Brainbugs Top 50 Best Horror movies of all time - Baumer's top 50 starts on page 18

[baumer]

16) The Ring (2002)

US

Box office:  250 million

Person of interest:  Gore Verbinski

Memorable quote:  I think before you die, you see the ring...

 

 

Let's just get right to the point. The Ring is one of the scariest films I have ever seen.  Gore Verbinski's The Ring returns to the roots of horror and pays homage to the early greats like Halloween and Psycho but almost goes a step past the greats, not quite but almost.

The Ring does something that only a handful of horror films have done, and that is it stays in your subconscious hours and days and weeks after you watch the film. Gore Verbinski and Ehren Krueger have combined to make a masterpiece of modern horror. This film is that good. For a guy who grew up loving films like Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, I have been yearning for a film like this. A film that not only is a great scary film but a film that is a pure kinetic experience, one that makes me look behind me at my silent television sitting in the corner of the room. Is Samara there? When my radio begins to go haywire and search for stations on its own, is that Samara? This film gets inside of you and stays there. But it eats away at you like the nightmares that Malcolm McDowell is forced to watch in A Clockwork Orange. It attacks your mind and berates your senses. Samara is one bad ass villain. The Ring is a masterpiece and as I have already stated, this is the best horror film to come out since 1984 when Freddy Krueger stalked us in our dreams. The Ring may have it's roots in Japanese horror, but it owes much of its pedigree to all horror greats of the past, whether they are American, Canadian, Japanese or Italian. There is a bit of it all in here and the results are kinetic.

And one final note. There is one infamous scene in this film, near the end, and I'm sure we all know what it is, and this is one of those scenes that will stand the test of time as one of the great images in horror films. I know horror aficionadoes will recall scenes like Hitchcock's shower scene, the bouncing ball in The Changeling, Michael Myers rising in the background at the end of Halloween, the head spinning scene in Exorcist, Freddy's tongue coming out of phone in Nightmare on Elm Street and Jason's first kill wearing his hockey mask in Friday the 13th Part III just to name a few. But *****************big spoiler here if you have not scene the movie********** when Samara comes out of the T.V., that is one of the most indefeasible and primal scenes I have seen in any horror film. It shocked me and thrilled me all at once. It is an image that will never leave my mind and it is just one of a plethora of scenarios that makes the Ring such an absolute masterpiece....and when I saw this film with a friend of mine, he actually got up and almost left the theatre when he saw Samara come out of the TV.  It's just too much to handle for some people.

 

@Vanilla   One of the scariest films I ever seen,especially in the theatre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the Samara scene....it still creeps me out watching it now:

 

 

[baumer]

This brings us to the top 15.  I'll get started on that tomorrow.

[baumer]

I think I've been a bit long winded in the last little bit.  I'm going to cut that down.  

[baumer]

15) The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

US

Box office:  55 million

Person of interest:  Mark Pellington

Memorable quote:  You didn't see it, did you?

 

John Klein, a Washington newspaper reporter leaves his job after his wife dies to investigate strange reports, including psychic visions ("prophecies") and sightings of winged creatures ("mothmen"), in a small West Virginia town, that may be the signs of an alien invasion of Earth...

 

 

Some people, perhaps most people go through life not really wondering about much. They go to work, punch the clock and then go home and do it all again the next day. But what about the ostensibly small percentage of people that seem to think, like Neo from the Matrix did, that there is just something not quite right with the world we inhabit? These people have a slightly skewed perspective of what is right, what is wrong and how it all comes together. These are the people that are always asking why? Why does something happen and in the greater scheme of things, how does it all matter? Is there really a reason for everything or do some things just happen....because?

The Mothman Prophecies is a riveting story about how some people seem just slightly ahead of the rest of us. It is a story of trusting your feelings and not going mad or getting committed in the process. And finally it is one of the scariest films I have ever seen. Some people give me strange looks when I say that it is but this is truly a case of what gets inside of you personally.  

Based on true events.

I read an article that stated that this is a film that Hollywood actually had to tone down. In most cases, when film makers get a hold of material, they have to beef it up to make it more palpable for an audience. But this is just the opposite. Mark Pellington had to simmer some of the events in the film because he felt that if they actually filmed what was claimed, the audience would not believe the absurdity those events. If that is the case, it frightens me to think what was left out because as it stands, this film is on the brink of utter temerity. There is a head first slide into the bizarre and the film never fails to literally chill your bones. This film made me feel insignificant.

Richard Gere plays John Klein, which one can only assume is really a character based on the novelist John A. Keel, who wrote about the events the film is based on. He is a Washington Post reporter who has just bought a new house with his wife, whom he loves very much. After a horrible car accident, his wife is hospitalized and just before she dies, she draws numerous pictures of what can only be described as an evil looking moth like creature, or perhaps even the Angel of Death. She begs the question to John, "You didn't see it did you?" Which begs the question to us, why not?

Soon after, John ends up in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and has no recollection of arriving there. Here he meets Sgt. Connie Parker, played by Laura Linney and Gordon and Denise Smallwood, two of the locals. Soon after he arrives, strange things begin to happen and shortly he and Connie become entangled in an imbroglio with mysterious implications. Many of the locals claim they have seen something similar to what John's wife drew just before her death. And Gordon, played with pure twilight zonesque manerisms by Will Patton, seems to be the most affected by this phenomenon. He begins to hear voices, predicts future disasters, and finally claims to have met a mysterious figure. All the while Klein begins to see and hear unexplainable things. And here in, in my opinion, lies the key to the film.

Mark Pellington, John A. Keel and screenwriter Richard Hatem, seem to explore the subliminal irrational workings of the unknown. There are too many subtle, yet distinct elements that show up in the film. But they are not at the surface, they are just beneath. They're in front of our eyes the whole time, but only if you look hard enough. Much of this film deals with paranormal activities and the paranoid revelations of the people in one town. But it doesn't stop there. Klein is from a town six hours away and eventually he seeks the opinion of a man in Chicago who wrote a book that claims he felt the same things. So there are people that have experienced these unexplained phenoms all over the country. And this is where the film goes off into a level that I have never seen before.

In order for people to have seen this figure or to be able to comprehend it, the film suggests that there has to be an open mind. As an old proverb once said, "the mind is like a parachute, it only works if you open it." Klein seems to have his eyes and mind wide open after his wife's death. He hasn't quite let go of her and this somehow enables him to communicate with whatever it is that is out there. There are times when whatever it is seems ripe with duplicity but more times than not, whatever this figure says, what he predicts, what he prophecises, it comes true. Klein's wife's death marks the nascency of his exploration into the abnormal.

The theory of the unknown is what is dissected in such infintismal but succinct ways, that on a first viewing, you may not recognize them. We hear stories about people being committed to psyche hospitals because of their failed attempted interpretations. We hear of people that claim they are being watched by a higher being, but feeling this is not really God-like and not really evil. It is just an entity. We see people predict future disasters, we see dreams that prophecize death. And all the while, these people are looked upon as being pariahs. It is much easier to get up, go to work and watch television than it is to think and perhaps accept the fact that there is something just beyond our control that lurks in murky places in our minds. There is even further sublime evidence that the director and writers feel this way. There are constant anomalous images filmed with an ethereal glance. These are images that we now take for granted without batting an eyelash. Things like phones, televisions, pictures and electricity are all given to us in metaphoric and literal glimpses. The creators of this film seem to be telling us that if we can believe in the use of technology, technology like capturing a moment in time on a piece of paper or if we can receive someone's voice transmitting hours away through a few cords and wires, then why is it preposterously inconceivable that Dark Angels or Mothmen really do exist? Perhaps, like the film tells us, they only exist to those of us that can open our stagnant minds a little more than the next person.

Arlington Road was a surprising film that left you paralyzed with fear and your mind spewing questions long after the curtains came up. The Mothman Prophecies (especially for horror fans) will invoke discussions long after the lights come on. I realize this review may be a little long but this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes all that can be discussed in the film. There is a whole other religious element to the movie that hasn't even been explored. For instance, notice that both major events in the film happen on Christmas Eve. Why?

Mark Pellington is an astute director teamed with a cunning and observant writer who believe in the pulchritude and darkness of the story and give it the respect that it deserves. This is not only one of the best horror films I have ever seen, it is one of the best films I have experienced in my 46 years. This is the pinnacle of film making from all parties involved.

 

 

 

 

 

[L Silverman]

Hahaha, I think I missed a couple pages there.

Edited June 15, 2018 by L Silverman

[baumer]

14) City of the Living Dead (Gates of Hell) (1980)

Italy

Box office:  Unknown

Person of interest:  Lucio Fulci

Memorable Quote:  It's her... Mrs. Holden. This morning she was inside a coffin at the funeral home, and now she's here in my kitchen!

 

 

A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.

 

Lucio Fulci is a horror icon. He may not be as well known to many film goers in North America as his iconic status was cemented some 40 years ago, but if you like films by Wes Craven and M. Night Shyamalan and even David Fincher, then you can look at Fulci and say that his work has inspired some of theirs. This is the first film that I saw of Fulci's and it was when I was a teenager and didn't appreciate a film like this. All I saw in it was a blood and gore soaked film with some really violent deaths. How can one forget the drill to the head? To this day, I still think that actor was actually killed on the set? They really did put the drill bit through his brain and captured it on film for artistic integrity.

I am obviously kidding of course, but that's the effect the film will have on you. Films like this are brutal and disgusting and if you like horror films that are high on gore, then Fulci and his counterpart, Argento, are the best in the business. I have always found Italian splatter films to be awe inspiring. They are so much more creative than your typical American horror films. That has changed into the new millennium, but there is still nothing like this on the market. Fulci's films, like Craven's 70's films, would be edited and chopped to bits before anything like this would ever be released. And that is a travesty as the vision and the creativity involved in making a film like this not only takes gusto, it takes talent. Fulci is about as good as they come for this genre.

Like most of Fulci's horror movies and Italian horror in general, plot and logic take a back seat to gore and stunning visual set pieces. The simplistic story, which tips it's hat to H.P. Lovecraft, is really just an excuse for another zombie move.  Fulci certainly came up with some of the most repulsive and horrible zombies ever, so this is essential viewing to fans of the genre. The movie includes two unforgettable gore sequences ( the drill and vomit scenes), a chilling scene in a graveyard, and an odd, unexpected ending. Recommended to fans of Italian horror. Others might be puzzled if they haven't experienced the style/period before, it's quite a trip!

 

 

[Brainbug]

Gates of Hell is my 2nd favourite Fulci after The Beyond.

[baumer]

13) I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

US

Box office:  half a million

Person of interest:  Sara Butler

Memorable quote:  No teeth!

 

 

A writer who is brutalized during her cabin retreat seeks revenge on her attackers, who left her for dead.

 

 

This is the ultimate revenge film. First off, a quick bit about the original. The 1978 film was put on a list of films called video nasties and it was banned in a multitude of countries because of the rape. I first saw the film in my teens and was shocked at how tame it was. I was expecting to see something like Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and what I got was basically a PG-13 version of what I read about. I have always believed that if people hadn’t have made such a fuss about the original film, it never would have been as popular as it was. So the irony is that the people who wanted it banned gave it new life and caused thousands of people to seek it out to find out what all the fuss was about, myself included. The remake is the best revenge film I have ever seen.

 

Sara Butler plays a young woman who flees to the country, rents a cottage and gets away from the big city life so she can write her next novel. Here she meets some local idiots who become infatuated with her and don’t take too kindly to her attitude. For a revenge film to work well, in my opinion, the crime has to be brutal and then the revenge becomes justified, at least thematically. The rape in this film is as hard to watch as any film I’ve seen. She is tormented, subjugated, raped and tortured. When they are finished with her, their plan is to shoot her and dump her body in the river. She manages to escape and lives in the woods and recovers enough to extract her revenge. Her rapists think shes dead and when she shows up, well, PG-13 this is not. Her idea of comeuppance is hard to watch but you root for her knowing what she went through. She does to them what they did to her and each death has a theme reminiscent of what each man put her through. For example, one of them told her not to use any teeth and this person ends up getting his teeth ripped out with a pair of pliers, one by one. This is all I can describe to you because the rest is about as hardcore as it gets. Sara Butler is outstanding here and she takes us on the journey with her. This is not a film for everyone, but if you can stomach it and you like seeing assholes get what’s coming to them, then there is no better revenge flick that this one.

 

@Maxmoser3 But I started to actually like the movie after all once when it turned into a kickass revenge flick, and the chick gets them back pretty good.

 

If you are so inclined, I Spit.....made the list in an article I wrote for toptenfilms.....   https://www.top10films.co.uk/35102-top-10-films-oppressed-taking-revenge/

 

 

[baumer]

3 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

Gates of Hell is my 2nd favourite Fulci after The Beyond.

 

The Beyond is terrific as well.

[Brainbug]

Ive never actually seen I Spit on your Grave. I dunno, maybe the whole concept of Rape and Revenge isnt my cup of tea? Though i should maybe try it in the near future i guess.

[baumer]

3 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

Ive never actually seen I Spit on your Grave. I dunno, maybe the whole concept of Rape and Revenge isnt my cup of tea? Though i should maybe try it in the near future i guess.

 

Well, they aren't pleasant movies.  But for some reason, I enjoy a few of them.  

[baumer]

12) Open Water (2003)

US

Box office: 54 million

Person of interest:  Chris Kentis

Memorable quote:  Oh God! Something's rubbing against my foot!

 

 

Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark infested waters after their tour boat has left.

 

Well, here's another film that gets me a lot of WTF looks when I mention it.  But there's no getting around this, it's by far the scariest movie I have ever seen.  Here's my original review:

 

OPEN WATER (2004) Based on true events, Open Water is the story of Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), a workaholic couple that is in desperate need of a vacation. But as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. They inadvertently get left behind while scuba diving and they are now stranded in shark-infested waters in the middle of the ocean.

I had been dying to see Open Water ever since I first heard about the raves it got at the Sundance Film Festival. Being scared of the ocean, I found the premise terrifying. I first saw Jaws when I was about ten years old and it has stuck with me. To put it mildly, it scared the you know what out of me. Jaws is one of the most primal movies out there and it not only attacks your conscious, but your subconscious as well. I know that the chance of getting attacked by any shark, let alone a Great White the size of Bruce are slim to none, but that hasn't stopped me from refraining to set foot in the ocean for 35 years. So having said that, you can begin to understand how and why Open Water is the scariest film I have ever seen. It attacked me at every level, eventually metamorphosing me into a child clinging to the chair beside me and lifting my feet off the ground as I watched the film in the theater. 

While Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis have done a few little roles here and there before, this is the movie that will really get them recognized. They have to carry the entire movie on their shoulders, and are on screen 95% of the time. The movie relies on their performances in order for the movie to work, and the movie couldn't have turned out better, as they give exceptionally realistic performances. They have a great chemistry together, and are really believable as a couple.

They behave like a couple. They have moments of love and moments of sheer frustration. When the situation first presents itself they go through the natural cornucopia of emotions that one would expect. But when the situation becomes more dire, they rely on each other for emotional and physical support and in some macabre kind of way, they realize just how much they truly need each other. It is sad that it took a harrowing situation like this to make them realize how much they need each other, but this ultimately brings them closer together.

Having said all of that, what really makes this film tick is the scenes with the sharks. Without putting it to you in any flowery terms, straight up, this movie is scary as hell! To imagine the helpless feeling as you see a fin break water next to you. To vicariously experience what it would be like to have that sandpaper like skin brush up against you is stuff that nightmares are made of. And to put yourself in the two characters situation and realize truly pernicious their future is, it makes the film scarier than any film I have been privy to. Jaws is the best film ever made in my opinion, but this film is scarier simply because to imagine what these went through is an absolute haunting and onerous exercise in horror. They are alone, they are scared and they might as well be a million miles from home.

Before seeing it I had heard that some loved the ending and some hated it. I think the ending is appropriate. How else could it end. This is a movie that separates itself from Hollywood and its machinations to ruin good film. This film has its own ideas and with no outside interference, they get it right. Without giving away too much, if this was bastardized by Hollywood, there would have been a happy ending, maybe with gunfire or explosions. Not this film though, and these film makers. They get it right. They end it on the only note that would have made the film work. This film is as close to a primal perfection of fear as one can imagine.

Open Water isn't for everyone.  It's not very bloody, and it's not constant shark action. This is more of a thoughtful film that focuses more on what is implied than what is actually happening. Hitchcock once said about a film, and I am paraphrasing here of course, but something to the effect of, "a bomb explodes killing everyone in a movie, that is horrific, but a bomb is under a table, ticking, the timer shown going down from 60 seconds...59 seconds...58 seconds....now that is mysterious and that adds tension." The point is, you don't need the carnage to be effective.  Your mind does the rest. This film epitomizes that theory.

Open Water is an unforgettable film that is not to be missed.

 

 

[Brainbug]

 

I...i dont want to question your taste in horror films baumer, i really dont...but personally , i found even The Shallows to be a better film than Open Water

 

Still, that definetly made your list extremely unpredictable at this point lol.

[baumer]

11) The Evil Dead (1981)

US

Box office:  30 million

Person of interest:  Sam Raimi

Memorable quote:  We're going to get you. We're going to get you. Not another peep. Time to go to sleep.

 

 

Five college students take time off to spend a peaceful vacation in a remote cabin. A book and audio tape is discovered, and its evil is found to be powerful once the incantations are read out loud. The friends find themselves helpless to stop the evil as it takes them one by one, with only one survivor left with the evil dead and desperately tries to fight to live until morning.

 

Like @Brainbug I love the Evil Dead films.  Unlike Brainbug, I have the original as the best.  This is a film, like so many of the icons in horror, that proves that sometimes less is more.  The budget for this was about what they would spend on Jack Nicholson's cigars and yet it's one of the most effective horror films ever made.  

The camera work is incredibly good, and the fast motion sequences showing the demon's approach was pretty well done, if not completely original. Though also interesting, and kinda funny to note is that we see the characters running away, but when the camera switches away from the demon's view, we don't see the demon, and that seems like a touch of genius...we know it's there, but we can't see it, and while it probably was a limitation of the budget, it actually proved to be a great method of suspense.

The special effects are as laughable as they were in the rest of the series, but there's something to be said for a film that takes its chances and goes to the extreme in lieu of lacking resources. People complain about this a lot, but I have to say to them "get a sense of humor." The whole point of the "Evil Dead" series was to mock horror films and show how campy they were and that they could get even worse. It's humor is in that the film tries to take itself seriously, but the lack of a big budget makes this not only impossible, but even funny in spite of the fact that it could conceivable be a serious film.

The acting is also terrible, but again in that way that it's so obviously bad that it's hard to tell were the actors just plain bad or were they doing that deliberately to serve the purpose of mocking the genre. Bruce Campbell's introduction into the world of abused heroes is interesting since his character is actually less of a chauvinist in this one than he ultimately became famous for. But it works, and the horror on his face when his friend has no reservations about chopping up his possessed girlfriend is actually believable.

Overall, this movie is a great piece of cinema. It's humorous, but serious as well, and its greatest strength is its ability to draw the line between being part of the genre and mocking it. There are plenty of moments of original horror (I don't think anybody could keep their composure during the "Tree Rape" scene, which they repeated to lesser effect in "Evil Dead II," but let's face it that movie was supposed to be a rehash and extension). And for all the comedy present in the film, there's some truly horrific moments, many of them to be honest.  

 

@ddddeeee  One of the best horror movies of all time.

 

@Blankments  The Evil Dead is an entertaining exercise in gore in cinema. The effects are delightfully gruesome and definitely worth seeing.

 

 

[baumer]

8 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

 

I...i dont want to question your taste in horror films baumer, i really dont...but personally , i found even The Shallows to be a better film than Open Water

 

Still, that definetly made your list extremely unpredictable at this point lol.

 

I understand that.  But Open Water really got to me.  Horror is very personal.  Look at Hereditary for example.  This is a film that people at this site are just gaga over.  They are terrified by it.  I find it ridiculously laughable.  There's nothing redeeming about it.  Same with Babadook.  But for me, what happens in Open Water is one of my biggest fears.  Sharks absolutely ruin me.  I'm terrified of them.  So for me to sit there with two characters in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks, I can't tell you how it made me feel.  All I can say is it messed me up.  It's by far the scariest film I've ever seen.  If that were me, I would probably die of fright before the sharks got me.

[baumer]

And this brings up to the top ten.  

 

I will start on this later this evening.  

 

Thanks to all who have read, commented or liked any of the list so far.  

[baumer]

Out of the ten remaining, there is just one non US film, that being Canadian.  

 

You still have time to try and guess my top three.

[Brainbug]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

 

I understand that.  But Open Water really got to me.  Horror is very personal.  Look at Hereditary for example.  This is a film that people at this site are just gaga over.  They are terrified by it.  I find it ridiculously laughable.  There's nothing redeeming about it.  Same with Babadook.  But for me, what happens in Open Water is one of my biggest fears.  Sharks absolutely ruin me.  I'm terrified of them.  So for me to sit there with two characters in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks, I can't tell you how it made me feel.  All I can say is it messed me up.  It's by far the scariest film I've ever seen.  If that were me, I would probably die of fright before the sharks got me.

 

What makes us fear something - similar to what makes us laugh - is incredibly subjective, thats definetly right. And thats also why i dont think one could name the "scariest horror film of all time", because there will always be some people who woundt find it scary in the slightest.

[baumer]

6 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

 

What makes us fear something - similar to what makes us laugh - is incredibly subjective, thats definetly right. And thats also why i dont think one could name the "scariest horror film of all time", because there will always be some people who woundt find it scary in the slightest.

 

Absolutely!  Horror and comedy are very subjective.  

 

BTW...I see you have a gold account.  How long do you have it for?  

[Brainbug]

Just now, baumer said:

 

Absolutely!  Horror and comedy are very subjective.  

 

BTW...I see you have a gold account.  How long do you have it for?  

 

Till July 3rd i believe. I won it with Daxtremes Fights list