{"id":70,"date":"2024-12-18T11:39:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T08:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/?p=70"},"modified":"2024-12-18T11:39:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T08:39:22","slug":"the-5-best-horror-movies-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/2024\/12\/18\/the-5-best-horror-movies-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Best Horror Movies of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

5. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Certainly there were those of us on the IGN staff who argued that this James Whale classic should’ve been higher on our list — perhaps even number one. But compromise being what it is, director James Whale, Colin Clive, Boris Karloff and the rest have had to settle for fifth place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film is the apex of the Universal cycle of classic monster pictures in terms of quality. Rather than simply regurgitating a cheap variation on the first Frankenstein (which is basically what many of the Universal sequels would go on to do), Whale opted to, ahem, flesh out the story and characters of the original (which he also directed). Karloff, in his second turn as the Monster, granted his most famous creation the gift of speech here, and of friendship, and even love. Also, of humor — Bride of Frankenstein is a comedy as much as it is a horror film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brimming with wonderful side characters (oh, Doctor Pretorius, how we miss you) and often unsettling imagery (Jesus H. Christ, did they just crucify the Monster?), the film is over 80 years old and we’re still talking about it — and loving it. To paraphrase Doctor Pretorius, “It is our only weakness”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene to watch with the lights on:<\/strong> The finale, when the Bride is finally created only to spurn the Monster, which is a very bad thing to do for anyone who values not getting blown up in an exploding mountainside laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

4. Halloween (1978)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Psycho can be seen as the film that birthed the slasher genre, and Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an integral step in its progress, making things more visceral. But it was Halloween that truly defined this subgenre in horror, inspiring a million sequels, rip-offs, imitations and homages. Take an instantly identifiable holiday, add in a chillingly silent, unstoppable masked killer and a feisty, resourceful heroine and you have Halloween… and of course all the films that came after it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But John Carpenter brought a sense of tension and suspense few others could match in a slasher film, as we watched Michael Myers stalk Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) from afar, before going on his inevitable killing spree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael himself is an excellent villain, wearing a blank, emotionless mask that perfectly captured the black soul of someone who simply killed and killed, and seemingly couldn’t be stopped, no matter what you did to him. It’s no wonder Michael became a horror icon and that fans rebelled when he didn’t appear in Halloween III. After all, Michael Myers and Halloween — both the film and the actual holiday — are now forever intertwined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene to watch with the lights on:<\/strong> Laurie Strode is trying to hide from Michael Myers, and crouches down inside a closet. She manages to tie the door shut, but that’s not going to stop Michael, who begins smashing the door in, causing light to shine in and for Michael’s spooky mask to come into plain view of the understandably terrified Laurie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

3. Psycho (1960)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Psycho is both one of the\u00a0greatest thrillers of all time\u00a0and one of the greatest entries in Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary resume. A true master of suspense and tension, Hitchcock crafted a memorable horror experience with a limited cast and even more limited budget. Like so many great horror movies, Psycho’s scares far exceed its limited scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film tells the story of crazy old Norman Bates and his even crazier mother. When a young woman on the run from the law arrives at the remote Bates Motel, she falls victim to a knife-wielding killer. Several more victims are claimed before the true secret of the Bates family stands revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The content of\u00a0Psycho\u00a0isn’t as shocking as it was way back in 1960. After all, girls get stabbed in the shower all the time in modern horror cinema. However, it’s a testament to Hitchcock’s skill as a director that Psycho remains a tense and nerve-wracking experience. The killing of Janet Leigh’s character and the accompanying musical key by Bernard Herrmann is one of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psycho is such a classic of the genre that it inspired a shot-for-shot remake in 1998. It’s also had sequels and a TV show based on the tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene to watch with the lights on:<\/strong> What scene could we pick but the quintessential shower slaying? Coupled with that amazing music cue, it remains a horror classic almost 60 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

2. The Exorcist (1973)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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“Tubular Bells” is the scariest music arrangement ever made. We hear it and we’re the shaking-in-our-boots equivalent of Pavlov’s Dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie’s premise — a little girl possessed by a demon — is scary enough as words on paper. But what director William Friedkin does with it, aside from prove that he has a seriously strong (or frightfully off) constitution for this sort of stuff, is treat the extraordinary of it all as if it were really happening next door to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scares come from a place based in faith, where Heaven and hell are as real as your beliefs in them care to be. Faith, for all the documentation on the subject, is tethered to the intangible; it’s not something science can define or strategize. The demon that comes from The Exorcist’s interpretation of that idea is something more powerful than a Freddy or a Jason. Something that can’t be shot or stabbed or detonated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before it can be attacked, let alone defeated, it has to first be believed in<\/em> — as terrible and soul-threatening as this may be to the young priest and old priest charged with delivering the climatic exorcism. Fathers Karras and Merrin spend the third act of the movie fighting back the devil for control of young Regan’s soul. And in doing so, Karras, a man of wavering faith throughout most of the movie, finally believes in the only true good he knows by sacrificing himself to save that little girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film-school analyze this movie more if you want. Bottom line: It is the best horror movie about the consequences of belief ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene to watch with the lights on:<\/strong> All of it. No no no, trust us. Watch it at mid-day, with the blinds open and the lights on. And then get used to the fact that you may never, ever sleep again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1. The Shining (1980)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Shining might just be Stephen King’s most popular horror novel. Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation is almost certainly the most popular\u00a0Stephen King movie. The project was an unusually commercially-focused one for Kubrick, but the same stylistic elements that defined his earlier films were on full display, and the film remains a haunting and unsettling chronicle of a family man’s psychological breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack Nicholson is iconic as Jack Torrance, the struggling writer who accepts a job as winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Mountains. The knowledge that the previous caretaker had gone insane and murdered his family fails to scare Jack away. But when both Jack and his psychically attuned son begin communing with the many spirits haunting the Overlook, things quickly take a turn for the worse. Deadly hedge mazes, elevators full of blood and the terrifying Room 237 are only some of the horrors that await viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from being a genuinely scary film, The Shining has left its mark on modern pop culture. Who doesn’t recognize the image of Nicholson poking his head through a doorway and shouting “Here’s Johnny!”? The Shining also served as fodder for one of the best “Treehouse of Horror” segments in the history of The Simpsons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film is required viewing for any horror aficionado — just don’t expect to sleep easily that night — and our pick for the best horror movie ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene to watch with the lights on:<\/strong> “The blood usually gets off on the third floor.” May we also suggest the Room 237 scene. Beware of women in bathtubs that are really Overlook corpses!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Certainly there were those of us on the IGN staff who argued that this James Whale classic should’ve been higher on our list — perhaps even number one. But compromise being what it is, director James Whale, Colin Clive, Boris Karloff and the rest have had to settle for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzdaily.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}