100 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time
85. The Others
It may be in the English language, but director Alejandro Amenábar ensures a Spanish influence is all over The Others, which is full of Gothic style and haunting atmosphere.
The goings-on might be supernatural - the haunted house setting ramps up the tension and scares as the film ticks along - but, like we’ve seen recently with Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, it’s the very human drama at the centre that makes the ghostly trappings more believable.
A lot of that comes from Nicole Kidman’s superb, grounded performance, with the mother who just wants to protect her kids a plausible and relatable character point that serves as the axis for its scares to turn upon.
[JH]
84. Evil Dead
Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead may not be nearly half as silly as its follow-ups (which would spotlight Bruce Campbell’s Ash in increasingly outlandish circumstances), but it’s still just as brilliant.
Centred around a group of teens as they unwittingly unleash an army of spirits, Evil Dead is spooky, gruesome, and at times uncomfortable to watch. It is a great horror film though, and one that simply must be seen before its sequels are.
[EP]
83. Deep Blue Sea
Right, you’re probably reading this thinking that it has no place on this list. And you might be right, but there’s argument that the film about genetically engineered super-smart sharks killing off scientists in an underwater research facility is one of the best horror movies you can watch.
Bringing together black comedy, action, drama, and shock into a neat little scary bundle is just one point in Deep Blue Sea’s favour, and it only gets better from there. Working on our fears of the ocean and claustrophobia, as well as the terrible consequences of playing god, it’s a reflection of man itself being it’s own worst enemy whilst simultaneously straddling the shark subgenre of horror in the process.
It might not be a masterclass in technicality, but it’s one of the most entertaining and downright self-aware shark movies you can watch outside of Jaws, and it capitalises on that fact. The Samuel L Jackson scene is enough to warrant a place on this list, and if you disagree, you just hate fun.
[AM]