The Greatest Movies of All Time – Horror
Movie lists from Paul Preston, Steven Lewis, Adam Witt & Matt Welton
Compiled by Paul Preston
We’re Movie Guys. We love to talk about movies.
So one day I thought a good topic of conversation would be to tell fellow Movie Guy Steven Lewis that not only had I come up with a favorite movie of all time, but a favorite movie of each year, for every year I’ve been alive. This is what I thought would be a good thing to do with my time.
Not to be outdone, Steve countered with his top ten favorite films of all time, alphabetically. Steve thought this the best way to be productive with his day.
As one thing that leads to another often does, now myself, Steve, Matt Welton & fellow Movie Guy Adam Witt have compiled lists for best of all time, and best superhero, comedy & horror films of all time. They’re here for your perusal. Why? Look, you don’t want to go to Movie Jail, never having seen that fantastic movie that is an absolute classic, do you? And you DO want to be that guy who has the great idea for Movie Night at Dave’s house that half the room hasn’t seen, and aren’t you the shit for bringing that movie to the party, right? So next time you need to rent, buy or illegally download a new film, hit our lists until you’ve seen everything on them.
I think you’ll find great variety in our tastes, which are all over the place. And this is HARD to do, as referenced by the NUMEROUS “special mention”s. The greatest movies of all time are always changing, but this is how we feel right now:
PAUL PRESTON
TOP HORROR FILMS, BY YEAR, SINCE 1970
1970-The Wizard of Gore, maybe?
1971-A Clockwork Orange
1972-The Last House on the Left
1973-The Exorcist
1974-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1975-Jaws
1976-Carrie
1977-The Hills Have Eyes
1978-Halloween
1979-Alien
1980-The Shining
1981-An American Werewolf in London
1982-Poltergeist
1983-Christine
1984-A Nightmare on Elm Street
1985-Fright Night (special mention – Re-Animator & Return of the Living Dead)
1986-The Fly / Aliens (tie)
1987-Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
1988-The Serpent and the Rainbow
1989-Dead Calm
1990-Jacob’s Ladder (special mention – Misery)
1991-The Silence of the Lambs (special mention – Cape Fear)
1992-Dead-Alive
1993-Jurassic Park
1994-Natural Born Killers (special mention – The Stand (TV movie))
1995-Se7en
1996-Scream
1997-Scream 2
1998-Blade
1999-The Sixth Sense
2000-Requiem for a Dream (he said, bending the genre rules)
2001-The Others
2002-28 Days Later (special mention – One Hour Photo)
2003-House of 1000 Corpses (slow year)
2004-Dawn of the Dead
2005-King Kong
2006-Pan’s Labyrinth
2007-The Mist
2008-The Strangers
2009-Paranormal Activity
2010-Shutter Island
2011-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (special mention – Rise of the Planet of the Apes)
2012-The Cabin in the Woods (special mention – The Dark Knight Rises)
2013-The Conjuring
STEVEN LEWIS
TOP HORROR FILMS, BY YEAR, SINCE 1976
1976-The Omen
1977-The Sentinel (the film that most terrified me as a child)
1978-Invasion of the Body Snatchers (with a sentimental plug for Damien Omen II, too)
1979-Alien (Dracula from this year is a sentimental choice as well, since it was my first movie intro to that legendary character)
1980-The Shining (The Fog is also a great mood piece)
1981-An American Werewolf in London
1982-Poltergeist
1983-The Dead Zone
1984-Ghostbusters
1985-Re-Animator / Brazil
1986-The Fly
1987-Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
1988-The Serpent and the Rainbow
1989-Parents
1990-Darkman
1991-The Silence of the Lambs (few films have creeped me out more)
1992-Dead-Alive (and just for pure style, Bram Stoker’s Dracula)
1993-N/A (literally did not see a single scary film made in this year)
1994-The Kingdom (Lars von Trier)
1995-Seven / 12 Monkeys
1996-The Cable Guy (yes it’s a comedy, but damn if it isn’t genuinely disturbing, too)
1997-The Devil’s Advocate
1998-Dark City
1999-The Sixth Sense / Sleepy Hollow
2000-Ginger Snaps
2001-From Hell (have heard good things about The Devil’s Backbone too, but have never seen it)
2002-Dark Water (Japanese horror)
2003-Monster Man
2004-Saw
2005-War of the Worlds
2006-Apocalypto (stretching the genre a bit perhaps, but so be it)
2007-1408
2008-Trick R Treat (honorable mention – The Strangers)
2009-Drag Me To Hell
2010-N/A
2011-N/A
2012-The Cabin in the Woods
2013-The Conjuring
ADAM WITT
TOP HORROR FILMS, BY YEAR, SINCE 1973
1973-The Exorcist (the ultimate)
1974-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (sorry Killdozer)
1975-Jaws (first scary movie I ever saw)
1976-The Omen
1977-Suspiria (I can’t wait to see House though)
1978-Halloween (a 2nd worth mentioning is Magic, I couldn’t sleep after the commercials for that, puppets are so scary)
1979-The Amityville Horror (scariest when I was a kid and now, but Alien, Phantasm, The Brood, and Salem’s Lot have been my favorites in other years)
1980-Maniac (I think it’s been too long since I’ve seen The Shining, you mean it’s not just an art film?)
1981-The Evil Dead
1982-Poltergeist (though I never saw it until 1996)
1983-Videodrome (I think, it stuck with me)
1984-A Nightmare on Elm Street (I doubt I’ll court controversy by saying this is scarier than Ghostbusters)
1985-Return of The Living Dead (props to Fright Night)
1986-The Fly
1987-Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
1988-Serpent and the Rainbow (won’t watch it again to this day)
1989-Tetsuo: The Iron Man?
1990-Jacob’s Ladder
1991-The Silence of the Lambs (masterpiece)
1992-Alien 3 / Bram Stoker’s Dracula (I was just going to put Alien 3 for atmospherics, but if that’s my criteria it’s definitely a tie)
1993-Jurassic Park (i would’ve listed nothing, but good call Matt, it had more scares and suspense than everything else_
1994-In The Mouth of Madness?
1995-Se7en (everything else this year is shit)
1996-Scream (I didn’t really have a full picture of how dead horror was before Scream until I just tried to find the best horror movie of 1988 – 1995, wow. Thanks Wes)
1997-Scream 2
1998-The Faculty
1999-The Sixth Sense
2000-Final Destination (guess I have to see Ginger Snaps)
2001-The Devil’s Backbone (I’ll give it props since I haven’t seen most other 2001 horror movies)
2002-Cabin Fever?
2003-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake)
2004-Saw (just as Scream’s influence subsided…)
2005-The Amityville Horror (saw it last Halloween – so good!)
2006-Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
2007-Trick R Treat (so good!)
2008-The Strangers (so good!)
2009-Drag Me To Hell (makes the list for the last minute alone)
2010-Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
2011-The Innkeepers / Fright Night remake
2012-The Cabin In The Woods
2013-The Conjuring (everything I want in a scary movie)
MATT WELTON
TOP HORROR FILMS, BY YEAR, SINCE 1973
1973 (in utero)-The Exorcist (can’t leave it off the list even thought I wasn’t truly alive yet)
1974-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1975-Jaws
1976-Carrie
1977-House, the Japanese one, not the William Katt one.
1978-Halloween
1979-The Amityville Horror
1980-The Shining
1981-Evil Dead
1982-Poltergeist
1983-The Twilight Zone: The Movie
1984-A Nightmare on Elm Street (shout out to Gremlins and Silent Night, Deadly Night, two spooky comedies)
1985-Return of The Living Dead
1986-The Fly
1987-Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (shout out to those dreamy Lost Boys)
1988-Child’s Play
1989-Pet Sematary
1990-The Exorcist III
1991-The Silence of The Lambs (I always hate putting this on horror lists… my horror usually has some element of supernatural in it, it’s what makes them fun. I’ve always thought of this as a drama/thriller/mystery)
1992-Bram Stoker’s Dracula (shout out to Fern Gully)
1993-Jurassic Park
1994-Interview With a Vampire
1995-Se7en (same issue as with Silence of the Lambs, I have to get over this whole serial killers as people thing. I don’t mind putting Texas Chainsaw on horror lists though, that’s because they are just creeps)
1996-From Dusk Till Dawn
1997-Scream 2 (and that’s pushing it, as in not much this year)
1998-Nothing. I’ve not seen the Japanese movie Ringu everyone loves, maybe that but nothing this unspooky year)
1999-Sleepy Hollow
2000-Ginger Snaps
2001-The Others
2002-Bubba Ho Tep
2003-Nothing this year either.
2004-Saw
2005-War of the Worlds, sure
2006-Monster House
2007-1408
2008-Let The Right One In
2009-Drag Me To Hell / My Bloody Valentine
2010-Nothing here either… please move on
2011-The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (this should really read nothing here either, but… why not. They are sexy)
2012-The Cabin in the Woods / ParaNorman
2013-The Conjuring
