These are terrible picks. Honestly. I’m a huge horror fan, and I don’t like any of the 5, though The Innocents is, I suppose, okay as classic b and w supernatural horror films go.
I think the horror lies in the fact that the killers (lecter and bill) are like monsters. They are human on the outside, but they are evil killers in the inside. Plus, the fact that these people could be anyone.
Some honorable mentions and maybe more modern recommendations of mine: "Prisoners" could have replaced Silence of the Lambs. "hills have eyes (2006) I think is wildly underrated and the 3rd act is extremely satisfying. "Funny games" both american and original are extremely unsettling. And..."the decent", I know it's already on the list but damn that'a a good movie. Even inspired the most recent Tomb Raider reboot.
You guys never cease to surprise me with your lists! Despite an almost cliche title, and having seen all your other videos, you somehow mention new movies I haven't heard of before! And I love how you justify your picks so well, and always disguise a Top 20 into a Top 5.
Loved the list, but I think "Scream" deserves a mention, it single-handedly revolutionized the slasher genre forever, one of the foremost genres in horror, and a great, original movie overall
Yep, I'm in agreement. An alternative horror list was a smart idea, but I definitely wanted five more. My buddy Daniel, on the other hand, kept saying this was for hipsters and that they knew nothing about horror films. And he apparently hated "The Descent." Why we're still friends after all these years, I'll never know.
The Innocents is one of my absolute favorites and is the only film I've watched countless times that can still give me goosebumps. Specifically, "Anna...?"
This is why I love CineFix. Always going above and beyond to give recognition to some obscure films you might not have seen and actually say something about film instead of just regurgitating a widely accepted list.
Possession (1981) is a horror movie I cannot recommend enough. One of its many great qualities is its consistent hysteria in all facets, whether through the acting, the camera shots, the plot. It's the equivalent of stepping on the gas pedal immediately and never letting up the entire time
I love Possession. It’s so extreme and original, and Isabelle Adjani’s performance is amazing. Probably deserving of an Oscar nomination, but you know how that goes….
The Thing feels like the most "complete" Horror movie for me. There are many subgrenres but if I had to pick the best Horror movie of all time, it'd be The Thing for sure!
One of my favorite movies of all time. Just watched it last night and it's amazing how the PRACTICAL effects still live up to this day. It's without a doubt the greatest horror film ever made because it is so damn eerie and has you at the edge of your seat the ENTIRE runtime. How it's not on this list blows my damn mind
It is the best. The music, the ambiance, the concept, the nuanced characters, the paranoia and the gravitas of saving the world first maybe yourself. I wonder if the power of the story comes from the unlikely flawed slacker anti-hero of MacReady( mr. ready for anything? ) who takes up the call to something bigger than himself and sacrifices in a christian allegory to maybe save the world. And the ending is soo fucking badass. Normal audiences must have been screaming WHAT at the credit roll. You can't end like that.. The sequel and makers of didn't get why it was good and made your cookie cutter slasher pic. Hell they didn't even understand how the Thing creature actually functioned ffs.
This is a good list, but my problem with it is that the films seem to be rated in terms of how closely they match the films they're replacing rather than on their own merit.
Just thinking that it might be that the films "being replaced" have just been so counted down and "done to death" that pretty much everyone will have already seen them so... click away... At the same time, in replacing them with these "reasonable facsimiles" might be the point to give some loyal viewers and movie-discussion types something else to look for... Something they haven't necessarily seen yet, or at least something they haven't watched to death on TNT... There's also room for next year's Halloween, when some hallowed weenies can gang up with Cinefix and bring to light a selection of great "horror films" that might actually stand on their own merits... but with the lack of true originality in the general movie industry, it might take a while... lolz... :o)
Here. Here. I bet most people have never seen the films rated on this list. Everyone and their aunt has seen the The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Alien. How many people have seen Blood and Black Lace, The Innocents, Henry... or Peeping Tom? Of course Henry and Peeping Tom generated a lot of controvesy at the time of their release. Going back now and reevaluating them is great. Henry Portrait of Serial Killer will scare the living the s**t out of you.
Will B Not me. I've seen well over 5000 films in my life, maybe as many as 10,000 in just 32 years alive..... But I still haven't seen any of the 'Alien' films or their prequels, or the weird looking 'The Shining'. I avoid most horror films like the plague as I'm only really interested in paranormal or psychological horrors.
*THE INNOCENTS* is the ultimate Gothic/haunted house/psychological horror film. Val Lewton's B-movie classics (e.g. Cat People) should also get a shout-out.
Totally agree. Btw, fun fact: In Spain we translated this film as "La semilla del diablo" which literally means "The devil's seed" in order to not make spoilers to the audience in the movie title itself, as the american version did.
Sagar Saxena Did you even read what the original comment said? Cinefix made a typo and put 191 for the date under The Silence of the Lambs, hence why everyone is making jokes about it.
I'm always happy when I see Event Horizon on a list of great horror movies. It is the only horror movie I saw as an adult that shook me for several days after. I'm talking, laying in bed freaking out over what I saw.
And then imagine production and post production was riddled with issues, and the movie was never really finished (in a sense). What we could have gotten would have been a classic.
The Descent is so underrated. The ending especially, is fantastic. You could even make a separate list of the best Horror Endings. The Wicker Man, Descent, Ju-On, Night of The Living Dead, Body Snatchers could all easily make a top 5 list already.
You had me at "Descent is the new Alien." Thought that exact thing when I saw it, blew me away. Just such a shame that they changed the ending for American audiences. The original ending is so much more unsettling. Great list! Love how you dodged the "typical five", very cool! Keep up the 'killer' content. EDIT: Would have loved to see some French extreme horror repped (Inside, Martyrs, Switchblade Romance).
I made a list of every film Cinefix has included in a list: boxd.it/1coZ2 More detailed version here: letterboxd.com/darrencb/list/every-movie-included-in-a-cinefix-movie-list/detail/
I've gotta say, you guys are the pinnacle when it comes to film videos! I love that you so closely and carefully analyze scenes, characters, sound, etc. It really adds an extra layer of scholastic authenticity, and it makes the video so much cooler! You guys are awesome, can't wait for the next video! (I'm also super-happy you guys included The Descent- that's one of my personal favourites!)
Hello there, one year later. This list is great! Truly! But there are some honorable mentions that deserve...mentioning. -Slashers: The Town That Dreaded Sundown (really either one), Behind the Mask, and a couple of B&E themed flicks like The Strangers and You're next. -Serial Killers: I'm gonna throw in a nod to Suspect Zer0, it breaks down what the serial killer genre is and really gets existential...plus Ben Kingsley. -Atmospheric: The nail was definitely hit on the head here with The Innocents, but I'd also like to shoutout Crimson Peak and 1964's Witchcraft. Especially in the latter, the creeping sense of something lurking steadily towards the main characters cements their impending doom on the horizon. Plus, even for 1964, Witchcraft is downright nightmare fuel in places. Now I know some of these are pretty recent, but I'm of the mind that the Horror genre is nowhere near dead... or undead for that matter. So for a list that is over a year old now this is pretty spot-on. And while nobody will probably ever read this comment, if you haven't seen any films mentioned here please find a way to. They are all excellent in their own way.
I loved your approach on this! Gives other films a spotlight outside of the top classics for horror. The descent is one of my faves and overjoyed to see it listed!
Good list! Really interesting take - because the genre really has these tentpeices. The Descent was a brilliant fit. It is such a wonderful horror film and a great alternative to alien. Though with Silence of the Lambs gone it would hopefully make people rediscover the masterpiece that is Manhunter. It is chilling, suspenseful and dripping with mood. While Henry and Lambs have more in common in their visual style, Manhunter is too often overlooked. And with The Shining gone, would we still allow The Haunting to exist? That would also make a rather lovely substitute for a chillingly great ghost story! And while not as much a proto-slasher (showing up during it's hey-day), but Argento's Tenebre makes for a lovely slasher-substitute, complete with much of what makes both the genre and giallo stand out, with murders that almost look like art installations! Plus with the loss of my favorite horror movie The Thing, would that mean that The Fly would be the crowned king of Body Horror? Or would something else take it's place?
Hellraiser is good, but it's much more religious horror when it comes to the body horror aspect, while The Thing is more sci-fi. But a good pick none-the-less. If Hellraiser would be allowed of course…
Not so sure on "The Fly"... Would that be the Vincent Price original, or the Jeff Goldblum remake??? While normally, I might vote down a remake on the general principle that they usually suck, the key word is still "usually"... And in the case of "The Fly", there's still plenty to validate either one of them... Technology was sorely lacking for the original in the "hey-day" of Vincent Price, but (especially in its time) it was truly remarkable... Price and the rest of the cast did plenty to make up for a lack of special effects pallet to dip into... On the other hand, Goldblum always held a certain "aura" about him of being a not-so-bad guy even in his most villainous roles... His descent into monster-dom was as much a case for empathic as it was sympathetic, and while he enjoyed a far greater power and technology in special (as well as practical) effects, the cast offered no less of themselves to the fulfillment of the story... Maybe I might caution away from either in this case, not for a lack of luster in either movie, but for the chance to leave them to an ongoing and better to themselves discussion... More something of "is progress really progressive"... And stick to Cinefix's original citation for the spot. of course... they might've been so inclined all along... :o)
The Jeff Goldblum remake was the one I was thinking about, as The Thing itself was a remake and disqualified as it's most certainly too classic, maybe The Fly would have taken it's place? Both have groundbreaking special effects and are the apex of 80s body horror and remakes of horror classic from the 1950s.
Nothing I have ever seen could come close to the Thing. Body horror genre films usually get pretty cheesy or far too enamoured with excessive gore which doesn't serve the story like in the Thing.
To add my own speculative ranking: If we were to take Romero's zombie classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) out of the horror classic pantheon, Bob Clark's Deathdream (1972) would definitely come to the forefront as the quintessential "reanimated corpse" feature injected (no pun intended) with powerful social commentary. To me, it possesses the same level of grittiness and that dour tone that made Romero's film so potent in the first place. It's sad that it doesn't get the recognition it deserves! Just like Romero allegorized the Civil Rights Movement in his flesh-eating ghouls (later zombies), Clark paints a heartbreaking picture of the broken family unit and the repercussions of the Vietnam War through his lonesome, bloodthirsty vampire. Wonderful list concept, as always!
I feel exactly the same way about Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (1974) which is my pick for most under appreciated horror film of all time. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the first true North American slasher film. The one that finally put all of the elements together. Those phone calls are legitimately obscene and absolutely terrifying, and virtually no one realizes that Halloween, the film that would go on to popularize the slasher film, owes its very existence to Black Christmas. It was initially conceived of by Clark and Carpenter as a sequel to BC, which gets none of the credit it so richly deserves.
Jeff Walker> Anybody with some cinema culture knows Funny Games, or have heard of it. And it's directed by Michael Haneke, who is a well known European filmmaker. So no, absolutely not obscure. And considering other lists from CineFix, what you say doesn't make sense. Most of their list are full of movie that are anything but mainstream.
Some alternative horror flicks I'd have picked: The Phantom Carriage (1921), Kwaidan (1964), Hour of the Wolf (1968), Don't Look Now (1973), The Wicker Man (1973), Possession (1981), Angst (1983), Antichrist (2009) and any list with Peeping Tom (1960) is obviously great!
@@rome8180 The backstory with the creatures (briefly shown via cave painting) is that they were humans that never left the caves, and therefore had a greatly divergent evolutionary path. So technically, that'd satisfy the "sci" part.
Glad you gave The Innocents some recognition. Watched it recently and it has stuck with me since, a classic full of atmosphere,suspense and brilliant performances which doesn't need to resort to cheap scares. And the opening title sequence instantly became one of my favourites
For the Slasher genre, why not look to Australia and our amazing "Wolf Creek". Even more creepy when you know that the star and slasher was the host of a nationally loved home and garden improvement show.
The Shining (1980) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original) The Other (1972 --- not the Others 2001) The Sentinel Let's Scare Jessica to Death Sinister Encounter with the Unknown Burnt Offerings Phantasm Pet Sematary (original) Pumpkinhead Night of the Living Dead (original -- opening scene only) Jacob's Ladder (original) My list might be weighted a bit heavy towards 1970s horror, some of which may even seem cheesy (esp Encounter ...), but I like the atmospherics of these movies.
This was a really interesting way to go about the video! I hope you will do more like it in the future. That being said, I would choose The Exorcist for the top five personally. Silence of the Lambs and Psycho fill very similar niches, I think - the difference is in the involvement of authority and Silence really treads the line between a horror and crime thriller in the first place.
The Shining and Suspiria aside, I didn't see a mention for Rosemary's Baby, The Other (1972) or The Blair Witch Project. And a short not-quite movie, "Whistle and I'll Come to You" (1968) BBC adaptation is a masterclass in tension and the unexplained. The Descent has a great 1st half, but a poor 2nd half.
this was an EXCELLENT movie list, i totally aggree with your choices and format of the listing- as well as the casual mentions of other most notable runner ups. I would like to see a part 2 to this video, for there is some certain space for more classics and alternative universe equavelents.
Paste Magazine did. It’s online. Surprisingly, Jess Bradford from 1974’s Black Christmas, a film I adore, is #1. Laurie Strode is only 4 or 5, weirdly.
Isak Dahl Short Films - You’re right, and I think the reason it is...is because it produced one of the most frightening characters ever in film. Hannibal Lecter is at least as frightening as almost any other character in horror.
@Travis B for me it was get out, the idea and concept of the brain transplant was just ugh and pretty much any horror movies that have to do with cannibals are scary like Texas chainsaw massacre with the Sawyer family.
Not a stretch in the least. One of the biggest problems with such lists are these definitions that distinguish/separate ‘horror’ films from everything else. ‘Horror’ is not so solitary. ‘Horror,’ here, is simply a marketing device. See in books and/or films, ‘The Heart of Darkness,’ or, ‘Moby Dick,’ or ‘Lolita,’ or, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ on just what it is we try to ignore and ‘toss down the oubliette’ (the real and true horror is the daily attempt to make it magically vanish, or become some other alien world, disconnected from our own, merely because we say so).
If I have to pick an alternate for Silence of the Lambs, it would be American Psycho. Patrick Bateman is inside all of us. All of us pretend to be pitch perfect, but inside we are consumed by lust, greed, wrath, arrogance and a desire to be loved unconditionally. You are 10 minutes into the movie, and you feel a connection to the protagonist and then it starts to escalate. You see a perfectly civilised man doing uncivilised things to keep himself sane. And the ending is just perfect. Was it real or just a fragment of his imagination?
It's a great way to make a horror movie list.. Although I disagree with 2 things 1 :"the silence of the lamps" I don't think its a horror movie.. If that movie its a horror movie then "seven" or "zodiac" it's also 2:"The exorcist" as a simple mention.. Exorcist scenes and soundtrack are still so iconic and frightening.. I think it's by far the scariest movie of all time!!
I would like to see someone silence all those "lamps." And The Exorcist is boo-boo; the scariest moment is a jump-scare when a telephone rings. I saw it re-released in a theater, and it came-off as a outmoded relic from a simpler time.
Scissorman Nods Anthony Perkins Mr Norman Bates himself felt Hannibal Lector was a terrifying character. I just remember that from a list of his own recommendations of Horror films back in the 1990's for Video Review magazine.
Couldn't agree MORE! The Exorcist is the scariest ever! And Silence of the Lambs isn't quite horror. Unless you think Copycat is horror which it isn't in my opinion.
I supposed it depends on whether you think the hunt for serial killers(not slashers) fall into the horror or suspense area. For me, if the victim is involved and we experience terror and trauma with and for them, then it's horror. If I'm afraid during the film, then it's horror. In some ways I consider Inglorious Basterds a horror film. So I think SofL counts and Seven doesn't(at least I think we only see the victims in the aftermath and they are all dead except 1?)
I might pick The Haunting or The Woman in Black to replace The Shining (especially The Woman in Black). EDIT: Also, did you ever do a Top Whatever Hammer films?
Alexander Case ....was there an earlier version of The Woman In Black that didn't have Harry Potter in it? If not you and I have very different tastes haha
The Changeling. The Changeling. The Changeling. ... ... ... (1980). George C. Fothermucking Scott!Thank you ever so much for making your wonderfully watchable videos!
