Box Office Theory's Top 100 Horror Movies: Vol. 2 | #1 has been revealed!

[WrathOfHan]

 

25 lists are in and tallied. 507 movies were submitted, but only 100 can make the cut. What will be the killer #1? What will be a victim of the BOT mob? Read on over the coming days and find out  

 

THE LIST

Spoiler

1. The Shining (1980)
2. Alien (1979)
3. Jaws (1975)
4. Psycho (1960)
5. The Thing (1982)
6. Halloween (1978)
7. Scream (1996)
8. The Fly (1986)
9. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
10. Get Out (2017)
11. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
12. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
13. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
14. The Witch (2015)
15. The Sixth Sense (1999)
16. The Exorcist (1973)
17. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
18. Black Swan (2010)
19. Suspiria (1977)
20. Candyman (1992)
21. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
22. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
23. Nosferatu (1922)
24. Les Diaboliques (1955)
25. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
26. The Haunting (1963)
27. Carrie (1976)
28. The Innocents (1961)
29. 28 Days Later (2002)
30. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
31. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
32. Eraserhead (1977)
33. Aliens (1986)
34. Evil Dead II (1987)
35. The Conjuring (2013)
36. House/Hausu (1977)
37. Evil Dead (1981)
38. The Lighthouse (2019)
39. Us (2019)
40. It Follows (2014)
41. Suspiria (2018)
42. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
43. The Descent (2005)
44. Poltergeist (1982)
45. Train to Busan (2016)
46. Hereditary (2018)
47. Midsommar (2019)
48. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
49. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
50. Frankenstein (1931)
51. Godzilla/Gojira (1954)
52. Raw (2017)
53. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
54. Carnival of Souls (1962)
55. The Ring (2002)
56. The Wolfman (1941)
57. Malignant (2021)
58. The Invisible Man (1933)
59. Signs (2002)
60. The Birds (1963)
61. Doctor Sleep (2019)
62. Prince of Darkness (1987)
63. The Devil's Backbone (2001)
64. A Quiet Place (2018)
65. The Omen (1976)
66. Let the Right One In (2008)
67. Gremlins (1984)
68. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
69. Peeping Tom (1960)
70. It (2017)
71. mother! (2017)
72. The Invisible Man (2020)
73. The Host (2006)
74. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
75. The Others (2001)
76. The Babadook (2014)
77. American Psycho (2000)
78. Under the Skin (2014)
79. Ready or Not (2019)
80. The Conjuring 2 (2016)
81. Angel Heart (1987)
82. Gremlins 2 (1990)
83. Scream 2 (1997)
84. Possession (1981)
85. Freaks (1932)
86. Annihilation (2018)
87. Repulsion (1965)
88. Jennifer's Body (2009)
89. Old (2021)
90. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
91. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
92. Pulse (2001)
93. Crimson Peak (2015)
94. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
95. Scream 4 (2011)
96. Black Christmas (1974)
97. Dracula (1931)
98. Coraline (2009)
99. Eyes Without a Face (1960)
100. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

 

Submission Thread

2018 Countdown

Edited November 7, 2021 by WrathOfHan

[WrathOfHan]

Tiebreakers work as follows:

 

• The film with the higher number of lists will be placed first
• If both films have the same number of lists, the number of 1st/Top 5/Top 10 placements in that order will rank higher
• If neither film had Top 10 placements, a tie will be called

 

Disclaimers:

• Pan’s Labyrinth appeared on a few lists and would’ve had enough points to make it into the 60s or 70s. I made it ineligible because I had told a couple users it was ineligible before looking at the lists it was already on. The film is not listed as horror on the three sites, so the next time I do this countdown, I will be sure to address its eligibility before people start submitting their lists.
• For lists with ineligible titles, I kept the points intact instead of bumping the rest of the list up.
• One list was close to 40 titles, so I decided to give it full scoring. There were four lists with fewer than 15 titles that still received the 75% penalty.

 

Fun stats:

 

• One point separates the top two films.
• Four movies from 2018’s Top 50 are not on this year’s list. One film was close to making it in with another somewhat close, but the other two dropped down into the 200s.
• The Top 20 has five new entries. The ones that fell out dropped at least 8 spots.
• Three films are flat from their 2018 placement.
• The highest ranked films without any Top 10 placements are #29, #40, and #49.
• All but one movie with a #1 placement got in. The one that didn’t was #112.
• The director with the most films on the countdown has 5 appearances.
• Three directors have three movies on the countdown.

[WrathOfHan]

100. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) (22 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: David Lynch

 

Screenwriters: David Lynch and Robert Engels

 

Starring: Sheryl Lee, Moira Kelly, David Bowie, Chris Isaak, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Wise, Kyle MacLachlan

 

Synopsis: Laura Palmer's harrowing final days are chronicled one year after the murder of Teresa Banks, a resident of Twin Peaks' neighboring town.

 

Box Office: 4.2M

 

Critical Reviews: 64% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 4

Average Position: 35th

 

We kick off this year’s horror countdown with a David Lynch classic. Although audiences and critics were divided on the immediate follow-up to Lynch’s short lived series Twin Peaks, this prequel to the show has found more supporters over the years. Fire Walk with Me takes a notably darker approach to Laura Palmer’s murder than what the series could get away with on network television and features some of Lynch’s most shocking scenes to date. The film serves as a perfect bridge between the end of the original series and The Return 25 years later and gives us a taste of just how wild the revival gets.

 

Fire Walk with Me only appeared on four lists and was boosted by three lists placing it in the 20s. This begins a streak of five films with 22 points. #101 also had 22 points but only appeared on two lists.

 

[WrathOfHan]

99 (TIE). Coraline (2009) (22 Points)

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director and Screenwriter: Henry Selick

 

Starring: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, Ian McShane

 

Synopsis: An adventurous 11-year-old girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

 

Box Office: 124.6M

 

Critical Reviews: 90% on RT

 

Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards

 

Appearances on Other BOT Lists: 68th on 2020’s Animated Countdown

 

Submissions Received: 5

Average Position: 46th

 

 

The countdown’s first tie includes a perfect introductory horror film. Based on Neil Gaiman’s novella of the same name, Henry Selick’s Coraline incorporates fantastical imagery that gradually reveals itself to be much darker than it initially seemed. The film has become a Halloween staple for many millennials and gen Zers and will undoubtedly be watched for generations to come. Coraline is also the only stop motion movie on this countdown!

 

Coraline appeared on 5 lists and benefitted from one placement in the teens.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by WrathOfHan

[WrathOfHan]

99 (TIE). Eyes Without a Face (1960) (22 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Georges Franju

 

Screenwriters: Georges Franju, Jean Redon, Pierre Boileau, Claude Sautet, and Pierre Gascar

 

Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob, Aida Valli, Juliette Mayinel

 

Synopsis: A surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.

 

Box Office: N/A

 

Critical Reviews: 98% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 5

Average Position: 43rd

 

The second half of this tie is a good introduction to international horror and the countdown’s first international feature. Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face has been hailed by filmmakers as one of the most influential horror films ever made and has served as inspiration for many modern films in the genre, including Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In. The film’s poetic nature was divisive upon release, but like many classics, critical reevaluations have kept the film alive in discourse.

 

Similar to Coraline, Eyes without a Face benefitted from one ranking in the teens. Its average position is only three spots higher than its fellow tie.

 

[baumer]

Eyes Without A Face! One of those films Tele got me to watch and I instantly fell in love with.

[WrathOfHan]

97. Dracula (1931) (22 Points)

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Tod Browning

 

Screenwriter: Garrett Fort

 

Starring: Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan

 

Synopsis: Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up a residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.

 

Box Office: N/A

 

Critical Reviews: 94% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 6

Average Position: 43rd

 

The first Universal Monster film on this year’s countdown is none other than Dracula. This film was the studio’s first attempt at a monster flick since the early 1920s as Carl Lemmae saw the potential of Bram Stoker’s novel on the silver screen after Nosferatu stirred up controversy. Although Murnau’s bootleg adaptation has been better regarded over time, Browning’s Dracula still holds merit with Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of the titular vampire. Lugosi defined what the mold for Dracula would look like in pop culture, and 90 years later, the film’s impact over the holiday season and character remain apparent.

 

Dracula beat out Coraline and Eyes with an extra list, but without a low submission in the 90s, it would’ve missed the Top 100.

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by WrathOfHan

[CJohn]

Is Sad Affleck in this thread? 

 

No?

 

Okay...

[WrathOfHan]

96. Black Christmas (1974) (22 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director and Screenwriter: Bob Clark

 

Starring: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon

 

Synopsis: During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.

 

Box Office: 4.1M

 

Critical Reviews: 71% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 7

Average Position: 57th

 

Bob Clark’s cult classic slasher has found its way onto the countdown. Two unsuccessful remakes over the past 15 years have led to more audiences discovering the (much better) original. Featuring genre subversions and shocking twists, Black Christmas gave an early glimpse at what slasher films could be capable of.

 

Numbers were on the side of Black Christmas as it had a fairly low average position. The removal of a single list would’ve cost the film its spot in the countdown.

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

95. Scream 4 (2011) (23 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Wes Craven

 

Screenwriter: Kevin Williamson

 

Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panetierre, Anthony Anderson, Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Rory Culkin, Marielle Jaffe, Erik Knudsen, Mary McDonnell, Marley Shelton, Nico Tortorella

 

Synopsis: Ten years have passed, and Sidney Prescott, who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, is visited by the Ghostface Killer.

 

Box Office: 97.2M

 

Critical Reviews: 60% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 4

Average Position: 34th

 

 

Wes Craven’s first entry on this year’s countdown is perhaps the best Scream sequel. Scream 4 does a superb job at bringing back the main cast of characters and refreshing the series after Scream 3’s… questionable results (I can assure you this countdown is free of Kevin Smith). The film moves at a quick pace and features a great conclusion. As Wes Craven’s last feature, Scream 4 stands as a fitting conclusion to a horror master’s filmography. As an end to the Scream franchise… let’s hope Scream (2022) is good

 

Although Scream 4 only appeared on a few lists, it was boosted by high placements, including one on the verge of the Top 10.

 

 

[Dementeleus]

21 minutes ago, CJ #BringBackSadAffleck said:

Is Sad Affleck in this thread? 

 

No?

 

Okay...

SadAffleck is dead. He’s boning JLo now, he no longer exists. 

[baumer]

So very happy to see Scream 4 make the list.  It's easily (imo) the best film after the first.  So much to like about it especially the motivation for the killers.  Thank you forums!

[FilmFincher]

Black Christmas is great and quite disturbing, would highly recommend to those interested in seeing how the slasher film evolved. It also taps into a particular urban legend very well. 

[Krissykins]

Glad to see Scream 4 included, I think I had it at number 11. I still rank Scream 2 slightly ahead. 
 

Black Christmas is fun, very festive. I actually watch the 2006 remake more often though. It’s a guilty pleasure. 

[WrathOfHan]

I'll be dropping more titles in a few hours. Some stats on the next ten:

 

4 movies are from 2015 or later

The first movie with a #1 placement will appear

3 movies are black and white

[baumer]

I was reading over the 2018 thread earlier today. Lots of surprises on that particular thread that countdown. But beyond the surprises, you do a really good job putting this all together @WrathOfHan and as you know horror is my favorite genre so thanks for putting this all together. It's a lot of fun making a list and even more fun reading the countdown.

 

Some of the films that make the list make me mad LOL and then I'm super happy with others.

[WrathOfHan]

94. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) (23 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Dan Trachtenberg

 

Screenwriters: Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken, Damien Chazelle

 

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.

 

Synopsis: A young woman is held in an underground bunker by a man who insists that a hostile event has left the surface of earth uninhabitable.

 

Box Office: 110.2M

 

Critical Reviews: 90% on RT

 

Appearances on Other BOT Lists: #10 on BOT’s Top 25 of 2016

 

Submissions Received: 5

Average Position: 44th

 

 

One of BOT’s favorite 2016 releases, 10 Cloverfield Lane has held up well over the past five years. Dan Trachtenberg’s tense film takes place in a single location for nearly the entire runtime, and as the central mystery unfolds, the stakes rise at a boiling rate. This kicked off Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s current phase in her career and proved she has what it takes to be a Hollywood lead, and John Goodman delivers his best performance in a long time. The re-shot conclusion has divided the forum for its placement relative to the rest of the story, but most won’t deny the brilliance of 10 Cloverfield Lane’s tension for 90% of the film.

 

10 Cloverfield Lane benefited from three lists being in the high teens to low 30s. 

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

93. Crimson Peak (2015) (23 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Guillermo del Toro

 

Screenwriters: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins

 

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver

 

Synopsis: In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.

 

Box Office: 74.7M

 

Critical Reviews: 72% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 6

Average Position: 53rd

Guillermo del Toro’s first entry on the list is his criminally underrated gothic horror Crimson Peak. It’s such a rarity to find a film like this released by a major studio today, and although the forum wasn’t surprised that Crimson Peak failed to catch on with audiences, it immediately caught on as a cult classic in the making. The film harkens back to the days of Old Hollywood’s romances with GDT’s signature imagery and violence. In an ensemble full of strong performances, Jessica Chastain shines in a deliciously hammy role as the film’s villain Lucille Sharpe. One can only hope she stars in another del Toro film soon.

 

Crimson Peak was boosted by a high placement right outside the top ten. The film was often placed towards the bottom of lists, but it undoubtedly has support among the forum.

 

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

92. Pulse (2001) (24 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director and Screenwriter: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

 

Starring: Kumiko Aso, Haruhiko Kato, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka

 

Synopsis: Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.

 

Box Office: 318k

 

Critical Reviews: 75% on RT

 

Submission Received: 2

Average Position: 47th

#1 Placements: 1

 

 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s cult classic Pulse makes a surprise appearance on this year’s countdown. Made during the early days of the internet, Pulse was one of the first films to play with the emerging technology and its possible dangers in an unsettling manner. Admittedly I’m not too familiar with the film, but this article on Inverse offers a good analysis of it.

 

Pulse is the first film on this year’s countdown to appear with a #1 placement. The only other placement had it all the way down at 93rd. This is the power of #1 votes!

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

91. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) (24 Points)

 

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Robert Aldrich

 

Screenwriter: Lukas Heller

 

Starring: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono

 

Synopsis: A former child star torments her parapeligic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

 

Box Office: 9.5M

 

Critical Reviews: 92% on RT

 

Won Best Costume Design and nominated for Best Actress (Bette Davis), Best Supporting Actor (Victor Buono), Best Cinematography, and Best Sound at the Academy Awards

 

Submissions Received: 3

Average Position: 54th

Top 10 Placements: 1

 

 

One of the most infamous productions in Hollywood’s history, two legends battle it out in Robert Aldrich’s classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Simultaneously camp and a reflection on Davis and Crawford’s dwindling careers, audiences were captivated by the film’s audacity and brashness back in 1962. Nearly 60 years later, the film is regarded as an underrated gem in the final days of Old Hollywood while also influencing the Psycho-biddy subgenre. Am I forgetting something that happened with this film recently? Definitely not. Certainly not. 

 

  

 

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? had an even spread among its three submissions, including a top 10 vote.