These films are guaranteed to get you into the Halloween mood, but only you can decide how much is enough — even if you watch just one of the movies, you are likely to get chills going up and down your spine for the whole weekend.
The list is mainly made up of horror movies that have broken the standards of the Golden Age of Hollywood and includes such names as Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski. It is also remarkable that John Carpenter managed to stand out in this ranking, as he is the only one who can see two of his movies getting into IndieWire's Top 10.
IndieWire has dubbed The Shining the spookiest movie in its list. And it comes as no surprise as the movie's director is the legendary Stanley Kubrick and the plot is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Given that the recognized masters of their craft were involved in producing the film, it is understandable why the movie not only scared society at the time of its premiere in 1980, but actually reshaped it as the film has had an incredible impact on popular culture.
2/10
© Photo : Vortex (1974)
The 1974 horror movie managed to gain tremendous box office success which is absolutely remarkable given that the director used a cast without a single A-lister in it. Moreover, the 1974 film's budget was relatively small.
The 1968 movie directed by Roman Polanski is not your usual cheap horror film that shows blood, flesh and human body parts every two minutes. As a psychological horror film, it incorporates profound storytelling techniques producing sophisticated plot twists which make the story of a pregnant woman who assumed that her child would be used by a sinister religious cult for diabolic rituals truly horrifying and disturbing.
Here is another classic horror film which was released only two years after Polanski’s Rosemary's Baby, and just like the former film, it also centers on religious and mysterious subjects that bring tragedy to a family: the main heroine finds out that her daughter is possessed by a strange entity and she asks two priests to heal and set the daughter free from the curse.
5/10
© Photo : Compass International Pictures (1978)
Directed by John Carpenter in 1978, the film's storyline focuses on mentally-ill serial killer Michael Myers who escaped from a mental hospital and after that carried out a series of murders on Halloween night targeting teenagers working part-time as babysitters. Fifteen years prior to the serial killing, Myers had killed his sister.
It goes without saying that Psycho is a true legend of the Classic Hollywood era as the horror film managed to break the key standard of the industry at that time. In 1960, the year when the movie was made, it was a risky step for a director to take to make his lead heroine played by a A-lister Janet Leigh vanish from the screen and getting her killed when the plot had barely reached the climax stage. Hitchcock was brave enough not to stick the rule, and he actually won from it.
7/10
© Photo : Champs-Élysées Productions (1960)
This 1960 horror film narrates the story of a plastic surgeon who attempted to transplant a new face on his daughter who was a victim of a car crash and, as a result, became disfigured. After a number of experiments carried out by the father, the girl loses her sanity.
This 1982 movie makes connoisseurs of horror cinematography demand recognition of film director John Carpenter’s talent as being comparable to that of Stanley Kubrick. The plot centers around a group of scientists in Antarctica who stumbled across the so-called "Thing" which is an out-of-this-world being that can imitate various organisms.
9/10
© Photo : Brandywine Productions (1979)
Alien is a science fiction horror movie released in 1979. The action takes place in 2122 on board the commercial space tug Nostromo. The director, Ridley Scott, masterfully creates suspense and tension in his plot as the crew notices some mysterious signs and things before the extraterrestrial villain actually appears in the film and scares the hell out of viewers.
10/10
© Photo : Image Ten (1968)
The 1960s are easy to call the golden age of horror filmmaking, as Night of the Living Dead is another classic filmed in 1968 that can still make audiences today shiver from fear. The plot focuses on resurrection and zombies - the dead are alive again and they are thirsty for blood and human flesh.
