1. Learn about kaidan. Kaidan (or kwaidan) refers to traditional Japanese ghost stories and folk tales. These stories typically include some kind of karma theme. J-horror movies are firmly rooted in the Japanese kaidan tradition, so a better understanding of that type of literature will result in a better understanding an appreciation of the horror movies inspired by it. A good book to start with is called Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. The Tale of Genji is another good one to read.
2. Watch J-horror movies. The best way to appreciate any movie genre is to watch the films of that genre. Want to know more about silent films? Watch two silent movies every night for a week, and you’ll have a better understanding and appreciation of the silent film genre. The same holds true for the J-horror genre. If you want to appreciate J-horror movies, then watch J-horror movies.
3. Start with some of the earlier J-horror movies. Understanding and appreciating movies is easier when you consider the context of those films. Reading the fiction that inspired J-horror movies is one way of providing context. Another way to get context is to watch the earlier movies and think about how the genre has progressed over time. Start with Ugetsu Monogatari (1953), Kwaidan (1964), and Jigoku (1960). Those movies will familiarize you with the roots of J-horror.
4. Watch movies by specific Japanese directors. If you wanted to appreciate American science fiction films, you’d look at movies from Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas. If you want to appreciate J-horror movies, watch movies that were directed by Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Hideo Nakata.
5. Watch the big movies in the genre. Some of the more famous J-horror movies include Ringu, Ju-on, Dark Water, Kairo, and Chakushin Ari. These were all big hits, and most of them spawned several sequels (as well as American remakes.) Skip the American remakes though.
6. Discuss J-horror movies with other fans. One way to appreciate any kind of film is to watch it with other people and then discuss what you’ve just seen. Find two or three friends and start a J-horror movie club, and get together once a week and watch a couple of J-horror films. Once you’ve gotten together every week for a year, you’ll have seen and discussed enough J-horror movies to be real experts. You can also discuss J-horror movies with other fans online at a horror forum. It’s not as good as getting together and watching the movies and then discussing them, but it’s still a way to gain a broader appreciation of J-horror.
7. Read the book J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge, and Beyond. This book goes into great detail about the major J-horror movie franchises and directors, so it will help you achieve a better understanding and appreciation of the genre. Think about whether or not you agree or disagree with the author’s observations about the films. Critical thinking is the key meta-skill to appreciating any kind of art.

I hope this brief guide to appreciating J-horror movies gets you excited enough to watch some of the wonderful horror films available from Japan.

Extra Credit:

1. Learn Japanese. If you truly want to appreciate J-horror movies, then being able to understand them in the original language will help.
2. Visit Japan. The more familiar with the culture you are, the better you’ll appreciate its movies.

Related Posts

• Top Ten Japanese Horror Movies
• Top Ten South Korean Horror Movies
• Top Ten Female Horror Movie Villains
• Top Ten Horror Films of the Year 2000
  

So you want to choose the perfect horror film? Here are a few steps in the process of choosing the perfect horror film. Enjoy:

1. Consider the occasion. There is no single “perfect horror film” for every situation. If you’re watching movies with kids, the old Universal horror movies, like Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman might be the best possible horror movie choice. A perfect double feature might be The Bride of Frankenstein followed by Monster Squad. On the other hand, if you have an audience of artistic types, The Shining and Let the Right One In might be a better fit. Theme nights can be fun too. The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Exorcist make for a delightful trilogy.
2. Avoid remakes. With the exception of Savini’s Night of the Living Dead remake and Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake, horror movie remakes are always terrible. Hollywood is intellectually and creatively bankrupt, and we shouldn’t encourage them to continue with their insane obsession with horror movie remakes. Instead, look for classics, like John Carpenter’s Halloween, or the original version of The Wicker Man. Horror movies remakes are never perfect horror movie choices.
3. Consider the director. Some horror movie directors rarely make a bad horror movie, and if you know who they are, then choosing the perfect scary film becomes a lot easier. John Carpenter is an excellent choice. You can’t go wrong with Halloween, The Thing, or The Fog. Even some of his less well thought of and less well known horror movies can be the perfect film for the occasion; check out Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness. Other horror directors to think about include Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Craven, and George Romero.
4. Read reviews from trusted film critics. Roger Ebert rarely gives a horror movie four stars, so when he does, it’s worth checking out. Antichrist, starring Willem Dafoe, is a recent darling from Cannes. Ebert gave the movie three and a half stars. That puts it into contention for perfect scary movie. Natural Born Killers is arguably not a horror movie, but it’s about serial killers, and I thought it was horrifying. Ebert gave it four stars, so even if it’s not the perfect horror film, it’s probably worth watching, just in case. In fact, if it weren’t for Ebert, I would have never seen Body Snatchers, a 1994 film based on the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It’s another exception to the “no remakes” rule. The Blair Witch Project, Dawn of the Dead, The Exorcist, Frailty, Halloween, Jaws, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Rosemary’s Baby are all good candidates for the perfect horror film, and they’re all movies that earned four star reviews from Mr. Ebert.
5. Look for adaptations of your favorite horror novels. The most obvious example of a horror novelist with a lot of potentially good horror films adapted from his work is Stephen King. Some of the movies made from his novels have been awful (Maximum Overdrive, for example), but some of them have been classics of the horror film genre. Some of these include Christine, Misery, Secret Window, Carrie, and The Dead Zone. Richard Matheson is another horror author with several adaptations worth seeing, including I Am Legend, Stir of Echoes, and the upcoming The Box.

Choosing the perfect horror film for your situation isn’t too hard. Just figure out what kinds of horror movies you like, and stack the odds in your favor. That’s how to choose the perfect horror film.

Here’s our list of the best horror movies of all time, in order. After the list, we’ve included links to other pages on the Internet offering different opinions about which are the greatest horror movies of all time.

The Best Horror Movies of All Time

1. The Shining – In terms of pure film-making magic and art, no horror movie can touch Kubrick’s masterpiece. Maybe someday someone will top this, but they haven’t yet.The Shiningis the #1 best horror movie of all time.
2. The Silence of the Lambs – It’s hard to beat Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Hannibal Lecter.
3. Se7en – This one’s a Halloween tradition at our house.
4. Let the Right One In – This one probably comes closest to The Shining in terms of artistry.
5. The Birds – I love Night of the Living Dead, but The Birds did it first and better.
6. Night of the Living Dead – All subsequent zombie apocalypse movies stem from this one, but none of them match it in terms of scariness.
7. An American Werewolf in London – The most successful combination of humor and horror ever, Shaun of the Dead notwithstanding.
8. Halloween – Carpenter’s best film owes a big debt to Black Christmas, but it’s a better movie. I’d rather have my eyes poked out than have to sit thought Zombie’s remake again though.
9. Rosemary’s Baby – Creepy as hell, even now.
10. Dawn of the Dead – I’m going to refuse to say which version of this made the list. You can assume either or both, and you’ll be right.
11. Misery – Why, oh why, can’t we get Rob Reiner to make more horror movies for us?
12. Carrie – I saw this as a child, and it still gives me nightmares.
13. The Wicker Man – This one is often called the Citizen Kane of horror, but it’s not quite on the same par. Great movie though, nonetheless.
14. Cloverfield – I’m surprised that this doesn’t make more “best horror movies of all time” lists.
15. The Thing – Carpenter’s 2nd best horror movie. Kurt Russell is awesome.
16. The Omen – I’m talking about the original. Gregory Peck is a tough act to follow.
17. The Fly – Cronenberg’s made a lot of weird movies, but this is his finest horror film. (Although The Brood is great too.)
18. Fright Night – I saw this in 8th grade. It was great then, and it’s great now.
19. Frailty – Who knew that Bill Paxton was going to direct and star in a horror movie classic?
20. Near Dark – One of the better thought out vampire movies.

More Lists of the Best Horror Movies of All Time

I’ve listed 20 movies that I consider the greatest horror films of all time. Now here are 20 more opinions:

1. About.com’s Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time
2. Buried.com’s Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time
3. Cinefantastique’s List of the 50 Best Horror Movies of All Time
4. Cinemarv’s 13 Best Horror Movies List
5. Cinematical’s 25 Best Horror Movies of All Time (or at least since 1990)
6. Entertainment Weekly’s 20 Scariest Movies of All Time
7. Hollywood.com’s Top 25 Highest Grossing Domestic Horror Movies of All Time
8. IGN’s Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time
9. IMDB’s Best and Worst Horror Titles
10. IMDB’s Top 50 Horror Movies by Average Vote
11. In Contention’s Top 20 Horror Films of All Time
12. Justin Tessler’s List of Greatest Horror Movies at Amazon’s Listmania
13. Moviefone’s Best Horror Movies of All Time
14. The New York Daily News’ 20 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time
15. Reel Reviews Scariest Horror Movies Ever
16. Retrocrush’s 100 Greatest Horror Movie Performances
17. Rotten Tomatoes’ Best Horror Movies List
18. Rotten Tomatoes’ List of the Best Reviewed Horror Movies
19. Time Magazine’s Top 25 Horror Movies
20. Yahoo Users Top Rated Horror Movies

Please note that the list of best horror movies of all times links is in alphabetical order. They’re all hand-picked lists that I found myself.

1. Top Ten French Horror Films – Before launching and writing this blog, I had no idea that French horror movies were so popular. But this is our most popular single post on the site.
2. Top Ten Horror Movies of the 2000’s – This is one of those posts that’s obviously going to be good for a sequel post, as we continue to see new horror movies in the 2000’s. But it’s hard to imagine that the movie industry is going to top Let the Right One In and Cloverfield. Especially since they seem content to churn out remake after remake.
3. Top Ten Most Underrated Horror Movies – There are some real gems on this list. Of particular interest is the movie Cube, which is only horrific if you think about it.
4. Top Ten Highest Grossing Horror Movies – People love box office figures, so here are the top box office grossing horror films of all time. It’s interesting to me that six of these movies are from the 1970s, and the other four were from right around the turn of the century.
5. Top Ten Bestselling Horror Books on Amazon – Talk about a portrait of a time period. Four of the top ten horror books on Amazon at the time of this post’s writing were Charlaine Harris novels, which I can guarantee will be completely forgotten ten years from now. World War Z and The Graveyard Book will be remembered for a long time though, I think.
6. Top Ten Zombie Novels – I’m surprised this post wasn’t more popular. I had a different writer working on the site at that time, so maybe the list didn’t accurately reflect the best zombie novels available? Looks like the author of that post left out Cell by Stephen King and Infected by Scott Sigler. Maybe it’s time for a new list?
7. Top Ten Vincent Price Movies – Seeing this in our top ten most visited posts fills my heart with glee. In this era of uninspired remakes, it’s easy to think that the younger generation has forgotten the genius that is Vincent Price.
8. Top Ten Stephen King Short Stories – This is another list we’re really proud of. Luckily, Stephen King has written enough short stories that we could easily create two or three sequels to this post.
9. Top Ten H.P. Lovecraft Stories – If you haven’t read any H.P. Lovecraft yet, then you could do worse than to start with some of these stories. This one was written by someone else, which explains the glaring absence of “The Colour Out of Space”.
10. Top Ten Stephen King Novels – A pretty good list, placing Salems Lot where it belongs, right at the top of the list. It might be fun sometime to write a “worst Stephen King novels” post.

The best horror lists will begin again on Monday, so be prepared. And if you want to discuss any of the above articles, or anything else related to horror, please visit our sister site, the Horror Forum. We have subforums dedicated to Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft there, among other things. The Stephen King forum is pretty quiet, in fact, so come help us out and start discussing some Stephen King stuff with us.

The turn of the new century saw some really great horror flicks hit the big screen. Due to the influence of Asian cinema, there have been some unusual plots and storylines emerging. The decade isn’t over yet but for the top ten 2000’s horror films so far, look no further than these titles.

1. Slither – Alien slugs are taking over a sleepy town. They infest a rich tycoon who controls the other alien slugs. Once the slugs get inside you, they turn you into a zombie.
2. The Descent – A group of women go cave exploring and stumble upon a group of underground creatures. The creatures naturally attack the women. But there is more troubling the women than just survival as secret are revealed.
3. Saw – The first movie spawned a whole series of films. A serial killer (who, of course, wears a mask) captures a group of people and challenges them to escape. Unfortunately for them, the killer has created some booby traps that would make Willie Coyote envious.
4. Dawn of the Dead – A remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 classic. This movie sees an army of undead rampaging across the land. Survivors hide out in a mall (think of the shopping) and make plans for escaping.
5. The Ring – A woman watches a video that supposedly kills anyone who watches it within a week. So now she has a week to try to keep from being attacked by the ghost of a drowned girl. Based on the Japanese film of the same name.
6. The Grudge – Another American remake of a Japanese film, this one also involving a curse. A house has a curse on it that is passed on every time it takes a new victim. We get to see Sarah Michelle Geller without her cool Buffy tricks.
7. 28 Days Later – This British film took the zombie survival holocaust to a new level. A group of activists get infected with a man-made plague called “Rage” that spreads all across London. Besides making its victims hungry and aggressive, it gives them really cool red eyes.
8. Shaun of the Dead – If you haven’t seen this film, stop reading and go watch it. A man and his best mate wind up in the middle of a plague of zombies. It is a hilarious comedy with some gory effects thrown in as well.
9. Grindhouse – Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez team up again for a double feature. The first film is about a chemical gas that turns a town into brain-eating zombies. The second feature has Kurt Russell as a psychopath with a death-proof car.
10. The Others – Another creepy ghost story with a twisted ending. Nicole Kidman moves her two light-sensitive children into an old house in the country. When some weird things start happening, she blames the three strangers and old lady living with them.

By the 1990’s, the slasher films had been exhausted so filmmakers had to come up with something different to entice the audience. Sure, fans still wanted to see crazed killers chasing innocent victims but it had to be done in a new way. In case you slept through the decade, here are the top ten 90’s horror films.

1. The Sixth Sense – This is the movie where the famous line “I see dead people” comes from. Bruce Willis is a counselor trying to help a young boy who sees people who have died. Without a doubt, it has one of the best twisted endings of any horror movie ever.
2. From Dusk ‘Til Dawn – When Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez do vampires, you know it is going to be over the top. A pair of criminal brothers who are on the run make it across the Mexican border. They make a fatal mistake when they stop at a strip club inhabited by vampires.
3. Scream – The teen slasher film was dead before this movie came out. With a little humor and campiness, it still managed to be suspenseful and downright scary. It did a great job of playing up to all the stereotype elements of a slasher flick.
4. The Blair Witch Project – The success of this movie spawned a ton of clones, all using the fictional documentary theme. A group of young filmmakers enter a section of woods rumored to be haunted by a legendary witch. They find out that there is some truth behind the legend.
5. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare – After the first Nightmare on Elm Street, the other sequels were less that spectacular. The villain Freddy Kruger even got a sense of humor (sort of). This movie made the franchise fresh again by introducing Freddy into the real world.
6. Army of Darkness – Everyone say “This is my boomstick”! One of Sam Raimi’s best works for its combination of camp and horror. Our hero Ash from the previous Evil Dead films gets thrown into the Middle Ages where he has to find the Necronomicon if he wants to get back home.
7. Ravenous – Not so well-known but it still deserves its place due to its unique story. An army man during the Mexican-American war gets promoted to a secluded fort. Army life gets interrupted when a man shows up who survived the mountains by eating the members of his wagon train.
8. Cemetery Man – Rupert Everett is a man who takes care of a town’s cemetery. When he has sex with a mysterious but beautiful woman, they unleash a horde of zombies from the cemetery. The caretaker must then go around town and put them all back.
9. Dead Alive – Before The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson was known for horror. A young man lives with his mother who, after being bitten by a rat monkey, turns into a zombie. Jackson must love cinematic blood because this movie is filled with it.
10. Tremors – It makes Army of Darkness look like a serious piece of work, but Tremors is definitely one of the most memorable from the 90’s. A group of giant, worm-like creatures that burrow underground like Bugs Bunny set about terrorizing residents in a desert town. One of the best things is seeing Reba McIntyre as a gun-toting survivalist.

Before the slasher films of the 70’s and 80’s, there were the films of the sixties that inspired them all. These films set the foundations for modern horror and gave rise to iconic actors such as Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing. Many of these films have stood the test of time so if you are looking for some early works, check out the top ten 60’s horror films.

1. Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock’s classic serial killer tale that made you scared to take a shower. Lonely motel owner Norma Bates puts up with his mother telling him what to do. The problem is, his mother is dead.
2. Night of the Living Dead – George A. Romero’s first zombie flick and the one that set up all the characteristics of a good zombie film. Rule number one: zombies eat living flesh. Rule number two: No matter how well you hide, they always seem to find you.
3. Rosemary’s Baby – Hands down, one of the creepiest horror films of that entire decade and still pretty creepy today. A satanic cult drugs up a woman for a date with the devil. When she gets knocked up, you know it’s going to be bad news.
4. The Haunting – The original, not that cheesy remake with Liam Neeson, really was a haunting movie. A doctor conducting research into the supernatural leads a team to investigate a haunted mansion. But one of his team members feels a real attraction to the place.
5. The Birds – Another Alfred Hitchcock classic, this time with nature running wild. In the movie a huge flock of birds decides to go kamikaze against people. It will make you think twice about that group of birds sitting on the power lines.
6. Witchfinder General – Also known as The Conqueror Worm, this is Vincent Price at his best. He plays a sadistic witch hunter in Europe during the Middle Ages. Innocence doesn’t seem to bother him as long as the victims confess about something.
7. Village of the Damned – John Carpenter later did a remake but the original, filmed in 1960, was far better. In it, spirits get it on with the women in a village. They end up pregnant and give birth to blond children with supernatural abilities.
8. Curse of the Werewolf – One of the famous Hammer films from Britain, it was one of the company’s better films. A Spanish nobleman suffers from the curse of a werewolf and gets all hairy during the full moon. It has some great acting by the impeccable Oliver Reed.
9. The Pit and the Pendulum – Another great movie with Vincent Price, this time adapting an Edgar Allen Poe story. A man is a prisoner during the Spanish Inquisition. He gets strapped to a table and watches as a razor sharp pendulum tries to do the old magic trick of sawing him in half.
10. The Fearless Vampire Killers – This farce by Roman Polanski pokes serious fun at the vampire genre. An investigator and his assistant stumble upon a group of undead led by a vampire count. In the same vein as Abbot and Costello, this film is also known as Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck.

The 80’s was a popular decade for horror films. The era contained a whole mess of horror flicks, some good and some really bad. Despite the big hair, Boy George hats, and jackets with the sleeves pushed up, these top ten 80’s horror films have stood the test of time.

1. The Lost Boys – Teenage vampires run loose and try to recruit a teenage boy. But his brother and two friends, claiming to be expert vampire hunters, vow to stop the undead. But it is Grandpa who has the best line in the movie.
2. Friday the 13th – Despite the rest of the franchise, the original Friday is worthy because it had an intriguing storyline. It also introduced us to the killer Jason (although it wasn’t really him). Definitely one of the forerunners to teen slasher films.
3. Fright Night – A perfect blend of comedy, satire, and horror. A man moves into an old house next door to a boy and his family. When the boy discovers the man is a vampire, he attracts some unwanted attention.
4. Nightmare on Elm Street – This movie is probably one of Wes Craven’s best films and certainly the best of the Nightmare series. Freddy Kruger once terrorized children with a glove with razor knives. When teenagers start dying in their sleep with knife-like wounds, it’s apparent the disfigured killer has come back.
5. The Evil Dead 2 – Although the first Evil Dead was more true horror, the second film’s campiness was what made it great. A guy named Ash takes his girlfriend on a romantic trip to a cabin in the woods. But he decides she may not be the right girl for him when she reads the Necronomicon and turns into a zombie.
6. The Thing – One of John Carpenter’s earlier films and a remake of a cheesy black and white movie. An arctic research station gets invaded by an alien that can change shape. One of the biggest thrills was finding out who was the real alien through a memorable blood test.
7. Day of the Dead – The third in George Romero’s zombie series, the undead have over-run the world. A group of survivors are hiding out in an underground complex and trying to find a solution to the zombie problem. But not everyone is on the same page on exactly how to do that.
8. Re-Animator – Just because you are dead doesn’t mean all your troubles are over. A brilliant doctor has developed a serum that can bring dead people back to life. Unfortunately, the serum has not been perfected and the dead are not always cooperative.
9. Poltergeist – Always thoroughly check out a house that you want to buy. A family moves into a house that turns out to be haunted. Their young daughter even gets sucked into the television and the mother has to go in to retrieve her.
10. An American Werewolf in London – Sometimes overlooked, this film was still a classic due to its horror elements and campiness. Two American friends are backpacking across some moors in Britain one night when they are attacked by a werewolf. One survives and when the full moon rises, he goes on a bloody rampage through London.

The 1970’s saw the start of modern horror cinema. It included all of the classics that have inspired filmmakers today. If you are interested in seeing the origins of horror films, then here is a list of the top ten 70’s horror films.

1. Halloween – Mute Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to his hometown for some bloody fun. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as the object of his disaffection. This film is definitely one of the most influential horror flick sever made.
2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Director Tobe Hooper created an indie cult favorite with meat hooks, chainsaws, and Texas cannibals. Filmed on a shoestring budget, it inspired many other independents. Basically, some unsuspecting kids get terrorized by Leatherface and his family.
3. Jaws – The movie that shark activists everywhere hate. A giant great white makes a buffet out of the residents of a coastal town. It was so scary, it kept kids out of the swimming pools.
4. Dawn of the Dead – George Romero’s zombie classic and one of the best in a long line of zombie survival films. Fans claimed it was better than his first movie, Night of the Living Dead. When zombies shamble all across the U.S., survivors take refuge in a mall.
5. Alien – Ridley Scott showed us that a good horror film can take place anywhere, even in space. An alien gets onboard a spaceship by bursting out of a man’s chest. With all of that technology, you would think they could have put more lights on that ship.
6. Phantasm – One of the strangest of the horror films from that era but still worthy of mention. A funeral home is run by the creepy Tall Man, his mutant dwarves, and flying killer balls. A boy knows something strange is going on when he sees the Tall Man lift a casket all by himself.
7. The Exorcist – If this movie did not give you nightmares or disturb you in some way, then you should see a psychiatrist. Linda Blair plays a young girl possessed by the devil. Two Catholic priest have to put up with cold rooms and green pea soup in order to exorcise the demon from her soul.
8. Legend of Hell House – Probably one of the best movies ever made about a haunted house. It is the classic team of researchers who show up to investigate an old house. Naturally, not all the researchers make it out.
9. The Amityville Horror – Based on supposedly ‘real’ events, a family moves into a house where (surprise) something bad happened years ago. The house is naturally haunted. What sets the movie apart is the graphic scenes of bleeding walls and moaning voices.
10. Young Frankenstein – While not necessarily a horror movie, it is still one of the best from that decade. Mel Brooks does a great job of parodying the old black and white horror movies. Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman steal the show, though.

Nothing beats watching a movie where the witless victims walk outside in the dark while you scream “Don’t go outside!” You know the crazed killer is going to be just waiting for them. Hollywood has produced some really great (and gory) slasher films so here is a list of the top ten slasher movies of all time.

1. Black Christmas – One of the first true slasher films, even before Halloween. Girls in a sorority house start getting menacing phone calls. The game turns deadly when they find out the calls are coming from inside their sorority house.
2. Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller convinced everyone to always lock the door when you take a shower. It also proves that your mother, no matter how much you love her, can drive you crazy. Anthony Perkins may seem like a nice, well-mannered motel owner but deep down, he has issues.
3. Scream – Credited with rejuvenating the slasher film, it also blatantly poked fun at many of the genre’s clichés. Basically, a crazed killer is on the loose. A group of kids who watch horror movies and should know better, become his latest victims.
4. Friday the 13th – The very first of the film franchise is still the best. The moral here is that if you try to get it on with someone while at camp, you are going to get the axe. The film creates a horror icon with the character Jason.
5. Halloween – This movie is the granddaddy of the slasher films and credited with the start of the genre. It set up many of the characteristics such as the masked, unstoppable killer, buckets of blood, and an expendable cast. It also gave us Michael Myers.
6. Nightmare on Elm Street – Wes Craven took the slasher film and gave it a supernatural twist with Freddy Kruger. As a bad guy that attacks us in our dreams, he is hard to fight back against. The first film was refreshing and different from other typical slasher flicks.
7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Although this movie was before Halloween, it doesn’t get the credit of starting the genre because it was an independent film. The film is about a group of teenagers that stumble on a family of cannibals in backwoods Texas. They even have their own butcher with Leatherface.
8. My Bloody Valentine – A crazed miner hates Valentines Day and warns the town never to celebrate the holiday ever again. Years pass and naturally, the town decides to hold a Valentine’s Day dance. Who comes knocking but the crazed miner intent on taking out some party goers.
9. Suspiria – Maybe not a well-known slasher flick but a darn good one. A young girl goes to Germany to attend dance school. When she gets there, she finds out the walls are inhabited by a coven of witches.
10. Child’s Play – What child wouldn’t want a toy that was alive and could play with you? The problem is that Chucky has the soul of a serial killer. So when people start dying, who would think a toy was capable of it?