Top Ten Horror Movies - Are Horror Movies all the same?

There is no movie genre like horror movies. Indisputably, horror movies have always shaken up their audience, making it very hard for them to forget the scariest and most macabre scenes conveyed and inducing a state of fear towards different things approached by the best horror movies ever made, fear being the most inhibiting and challenging human emotion of them all. The spectacularly frightening outcomes, sometimes the violent approaches, the relationships between the natural and the supernatural, the possible and the impossible, the expected and unexpected, all in all the unlimited imagination of the horror movie directors have convinced amateurs of adrenaline everywhere that spending about 2 hours in front of the TV or in front of the computer is all worth it.

Fights between good and evil, all kinds of mistakes of nature, mutants, sinister accidents, greatly tensioned plots and unbelievable special effects, these are only some of the elements that step in front when it comes to horror movies. Above all, the most important thing that assures the success of a horror movie must be the impact it inflicts upon the viewers, either if it is achieved in a more direct of more pretentious way.  Although many people would not think so, there are so many elements that make up a good horror movie, therefore being very difficult to classify them as top ten horror movies or bottom ten horror movies come to that. Such a movie has to so well-directed, well-acted, well-mended that it should make it impossible for the one watching it to disconnect from that movie universe even for a single minute.

Not all horror movies are the same. No one can claim that if you have seen a horror movie, you have seen them all. They are different from so many points of view, of course, if they are good horror movies, not just any scary plot with dead people everywhere and monsters jumping out of bushes or trees in dark forests. Even the themes of these movies are very different, although they have the same feeling at their end and that is fear. The plot can induce the fear of the unexpected, the fear of dark, of death, of the evil or the fear of being lonely. As long as it is fear and strange things it approaches, that movie has just taken a step forward to its audience.

Top Horror Movies of All Times

History has given incredible horror movies so far, all different, all more or less pretentious, more or less fine or realistic, but it has been impossible to decide which would be the top ten horror movies of all times. There is a long list to choose from, which includes historical titles such as “Psycho”, “The Exorcist”, “Halloween”, “The Shining” or “Nightmare on Elm Street”, every single one with a great number of awards or explosive numbers at the box office.

 Apparently, many specialists consider William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” to be the number one horror movie of all times, the movie based on William Peter Blatty’s book and a true case of exorcism in Washington. This historical picture starring Linda Blair had almost half a million of dollars at the box office and was charged with blasphemy and child jeopardy, but remained one of the symbols of horror movies around the world.

 In 2001, the American Film Institute awarded “Psycho” as the number one horror movie, its shower scene being considered the best of the best scary scenes ever realized. The black and white film realized in 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock has simply a blast, no one ever forgetting killer Norman after that movie.

Horror movies are maybe the most appropriate to watch on occasions such as Halloween, perfectly matching the spirit and atmosphere. This holiday was actually the source of inspiration for another huge horror cinematography product. In 1978, John Carpenter directed the movie “Halloween”, with Donald Pleasance and Mike Myers, a movie made with 320000$ and winning 47 million dollars at the box office, which is why it has an impressive number of sequels.

Fourth in this close top ten horror movie list would be “The Shining”, made by Stanley Kubrick in 1980, after a Steven King novel. This very successful film unfolds the happenings of a writer possessed by demons and transformed into a murderer as his family and he are stuck in a haunted hotel during a snowstorm. Not only did “The Shining” set the world record for the most repeated scene, but is also said to have set a point of reference in horror cinematography.

There cannot be any horror movie amateur who has not heard about the famous “Nightmare on Elm Street”, released in 1984. Having as protagonist a murderer to kills who chooses and executes their victims while they sleep, from inside their nightmares, this movie was actually inspired from a strange thing which happened to director Wes Craven. Freddy Kreuger, the fierce murderer will always remain an inspiration for kids on Halloween, when they have to choose their costumes very carefully and also a character to remember everybody of Johnny Depp’s beginnings. Although this character was also meant to be kept alive by shooting sequels of “Nightmare on Elm Street”, this has not been a very successful initiative.

“The Night of the Living Dead”, another reference movie, was directed by George Romero in 1968 and was the first horror film ever to introduce flesh-eating zombies as characters, which could not be stopped from torturing unless put down.  As any successful movie, this one was also continued, but evidently far from having the same success, that being the case of all the attempts.

Since aliens have always been a subject for films, we could not have missed a horror movie without aliens, which is why Ridley Scott started the “Alien” series in 1979, which was by far the best thing that could have happened for its star, Sigourney Weaver. “Alien” left people everywhere with the unforgettable scenes of an unidentified and peculiar creature wandering about on a spaceship and forever changing the lives and survival spirit of all onboard. In fact, at a certain moment, you could even say that creature was quite interesting.

The list of the top ten horror movies should not omit titles like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, shot in 1974, by Tobe Hooper or “Let the Right One In”, a more recent movie, from 2008, putting forward the unmentioned element so far, the all time remembered vampires. This Swedish film is about a twelve-year old possessed by a vampire and striking up her friendship with her neighbor. Eventually, there is the 1976 “Carrie”, based on another Steven King novel, a film with a bit of a scholar air.

There is always something catchy about horror movies and they get even more frightening when there is no escape, making vulnerability sister with the unbearable fear. All this and the particular stories and ways they were filmed and imagined setting these top ten horror movies as an example for everything that the concept of horror movies actually is. It appears that the world of horror is in a permanent development, so is you are to become afraid again, only be afraid of the fact that they may overcome your expectations. Then you will appreciate them as they should and definitely not as second hand movies.

Before you hit the theaters to see then next horror movie watch the newest movie trailers at home.