Some of the best horror films ever made are the ones we only discuss in the dark and at night. They are the subjects of a certain gaze whenever we bring them up in conversation.
Horror movies are one of the most diverse genres because it encompasses so many different types of stories and techniques, from the traditional folk horror to the modern slasher, from the found footage terror to the slow-burn psychological nightmare. These are the top 10 horror movies:
1. The Shining
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick and written in collaboration with novelist Diane Johnson. It stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd and is based on the same-named 1977 novel by Stephen King.
In the film, protagonist Jack Torrance works as a caretaker at Rocky Mountain’s isolated Overlook Hotel during the winter months when it is closed to the public. Manager Stuart Ullman informs Torrance upon his arrival that former caretaker Charles Grady murdered his family before taking his own life in the hotel.
Jack’s son Danny suffers a foreboding and an attack in Boulder. Wendy, Jack’s wife tells the doctor about an incident from Danny’s past in which Jack dislocated his shoulder in a fit of drunken rage. That incident was the final straw for Jack and he gave up drinking altogether.
Head chef Dick Hallorann tells Danny that he and Danny share a telepathic ability he calls “shining” before going on vacation. Room 237, Hallorann tells Danny has a “shine” because of unpleasant past events that haven’t been cleaned up.
2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel teamed up to create the story and screenplay for their 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
In this movie, Starring Marilyn Burns appears as Sally Hardesty, Paul A. Partain as Franklin Hardesty, Edwin Neal as the hitchhiker, Jim Siedow as the shop owner and Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface, the film also features Edwin Neal as the hitchhiker.
In the film, A grave robber takes several bodies from a cemetery in the early hours of August 18, 1973 in Newt, Muerto County, Texas. The thief creates a macabre scene by tying a dead body and various body parts to a monument which is discovered by a local citizen as dawn breaks.
Sally Hardesty, Jerry, Pam, Kirk and Franklin, Sally’s disabled brother go on a road trip around the area in a van. They make a pit stop at the cemetery to see if anyone has disturbed the grave of Sally and Franklin’s grandfather, but it looks like nobody has been there in a while.
Franklin tells the story of how the Hardestys got into the business of killing animals as they drive past a slaughterhouse. A hitchhiker they pick up explains that he comes from a family with a background in slaughtering animals.
The hitchhiker attacks Franklin and smears a bloody symbol on the side of the van as he is kicked out of the van after the group refuses to pay him for a photograph. The van runs out of gas and pulls into a gas station where the attendant informs them that they are out of fuel. The gang investigates the Hardesty family’s abandoned home.
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3. The Thing
American director John Carpenter and screenwriter Bill Lancaster teamed up for the 1982 horror film The Thing. The film is based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. which tells the story of a team of American scientists who travel to Antarctica and encounter the titular “Thing” a parasitic alien life-form that absorbs and mimics Earth life.
The movie is available to watch on Amazon. In the movie, A Norwegian helicopter in Antarctica is chasing after a sled dog that the Americans believe is headed for a research outpost.
A passenger’s accidental detonation of the helicopter and himself is witnessed by American forces. The pilot opens fire on the Americans and yells something incomprehensible, prompting Garry, the station commander to shoot him dead in self-defense.
R.J. MacReady, an American helicopter pilot and Dr. Copper, a medical doctor set off to explore the Norwegian outpost. They find the burnt remains of a deformed humanoid among the charred ruins and frozen bodies and bring them to the American station.
4. Hereditary
Ari Aster makes his directorial debut with the 2018 American psychological horror film Hereditary. Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro and Gabriel Byrne star as a family whose lives are disrupted by a supernatural force following the death of their mysterious grandmother.
Annie Graham, a miniature artist lives with her husband, a psychiatrist, their two children, Peter and Charlie and their dog. Annie’s mother, Ellen was emotionally distant, so her family gathered to mourn her death. Annie is taken aback by how many people showed up.
Annie goes to a grief support group and opens up about how her relationship with her mother was tense up until Charlie was born and Ellen became more involved in raising Annie. Steve, however does not tell Annie that he received a phone call informing him that Ellen’s grave had been desecrated by unknown perpetrators.
5. The Exorcist
The Exorcist is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin. Jason Miller and Linda Blair are featured in the film. The plot revolves around a young girl’s possession by a demon and her mother’s attempt to perform an exorcism on her behalf with the help of two Catholic priests.
During an archaeological dig in northern Iraq, Catholic priest Lankester Merrin discovers a medallion of Saint Joseph alongside an artifact depicting Pazuzu, an ancient demon. In his final moments in Iraq, Merrin witnesses a dog fight and a massive statue of Pazuzu.
Chris MacNeil, an actress is assisting her buddy, director Burke Dennings, on a film set in Georgetown. Chris, a temporary resident and her daughter Regan live in a luxurious mansion with a staff of helpers. Damien Karras, a priest in Georgetownntravels to New York to spend time with his family.
He tells a friend that he’s having a crisis of faith and that he no longer feels qualified to counsel other priests. Regan tells Chris that her imaginary friend Captain Howdy is making noises in the attic. A statue of the Virgin Mary has been vandalized in a church.
Regan comes out of nowhere and urinates on the floor. After Chris tucks Regan in, she feels a violent tremor in her bed.
A distraught Karras confides in Dyer that he wishes he had been there for his mother in her final moments. Karras has recurring nightmares about his mom, a Saint Joseph medallion and a brief appearance by a demon.
6. Halloween
John Carpenter directed and composed the score for the 1978 American independent slasher film Halloween which he co-wrote with producer Debra Hill and starred Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, P. J. Soles and Nancy Loomis.
Michael Myers, the protagonist is a schizophrenic who killed his older sister while she was babysitting on Halloween when he was six years old and was consequently institutionalized. Fifteen years later, after evading his psychiatrist, he returns to his hometown and begins stalking a female babysitter and her friends.
Michael Myers murders his older sister Judith with a chef’s knife on Halloween night in 1963 in the made-up suburb of Haddonfield, Illinois. Michael has been locked up in Smith’s Grove Sanitarium for the past fifteen years without uttering a single word.
Michael’s psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis visits the asylum on October 30, 1978 with the intention of taking him to court for a hearing in the hopes of having him sentenced to life in prison. On his way back to Haddonfield, Michael murders a mechanic for his coveralls after he steals Loomis’ car and escapes from Smith’s Grove.
Following his arrival, he burglarizes a hardware store in order to acquire knives, ropes and a blank-faced white mask.
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7. Jaws
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg adapted Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel Jaws into the 1975 American thriller Jaws. Roy Scheider plays Chief Martin Brody, the town’s top cop, who with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw) goes after a man-eating great white shark that has been attacking tourists at a beach resort.
One night during a beachside party in the New England town of Amity Island, a young woman named Chrissie Watkins strips down to her skivvies and dives headfirst into the ocean. She is treading water when she is suddenly attacked by a mysterious force that drags her under.
Her remains are discovered in pieces the following morning. Police chief Martin Brody wants to close the beaches after the medical examiner determines she was killed by a shark but Mayor Larry Vaughn convinces him otherwise.
Before a young boy named Alex Kintner is killed by a shark in front of a crowded beach, the coroner reluctantly agrees with the mayor’s theory that Chrissie died in a boating accident.
As a result of the $10,000 reward, a group of amateur shark hunters forms and a local professional shark fisherman with an eccentric and rough exterior, Quint, offers his services to them. Meanwhile, oceanographer and consultant Matt Hooper examines Chrissie’s remains and concludes that a shark of abnormal size was responsible for her death.
8. Alien
Ridley Scott and Dan O’Bannon’s 1979 film Alien is a sci-fi horror classic. The story follows the crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo as they encounter an aggressive and deadly extraterrestrial after discovering a mysterious derelict spaceship on a previously undiscovered moon.
The story was written by O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. Seven people including Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Warrant Officer Ripley, Navigator Lambert, Science Officer Ash and engineers Parker and Brett are in stasis on the commercial space tug Nostromo as it heads back to Earth.
Mother, the ship’s computer alerts the crew when it receives a transmission from a nearby moon. Despite Parker’s objections, they land on the moon and sustain damage from the atmosphere and rocky landscape because company policy mandates investigating any potential distress signal.
While Dallas, Kane and Lambert explore the area, the engineers will stay aboard to make repairs. They investigate the source of the signal and find a deserted alien spacecraft entering it while losing contact with the Nostromo.
It turns out that Ripley was able to decode the transmission and that it was a warning, but she was unable to pass this information along to the people on the abandoned ship.
9. Scream
Filmmaker Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson teamed up in 1996 to create the American slasher film Scream. Actors Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy and Drew Barrymore can be seen in the movie.
In this film, high school student Casey Becker is alone in her house when she gets a phone call from a stranger. When Casey tries to hang up, the caller becomes increasingly hostile eventually threatening her life.
He tells her that her boyfriend Steve has been held captive on her patio and that she must answer questions about horror movies if she wants Steve to be released. Casey witnesses Steve’s murder after giving an incorrect answer to a question about Friday the 13th.
When Casey refused to answer any more questions, her parents found her disemboweled body hanging from a tree in the backyard. The assailant wore a “Ghostface” costume.
10. 28 Days Later
British director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland collaborated on the 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later. Cillian Murphy plays a bicycle courier who comes out of a coma to learn that society has collapsed due to the spread of a highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus.
The cast also includes Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston and Naomie Harris. After a chimpanzee infected with the Rage virus is liberated from a lab in Cambridge by animal rights activists, the virus spreads rapidly throughout Great Britain.
In short order, it becomes an epidemic that brings about the breakdown of society as we know it. Jim, a bicycle courier comes out of a coma 28 days after the initial outbreak to find St. Thomas’ Hospital in London deserted and rife with disaster indicators.
In this scene, Jim is attacked by infected humans, but he is saved by survivors Selena and Mark. Jim insisted that they visit his childhood home in Deptford and upon arrival, he was devastated to learn of his parents’ tragic end. That night, during an attack, Mark is bitten on the arm and Selena kills him before he can turn.
These top 10 horror movies are available to watch on Amazon. We hope you will enjoy these films. If you’re interested in reading more about this or a related topic, as well as the latest updates on movies, series and more be sure to bookmark our website, venturejolt.com.