MoFo Top 100 Horror Movies: The List

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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Sorry to break it to the whole world, but said world doesn't run on "but I don't wanna."
Everything that I've seen with American Politics the last couple years tells me this is not true.
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Suspect's Reviews



Besides, this is the only criteria I need for a horror movie: if it scares a lot of people/tries to scare a lot of people, it's horror.
I'll second this as a rough definition. But to each their own! The main thing is understanding that these lists are just our best attempt at quantifying the total opinion of all participating members. It's not stopping anyone from having their own definition of each term and arguing for it accordingly and all that. Nobody's legacy is at stake here.



Sorry to break it to the whole world, but said world doesn't run on "but I don't wanna."
Everything that I've seen with American Politics the last couple years tells me this is not true.
Not to derail into such a touchy subject, but modern politics have a good deal of bullcrap. They aren't perfect, and people pretending their whining is a good political debate makes it worse. That's all I will say on that subject.



What an excellent day for an exorcism
I think at this point you either need to lay out clear criteria (not examples, examples are easier than detailed standards) as to what constitutes horror and what doesn't. At the very least, there's no point in just saying "this is horror" or "this isn't horror" absent any further explanation, though.
I researched genres/subgenres for a website project and genres can be as subjective as films themselves, Many of the sources I used in research were literary basics/tutoring sources, but for certain all parent genres have subgenres and even subsets.

For example the parent genre Sci-Fi contains the Artificial intelligence subgenre. And drilling further down that subgenre contains the Synthetic Biology subset.

The same for the parent genre Horror. I've seen Thriller/Psychological listed as a subgenre of Horror. I've also seen Home Invasion listed as a subgenre of Horror. To make it more confusing, I've seen parent genres listed as a subgenre for another parent genre, for example - Adventure>Comedy, Sci-Fi>Horror, Horror>Thriller.

The parent genre Thriller also has subgenres:
Disaster
Psychological
Crime
Techno

Some films have a hierarchical set of genres/subgenres.

Primary genre/subgenre
Secondary genre/subgenre
Tertiary genre/subgenre

It's a judgment call what film's primary and secondary genres are.

For example, Alien 79

Primary genre/subgenre - Sci-FI
Secondary genre/subgenre - Horror

Or one could argue to flip which is the primary for Alien.

Another example, Thor Ragnarok (TR)

Primary genre/subgenre - Action/Adventure genre
Secondary genre/subgenre - Comedy genre
Tertiary genre/subgenre - Super Human Sci-Fi subgenre

Again, one could argue which one is the dominant genre/subgenre for TR, but one thing for certain, all three genre/subgenres are contained in that film.

And in the case of the film currently discussed, Manhunter

Primary genre/subgenre - Thriller genre
Secondary genre/subgenre - Horror genre
Tertiary genre/subgenre - Thriller Crime and/or Psychological subgenre

Again, one could argue which is the primary genre/subgenre.
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It's debatable that Psycho, Exorcist, and Halloween were all robbed. I need to see The Thing again soon if it's this high. I remember really liking it but it wasnt a true personal top 100 favorite or anything either. And I think Alien is very overrated. The Shining is great though.



For example, Alien 79

Primary genre/subgenre - Sci-FI
Secondary genre/subgenre - Horror

Or one could argue to flip which is the primary for Alien.
Horror is primary in "Alien".
Another example, Thor Ragnarok (TR)

Primary genre/subgenre - Action/Adventure genre
Secondary genre/subgenre - Comedy genre
Tertiary genre/subgenre - Super Human Sci-Fi subgenre
Primary genre in "Thor: Ragnarok" is Superhero Fantasy.



Radio music while I sort through images. Ahhhh, not from a film tagged horror *gasp* though does have Virginia Madsen from Candyman (1992).



@Nostromo87 we need you in here again! Be the horror hero you are and save us from horror with horror!



What an excellent day for an exorcism
Horror is primary in "Alien".
And there you go, for every viewer who perceives Alien's primary genre as sci-fi, you will equally find viewers who perceives Alien's primary genre as horror.

Oft repeated comments I've seen...

"If Alien's primary genre is Horror, then why is it listed in many all time top sci-fi lists?"

"If Alien's primary genre is sci-fi, then why is it listed in many all time top horror lists?"

That's where the 'subjective' factor comes in.

Primary genre in "Thor: Ragnarok" is Superhero Fantasy.
Yup, the super human subgenre easily slips right in the parent genre Fantasy. Many subgenres seem to fit quite comfortable in more than one parent genre.



Too true, especially considering superhero and fantasy both work together with the same genres in similar ways, such as if you pair one with sci-fi or action, and in recent attempts, horror due to the upcoming movie Brightburn.



What an excellent day for an exorcism
Good point, Keyser. Where a super human subgenre film better fits in a parent genre depends on the super human's source of powers. If the super human's source of power was achieved through scientific/technological/biotech means, I would place that film's super human subgenre under the parent genre Sci-Fi (Vision, Captain America). For a super human's source of power achieved through magical/supernatural means, I would place that film's super human subgenre under the parent genre Fantasy (Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider).

I think Tugg makes a good point that Thor's super human subgenre fits better in the parent genre Fantasy, though the three Thor films do contain a healthy dose of sci-fi elements. Nevertheless, Thor's powers do not come from scientific means and those scif-fi elements I mention are more peripheral than a central element to his character......in my subjective opinion.



Science fiction and westerns are sometimes weird genres for me. Sometimes it seems movies are labeled as those simply because of the setting. For alien, I see the science-fiction element as the backdrop. Any movie set in space will be called science fiction. The whole essence and story of the movie is horror. Take away the horror element and there's no movie.



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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Psycho is a good film but I didn't have it on my list because I didn't think of it as being horror. Not saying it isn't or arguing against its inclusion in any way, just didn't count it myself.

I think this means the top 3 are all films on my list.



If anyone cares, in the genre of horror I'm attracted to films with a creepy tone and atmosphere far more than outright scares or gory violence, and I figure my list reflected that. There were a few exceptions but even my #1 The Omen I love for it the chills and the atmosphere. I love Alien and particularly The Thing but those were both on my science fiction list and I so I left them off of this list, and now I'm really glad I did because I think top 3 is too high for them. Personally I see them as first science fiction movies. As for The Shining . . . well, it never had a chance of being on my list, and I'll leave it at that, except that I do appreciate the unsettling tone of the film.
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Like hinted yesterday I did rewatch Psycho today. It was actually better than I expected but still wouldn't have made my list even if I had done that earlier. I have no doubt that it deserves its status as a classic but from my point of view (a selfish consumer in 2019) it's merely a good film.

I liked the first half (and some) more than the latter parts. Perkins and Leigh we're great, score is good and directing / pacing was excellent. The investigation part didn't work as well and the ending explained way too much (again, from 2019 PoV - I do acknowledge that it may have been necessary back in 1960). Anyways I'm really close to giving it 4/5 and you know how stingy I am
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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
2. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
10. Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Didn't make list
I also had Little Shop of Horrors at #9... shouldn't it have made the list with 24+ 17 + 16 = 57 points? Or is my maths wrong?



What an excellent day for an exorcism
Science fiction and westerns are sometimes weird genres for me.
Understandable, during my research I came across a number of weird genre/subgenre descriptions. For example: Western Sci-Fi and Space Western. You would think by their titles they are one and the same, but they are two totally different subgenres of Sci-Fi.

WESTERN SCI-FI has elements of science fiction in a Western setting. It is the inverse of the Space Western. A science fiction Western occurs in the past (The Wild Wild West, Cowboys & Aliens), or in a world resembling the past (Westworld), in which modern or future technology exists. The Wild Wild West could also easily slip into the Steampunk sci-fi subgenre.

SPACE WESTERN SCI-FI transposes themes of American Western books and film to a backdrop of futuristic space frontiers. Josh Whedon's 2005 feature film Serenity is a good example.

The overlap doesn't end there, there's also the subgenre Frontier Sci-Fi - stories of people conquering new frontiers, leaving our world to colonize a preferable one. New or cut-off colony planets, left to support themselves, have a distinct frontier aspect. A good example is Peter Hyam's film Outland, which is an homage to High Noon.






Alien (1979)
Runtime: 1 Hr 57 Mins
Production Company: 20th Century Fox
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Production Budget: $11,000,000
Box Office: $203,630,630
Forty Seven Votes
775 Points (25, 25, 24, 24, 24, 24, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 22, 22, 22, 22, 21, 21,
21, 20, 19, 19, 19, 18, 18, 17, 17, 16, 16, 15, 15, 14, 14, 13, 12, 9, 7, 7, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
High Voter: @MoreOrLess , @BraedenG33

"Don't Worry Parker,
You'll Get Whatever's
Coming To You."
Ripley
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Alien was my No.5. I always loved it, but a re-watch in January cemented it as one of my favourite films.

1. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
2. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
3. Funny Games (1997)
4. The Witch (2015)
5. Alien
6. Shaun of the Dead
7. Evil Dead
8.
9. Psycho
10. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
11. Halloween
12. The Exorcist
13. [REC]
14. Hereditary
15. Invasion of the body snatchers (1978)
16. Creep (2014)
17. The Wicker Man (1973)
18. Saw
19. The Mist
20. An American Werewolf in London
21. Gremlins
22. Cloverfield
23. The Fly (1986)
24. The Lost Boys
25. Don't Breathe