Your Top 10 Favorite Horror Films On Blu

[Member-167298]

Aside from the major franchises (Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, etc) and others (Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, etc) that are obvious choices, here are some of my favorites films (it is tough to choose only ten) from my collection within the broad horror genre. I am basing my choices solely on the quality of the movies and NOT the image and/or sound quality of the Blu Ray.

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE



Mario Bava's films are perhaps some of the most beautiful to look at in the genre and this film is no exception. Beautiful women and visually stunning kills. My gateway to Italian giallo films.

DEAD & BURIED



This is probably one of the horror films I have revisited the most in the last few years. I love the concept and the atmosphere, plus a cameo by a very young and pretty Lisa Marie. Endless replay value for me. Just wish the transfer was better (the opening shot on the beach looks like flies are buzzing around).

NEON MANIACS



A definite slice of 80s cheese, but with a lot of quirky charms. Ridiculous monsters that have their own trading cards, a cool chick that is a horror fan, a very 80s battle of the bands, squirt guns being wielded as weapons...love it!!! Thanks to Code Red for putting this out because I probably would not have seen it otherwise!

DRESSED TO KILL



This is the ultimate in what I call De Palma's "sleazy Hitchcock" films. Basically an American giallo (does the elevator scene remind anyone else of Bird With the Crystal Plumage?). Extra points for Nancy Allen looking absolutely incredible at the end of the film.

VIDEODROME



I have loved this film ever since I saw it on the Sci Fi Channel when I was in middle school (imagine my surprise at what I had missed out on when I had my mom buy me the unrated VHS soon after). An intriguing concept that is executed in such an incredibly nightmarish and bizarre way. The hold that video still has over us is just, if not more, relevant today.

THE ACT OF KILLING



This is definitely my loosest interpretation of "horror" on the list, but the real-life horror on display here has few rivals. I saw this in a packed theater at a film festival in Maryland and the entire audience sat in stunned silence for at least a minute after the movie concluded. Man's inhumanity to other men truly is the most horrific thing in the world.

PIECES



Easily one of the most entertaining films I have ever had the pleasure of watching. The scene where a professor is called in by the police to deduce whether or not a bloody chainsaw at a crime scene could have been used to slice up a body is worth the price of admission alone. Seeing it with a crowd last year in Boston was a delight.

DER FAN aka THE FAN



A total blind buy that blew me away. Another film that isn't necessarily horror in the traditional sense, but definitely has a horrific concept once all is revealed. THE LESS YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS MOVIE BEFORE WATCHING IT, THE BETTER!


CABIN FEVER



Not only one of my favorite horror films, but one of my favorite films in general. I just love the odd mix of humor and ultraviolence throughout. Eli Roth clearly loves the genre and isn't afraid to have fun with it at the same time.

THE INNKEEPERS



Really great "slow burn" horror film. I love the setting, the story and characters. Subsequent viewings are really rewarding because you can see how the pieces come together. Raises some great questions about fate. This was filmed at the Yankee Peddler Inn in CT and I actually visited the hotel last year to check out all of the spots where they filmed. Right down the street is the apartment and church from Ti West's other great film The House of the Devil.

[UltraMario9]

1. The Shining
2. Evil Dead 2
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
4. Jacob's Ladder
5. Wes Craven's New Nightmare
6. The Thing (1982)
7. Jeepers Creepers
8. Dog Soldiers
9. Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10. Insidious

Honourable Mentions:

Halloween (1978)
Rear Window
Angel Heart
Shutter Island
The Sixth Sense
Jaws
The Hitcher (1986)
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: The Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master
Cape Fear (1990)
Halloween II (1981)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)

[dallywhitty]

[MJD64]

The bride of frankenstein
the innocents
jaws
psycho
carrie
cat people/the wolf man
nosferatu (1922)
kwaidan
evil dead 2: Dead by dawn
black sunday

[Kill Bren]

[OgamiittoMcJ]

[Undeadcow]

Top 10 is hard to do but here are 10 of my favorites, based on movie alone:







The Orphanage | The Editor | The Last Horror Film | Night Breed | Santa Sangre | The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Fascination | Hellraiser: Inferno (a guilty pleasure) | Here Comes the Devil | Thirst

Edit: Crap... forgot Rosemary's Baby, that is a personal favorite.

[surfdude12]

1. The Shining
2. Alien
3. Triangle
4. Psycho
5. Halloween (1978)
6. The Orphanage
7. The Ring
8. The Thing
9. Babadook
10. Descent

[mrjohnnyb]

[ravenus]

I'll concentrate more on the film than on extras/packaging, here are some of my favs in horror blus (wherever possible have tried to provide links to both A and B alternatives for those limited to specific regions):

1. The Innocents - I first saw this in a Pan & Scan version and was spellbound. This was a film I upgraded multiple times - from Fox DVD to BFI SE DVD to BFI blu-ray to Criterion's 4K scan sourced blu-ray. An eerie adaptation of Henry James' Turn of The Screw that manages to preserve the ambiguity that renders the proceedings timelessly frightening.



2. Street Trash - More bizarre than horror, but this film is highly recommended to people that appreciate WTF-ery of the highest order. Even putting aside the premise of a liquor so corrosive it melts down drinkers, this is a mind-frak movie with a seriously twisted sense of humor that will have you squirming and laughing out loud simultaneously.



3. Lisa and The Devil - Horror maestro Mario Bava's personal project is more art film than scare-fest but has undeniable atmosphere with dreamy visuals and wonderful use of music, especially the second movement from Rodrigo's Concerto Aranjuez. Telly Savalas gives a campy yet unsettling performance as Satan.




4. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn - This is on most horror fans' top lists, and with good reason. While by the third film the series had plonked straight into Indiana Jones territory (with a good helping of 3 Stooges slapstick) the first sequel had the perfect balance of humor and horror, leaving you gasping and guffawing in equal measure. Bruce Campbell's veritable mono-act through the first half of the film is a masterclass in dedication to one's craft, and never has a disembodied body part demonstrated as much character as Ash's possessed hand.



5. Berberian Sound Studio - It's a relatively recent film but Peter Strickland's tribute to the giallo is a strange claustrophobic atmosphere-drenched classic in itself with a lovely performance from the always interesting Toby Jones.



6. Nightmare on Elm Street - While most of the sequels teetered on the edge of parody, Wes Craven's original film, inventive and economical, still holds the power to jolt you from sleep. And who doesn't want to see Johnny Depp swallowed up by his bed then vomited out as a massive blood shower?



7. Zombie Flesh Eaters - I'm not a fan of Fulci's work (The Beyond has a great climax but it was a chore getting there), but this one is laudable for its sheer chutzpah - once you've seen a Zombie vs Shark fight, there's no going back. Even with some wooden performances, the film effectively captures the claustrophobia and helplessness of being on an island coming alive with zombie hordes, and the makeup effects are memorable.



8. Island of Lost Souls - This pre-code pot-boiler adaptation of HG Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau may not have met with the author's approval but will undoubtedly gladden the hearts of classic horror fans, with a gleefully fervid performance from Charles Laughton as the deranged vivisectionist, and strong support from Bela Lugosi as the conflicted beast-man.



9. Humanoids from The Deep - Exploitation has rarely been done better than in this Roger Corman produced trashy 80's tribute to the 50's Creature flick, spiced up with an abundance of gore and female nudity (a lot of the latter allegedly added in after its female director refused to comply with Corman's requirements).



10. Peeping Tom - this list is not in order of preference because Michael Powell's brilliant pre-Psycho portrayal of a troubled youth with a dominating parent figure is one of my personal favorites and IMO eclipses Hitchcock's film with a more subtle and sympathetic portrayal of the murderous titular Tom. The film on release finished Powell's hitherto illustrious career graph, only to be hailed later as a classic of horror cinema by no less than Martin Scorsese.

[junyab]

I'll throw a quick top 10 of modern horrors (in no particular order):

- IT FOLLOWS
- AUDITION
- HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
- MARTYRS
- INSIDE
- ANTICHRIST
- LAKE MUNGO
- GOODNIGHT, MOMMY
- LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
- THEM (ILS)

[tylerdurden10]

Here are mine, these are in no order (except for #1 ):

1. The Ring (US Remake)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
Nightmare On Elm St (Original)
Halloween (Original)
The Amityville Horror (Original)
The First Power
The Conjuring
The Thing (Original)
Insidious
Fright Night (Original)
Halloween (Original)

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by tylerdurden10

Here are mine, these are in no order (except for #1 ):

1. The Ring (US Remake)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
Nightmare On Elm St (Original)
Halloween (Original)
The Amityville Horror (Original)
The First Power
The Conjuring
The Thing (Original)
Insidious
Fright Night (Original)
Halloween (Original)

You like Halloween more than the rest I see.

[donidarko]

The Exorcist (1973)
Halloween (1978)
Carrie (1976)
The Changeling (1980)
Phantasm (1979)
The Sentinel (1977)
The Omen (1976)
The Fog (1980)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1973)
He Knows You're Alone (1980)

[lolwut]

1. American Psycho
2. The Descent
3. The Exorcist
4. Jacob's Ladder
5. Let the Right One In
6. The Ring
7. The Shining
8. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
9. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
10. The Thing

[MassiveMovieBuff]

1. Halloween 1978 (the greatest horror film ever made)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 (the original is seminal but this one blows it away. Just as great as Halloween)
3. Aliens (the original is a classic but this movie is the definition of amazing and one of the rarest movie watching experiences one will ever have)
4. Let Me In (a pure, beautiful masterpiece. I like it even more than the Swedish version)
5. Fright Night 1985 (my favorite Vampire film, even though Let Me In is a Vampire film technically but that one is more difficult to classify genre wise. This is my favorite straight up Vampire film)
6. An American Werewolf in London (the greatest werewolf movie ever made and one of the greatest in general. Hilarious and terrifying in equal measure meshing perfectly together)
7. Trick r Treat (a superior horror anthology that very wrongfully got denied a proper theatrical release)
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 (Wes Craven's masterpiece)
9. The Shining (just one of the most incredible, effective, epic horror films ever made)
10. Prince of Darkness (one of the horror master's John Carpenter's most severely underrated films. Very unsettling and creepy with one of the best scores in film history)

Edit: This list was very difficult for me to do since I love so many horror films that I wanted to add to this list as well and I know that a lot of these are commonly used on numerous lists but hey, if a movie is great then it is great right?

[happydood]

1. Bride Of Frankenstein (the greatest horror movie ever made)
2. Frankenstein (31)
3. Dracula (31)
4. Evil Dead II
5. The Thing
6. Halloween
7. The Exorcist
8. The Fly (Cronenberg)
9. Night Of The Living Dead
10. Hammer's Dracula

Yeah, it's an obvious list, but most of these got here because of deserved reputations. And while Jaws is really my favorite movie, I don't consider it a horror film, necessarily. I could easily also have American Werewolf, Return Of The Living Dead, Psycho and a bunch of others on here, but these are ones I love and are also important to the genre in some major way.

[Michael24]

My ten favorites of the ones I own (in alphabetical order):

[jtu128]

Is this another favorite horror movie retread or favorite horror movie blu ray as in the quality of the release?

[bigshot]

1) The Innocents
2) King Kong 1933
3) Dawn of the Dead
4) Son of Frankenstein
5) Tales From The Crypt 1972
6) Evil Dead II
7) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
8) The Haunting
9) Dracula 1958
10) Dead Alive