Screamers, Slashers and Laughers: the Best Horror Movies of All Time

The best entry in the series and probably the greatest of all horror sequels, the Freddy Krueger saga bounced back from a dismal second installment to bring this imaginative and funny sequel set in a youth psych ward. Robert Englund’s Freddy is at his loathsome, punning best, scoring many of the best and most memorable kills in the series (WELCOME TO PRIMETIME, BITCH!) as he whittles down the ranks of the teenaged patients. A young Patricia Arquette stars as a girl sent to the facility, when some cuts received from the dream haunting madman are mistaken by her mother for a suicide attempt. There she meets some deeply troubled kids who soon also fall prey to Freddy and his artful deathtrap dreamscapes. All this, and a theme song by hair metal group Dokken, make this flick quintessential crowd pleasing 80s horror.

The film that gave us the swift moving zombie in its rage virus suffering maniacs, 28 Days Later builds an atmosphere of believable apocalyptic horror right from its opening clips of real life violent unrest from around the globe. Never-missing director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 127 Hours) helms with a script from Alex Garland and a cast comprised of serious UK talent (the likes of Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, and Christopher Eccleston). A fully modern and socially relevant take that breathed new life into the zombie genre, the film concerns a group of survivors, among them Murphy’s recently re-awakened coma patient, coping with societal collapse wreaked across Europe by the rapidly spreading infection. Pile some truly brutal gore and carnage onto that foundation, and you’ve got a standout entry in the horror canon.

Clive Barker’s terrifying and unique genre classic, which features some truly great gore and make-up effects, not to mention the venerable presence of the Cenobites and their eloquent, aptly-named leader Pinhead (Doug Bradley). The story concerns a man previously dragged you-know-where by the agony-dealing crew of demons, slowly reassembling (he spends much of the movie a skinless, bloody mass) via the blood of men lured to his home by his less than ethical girlfriend (who also happens to be his brother’s wife). Hellraiser creates an atmosphere soaked deeply in the fear of pain and the aesthetic of S&M fetish that provided the truest and richest scares of the 80s.

Tobe Hooper’s seminal low budget classic make shows some age in its aesthetic, but absolutely none in its scares. From the very first frame a palpable sense of dread hangs all over this trip to a very dark corner of the Lone Star State. Gunnar Hansen portrays the mentally challenged, corpse flesh-masked Leatherface, who as we know is partial to use of a particular motorized arborist tool. Equally disturbing are the rest of the depraved and cannibalistic Sawyer family who inhabits the creaky farmhouse cum slaughterhouse on the prairie. Banned in several countries upon its original released, this is an influential landmark that gave birth to an entire subgenre dedicated to the dismemberment of our young folk.

Wall crawling. Bile-spewing. Head spinning. Demonically issued “Yo Mama” slams. These are the hallmarks of a satanic possession as seen in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, the first horror film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) is the expert referenced in the film’s title, called to Georgetown to hndle a particularly nasty case. Linda Blair gives the performance of a lifetime as 12 year-old Regan, who, among other things, makes memorable creative use of a crucifix at the height of her affliction, providing one of the films most controversial bits. Blair won many awards, and was nominated for an Oscar along with Ellen Burstyn, who portrays her distraught actress mother, along with director William Friedkin and nominations in several other categories.