With October in full swing, we can expect a large number of horror movies this month. Horror, as a genre, has been around for centuries in written or stage form. In the early 20th century, motion pictures took off with the advent of silent movies that used actual piano players in the theater to accompany the movie. Even at the earliest stages of cinema, film-makers have tried to scare the pants off their audiences. The genre wasn’t codified until 1931’s Dracula. The earlier films, which sometimes included German expressionism, were horror movies, but there wasn’t until a real term for that yet. The genre has evolved a great deal over the past century. Not only was there just straight horror movies, it evolved to include comedy, action, drama, science fiction, and romance. In fact, aside from comedy, horror is perhaps the most versatile of genres. The only real difference between horror and comedy is intent. They tend to follow the same beats and timing otherwise.
Horror has also changed to include various sub-genres that include specific kinds of horror: Vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts, the supernatural, slashers, and rape-revenge films. You’ve also got body horror, folk horror, found footage, Gothic horror, natural horror, and psychological horror. We also can’t forget about the international contribution from countries like Japan, Italy, France, England, Germany, Spain, Mexico, and Canada. Horror is a genre that is both respected and reviled by audiences around the world. It’s truly glorious…or shall we say, gorious?
What I’m going to do with this post is pick the best horror film by decade. I’m going to allow TWO per decade, because each decade has a treasure trove of movies that one could pick from. I’m not going to include short films on this list. Too many to count, so nearly every horror movie from the 1890s up until 1920 is not going to be on this list. Full-length films only. So that means we start with:
1920s:
1922 – Nosferatu
What can I say about the first real adaptation of Bram Stoker’s infamous novel, Dracula? It’s an unofficial adaptation that got the studio sued by Stoker’s estate. They won and all copies of the film were supposed to be destroyed. Thankfully, some copies survived and we got this incredibly creepy 1920s silent film about Count Orlock, played to villainous perfection by the magnetic Max Schreck. It might not look like much today, but the atmosphere and the dread that it invokes is all too palpable. Look at Count Orlock. He’s creepy as fuck. My hair still stands on end when I see Orlock on screen. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend Nosferatu. Yeah, it’s a product of its time, but it was also ahead of its time on the same token. It would be one of the most influential movies the genre had ever seen.
1930s:
1931 – Dracula/Frankenstein
1931 was the year that the genre was finally codified and you can thank Universal Studios for that with Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. This was the first legitimate adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel that got people into theaters. Bela Lugosi was simply magnetic as the dreaded Prince of Darkness. It was incredibly atmospheric. The black-and-white motif simply added to the spookiness. It’s legitimately considered one of the great monster movies of the 30s. In the same year, Boris Karloff would walk the screen as Mary Shelley’s infamous Frankenstein monster. The awesome thing about this movie, is that the creature wasn’t the monster of the film, but his creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who defied the laws of nature to gain power over life and death. The creature didn’t know what to do with the emotion that he was suddenly experiencing, and it resulted in the death of an innocent child. It’s a huge morality play about the consequences of playing God. It’s a powerful and thrilling film.
1940s:
1940 – The Wolf Man
This is the only horror movie from the 40s that I’ve seen, but what a movie it is. Lon Chaney, Jr. stars as Larry Talbot, who gets bitten by a werewolf and transforms into a hideous beast during a full moon. At it’s core, this movie is actually a tragedy, because a man is inflicted by a condition that he has no control over and could end up killing people. Yeah, the make-up effects and transformation sequence don’t look like much these days, but in the 40s? It was mind-blowing. It’s well acted and the film also stars Bela Lugosi. Pretty cool, huh?
1950s:
1954 – Godzilla/Gojira
While some might consider 1933 King Kong to be the first of the giant monsters, Gojira a.k.a Godzilla is the first true Kaiju monster movie. The film was made as a direct response to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 9 years earlier. It was made as a warning about the dangers of nuclear power. Believe it or not, the creature only has about maybe 10 minutes of screen time, but his presence is felt throughout, which is an allegory for nuclear power. Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there and it can be devastating. This film is simply one of the most remarkable movies to come out of Japan and has since become such a cult classic that it spawned an entire genre of monster movies throughout the 60 and 70s. Godzilla is surprisingly still popular today with an actual brand new Japanese movie coming soon. I’m excited, actually.
1958 – The Blob
Look, the idea of Steve McQueen playing a teenager in this movie is ridiculous. He was almost 30 by the time this movie came out. Still, he was pretty effective in the film as a kid who sees a shapeless monster and tries to convince an entire town that they’re in danger. For a movie from 1958, it’s got a pretty high body count. It absorbs any living thing it touches and grows and grows to gargantuan proportions. It’s also indestructible. There are some genuinely creepy moments in the film, especially in a grocery store with the lights out. But it is kind of goofy in all the best ways. It’s such a cult classic that there’s a town in Pennsylvania that holds an annual “Blobfest,” which also features the theater that was used in the movie.
1960s:
1960 – Psycho
First up for the 60s is an Alfred Hitchcock classic, Psycho. What makes this movie so important is that it was really the first movie to actually show blood when someone was getting stabbed. The shower sequence is iconic. This is considered by many to be the godfather of the slasher movie, even though the body count is in the single digits. But it’s such an effective movie that people lined up for blocks to see it. Hitchcock was a true master of suspense, and the performances from both Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins were brilliant.
1963 – The Birds
Two Hitchcock movies? Really? Yes…really. It’s no surprise that I found Psycho and The Birds to be my favorite horror movies of the 60s. There were a lot of great movies during this decade, but again, if suspense is the name of the game, nobody did it quite like Alfred Hitchcock. In some ways, this is actually a disaster movie, but the disaster is completely unexplained. A woman visiting a town is besieged by entire flocks of birds. Soon, the entire town is under attack. What I love about this movie is the sound design. It’s creepy. It’s absolutely one of my favorite flicks and it’s a lot of fun.
1970s:
1973 – The Exorcist
Now, we come to what may be my favorite decade in movies in general, and we start with one of the greatest and most controversial horror movies of all time: The Exorcist. Truthfully, there’s not a whole lot that I can say about this movie that hasn’t been repeated a million times before by other people. It’s a really powerful film and incredibly shocking, especially for 1973. Now, 1972 gave us Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left, which was controversial in its own right, but The Exorcist is a much better film in nearly every way. Based on William Peter Blatty’s book of the same name, it’s an intense story centered around the demonic possession of a young girl. Yet, the movie itself is not actually about the girl. It’s about Father Damien Karras, Father Merrin, and the girl’s mother. It focuses on the people that are affected by something so horrific. It’s brilliantly written, with outstanding performances from Jason Miller, Max Von Sydow, Ellen Burstyn, and then-newcomer Linda Blair as Regan. It’s haunting AND it’s tragic. It’s one of the few movies that I can honestly say is perfect in nearly every way. All subsequent movies about possession and exorcism owes their existence to THIS movie.
1979 – Alien
As I said in my intro, horror can be combined with other genres to make something completely different. Who knew that combining horror and science fiction would result in one of the greatest horror movies of all time? Ridley Scott’s Alien is an outstanding film that’s essentially Texas Chainsaw Massacre In Space. Except this time, the villain is a hideous creature literally born from a human host. It’s atmospheric, claustrophobic, isolated, and it constantly has you on the edge of your seat. I can honestly say that Alien is the best example of sci-fi horror. It’s not an easy combination to pull off, as so many movies have tried. But nobody told Ridley Scott that, and BOOM! Amazing movie.
1980s:
1982 – John Carpenter’s The Thing
Yeah, about film-makers not getting science fiction horror right? Well, John Carpenter managed to pull it off with a new adaptation of John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? The story is set in Antarctica at a remote American science station when the people there see a helicopter chasing a dog. After the Norwegian pilots are killed, everything returns to business as usual until the dog begins to change. What makes The Thing so special was not just its amazing special effects, but it’s incredible atmosphere, outstanding chemistry between the actors, and the uneasy paranoia that builds because nobody knows who is human. Combined with Ennio Morricone’s excellent score, The Thing is a brilliant exercise in tension. The came out at the same time that Steven Spielberg’s E.T. did. Most people wanted to see a friendly alien, not a blood-thirsty shape-shifter.
1987 – Evil Dead II
Remember when I said the difference between horror and comedy was separated by intent? Well, we’ve got a movie here that’s both a horror AND a comedy. Guess what? It’s also a sequel. Yes, Evil Dead II is the sequel to the 1981 cult classic Evil Dead. Whereas THAT movie was more horror than comedy, Evil Dead II is equal parts funny and scary. It’s a delicate balance that only somebody like Sam Raimi could master. With the brilliant physical comedy that Bruce Campbell provides, Evil Dead II is a screaming great time. Absolutely recommended.
1990s:
1992 – Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Count Dracula. One of the most recognizable villains in both film AND literature. There have been countless adaptations. Obviously Nosferatu was…not official, but it’s iconic. What else is iconic? Gary Oldman’s performance as the title character in Francis Ford Coppola’s film. What makes this adaptation different than others is that Dracula’s origin was that of Vlad Tepes III, or Vlad The Impaler. The movie gives the character a more sympathetic and tragic quality that you usually don’t equate with vampires. It’s a great story with an outstanding cast that includes Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Wynonna Ryder, Bill Campbell, and Anthony Hopkins. The less said about Keanu Reeve’s performance the better. He was the one bad spot about the film. It’s visually interesting with an amazing musical score.
1999 – The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project isn’t technically the first found-footage movie. That honor actually goes to Cannibal Holocaust. The Blair Witch Project WAS the first found footage movie to hit mainstream. The movie is about a group of college students who are making a documentary about the legendary Blair Witch who is said to haunt a nearby forest. It doesn’t look like there’s anything happening in the movie, but you get this sense of dread and foreboding throughout the entire picture. The acting’s good. What really made this movie stand out amongst its peers was its marketing. It was advertised as a film that was discovered by authorities that explained the disappearance of three students making a documentary. Over the course of several months, people convinced that the students that you see in the film actually disappeared. They didn’t, of course, but it was a marketing gimmick that got people into theaters, and it’s spooky as hell.
2000s:
2004 – Saw
Yeah, there are a number of movies in this list that kicked off major franchises, but nobody expects to make a franchise out of a low-budget horror movie. Saw is one of the best movies of its kind. Yeah, it kicked off the “torture-porn” genre, but it’s more of a detective thriller than a straight-up horror flick. It straddles the line incredibly well. It’s got a pretty solid cast with Cary Elwes and Danny Glover, but the real standout of the film is Tobin Bell as the serial killer Jigsaw. It’s an intense little thriller, but it ends with a twist that you never see coming. It’s definitely a violent movie for sure, which earns its R-rating and horror title. Not all of the sequels were that great, but Saw is an absolute fan favorite. It’s certainly one of mine.
2005: The Descent/Wolf Creek
The Descent is one of the best horror movies to come out in the last 20 years. Director Neil Marshall clearly had Alien on the mind when he made this movie. It’s about a group of women who go on cave diving trip only to end up trapped in an undiscovered cavern that also happens to be the home of carnivorous sub-human beasts. It’s wild. It’s brutal, and it’s absolutely worth watching the original British release, because the American release butchered the ending. It’s a constant white-knuckle thrill-ride. Wolf Creek is a slow-burn thriller that gives us one of the most vicious villains to ever grace the screen in Mick Taylor, who was played to perfection by John Jarrett. He’s incredibly terrifying. The isolation of the Australian Outback just adds to the atmosphere. It ended up getting a pretty good sequel, too. A third movie is apparently in the works, and is supposed to be released next year.
2010s:
2012 – The Cabin in the Woods
Horror movies are generally supposed to be a dark reflection of our fears and our society. It’s usually very subtle, hidden behind the scares and the gore, but for those that can see the signs, it’s kind of cool. But rarely do horror movies go full meta. The Cabin in the Woods is a prime example. It not only embraces the conventions of the slasher film, it pokes fun at them at the same time. There’s a character in the film who is a pothead, but he figures everything out, and the cabin they go to is part of an elaborate scheme to kill a group of teenagers. It’s all tongue-in-cheek, and if you know what to look for, it’s hilarious. This is a hell of a lot of fun.
2015 – The Witch
A lot has been about the kinds of horror movies that have been coming out in the last decade or so. “Elevated,” they’re called. It’s just a fancy way of saying “arthouse.” I’m still not entirely comprehending what these kinds of horror movies are supposed to be. Artistic use of horror? It just sounds really pretentious. That said, movies like Hereditary and The Lighthouse absolutely have a place among the best in the genre. Robert Eggers’ The Witch is probably the best among them. It’s incredibly atmospheric. It has more in common with The Exorcist than it does with something like A Nightmare on Elm Street. Anya Taylor-Joy is brilliant in one of her earliest roles, and the cast is well-rounded with the likes of Ralph Ineson.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is just about it. Now, before anybody comes at me about 2020-2023, let me remind you that there is a little over 6 years left in the decade. There are a lot of horror movies coming out between now and then. I’m not going to jump the gun until 2030 at the earliest. Also, this is MY list, and what you might think are the best movies per decade is going to wildly differ from mine…hopefully. I’ve got some posts planned about physical media this weekend, so come back to check those out when I get them up.