Poor William Katt Gets Killed Again

After drawing up huge rankings of the best horror movies on Netflix and the all-time horror movies on Hulu, it's safe to say we've gotten used to the challenge of diving through the refuse of a streaming service and searching for the gems. But we've never really experienced a library with just equally much junk and treasure in it as the Amazon library. If you've been paying attention, then you lot know this is only compounded past the fact that the "browse" role on Amazon Video is completely and utterly broken.

That said, Amazon subscribers have access to a wealth of riches, many of them hiding in plain sight. Slowly but surely, they've built i of the biggest (and most random) horror streaming libraries. The trick is realizing those movies are there at all. Sure, it's no surprise that something like Train to Busan is at present on Amazon Prime, but the service is besides packed with more obscure 1980s slashers than y'all can wave a machete at.

Therefore, fall back on our list of films that are worth your fourth dimension for one reason or another—just don't expect to find them via browsing.

You may likewise want to consult the following horror-centric lists:

The 100 best horror films of all fourth dimension.
The 100 best vampire movies of all time.
The 50 best zombie movies of all time.
The 50 best movies about serial killers
The 50 best slasher movies of all fourth dimension
The 50 all-time ghost movies of all time
The best horror movies streaming on Netflix
The all-time horror movies streaming on Hulu
The best horror movies streaming on Shudder

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Here are the 40 best horror movies on Amazon Prime:

1. The 6th Sense

Year: 1999
Manager: Chiliad. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
Rating: R
Runtime: 107 minutes

Featuring great performances by Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, forth with a legitimately spooky temper, The Sixth Sense was nothing short of a miracle when information technology hit multiplexes in 1999. Critical examination aside, it truly is a frightening film, from the scene where Cole is locked in a box with an abusive ghost to the fiddling moments (I always found the scene where all the kitchen cabinets and drawers open at in one case while off-screen to be specially effective). For better or worse, though, this is the defining motion picture of Yard. Night Shyamalan's career, and its success was a double-edged sword: It bestowed the "vivid young managing director" label on him, just likewise pigeonholed his personal style equally a writer to the extent that his next v features at least were all reshaped past the aftershocks of The Sixth Sense. Rarely has the danger of success been so clearly illustrated for an artist—Shyamalan crafted a scary film that even so holds up today, and and then spent well-nigh of the next decade chasing that same accomplishment with rapidly diminishing returns that have only recently been rehabilitated with the likes of Split up. —Jim Vorel

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ii. Night of the Living Dead

Year: 1968
Director: George A. Romero
Stars: Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 96 minutes

What more can exist said of Nighttime of the Living Dead? It's pretty obviously the most important zombie movie always made, and hugely influential every bit an independent moving picture as well. George Romero's cheap but momentous movie was a breakthrough spring forrad in what the word "zombie" meant in pop culture, despite the fact that the word "zombie" is never actually uttered in it. More importantly, information technology established all of the genre rules: Zombies are reanimated corpses. Zombies are compelled to eat the flesh of the living. Zombies are unthinking, tireless and impervious to injury. The only mode to kill a zombie is to destroy the encephalon. Those rules essentially categorize every single zombie movie from here on out—either the motion-picture show features "Romero-style zombies," or it tweaks with the formula and is ultimately noted for how it differs from the Romero standard. It's essentially the horror equivalent of what Tolkien did for the thought of high fantasy "races." After The Lord of the Rings, it became nearly impossible to write contrarian concepts of what elves, dwarves or orcs might be like. Romero's impact on zombies is of that exact same caliber. In that location hasn't been a zombie movie fabricated in the concluding 50-plus years that hasn't been influenced by it in some way, and y'all tin barely hold a conversation on anything zombie-related if you haven't seen it—and then go out and sentry it, if you haven't. The motion-picture show however holds upward well, peculiarly in its moody cinematography and stark, black-and-white images of zombie artillery reaching through the windows of a rural farmhouse. Oh, and by the way—NOTLD is public domain, so don't go tricked into buying it on a shoddy DVD. —Jim Vorel

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3. Train to Busan

Yr: 2016
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Stars: Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok, Jung Yu-mi, Kim Su-an, Kim Eui-sung, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn And then-hee
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 118 minutes

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Love them or detest them, zombies are however a constant of the horror genre in 2016, undecayed enough to set your usher's lookout man by. And although I've probably seen enough indie zombie films at this bespeak to eschew them from my viewing habits for the residual of my life, there is still normally at to the lowest degree one great zombie movie every other year. In 2016, that was Train to Busan, a film that has since been added to our list of the 50 Best Zombie Movies of All Time. In that location's no need for speculation: Train to Busan would undoubtedly have made the list. This South Korean story of a career-minded father attempting to protect his young daughter on a train full of rampaging zombies is equal parts suspenseful popcorn entertainment and genuinely affecting family unit drama. It concludes with several action elements that I've never seen earlier, or fifty-fifty considered for a zombie picture show, and any time yous can add something truly novel to the genre of the walking dead, then you're definitely doing something right. With a few memorable, empathetic supporting characters and some top-notch makeup FX, yous've got i of the best zombie movies of the past decade. —Jim Vorel

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4. Hellraiser

Year: 1987
Director: Clive Barker
Stars: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence
Rating: R
Runtime: 93 minutes

The head villain/eventual hero (there's a sickening number of terrible Hellraiser sequels) behind Clive Barker's Hellraiser franchise is the Cenobite Pinhead, sent from the pits of his own personal hell dimension to drag you down into the depths with him. Where he tortures you. For eternity. All because you opened a fancy Rubik's Cube. Pinhead has zero remorse, looking you dead in the eye equally he delivers a deadpan promise to "tear your soul apart." Oh yeah, and the Cenobites are indestructible. Personally, it turned me off to puzzle boxes forever. Every bit in his fiction, Barker'due south obsessions with the duality of hurting and pleasure are on full display in Hellraiser, an icky story of sick hate and sicker love. —Rachel Haas

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five. We Need to Talk About Kevin

Year: 2012
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Stars: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller
Rating: R
Runtime: 112 minutes

We Need To Talk Almost Kevin concerns the experience of a mother (Tilda Swinton) struggling with the aftermath of a schoolhouse massacre carried out past her son (Ezra Miller). In its narrative construction, information technology draws upon ii key tropes: that of the "whydunnit" thriller, in which the mystery of the perpetrator'due south motivations are a driving factor, and that of the family unit horror, in which some nighttime element tears a traditional household autonomously. Indeed, the existent horror is not that a teenager chose total negation over the boiler of normative family life—information technology'southward that these appeared to be the only two choices bachelor. Tilda Swinton is brilliant in the starring function as a mother who grapples with guilt most what her son has washed and reflects on his childhood, wondering what, if anything, could perhaps take been done differently when one gives birth to a "bad seed." The heartbreaking nature of the film is perfectly encapsulated by the scene wherein Kevin as a child briefly drops his sociopathic tendencies while ill, giving Swinton's grapheme a cursory chance to feel like a cherished mother, only to emotionally shut her out again as soon as his concrete health returns, dashing her hopes that some kind of quantum had been made. —Donal Foreman

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6. We Are Nonetheless Here

Twelvemonth: 2015
Director: Ted Geoghegan
Stars: Barbara Crampton, Andrew Sensening, Larry Fessenden, Lisa Marie, Monte Markham
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 84 minutes

The film is a Lucio Fulci throwback, though that word does the Italian manager's work a slight disservice. We Are Nevertheless Here doesn't carp roofing up its roots, either. Similar the specters that haunt Geoghegan's protagonists, the presence of the Italian maestro tin be felt in each of We Are All the same Hither's frames. Only there's homage, and then there'due south lazy homage, and Geoghegan has made the former—though in fairness his influences range from Fulci to Dan Curtis and Stuart Rosenberg. Geoghegan has even chosen on H.P. Lovecraft to supply his fictional setting. Nosotros Are Still Here does non lack for pedigree. Information technology'south traditional in the horror genre that running away from personal tragedy tends to afford more personal tragedy. So, when Anne (Barbara Crampton) and Paul (Andrew Sensenig) Sacchetti motility from "the city" to Aylesbury, Massachusetts after the death of their college-aged son, Bobby, they shack up in a century-old farmhouse so isolated that their new neighbors don't observe everyone's home for a whole two weeks. While Anne is wrapped up in the fantods, Paul tries stoically to assuage his married woman'due south grief (as well as his own) without tipping off his incredulity over her claims that she can "feel" Bobby in the firm with them. Nosotros Are Still Here's start half feels like a slow burn in comparison to its second, where all hell is erumpent and cinematographer Karim Hussain frantically merely steadily sprints from one room to the next, capturing as much peripheral carnage as possible. In a bottom film, Geoghegan's climax would be a signal to the viewer to wake up. In We Are Even so Here, it provides an unexpected burst of escalated, gory furor. But Geoghegan handles the transition smoothly, from the story of running away from tragedy We Are Still Hither begins as to the bloodbath it becomes. There's no sense of baiting or switching; the managing director flirts with danger confidently throughout. Plus, at that place'south that New England winter to add an extra layer of despair. The elements forebode and prevent in equal measure. The weather condition exterior is frightful … and the carbonized wraiths in the basement even more so. In the stop, this is i haunted house that won't be denied. —Andy Crump

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vii. House on Haunted Hill

Year: 1959
Manager: William Castle
Stars: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Elisha Cook, Carolyn Craig, Alan Marshal, Julie Mitchum, Richard Long
Rating: Due north/A
Runtime: 75 minutes

Every William Castle movie has its own campy charms, but Firm on Haunted Hill is the guy's masterpiece. It'due south got it all: Vincent Price at his goofiest, a large spooky house, a mystery and a profoundly non-frightening walking skeleton. The gimmick this fourth dimension effectually was referred to by Castle as "Emergo," and it amounted to a plastic skeleton on a pulley system being flown over the audience—not his about creative, but shameless enough that only Castle would stoop then depression. To me, this is the quintessential 1950s horror film, even though it comes at the cease of the decade. It'south totally tame past today's standards but has some fun, over-the-acme performances, a bit of witty dialog and a large helping of cheese. I tin lookout this thing over and over without ever getting tired of it. It'due south like horror comfort food. The colorized version is even more fun, replacing the static black-and-white original with an unrealistic palette of brightly color-coded characters who will remind you of the cast of Clue. —Jim Vorel

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8. Honeymoon

Year: 2014
Director: Leigh Janiak
Stars: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway
Rating: R
Runtime: 87 minutes

The absurd thing almost horror is that if y'all just take the vision, you can brand something like Honeymoon with no more resources than an empty motel and a few weeks of spare time. The picture only has four actors, and two of them barely appear, leaving everything on the shoulders of the two young stars, Rose Leslie (Ygritte from Game of Thrones) and Harry Treadway. This is the correct decision to make: If you lot've got a few solid, young actors, why non let the film just become a statement of their talents? The story is extremely unproblematic, with a newlywed couple going on their honeymoon in a remote cabin in the woods. When Bea, the wife, wanders abroad i night and has some kind of disturbing event in the woods, she comes back inverse, and it begins to bear upon both her retentiveness and sense of identity. The side by side hour or so is a slow-burning but well-acted and suspenseful journey for the two as the hubby's suspicions abound and the alarm flags keep to mountain. By the end, emotions and gross-out scares are both running high. —Jim Vorel

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9. Oculus

Yr: 2013
Director: Mike Flanagan
Stars: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane, Annalise Basso, Garrett Ryan Ewald
Rating: R
Runtime: 103 minutes

When one hears that the central focus point of Oculus is a haunted mirror, you expect a adequately self-contained ghost story, simply this contempo release proved to be a surprisingly ambitious concept from a promising horror director, Mike Flanagan. Information technology simultaneously juggles accounts of the mirror'south evil influence in two timelines, following the aforementioned characters equally children and adults. The segments as children feel a tad by-the-books, but the pleasantly over-the-acme performances in the developed portion are particularly enjoyable, equally a immature adult female attempts to scientifically document and so seek revenge upon the source of her family unit's misery. The pic begins to peter out but a bit by the finish, every bit the two stories become intertwined to the betoken of confusion in an endeavour to blur the lines of reality, but in general it's a stylish, creepy horror picture that goes out of its way to defy conventions. Look no further than the soul-sucking ending, which leaves the door broad open to all sorts of time to come possibilities if Flanagan ever wants to revisit the concept. —Jim Vorel

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10. Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum

Year: 2018
Director: Jung Bum-shik
Stars: Wi Ha-joon, Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, Moon Ye-won, Park Sung-hoon, Yoo Je-yoon, Lee Seung-wook, Park Ji-a
Rating: NR
Runtime: 91 minutes

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With the rise of social media and other technological advancements came a revitalization of found footage horror, with Gonjian: Haunted Asylum taking a unique approach for a new age. The film follows a horror YouTuber who, upon learning of the disappearance of two amateur ghost hunters after they visited an abandoned psychiatric hospital, pays the facility a visit and livestreams it. Much similar some of the other films in the genre, the faux scares planted by aqueduct possessor Ha-Joon are no match for the real horror within the hospital's walls equally it consumes each member of his coiffure. The motion picture does its all-time to address constitute footage gripes, by explaining professional person camerawork through the characters' backgrounds as well as utilizing an impressive arsenal of equipment ranging from drones to night vision cameras. Each hospital room becomes more familiar with each scene until it becomes etched into your encephalon, and equally the existent threat of these entities becomes clear, information technology is easy to pinpoint each character's growing disgust with the voyeuristic premise as they start to wonder what is and isn't staged. At Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum's middle is a lesson nearly greed which definitely welcomes multiple eye rolls, simply it is notwithstanding an ambitious and constructive entry into the genre that balances its self-sensation with genuine fear. —Jade Gomez

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11. Exorcist III

Year: 1990
Manager: William Peter Blatty
Stars: George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson, Nicol Williamson, Brad Dourif
Rating: R
Runtime: 110 minutes

Exorcist III, or Legion equally information technology's known in its director'southward cut course, focuses on grizzled, sardonic law detective Kinderman, played in the film past George C. Scott and by Lee J. Cobb in The Exorcist. Kinderman was more of a bystander to the events of the original picture, merely they still haunt him, fifteen years afterward the fact. The past comes roaring back with bloody vengeance—there's a serial killer on the loose, and the murders seem to be connected to a mysterious patient locked up in a hospital psychiatric ward. And that mysterious patient just happens to look exactly like the deceased Male parent Damien Karras, i of the exorcists from the first film, who met an untimely cease after launching himself out a window and tumbling downwardly a peculiarly steep flying of stairs. What follows is a perpetually misunderstood and underrated horror film that is less a sequel to The Exorcist and more than a channeler of the same agonizing spirit, consummate with a few of the best bound scares in genre history. —Chris Evangelista

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12. Daniel Isn't Real

Year: 2019
Director: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Stars: Miles Robbins, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sasha Lane, Mary Stuart Masterson, Hannah Marks, Chukwudi Iwuji, Peter McRobbie
Rating: NR
Runtime: 100 minutes

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Everyone has their demons: Maybe they grew upwards neglected, or trapped between warring parents—or maybe they saw things they shouldn't have before they had the tools to process them. Some of these people manage to grow upwards well-adjusted in spite of their trauma. Others grow up keeping those demons shut to their heart. Mercifully, none of this is literal, only what if, Adam Egypt Mortimer'due south Daniel Isn't Real asks, those demons look like the dashingly handsome spawn of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver? Mortimer weaponizes Patrick Schwarzenegger's full-blooded and expert looks, turning him into both the all-time imaginary friend a loner similar Luke (Miles Robbins, also the son of Hollywood royalty: Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon) could ever promise to take, and the perfect catalyst for Luke's transformation into an oily pickup artist at all-time and a truthful-to-form monster at worst. The subtext is on the surface—information technology's a film about toxic masculinity—but Mortimer and his cast (which includes Sasha Lane, who takes the thankless office of "damsel trapped betwixt hero and villain" and turns it into a functioning of substance) shatter that surface, digging deep, then deeper, and and then deeper still into the guts of that grossly overused pop psych phrase. What they discover is thought-provoking insight into modern masculine identity. What they create with those insights is terrifying, a tactile smorgasbord of frights that wears its influences on its sleeve. (Would you lot judge that Mortimer loves Ridley Scott and Takashi Miike?) Those influences metastasize into one of 2019'due south virtually memorable and original horror films. —Andy Crump

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13. Dark of the Demons

Year: 1988
Director: Kevin Southward. Tenney
Stars: Cathy Podewell, Amelia Kinkade, Linnea Quigley, Hal Havins, William Gallo, Alvin Alexis
Rating: R
Runtime: 89 minutes

Night of the Demons is ane of the most purely enjoyable entries in the late '80s horror subgenre of "a bunch of immature people get to a spooky location and all wind up dead," which arguably reached its zenith a year earlier in Evil Dead 2. Make no mistake, this pic can't compete with the slap-gluey wit of early Sam Raimi, nor are any of its performers a Bruce Campbell quip machine in the making, merely Night of the Demons makes up for information technology with shameless raunchiness and a generally gleeful attitude toward the demise of its characters. These guys are broad, amusing pastiches of different archetypes in 1980s youth culture, in much the aforementioned mode as the teens from Return of the Living Expressionless, right down to the presence of Linnea Quigley. Yes, she's naked hither, although information technology's at least not for the majority of the film, as in ROTLD. Instead, come for the top-notch makeup effects and the sick, sophomoric sense of humor. This 1 makes for perfectly advisable Halloween-season viewing, every bit its "let'due south get together in a haunted house for a Halloween party" premise is just begging for a core of demons to run amok. And so they exercise, with gory aplomb. —Jim Vorel

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14. Expressionless & Buried

Twelvemonth: 1981
Director: Gary Sherman
Stars: James Farentino, Tune Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke, Robert Englund
Rating: R
Runtime: 82 minutes

Dead & Cached is a thoroughly unusual horror film that revolves around the reanimated dead, just in a style all its ain. In a pocket-sized New England coastal town, a rash of murders breaks out among those visiting the town. Unknown to the boondocks sheriff, those bodies never quite make it to their graves … but people who look simply similar the murdered visitors are walking the streets as permanent residents. The zombies here are different in their autonomy and ability to human action on their own and pass for human, although they do answer to a certain leader … but who is it? The film is part murder mystery, part cult story and part zombie flick, and it features some admittedly gross brute work and gore from the legendary Stan Winston. It's just a movie with a feel all its own, and i notable for some unusual casting choices. That includes a pre-Nightmare on Elm Street Robert Englund every bit one of the possibly zombified town locals, and, in a major role, Jack Albertson (Granddaddy Joe from Willy Wonka) equally the eccentric, jazz-loving boondocks coroner/mortician, who steals every scene he'south in. More people should see this weird little film. — Jim Vorel

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fifteen. The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Yr: 2020
Managing director: Jim Cummings
Stars: Jim Cummings, Robert Forster, Riki Lindhome, Chloe Due east, Jimmy Tatro, Kevin Changaris, Skyler Bible, Demetrius Daniels
Rating: R
Runtime: 83 minutes

Snow Hollow police officeholder John Marshall (Cummings) unsteadily balances Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with the travails of raising his teen daughter, Jenna (Chloe Due east), looking afterward his bilious father, Hadley (Forster), maintaining diplomatic relations with his ex, and keeping a lid on his volcanic temper. When a woman (Annie Hamilton) is torn to shreds on a weekend visit to John'due south ski resort hometown, only moments before her fellow (Jimmy Tatro) planned to propose to her, John stretches to his limits and across in his pursuit of the killer, who everyone concludes with inexplainable swiftness is a werewolf rather than a human. His peers' and subordinates' stumblebum character and the ass-backwardness of Snow Hollow itself human action like gasoline as is. The consensus that the town is under attack from a mythical creature is the straw that makes the vein in John's neck become taut with anger. The Wolf of Snowfall Hollow lands in the space where horror and humor see, mining laughter in mourning and custody battles. Cummings' laughs are the sort that signal discomfort: His punchlines are razor sharp, which brand the film's surrounding unpleasantries go down more than easily. Watching a policeman get concrete with anybody who sufficiently pushes his buttons induces squirms. When fellow officer Bo (Kevin Changaris) accidentally says too much most the murders in front of reporters, John calls him over to a snowbank and starts smacking the poor schmuck around, a moment that would tip over into pure darkness without the aid of a lighthearted soundtrack and the slapstick of their scuffle. Regardless, the point is fabricated: John's on edge, and his edge is surprisingly amusing. The wry, snappy banter gives The Wolf of Snowfall Hollow a prickly peel, and the restrained awarding of FX gives it tension. At just nether 80 minutes, that economy is key. It'south non so much that the horror is elevated as controlled. Merely rather than clang with the innate savagery of the werewolf niche, Cummings' control over his material gives the motion picture a certain freshness. He tames the monster in the homo so that the man is all that'southward left, for better and for worse. John isn't perfect, simply an imperfect man demand not exist a beast.—Andy Crump

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16. Suspiria

Yr: 2018
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven
Rating: R
Runtime: 153 minutes

Dario Argento's original synthesized his many experiments with the giallo form—the mid-century thrillers and violent criminal offence stores much of Argento's peers were churning out—into something essential. Gone were the questions of whodunit, the investigative layer of procedure litigating how such evil could make its way into this world, replaced by both a focus on the victims of this murder mystery and a sensual connection to the horrors flaying their young bodies apart. That the movie takes identify in Munich'south Tanz Trip the light fantastic Academy, though lilliputian dancing occurs, projects the motion picture's insinuated physicality onto the walls and floor as chimeric splashes of fairy tale color, especially (of course) red—we always retrieve the ruby-red—its vibrancy emphasized by Goblin'southward monolithic score. Women, in Argento's film, are vessels: for life, for gore, for art. Luca Guadagnino'south remake, and David Kajganich'due south screenplay, simply tell the audition this—over and over and over. What Argento unsaid, Guadagnino makes literal. So much of Guadagnino's film is virtually transformation—how Federal republic of germany had to reimagine itself to interruption the spell of its evil past; how art contorts oneself, irrevocably changes those who create it; how even the media in which the managing director works must accommodate and mature and evolve to transcend the reluctance that a movie similar Suspiria maybe should take been remade in 2018 at all. What Argento made subtext, Guadagnino reveals every bit text: Every bit much every bit Suspiria explored the essence of giallo, Guadagnino explores the essence of Suspiria. Less fetishized, much less fantasized, the violence of 2018's Suspiria is then much more harrowing than Argento's, because Suspiria 1977 is its violence, and Suspiria 2018 wields its violence like an upsetting symbol, simultaneously likewise existent and also absurd. Much of Guadagnino's Suspiria feels beholden to null, indulgent and overwrought, existing only for itself. Art should never have to justify its own existence, but also: Why does this exist? What motivations conceived this picture that seems to want very little—to maybe even dislike—the moving-picture show on which it'southward based? And still, it'southward unforgettable, as ravishing as annihilation Guadagnino's lazily captured in the Italian countryside, equally disturbing as any horror motion-picture show you've seen this twelvemonth and, similar the 1977 original, unlike anything yous've always felt helplessly drawn to before. —Dom Sinacola

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17. Climax

Year: 2019
Director: Gaspar Noé
Starring: Sofia Boutella, Kiddy Smile, Roman Guillermic, Souhelia Yacoub, Claude Gajan Maull, Giselle Palmer
Rating: R
Runtime: 96 minutes

Gaspar Noé has been then openly confrontational and provocative for so long that information technology'south piece of cake to forget just how powerful a filmmaker he tin can exist. He is deliberately repulsive, sometimes to the detriment of his own films; I don't care how structurally inventive Irreversible is, I am never, ever sitting through that goddamned movie again. But there is an undeniable hypnotic fervor to his movies, from the sordid (but also sort of lovely) kink of Love to the elliptical madness of Enter the Void. The firsthand thrill of Climax, Noé's newest and unquestionably best film, is how, for the first time, you see him letting go a niggling bit, releasing some of his notorious control, letting his films and (about important) his characters breathe a little bit—to be themselves. It opens with abode-camera footage—the film takes place in 1996, for reasons that I'd probably understand a lot better if I were French—of a series of dancers, readying for a troupe tour of the U.s.a., answering questions about their hopes and dreams, their desires, their fears, their basic motivations. Information technology'south a slick, kind of cheap, just nevertheless incredibly effective mode for Noé to give us just enough information about these dancers that nosotros feel for them when they go through whatever Noé is well-nigh to put them through. (And you know he'south going to put them through something.) But information technology's what comes next that's near exciting: during rehearsal, a glorious trip the light fantastic toe routine featuring the unabridged crew, both meticulously choreographed and thrillingly improvised, expressing themselves the all-time way they know how. Noé'due south camera swirls around in one long take, and the consequence is breathtaking: It is equally alive and electric as anything Noé's ever done. Now yous're really invested in this coiffure…which, as Noé'south counting on, was your offset mistake. Information technology turns out, someone has spiked the sangria for the post-rehearsal part with LSD, and, apparently, a lot of it. Even if he puts all these people through the ringer—and oh, does he!—at that place is inspiration hither: For the first time, it feels similar the hurting he's putting everybody through is something he feels, also. It'south a most encouraging switch for Noé, and bodes well for him moving forward. Information technology's turned him into less of a Lars Von Trier geek prove. Not to say that the ending doesn't pack a wallop regardless. Noé, for all his newfound pseudo-humanism, isn't going to transport y'all dwelling wanting for misery. But in that location is…well, not hope, exactly, but call it catharsis. He's as uncompromising, and as resolutely himself, every bit ever. Information technology's just that at that place might exist a little more shading and warmth within Noé than maybe even he himself realized. Don't misinterpret, though: This is Gaspar Noé Warmth, not normal human beingness warmth. Rest assured, his world remains no place for children. —Will Leitch

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18. The Neon Demon

Year: 2016
Managing director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Stars: Elle Fanning, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone
Rating: R
Runtime: 117 minutes

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If Nicolas Winding Refn—anthropomorphic cologne bottle; asexual jaguar—is going to make a horror film, Nicolas Winding Refn will make a horror flick near the things that scare Nicolas Winding Refn most: asymmetry, sex, fatherhood. In The Neon Demon, every character is either someone's daughter or a deranged daddy figure, both thirsty for the kind of flesh simply Los Angeles can provide, the roles of predator and prey in constant, unnerving flux. Part cannibal-slasher movie and part endlessly pretty machine commercial, Refn's motion picture about a young model (Elle Fanning) making it in the fashion industry goes exactly where you lot think it's going to go, fifty-fifty when it's trying equally hard equally it tin can to be weird as fuck. But despite his best efforts, Refn sustains such an overarching, creeping temper of despair—such a securely ingrained sense of looming concrete imperfection, of decease—that information technology never really matters if The Neon Demon doesn't add up to much of annihilation more a manufactory showroom of the many gorgeous skins information technology inhabits, violently or not. —Dom Sinacola

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19. Grave Encounters

Year: 2011
Directors: Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz, "The Vicious Brothers"
Stars: Sean Rogerson, Ashleigh Gryzko, Mackenzie Greyness, Juan Riedinger, Merwin Mondesir, Matthew K. McBride
Rating: Due north/A
Runtime: 95 minutes

It's difficult to understand why Grave Encounters doesn't have a better reputation amid horror geeks, who largely seem to exist aware of it but deride the establish-footage movie as either derivative or cheesy. In our ain estimation, it'southward ane of the best found footage offerings of the last decade, and certainly one of the most legitimately frightening, also equally humorous when it wants to be. It's structured as a pitch-perfect parody of inane Television receiver ghost-hunting shows, in the way of Travel Aqueduct's Ghost Adventures, and imagines the satisfying results of what might happen when one of these crews full of charlatans is subjected to a genuinely evil location. Only Grave Encounters goes beyond what is expected of it—yous hear that premise and wait some frantic, handicam running around and screaming in the dark, but it delivers far more. The FX work, on a small-scale budget, is some of the best you're e'er going to see in a found-footage pic, and the nature of the haunting is significantly more mind-bending and ambitious than it offset appears. We'll keep to defend this picture, although yous should steer clear of the less inspired sequel. —Jim Vorel

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20. Vivarium

Year: 2020
Director: Lorcan Finnegan
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots
Rating: R
Runtime: 97 minutes

A quirky real estate story, where start-time homeowners Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) and Gemma (Imogen Poots) get a lot more than than they bargained for, Vivarium is a low-fundamental sci-fi nightmare of the mundane in the vein of early David Cronenberg. Director Lorcan Finnegan's film too functions as a human relationship apologue, where Tom and Gemma detect themselves stuck in a trendy neighborhood of cookie-cutter homes where starting a family unit isn't merely an expectation merely something foisted upon them. It isn't as grisly as something like Shivers, but more affecting in its surreal design and hopelessness. Eisenberg and Poots ain the screen every bit a disintegrating couple coping in distinct ways to their newfound terrarium where they are observed, manipulated, and—possibly nearly disturbingly of all—considerately provided for by unseen and undefinable forces. Its 2020 release feels peculiarly plumbing equipment every bit repetition and hopelessness become permanent residents of the couple's home. Genre elements seep into the film, accelerating in hiccups and starts that are every bit arresting as the film's intentionally artificial design. Startling sound dubbing, odd colorizing, and a few genuine "Oh shit" moments brand Vivarium a tight, nasty fable that would fit in with the best Twilight Zone episodes. —Jacob Oller

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21. The Taking of Deborah Logan

Yr: 2014
Manager: Adam Robitel
Stars: Jill Larson, Anne Ramsay, Michelle Ang, Ryan Cutrona
Rating: R
Runtime: 90 minutes

This recent spin on the extremely crowded possession genre is the existent definition of a mixed pocketbook. Its initial premise is solid, every bit it follows a higher film crew documenting the titular senior citizen, who is battling Alzheimer'south illness. What they don't realize is that someone or something else may have been welcomed into Deborah'due south mind as her mental faculties weaken. The film gets points for stylishness on a upkeep, and particularly for the chilling, nuanced performance by Jill Larson every bit Deborah, but it'south eventually unable to sustain itself in the last third, condign increasingly divorced from logic. There are moments of groovy, agonizing imagery, but that'southward counterbalanced by characters who human action incredibly irrationally—even for a horror motion-picture show. Information technology becomes more and more difficult to discover reasons for any of the story being filmed at all, which leads to an ending that some might label a cop-out. But with that said, information technology's nevertheless a far cry better than about entries in either the plant footage or possession subgenres, with inherent way winning out over tight scripting. —Jim Vorel

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22. Nightbreed

Year: 1990
Director: Clive Barker
Stars: Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charlie Haid, Hugh Quarshie, Hugh Ross
Rating: R
Runtime: 99 minutes

Nightbreed is an odd duck of a movie, stranded somewhere between legitimate horror film and dark fantasy story. Clive Barker directs, merely a few years after Hellraiser, only here his ambition perhaps got the best of him. Information technology's pretty clear that he wanted Nightbreed to be something akin to a horror epic, a motion picture with a profound message nigh identity, credence and community. In execution, though, information technology has a hard time picking what tone it'south supposed to exist emanating. Sometimes information technology'due south darkly humorous. Sometimes it'south legitimately spooky. Other times you're non sure whether you're supposed to be taking the action on screen seriously or not. One thing that is spectacular throughout is the art direction, sets, costuming and makeup. Some of the character designs may come up off every bit "lightheaded," merely just as many of them are likely to stop up in your nightmares. Nightbreed is a mixed bag, a would-be inspiring story virtually monsters trying to build a safe community to peacefully live their lives, only defective the iconic nature of Barker'southward most famous creations. —Jim Vorel

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23. A Quiet Place Part II

Year: 2020
Director: John Krasinski
Stars: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 97 minutes

Serving as both prologue and epilogue to the original motion picture, flashing back to the day the sound-averse killer aliens landed on Earth, A Repose Identify Part Two is an exercise in diminishing returns. As our Tim Grierson pointed out in his review of the first high-concept movie, "the hazard with such films is that, somewhen, we'll abound accustomed to the conceit and get restless." Even if much of A Tranquility Place's power didn't come from its relatively restrained worldbuilding and potent use of its virtually-silent sensory gimmick, the years it took for this sequel to be released were a long time for its simple claw to live out in the popular cultural world. Only thanks to the strengths of its core ensemble and returning director John Krasinski'south ability behind the camera, A Repose Place Part Ii's technical claim more often than not drown out the franchise's increasingly noisy flaws. That leaves A Quiet Place Part Two to be a charmingly unambitious, ultimately enjoyable step down of a sequel: A controlled expansion where novelty fades to reveal technical prowess and antipathy starts peeking out backside familiarity. Krasinski's milked this franchise and its gimmicks to provide us with his ii all-time showings behind the photographic camera, just he—like its characters—needs to grow beyond it, or else be trapped as its returns finally disappear entirely. —Jacob Oller

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24. Teeth

Twelvemonth: 2007
Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein
Starring: Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman, Ashley Springer, Lenny Von Dohlen
Rating: R
Runtime: 88 minutes

You lot'll notice Teeth lodged in a crevasse somewhere between black comedy and horror motion picture. A uniquely agonizing flick with a premise likely to gauge your reaction to it before y'all've always really seen it, it's, to put it bluntly, about a young, abstinent daughter whose first sexual experiences reveal a rare, deadly (and fictional) condition known as "vagina dentata": teeth where teeth really should non exist. You could try playing that kind of story completely seriously, and it would probably be truly horrifying, merely Teeth instead is presented almost like a teenage sex one-act gone horribly wrong, with beats that almost remind one of, say, American Pie, except for all of the severed sex organs. It's frequently wickedly funny, though, centered around a smashing performance by Jess Weixler as the protagonist. Information technology'south like Sixteen Candles if Molly Ringwald had spent the entire motion picture leaving a trail of maimed boys in her wake. —Jim Vorel

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25. Creepshow 2

Year: 1987
Manager: Michael Gornick
Stars: Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Tam Savini
Rating: R
Runtime: 92 minutes

Creepshow 2 is very much a 1980s horror sequel in the sense that it attempts to largely replicate what audiences enjoyed near the outset film in its series without mucking around too much with the formula, and produces a good (but not quite great) effort in the process. Things are hurt a bit hither past the reduction in overall stories from 5 to three, which puts more weight on each individual entry. "Old Main Wood'nhead" and "The Hitch-hiker" each have their moments, the first feeling like an HBO Tales From the Catacomb episode and the latter similar a Twilight Zone entry, merely information technology's "The Raft" that is really worth the price of admission here. One of Stephen King's most simple stories makes for superb album content, with a premise that just can't exist beat: A group of teens are trapped on a raft in the middle of a lake, stalked past a blob-like creature that dissolves everything it touches, with spectacularly gory results. Information technology'south like the 1980s remake of The Blob from Chuck Russell, simply cutting out backstory and subtext to focus on pure, primal action. Will the kids survive, or will they all be reduced to a pile of bones at the bottom of the lake? —Jim Vorel

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26. Edge of the Axe

Yr: 1988
Director: Jose Ramon Larraz
Stars: Barton Faulks, Christina Marie Lane, Page Moseley, Fred Holliday, Jack Taylor, Patty Shepard
Rating: NR
Runtime: 91 minutes

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An eccentric late '80s slasher that is at in one case both formulaic and deeply strange, Edge of the Axe is a memorable watch in this twenty-four hours and age for its unexpected, tech-centric background in the early internet, which is non exactly what you're expecting to see in a Castilian-U.South. co-production with the air of an evolved Italian giallo. The dialog comes off as absurd in a modern context, but the script for Edge of the Axe is actually shockingly tech-literate for 1988, and information technology applies this method of suspect interrogation in service of a masked slasher film with a true cornucopia of suspects and red herrings. This is ultimately the film'due south best element—it has so many moving pieces and oddball characters that it keeps its true antagonist quite well hidden until the ludicrous finale, which is entertaining in the moment and impossible to brand any sense of upon reflection, similar and then many other slashers of its era. The kills, sadly, are numerous but uninspired in their execution—if you could take added the likes of Tom Savini to this product, it could have been an idiosyncratic archetype from an era when the slasher genre was heading into hibernation. As is, it'south the fusion of stalk-and-slash activeness with computer geekery that still makes this ane stand out. —Jim Vorel

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27. House

Twelvemonth: 1986
Director: Steve Miner
Stars: William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, Kay Lenz
Rating: R
Runtime: 93 minutes

House is a legitimately odd flick, and non an easy one to classify. I've read descriptions before that called information technology a "horror one-act," but it's not trying nearly hard enough to be funny to qualify on the "comedy" side of the spectrum—nor is it serious enough in virtually of its scares to exist legitimately frightening. Instead, it's trapped in some kind of limbo in between; memorable in spurts for its idiosyncrasies. Our protagonist is a Stephen King-like horror novelist who suffers traumatic flashbacks to both his time in Vietnam and the unexplained disappearance of his son. He moves into the quondam, crumbling estate of a recently deceased aunt, where he begins to experience terrifying nightmares and is attacked by a variety of creatures, which may or may not be in his head—think Jacob'southward Ladder, simply far goofier. George Wendt of Cheers makes an amusing appearance as the next door neighbor, but what most people remember about Business firm (as well the iconic poster) is its unpredictability and Vietnam-inspired horrors. — Jim Vorel

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28. Gretel & Hansel

Yr: 2020
Manager: Oz Perkins
Stars: Sophia Lillis, Sam Leakey, Charles Babalola, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Krige
Rating: PG-xiii
Runtime: 87 minutes

Director Oz Perkins' get-go ii features, The Blackcoat's Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, are meticulously constructed examples of slow burn down horror, favoring ever-edifice, chilling atmosphere over quick scares. He begins Gretel & Hansel with a traditional fairy tale structure, only to degenerate into an otherworldly, hopeless setting that liberally plays with space and fourth dimension. Accordingly, production and costume designs borrow from multiple time periods—slightly resembling medieval Europe—while characters speak in Shakespearean prose, their body language nevertheless distinctly modern. Instead of the usual sea of white faces for such a tale, different races that seem to have equal social standing populate this world. Perkins purposefully juxtaposes Galo Olivares's classically picturesque cinematography, imbued with the illusion of natural low-cal, against Robin Coudert'southward synth-heavy score that resembles Wendy Carlos'south work for Stanley Kubrick. The film thrives within a dream-logic vibe, specially in Olivares' cinematography, with its heavy emphasis on symmetrical framing, stark contast and lush employ of yellows and blues, evoking subliminal terror. —Oktay Ege Kozak

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29. Wolf Creek

Year: 2005
Director: Greg McLean
Stars: John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi
Rating: R
Runtime: 99 minutes

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Instantly infamous upon release, and readily lumped into the emerging group of neo-splatter films of the mid-2000s that became indelibly associated with the derogatory characterization of "torture porn," Wolf Creek is a film that has seen considerable reevaluation over the years for the way it dispenses with storytelling convention and brazenly depicts events inspired past several of Australia'due south nearly notorious crimes. Fusing a true crime aesthetic with cinematography that evokes the era of found footage without really restricting itself by fully committing to information technology, Wolf Creek is the story of a grouping of immature, urban backpackers who venture into the Australian outback, where they meet a seemingly genial man who turns out to be a prolific series killer. Veteran Australian TV role player John Jarratt was impeccably cast as that man, Mick Taylor, a disturbingly man villain who start seems to claiming the group'due south prejudices and preconceptions about the depiction of "backwards" rural dwellers, before then transforming into a living and breathing indictment of the dark, xenophobic underbelly of Australian club. His performance remains one of the almost starkly terrifying depictions of a serial killer, bereft of all the aggrandizing, romanticized grapheme traits western audiences so oftentimes associate with fictional masterminds. It's a dour, doom-wreathed film that casts bated characters who seem to autumn into conventional slasher molds, shattering audition expectations as it instead attempts to accurately and hyper realistically portray the fear and harrowing psychological ordeal that would accept been experienced by the victims of such a crime. Suffice to say, it remains not for the faint of heart. —Jim Vorel

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xxx. Hellbound: Hellraiser 2

Year: 1988
Director: Tony Randel
Stars: Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham
Rating: R
Runtime: 93 minutes

Hellbound is a somewhat divisive sequel among horror fans, but nosotros can all at to the lowest degree concord on i thing: It's much, much better than any of the approximately 57 additional Hellraiser sequels that followed, most of which will brand you wish the Cenobites were gouging your optics out with their rusty hooks. It's really a more than aggressive, somewhat less intimate motion picture than the outset Hellraiser, greatly expanding upon the mythos of the series as Kirsty must journey to the hellish dimension of the demonic Cenobites to oppose an evil doctor whose dreams of power transform him into a Cenobite himself. The lovely Ashley Laurence returns every bit the protagonist, along with a immature, emotionally disturbed daughter who is adept at solving puzzles, which almost gives it the feel of a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel such every bit Dream Warriors. The Cenobites themselves get a little flake watered down from their nigh omnipotence in the original motion picture, but the settings and furnishings are smashing for the meager upkeep and do equally proficient a chore every bit anyone could reasonably do of translating the twisted vision of Clive Barker to the screen. —Jim Vorel

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31. The Deeper You Dig

Year: 2020
Director: John Adams, Toby Poser
Stars: John Adams, Toby Poser, Zelda Adams
Rating: NR
Runtime: 95 minutes

Call information technology a family thing. Hubby and wife squad John Adams and Toby Poser wrote and directed The Deeper Y'all Dig together. Adams stars in the movie as Kurt, Poser equally Ivy and their daughter, Zelda Adams, as Repeat. Going into business with loved ones is a bad idea in nine out of ten cases. Hither, that bond functions like cement belongings their movie together, giving existent weight to The Deeper Y'all Dig'southward unadorned spartan aesthetic. Kurt's renovating a rickety one-time domicile on his own, which is for the better because he's not the social butterfly type. One evening, he goes out for drinks, has one also many, and in a terrible dissever 2nd of distraction on a snowy ride dorsum, he runs Repeat down by blow. Immediately after, not at all past accident, he hides her corpse in his tub, and eventually goes so far as to dismember her and bury her in the woods. Meanwhile, Ivy, her mother, a medium who long ago lost her gift for communicating with the other side, desperately begins searching for her missing child and regains her spiritual talents in the procedure as Echo's ghost begins haunting and taunting and perchance likewise possessing Kurt. The Deeper You Dig is uncomplicated in terms of craft. Adam and Poser find an angle and stick with it instead of mucking virtually with flashy nonsense. Theirs is a far more effective approach than any hyperkinetic and cocky-regarding grade of filmmaking for a story like this, where the deliberately paced plotting reveals chills in their due time without vaulting ahead to forcefulness them on the audience well before information technology'due south necessary. The Deeper Yous Dig's austerity is only its 2d greatest strength, of course, the first existence the Adams-Poser effect, but information technology'due south nonetheless a strength worth celebrating. —Andy Crump

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32. Hell House LLC

Year: 2015
Director: Stephen Cognetti
Stars: Ryan Jennifer, Danny Bellini, Gore Abrams, Jared Hacker, Adam Schneider, Alice Bahlke
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 83 minutes

This is just about as lean and minimalist a concept as you tin can choose for a modernistic found footage horror movie, but Hell House LLC is much more a practice in execution than imaginative settings. Information technology'due south the documentary-manner story of a haunted house coiffure that picks a decidedly wrong location for their attraction, and boom—they all current of air up expressionless. Very standard set-up for a "no one gets out alive" entry in the constitute footage genre, but Hell House LLC really does take some inspiring scares and performances. It gets a whole lot out of very minor set-ups and deliveries, such every bit the shifting positioning of props and the life-size (and accordingly horrifying) clown costumes, shooting scenes in what looks very much like "real time," with no cuts. There's a naturalistic air to the actors' sense of frustration and unease as weird events kickoff to mount, but of class it all goes quite off the deep terminate and into unintentional sense of humor in the closing moments. Still, there are many islands of 18-carat, blood pressure-raising fear in this well-executed motion picture. Certainly, it's better than most found footage efforts in the post-Paranormal Action landscape. —Jim Vorel

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33. Body Bags

Year: 1993
Directors: John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Larry Sulkis
Stars: Stacy Keach, Mark Hamill, David Warner, Sheena Easton, Debbie Harry, Twiggy, Robert Carradine
Rating: R
Runtime: 91 minutes

Sometimes, fifty-fifty anthologies with less-than-stellar stories can get by on sheer charming commitment to gross-out delights, and that'southward John Carpenter'due south Body Bags for yous. Originally conceived as a gorier, more grotesque spin on the Tales From the Crypt formula for Showtime, the serial was cancelled later on only a few potential episodes had been filmed. Not wanting to lose the cloth, Carpenter but assembled his favorites into a feature film. Each segment isn't particularly memorable, except for the closer, which features Marking Hamill every bit a baseball player who loses an eye and then gains the eye of a serial killer via a donation. Y'all can gauge where things get from there. What is memorable about Body Numberless is the goofy wraparound segments, which feature Carpenter himself as a Crypt Keeper-esque mortician who gleefully hacks autonomously bodies and drinks formaldehyde, showing a much lighter hearted personality than you'd expect from the director of dour films like The Matter or Prince of Darkness. It's fun to watch Body Bags today for the not-so-subtle genre references ("Another grisly murder in Haddonfield today…") and the incredible array of graphic symbol actors and cameos that were lined up, including the likes of Wes Craven as a leering perv, Stacy Keach every bit a guy receiving miracle hair transplants, Charles Napier as a baseball manager, Twiggy as a housewife (reuniting these two from The Blues Brothers), Roger Corman every bit a doctor, Tom Arnold as a mortician and Sam Raimi as a corpse. —Jim Vorel

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34. Saint Maud

Year: 2019
Manager: Rose Glass
Stars: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle
Rating: R
Runtime: 84 minutes

When we run into Morfydd Clark's Maud, she is returning to her job as a individual carer for the infirm under the guidance of the Lord, with whom she regularly engages in one-sided communication amongst her lonely daily life after a traumatic incident with a former ward. She's convinced God has a larger purpose for her, which is an obvious role of the driving force backside her taking desperate action in the proper name of religion. Only before Maud unearths that purpose—or before real-life folks who allow religion to bulldoze their urges to unsafe heights uncover their passion for things similar pro-life advocation, anti-gay spousal relationship lobbying or attempting to overturn an election—she needs a reason to detect it in the first identify. Her new ward is the fiery Amanda, a 40-something retired dancer with spunk, a distaste for religion, and terminal cancer. Something about the woman compels Maud to protect Amanda's soul from eternal hellfire at whatever toll, giving the devout Christian the grounds (in her mind) to go as far as necessary to achieve her cause. As they say, there will exist blood—that of Maud and others. —Lex Briscuso

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35. Trilogy of Terror

Year: 1975
Manager: Dan Curtis
Starring: Karen Black, Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes
Rating: R
Runtime: 72 minutes

Many horror anthologies, especially older ones, are known to mod audiences specifically for a single entry, and this is particularly the case in Trilogy of Terror, which first aired on ABC in March of 1975. Although all three segments star actress Karen Black and are based on the stories of Richard Matheson, it's "Amelia" that captivated audiences: a quirky tale near a young woman who lives alone in a high-rise apartment, where she is menaced by an African "Zuni fetish doll" that magically comes to life wielding a spear and ludicrously large knife. It'south a empty-headed, slavering, racially questionable antagonist, just its pattern is also surprisingly unnerving—although it's difficult to take the story seriously with Black'southward over-the-elevation functioning. The other ii parts of this particular album are competent but less zany, mostly relying on Black's sex entreatment. "Amelia" remains the highlight, in a cheesily '70s sort of style. —Jim Vorel

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36. Chopping Mall

Twelvemonth: 1986
Director: Jim Wynorski
Stars: Kelli Maroney, Tony O'Dell, John Terlesky, Suzee Slater, Barbara Crampton, Russell Todd
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 minutes

Calling Chopping Mall the best moving picture past director Jim Wynorski isn't maxim much—at all—but it remains a minor '80s horror/sci-fi classic despite that. The premise is irresistible pulp, dressed in '80s neon teen fashion—a group of kids hide out in the mall by endmost time so they can party (and score) in i of the furniture stores overnight. Little do they know, nevertheless, that the mall recently unveiled a new fleet of mortiferous efficient security robots that are, shall we say, more than a little twitchy. The bandage gives us Kelli Maroney, who also appears in the similarly teen-inflected Dark of the Comet, and Roger Corman regular Dick Miller as the janitor, once once more playing his signature role: "that guy who gets killed in an '80s horror film." It's a desperate fight for survival as the kids face off against the robots similar the zombies of Dawn of the Dead, except with much more gallows humour. Today, genre fans are likely to fondly remember Chopping Mall for the fact that it contains one of the greatest single practical furnishings of the era; the graphic explosion of Suzee Slater's head, followed by the robot's wry line of "Give thanks you, have a nice twenty-four hour period." You've gotta love it. —Jim Vorel

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37. Children of the Corn

Year: 1984
Director: Fritz Kiersch
Stars: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton
Rating: R
Runtime: 92 minutes

It'south not often that the adults should be the ones afraid to watch a horror movie with kids, only it would exist hard not to look at kids differently after 1984's Children of the Corn, one of the higher-profile entries in horror'southward "kids kill all the adults" subgenre. The film focuses on a cult in a fictional Gatlin, Nebraska, led by child preacher Isaac, who is convinced by an entity called He Who Walks Behind the Rows that all adults over 18 should go the axe. We see Burt and Vicky (played by Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton) struggle to escape the small town after driving through and hitting a immature, dying male child with their car. There'south plenty of slasher scares and creepy visuals, but like any proficient horror movie, it's a commentary on gild, homo, and similar Lord of the Flies earlier information technology, this Stephen King-based story looks toward our kids to signal out the oddities of our culture (including an obsession with religion). —Tyler Kane

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38. C.H.U.D.

Year: 1984
Manager: Douglas Cheek
Stars: John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry
Rating: R
Runtime: 88 minutes

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It stands for "Cannibalistic Humanoid Secret Dwellers," if you were wondering. C.H.U.D. is a product of its fourth dimension, the sort of mid-'70s/early '80s horror film that sets itself in street-level New York Urban center when the Big Apple was renowned equally the crime-ridden cesspit of the nation. Cynical as hell, it imagines a race of cannibal monsters created past toxic waste dumped into the New York sewers, where it transforms the local homeless population. In execution, it'due south sort of similar a Troma film that has a larger budget, maintaining a grimy and tasteless aesthetic that nonetheless has a memorable quality that is hard to define. I call up the effects are a part of that—quite icky, but fleeting. I look at this scene of a C.H.U.D. existence beheaded and can't decide if it'south terrible, crawly or terribly awesome. C.H.U.D. has lived an unabridged second life as comedy textile, with references ranging from The Simpsons to an April Fools prank from the Criterion Collection. — Jim Vorel

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39. Head Count

Year: 2019
Director: Elle Callahan
Stars: Isaac Jay, Jay Lee, Ashleigh Morghan
Rating: NR
Runtime: 90 minutes

Imagine the hopeless paranoia of John Carpenter'due south The Thing mashed together with the languid temper of David Robert Mitchell'due south Information technology Follows, in which isolated youth are hunted downwardly by a relentless force capable of hiding in plain sight past mimicking their appearances. That'southward Elle Callahan's Head Count, a film with a dreamlike tone slowly overridden by an inexplicable nightmare. When a gaggle of xx-somethings gather at Joshua Tree for a mini holiday, they exercise what characters so frequently do in horror movies: Read a spooky story that accidentally summons a monster. In this instance the monster is the Hisji, a shape-shifting entity that breaks prey psychologically before the killing begins. Accordingly, Callahan relishes the mental component of Caput Count's basic conceit, allowing the cast to slowly give in to suspicion and distrust while capitalizing on their collective doubt. At every turn, Callahan creates opportunities to scare the crap out of her audience, oft in wide daylight or a well-illuminated room, where the viewer leasts expect to exist terrified. The pic violates safety and sanctuary on the strength of Callahan's shrewd filmmaking. There's room for comeback—the monster ultimately has besides much origin for its ain skilful—just Head Count is self-assured in its craftsmanship and announces Callahan as a managing director with hope and perspective. —Andy Crump

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40. Sharknado

Twelvemonth: 2014
Manager: Anthony C. Ferrante
Stars: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, John Heard
Rating: NR
Runtime: 85 minutes

B-pic geeks and bad movie fans are not kind to the original Sharknado, and I don't retrieve that's entirely off-white. It gets flak from that audience for beingness "purposefully bad," but it is possible to brand an entertainingly goofy picture show in this way … it'southward simply pretty rare. Now dragged down by an increasingly forced run of sequels, all of which I've reviewed for Paste because I'm a crazy person, it's easy to lose sight of how slapdash (and thus amusing) the outset film was. There'due south admittedly no budget behind Sharknado, which makes the gaffes introduced by a tight shooting schedule all the more apparent and hilarious. The sky goes from dark to sunny in between shots in the same scene. The pic idles in place for xx minutes while trying to get kids out of a school bus, just to shamelessly pad itself out to "characteristic length." Tara Reid tries to get dialog to come up out of her mouth, and fails spectacularly. In brusk: There's fun stuff here. Don't exist a bad motion picture hipster; comprehend the original Sharknado. The sequels, experience free to ignore. —Jim Vorel

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