horror which many pointed
to as a centerpiece of the film the
movie was a massive success man showed
filmmakers it was possible to create a
massively profitable movie with an
extremely low budget
it was also proof that audiences wanted
increasingly dark and more disturbing
footage on the silver screen something
George a Romero was happy to give them
as he went on to direct five sequels and
countless other horror features good
shot number 19 poltergeist
number 18 black Christmas number 17
Suspiria number 16 the cabinet of dr.
Caligari number 15 carry if you thought
you had a rough time during high school
we’d like you to meet Carrie white
raised and abused by her religious
fanatic mother Margaret Carrie
played by Sissy Spacek is her school’s
outcast
she’s teased relentlessly by her peers
and looked down upon by the school
administration with the exception of the
kind-hearted miss Collins
when students at the prom take a prank
too far she gets revenge by locking the
doors of the gymnasium and killing
everyone inside using her telekinetic
powers
coming from the mind of famed horror
author Stephen King Carey plays out as a
sort of twisted coming-of-age tale and
brutally portrays the frustrations of
growing into one’s body almost a sec did
receive an Academy Award nomination for
playing the revenge fueled high schooler
she wasn’t director Brian De Palma’s
first pick when it came to Casting she
auditioned for several parts in the film
but wasn’t seriously considered for the
title role until she showed up to her
screen test with greasy hair an unwashed
face and a hideous handmade dress that
she felt encapsulated the character
proving to De Palma that she was the
right woman for the job it’s hard to
deny the sheer impact of De Palma’s take
on Carrie one only has to look to the
iconic pig’s blood scene as to why this
film has become such a cultural landmark
the masterfully edited sequence which
uses dizzying visual cues and an intense
musical score is undoubtedly a timeless
movie moment and has become a benchmark
for horror filmmakers
number fourteen the mummy number
thirteen The Omen look at me Damian
number twelve Dracula
I am Dracula number eleven the Evil Dead
[Music]
number ten the sting
[Music]
this 80s classic tells the tale of an
alien organism that ends up at an
American military base in the Antarctic
and begins infecting the crew members
stationed there the thing infects a
living or freshly deceased being
digesting their cells and replaces them
with its own in order to become a copy
of whatever creature it’s infected
despite the aliens impressive powers its
fear and paranoia that are the real
monsters of the story with the crew
members unable to trust one another for
fear of assimilation by 1982 John
Carpenter had already made a name for
himself with 1978 s Halloween but
despite his success in the genre the
thing didn’t do that well at the box
office well it certainly wasn’t a flop
it didn’t come close to reaching the
level of success the studio had
anticipated it would given carpenters
previous work and popularity with the
masses it’s speculated the lack of
attendance was because Blade Runner came
out in theaters on the same day despite
this it’s developed a major cult
following that considers the film
groundbreaking in terms of its depiction
of paranoia and isolation also if you
don’t think watching the thing in the
comfort of your own home is stressful
enough try taking a trip out to the
amundsen-scott South Pole Station where
the film is screened annually by the
winter crew
[Music]
number nine alien in space no one can
hear you scream they can when you do it
in the middle of a crowded theater as an
alien unexpectedly rips itself from
someone’s chest during dinner
[Music]
alien follows the crew of the Nostromo
after they’re awakened from stasis when
the ship encounters a distress signal
from another vehicle however they soon
discover that what they thought was a
cry for help was actually a warning
telling them to stay away one by one
they’re killed by an alien that’s made
its way aboard their ship leading to a
climactic showdown between the creature
and the heroic Ripley
Ridley Scott’s alien showed the world
that science-fiction horror was not to
be underestimated in cinema it was
nominated for an Academy Award for best
art direction and best visual effects
the latter of which it won and received
a Saturn Award for best science fiction
film to name a few of its accolades its
sequel aliens also took home a slew of
awards upon its release and helped turn
star Sigourney Weaver into one of the
most kick-ass heroines of pop culture
essentially a slasher flick set in space
alien acts on the idea that suspense
comes from withholding things from an
audience the reason that Scott’s film
works so well under the genre of horror
is that the monster is relatively unseen
and therefore the threat of the
xenomorph is constantly looming
throughout the film’s runtime
number eight a Nightmare on Elm Street
please God
they don’t call Wes Craven a master of
horror for nothing a Nightmare on Elm
Street follows a group of teens that
keeps experiencing terrifying nightmares
each one featuring a burned man in a
striped sweater wearing a bladed glove
the man is named Freddy Krueger and as
it turns out he’s a child murderer who
was burned alive by a group of angry
parents years earlier and he’s back for
revenge
although the kids do their best to stay
awake and beat Freddy at his own game
one by one they fall victim to him while
the movie is clearly an 80 / – wanted
his killer to be different from
Leatherface Jason Voorhees Michael Myers
and all the other killers who wore masks
that hid their identities while making
them easily recognizable to the public
Kraven decided that burns and extreme
scarring would be the perfect
disfigurements to keep Freddy’s natural
face hidden while still allowing him to
be expressive
[Laughter]
what’s more the director also wanted the
movie to hit audiences close to home so
he avoided being location specific with
this film after all pretty much every
city has an elm street but most
importantly a Nightmare on Elm Street
assaults the viewer on an extremely
relatable level everyone has experienced
that sense of relief after waking up
safely from a bad nightmare and Kraven
uses this shared experience to make us
question what would happen if these bad
dreams had a more lasting effect number
7 Rosemary’s Baby
widely hailed as one of the best horror
films of all time this psychological
masterpiece will keep you in suspense
for the full 136 minute runtime rosemary
and her husband guy move into a gorgeous
New York apartment and are befriended by
a friendly couple that lives in the
building the castevets their lives could
not seem any more perfect as guy finds
work and rosemary gets pregnant but
rosemary soon realizes the guy and the
castevets have insidious plans for her
baby which as it turns out she conceived
with Satan himself although some
disliked the realism of the film the
movie was a hit and wildly popular among
critics and audiences alike many hailed
its ability to scare viewers without
relying on gore or violence instead
utilizing intense acting and powerful
dialogue
although director Roman Polanski
originally wanted to cast a relatively
new face to play rosemary he wasn’t sure
the film would do well if the lead
wasn’t well known he considered several
actresses for the role before eventually
agreeing on Mia Farrow for the part
unfortunately her husband Frank Sinatra
presented her with divorce papers on set
halfway through filming he’d wanted her
to give up her career when she married
him and was unhappy that she’d signed on
to the film Ferrell considered dropping
out not long after but Polanski
convinced her to stay and claimed she
was practically guaranteed an Oscar
while her acting was praised Ferrell
never did receive that nomination
although her co-star Ruth Gordon won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress for her role in the movie but
even without the gold statue rosemary
and her baby went down in horror cinema
history
[Music]
what have you done to it number six
Halloween Michael
[Music]
before she dodged the holidays and
Christmas with the Kranks before she
traded places with Lindsay Lohan and
Freaky Friday and before she played a
spy alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and
True Lies Jamie Lee Curtis was the
ultimate scream Queen sure other scream
queens existed before her but thanks to
her ear piercing Lee shrill and
shockingly strong set of pipes she
managed to establish herself in pop
culture as the most iconic Halloween
starts with a young Michael Myers
dressed in a clown costume and mask
murdering his older sister with a
kitchen knife we skip ahead 15 years to
see that Myers has escaped the mental
health facility where he was being held
to return home to the fictional town of
Haddonfield Illinois where he stalks
Laurie Strode with plans to kill her
like he did the rest of their family the
film is considered one of the most
successful indie flix ever produced John
Carpenter had only a three hundred
thousand dollar budget for the
production and as a result of the
limited funding Christopher Lee passed
on the role of dr. Loomis because of the
low pay though he later admitted it was
one of his biggest career regrets
Halloween made nearly every horror
cliche definitive staples of the genre
popularized them as part of pop culture
and created the standard for horror
through much of the 80s plus let’s not
forget the iconic theme music Carpenter
composed for the film which haunts
horror buffs to this day
[Music]
number five The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
dinner with us you like hey chief real
good 5 young adults travel through rural
America to visit the Hardesty family
home along the way they discover a
farmhouse where most of the furnishings
are made from human flesh and bones and
slowly but surely they all fall victim
to the family of cannibals that lives
there until only Sally Hardesty is left
while it may sound like your
run-of-the-mill slasher flick it’s
actually a pioneer of the genre once
again this tobe Hooper movie set the
standard and helped establish some of
the horror tropes we’re familiar with
including the final girl character this
movie is also credited as one of the
first if not the first to use tools as
weapons of torture and death and from a
pop culture standpoint the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre started the trend of
movie killers becoming icons the project
was shot on a tight budget which made
filming a grueling process for the cast
and crew shooting took place seven days
a week over the course of a full month
and days could last up to 16 hours to
make matters worse the house didn’t have
proper ventilation and would get as hot
as 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the day
as if that weren’t enough the budget was
so tight they couldn’t afford a second
costume for Leatherface actor Gunnar
Henson and he was forced to wear the
same clothes for the entirety of filming
oh and they couldn’t wash it for fear of
damaging the garments so it was an
all-around terrifying experience for
actors and audiences alike
number four jaws although it’s
considered one of the best films ever
made you might want to skip it if you’re
gonna be visiting a New England beach
anytime soon
jaws takes place in the fictional town
of Amity Island where a great white
shark terrorizes locals and feeds off
swimmers who stray a little too far from
the coast after several attacks the
mayor reluctantly shuts the beach down
and hires oceanographer Matt Hooper
shark hunter Quint and police chief
Martin Brody to climb aboard the Orca
and put an end to the shark once and for
all despite the film’s success its
production was wrought with issues the
shoot was supposed to last only 55 days
but ended up lasting a surprising 159
days instead and it was projected to
cost them only four million dollars to
produce but ended up costing the studio
upwards of nine million dollars to
finish you’re gonna need a bigger potion
while some of the problems were the
result of poor weather conditions and
the general complications that come from
filming in the Atlantic the majority
came from the mechanical shark used in
the movie it broke down got stuck in
seaweed and rusted it was such a hassle
that Steven Spielberg filmed as many
shots as possible without the shark
relying instead on the idea of the
animals presence to heighten tension
care this constantly looming monster
with John Williams iconic score and
you’ve got yourself a horror classic
Jaws also helped create the current
release model of most Hollywood films
they employed massive advertising
campaigns showed the movie and hundreds
of cinemas at the same time and rounded
the whole thing out with some intense
merchandising to create not just one of
the most famous horror movies of all
time but also a true phenomenon
[Music]
number three The Exorcist how long are
you planning to stay in Regan nice
thinking anyway there are scenes in
1973’s The Exorcist that are so iconic
you don’t even need to have seen the
film to recognize them but more than
that this religious horror film gets you
at your core for a variety of reasons
the story follows Regan MacNeil a 12
year old who becomes possessed by the
demon Pazuzu after playing with a Ouija
board when her mother notices her
strange behavior and medical tests can’t
explain the sudden changes in her
daughter she seeks the help of two
priests of course the men and Reagan’s
mother have to face their own demons
before they can face hers The Exorcist
was groundbreaking thanks to its use of
special effects graphic imagery and the
fact that it’s explicit themes all
centered around a young girl payment
some of the effects but turned heads
include an intense vomiting scene with
Linda Blair the famous spider walking
scene and the incredible makeup artistry
of dick Smith during filming director
William Friedkin is sent to have been
rough on the actors and did things like
slapping father William O’Malley to get
a more somber performance from him using
footage where the actors were genuinely
injured in the final cut and even having
Regan’s bedroom built in a freezer so
that the actors breath would be visible
on tape while we can’t speak for the
cast and crew audiences seem to have
decided the effort was worth it to the
shining
[Applause]
all work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy things get real for the Torrens
family when Jack accepts a job working
as the caretaker for the Overlook Hotel
an isolated building that once winter
hits is practically inaccessible from
the outside world
however the hotel’s mysterious influence
begins to set in driving Jack mad and
turning him against his family although
it’s undoubtedly a Seminole horror film
the ending of The Shining has been the
center of much debate Stanley Kubrick
stated that Jack’s presence in the old
photo is evidence that he is the
reincarnation of a previous caretaker
while some still believe it’s proof that
Jack’s been absorbed into the hotel
doomed to be one of the ghosts that
roams its halls I’m not gonna hurt you
I’m just gonna bash your brains the
thematic elements in the shining have
also been a polarizing topic with some
seeing the piece as a criticism on
masculinity in modern America others
seeing it as a response to world war two
in the Holocaust and still others
believing it’s full of symbolism
pointing to American imperialism and the
death of indigenous peoples
thanks to Kubrick’s level of detail and
entrenched symbolism many now consider
the shining one of the greatest horror
movies ever made but that wasn’t always
the case when the film was first
released it elicited mixed reactions
with writer Stephen King in particular
unhappy with how it turned out he was
disappointed in everything from the
casting of Jack Nicholson to the
depiction of Wendy by Shelley Duvall to
the filming location nevertheless
Kubrick’s vision of the Torrance family
remains a unique entry in the horror
genre one that still puzzles and
frightens viewers to this day number one
psycho
based on Robert blocks book of the same
name
psycho changed what we know about cinema
and audience expectations and gave birth
to a new sub-genre of horror the slasher
[Music]
[Applause]
Marion crane is deeply in love with her
boyfriend Sam Loomis but knows they
can’t afford to get married after her
boss asks her to deposit 40 thousand
dollars for him she steals the money
with the intention of giving it to Sam
instead on her way from Phoenix to
California she stops for the night at
the Bates Motel where she meets Norman
who runs the place for his mother or at
least that’s how it seems
well boy’s best friend is his mother
this movie was a seriously mind-blowing
experience for audiences at the time it
was practically unheard of for the main
character to be killed off so early in a
film because the death of Janet Leigh’s
character was unprecedented Alfred
Hitchcock made it mandatory for theaters
to refuse to admit cinema goers who
showed up late to screenings while there
was initial pushback on this with
viateur owners claiming it would cost
the money in ticket sales they agreed to
Hitchcock’s terms and as it turns out
the unusual rule actually led to an
increase in sales and people were happy
to wait in line to guarantee themselves
a spot there’s not a horror director
working in Hollywood today that doesn’t
owe something to Hitchcock’s Psycho this
film by the master of suspense has stood
the test of time and still manages to
subtly creep its way into today’s
hottest horror and thriller flicks let’s
see
FC and they don’t know and they’ll say
she wouldn’t even have do you agree with
our list what movies never fail to keep
you up at night
for more terrifying lists be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com and don’t
forget if you’re interested in a more
in-depth look at our pics be sure to
check out watch mojos magazine on the 75
most influential horror films of all
time
available now at watchmojo.com slash
store we have such sights to show you
[Music]
about everything else that goes bump in
the night horror has roots dating back
to pretty much the beginning of cinema
itself and while the genre has expanded
to include many different subcategories
of horror they all have one goal in mind
to scare the pants off you
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our definitive list of the
top 50 most influential horror movies of
all time
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
doing the unthinkable and ranking 50 of
the most definitive horror flicks to be
released since the dawn of cinema we’ll
be going in depth on just a few of the
entries dissecting why they’re iconic
why they’re memorable and better yet why
they’re downright terrifying if you’re
interested in a more in-depth look at
our picks be sure to check out watch
mojos magazine on the 75 most
influential horror films of all time
available now at watchmojo.com slash
store I do wish we could chat line
I’m having an old friend for day number
50 get out
when Chris Washington goes on a weekend
trip to visit his girlfriend’s parents
he doesn’t realize the danger he’s in
for there’s more to this family their
friends and their servants than meets
the eye
turns out they may be connected to the
abductions of some African American
individuals in the area and
unfortunately for Chris he’s next on
their list
get out marks the directorial debut of
Jordan Peele who perhaps strangely is
known more for his comedy work he
co-created and co-starred in the comedy
central sketch show key & peele and has
appeared in shows like MADtv drunk
history and The Daily Show Peele sense
of humor has definitely found its way
into his work as a director as get-out
does a brilliant job of mixing racial
tension with his unique style of comedy
what’s more it simultaneously pays
homage to some of the classic horror
films that helped define the genre while
also setting up some of the most
original and genuinely terrifying
sequences to appear on the silver screen
in the 2010s
[Music]
the film deals heavily with racism and
how the allies of marginalized people
can actually do more harm than good the
main antagonists of the film don’t come
across as stereotypical racists but
rather as a friendly and warm middle
class family however if you dig deeper
the family can actually be seen as an
allegory for anti racists who hurt more
than they help while Chris’s girlfriend
Rose can be seen as a representation of
Caucasian female complacency with
modern-day racism much like political
horror of the 60s 70s and 80s get-out
explores issues of race and oppression
which in 2017 we’re as important as ever
you’ll be able to see and hear when your
body is doing but your existence will be
as a passenger number 49 invasion of the
Body Snatchers
[Music]
suspense terror great acting a director
distributor disagreement political
propaganda this film really does have it
all based on the novel The Body
Snatchers by Jack Finney the film sees
dr. miles Bernal retelling the story of
how his town was overtaken by pod people
he realizes that what he first mistook
for a delusion actually turned out to be
a silent alien invasion the town is
filled with pods which when placed next
to a sleeping human are able to create a
copy of them that’s devoid of emotion
and that copy then replaces them in
society
once dr. Bernal realizes what’s
happening he manages to escape with his
life only to see trucks filled with pods
driving off to neighboring cities the
film ends with the FBI ordering that
barricades be put up and a sense of hope
that the rest of the world will escape
the pods and pod people but this isn’t
the ending the film was originally meant
to have according to director Don Siegel
he had wanted to film the end with Vanel
screaming in horror as the trucks drive
off with hundreds of pods
however allied artists didn’t like the
pessimistic sentiment and forced Seagal
to change his ending
[Music]
over sixty years and two remakes of the
story have come and gone since the
original film’s release and it’s still
seen as an allegory for communism
dehumanization and the fear of losing
one’s individuality in a society
obsessed with conformity and while the
Soviet Union may be gone the sentiment
of this film is still relevant today
across the globe
[Music]
number 48 the witch
[Music]
it seems like the horror films of today
want us to look not at our present but
at our past as a result 2015’s the which
is a wonderfully detailed and disturbing
look at a Puritan family in New England
at the height of which paranoia in the
1600s after a disagreement over the New
Testament a family leaves their village
and ventures off to build a farm near a
secluded forest things take a turn for
the worse almost immediately when the
family’s newborn disappears as he’s
being watched by their daughter Thomasin
oh it gets worse illness plagues the
young son and various other odd
occurrences happened throughout the run
time including a demonic presence known
as black Phillip taking the form of the
family goat director Robert Eggers
explores the concept of New England
witchcraft convincingly but without
relying on the overused Salem witch
trials to make everything feel more
authentic Eggers consulted with museums
and 17th century agricultural experts
and relied only on natural light when
filming outdoors and candlelight when
filming inside the movie has the feel
and tension of 1996 is the crucible but
with an added horror element similar to
the omen even so it’s still holy its own
being hailed by critics for its
originality and take on puritanical life
in New England as is the case with so
many classic horror films the fear stems
from what isn’t seen rather than what is
shown on screen Eggers uses a slow burn
tactic that results in a memorable
climax and as a result the witch is one
of the more uncomfortable
hour-and-a-half sittings you’ll ever
experience
[Applause]
number 47 28 days later number 46
misery now don’t be afraid I love you
number 45 The Silence of the Lambs
based on the novel The Silence of the
Lambs by Thomas Harris this movie
follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling as
she attempts to track down and stop a
serial killer dubbed Buffalo Bill who’s
been skinning women and dumping their
bodies with the help of dr. Hannibal
Lecter an incarcerated serial killer
cannibal and former psychiatrist
Starling hunts bill down before he can
claim his next victim Katherine Martin
the daughter of a u.s. senator
although Jodie Foster is now famous for
her performance as Clarice
she wasn’t director Jonathan Demi’s
first choice despite her tenacity at
pursuing the role it wasn’t until
Michelle Pfeiffer passed on it that she
was cast Anthony Hopkins faced a similar
situation with the role of dr. Hannibal
Lecter
it was only after Sean Connery turned
the part down that he was cast in the
now iconic role I ate his liver with
some fava beans and a nice Chianti
funnily enough the film wasn’t an
instant hit
instead it slowly gathered critical
acclaim and box office success however
it was well liked among critics and
audiences and it’s still considered one
of the best horror films ever produced
mixing literary finesse and symbolism
with spine-tingling scares The Silence
of the Lambs proves that horror can be
more than just blood gore and horny
teens running naked through the woods
and we’re not the only ones who think
this film is a game-changer for the
genre so far this movie is one of only
three to win all top five awards at the
Oscars and it’s still the only horror
film to win the Academy Award for Best
Picture we’ll drink some Chianti to that
place the loggia the bass
[Music]
number 44 Paranormal Activity number 43
The Cabin in the Woods number 42 the
conjuring what is it number 41 saw yeah
doesn’t want us to cut through a change
he wants us to cut through number 40 the
fly before Jeff Goldblum was the
brilliant oddball mathematician from
Jurassic Park
he was the brilliant oddball scientist
who accidentally turned himself into a
fly monster
Seth Brundle has invented telepods x’
that allow teleportation of inanimate
objects from one pod to the other he
meets and falls in love with science
journalist Veronica Quaife and tries to
keep her interested by teleporting
himself even though he knows it can
cause mutation unfortunately a fly gets
into the telepods with him and its DNA
fuses to his own he evolves into a fly
as the film progresses which comes to a
tragic conclusion involving Veronica and
a second telepods accident a remake of
the 1958 film of the same name 1986 as
the fly is considered director David
Cronenberg’s most successful work
[Music]
it was met with critical acclaim and was
the top grossing film in the US for two
weeks an impressive feat given how
people had reacted to his previous
movies although the movie won the
Academy Award for Best makeup and
hairstyling along with three Saturn
Awards people felt that Goldblum was
shortchanged for not receiving an Oscar
nomination for his performance and
speculated he was snubbed because of the
Academy’s supposed dislike of horror
cinema the makeup for the film was the
work of Chris Wallace who would go on to
direct the massively unpopular sequel to
fly to Wallace designed the costumes
around the idea of aging which is why
Goldblum’s character ends the movie
without any teeth or hair and with his
skin wrinkled and discolored it’s also
been interpreted as an allegory for AIDS
especially given its high profile at the
time of the flies release either way
it’s classic Cronenberg and a terrifying
case of body horror have you ever heard
of insect politics number 39 rec number
38 they live I have come here to chew
bubblegum and kick ass
[Music]
all number 37 child’s play number 36
Nosferatu
[Music]
number 35 scream by the mid-90s horror
cinema was essentially dead beloved
films like a Nightmare on Elm Street and
Friday the 13th had grown into massive
franchises that were basically parodies
of themselves most horror flicks felt
contrived and relied heavily on tropes
people were familiar with to scare
audiences but this knowledge of horror
cinema is what Wes Craven was banking on
when he created scream the film opens
with Casey Becker falling victim to a
murderer who kills her when she
incorrectly answers horror trivia we
then cut to the story of Sidney Prescott
who starts receiving threatening phone
calls near the anniversary of her
mother’s murder
which becomes even more suspicious when
a slew of other murders are reported in
her neighborhood the film comes to a
gripping conclusion when the brains
behind the crime spree are revealed
through a series of tongue-in-cheek nods
to horror tropes and cliches it’s a
standard horror movie stuff scream is a
meta film which in this case means it’s
a witty deconstruction of a love letter
– and a commentary on the horror genre
that’s full of in jokes and references
aimed at fans it opens with the killers
using horror trivia to determine if
their first victim should live or die
the killer attacks people following the
rules of horror and quotes lines from
classic movies like psycho it does a
great job of serving as a commentary on
the predictability and formulaic nature
of slashers while simultaneously being a
fresh take on the style which is
impressive given that some critics blame
Cravens work for the decline of
originality in the genre in the first
place never ever under any circumstances
say I’ll be right back cuz you won’t be
back I’m getting another beer you want
one yeah sure I’ll be right back numbers
for Eraserhead
number 33 Hellraiser want the man who
did this number 32 the haunting scream
number 31 the wicker man number 30 the
Blair Witch Project this groundbreaking
found-footage flick follows the story of
three young adults who venture into the
woods in search of the Blair Witch while
on the hunt they get lost have their
belongings toyed with and end up
breaking down mentally best trip ever
the Blair Witch Project had a sixty
thousand dollar budget and a less than
forty page script that relied heavily on
the improvisational abilities of the
main actors it was a big gamble but one
that paid off to the tune of over two
hundred and forty million dollars
grossed by the end of its theatrical
release plus this movie essentially
kicked off two important horror cinema
crazes viral marketing and an innovative
sense of realism The Blair Witch Project
is thought to be the first big movie to
depend primarily on the Internet to grow
its audience they framed the events in
the film as factual gave out missing
persons posters and played fake police
interviews with supposed friends and
family to make it seem like the stars of
the film had actually disappeared on
their quest to uncover the truth behind
the Blair Witch it’s found footage style
was so cutting edge that people were
genuinely not sure if the stars of the
project really had gone missing during
production this wasn’t the first film to
use the shakey cam technique and as we
saw in the 2000s it certainly wasn’t the
last but it was one of the first and
most successful instances to employ the
technique
number 29
Godzilla didn’t know any yeah come on oh
my gosh me mocha zircon Oh daddy my yoga
[Music]
number 28 the curse of Frankenstein
[Music]
number 27 The Last House on the Left
number 26 Shaun of the Dead
number 25 Friday the 13th
[Applause]
[Music]
whether you love it or hate it you have
to admit that Shauna’s cunningham’s
Friday the 13th made a lasting
impression on horror cinema although
Halloween black Christmas and the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre had already introduced
the slasher formula we’re familiar with
Friday the 13th popularized and added to
it
in addition to killing off teens as
punishment for premarital sex or drug
use relying on the final girl trope and
setting up the origins of one of the
genres most iconic villains and Jason
Voorhees the minds behind Friday the
13th also used the now classic summer
camp backdrop and are credited with
creating the familiar comic relief
character that would become a staple of
the genre in addition the film flipped
expectations on their head by casting
Betsy Palmer as Jason’s mother Palmer
had been known for her more innocent
roles in TV and film which allowed her
to play against type by taking on the
role of the killer in this movie
although she accepted the part because
she was tight on cash and even admitted
to disliking the film when she signed
onto it
Palmer showed moviegoers that anything
and anyone can be scary also important
was the fact that this movie shifted the
role of women in horror before this
horror movie females were mostly
beautiful young women who are either
evil incarnate or damsels in distress
however Palmer played a kindly
middle-aged woman who goes on a murder
rampage through the woods as she tries
to get revenge for the death of her son
and if that’s not game-changing we don’t
know what is number 24 dr. Jekyll and
mr. Hyde
number 23 Ringu
number 22 the birds number 21
cat people number 20 Night of the Living
Dead that coming to get you Barbara
Night of the Living Dead might seem
cheesy to today’s audiences especially
in a world filled with updated takes on
the zombie formula like The Walking Dead
and zombie land but at the time it was a
cutting-edge film that spoke to issues
in America with a controversial story
and graphic imagery set in rural
Pennsylvania the movie shows what
happens after radioactive contamination
from a space probe causes the recently
deceased to become reanimated not dead
but not alive these creatures roam the
countryside looking for human flesh to
feast on many critics lambasted the
movie for its disturbing content and
extreme gore with some even questioning
how it found a distributor other critics
felt it did a great job of pushing the
boundaries of horror and an even better
job of commenting on the United States
at the time people drew a comparison
between Night of the Living Dead and the
Vietnam War thanks to its graphic
black-and-white imagery the Search and
Destroy mentality of the undead and the
concept of surviving but never escaping
the impact of horror which many pointed
to as a centerpiece of the film the
movie was a massive success man showed
filmmakers it was possible to create a
massively profitable movie with an
extremely low budget
it was also proof that audiences wanted
increasingly dark and more disturbing
footage on the silver screen something
George a Romero was happy to give them
as he went on to direct five sequels and
countless other horror features good
shot number 19 poltergeist
number 18 black Christmas number 17
Suspiria number 16 the cabinet of dr.
Caligari number 15 carry if you thought
you had a rough time during high school
we’d like you to meet Carrie white
raised and abused by her religious
fanatic mother Margaret Carrie
played by Sissy Spacek is her school’s
outcast
she’s teased relentlessly by her peers
and looked down upon by the school
administration with the exception of the
kind-hearted miss Collins
when students at the prom take a prank
too far she gets revenge by locking the
doors of the gymnasium and killing
everyone inside using her telekinetic
powers
coming from the mind of famed horror
author Stephen King Carey plays out as a
sort of twisted coming-of-age tale and
brutally portrays the frustrations of
growing into one’s body almost a sec did
receive an Academy Award nomination for
playing the revenge fueled high schooler
she wasn’t director Brian De Palma’s
first pick when it came to Casting she
auditioned for several parts in the film
but wasn’t seriously considered for the
title role until she showed up to her
screen test with greasy hair an unwashed
face and a hideous handmade dress that
she felt encapsulated the character
proving to De Palma that she was the
right woman for the job it’s hard to
deny the sheer impact of De Palma’s take
on Carrie one only has to look to the
iconic pig’s blood scene as to why this
film has become such a cultural landmark
the masterfully edited sequence which
uses dizzying visual cues and an intense
musical score is undoubtedly a timeless
movie moment and has become a benchmark
for horror filmmakers
number fourteen the mummy number
thirteen The Omen look at me Damian
number twelve Dracula
I am Dracula number eleven the Evil Dead
[Music]
number ten the sting
[Music]
this 80s classic tells the tale of an
alien organism that ends up at an
American military base in the Antarctic
and begins infecting the crew members
stationed there the thing infects a
living or freshly deceased being
digesting their cells and replaces them
with its own in order to become a copy
of whatever creature it’s infected
despite the aliens impressive powers its
fear and paranoia that are the real
monsters of the story with the crew
members unable to trust one another for
fear of assimilation by 1982 John
Carpenter had already made a name for
himself with 1978 s Halloween but
despite his success in the genre the
thing didn’t do that well at the box
office well it certainly wasn’t a flop
it didn’t come close to reaching the
level of success the studio had
anticipated it would given carpenters
previous work and popularity with the
masses it’s speculated the lack of
attendance was because Blade Runner came
out in theaters on the same day despite
this it’s developed a major cult
following that considers the film
groundbreaking in terms of its depiction
of paranoia and isolation also if you
don’t think watching the thing in the
comfort of your own home is stressful
enough try taking a trip out to the
amundsen-scott South Pole Station where
the film is screened annually by the
winter crew
[Music]
number nine alien in space no one can
hear you scream they can when you do it
in the middle of a crowded theater as an
alien unexpectedly rips itself from
someone’s chest during dinner
[Music]
alien follows the crew of the Nostromo
after they’re awakened from stasis when
the ship encounters a distress signal
from another vehicle however they soon
discover that what they thought was a
cry for help was actually a warning
telling them to stay away one by one
they’re killed by an alien that’s made
its way aboard their ship leading to a
climactic showdown between the creature
and the heroic Ripley
Ridley Scott’s alien showed the world
that science-fiction horror was not to
be underestimated in cinema it was
nominated for an Academy Award for best
art direction and best visual effects
the latter of which it won and received
a Saturn Award for best science fiction
film to name a few of its accolades its
sequel aliens also took home a slew of
awards upon its release and helped turn
star Sigourney Weaver into one of the
most kick-ass heroines of pop culture
essentially a slasher flick set in space
alien acts on the idea that suspense
comes from withholding things from an
audience the reason that Scott’s film
works so well under the genre of horror
is that the monster is relatively unseen
and therefore the threat of the
xenomorph is constantly looming
throughout the film’s runtime
number eight a Nightmare on Elm Street
please God
they don’t call Wes Craven a master of
horror for nothing a Nightmare on Elm
Street follows a group of teens that
keeps experiencing terrifying nightmares
each one featuring a burned man in a
striped sweater wearing a bladed glove
the man is named Freddy Krueger and as
it turns out he’s a child murderer who
was burned alive by a group of angry
parents years earlier and he’s back for
revenge
although the kids do their best to stay
awake and beat Freddy at his own game
one by one they fall victim to him while
the movie is clearly an 80 / – wanted
his killer to be different from
Leatherface Jason Voorhees Michael Myers
and all the other killers who wore masks
that hid their identities while making
them easily recognizable to the public
Kraven decided that burns and extreme
scarring would be the perfect
disfigurements to keep Freddy’s natural
face hidden while still allowing him to
be expressive
[Laughter]
what’s more the director also wanted the
movie to hit audiences close to home so
he avoided being location specific with
this film after all pretty much every
city has an elm street but most
importantly a Nightmare on Elm Street
assaults the viewer on an extremely
relatable level everyone has experienced
that sense of relief after waking up
safely from a bad nightmare and Kraven
uses this shared experience to make us
question what would happen if these bad
dreams had a more lasting effect number
7 Rosemary’s Baby
widely hailed as one of the best horror
films of all time this psychological
masterpiece will keep you in suspense
for the full 136 minute runtime rosemary
and her husband guy move into a gorgeous
New York apartment and are befriended by
a friendly couple that lives in the
building the castevets their lives could
not seem any more perfect as guy finds
work and rosemary gets pregnant but
rosemary soon realizes the guy and the
castevets have insidious plans for her
baby which as it turns out she conceived
with Satan himself although some
disliked the realism of the film the
movie was a hit and wildly popular among
critics and audiences alike many hailed
its ability to scare viewers without
relying on gore or violence instead
utilizing intense acting and powerful
dialogue
although director Roman Polanski
originally wanted to cast a relatively
new face to play rosemary he wasn’t sure
the film would do well if the lead
wasn’t well known he considered several
actresses for the role before eventually
agreeing on Mia Farrow for the part
unfortunately her husband Frank Sinatra
presented her with divorce papers on set
halfway through filming he’d wanted her
to give up her career when she married
him and was unhappy that she’d signed on
to the film Ferrell considered dropping
out not long after but Polanski
convinced her to stay and claimed she
was practically guaranteed an Oscar
while her acting was praised Ferrell
never did receive that nomination
although her co-star Ruth Gordon won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress for her role in the movie but
even without the gold statue rosemary
and her baby went down in horror cinema
history
[Music]
what have you done to it number six
Halloween Michael
[Music]
before she dodged the holidays and
Christmas with the Kranks before she
traded places with Lindsay Lohan and
Freaky Friday and before she played a
spy alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and
True Lies Jamie Lee Curtis was the
ultimate scream Queen sure other scream
queens existed before her but thanks to
her ear piercing Lee shrill and
shockingly strong set of pipes she
managed to establish herself in pop
culture as the most iconic Halloween
starts with a young Michael Myers
dressed in a clown costume and mask
murdering his older sister with a
kitchen knife we skip ahead 15 years to
see that Myers has escaped the mental
health facility where he was being held
to return home to the fictional town of
Haddonfield Illinois where he stalks
Laurie Strode with plans to kill her
like he did the rest of their family the
film is considered one of the most
successful indie flix ever produced John
Carpenter had only a three hundred
thousand dollar budget for the
production and as a result of the
limited funding Christopher Lee passed
on the role of dr. Loomis because of the
low pay though he later admitted it was
one of his biggest career regrets
Halloween made nearly every horror
cliche definitive staples of the genre
popularized them as part of pop culture
and created the standard for horror
through much of the 80s plus let’s not
forget the iconic theme music Carpenter
composed for the film which haunts
horror buffs to this day
[Music]
number five The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
dinner with us you like hey chief real
good 5 young adults travel through rural
America to visit the Hardesty family
home along the way they discover a
farmhouse where most of the furnishings
are made from human flesh and bones and
slowly but surely they all fall victim
to the family of cannibals that lives
there until only Sally Hardesty is left
while it may sound like your
run-of-the-mill slasher flick it’s
actually a pioneer of the genre once
again this tobe Hooper movie set the
standard and helped establish some of
the horror tropes we’re familiar with
including the final girl character this
movie is also credited as one of the
first if not the first to use tools as
weapons of torture and death and from a
pop culture standpoint the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre started the trend of
movie killers becoming icons the project
was shot on a tight budget which made
filming a grueling process for the cast
and crew shooting took place seven days
a week over the course of a full month
and days could last up to 16 hours to
make matters worse the house didn’t have
proper ventilation and would get as hot
as 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the day
as if that weren’t enough the budget was
so tight they couldn’t afford a second
costume for Leatherface actor Gunnar
Henson and he was forced to wear the
same clothes for the entirety of filming
oh and they couldn’t wash it for fear of
damaging the garments so it was an
all-around terrifying experience for
actors and audiences alike
number four jaws although it’s
considered one of the best films ever
made you might want to skip it if you’re
gonna be visiting a New England beach
anytime soon
jaws takes place in the fictional town
of Amity Island where a great white
shark terrorizes locals and feeds off
swimmers who stray a little too far from
the coast after several attacks the
mayor reluctantly shuts the beach down
and hires oceanographer Matt Hooper
shark hunter Quint and police chief
Martin Brody to climb aboard the Orca
and put an end to the shark once and for
all despite the film’s success its
production was wrought with issues the
shoot was supposed to last only 55 days
but ended up lasting a surprising 159
days instead and it was projected to
cost them only four million dollars to
produce but ended up costing the studio
upwards of nine million dollars to
finish you’re gonna need a bigger potion
while some of the problems were the
result of poor weather conditions and
the general complications that come from
filming in the Atlantic the majority
came from the mechanical shark used in
the movie it broke down got stuck in
seaweed and rusted it was such a hassle
that Steven Spielberg filmed as many
shots as possible without the shark
relying instead on the idea of the
animals presence to heighten tension
care this constantly looming monster
with John Williams iconic score and
you’ve got yourself a horror classic
Jaws also helped create the current
release model of most Hollywood films
they employed massive advertising
campaigns showed the movie and hundreds
of cinemas at the same time and rounded
the whole thing out with some intense
merchandising to create not just one of
the most famous horror movies of all
time but also a true phenomenon
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number three The Exorcist how long are
you planning to stay in Regan nice
thinking anyway there are scenes in
1973’s The Exorcist that are so iconic
you don’t even need to have seen the
film to recognize them but more than
that this religious horror film gets you
at your core for a variety of reasons
the story follows Regan MacNeil a 12
year old who becomes possessed by the
demon Pazuzu after playing with a Ouija
board when her mother notices her
strange behavior and medical tests can’t
explain the sudden changes in her
daughter she seeks the help of two
priests of course the men and Reagan’s
mother have to face their own demons
before they can face hers The Exorcist
was groundbreaking thanks to its use of
special effects graphic imagery and the
fact that it’s explicit themes all
centered around a young girl payment
some of the effects but turned heads
include an intense vomiting scene with
Linda Blair the famous spider walking
scene and the incredible makeup artistry
of dick Smith during filming director
William Friedkin is sent to have been
rough on the actors and did things like
slapping father William O’Malley to get
a more somber performance from him using
footage where the actors were genuinely
injured in the final cut and even having
Regan’s bedroom built in a freezer so
that the actors breath would be visible
on tape while we can’t speak for the
cast and crew audiences seem to have
decided the effort was worth it to the
shining
[Applause]
all work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy things get real for the Torrens
family when Jack accepts a job working
as the caretaker for the Overlook Hotel
an isolated building that once winter
hits is practically inaccessible from
the outside world
however the hotel’s mysterious influence
begins to set in driving Jack mad and
turning him against his family although
it’s undoubtedly a Seminole horror film
the ending of The Shining has been the
center of much debate Stanley Kubrick
stated that Jack’s presence in the old
photo is evidence that he is the
reincarnation of a previous caretaker
while some still believe it’s proof that
Jack’s been absorbed into the hotel
doomed to be one of the ghosts that
roams its halls I’m not gonna hurt you
I’m just gonna bash your brains the
thematic elements in the shining have
also been a polarizing topic with some
seeing the piece as a criticism on
masculinity in modern America others
seeing it as a response to world war two
in the Holocaust and still others
believing it’s full of symbolism
pointing to American imperialism and the
death of indigenous peoples
thanks to Kubrick’s level of detail and
entrenched symbolism many now consider
the shining one of the greatest horror
movies ever made but that wasn’t always
the case when the film was first
released it elicited mixed reactions
with writer Stephen King in particular
unhappy with how it turned out he was
disappointed in everything from the
casting of Jack Nicholson to the
depiction of Wendy by Shelley Duvall to
the filming location nevertheless
Kubrick’s vision of the Torrance family
remains a unique entry in the horror
genre one that still puzzles and
frightens viewers to this day number one
psycho
based on Robert blocks book of the same
name
psycho changed what we know about cinema
and audience expectations and gave birth
to a new sub-genre of horror the slasher
[Music]
[Applause]
Marion crane is deeply in love with her
boyfriend Sam Loomis but knows they
can’t afford to get married after her
boss asks her to deposit 40 thousand
dollars for him she steals the money
with the intention of giving it to Sam
instead on her way from Phoenix to
California she stops for the night at
the Bates Motel where she meets Norman
who runs the place for his mother or at
least that’s how it seems
well boy’s best friend is his mother
this movie was a seriously mind-blowing
experience for audiences at the time it
was practically unheard of for the main
character to be killed off so early in a
film because the death of Janet Leigh’s
character was unprecedented Alfred
Hitchcock made it mandatory for theaters
to refuse to admit cinema goers who
showed up late to screenings while there
was initial pushback on this with
viateur owners claiming it would cost
the money in ticket sales they agreed to
Hitchcock’s terms and as it turns out
the unusual rule actually led to an
increase in sales and people were happy
to wait in line to guarantee themselves
a spot there’s not a horror director
working in Hollywood today that doesn’t
owe something to Hitchcock’s Psycho this
film by the master of suspense has stood
the test of time and still manages to
subtly creep its way into today’s
hottest horror and thriller flicks let’s
see
FC and they don’t know and they’ll say
she wouldn’t even have do you agree with
our list what movies never fail to keep
you up at night
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[Music]
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