Grant's Top Ten Horror Movies of All Time

     There's a lot of scary things in this world; the never ending threat of nuclear destruction, the knowledge of our own mortality and the thought that maybe, just maybe, all those ghost stories and myths might have some truth in them. It's with this in mind, and the spirit of the Halloween season that I present my favourite* horror films: 

THE TOP TEN HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME

by

- Grant Kanigan -

10. The Blair Witch Project, (1999): 

      Although it may seem dated in the post-Paranormal Activity age, hand-held, first-person films weren't a thing until this 1999 masterpiece of low-budget scares hit the scene. Writer/Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez hit cinematic and box-office gold with their film, fooling audiences into thinking the "project" was real; a simple, believable myth, non-actors having their wits pushed to the breaking point, and a mysterious video, so oddly shot, it had to have been shot without professional guidance. Yet, like some of the great postmodern artists, (Andy Warhol comes to mind), the co-creators knew exactly what they were doing; making the current state of independent filmmaking the tool for a new age of believable, modern terror. Although some of the hand-held footage may now seem old hat, (and honestly, Bobcat Goldthwait's Willow Creek is essentially a better version of Blair Witch), the mystery, confusion, terror and descent into madness that is The Blair Witch Project still holds up. Essential horror viewing.

9. The Sixth Sense, (1999): 

     Before he became self-absorbed and money obsessed, M. Night Shyamalan used to be an inventive, interesting and thrilling filmmaker. Although he had exhausted his own formula by the time the hit-or-miss The Village came out in 2004, The Sixth Sense marked a return to the horror classics of yesteryear. Wearing it's Hitchcockian and Exorcist influences on it's sleeve, Shyamalan crafted a mysterious, quasi-thriller, slowly pulling the curtain on the afterlife, and revealing the tragedies and horrors that lie beneath. Combining a keen sense of atmosphere and outright terror, Shyamalan's film outshines most horror films, becoming less of a genre picture, and just a great film overall. With exceptional performances from Bruce Willis and Toni Collette, and a once in a lifetime turn from Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense still towers over the horror genre. The cinematography, sound design, and script all lead up to the greatest twist in cinematic history. Osment's Cole Sear may "see dead people," the question is where, and whom?

8. Green Room, (2015):

     Although most horror films are able to scare us so badly we scream, most rely on an element of the supernatural; ghosts, ghouls, demons, the list goes on. Yet, whether we'll admit it or not, these things aren't real. We may think for a split second that bump in the night is some otherworldly ghost coming to steal our soul, but once common sense kicks in, it's usually just the house shifting, or a restless pet. Sitting comfortably in our air conditioned theatres, it's nice to know one can be scared by theatrical wizardry, without ever having to actually fear the things on screen. That's where writer/director Jeremy Saulnier changes things up with his masterful Green Room. There are no monsters, tricks of the eye, or hauntings from otherworldly beings. It's just cold hard reality; a band of starving, young musicians, trapped in a 'green room' after witnessing a murder take place at the club where they've just performed. Slowly realizing that they accidentally booked themselves at a Neo-Nazi hangout, the band members lock themselves in, trying to figure out how keep the lawless, morally bankrupt skinheads at bay, and how to get out of their green room alive. Disgusting, violent, taut and whip-smart, this is realistic, psychological horror at it's best. Although star Anton Yelchin tragically died soon after filming on Green Room wrapped, it's a silver lining that it features one of his best performances. 

7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, (1978):

 

Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of the 1956 film of the same name, is horror filmmaking at it's most calculated. Following Donald Sutherland, (in one of his best roles), as Matthew Bennell, an inspector for the Food and Health department, the audience watches as Bennell's suspicions about those around him make themselves more and more clear. With people beginning to act peculiar left and right, it's up to Bennell and his intellectual colleagues to figure out what's causing the personality changes before it's too late. With memorable performances from Jeff Goldblum, Brooke Adams and a superb cameo from the incomparable Leonard Nimoy as a psychiatrist,  Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a slow burn, ratcheting up the tension exponentially until the audience, along with Bennell, realizes that humanity is being replaced by alien 'body snatchers' at an alarming rate. Dredging up quandaries of self-preservation, the human soul, existentialism, the human condition, individualism and the quest for a perfect society, Kaufman's film perfectly captured the feelings around the Cold War, at the frays of the 1970's zeitgeist. Still horrifying as well as intellectually challenging, this is a timeless classic, that outshines it's predecessor and two awful remakes, (1993's Body Snatchers and 2007's idiotic Invasion), by lightyears.   

6. The Exorcist, (1978):

No matter how many remakes, spin-offs, prequels, sequels and tv-shows the entertainment industry churns out with the word "Exorcist" in the title, nothing will ever compare to the original. William Friedkin's tale of a vatican exorcist and a priest contemplating his faith, (or lack thereof), somehow manages to squeeze a crisis of faith, soul crushing terror and special effects wizardry into just 120 minutes. With a career-defining role for the legendary, (and still brilliant), Max Von Sydow, and a bold embodiment of terror from child actor Linda Blair, this is a pitch black stare into the depths of pure evil. Sure, demons and ghouls may not exist in reality, but Friedkin's film makes the fiction feel pretty damn real. With cinematography that still manages to chill the soul, writing that doesn't pander to an audience, and a knack for knowing when to choose atmosphere over special effects and vice-versa, The Exorcist is a chilling horror classic.

5. Nosferatu, (1922):

     Loosely based on Bram Stoker's canonical Dracula, (so loosely, and without credit, Stoker's estate successfully sued the filmmaker for plagiarism), F.W. Murnau's film is a masterfully shot horror. Using the interplay of black and white, and night and day, Murnau painted a cinematic world in which evil lurked within every shadow. Looking more grotesque than horrific, the eponymous character seared it's way into cinematic history by taking advantage of the minimalist technology of 1922, and pushing it's limits to the extreme. Bringing up the horrors of real life terrors like the plague, stalkers and depraved killers, Nosferatu is still able to terrify almost a century after it's release; continuing to be hugely influential on most modern horror directors, (the Blair Witch and it's power of suggestion brings up memories of Nosferatu), Nosferatu is a stellar example of genius silent filmmaking. For those who complain that silent films or black and white films are boring; they obviously haven't seen Nosferatu. 

4. The Thing, (1982):

     John Carpenter has always been a master of horror; from his savagely violent Halloween, to the inventive and original Escape from New York, to the social satire of They Live, he's been keeping the horror genre on its toes for decades. Although his original work is stellar, it's his remake of the 1951 film The Thing From Another World, that stands above the rest. Combining psychological terror with gore, atmosphere, fantastic performances, and a prison like setting, (the desolate interior of an Antarctic research outpost), Carpenter's vision is absolutely terrifying on multiple levels. Add to that the inventive effects work, (that still holds up), and The Thing is a near perfect movie. With memorable performances from Kurt Russell, Keith David and the always old-looking Wilford Brimley, (he was 48 when The Thing came out, but he looks like he was 68), Carpenter's masterpiece thrills on both the first or eleventh viewing. Often imitated but never equaled, this mysterious, violent and terrifying slice of scares still demands attention. Avoid the atrocious, (and somehow boring) 2011 remake. Carpenter's Thing is the near pinnacle of horror filmmaking. 

3. The Shining, (1980): 

     By the time Stanley Kubrick released The Shining in 1980, he already had Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey under his belt. Who would have thought an adaptation of a Stephen King novel would be his next choice? With a making-of story almost as crazy as the film itself, The Shining is a perfect example of a story being significantly adapted to fit into the cinematic medium. With any element of the story able to topple the film over from scary to silly, it's a wonder that Kubrick was able to pull such psychotic performances from a talented cast, and a testament to all involved. Jack Nicholson's demented Jack Torrance is a wonder to behold as he terrorizes his wife Wendy, (the gutsy Shelly Duvall), and son Danny, (Danny Lloyd, the original wonder-kid of horror cinema), through the halls of the cursed Overlook Hotel.  With themes ranging from fatherly duties, family dynamics, anxiety and depression, primal fear and loathing, race relations and even the genocide of Native Americans, it's a film chock full of all kinds of elements that are ready for intellectual dissection. Brilliant cinematography, (the Steadicam, now essential in most modern filmmaking, was greatly improved for the filming of The Shining), bravura performances, (especially the memorable supporting work of Scatman Crothers), masterful directing and an all around unsettling mood, The Shining remains one of the scariest films of all time. And for those who dislike The Shining because Stephen King has a problem with it, settle down. King may be a wonderfully talented novelist, but he's an awful, awful filmmaker.

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, (1974):

      Tobe Hooper, the writer/director of The Texas Chainsaw massacre, is essentially the Orson Welles of horror cinema. He broke onto the scene with his blood-soaked masterpiece and sat atop the summit of horror-filmmaking. There was nowhere to go but down. Hooper never really returned to the visceral, terrifying and original type of filmmaking he pioneered in 1974, but god damn, did he make one hell of a great movie. Most people only get a glimpse of greatness; if one masterpiece is all Hooper has, I'll gladly take it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a pretty simple storyline, (hell, the title pretty much gives it all away); a group of teens find themselves stuck in a backwoods town, and slowly realize they've been lured into a deadly trap from which there is no return. Stuck on the property of a cannibalistic family with a psychotic, chainsaw wielding son at it's helm, the teenagers must outrun the Ed Gein-inspired killer, before they all become dinner. It's a whirlwind film of psychotic terror that never lets up, spattering the screen with blood, screams and guts until it's final shot. With a combination of realistic, and non-supernatural villains, realistic protagonists, and edge of your seat cinematography, nothing comes close to this visceral, gut-wrenching singular vision of hell on earth. Required viewing, for those who can stomach it. The 2003, 2006, and 2013/remake-sequels are  like an episode of Sesame Street compared to Hooper's original. 

1. Silence of the Lambs, (1991):

"...I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti," Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter tells FBI Agent Clarice Starling, (Jodie Foster) from behind the glass walls of his prison cell. Deep underground, in a dank cellar, cut off from the world, and chained to his cell, Lecter is still bone-chilling. As a brilliant psychiatrist turned serial killer-cum-cannibal, Lecter isn't even the film's main villain. Exploring the depths of human depravity, the mindset of a cold-calculating killer versus crimes of passion, the scariest part of Jonathan Demme's adaptation of Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs is that it's all based in reality, and the questions it raises lie within all of us. With a unsettling, vulgar performance from the underrated Ted Levine as the murderous Buffalo Bill, (that manages to avoid most accusations of transphobia; Levine, and director Demme play Buffalo Bill as a straight up psychopath, who is less interested in gender roles and more interested in power and sexual violence, i.e., he's not really transgendered, as far as semantics go); a calm, collected and strong female lead in Foster's Clarice, and a wholly memorable, infinitely complex role in Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of The Lambs rests on three masterful performances, from three hugely talented actors. Couple that with one of the best horror scripts ever, that uses all it can think of to disgust, terrify and antagonize the viewer, and you have the scariest film of all time. Still as powerful, scary and taut as ever, The Silence of the Lambs is a timeless classic. Although there seems to be quite a few horror films that have pleased audiences and critics as of late, nothing will ever come close to a freshly cooked plate of human terror, that is The Silence of the Lambs, courtesy of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. 

The Silence of the Lambs:"Fava Beans..."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

     *It's hard to narrow the entire breadth of horror cinema down to just ten films, so here are some honourable mentions that just didn't fit, or were too silly to make the cut:

• Alien
• An American Werewolf in London 
• The Birds
• The Descent 
• Freddy vs. Jason 
• The Green Inferno 
• Hostel
• Misery 
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• The Omen (1976)
• Piranha 3D
• Psycho (1960)
• Scream
• Stir of Echoes
• Se7en