It’s hard to say what makes a great horror film. Sometimes it’s decapitations and disembowelments, and other times it’s subtlety and good character development. A common misconception is that the only way to make a successful horror film is to give a generic creep a gimmick as well as an assortment of sharp, lethal objects, put him in dark coveralls and a mask, and send him on his way through a cast of failed actors and actresses.
True horror films offer much more; they can be as moving as they can be macabre. Some can make your blood freeze and others can induce vomiting. And still, a certain few can shatter your nerves and make you scream bloody murder. The best of the best will make the viewer do all of the above.
This list is meant to shed light onto a variety of great horror films that are successful in producing these results. Most of these films are either long forgotten or have gone unnoticed by the general movie-going public. Either way, when it comes to wretched gore or pure psychological terror, these are the best of the best:
The Night of the Hunter - (1955)
Actor Charles Laughton’s first and only attempt at directing gave way to one of the most influential thrillers of all time. Shelley Winters stars as Willa Harper, a widow who marries a mysterious preacher (the late-great Robert Mitchum). Unfortunately, this preacher is a sinister crook who shared a cell with her late husband, Ben. He is after $10,000 that Ben entrusted to his children, Pearl and John, and will do anything in his evil power to secure it for himself. Although Mitchum would go on to play a derivation of this character in the 1962 classic, Cape Fear, this is the better film by far. Rent it and see the origin of the modern day horror film.
The Thing - (1982)
Scared of dogs? You will be after viewing director John Carpenter’s remake of the classic B-movie, The Thing from Another World (1951). This film stands alone as one of the goriest psychological horror films to come from Hollywood during the 1980s. It stars Carpenter regular Kurt Russell alongside Keith David and Wilford Brimley. The plot revolves around a group of American scientists and workers in a secluded research facility far from nowhere in Antarctica. Their dilemma: A parasitic alien life form that is capable of imitating its victims has infiltrated their base. As the group learns the nature of the beast through a series of saucy autopsies (and I do mean saucy), paranoia builds between them since they are unable to tell who is under the control of the enemy. The Thing is perfect for horror fans that enjoy their blood and guts with a little sci-fi. Plus, it stars Kurt Russell. You can never go wrong with Kurt Russell.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - (1986)
Michael Rooker (Rosewood, Mississippi Burning) not only looks like a scary guy in real life, but he plays one with such startling realism that the average movie buff will run the opposite way if they see him walking down a dark alley at night. In director John McNaughton’s Henry, Rooker shows the audience just how gruesome real horror can be. Rooker plays Henry as the antithesis of everyone’s favorite ‘80s slashers, and as a result, the film is a blazing triumph of graphic realism; Henry is the blue-collar version of American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman. An entire horror film could have been made by just having Rooker stare into a mirror for 2 hours, but there are plenty brutal, bone-chilling murders here.
Dead Alive (aka Braindead) - (1992)
Before The Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson made a name for himself as the twisted mind behind one of the vilest, most disgusting zombie movies ever made, Dead Alive. The plot centers on a young man, his true love, his mother, and a poisonous rat-monkey. The rat-monkey is trapped by a zoologist on a mysterious island and is brought to New Zealand for research at a zoo. The son, Lionel (Timothy Balme), and his mother visit the zoo one day, and poor mum is bitten. Mum eventually becomes fully zombified and engages on a feeding frenzy (dogs, nurses, friends, etc.), which infects the surrounding area. Dead Alive far surpasses its peers (Evil Dead 1&2) in the humor and gore department and is an obvious precursor to the critically acclaimed Shaun of the Dead.
Ôdishon (aka Audition) - (1999)
Japanese horror maestro Takashi Miike is infamous for his 2001 film Ichi: The Killer, which is often hailed as the goriest movie ever made. But with Ôdishon, Miike creates a sense of fear that is so palpable and disturbing that it is impossible to walk away from it without having nightmares. The story involves a widower, Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi), who takes an offer from a colleague to audition women for the female lead in a new film. He sees it as an easy way to get back in the dating game. Unfortunately, the woman he chooses, Asami (played to perfection by Eihi Shiina), is a few cards short of a full deck. This murderous minx makes the common female dominatrix look like Pippi Longstocking. When you see what is in the large burlap bag in her apartment, you will shit your pants.
