Moving this discussion over here from Witness the Atomic Array: What do you think are the truly greatest horror films of all time? Before I share a few of my choices, I will shamelessly promote my conviction that the best horror uses suspense and elements of fear (especially of the unknown) and psychological thrill instead of gore and gross out to achieve their greatness. Please share your nominees and thoughts here. (I also ask that we resist posting films that we have a special individual weakness for, when we know that they are too flawed to deserve the same level as the truly great.) Maybe some of us will find some new gems we've overlooked.

I'll start with:

Psycho

The Shining

Alien

Night of the Living Dead (the original b/w)

Rosemary's Baby

The Omen (the original)

The Changeling

Hmmm... that's all I've got right now.

Which Changeling, Cainus?

Which Changeling, Cainus?

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Which Changeling, Cainus?

I presume it's this one?

You want your "suspense and elements of fear (especially of the unknown) and psychological thrill" that is the movie for you.

It scared the crud out of me when I first saw it. See it whenever you get the chance.

The Exorcist

The Thing

Ju-On: the Grudge (Japanese version)

REC

The Descent

The Devil's Backbone

Hell Raiser 1 and 2 is another good one
The Ring (Japanese Version)
Dawn of the Dead (both versions)
Evil Dead(A great cult classic)
The Dead Pit

Halloween 1 and 2 (the originals)

all my other favorites have been covered.

In the Mouth of Madness another chilling tale one of the few good horror movies of the nineties.
The Re-animator

The Exorcist

Alien

The Thing

The Shining

Salem's Lot (80's TV version)

Hellraiser

Event Horizon

The Blob

Pumpkinhead

The Exorcist

Alien

The Thing

The Shining

Salem's Lot (80's TV version)

Hellraiser

Event Horizon

The Blob

Pumpkinhead

The Thing

The Thing

The Thing

The Thing

and
The Thing

EDIT: Mairk, regarding Psycho and The Shining: I know that a lot of people endlessly quote these (and also The Exorcist, which I have not seen) as the scariest movies ever, but for some reason neither of them actually scared me all that much. I agree that the Suspense/Thriller gives a much better scare than a silly Slasher/Gore Horror and as such are a cut above but these two movies just didn't scare me, I'm sorry.

A bit late to the party. I think all of my favorites have been mentioned.

The Exorcist

Ju-on

Ringu

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Halloween (1978)

Also have to add Nosferatu to the list. Truly classic.

Almost forgot....

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Children Of The Corn

(the originals, of course)

In no specific Order:

Alien

In the Mouth of Madness

Ringu

The Thing

Psycho

Event Horizon

Descend

The Devil's Rejects

Cronos

Lord of Illusions

This threads been done a time or two.

My answer then seems to hold up pretty well so I'll repeat myself.

I'm not sure I believe in a single best horror movie. Still my top votes would probably be
Scariest:
The Ring (American version), In the Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter), Halloween (the original), and the Haunting

Best rewatch value:
The Ring, The Thing, Jaws, Evil Dead, Alien

Most influentiual:
Jaws, Alien

This threads been done a time or two.

My answer then seems to hold up pretty well so I'll repeat myself.

Thanks to everyone who's contributing. I'm digesting your answers and preparing a queue for my next personal film festival.

There is always this thread: "What's The Scariest Movie Ever"

With its resulting compiled list:

Note: ties are listed in alphabetical order.
Scariest Movies:

COUNT, TITLE

______________

13 , The Shining

11 , The Exorcist

10 , Jaws

10 , The Ring

9 , Event Horizon

8 , Alien

8 , Blair Witch Project

6 , Changling

6 , The Exorcist III

5 , Halloween

5 , John Carpenter's The Thing

5 , Night of Living Dead

4 , The Audition

4 , Evil Dead

4 , Fire in the Sky

4 , The Haunting (not remake)

4 , Poltergeist

4 , Texas Chainsaw Massacre (not remake)

3 , American Werewolf in London

3 , Black Christmas

3 , Candyman

3 , The Grudge

3 , Nightmare on Elm Street

3 , Omen

3 , Phantasm

3 , Prince of Darkness

3 , Se7en

3 , Serpent and Rainbow

3 , Silence of Lambs

3 , Watership Down

3 , Wicker Man

2 , 1408

2 , 28 Day's Later

2 , Amnityville Horror

2 , Burnt Offerings

2 , The Dark

2 , The Fog (original)

2 , Hellraiser

2 , In the Mouth of Madness (Carpenter)

2 , It

2 , Jacob's Ladder

2 , Killer Clowns From Outer Space

2 , Last House on Left

2 , Lets Scare Jessica to Death

2 , Mothman Prophecies

2 , Prophecy

2 , Psycho

2 , Riget I & II

2 , Salem's Lot

2 , Wizard of Oz

1 , 28 Weeks Later

1 , Angel Heart

1 , Apt Pupil

1 , Arlington Road

1 , Bad Seed

1 , Below

1 , Children of Corn

1 , Child's Play

1 , Cold Blood

1 , Creepshow

1 , The Cube

1 , Dagon

1 , Dawn of Dead (original and remake)

1 , Dead Ringers

1 , Dead Zone

1 , Demon Seed

1 , The Descent

1 , Devil's Backbone

1 , Don't Look Now

1 , Dracula 3000

1 , Dressed To Kill

1 , The Duel

1 , Ernest Goes to Camp

1 , Ernest Goes to Jail

1 , The Eye

1 , The Fly (remake)

1 , Friday the 13th

1 , Galaxy of Terror

1 , The Gate

1 , Ghost Story

1 , Gothika

1 , Gremlins

1 , Guyana Tragedy: Story of Jim Jones

1 , Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

1 , Indiana Jones

1 , Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original)

1 , Invasion of the Saucer Men

1 , Jeepers Creepers 2

1 , Kids

1 , Legend of Boggy Creek

1 , Mordum

1 , Nosferatu (Herzog version)

1 , Night of the Hunter

1 , People Under the Stairs

1 , Pet Cemetary

1 , Play Misty for Me

1 , Rosemary's Baby

1 , The Screaming Skull

1 , Signs

1 , Silent Scream

1 , Sixth Sense

1 , Spell, The

1 , Stepfather

1 , Strange Invaders

1 , Suspiria

1 , Terminator 2

1 , Trilogy of Terror

1 , Uzumaki

1 , Vanishing (not remake)

1 , Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Terminator 2? Ernest goes to (insert anything here)? Indiana Jones? Really? I guess I could see how a nuclear holocaust followed by machine rule could be scary to some people and nazi-killing ghost Jews might be sort of intimidating to anti-Semites, but the Ernest movies had to be joke entries. Anyway, some of the films on that list do stand out as some of the better psycho-horror/suspense movies.

Jacob's Ladder, Audition, and Angel Heart are all really good examples of the genre, and The Blair Witch Project is one of the most effective horror movies of all time.

Two films I'll mention that nobody else has are R Point and The Tenant. Maybe they aren't the "best," but they are both worth checking out. I'm also giving Requiem for a Dream an honorable mention because, even though it might not be considered a horror film, it does admirably convey the psychological terror of drug addiction.

The thread title is a little misleading since there are so many genres of horror cinema, but it seems you're only looking for suspense/horror or psychological horror films.

OH,THE HORROR!!!
I had the misfortune of seeing Event Horizon at the movie theatre.
How anybody can consider it a good film is a complete mystery to me.I'd rather see Reptilicus again than see this over-hyped monstrosity again,that's how bad it is.
As for The Thing,are you talking about the 80's version,(in which I had trouble staying awake) or the Howard Hawks version?
Here are some great films you guys have missed:
Black Sunday and Black Sabbath are classic horror films. Not to be missed.See why many horror fans consider Bava to be the Italian version of Hitchcock.
Cronos:Del Toro's first film.One of his best films,and one of the modern classic vampire films.
Curse of The Demon:One of the great Val Lewton films.
Forbidden Planet:While most people consider this an SF film,the ID monster makes this a horror film.
Godzilla:The original Japanese version,natch.
The Haunting:The original is one of the best psychological horrors ever.
Kwaidan:One of the best anthology films,along with Black Sabbath.Very long and stylised.Probably the epitome of Japanese ghost stories.
Let The Right One In:If you ever wondered how vampires got their devoted servants,this one is for you.One of the best modern vampire films.
The Nanny:Hammer film starring Bette Davis as the nanny and written by Jimmy Sangster.What more recommendation do you need?
Near Dark: A classic modern vampire movie,despite the plentiful gore.
Planet of The Vampires:Despite the title,there are no vampires in the film. It is actually a zombie film. Despite this,it is still,in my opinion,Mario Bava's best film.
The Wicker Man (the original ONLY):In my opinion,Lord Summerisle is Christopher Lee's best villain role.Male watchers will also appreciate the plentiful female nudity.
X The Unknown:Jimmy Sangster's first full-length movie is about a giant radioactive blob menacing the English countryside.If you love blob movies,this is a must-see.
X!The Man with the X-Ray Eyes:Probably Corman's best film,it's probably the best of the classic "Things Man was Not Meant To Know" films the fifties were so enamoured of.

I had the fortune of seeing Event Horizon at the theater with a free pass before its release. Still one of my favorites. Sam Neill in a horror movie is usually a win for me.

And a grindhouse classic ... Cannibal Holocaust.

The thread title is a little misleading since there are so many genres of horror cinema, but it seems you're only looking for suspense/horror or psychological horror films.

The aim was to rule out gross-out entries. There may be gory films that are frightening, but in my experience, when a film relies on revulsion, it's because it's failed to be frightening. I'm open to exception, but they need to have some claim to the same kind of cinematic greatness.
See Martyrs, one of the most disturbing and uncomfortable movies that I have ever seen. Very frightening.

We should also rule out Torture Porn as it's not scary just intense (e.g. Saw).

My top ten horror movies (note that slot #10 is a constantly changing slot for fancy new stuff that really impresses me and could make its way up to one of the permanent slots, given time...)

1: Alien
2: John Carpenter's The Thing
3: Halloween
4: Psycho
5: Jaws
6: The Exorcist
7: Dawn of the Dead (Romero's version)
8: The Blair Witch Project
9: The Ring
10: Paranormal Activity

My top ten horror movies ...

Edit: Plus, you are consistent >from 3 years ago< . :-)

We should also rule out Torture Porn as it's not scary just intense (e.g. Saw).

If you want to see a bizarre black horror comedy, you should check out Peter Jackson's Dead Alive (Braindead). It's full of great quotes!

link1

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Tensor wrote:

We should also rule out Torture Porn as it's not scary just intense (e.g. Saw).

I disagree. The "torture porn" subgenre is like any other horror subgenre; most of it is crap, but some of it is legitimately scary. I would classify "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Frontier(s)" as examples of torture porn that are legitimately scary movies in that genre.

James Jacobs wrote:

My top ten horror movies (note that slot #10 is a constantly changing slot for fancy new stuff that really impresses me and could make its way up to one of the permanent slots, given time...)

1: Alien
2: John Carpenter's The Thing
3: Halloween
4: Psycho
5: Jaws
6: The Exorcist
7: Dawn of the Dead (Romero's version)
8: The Blair Witch Project
9: The Ring
10: Paranormal Activity

I am in complete agreement with your 1-9. You have good taste.

The Vanishing
Audition
Hellraiser
The Omen
The Descent
Night of the Demon
Night of the Living Dead

What about Pitch Black?
In my opinion, it's the best sci fi horror since the first Aliens.

Brain Dead a great cult classic and hilarious movie...Urizen you beat me to the punch. Another good zombie spoof Shawn of the Dead.
Another not so well known one, it won Fangorias best Horror movie of the year award I think back in 2005 Zombie Honeymoon. Disturbing to say the least.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the one and only movie that made me run out of the room screaming. I was 10 by the way.

If you want to see a bizarre black horror comedy, you should check out Peter Jackson's Dead Alive (Braindead). It's full of great quotes!

link1

link2

Texas Chainsaw is the only film I have seen which actually made me feel uncomfortable watching.

What about Pitch Black?
In my opinion, it's the best sci fi horror since the first Aliens.

Some favorites that haven't been mentioned much in the thread so far: 28 Days Later and Drag Me to Hell.

I'm glad to see The Descent rates so high for so many folks. That movie is wicked good!

What about Pitch Black?
In my opinion, it's the best sci fi horror since the first Aliens.

Urizen wrote:

If you want to see a bizarre black horror comedy, you should check out Peter Jackson's Dead Alive (Braindead). It's full of great quotes!

link1

link2

I kick a$$ for God!

Texas Chainsaw is the only film I have seen which actually made me feel uncomfortable watching.

What about Pitch Black?
In my opinion, it's the best sci fi horror since the first Aliens.

Cujo?

Some favorites that haven't been mentioned much in the thread so far: 28 Days Later and Drag Me to Hell.

I'm glad to see The Descent rates so high for so many folks. That movie is wicked good!

niel wrote:

What about Pitch Black?
In my opinion, it's the best sci fi horror since the first Aliens.

The thing is, Aliens wasn't really horror so much as action. As a successor to that, I like Pitch Black a lot, but I'm not sure it really counts.

Drag me to Hell is also a really fun movie, but it's a bit too comedic for my tastes to count as an actual horror movie. That's also why Evil Dead 2 and those movies aren't in my top horror movies... they'd probably be in my top comedies though! Or maybe top fantasy movies or action movies. They're not really horror though...

I responded on the previous thread from 3 years ago as well.

For the record, I loved Event Horizon then, and still love it today.

My old lists still hold up:
Scariest:
The Exorcist
The Exorcist III
Prince of Darkness
The Fog (original)
Burnt Offerings
Salem's Lot Mini-series, not movie (Tobe Hooper version)
Alien
Event Horizon

Favorite:
Phantasm Series (1 thru 4)
Day of the Dead (original)

Intense (includes brutal and gory):
The Hills Have Eyes (remake)
Wolf Creek
The Hitcher (original)
Prophecy
Candyman

Add to the lists since then:
Paranormal Activity
Repo: The Genetic Opera (horror elements in an opera)
My Bloody Valentine (remake)
Friday the 13th (reboot)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (BOTH versions)
Saw 1-6 (these flicks have become a tradition and they rock)

Hmm... to get the full picture, maybe I need to see your top 30 list, chief. ;)

Totally forgot Dog Soldiers.
Nice werewolves!

Maeloke wrote:

Some favorites that haven't been mentioned much in the thread so far: 28 Days Later and Drag Me to Hell.

I'm glad to see The Descent rates so high for so many folks. That movie is wicked good!

niel wrote:

What about Pitch Black?
In my opinion, it's the best sci fi horror since the first Aliens.

The thing is, Aliens wasn't really horror so much as action. As a successor to that, I like Pitch Black a lot, but I'm not sure it really counts.

28 Days Later would also be on my top 20 or 30 list. Great movie!

Drag me to Hell is also a really fun movie, but it's a bit too comedic for my tastes to count as an actual horror movie. That's also why Evil Dead 2 and those movies aren't in my top horror movies... they'd probably be in my top comedies though! Or maybe top fantasy movies or action movies. They're not really horror though...

Can you see them, Sally ... hiding in the shadows. They're alive, Sally. They want you to be one of them when the lights go out.

Don't be afraid of the dark. or The Dark as it is commonly called.

I saw Jaws when I was 9, and that movie scared the crap out of me. We lived in Tampa at the time, and I couldn't go to the beach for a couple of months after seeing the movie.

I also saw Alien at a young age (thank you HBO-before-parental-controls).

I love older John Carpenter movies, like Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, and Prince of Darkness (and Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, and They Live, but those don't count).

28 Days Later would also be on my top 20 or 30 list. Great movie!

Drag me to Hell is also a really fun movie, but it's a bit too comedic for my tastes to count as an actual horror movie. That's also why Evil Dead 2 and those movies aren't in my top horror movies... they'd probably be in my top comedies though! Or maybe top fantasy movies or action movies. They're not really horror though...

If we're digging the horror-cum-action genre films, I'll definitely add Pitch Black and Aliens to my list of favorites.

Lets see... Oh, I couldn't call it a 'greatest horror film of all time' with straight face, but I rather enjoyed the first Resident Evil movie :D

Never Been Kissed, just thinking about watching that movie scares the sh*t out of me.

Never Been Kissed, just thinking about watching that movie scares the sh*t out of me.