MY FAVORITE HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME!
Oct 05 '00 (Updated Jun 08 '07)
The Bottom Line I hope you all enjoy my list and please remember it's only my list of Favorites not anyone else!
Some of these films when they first came out were very scary. Some may say that a few on this list no longer scare many but when they were released they did their job. This list is not all inclusive of my all time favorites but those favorites that I have purchased and still own on video. This is my first foray into a list like this so I will do my best to provide enough information but not too much or overkill. I will try to put these in order I believe them to be the scariest on top to the least scariest.
1. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD This Movie was originally released in 1968 in Black and White. It was released on video in it’s original Black and White format and later was re-released as a colorized version. I have both versions on video but prefer the B/W version more. The original 1968 version was a lot more scarier then it’s remake and I will only talk about the original version here. It stars “Judith O’Dea” and “Russell Steiner” and is 96 min. long. It was about 7 people who barricaded themselves in and old abandoned farm house to try and keep away from the dead that had arisen. These “Living Dead” were flesh eating zombies out to kill and eat everyone they found.
2. THE EXORCIST Originally released in 1973, it has been re-released recently with added footage. I hope to see this updated version very soon. The original version stars “Linda Blair”, “Lee J. Cobb” and “Ellen Burstyn”. It is 121 min. long and I understand the updated version has added 10 additional min. of new footage. Linda Blair is a 12 year old who has been possessed by the Devil. Her mother asks priests' to come and perform an exorcism to rid the Devil from her little girl. The Devil is very mean and speaks in a deep male voice and speaks in foreign languages and even in Latin. He makes the girl float in the air over her bed, spit pea soup into the face of the priests' and at one point her head spins around 360 degrees. There were 2 more chapters of this movie made. "EXCORCIST II: THE HERETIC" was released in 1977 and the "EXCORCIST III"; was released in 1990.
3. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Released in 1974 and it is 83 min. long. It stars “Marilyn Burns”, “Edwin Neal” and narrated by “John Larroquette”. The Movie is about a family in Texas that sell meat. What unsuspecting people don’t know is the meat is human that they have carved up with butcher knives and a chainsaw. This is most likely the most violent film on this list as well as the most gross. I have lost count how many more sequels were made of this movie. I do know that the next two movies in this series had actors that become a lot more well know than this first one. The 2nd in the series was released in 1986 and was called very appropriately, “THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE II” which stars “Dennis Hopper” . Number 3 in the series was released in 1990 and was called “LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III". The 4th in the series was called a very corny "TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION” and was released in 1997. The 4th in the series stars “Renee Zellweger” and “Matthew McConaughey”.
4. PSYCHO Released in 1960, directed by “Alfred Hitchcock” and is 108 min. long. It stars “Anthony Perkins” , “Janet Leigh”, “Vera Miles” and “Martin Balsam”. Janet Leigh decides to stay at the 12 room Bates Motel for a night. Anthony Perkins owns and operates the empty Bates Motel and is seen spying on his one tenant through a peep hole and stalking her throughout. We also see him seemingly talking to his Mother in a rocking chair but find out in the end she is dead and he is just plain crazy. The shower scene is one of the greatest of all time. I believe this to be Alfred Hitchcock’s best movie he ever directed. This movie spawned 3 more in the series. There was “PSYCHO II” IN 1983, “PSYCHO III” IN 1986 AND “PSYCHO IV: THE BEGINNING” in 1990. All four in the series starred “Anthony Perkins” . There was a remake of the original “PSYCHO” released in 1998 but it was a Bomb.
5. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR Originally released in 1979 and is 117 min. long. It stars “Margot Kidder”, “James Brolin” and “Rod Steiger”. Amityville was a small city in upstate New York and the story revolves around a 3 story House that is haunted or possessed. The previous tenants were brutally murdered in this house and strange things happen throughout the movie in this house. Cold strong winds, walls and stairs that bleed with a strange ooze. They try to leave the house after they can put up with the creepyness no longer but the house locks all the doors and windows and refuses to let them go. This movie had 5 sequels to it. “AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION”, “AMITYVILLE 3D: THE DEMON”, AMITYVILLE 4: THE EVIL ESCAPES” , “AMITYVILLE 1992: IT’S ABOUT TIME” and “AMITYVILLE: A NEW GENERATION”.
6. HALLOWEEN Released in 1978 and is 93 min. long. It stars “Jamie Lee Curtis”, “Donald Pleasence” and “Nancy Loomis” and is directed by “John Carpenter”. About a child WHO’S NAME WAS Michael Myers, who on Halloween kills his whole family while they sleep. After 15 years he returns to the same town wearing a mask and kills everyone he can find. Seems to be totally indestructible as he his hit by a car, shot several times, stabbed, falls off a second story balcony and still gets up to walk away, terrorize and kill. This was Jamie Lee Curtis’ first feature film. There were 6 more movies released in this series although #3 had nothing to do with the continuing story line. They were “HALLOWEEN II”, “HALLOWEEN III: THE SEASON OF THE WITCH”, “HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS”, “HALLOWEEN 5”, “HALLOWEEN 6: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS” AND “HALLOWEEN H20: 20 YEARS LATER”.
7. A NIGHTMARE ON ELMSTREET Originally released in 1984 and is 92 min. long. Starring “John Saxon”, Johnny Depp”, “Robert Englund” and directed by “Wes Craven”. Nancy and her high school friends are all having the same terrible re-occurring dreams/nightmares. Someone in their dreams wants to kill them and is doing so one at a time as they sleep. His name is Freddy Krueger who is a ghost who can enter anyone’s dreams at will and do whatever he wants to them which happens to them in real life as they sleep. This movie was such a big hit that it not only led to at least 8 sequels but a TV series called “Freddy’s Nightmares”. It was released in syndication only and was on from 1988 to 1990 with 44 episodes being made. Since there were so many sequels to this movie I won’t go into all here but to say after they went through #5 they started to call them Freddy this and Freddy that movies so it is sometimes hard to find them all. I have 5 of the videos from this series.
8. FRIDAY THE 13TH Released in 1980 and is 95 min. long. Starring “Betsy Palmer, “Robbie Morgan” and “Kevin Bacon” . This movie revolves around a summer camp named Camp Crystal Lake and a killer named Jason. The camp has been closed for 20 years due to unsolved murders. The new owner and 7 young Camp Counselors are preparing the camp for it’s reopening. On Friday the 13th one by one in a 24 hour period each one is brutally murdered all in a different way. This movie also was a big hit and spawned at least 8 sequels. “FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2”, “FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3”, “FRIDAY THE 13th PART 4: THE FINAL CHAPTER”, “FRIDAY THE 13th PART V: A NEW BEGINNING”, “FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD”, “ FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN” and “JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY”. I own a total 6 videos in this series.
9. PHANTASM This was released in 1979 and is 89 min. long. It stars “Michael Baldwin”, “Bill Thornbury” and “Reggie Bannister”. Michael Baldwin is a 13 year old named Mike Pearson who witnesses a superhuman undertaker stealing from a grave and carrying a lone dead body by himself. He follows him inside a white marbled wall funeral parlor where he sees a flying metal ball with blades that cause a grisly murder. The story continues when he returns with his older brother and they encounter supernatural forces at work that try to enslave them both. This movie had 3 sequels “PHANTASM II”, “PHANTASM III: LORD OF THE DEAD” and “PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION”.
10. THE DEVIL’S RAIN Released in 1975 and is 85 min. long. It stars “Ernest Borgnine” , “Ida Lupino”. “William Shatner”, “Tom Skerritt”, “Eddie Albert” “John Travolta” and “Keenan Wynn”. Very big cast of well known stars here for a very low budget film. This movie is about Jonathan Corbis played by Ernest Borgnine being a leader of a coven of witches. He owns a book which has inscribed in it the names of people who have given their souls to the devil. The book is stolen and hidden from him for 100 years so he is unable to deliver the souls to Satan. He finally finds the book and goes about to perform his ritual so that the souls become the ownership of the devil. This is the very first appearance of John Travolta in a movie in a very bit part.
HORONORABLE MENTION LIST OR BUBBLING BELOW THE TOP TEN
This additional listing of Horror Videos I own is not in any order but I felt deserve some mention as they are also ones I enjoyed enough to purchase.
“THE FOG”, “HOUSE”, “ALIEN”, “SCREAM”, “I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER”, “CHILD’S PLAY”, “THE THING”, “THE BLOB”, “THE OMEN”, “THE EVIL DEAD”, “PROM NIGHT”, “THE MUMMY”, “FRANKENSTEIN”, and “THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON”
I hope you found some of your favorites listed above? Please feel free to leave comments or your favorites list no matter how many and if some are on my list as well. I really enjoyed making this list of favorites and I hope you enjoy reading it half as much. I realize I have missed a lot of the all time great horror movies but as I said in the beginning this is only the ones I personally own. I have slowed way down on my purchasing videos in hopes that I will get a DVD player for Christmas (you reading this honey?), so I want to wait and if I get lucky to get one start buying them in that format. Thank so very much for coming by to read my personal best list. I hope you have a great day and God Bless You, Ron.
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Member: Ron Drain
Location: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Reviews written: 235
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About Me:
I LOVE Music/TV/Movies & sports like Football - NFL/College, Baseball, Olympics - Summer/Winter and Wrestling.
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