Saying that there are a lot of horror movies out there is an understatement. The genre continuously sees expansion, with filmmakers with all sorts of budgets and ideas creating something for themselves. Horror is, undoubtedly, the genre that allows the most expression, and one that easily encapsulates many other genres in each feature film. A horror feature film can also be a thriller, a mystery, even a comedy, at the same time, which is why horror is kind of beautiful.
However, out of all those contributions to the genre, we can’t claim each one lives up to a certain reputation. There are a select few movies in horror that truly, undoubtedly, live up to their reputations, and they are often the milestones in the genre one way or another. For anyone just getting into horror, these are the movies that won’t disappoint you. They might even inspire further watching, a movie idea, or just a simple but fun discussion with friends.
10
‘The Omen’ (1976)
Directed by Richard Donner
The Omen is one of the biggest horror movies of the 1970s; an essential contribution to the genre during the probably best decade for it. The story has been revamped, parodied, made into a franchise, and dissected later on, but the original not only holds up well, but lives up to its demonic reputation better than ever before. Richard Donner‘s horror masterpiece was initially critically panned, possibly due to societal (mostly the Catholic Church’s) pressures to ban the movie due to its non-Catholic nature; however, most revisions today praise The Omen as one of the best and most exciting examples of the genre.
The Omen follows an American diplomat in Rome, Robert Thorne (Gregory Peck), whose wife Katherine (Lee Remick) delivers a stillborn child. After realizing there’s an abandoned child in the hospital, the hospital’s priest convices Thorne to take the baby and hide the truth from Katherine. Robert does so out of desperation, and the parents name the boy Damien. Once Damien turns five, strange events begin happening; his nanny acts possessed, dogs around him become aggressive, and Damien refuses to enter a church. The Omen is horror gold, and if anything, it precedes its reputation, considering the initial critical response.
The Omen
- Release Date
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June 25, 1976
- Runtime
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111 minutes
9
‘Train to Busan’ (2016)
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho
Calling a recent movie legendary might feel uninspired, but any fan of the zombie horror genre has more than likely heard of and loves Train to Busan. There is a movie that, once in a while, wows people with a charm that makes it exciting and lovable, though we can’t say Train to Busan succeeded accidentally. The writing, the directing, the editing, the acting, and the pace all contribute to making this one of the best zombie horror movies. Director Yeon Sang-ho is very familiar with the genre, and hiring Gong Yoo and Ma Dong-seok as leads allowed him to tap into a market full of fans of South Korean action stars.
Train to Busan follows the divorced Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), whose daughter Su-an expresses a wish to go to Busan and see her mother for her birthday. Seok-woo and Su-an board a KTX train to Busan, where numerous other passengers, including Sang-hwa (Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife. Just before departure, a woman infected with a virus jumps onto the train and the infection spreads throughout the train. The rest of the movie takes place on a speeding train full of zombies, which is a recipe for disaster (or massive success). Train to Busan is one of those movies everyone should see at least once.
Train to Busan
- Release Date
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July 1, 2016
- Runtime
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118minutes
8
‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968)
Directed by Roman Polanski
Rosemary’s Baby is, undoubtedly, Roman Polanski‘s biggest success, despite a long career that lasted much after this Mia Farrow feature. Polanski’s reputation became problematic just after 1968, so anything he made before the accusations against him feel like they were made in a bubble by a man many consider an exceptional filmmaker. Rosemary’s Baby is a psychological horror and a masterclass in paranoia and tension. Watching the movie feels like something which can’t be defined is off, like looking at a picture on a wall that is leaning a couple of milimeters to one side.
Mia Farrow stars as Rosemary Woodhouse, wife to Guy (John Cassavetes), a stage actor; the two enthusiastically move into a new apartment in Manhattan, despite warnings of its shady past. When Rosemary learns she’s pregnant, the tenants in the building start behaving strangely. Paranoid, frequently alone, and brewing with emotion, Rosemary descends into madness, dragging the viewers with her. The movie lacks blood and gore, but it’s a chilling masterpiece regardless; the tension is purely psychological, which holds up well today, after so many years.
Rosemary’s Baby
- Release Date
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June 12, 1968
- Runtime
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137 minutes
7
‘Scream’ (1996)
Directed by Wes Craven
Scream is also fairly recent, but it’s legendary. Far from the first or the last great slasher, Scream still marks a certain period when people were craving freshness in horror, and got a blockbuster Christmas movie that didn’t include a vision of Santa Claus. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson joined forces to bring an iconic slasher killer, Ghostface, to life; while the producers and creators were seemingly unsuspecting of the movie’s success, Scream became a mega-hit through exceptional word of mouth.
Its reputation lives up today, as the original Scream is still considered the best of all its sequels. In it, Neve Campbell leads a talented ensemble cast as Sidney, a high-school student who, together with her friends, becomes the target of a serial killer known as Ghostface. Suspicious of others in school, and ultimately of each other, Sidney and her friends lose each other’s trust in the awakening of a strong paranoia. With one of the greatest killer reveals, Scream is still as good as the first time you see it.
Scream
- Release Date
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December 20, 1996
- Runtime
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111 minutes
6
‘Ringu’ (1998)
Directed by Hideo Nakata
Another fairly recent movie, Hideo Nakata‘s Ringu, is a great example of horror that sends chills down the spine with its overall impression. There’s not one thing that’s missing in Ringu – the sound design is gripping, the directing exceptional, and the story, though kind of ridiculous, works every minute. Ringu was remade as The Ring with Naomi Watts in 2002, and turned into a franchise both in Japan and the US (though the one in Japan is much larger), but none of the additions and remakes come close to the original.
When people started watching J-horror, Ringu was one of the first movies they got into. It follows the journalist Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) and her ex-husband, Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada), professor with the power of the sixth sense, as they investigate a mysterious videotape that carries a curse. Anyone who watches the tape receives a call that they will die seven days from then; Reiko and Ryuji defy those odds in looking for answers. Ringu hasn’t let its viewers down so far, and it’s usually praised for exceptional suspense. It works today, too, and holds up well even after so many copies and parodies.
Ringu
- Release Date
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January 31, 1998
- Runtime
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95 Minutes
- Director
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Hideo Nakata
- Writers
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Hiroshi Takahashi
5
‘Jaws’ (1975)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
The movie that ruined a summer – and sharks and water – often teeters between thriller and horror, but make no mistake, it’s quintessential horror through and through. Jaws is a classic monster horror that blends genres and a combination of influences as much as it is influential (Steven Spielberg basically invented summer blockbusters with Jaws). A fun fact about Jaws is that Spielberg initially planned to have mechanical sharks, but as they kept malfunctioning, he chose to imply the shark’s presence rather than make it obvious; this is precisely why Jaws lives up to its reputation – a masterclass in tension and suspense, the movie isn’t hindered by practical effects that might seem outdated today.
Jaws follows Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), the police chief of a New England town that’s being terrorized by a great white shark. As people’s fear grows, they become more aggressive towards the shark; different solutions come up until marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) join Brody on a mission to catch and kill the dangerous shark. With Scheider’s commanding lead and Spielberg’s innovative filmmaking, Jaws is one of the best movies of all time, and still just as relevant.
4
‘Halloween’ (1978)
Directed by John Carpenter
Michael Myers is one of the scariest killers on film; a mysterious, masked stalker who you see behind corners and standing still, watching you. Someone who instills terror and fear into the viewer without sometimes moving an inch. All of that happens in Halloween, one of the landmarks of horror, and a legendary movie that remains terrifying until today. Even if John Carpenter, the director, didn’t mean to expand his independent horror film into a massive franchise later, that was still done, keeping the Michael Myers legend alive.
Halloween follows Myers, an escaped prisoner of a psychiatric hospital. Wearing a mask, he returns to the suburb where he previously killed his little sister and got locked up for it. He begins stalking teenage girl Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), who he notices near his childhood home. The suspense and fear that Halloween instills into viewers hasn’t faltered to this day. Carpenter made sure to use unique frames and filming methods, like using Myers’ perspective, to depict the terrifying events of the movie that are still scary today.
Halloween
- Release Date
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October 27, 1978
- Runtime
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91 Minutes
3
‘Alien’ (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott‘s Alien was a genre landmark in many ways; the combination of science fiction, horror, and thriller is unique in this feature film, while critics have found the movie’s themes to rely heavily on bodily autonomy, human fallibility, and relations and reproduction without permission. The analysis of Alien is very interesting, and all of its details were surely not accidental; the movie becomes more and more relevant as years go by, not only living up to its reputation, but preceding it very often.
Alien follows the crew aboard the space hauler Nostromo; they’re all in cryo sleep when the ship’s interface, Mother, wakes them up because of a nearby signal. The captain of the ship is Dallas (Tom Skerritt), but the hero of the story is Nostromo’s warrant officer, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). When the crew realizes they have a stowaway that isn’t human and is very dangerous, the true horror begins. Ripley is the horror hero everyone loves, and one of the first female action heroes on par with most men.
Alien
- Release Date
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June 22, 1979
- Runtime
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117 Minutes
- Writers
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Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
2
‘The Thing’ (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter
Another Carpenter original on the list, The Thing is truly a work of art. Even if, for example, Jaws chose to forego mechanical sharks, The Thing is proudly a creature feature that, to some viewers, might seem goofy with some of its practical events. However, the movie must be observed beyond that, because it’s a lot more. The Thing is one of the best and scariest examples of the effects of isolation on humans; isolation fueled with paranoia and fear, to be precise. Kurt Russell leads a greatly talented ensemble cast, while Carpenter again employs impressive directing and framing techniques to emphasise the terror of The Thing.
The Thing follows a group of scientists isolated in a research center in Antarctica, who are under attack by an alien life-form that can adapt and shapeshift into other creatures. When the crew realizes what’s happening, they become paranoid and terrified, quickly turning on each other. Losing the trust of the only humans around you turns a person into an isolated and fearful character whose aggressive side can come out at any point. This is what The Thing tries to emphasize, and, really, in today’s climate, it’s as relevant as ever, living up to its already stellar reputation.
The Thing
- Release Date
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June 25, 1982
- Runtime
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109 minutes
1
‘The Exorcist’ (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin
The biggest, baddest, most influential supernatural/religious horror movie is, without a doubt, The Exorcist. There have been some before and many after, but something about William Friedkin‘s terrifying masterpiece stands the test of time; people have been calling the movie scary, bone-chilling, and even traumatizing, but that’s not just a result of a product of the time. The Exorcist has an eternal glory to it, with some who’ve seen it back then still refusing to touch the replay button. It sinks its teeth under one’s skin, and it’s brilliantly directed. Friedkin (but mainly his crew) suffered a lot during the shoot, but hopefully, he and the original story author, William Peter Blatty, were ultimately proud of how much praise and importance is given to The Exorcist.
The Exorcist follows the exorcism of a possessed 11-year-old girl, Regan (Linda Blair), performed by experienced priest Lankaster Merrin (Max von Sydow) and father and doctor Damien Karras (Jason Miller). Regan’s condition worsens and becomes increasingly bizarre over time, with her head spinning backwards, vomiting acid, and even speaking in tongues. The possession is attributed to a demon called Pazuzu, who is, according to legend, a demon of the home or a domestic spirit. Today, Pazuzu is most frequently connected to The Exorcist, and is put among the scariest horror creatures of all time.
