100 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time
1. Alien
Look, we all know Alien isn't actually the greatest horror movie of all time, but that's democracy for you, so let's just go with it.
In fairness to Ridley Scott’s space-set masterpiece, it is an astonishingly good entry into the genre that redefined what a sci-fi movie could be, turning the grand exploration of the great unknown into sheer terror and blind panic. Scott packages together that sense of grandeur with the stripped back, cold, and stark Nostromus, which becomes the haunted house in which the crew are stalked as prey by the snarling, drooling, teeth-baring alien.
A combination of jump scares, visceral body horror, and a palpable sense of dread, the movie also has a not-so-secret weapon in the form of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley: a new kind of horror movie hero, who kicks alien butt, and finally allows us to catch our breath. Alien takes a relatively simple concept, but executes it with such panache, from H.R. Giger’s nightmarish creation to the superb ensemble to the hellish sound design, that it sets a whole new bar.
In space, no one can hear you scream. In the cinema, your living room, or wherever else you watch this, they can, but it’s not like you’ll be able to stop yourself anyway.
[JH]
Which horror movies do you think belong on this list? Which did we vote into the wrong place? Share your own reactions below in the comments thread.