100 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time
22. The Descent
Claustrophobia is a perfectly understandable fear. Being trapped in tight space with no real way of escaping or even moving comfortably is terrifying enough, making caves that much more scary: you never really know when such a claustrophobic nightmare is going to be set upon you in between walls of rock.
The Descent knows this all too well, plunging six friends into an unknown cave system that collapses, trapping them inside. Except it’s not just the women down in the dark.
This movie is one of Britain’s best horror outputs maybe ever, cleverly toying with genre conventions and classic monster tropes to make something truly electrifying as a group of spelunkers attempt to find their freedom. It’s tight, it’s dark, and it’s downright panic-inducing, the perfect combination of atmosphere and visuals in one nasty package.
[AM]
21. Evil Dead II
After the low-budget special effects of the original Evil Dead made aspects of the horror seem a little unintentionally hilarious, Sam Raimi returned to the franchise with a sequel set to embrace that accidental element, going all in on Three Stooges-style slapstick while retaining the original's extreme gore and horrifying creature designs.
Bruce Campbell is of course amazing, devolving into manic hysteria that's equally haunting as it is hysterical, as he's tormented by Deadites who literally take control of furniture and dead animals in order to simply laugh at him. The first half especially is essentially a one-man show, as Campbell tackles these creatures in isolation, before other survivors finally show up (to be brutally torn apart almost instantly).
It's ridiculous, scary and hilarious all at once and, despite its many imitators since, unlike anything else.
[JB]
20. Ringu
Arguably Japan’s all-time most popular horror release and the spark that ignited a raging industry fire for foreign-language Hollywood adaptations, Ringu is the story of Sadako. A little girl attached to a cursed video tape that will kill you seven days after watching. Not just in any normal way either, but by crawling out of your television set and scaring you quite literally to death.
A clever reflection of both our obsession with and fear of technology, Hideo Nakata’s Ringu is rife with fantastic cinematography, and a deep-seated dread that worms its way into your stomach as the film plays out. Keeping its cards close to its chest before revealing everything in a perfect explosion of horror, Ringu is one of those films that stays with you long after watching. Just hope Sadako hasn’t taken note.
[AM]