19. Take Shelter
Take Shelter is an interesting movie because it straddles the line between being a serious character study of its lead, Curtis, and being a psychological thriller. The sense of doom that pervades the movie gives it a tone that never lets the audience feel ok about what they're seeing. Everything about the story is unsettling from the performances to the events of the film. The ending is also extremely eery in its ambiguity. There are many ambiguous moments in regards to Curtis that help keep him constantly interesting as a protagonist because the viewer is never sure what he is going to do next. While he is preparing for the upcoming storm that he keeps claiming is going to strike his mood often changes from calm and collected to downright psychotic. Take Shelter is a movie that never feels quite right and that feeling helps make it much more memorable.
18. The Devil's Backbone
Guillermo Del Toro understands horror better than just about any other director working today and for this reason he is able to make frightening films with impeccable craft. The Devil's Backbone is a masterpiece of paranoia and lurking suspicion. The film is really a simple ghost story but Del Toro uses his skills as a writer and director to also make it a compelling meditation on life, death and the nature of fascism. He tackled similar themes in his other masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth, but here the horror is elevated in a way where it was only mentioned in Pan's Labyrinth. Del Toro uses a little boy as his main character so the audience is forced to view the narrative events through the eyes of a child. This adds a brilliantly ominous tone to the scenes with the ghosts because they focus on the nature of life when we are at our most vulnerable.