Color us terrified. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the horror movies that pushed the genre forward in new and inventive ways.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the horror movies that
00:09push the genre forward in new and inventive ways.
00:20Number 10.
00:21It Follows.
00:22You can get rid of it, okay?
00:23Just sleep with someone as soon as you can.
00:26Just pass it along.
00:27The analogy of sexually transmitted diseases is part of the reason It Follows felt so fresh
00:32back when it was released in 2014.
00:35Writer-director David Robert Mitchell may not have completely explained the rules for
00:39why the entity follows the way it does or how it can be destroyed, yet it's more about
00:44the journey than the destination here.
00:46It Follows plays with our paranoia as we constantly scan the background for who's on the horizon.
00:51The performances and the character's general likability get us invested in the story, while
00:56the soundtrack keeps us on edge.
00:58This one is destined to become a modern horror classic.
01:08Number 9.
01:09Get Out.
01:10He's dating my sister.
01:11You had your chance.
01:12I can't get to know the guy.
01:14The trope of the body snatcher was nothing new in the horror genre by the time Jordan
01:18Peele created Get Out.
01:19Yet his film managed to inject new life into this narrative through the exploration of
01:23class and race.
01:25Get Out also subtly incorporates humor throughout the story, but make no mistake, the film is
01:30full of uneasy frights.
01:32The existential horror of the sunken place in particular gives us nightmares.
01:36Peele's script is smart, taut, and tense, and the subtle easter eggs hidden throughout
01:41the film make it eminently rewatchable.
01:49Number 8.
01:50The Strangers.
01:51Are you a sinner?
01:52Sometimes.
01:53There's just something primal about horror films that are set in those situations where
02:04we're most vulnerable.
02:06It could be Psycho in the shower or Jaws in the open water, but they make our skin crawl.
02:11The Strangers strikes a similar nerve, that fear of our homes being invaded when we're
02:16all alone.
02:17Of course, it helps that the cinematography here underlines just how frightening that
02:21situation can be, as the titular strangers lurk in the shadows.
02:25This film is violent, sure, but it's also scary as hell, and isn't afraid to let moments
02:30linger for the sole purpose of making us look twice into the darkness.
02:42Number 7.
02:43The Silence of the Lambs.
02:44This movie is one of only a handful of horror films to ever make a serious impact at the
02:48Academy Awards.
02:50Its handling of themes such as gender identity have made it the subject of much retrospective
02:54criticism.
02:55But it's not Buffalo Bill's motivations that make this film so terrifying.
03:10At its heart, The Silence of the Lambs is a story about the abduction and murder of
03:15female victims, crimes that feel all too real and terrifying.
03:25Jodie Foster's performance as FBI trainee Clarice Starling was career-defining.
03:30And who can ever forget the way Anthony Hopkins inhabited the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter?
03:35He manages to make the former psychologist and cannibal, charming, magnetic, manipulative,
03:40and ultimately one of the scariest characters in cinema.
03:50Number 6.
03:51Hereditary.
03:52In 2018, cinema-goers were introduced to a new master of horror, filmmaker Ari Aster.
04:02An unrelentingly bleak and deeply disturbing film, Hereditary pushes the boundaries of
04:07the genre in ways that, quite frankly, we didn't know were possible.
04:17It immediately drew comparisons to such highly influential pictures as Rosemary's Baby
04:21and The Exorcist.
04:22The film doesn't bother with jump scares.
04:25It instead shocks with genuinely unexpected and deeply disturbing imagery, from which
04:30it refuses to turn away.
04:32The tension and overwhelming sense of dread are so pervasive that some viewers may not
04:37last long enough to see the mystery unraveled, further bolstered by stellar performances
04:42all around.
04:43Hereditary isn't just a scary movie.
04:45It will shake you to your core.
04:55Number 5.
04:56The Shining.
04:57Directed by Stanley Kubrick, The Shining is undeniably unconventional.
05:03It's a lonely, ambiguous, and thoroughly unsettling experience that, while arguably
05:08a tale of the supernatural, is fundamentally about one man's descent into madness.
05:17It's a significant departure from the source material written by Stephen King, but a study
05:21published in 2004 conducted by King's College London actually labeled it, quote, the perfect
05:26scary movie.
05:32The Shining never fails to terrify, but the answer as to what exactly makes it so scary
05:37remains elusive.
05:39From set design to the imagery used, The Shining is artful in its approach to inducing fear.
05:48Number 4.
05:49Alien.
05:53Despite the science fiction elements of the story, there can be little debate that Alien
05:56is in fact also a horror film.
05:59Being stuck inside a claustrophobic environment you can't escape with a mindless creature
06:03that only wants to kill you is a creepy idea to be sure.
06:09Heck, even just sitting down to enjoy a meal together in this movie becomes a complete
06:15nightmare.
06:16That chestburster scene is forever burned into all our memories.
06:20Ridley Scott's space adventure doesn't only grab you by the neck, but also never
06:24lets you go again.
06:26It inspired a worthy follow-up with Aliens, as well as a slew of lesser sequels and prequels.
06:32But the original remains the creepiest and most shocking.
06:42Number 3.
06:43Psycho.
06:44We know what you're thinking.
06:45How does this film crack the top three when relative to the horror movies released in
06:48the years since, it's so tame?
06:56The thing is, while Psycho may start off slowly enough, the conclusion that it builds to is
07:00incredibly effective.
07:02Its ability to scare has been undermined by its own success.
07:06Most people already know the story.
07:10But show it to someone with no knowledge of the plot and their reaction will be genuine
07:14terror.
07:15And the initial lack of horror makes the sudden violence and twisted reveals all the more
07:20powerful.
07:21No one will argue against the fact that Psycho is one of the greatest horror films ever made,
07:26but it also remains one of the scariest.
07:39Number 2.
07:40The Exorcist.
07:41You're gonna die up there.
07:43Demonic children get us every time.
07:45The Exorcist introduces us to Regan, a friendly 12-year-old girl who becomes possessed by
07:50a demon after playing with a Ouija board.
07:52Captain Howdy.
07:53Do you think my mom's pretty?
07:55A terrific and refreshing concept for a horror film was taken to the next level by William
08:00Peter Blatty's exceptional screenplay and the amazing direction of William Friedkin.
08:09Unflinching and truly scary, this is what we'll always imagine an actual possession
08:14would actually look like.
08:16It forces us to picture how helpless we'd feel if ever this happened to a loved one.
08:20Add to that horrifying moments like when Pazuzu tells father Damien Karras about his mother's
08:24fate in hell.
08:26This is as scary as scary gets and undoubtedly a horror classic.
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08:551.
08:56The Blair Witch Project
08:57One of the most successful indie flicks ever, The Blair Witch Project's marketing campaign
09:09made it the most talked about movie in the US.
09:12The fact that the teasers and trailer wet audience appetites while giving away virtually
09:17nothing about the plot made the found footage flick's twists and turns all the more shocking.
09:27Its unknown stars allowed us to empathize completely, which made those surprises even
09:32more terrifying.
09:34To cap it all off, the simple yet horrifying closing seconds ensured that this film was
09:39one of the scariest of all time.
09:45Which horror movie do you find the most inventive?
09:47Let us know in the comments below.
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