A great story is important! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for horror films that told the most haunting, memorable stories. Consider this your spoiler alert!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 "I want your eye, man."
00:03 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for horror movies that told the most haunting,
00:09 memorable stories. Consider this your spoiler alert.
00:13 "You're telling me that I should take my daughter to a witch doctor. Is that it?"
00:19 Number 10. The Shining
00:22 "I wish we could stay here forever and ever and ever."
00:29 Writer Jack Torrance is hoping to find inspiration in the peaceful isolation of the Overlook Hotel,
00:35 but the hotel itself has other plans.
00:38 Years of violent crime and other travesties haunt the halls of the mountain resort,
00:43 sinking their teeth into whatever addled psyche wanders into their lair.
00:47 "I'm sorry to differ with you, sir. But you are the caretaker."
00:56 What makes this Stephen King adaptation so effective is the film's focus on Jack's downward spiral.
01:03 The more he pines for a drink, the more he resents his family,
01:06 the more the Overlook's ghouls are able to influence and possess.
01:11 Jack Torrance is the perfect vessel for the monstrous hotel. It's a match made in hell.
01:17 "You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just gonna bash your brains out."
01:24 9. Night of the Living Dead
01:27 "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
01:30 Director George A. Romero and his co-writer John Russo wanted to create a horror film
01:35 that would instill renewed interest in the genre,
01:38 while paying homage to novels like Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.
01:43 The end result was Night of the Living Dead, a film with a simple yet powerful premise at its core - survival.
01:50 "We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn't going to solve anything."
01:57 A group of everyday folks barricade themselves against the swarming undead in an old farmhouse,
02:02 but how long can they stay alive?
02:05 With one location, cheap makeup, and lots of unpaid extras,
02:09 Romero and friends would end up creating one of the most recognizable, emulated, and pivotal horror films of all time.
02:18 "At this hour, we repeat, these are the facts as we know them.
02:21 There is an epidemic of mass murder being committed by a virtual army of unidentified assassins."
02:26 8. Hereditary
02:28 "I think there's more."
02:30 "You mean more than your mother's headless body?"
02:32 Writer-director Ari Aster's Hereditary is built upon the unnerving idea that someone, or something,
02:40 is controlling every aspect of our lives, and there's nothing we can do about it.
02:45 A master of subliminal storytelling, Aster foreshadows the doomed fates of his core characters
02:52 by having protagonist Annie Graham, played by Toni Collette, earn a living through miniature model-making.
02:58 "So, you're still toiling away at the hospice?"
03:02 Just as Annie looms over the meticulously carved figurines in her dollhouse,
03:07 a demonic cult, at one time led by Annie's deceased mother,
03:11 puppeteers every facet of Annie's life, along with the lives of her children.
03:16 It just goes to show, you can never trust Grandma.
03:20 "I never wanted to be your mother."
03:22 "Why?"
03:28 7. Scream
03:30 "You never told me your name."
03:31 "Why do you want to know my name?"
03:33 "Because I want to know who I'm looking at."
03:35 "What did you say?"
03:38 Wes Craven's Scream is a horror film that satirises the horror genre as a whole,
03:43 and the results are ghoulishly good.
03:46 When a masked murderer descends upon the small town of Woodsboro,
03:49 the local high school students start dropping like flies.
03:53 "Why would they ask you if you liked a hook?"
03:55 "Because their bodies were gutted."
03:56 "Thank you, Randy."
03:59 But, as it turns out, the elusive slasher seems to be taking sadistic inspiration
04:04 from classic genre films like Halloween and Friday the 13th.
04:08 Horror movies had poked fun at themselves before,
04:11 but Scream goes all in on the meta-commentary.
04:14 There's even a scene where one of the characters gives his peers
04:17 a crash course on how to survive a horror film.
04:21 "Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances, say 'I'll be right back.'"
04:25 6. The Thing
04:27 "I don't know what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."
04:30 What could be worse than being stranded for months in the Antarctic cold?
04:34 Try adding a hungry, centuries-old extraterrestrial.
04:38 A remake of the 1951 film The Thing from Another World,
04:42 John Carpenter's film doubles down on the single-location paranoia
04:46 that only Antarctica could induce.
04:49 "And Clark was human, huh? Which makes you a murderer, don't it?"
04:54 When an unassuming sled dog is taken in by an Arctic research team,
04:58 no one knows there's an alien living inside the dog, until it's too late.
05:03 As the alien passes from one human host to another,
05:06 the survivors have nowhere to flee to, and fewer colleagues to trust.
05:10 The Thing is brilliantly unsettling and very claustrophobic,
05:14 and it's why we keep re-watching it.
05:16 "You're gonna have to sleep sometime, McQueen."
05:19 "I'm a real-life sleeper child."
05:21 5. The Exorcist
05:23 "And, uh, how do you go about getting an exorcism?"
05:28 "I beg your pardon?"
05:32 Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his novel of the same name,
05:36 The Exorcist has long been hailed as perhaps the greatest horror film ever made.
05:42 The film's standing owes a lot to Blatty's layered story,
05:45 which successfully combines crisis of faith, science vs. religion,
05:50 and domestic drama elements, making for an emotional, cohesive, and effective narrative.
05:56 "Is Reagan aware of it?"
05:59 "Not at all."
06:01 "Why'd you ask?"
06:04 "It's not important, goodnight."
06:07 While it's been lauded for its visuals, The Exorcist's set design and grisly makeup
06:12 are just cherries on top.
06:14 When the story is this good, all you need is good performers to seal the deal.
06:18 "What an excellent day for an exorcism."
06:23 "You'd like that?"
06:24 "Intensely."
06:26 Number 4. Get Out
06:28 "I know what you're thinking."
06:29 "What?"
06:30 "Come on, I get it. White family, black servants, it's a total cliché."
06:37 Writer-director Jordan Peele's films are packed with powerful performances,
06:42 memorable shocks, and lots of socio-political satire.
06:46 And it all started with his 2017 film Get Out.
06:49 The story follows Chris Washington, a black New York photographer,
06:53 who travels upstate to meet his white girlfriend's family.
06:56 "So how long has this been going on, this thing?"
07:01 "How long?"
07:04 "Four months."
07:06 What follows is a nuanced yet searing dissection of the modern zeitgeist,
07:11 with particular attention paid to racism and xenophobia in America.
07:15 Peele is a genius when it comes to blending multiple sub-genres,
07:19 incorporating elements of sci-fi and Hitchcockian mystery
07:23 in this brilliant directorial debut.
07:26 "Why us? Huh? Why black people?"
07:31 Number 3. Rosemary's Baby
07:33 "Trying to get me to be his mother."
07:36 "Aren't you his mother?"
07:39 In Rosemary's Baby, Mia Farrow plays the titular mother-to-be.
07:43 Living in Manhattan with her husband, played by John Cassavetes,
07:46 Rosemary starts to believe her neighbours, spouse and doctor
07:50 are part of a satanic coven, using her to birth the Antichrist.
07:55 "What have you done to it? What have you done to its eyes?"
07:59 "He has his father's eyes."
08:02 A horror classic that ages like vine wine,
08:04 Rosemary's Baby presents a world where patriarchal power exerts relentless control.
08:10 Rosemary is a savvy protagonist who is often on the verge of breaking down
08:14 the metaphorical walls closing in around her,
08:17 but society keeps adding bricks as she tears them away.
08:21 "Maybe all this is coincidence, but one thing is for sure,
08:23 they have a coven and they want my baby."
08:26 "Certainly seems that way."
08:31 Number 2. The Silence of the Lambs
08:33 "A census taker once tried to test me.
08:36 I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
08:42 Based on Thomas Harris' novel, The Silence of the Lambs
08:45 holds the unique distinction of being one of the only horror films
08:49 to take home the Academy Award for Best Picture.
08:52 The ingenious narrative has a lot to do with the film's win.
08:55 "Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling?
09:00 Throw me with your acumen."
09:02 To track down a serial killer, FBI agent Clarice Starling,
09:06 played by Jodie Foster, must rely on the mad genius of another,
09:10 the infamous Hannibal Lecter,
09:12 brought to life in an iconic performance by Anthony Hopkins.
09:16 These same conversations with Lecter allow him to zero in
09:20 on Clarice's fears and motivations in a dark exploration
09:24 on what makes us all tick.
09:26 "Do you think if you save poor Catherine,
09:29 you could make them stop, don't you?
09:31 You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again
09:36 to that awful screaming of the lambs?"
09:39 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
09:42 and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
09:45 You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
09:49 If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings
09:52 and switch on notifications.
09:54 1. Psycho
09:56 "She just goes a little mad sometimes."
09:59 Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho
10:02 is one of the most revered horror films of all time.
10:05 On top of its excellent acting, camera work and score,
10:08 the plot of the movie is just as responsible
10:11 for cementing this adaptation of Robert Bloch's novel
10:14 into the annals of cinema shock.
10:17 As the audience, we become acquainted with Marion Crane,
10:20 played by Janet Leigh,
10:21 only to have the character killed off in the first hour of the movie.
10:25 "Yes, miss?"
10:26 "I'm Marion's sister."
10:28 "Sure, Lila."
10:29 "Is Marion here?"
10:31 "Of course not."
10:33 The story then branches off into the investigation of Crane's disappearance
10:37 by her boyfriend and sister,
10:39 bringing them into contact with the villainous Norman Bates.
10:42 Unless you've read the book beforehand,
10:44 Marion's death comes as a total surprise.
10:47 "She arrived rather late one night and she went straight to sleep
10:51 and left early the next morning."
10:54 "How early?"
10:55 "Oh, very early."
10:57 Do these brilliant horror movie plots scare you as much as they do us?
11:01 Let us know down in the comments.
11:03 "That was an especially nice touch, Clarice. Yours?"
11:07 Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo
11:10 and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
11:15 [music]