9. Cabin In The Woods, 2012 Director: Drew Goddard Released four years ago, this is easily one of the most original ideas to enter the world of horror in the last 20 years. Equal parts comedy, horror and science fiction, Goddard's film works so well because it uses lessons of the past in making a film that transcends easy taglines. Five unsuspecting college students go away for a weekend, but that’s where you become unable to guess what’s coming next. One of the great movies of the last few years and well worth your time if you want to laugh intermittently while being scared s**tless. 8. High Tension, 2005 Director: Alexandre Aja What starts out as a nice relaxing weekend intended for studying for two young ladies quickly changes course when a crazed man in a truck decides to ruin a family's life. From that moment on, you’re presented with enough gore to make you good on horror films for a long time and an intense chase that will leave you as confused as I was during the initial viewing. Over the top death scenes and a climax that will make you go back and double check the rest of the film for clues will leave you satisfied, but also with a knot in your stomach.
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6. Let The Right One In, 2008 Director: Tomas Alfredson Rarely does a film do so much with such a basic backstory, but this one manages to soar among the best horror films of the last decade. A young boy meets a strange girl, and in the pursuit of protecting the boy this girl has fallen in love with, they encounter troubles from multiple angles. It’s directed and shot wonderfully, and while violence and crimes of an extreme nature are very clearly shown, the cinematography used in capturing the mood and the coldness of the setting makes this a worthwhile film to embark on, especially this time of year.
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.L 5. Blair et T Witch he Project, 1999 Director: Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick Straight up when I saw this movie for the first time my mind had exploded, and only the images of carnage displayed during the running time entered my brain. I lived at the time in a nowhere town with two roads and plenty of trees, so traveling back home at 1 a.m. after seeing this truly rocked my 18-year-old mind to the core. Since then, found footage has become more popular, but the trials of three unassuming campers laid the groundwork for the whole horror genre to move forward. The worst part of the movie is easily the way in which you imagine the suffering you hear in the shadows and not in what you actually witness. You’ve been warned.
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7. House Of 1000 Corpses, 2005 Director: Rob Zombie One of my favorite movies of all time, period. I became obsessed with this movie, seeing it seven times in theaters before making it a go to for the Halloween season. The genius of the film lies in the treatment of the snot nosed rude captives and how they manage to get stuck in a mess involving a family of insane, calculated killers called the Firefly family. House of 1000 Corpses isn’t as much about survival of the victims as it is a look into the crazy family and how they function in the world. A horror movie for metal fans, Zombie’s directorial debut is full of visually stunning set pieces, humor used in the most dark and twisted way possible, and enough of a backstory to fuel more movies set in this universe. A must watch for old school campy horror fans, as well as people familiar with Zombie's blend of horror metal.
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Maybe the greatest horror film of all time? Not sure, but it’s my favorite by far. The way Kubrick tricks the audience, accompanied by extremely scary portrayals from Jack Nicholson and the ever frazzled Shelley Duvall make The Shining a horror opus for us all. It’s a long winding road of uncertainty, but as the movie runs it’s course, you’re confronted with unbridled terror in a remote location of the world, where the only thing you can do to escape the 8 spirits inhabiting 00 the 2 hotel is , Right One In running for your life. 3. Halloween, 1978 Director: John Carpenter You probably expected this to be number one given the subject matter, but John Carpenter’s classic Halloween enters our countdown on the final day at number three. It just seemed too obvious to put this at number one, but that’s not discounting the effect the film still has on moviegoers all these years after it’s release. What would you do if your sibling went crazy years earlier and broke out on Halloween to kill the last remaining member of your family that, by the way, happens to be you? All of these things are explored in the movie, set in a normally quiet town in the Mid-West. A powerhouse, gamechanging performance from Jamie Lee Curtis gives the film an ampleness to navigate the terrain, and one of the best villains in all of film slowly, methodically and patiently comes after our heroine. Chilling to the core, with enough scares to
2. A udition, 2001
4. The Shining, 1980 Director: Stanley Kubrick
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never make you feel safe in your own house again, Halloween has stood the test of time, and remains a very real reason not to piss off your family. 2. Audition, 2001 Director: Takashi Miike Like a slow stew of food cooking over several hours, Audition remains one of the most difficult watching experiences I’ve ever been involved in. The setup you ask? A widower trying to find his next wife embarks on a fake audition to find his dream girl. The only catch is the lady he picks has a notorious relationship with the male species. Over the course of the film, it becomes slowly evident that this is going to majorly f**k up this guys life, but the last 15 minutes of the movie will both captivate you in the gentle ways his life is ruined, and also just how scary it is to fall for someone who turns out to be utterly psychopathic in their methods. You won’t be looking at the screen, but it’s only because you are stunned by the horror before your eyes. 1. The Descent, 2006 Director: Neil Marshall Hands down the scariest movie on the list, Neil Marshall’s perfect, foreboding, dark and sinister The Descent remains the film all other horror movies of recent memory are compared to. Let me tell you too, this movie puts recent terrifying films to utter shame. It’s so scary, my former partner refused to watch it for nine years because of how scary she heard it was. Set inside a cave below the earth, strong, powerful, smart women are thrust forth into a world of darkness, with only their knowledge and flashlights to help them escape a movie monster so well done, that you don’t even need an imagination to picture just how vicious these things are. From the opening scene to the last desperate gasps of the finale, The Descent manages to be a story with more raw emotion, spirit and energy than anything that has been released since. Proclaimed as the scariest movie of the last 20 years by many, you’ll see why as soon as you go down to the underbelly of the earth and of evil. Happy Halloween y'all!
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