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Following the completion of The Top 100 Films of the 1930s, we turn our gaze to the genre of Horror films. These movies are designed to frighten, cause shock and terror, at times laugh, while bewitching and entertaining us at the same time. AMC Filmsite.org says, "Horror films deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality." There can also be a purifying component to Horror films. One of the first major Horror film movements was that of German Expressionism of the 1920s, which used effects of light and shadow to distort reality and stimulate the human psyche. They dealt with madness, the most famous being The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Nosferatu (1922). The first great American Horror performer was stage, film actor, make-up artist, director and screenwriter Lon Chaney. "The Man of 1,000 Faces." He often worked with director Tod Browning, a former carnival barker. There have been many wonderful Horror film movements from around the world including Hammer Horror out of the United Kingdom, Italian Horror & Giallo from filmmakers Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda, Antonio Margheriti, and Dario Argento, as well as Japanese Ghost Horror (Kwaidan, Onibaba, Kuroneko, etc). In the United States, Universal Picture Monsters were the first to explode really big, featuring stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Horror literature has been another popular way to adapt horror to film theaters, especially from authors Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King. Then there was Hitchcock. After that, a film movement that evolved from the 1960s hippie and counter-culture lifestyle was that of exploitation, with 70s films like The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House On The Left, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Perhaps the dominant time for Horror in the US, at least financially, was with the Slasher film cycle of the 1970s and 80s, which completely demolished competition at the box office often in spite of low budgets. These stories explored urban legends such as the Babysitter and "The man upstairs." There were also genre-mixing of Horror & Sci-Fi exemplified by Alien and The Thing, among many others. In the 1980s, gory "B-movies" which were panned by critics became cult classics (Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films). There are Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Evil Clowns and Witches. That's not all. There's Zombies, and Little Monsters from films like Critters, Ghoulies, and yes *sigh* Gremlins. David Cronenberg "Body Horror" & Mad Scientist themes. Also self-reflective metafictional Horror films of the 1990s such as New Nightmare, In The Mouth Of Madness, and Candyman. Films which explore the relationship between fictional and real world horror. The trick became more overt with Scream, featuring teenagers inside the story fully aware of horror movies and openly referencing them. Along with that are splatter films taken to ridiculous excess - think Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (Dead Alive). Self-mocking parodies. Franchise films, Rob Zombie and a re-visit of Exploitation, Anthology Horror films, and Remakes. These are altogether by no means the only kinds of films to choose from, but give a foundation from which to build on.
The Rules:
Perhaps the dominant time for Horror in the US, at least financially, was with the Slasher film cycle of the 1970s and 80s, which completely demolished competition at the box office often in spite of low budgets. These stories explored urban legends such as the Babysitter and "The man upstairs." There were also genre-mixing of Horror & Sci-Fi exemplified by Alien and The Thing, among many others. In the 1980s, gory "B-movies" which were panned by critics became cult classics (Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films). There are Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Evil Clowns and Witches. That's not all. There's Zombies, and Little Monsters from films like Critters, Ghoulies, and yes *sigh* Gremlins. David Cronenberg "Body Horror" & Mad Scientist themes. Also self-reflective metafictional Horror films of the 1990s such as New Nightmare, In The Mouth Of Madness, and Candyman. Films which explore the relationship between fictional and real world horror. The trick became more overt with Scream, featuring teenagers inside the story fully aware of horror movies and openly referencing them. Along with that are splatter films taken to ridiculous excess - think Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (Dead Alive). Self-mocking parodies. Franchise films, Rob Zombie and a re-visit of Exploitation, Anthology Horror films, and Remakes. These are altogether by no means the only kinds of films to choose from, but give a foundation from which to build on.
The Rules:
- Submit your ranked list of twenty-five titles, numbered 1-25 with no ties, to me via a private message with the title "[Your Username] - "Top 100 Horror Movies"
- Films will be awarded points as follows: 25 points for 1st place, 24 points for 2nd place, 23 for 3rd and so on, all the way down to one point for your 25th placed film.
- New members can send in a list as soon as they've been a member here for one month. This measure is taken so that the list isn't falsified by people who have been here for a week, and then disappear.
- If the movie is tagged HORROR on IMDb, it is eligible for vote on the countdown. If the movie is not tagged HORROR on IMDB, it is not eligible for vote.
- Short films are not eligible.
- Anyone who reveals their list before the countdown has ended will be disqualified.
- The deadline for entries is March 15, 2019. That's three-and-a-half months. Plenty of time to review favorites, discover new ones, and order a list.
- NEW COUNTDOWN FEATURE: Guest Presenters. Up to Ten Guest Presenters will be allowed. If you are interested in being one, send me a private message. You will present one film, to be negotiated in Private Message once our List is finalized. The first ten to commit will be the ones chosen. The Top 10 (1-10) will be off limits, as will the Bottom 10 (91-100). No more than ten will be permitted. This is our list, and if there are members who want to be the entertainer for a movie they like, I think they should get that chance.
I wanna play a game.
Looking good!
