Boris Karloff in “The Wurdalak” episode of In keeping with the parameters of Ed’s poll, my primary criterion for inclusion and ranking was the scariness or sheer atmospheric creepiness of the films in question, particularly at the times I first saw them. Aesthetic merit was a major factor, as well as historical impact, and rewatchability. Note, however, that if aesthetic merit and historical impact were the sole criteria, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) would easily be in my top 10. I love those films but felt obliged to exclude them because I never found them particularly frightening (‘though my grandmother once told me Caligari was the scariest thing she ever saw).
I excluded a number of worthy nominees – like Night of the Hunter (1955) – that do not fit squarely into the horror genre (‘though you will find the scarifying Alien here). I also tried to avoid including more than one film by the same director (‘though my top 20 inevitably includes 2 by Hitchcock, 2 by Bava, and 2 by Browning). With all that in mind, here are my 31 Essentials:
1. Psycho (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)
2. Black Sabbath (aka Three Faces of Fear) (1963; Mario Bava)
3. Audition (1999; Takashi Miike)
4. Night of the Living Dead (1968; George Romero)
5. The Pit and the Pendulum (1961; Roger Corman)
6. Suspiria (1977; Dario Argento)
7. Freaks (1932; Tod Browning)
8. The Shining (1980; Stanley Kubrick)
9. Repulsion (1965; Roman Polanski)
10. Hour of the Wolf (1968; Ingmar Bergman)
11. The Birds (1963; Alfred Hitchcock)
12. Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) (1960; Mario Bava)
13. Vampyr, the Strange Adventure of David Gray (1932; Carl Theodor Dreyer)
14. Frankenstein (1931; James Whale)
15. The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
16. Carnival of Souls (1962; Herk Harvey)
17. Dracula (1931; Tod Browning)
18. Cat People (1942; Jacques Tourneur)
19. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992; David Lynch)
20. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974; Tobe Hooper)
21. The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)
22. Alien (1979; Ridley Scott)
23. Videodrome (1983; David Cronenberg)
24. Nosferatu (1922; F.W. Murnau)
25. Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans visage) (1960; Georges Franju)
26. Onibaba (1964; Kaneto Shindo)
27. The Brides of Dracula (1960; Terence Fisher)
28. Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987; Sam Raimi)
29. Peeping Tom (1960; Michael Powell)
30. Carrie (1976; Brian De Palma)
31. Halloween (1978; John Carpenter)
Ed also invited participants to submit a sub-list of Top 5 Horror Comedies. Here are my nominees:
1. The Old Dark House (1932; James Whale)
2. A Bucket of Blood (1959; Roger Corman)
3. The Raven (1963; Roger Corman)
4. Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (see No. 28, above)
5. Gozu (2003; Takashi Miike)
The official winners of the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies poll are posted here.
The winners of the Top 5 Horror Comedies poll are posted here.
Happy Halloween!
