My top 5:

  1. Alien
  2. The Shining
  3. The Thing
  4. Evil Dead 2
  5. Hereditary
  • Rei@piefed.socialEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago
    1. The Thing
    2. Alien
    3. Braindead / Dead Alive
    4. Possession (1981)
    5. The Wolf House

    This was so hard to narrow down

  • eluminx@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    21 days ago

    The Fly (1986) X 28 Days Later Hereditary The Silence of the Lambs

    Not specifically in that order, but those are some of my favorites as of late. The list changes from time to time.

  • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago

    In no particular order, ill go with these:

    • Wes Cravens New Nightmare

    • Evil Dead (2013)

    • The Shining

    • Halloween (1978)

    • Poltergeist

      • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        21 days ago

        I love the Freddy movies, but New Nightmare is the only one the made me scared even AFTER watching them.

        To this day.

        And ill still rewatch it because its so amazing.

        • EvilBit@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          21 days ago

          My only complaint is that it indulges in some of the old Freddy cartoonish weirdness (the big fake Freddy head and long tongue) but otherwise it’s just such a mature evolution of the whole franchise. It’s really one of my favorite trashy slashers.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago

    Solid list. I would probably take off Hereditary, since I haven’t seen it… I’d sub in Hellraiser.

    The Shining never really hit me as “horror”. Maybe “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”?

    • BruceTwarzen@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      21 days ago

      Invasion of the body snatcher is the movie i watched when i was like 8 at a friends house. After that i had to walk home by myself at night. I never ran that fast home and never felt that scared, in kind of a good way. I never felt like that again and i’m not super into horror movies anyway, but that must be what junkies talk about when they say they chase that first “high” except for horror movies. A few years ago i discovered the band wolfie’s just fine, and their song reminded me a lot of that experience. https://youtu.be/qG8iAtpavK4?si=7bIu109xXBdY68aG

    • SSTF@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      21 days ago

      The Shining is certainly a flavor of horror. I think part of the problem of trying to make a list where the only criteria is horror sweeps up such a broad array of movies. Like Hostel, From Beyond, Alien, and Silence of the Lambs are all equally in the same bucket, which doesn’t seem right.

      There are a lot of way to sort the distinctions, but The Shining is deserving of a slot somewhere in the realm of supernatural horror. It relies on creepy atmosphere and a descent into isolation with audience along with the characters, more than blood splattering, or some kind existential question to shake the audience. It is, at its core, a haunted house movie.

      • Moriarty@startrek.websiteOPEnglish
        2·
        21 days ago

        Exactly, no other movie evokes that feeling of dread and doom quite like it. It does a lot with very little.

        I’m also surprised you’re the first person to mention From Beyond, the ick factor of that movie is off the charts and I love the campy acting.

        • SSTF@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          21 days ago

          I have a hard time categorizing Stuart Gordon movies as horror (I suppose technically that’s where they end up). They have horror trappings, but everything is so theatrical that it doesn’t really scan as scary. It’s not a failing either but more like the intentional tone.

          The closet modern analog would be maybe Slither? It’s incredibly gross and has concepts that would be horrific to experience, but I’m so removed as an audience member that it’s really just more fun being grossed out.

  • EvilBit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago

    You have excellent taste.

    Off the top of my head:

    1. Exorcist
    2. The Thing
    3. Blair Witch Project
    4. Hereditary
    5. Event Horizon
  • niktemadur@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago

    The Wicker Man is at the very top for me, I never seek out horror films as any sort of fan of the genre, and this one transcends it.
    So does Evil Dead 2. As well as The Shining.
    So that’s three. Alien also belongs up there. Four down, one to go…

    I’ll round it out with The Exorcist. And you know why that film was so shocking for the time? Because it wasn’t filmed as a horror film, but as a family drama. That dry context is what made it feel so immediate for seventies audiences, and it’s still effective today, as it’s not a conceit nor gimmick, it’s an artistic statement of intent.

  • Gerudo@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago

    No order:

    Poltergeist Alien Hereditary Dale and Tucker The Witch

    Extras: Sunshine, Event Horizon, Evil Dead (the reboot), Longlegs

  • lud@lemm.eeEnglish
    82·
    21 days ago

    I don’t like horror movies but Shawn of the Dead is brilliant.

  • criticon@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    21 days ago

    I’m biased toward stuff I’ve watched recently (and more than 5)

    • hereditary
    • evil Dead rise (2023)
    • Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
    • midsommar
    • talk to me
    • rec (the Spanish one)
    • the orphanage
    • Veronica
    • Cesuz_swe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      20 days ago

      Talk to me was fantastic! Been a good while since I felt so unnerved from watching a horror film.

  • poisson///distribution@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    21 days ago
      • Rosemary’s Baby
      • Cure
      • The Other (1972)
      • Talk to me
      • The wiker man

    Also in random order: Rec, The Others, The Visit, Repulsion, 28 days later

  • SSTF@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    21 days ago

    Movies that actually left me feeling unnerved:

    The Witch

    Bone Tomahawk

    The Babadook

    XTRO

    The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

    Top “fun” or interesting but not haunting horror movies:

    Alien

    The Thing

    Friday The 13th Part 6

    Evil Dead 2

    House (1985)

    (A lot of runner ups in the fun category, including basically all of the Jeffery Combs catalog, but I’m not even sure those can be considered “horror” instead of comedy with horror trappings. Similar to Dead Heat and the like.)