What do four zombie movies, six “slashers”, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, Mogwai’s, witches, birds, and weird stair people have in common? They’re all featured in the Forum Staff’s Top 30 Halloween-Themed Movies of all time! Forum writers Marcus, Devese, and Jeff recently sat down and had a discussion about the best films in the long history of the horror genre. With that discussion came a list of our take on the best Halloween-Themed Films of all time.
Before we
get into the list, here are a few we had to leave out.
Honorable
Mentions:
Young
Frankenstein- “‘Young Frankenstein’ has always been one of my favorite films
from this genre and my favorite Mel Brooks film.” -Jeff
The
Frighteners- “A Peter Jackson movie with cool special effects about Michael J.
Fox talking to ghosts and running from ‘death.’ What’s not to like?” -Marcus
Black
Christmas- “This is a flick that turns Christmas into Halloween. Gruesome with
a twist, a must see.”-Devese
Top 30:
30. Gremlins
29. The
People Under The Stairs
28. Fright
Night
27. Alien-
“It wasn’t the physical appearance of the alien that scared me, but the
suspense the movie built that made me wonder when and where the alien would
attack. Plus an alien popped out of a guy’s chest! Epic.” -Marcus
26. American
Werewolf in London
25. Sixth
Sense
24. Shaun of
the Dead- "The first 'zombie' movie to really make me laugh and I love the special
f/x." -Jeff
23. Evil
Dead
22. Carrie- "She killed her whole high school and made the line, 'They're all gonna laugh at you!' famous. Classic." -Devese
21. Scream
20.
Nightmare on Elm Street
19. Bram Stoker’s
Dracula
18. Ghostbusters-
“While it’s not a scary movie, what’s better than four guys catching ghosts and
cracking jokes while doing it?” -Marcus
17. Friday
the 13th Part 2- "Jason's actual debut to the silver screen pumped fear into horny teenagers everywhere." -Devese
16. Texas
Chainsaw Massacre- "The original backwoods, inbred family with a leather-faced, chainsaw weilding psychopath butchering young beauties for dinner. Even scarier since it's based on a true story." -Devese
15. Zombieland- “The perfect blend of horror, action, and comedy. This is my
favorite zombie flick of all time.” -Marcus
14. Child’s
Play- “I will fully admit that I was scared to death the first time I saw this
film and I will always have a feeling that any doll I see could potentially
murder me”. -Jeff
13. Pet Sematary-
“That kid freaks me out and that cat scared the living ‘you know what’ out of
me.” -Jeff
12. The
Birds
11. The
Shining
10. Insidious- “For me, this is by far the scariest film I’ve seen put out in close to ten years.” -Jeff
9. Halloween- “This film set the bar for the ‘slasher’ genre that has been dominating Horror for close to forty years now.” -Jeff
8. The Omen- “The operatic music alone would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and those eyes of Damien were hypnotizing in an evil way.” -Devese
7. Psycho- “Hitchcock at his best and I will never quite get over the suspense built throughout this film.” -Jeff
6. Dawn of the Dead- “This is the first zombie movie to really focus on how people’s behavior can change when life goes bad and focused less on the zombies. And it had amazing special effects for its time.” -Marcus
5. The Thing (1982)- “The scariest ‘thing’ about this movie is the fact that you never really know who ‘the thing’ is.” -Marcus
4. Salem’s Lot- “To me, this movie was an eerie rendition of the New England town’s hostile past. The movie and the town epitomize Halloween.”- Devese
3. Amityville Horror- “What made this movie so scary to me was the that you could feel the evilness of the house. There was this house on my block, when I was younger that looked exactly like the Amityville house. I had to walk past it everyday going to and from school, it freaked me out.”-Devese
2. Poltergeist- “This movie made people everywhere afraid of static on their television and the phrase, ‘They’re here!’ Spooky.” -Marcus
1. The Exorcist- “This film did a number on me that I don’t think I will ever live down. I also don’t think I’ll ever watch it again because of that. -Jeff
8. The Omen- “The operatic music alone would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and those eyes of Damien were hypnotizing in an evil way.” -Devese
7. Psycho- “Hitchcock at his best and I will never quite get over the suspense built throughout this film.” -Jeff
6. Dawn of the Dead- “This is the first zombie movie to really focus on how people’s behavior can change when life goes bad and focused less on the zombies. And it had amazing special effects for its time.” -Marcus
5. The Thing (1982)- “The scariest ‘thing’ about this movie is the fact that you never really know who ‘the thing’ is.” -Marcus
4. Salem’s Lot- “To me, this movie was an eerie rendition of the New England town’s hostile past. The movie and the town epitomize Halloween.”- Devese
3. Amityville Horror- “What made this movie so scary to me was the that you could feel the evilness of the house. There was this house on my block, when I was younger that looked exactly like the Amityville house. I had to walk past it everyday going to and from school, it freaked me out.”-Devese
2. Poltergeist- “This movie made people everywhere afraid of static on their television and the phrase, ‘They’re here!’ Spooky.” -Marcus
1. The Exorcist- “This film did a number on me that I don’t think I will ever live down. I also don’t think I’ll ever watch it again because of that. -Jeff
“Because of this movie, I get chills if someone even mentions ‘Ouija board!’ Don’t even fix your lips to say it!!” -Marcus
“I still can’t watch this movie in a completely dark house. If you’re bad, try it and tell me how it worked out for you.” -Devese What are your favorite Halloween movies? Be sure to chime in with a comment.
Comments
Post a Comment