46 horror movies everyone should see.
Mar. 3rd, 2010 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireI originally made this list a while back, after reading Maxim's list of "200 Movies Everyone Should See" and discovering that their horror movies seem to have been chosen through purely arbitrary measures, largely having to do with how much gore could be splattered on the screen. That doesn't work for me all that well, being as I am not a fan of the "gore porn" sub-genre of horror. Since it's been a year and a half since then, and since that year and a half has included a lot of horror movies, I've decided to update my better, more carefully considered list. IE, "the horror movies I say everyone should see."
***
Seanan's List of Horror Movies Everyone Should See.
***
Because there are a lot of these, I've divided them into types. You can thank me later. Also, you may find that certain categories have more entries than others. This is because I've tried to restrict myself to movies that I actually like. My biases. Let me show you them.
We begin!
***
12 Zombie Moves Everyone Should See.
***
Night of the Living Dead.
This movie essentially created the modern zombie movie genre. Every zombie flick that comes along these days is compared to this one...and frankly, a lot of them don't manage to stack up. It's scary, it's disturbing, and it creates a lot of the tropes that people have come to think of as cliches. Everyone should see this movie once, if only to understand where the genre is coming from and get the references made in more recent entries. Plus? "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
Dawn of the Dead (original).
You can argue that Romero lost his way when he got to Day of the Dead, and I won't disagree; there's a reason it isn't on this list. But Dawn of the Dead is social commentary of the highest order. It says something about the living, it says something about the dead, and best of all, it's a pretty kick-ass horror movie at the same time.
Dawn of the Dead (remake).
I admit, I have a crush on James Gunn that will not die. I make no efforts to conceal this fact. That said? This is a pretty bad-ass reimagining of the original, and it has some very new things to say about human nature, the need to strive, and all the crap that could go terribly wrong during a zombie apocalypse. I didn't care much for the ending, but I thought it was supported by the rest of the movie, and it's definitely worth seeing.
Land of the Dead.
When George Romero returns to the world of the living dead, you know that you live in a universe where sometimes, the good guys can win. Better, this movie makes a lot of the sweeping social statements that only Romero seems capable of using the dead to make, talking about isolationism, the evolution of society, the way we segregate ourselves, prejudice, class, and, of course, zombies. Check it out.
Night of the Comet.
You can blame much of my adult psyche on this movie; that makes it worth seeing, if only so you can understand how I've ended up with the sort of worldview that completely allows for bouncy blondes in cheerleader uniforms picking up Uzis and sallying off to fight the zombie hordes. It's fun, it's sassy, it's inventive as hell, and it's part of the ouvre that eventually made Buffy the Vampire Slayer possible. Plus, it's finally out on DVD, which is a luxury many of us dreamed of for years. Check it out.
Night of the Creeps.
This is a gem, a classic, a wonder, and finally available on DVD, which proves that I actually control the universe. This is a glorious (and gloriously messed-up) tale of college life, alien invasion, dead dates, and zombie co-eds, and it was absolutely worth the wait. All those movies that say they're trying to embody the 1980s horror comedy spirit are trying to embody this movie. So just watch this movie, and be joyful.
28 Days Later.
There are a lot of arguments over whether or not this counts as a "zombie movie"—after all, the so-called "zombies" are actually living people infected with an incurable disease. That makes them sick people, not zombies. Plus, they're really, really fast, and that's contrary to the standard movie zombie. I can see the arguments. I even agree with a lot of them. That said? This is presented and framed as a work of zombie cinema, and it's chilling. Plus, Christopher Eccelston gets his evil funk on.
Resident Evil.
There is no planet on which I could make this list without including Resident Evil, which is one of my comfort movies. It's based on a video game, but don't hold that against it; I've never played the game, and I love this movie as I have loved very few others in my life. It's fun, it's creative, and it's smarter than a lot of people like to give it credit for. Plus? It is, as a friend of mine once said, "a zombie chick flick." Not a common beastie!
Resident Evil 2.
A sequel better than the original! Although, quite honestly, this movie won me from the second it started, when it cheerfully picked up exactly where the first movie left off. It was strong, it was smart, it didn't try to ignore any of the things that came before, and it has remained a solid favorite since the first time I saw it. I just pretend the third movie didn't happen, and I'm happier that way.
Shaun of the Dead.
This movie is one long love letter to zombie cinema, moving effortlessly from one trope to the next, never slowing down. At the same time, it's a romantic comedy that I would happily stack up against just about anything else in the genre, providing the person I'm trying to convince to watch it doesn't mind a little red in their romance. This movie made me so happy I named a Mason after it. Now there's love.
Zombieland.
It's a comedy! It's a horror movie! It's an excellent starting point for assembling the rules you'll need to survive the zombie apocalypse! The only way I could have enjoyed this film more than I did is if they'd passed out free kittens to all members of the audience. Free kittens and bags of candy corn. It's funny enough to watch with non-horror fans, and gory enough to get a gold star for zombie goodness.
SLiTHER.
I'm gonna be straight with you: this is my favorite movie in the world right now, and a lot of the reason for my crush on James Gunn, who both wrote and directed. It has zombies. It has guns. It has Nathan Fillion as Sherrif Bill Pardy. And it has some of the most beautifully clear rules in recent horror cinema. Please, check it out. If you like horror at all, you won't be sorry.
***
3 Movies About Slimy Stuff That Everyone Should See.
***
The Blob (original).
I very clearly remember being eleven years old and begging to stay up past midnight to watch this movie...for what must have been the sixth or seventh time. And this was in the age before DVD players or readily-available video horror movies, which tells you something about how much I adored it. It's a classic of the "alien lifeform" genre, it's a good monster movie, and it's slime vs. the local teens. The special effects are bad by today's standards. I don't care.
The Blob (remake).
Because this remake was made in the 1980s, it's bloodier, it's nastier, it's got a much higher body-count, and it really seems to be about a giant lump of strawberry jam that decides to eat the world. I love it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is its cheerful willingness to kill anybody dumb enough to go around prodding the alien meteor with a stick.
The Stuff.
This movie is the reason I have a phobia of pudding. I wish that I were kidding. Pudding was ruined for me forever by the horrible things this movie forces it to do. I highly recommend it, if only so you'll never try to feed me flan.
***
7 Movies About Nasty Alien Things That Everyone Should See.
***
Alien.
Often imitated, never duplicated, and very rarely equalled, this is a horror movie that doesn't screw around. It wants you to be scared. It wants you to be wetting yourself with fear. And it's very likely to get what it wants. The first time I saw this film, I was three years old, and that probably tells you a lot about my childhood.
Aliens.
Dismiss the rest of the trilogy if you want: this one is damn scary, damn effective, and damn likely to have you sleeping under as many covers as you can find for the foreseeable future. If one alien was scary, what would be worse? Yeah, exactly. Sigorney Weaver basically owns this film, and owns a place forever in the horror pantheon for making it.
The Thing.
I love this movie so hard that I can't really be reasonable about it. It's got everything it needs, from the high-quality acting to the innately claustrophobic setting. The effects are first-rate, the story is damn good, and if it doesn't scare the pants off you, well, you probably had your eyes shut through most of the nasty bits. So much love for this film.
The Faculty.
Hey, remember when the dude who later brought us Scream and Cursed still looked like he might have more than one idea rattling around inside his head? I do. I also remember when Chris brought this movie over on DVD and left me cheering. It's not terribly scary, but it's a great thrill-ride, and it has some really awesome aliens. I approve.
Jason X.
Oh, don't look at me like that. This movie is fun. I appreciate movies that enjoy doing what they do, and this one? Definitely enjoys itself. It knows it's a ludicrous installment in a franchise that refuses to die, and it holds nothing back. The acting is surprisingly good, the script is surprisingly witty, and the effects are refreshingly good. Plus, it's funny.
Critters.
Little porcupines from space eat absolutely everything that fits in their mouths. And since they have big mouths and travel in a swarm, really, that means "absolutely everything." This movie used to terrify me. Now that I'm a little older and the effects are a little more out of date, it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Like a nice blanket made of biting teeth.
Critters 2.
When I was a kid, I was totally planning to marry Scott Grimes, who plays the lead in the first two Critters movies. Now that I'm all grown-up, I realize this was very immature of me; after all, I really wanted to marry Brad Brown, the character he was playing. The sequel to Critters is more comic, more gory, and more fun. I highly recommend it.
***
4 Movies About Dead Stuff (Not Necessarily Zombies) That Everyone Should See.
***
The Fog (original).
Creepy. Sleepy. Scary as all hell. Pretty much designed to scare the pants off of you. Also a cautionary tale for the modern age, because while the original was a classic about five minutes after they finished editing the final print, the remake is a boring, gooey mess that I wouldn't foist on someone I actively disliked. Let that be a lesson to you! And beware the Elizabeth Dane...
The Blair Witch Project.
You have to buy into this movie for it to work. If you don't have a good suspension of disbelief, don't bother. It was incredibly well-served by its marketing campaign, which left a lot of people wondering whether it really was a true story (as it claimed). Also, if you can't handle shaky-cam, stay away. But if these aren't problems for you? Scariest damn thing ever.
Evil Dead.
The original wasn't a comedy. Did you know that? It was a dead-serious, dead-scary piece about what happens when you open the wrong book, read the wrong chant, and it was so sincere that it was scary enough to make you cry. The effects are terrible and it was clearly shot on a shoestring...but so was Night of the Living Dead. Beware. Beware the evil dead.
Army of Darkness.
This is only a horror movie by the broadest of definitions, but it was part of a horror franchise, and dammit, it's good. This is really where Ash comes all the way into his own, and where Bruce "The Chin" Campbell reigns supreme above all others. It's just plain fun. And you can watch it with people who aren't horror fans, which makes it a great gateway drug.
***
3 Movies About Freddy Kruger That Everyone Should See.
***
Nightmare on Elm Street.
I love this entire series—yes, even II, VI, and Freddy vs. Jason—and so I really recommend them all. But at the end of the day, the ones I'm recommending here are the ones you need to see. The first gives us Freddy, gives us Nancy, and gives us a blazingly bitter tale of the sins of the father and what they mean for our children. It was a revelation.
Nightmare on Elm Street III.
This return engagement for the original movie's core cast remembers what really made Nightmare great: the feeling that Freddy was actually up against people who stood a chance. The series hadn't finished sliding down the slope into farce yet, and what chills were left were well-handled by this smart, imaginative, well-directed sequel. All hail Wes Craven.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
...and this is the movie that makes it all worth your while. I'm serious. The entire series is practically background research for a film about the very nature of reality and what it means to tell a story, and this final installment in the "official" original Freddy canon is scary enough to leave you gasping. I really recommend watching all seven back-to-back. And then sleeping with the lights on.
***
6 Monster Movies That Everyone Should See.
***
An American Werewolf in London.
When this movie came out, it was state of the art scary. Even now, over twenty years later, it has a realism, a solidity, and a pathos that's damn hard to touch. You can't look at the things that happen in this film and just dismiss them. It's no one's fault. It's everyone's problem. This is a truly brilliant piece of filmmaking.
Cloverfield.
Much like The Blair Witch Project, you can't handle this movie if you can't handle shaky-cam. Don't try, you'll be very, very sad if you do. But it's a gorgeous monster movie, it's sad and it's very real, and the very normal-ness of our protagonists is what makes it so incredibly easy to buy into. I found it incredibly refreshing. And heartbreaking.
Descent.
This is not a good movie for the claustrophobic. Honestly, the darkness is practically the real villain of the piece, and it's jarring and unsettling and very, very effective. I hated the ending, but it was brilliant enough up until then to make this list without a second thought. Definitely a director to watch. Also, I will not go spelunking with you.
Feast.
Hee hee hee hee. Just trust me.
The Fly.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a tragedy, pure and simple, and every time I watch it, I wish that—just once—the film would turn out differently, and things would work out for the characters. It never happens, but I keep hoping. It's brilliantly acted, written, directed and filmed, and the effects are just as shocking now as they were twenty years ago. A favorite.
Tremors.
Nothing says "love" like giant graboid worms that spawned a series of increasingly lousy sequels, but started out as the subjects of a reasonably serious horror/comedy. Be careful where you put your feet.
***
1 Genre Commentary That Everyone Should See.
***
Scream.
The whole series is fun, but the first was an epiphany. Go forth, and understand.
***
2 Anthology Films That Everyone Should See.
***
Creepshow.
Possibly the best movie ever made from the works of Stephen King. Check it out.
Creepshow 2.
Possibly the second-best movie ever made from the works of Stephen King. The segment "The Raft" still gives me the heebie-jeebies, even though I definitely prefer the short story it was based on.
***
2 Movies That Everyone Should See, But Not While Eating.
***
Cabin Fever.
It's disgusting, it's demoralizing, it's nasty, it's claustrophobic, and it's surprisingly good, for all of that. I recommend it. But not while you're eating, and definitely not while you're eating soup.
The Ruins.
Best adaptation of a horror novel made in the last ten years. Do not watch while eating anything. Not salad, not steak, not anything. I am so serious here, you have no idea.
***
1 Movie About Global Climate Change That Everyone Should See.
***
The Thaw.
Val Kilmer, a frozen mammoth preserved in the permafrost, global warming, a cast of college-age victims, and prehistoric parasites make this one of the best arguments ever against continuing down the road to thawing the arctic. After all, it could lead to total destruction of mankind. This movie is better than it has any right to be, which is a little bit distressing.
***
2 Disease Movies That Everyone Should See.
***
The Crazies (2010).
The remake is, in this case, better than the original, at least in part because they had the budget to really dig their nails into the progression of the horrific Trixie virus as it spread through the small, utterly doomed town where the film is set. It's well-written, well-acted, and well-considered, and a really excellent thrill ride.
The Children.
If you have small children, do not watch this movie. If you are babysitting and the small children you're babysitting for are asleep in their beds, do not watch this movie. If you are alone in the house, do not watch this movie. Everyone else, knock yourselves out.
***
3 Horror Comedies or Musicals That Everyone Should See.
***
Little Shop of Horrors.
Less horror, more comedy and musical, but still, this movie is very much a child of the horror genre, and I have loved it for most of my life. So I couldn't possibly have made this list without it.
Dead and Breakfast.
Line. Dancing. Zombies. Just trust me.
The Midnight Hour.
For years, I thought this movie was the fever-dream of a little girl kept home sick on Halloween night. Then I found it on DVD, and discovered that I wasn't all that far wrong. Huge fun, huge silliness, and I can see the ghost of Rose Marshall in the female lead. Check it out.
***
What did I miss?
***
Seanan's List of Horror Movies Everyone Should See.
***
Because there are a lot of these, I've divided them into types. You can thank me later. Also, you may find that certain categories have more entries than others. This is because I've tried to restrict myself to movies that I actually like. My biases. Let me show you them.
We begin!
***
12 Zombie Moves Everyone Should See.
***
Night of the Living Dead.
This movie essentially created the modern zombie movie genre. Every zombie flick that comes along these days is compared to this one...and frankly, a lot of them don't manage to stack up. It's scary, it's disturbing, and it creates a lot of the tropes that people have come to think of as cliches. Everyone should see this movie once, if only to understand where the genre is coming from and get the references made in more recent entries. Plus? "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
Dawn of the Dead (original).
You can argue that Romero lost his way when he got to Day of the Dead, and I won't disagree; there's a reason it isn't on this list. But Dawn of the Dead is social commentary of the highest order. It says something about the living, it says something about the dead, and best of all, it's a pretty kick-ass horror movie at the same time.
Dawn of the Dead (remake).
I admit, I have a crush on James Gunn that will not die. I make no efforts to conceal this fact. That said? This is a pretty bad-ass reimagining of the original, and it has some very new things to say about human nature, the need to strive, and all the crap that could go terribly wrong during a zombie apocalypse. I didn't care much for the ending, but I thought it was supported by the rest of the movie, and it's definitely worth seeing.
Land of the Dead.
When George Romero returns to the world of the living dead, you know that you live in a universe where sometimes, the good guys can win. Better, this movie makes a lot of the sweeping social statements that only Romero seems capable of using the dead to make, talking about isolationism, the evolution of society, the way we segregate ourselves, prejudice, class, and, of course, zombies. Check it out.
Night of the Comet.
You can blame much of my adult psyche on this movie; that makes it worth seeing, if only so you can understand how I've ended up with the sort of worldview that completely allows for bouncy blondes in cheerleader uniforms picking up Uzis and sallying off to fight the zombie hordes. It's fun, it's sassy, it's inventive as hell, and it's part of the ouvre that eventually made Buffy the Vampire Slayer possible. Plus, it's finally out on DVD, which is a luxury many of us dreamed of for years. Check it out.
Night of the Creeps.
This is a gem, a classic, a wonder, and finally available on DVD, which proves that I actually control the universe. This is a glorious (and gloriously messed-up) tale of college life, alien invasion, dead dates, and zombie co-eds, and it was absolutely worth the wait. All those movies that say they're trying to embody the 1980s horror comedy spirit are trying to embody this movie. So just watch this movie, and be joyful.
28 Days Later.
There are a lot of arguments over whether or not this counts as a "zombie movie"—after all, the so-called "zombies" are actually living people infected with an incurable disease. That makes them sick people, not zombies. Plus, they're really, really fast, and that's contrary to the standard movie zombie. I can see the arguments. I even agree with a lot of them. That said? This is presented and framed as a work of zombie cinema, and it's chilling. Plus, Christopher Eccelston gets his evil funk on.
Resident Evil.
There is no planet on which I could make this list without including Resident Evil, which is one of my comfort movies. It's based on a video game, but don't hold that against it; I've never played the game, and I love this movie as I have loved very few others in my life. It's fun, it's creative, and it's smarter than a lot of people like to give it credit for. Plus? It is, as a friend of mine once said, "a zombie chick flick." Not a common beastie!
Resident Evil 2.
A sequel better than the original! Although, quite honestly, this movie won me from the second it started, when it cheerfully picked up exactly where the first movie left off. It was strong, it was smart, it didn't try to ignore any of the things that came before, and it has remained a solid favorite since the first time I saw it. I just pretend the third movie didn't happen, and I'm happier that way.
Shaun of the Dead.
This movie is one long love letter to zombie cinema, moving effortlessly from one trope to the next, never slowing down. At the same time, it's a romantic comedy that I would happily stack up against just about anything else in the genre, providing the person I'm trying to convince to watch it doesn't mind a little red in their romance. This movie made me so happy I named a Mason after it. Now there's love.
Zombieland.
It's a comedy! It's a horror movie! It's an excellent starting point for assembling the rules you'll need to survive the zombie apocalypse! The only way I could have enjoyed this film more than I did is if they'd passed out free kittens to all members of the audience. Free kittens and bags of candy corn. It's funny enough to watch with non-horror fans, and gory enough to get a gold star for zombie goodness.
SLiTHER.
I'm gonna be straight with you: this is my favorite movie in the world right now, and a lot of the reason for my crush on James Gunn, who both wrote and directed. It has zombies. It has guns. It has Nathan Fillion as Sherrif Bill Pardy. And it has some of the most beautifully clear rules in recent horror cinema. Please, check it out. If you like horror at all, you won't be sorry.
***
3 Movies About Slimy Stuff That Everyone Should See.
***
The Blob (original).
I very clearly remember being eleven years old and begging to stay up past midnight to watch this movie...for what must have been the sixth or seventh time. And this was in the age before DVD players or readily-available video horror movies, which tells you something about how much I adored it. It's a classic of the "alien lifeform" genre, it's a good monster movie, and it's slime vs. the local teens. The special effects are bad by today's standards. I don't care.
The Blob (remake).
Because this remake was made in the 1980s, it's bloodier, it's nastier, it's got a much higher body-count, and it really seems to be about a giant lump of strawberry jam that decides to eat the world. I love it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is its cheerful willingness to kill anybody dumb enough to go around prodding the alien meteor with a stick.
The Stuff.
This movie is the reason I have a phobia of pudding. I wish that I were kidding. Pudding was ruined for me forever by the horrible things this movie forces it to do. I highly recommend it, if only so you'll never try to feed me flan.
***
7 Movies About Nasty Alien Things That Everyone Should See.
***
Alien.
Often imitated, never duplicated, and very rarely equalled, this is a horror movie that doesn't screw around. It wants you to be scared. It wants you to be wetting yourself with fear. And it's very likely to get what it wants. The first time I saw this film, I was three years old, and that probably tells you a lot about my childhood.
Aliens.
Dismiss the rest of the trilogy if you want: this one is damn scary, damn effective, and damn likely to have you sleeping under as many covers as you can find for the foreseeable future. If one alien was scary, what would be worse? Yeah, exactly. Sigorney Weaver basically owns this film, and owns a place forever in the horror pantheon for making it.
The Thing.
I love this movie so hard that I can't really be reasonable about it. It's got everything it needs, from the high-quality acting to the innately claustrophobic setting. The effects are first-rate, the story is damn good, and if it doesn't scare the pants off you, well, you probably had your eyes shut through most of the nasty bits. So much love for this film.
The Faculty.
Hey, remember when the dude who later brought us Scream and Cursed still looked like he might have more than one idea rattling around inside his head? I do. I also remember when Chris brought this movie over on DVD and left me cheering. It's not terribly scary, but it's a great thrill-ride, and it has some really awesome aliens. I approve.
Jason X.
Oh, don't look at me like that. This movie is fun. I appreciate movies that enjoy doing what they do, and this one? Definitely enjoys itself. It knows it's a ludicrous installment in a franchise that refuses to die, and it holds nothing back. The acting is surprisingly good, the script is surprisingly witty, and the effects are refreshingly good. Plus, it's funny.
Critters.
Little porcupines from space eat absolutely everything that fits in their mouths. And since they have big mouths and travel in a swarm, really, that means "absolutely everything." This movie used to terrify me. Now that I'm a little older and the effects are a little more out of date, it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Like a nice blanket made of biting teeth.
Critters 2.
When I was a kid, I was totally planning to marry Scott Grimes, who plays the lead in the first two Critters movies. Now that I'm all grown-up, I realize this was very immature of me; after all, I really wanted to marry Brad Brown, the character he was playing. The sequel to Critters is more comic, more gory, and more fun. I highly recommend it.
***
4 Movies About Dead Stuff (Not Necessarily Zombies) That Everyone Should See.
***
The Fog (original).
Creepy. Sleepy. Scary as all hell. Pretty much designed to scare the pants off of you. Also a cautionary tale for the modern age, because while the original was a classic about five minutes after they finished editing the final print, the remake is a boring, gooey mess that I wouldn't foist on someone I actively disliked. Let that be a lesson to you! And beware the Elizabeth Dane...
The Blair Witch Project.
You have to buy into this movie for it to work. If you don't have a good suspension of disbelief, don't bother. It was incredibly well-served by its marketing campaign, which left a lot of people wondering whether it really was a true story (as it claimed). Also, if you can't handle shaky-cam, stay away. But if these aren't problems for you? Scariest damn thing ever.
Evil Dead.
The original wasn't a comedy. Did you know that? It was a dead-serious, dead-scary piece about what happens when you open the wrong book, read the wrong chant, and it was so sincere that it was scary enough to make you cry. The effects are terrible and it was clearly shot on a shoestring...but so was Night of the Living Dead. Beware. Beware the evil dead.
Army of Darkness.
This is only a horror movie by the broadest of definitions, but it was part of a horror franchise, and dammit, it's good. This is really where Ash comes all the way into his own, and where Bruce "The Chin" Campbell reigns supreme above all others. It's just plain fun. And you can watch it with people who aren't horror fans, which makes it a great gateway drug.
***
3 Movies About Freddy Kruger That Everyone Should See.
***
Nightmare on Elm Street.
I love this entire series—yes, even II, VI, and Freddy vs. Jason—and so I really recommend them all. But at the end of the day, the ones I'm recommending here are the ones you need to see. The first gives us Freddy, gives us Nancy, and gives us a blazingly bitter tale of the sins of the father and what they mean for our children. It was a revelation.
Nightmare on Elm Street III.
This return engagement for the original movie's core cast remembers what really made Nightmare great: the feeling that Freddy was actually up against people who stood a chance. The series hadn't finished sliding down the slope into farce yet, and what chills were left were well-handled by this smart, imaginative, well-directed sequel. All hail Wes Craven.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
...and this is the movie that makes it all worth your while. I'm serious. The entire series is practically background research for a film about the very nature of reality and what it means to tell a story, and this final installment in the "official" original Freddy canon is scary enough to leave you gasping. I really recommend watching all seven back-to-back. And then sleeping with the lights on.
***
6 Monster Movies That Everyone Should See.
***
An American Werewolf in London.
When this movie came out, it was state of the art scary. Even now, over twenty years later, it has a realism, a solidity, and a pathos that's damn hard to touch. You can't look at the things that happen in this film and just dismiss them. It's no one's fault. It's everyone's problem. This is a truly brilliant piece of filmmaking.
Cloverfield.
Much like The Blair Witch Project, you can't handle this movie if you can't handle shaky-cam. Don't try, you'll be very, very sad if you do. But it's a gorgeous monster movie, it's sad and it's very real, and the very normal-ness of our protagonists is what makes it so incredibly easy to buy into. I found it incredibly refreshing. And heartbreaking.
Descent.
This is not a good movie for the claustrophobic. Honestly, the darkness is practically the real villain of the piece, and it's jarring and unsettling and very, very effective. I hated the ending, but it was brilliant enough up until then to make this list without a second thought. Definitely a director to watch. Also, I will not go spelunking with you.
Feast.
Hee hee hee hee. Just trust me.
The Fly.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a tragedy, pure and simple, and every time I watch it, I wish that—just once—the film would turn out differently, and things would work out for the characters. It never happens, but I keep hoping. It's brilliantly acted, written, directed and filmed, and the effects are just as shocking now as they were twenty years ago. A favorite.
Tremors.
Nothing says "love" like giant graboid worms that spawned a series of increasingly lousy sequels, but started out as the subjects of a reasonably serious horror/comedy. Be careful where you put your feet.
***
1 Genre Commentary That Everyone Should See.
***
Scream.
The whole series is fun, but the first was an epiphany. Go forth, and understand.
***
2 Anthology Films That Everyone Should See.
***
Creepshow.
Possibly the best movie ever made from the works of Stephen King. Check it out.
Creepshow 2.
Possibly the second-best movie ever made from the works of Stephen King. The segment "The Raft" still gives me the heebie-jeebies, even though I definitely prefer the short story it was based on.
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2 Movies That Everyone Should See, But Not While Eating.
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Cabin Fever.
It's disgusting, it's demoralizing, it's nasty, it's claustrophobic, and it's surprisingly good, for all of that. I recommend it. But not while you're eating, and definitely not while you're eating soup.
The Ruins.
Best adaptation of a horror novel made in the last ten years. Do not watch while eating anything. Not salad, not steak, not anything. I am so serious here, you have no idea.
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1 Movie About Global Climate Change That Everyone Should See.
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The Thaw.
Val Kilmer, a frozen mammoth preserved in the permafrost, global warming, a cast of college-age victims, and prehistoric parasites make this one of the best arguments ever against continuing down the road to thawing the arctic. After all, it could lead to total destruction of mankind. This movie is better than it has any right to be, which is a little bit distressing.
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2 Disease Movies That Everyone Should See.
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The Crazies (2010).
The remake is, in this case, better than the original, at least in part because they had the budget to really dig their nails into the progression of the horrific Trixie virus as it spread through the small, utterly doomed town where the film is set. It's well-written, well-acted, and well-considered, and a really excellent thrill ride.
The Children.
If you have small children, do not watch this movie. If you are babysitting and the small children you're babysitting for are asleep in their beds, do not watch this movie. If you are alone in the house, do not watch this movie. Everyone else, knock yourselves out.
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3 Horror Comedies or Musicals That Everyone Should See.
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Little Shop of Horrors.
Less horror, more comedy and musical, but still, this movie is very much a child of the horror genre, and I have loved it for most of my life. So I couldn't possibly have made this list without it.
Dead and Breakfast.
Line. Dancing. Zombies. Just trust me.
The Midnight Hour.
For years, I thought this movie was the fever-dream of a little girl kept home sick on Halloween night. Then I found it on DVD, and discovered that I wasn't all that far wrong. Huge fun, huge silliness, and I can see the ghost of Rose Marshall in the female lead. Check it out.
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What did I miss?
