5. Alien (1979)
A professor once described Alien to me as the best haunted house movie ever made. He may be right. The Nostromo is nothing more than a large, looming manor, full of tight, winding hallways, dripping pipes, and secret crawlspaces. The Alien, of course, is the haunter, hunting down the ships seven member crew one by one after sneaking aboard in one of their bellies. Theres a touch of Kubricks 2001 here too, as the ships onboard control computer, Mother, seems to have a hidden agenda that may not be in the best interest of its crew. The imagery is forthright to a point where it can hardly be called subtext. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), one of two women (and the only commanding one) in an all male crew, is eventually left to do battle with a creature that is essentially a walking phallus, a being that infiltrates the crew by having its egg forced down the throat of a crew member. The film is ripe with monstrous images that reveal a fear of sex, rape especially. Ridley Scotts film uses darkness, misdirection, and ambience perfectly to help build up its horror. We think we see the creature in every corner, every crevice of the ship. Screenwriter Dan OBannon created two of horror and sci-fis most enduring characters with Ripley and her alien adversary, a "perfect life form", according to one of the ships crew. Alien spawned one great sequel (Aliens) and two less than stellar ones, along with spin-offs and last summers sort-of prequel, Prometheus. But the original stands above all the rest, a perfect blend of industrial science fiction and horror.
4. Psycho (1960)
There have been studies, thesis papers, and books written about Alfred Hitchcocks 1960 masterpiece. Some have called it the movie that taught audiences to love murder. Others fawn over its creative plot structure, disposal of the apparent main character, and brilliant turn by Anthony Perkins as a mothers boy with several dark secrets. The real beauty of Hitchcocks film is how it balances horror with mystery, so that even when were disturbed, were still hooked on finding out whats really going on. That he could balance these two factors so well doesnt come as a surprise; by the time he made Psycho Hitchcock had already been established as a proven master of suspense and mystery, able to play audiences like a piano with the way he created and suspended tension and drama. In Psycho he dipped into all out horror, but took along all of the tools he already possessed to create a film that was on one hand different from his previous work, but on the other hand still very much a Hitchcock picture. And then we have Perkins. Has there ever been a better face, at once appearing hopelessly innocent yet twitching with anxiousness, to portray a fractured mind? His every movement is on point, his voice full of eerie, forced calm. Looking at him, we see not a monster but a man, which may be all the more frightening.