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

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

Lots of enjoyable movies in this batch. Great to see some classics make the list, even if it's contained to the very famous titles. Not seen The Wolf Man since I was teen so will have to hunt it down.

 

Signs is a great single-watch movie. Saw it in cinemas at the time and it felt like an event. But it is a single-watch movie for me and not a plot to dwell on too long.

 

Malignant....ha. Don't know what to say really. It was a good time, and while hardly the wildest of horror movies in and of itself it was certainly an amusing Kaufmanesque trick to play on mainstream audiences. Trapped somewhere between being the Showgirls and the Starship Troopers of the horror genre. Which isn't a bad thing.

 

Ring is a good remake. Naomi Watts is a great actress. It is directed well. It's a better *made* film than the original but Ringu has a raw/dirty quality that works better for me with that story.

[baumer]

9 hours ago, Chrysaor said:

To whoever else voted for One Cut of the Dead, I salute you. For a second, I was excited that somebody else voted for Spanish Dracula, but it looks like that wasn't the case. For those who might not know the anecdote, during the filming of the Bela Lugosi classic a separate Spanish-language version was shot using the same sets, props, and costumes (and script, although some noticeable revisions were made) but a different cast and crew. More than just a cheap, knock-off of the English production, the Spanish language film, is a treasure in it's own right, and more there are those critics and historians who consider it to be superior to the Browning/Lugosi version. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't.

 

That would be me.  Only reason I ever saw this movie was because of the members of these forums.  It blew me away.  Sure it's a comedy as well, but like Gremlins, it's got it's horror stamp as well.   I had it at 47.  And I think it's one of only two movies on my list that came out in the last 5 years.  The other was Doctor Sleep (sorry @Plain Old Tele )

[baumer]

7 hours ago, Krissykins said:

The Ring (2002) is so good, and I think it’s much better than the original. Naomi Watts is terrific in it. I need a rewatch, haven’t seen it in a few years.

 

It's such a terrific, creepy, atmospheric bloodless film.  It kind of channels Halloween in that way.  Hope you watch it again soon.

[Krissykins]

25 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

It's such a terrific, creepy, atmospheric bloodless film.  It kind of channels Halloween in that way.  Hope you watch it again soon.

I definitely will. Strangely, despite being such a huge hit, it’s never had a Blu-ray release here. Weird. Only ever DVD. 

[FilmFincher]

The biggest thing for me with The Ring is just how stunning the cinematography is. It's both genuinely beautiful and captures that creeping atmosphere. 

 

 

[Ronin46]

5 minutes ago, FilmFincher said:

The biggest thing for me with The Ring is just how stunning the cinematography is. It's both genuinely beautiful and captures that creeping atmosphere. 

 

 

 

the scenes on the island were terrific and the scene on the ferry with the horse was great. Just made me feel very uneasy the whole time I was watching it. Ringu was also good but it was a rare occurence when Hollywood improved on a remake. I am looking right at you The Vanishing (1993) for your abomination to Spoorloos (1988) (even with the same director).

[Plain Old Tele]

50 minutes ago, Ronin46 said:

 

the scenes on the island were terrific and the scene on the ferry with the horse was great. Just made me feel very uneasy the whole time I was watching it. Ringu was also good but it was a rare occurence when Hollywood improved on a remake. I am looking right at you The Vanishing (1993) for your abomination to Spoorloos (1988) (even with the same director).

I remember watching the remake after hearing that they’d fucked it all up and my reaction was 

“hey, I dunno, this doesn’t seem so bad, maybe people were overreact— OH WHAT COMPLETE BULLSHIT”

 

[TalismanRing]

18 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

I remember watching the remake after hearing that they’d fucked it all up and my reaction was 

“hey, I dunno, this doesn’t seem so bad, maybe people were overreact— OH WHAT COMPLETE BULLSHIT”

 

 

Unbelievable and done by the same director.

 

 

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

Apologizes for not posting any writeups yesterday; needed a bit of a breather. I'll probably have more up later tonight and go all in over the weekend

[WrathOfHan]

54. Carnival of Souls (1962) (42 Points)

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Herk Harvey

 

Screenwriters: John Clifford

 

Starring: Candace Hilligloss, Sidney Berger

 

Synopsis: After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.

 

Box Office: 33k

 

Critical Reviews: 86% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 6

Average Position: 36th

Top 5 Placements: 1

Top 10 Placements: 2

 

 

Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls carved a path for independent horror. The film’s initial release went unnoticed due to a small distributor, and it took decades for the film to enter any sort of critical conversation beyond diehard genre fans. Once the film found a larger audience, praise immediately came its way. Carnival of Souls takes influence from various cinematic periods yet feels strikingly unique for the early 1960s. The film’s unconventionalism in both release and content rings through modern indie horror. 

 

Carnival of Souls is the first film on the countdown to have both Top 5 and Top 10 placements. These placements helped secure its position as the rest were mid-tier rankings.

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

53. Dawn of the Dead (1978) (42 Points)

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director and Screenwriter: George A. Romero

 

Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross

 

Synopsis: Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.

 

Box Office: 66M

 

Critical Reviews: 94% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 8

Average Position: 44th

Top 5 Placements: 1

 

 

Speaking of independent horror, George A. Romero makes his first appearance on the countdown with his second zombie feature, Dawn of the Dead. The film departs from its predecessor Night of the Living Dead with a transition to color and significantly more gore. By trapping his characters in a singular location, Romero innovated how space can be portrayed in the genre and heighten storytelling’s stakes. Dawn of the Dead has cemented itself as one of the most influential horror films of all time.

 

Similar to Carnival of Souls, Dawn of the Dead was a popular mid-tier option for many submissions. 

 

 

 

 

[WrathOfHan]

52. Raw (2016) (42 Points)

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director and Screenwriter: Julia Ducournau

 

Starring: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Laurent Lucas

 

Synopsis: A young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.

 

Box Office: 3.1M

 

Critical Reviews: 92% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 9

Average Position: 45th

Top 10 Placements: 1

 

 

Before Julia Ducournau made history with her Palme d’Or win this year, Raw placed her onto the scene as a director to watch. As a coming-of-age horror film, Raw uses the standard story beats of a teen’s discovery with a cannibalistic twist. The film’s gratuitous content isn’t for everyone, but Raw keeps growing in popularity as Ducournau becomes more prominent in the industry.

 

Like the last two films with 42 points, Raw had many mid-tier votes boosted by a Top 10 placement. Titane’s release undoubtedly helped Raw this time around vs 2018.

 

[WrathOfHan]

51. Godzilla/Gojira (1954) (43 Points)

Previous Ranking: N/A (NEW)

 

Director: Ishiro Honda

 

Screenwriters: Takeo Murata, Ishiro Honda

 

Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura 

 

Synopsis: American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.

 

Box Office: 2.1M

 

Critical Reviews: 93% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 6

Average Position: 32nd

Top 10 Placements: 2

 

 

The kaiju film to beat them all, Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla has spawned an empire. While Godzilla films have differed in tone and style over the decades, Ishiro’s original film is a cautionary tale of epic proportions. The terrifying iconography of Godzilla was not only innovative for its time but also visualizes the film’s message, something that many later films in the franchise have overlooked. By tapping into contemporary fears with outstanding visuals, Ishiro Honda reinvented the kaiju genre with Godzilla.

 

Godzilla has one of the highest average positions so far, bolstered by two Top 10 placements.

 

[WrathOfHan]

50. Frankenstein (1931) (43 Points)

Previous Ranking: #30 (-20)

 

Director: James Whale

 

Screenwriters: Garrett Fort, Francis Edward Faragoh

 

Starring: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff, Dwight Frye, Edward van Sloan, Frederick Kerr

 

Synopsis: Dr. Frankenstein dares to tamper with life and death by creating a human monster out of lifeless body parts.

 

Box Office: 12M

 

Critical Reviews: 100% on RT

 

Submissions Received: 7

Average Position: 37th

Top 10 Placements: 1

 

 

Arriving at a respectable drop from the 2018 countdown is James Whale’s first monster film, Frankenstein. Taking influence from multiple versions of the story, Frankenstein adapts Mary Shelley’s tale on a grand scale. Aside from the striking visuals, Frankenstein is full of emotion and bittersweetness, elements that its sequel Bride of Frankenstein further amplifies. The Frankenstein films are perhaps the most popular Universal Monster entries, and based on the countdown, the forums don’t disagree.

 

Frankenstein received one fewer submission than it did in 2018 and saw its average position fall 19 spots. Will Bride of Frankenstein appear?

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by WrathOfHan

[WrathOfHan]

A look ahead at the 40s:

 

6 films are from the 2010s

5 films appeared on the 2018 countdown; two increased from their previous rankings while three fell

2 of the new films are pre-2000

 

Here are the movies that received 8-9 points (#204-22 received 9, #223-45 8):

Spoiler

204. The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

205. Ginger Snaps (2000)

206. The Amityville Horror (1979)

207. The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

208. The Devil Rides Out (1968)

209. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

210. Braindead (1990)

211. Christine (1983)

212. Don't Breathe (2016)

213. Fears of the Dark (2007)

214. Horror of Dracula (1958)

215. Let Me In (2010)

216. Oculus (2013)

217. Phantom of the Opera (1925)

218. Pitch Black (2000)

219. The Blob (1988)

220. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

221. Hush (2016)

222. Zombieland (2009)

223. The Living Dead Girl (1983)

224. Cure (1997)

225. Halloween (2018)

226. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

227. Lemora (1973)

228. Phantasm (1979)

229. The Howling (1981)

230. THEM (1954)

231. Urban Legend (1988)

232. Wrong Turn (2003)

233. Alien 3 (1992)

234. Army of Darkness (1992)

235. Color Out of Space (2020)

236. Crawl (2019)

237. Frankenweenie (2012)

238. Freaky (2020)

239. Ju-On (2002)

240. The Frighteners (1996)

241. The House by the Cemetery (1981)

242. The Mummy's Hand (1940)

243. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

244. The Woman in Black (1989)

245. Wolfen (1981)

 

 

Army of Darkness and Don't Breathe are two of the four films from the previous countdown that didn't make the cut this time around. Don't Breathe dropped from 42nd to 212th (-170) while Army of Darkness dropped from 43rd to 234th (-191). Not groovy!

[baumer]

@WrathOfHan Has Friday the 13th Final chapter shown  up yet in the not ranked films?  It never makes the list, I realize I'm probably the only one who has it on his list.  Unfortunate but I get that my love for Friday the 13th is a bit obsessive.

[WrathOfHan]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

@WrathOfHan Has Friday the 13th Final chapter shown  up yet in the not ranked films?  It never makes the list, I realize I'm probably the only one who has it on his list.  Unfortunate but I get that my love for Friday the 13th is a bit obsessive.

It hasn't shown up yet. Your vote got it higher than you think though.

[baumer]

From someone who bought the box set for me 7 years ago, you should be happy @Plain Old Tele 🤩

[baumer]

Does this mean Friday Final Chapter just missed getting into the countdown?  That would be quite impressive if it finishes just outside the top 100.

[WrathOfHan]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

Does this mean Friday Final Chapter just missed getting into the countdown?  That would be quite impressive if it finishes just outside the top 100.

It'll be in the last bunch of films that didn't make it, so yes  If it had one more list it would've made it like Pulse did

Edited October 30, 2021 by WrathOfHan