DARREN'S 40 FAVORITE "SCARY MOVIES" EVER!

Well, instead of a Best Horror Films or Scariest Horror Films, I've made this list. I have to be broad, don't I? Enjoy one of these tomorrow and have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!



40. MIMIC (1997)
Mira Sorvino battles human-bugs in the creepy subways of New York City. Grimy and stylish. Not for those who dislike bugs.

39. THE FLY (1986)
Speaking of bugs, David Cronenberg's remake features Jeff Goldblum transforming into a fly. Some great gore, and Geena Davis as the woman who dares love a fly.

38. JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)
A brother and sister take a road trip home and get caught in a small town where a very hungry monster has come out of hibernation to feed. The Creeper s effectively done, but a gimmicky plot point involving a psychic is just a little too silly.

37. THE RING (2002)
Far more of a chilling mindfuck than a horror film (that is until its heart-stopping final moments), Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) crafts a very aesthetically pleasing (some of the genre's best cinematography and music can be found here) film featuring Naomi Watts as a mother battling the sinister effect a videotape has on whoever views it.

36. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997)
Four teens dispose of a body after a car accident and come to regret it a year later. Feels straight out of 80's slasher, which ends up not being such a bad thing. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar star.

35. DOG SOLDIERS (2002)
A group of Scottish soldiers hold up Night of the Living Dead-style in a house in the woods as a group of werewolves try to infiltrate from outside. Neil Marshall's debut effort makes up in genre bending what it lacks in budget.

34. DEAD CALM (1989)
Nicole Kidman, in one of her first major roles, plays a vulnerable woman stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a killer (Billy Zane) as her husband (Sam Neil) watches from afar. The constant bobbing of the boat is enough to make the viewer seasick, which is a nice distraction from the thick tension.

33. SEVEN (1995)
How many people actually knew the seven deadly sins before David Fincher's highly influential film? Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are the cops tracking down the killer with a gimmick. Gwyneth Paltrow gets her breakthrough as Pitt's wife, meeting a gruesome and infamous demise.

32. MISERY (1990)
Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her portrayal of a psychotically obsessed fan of a writer (James Caan) who holds him captive in her secluded home. One of cinema's greatest female villains.

31. FREAKS (1932)
Tod Browning's film is still banned in several countries, an odd bit of trivia especially once you see it and realize there isn't much worthy of banning as far as content. It's the tale of group of circus sideshow freaks (all of them 100% genuine) and the woman who attempts to marry one for the sole purpose of getting his inheritance. The freaks eventually catch on and plan their revenge. You'll be surprised how much you're rooting for them in the end. One of us, indeed.

30. WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE (1994)
Wes Craven's solution to 5 mostly forgettable sequels to his original classic is a reality bending film that has Freddy crossing over to the real world and stalking Heather Langenkamp (as herself!) and the crew of a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel. The shrewd, cunning premise is fully realized and shows the impacts movies have on their makers.

29. SCREAM 2 (1997)
Easily the best slasher sequel ever made (not that its competition is all that great), Wes Craven's 2nd installment had the daunting task of opening just one year after the megahit, highly acclaimed original. Picking up 2 years after the events of the first film, Sydney (Neve Campbell, firmly establishing herself as the next generation's Jamie Lee Curtis) is now at college as a copycat killer goes on a rampage. Bloodier, with more of a fun and playful tone than the first.

28. MAY (2003)
If Carrie had survived prom night and lived to her mid 20's, she'd be a lot like May (Angela Bettis), Lucky McKee's creepy anti-heroine. As May desperately searches for a friend in a world that has branded her a freak, she discovers people only have great parts and that no one is a perfect whole. Her solution: combine the parts to make a perfect friend. Like the best of indie films focusing on lost twenty-somethings crossed with Frankenstein, May also features another invaluable turn by Anna Faris (Scary Movie) as a lesbian vixen.

27. ALIENS (1986)
James Cameron takes over the reigns from Ridley Scott and helms this action packed sequel which finds Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, earning the Oscar nomination that Linda Hamilton and Uma Thurman wouldn't!) battling a group of aliens. The action is virtually nonstop, and yet always exhilarating and terrifying.

26. SUSPIRIA (1977)
Dario Argento's horror films have been described as the Douglas Sirk of the genre. Never so is that more true than with Suspiria, a beautifully violent film about a ballet student (Jessica Harper) in a European school where students start dying and the teachers are up to something. Even some of the most lush production design and visuals can't distract from the horror on screen including the opening death, which will probably be the only time I ever declare an onscreen murder both graphic and gorgeous.

25. THE OTHERS (2001)
Nicole Kidman delivers her best dramatic work battling ghosts - and perhaps God - in auteur Alejandro Amenabar's haunted house drama. Set during World War II, Kidman stars as a woman with sunlight intolerant children who must maintain her composure while her husband is off at war. As new housekeepers (led by the superb Fionnula Flanagan) come to work in the eerie, dark mansion, they aren't the only arrival in the house. Opening almost 2 years after The Sixth Sense, this film is a far better example of the twisted ghost story than M. Night Shyamalan's.

24. THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
Long before Sam Raimi ignited life in the comic book movie world with his Spider-Man movies, he directed this deliciously schlocky B-movie about a group of young people unleashing evil in a cabin in the woods. Fan favorite Bruce Campbell kicked off his career here, reprising his role in a few sequels. The virtually non existent budget only enhances the film's funny/scary feel.

23. JOY RIDE (2001)
Before JJ Abrams created the cult hits Lost and Alias, he wrote this edge of your seat thriller about a deranged trucker (CB handle: Rusty Nail) stalking 2 brothers and a girl as they drive across the mid west. Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski and Steve Zahn deliver their best work. The Hitcher and Duel went here before, but neither succeeded the way director John Dahl's nearly flawless genre film does. The last 20 minutes, even though most was revealed in the trailer, are the perfect example of heart stopping.

22. TREMORS (1990)
Though being able to connect Reba McEntire to Kevin Bacon in a round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon will no doubt impress your friends, it's not the only reason to see this grade A B-movie. Large, carnivorous underground worms wreak havoc in a small, desert community leading to big laughs and bigger thrills in this gloriously campy homage to monster movies of the past.

21. GREMLINS (1984)
One of the rare Christmas horror classics, this PG-rated Steven Spielberg produced film actually led to the installation of the PG-13 rating after parents complained about the film's violent content. A childhood staple, the mayhem will inspire more fun than scares for an adult audience.

20. THE EXORCIST (1973)
This typically ranks first among greatest horror film lists, but I do think it is somewhat overrated. One of the first genuine blockbusters (and probably the only to involve religion on the other side of The Passion of the Christ), Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair deliver first rate performances in what is still a terrifying and shocking ride.

19. ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)
Mia Farrow stars as the mother to be, who begins to learn that the child she is about to birth is the devil. The creepy New York City apartments and neighbors add kick to Roman Polanski's gothic drama. Farrow's illustrious work is some of the genre's best. And Ruth Gordon proves that nosey neighbors are always not to be trusted.

18. THE HAUNTING (1963)
Forget the effects laden remake and go for this classic psychological haunted house film. A group of people agree to spend a weekend at Hill House, a supposedly haunted mansion. Their days are filled with well developed character insight, and nights with things that go bump and all sorts of ghostly occurrences. Both are equally riveting. The best of the old fashioned haunted house stories.

17. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
After he directed the 70's shockers The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven turned his attention to our nightmares and the impact they have on us. Creating one of cinema's most memorable villains, Freddy Krueger, Craven tells the story of Nancy, a teenager afraid to go to sleep as Freddy lurks in her nightmares waiting to kill her there, thus killing her in reality. Check out Johnny Depp in his early work and in one of slasher cinema's most bloody moments.

16. THE FOG (1980)
It begins very appropriately with an old man telling a group of children a ghost story, and that's exactly what the film feels like: a masterfully told, old fashioned ghost story. Jamie Lee Curtis, mother Janet Leigh and most memorably Adrienne Barbeau star in this tale of the small Northern California coastal town Antonio Bay battling an eerie fog that has come ashore carrying a hundred year old ghosts. John Carpenter directs.

15. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
Easily the most divisive film in horror (and perhaps non-horror) film history. Your love (or hate) of the film depends largely on your proximity to creepy woods and your ability to let yourself go to a film. Operating on nothing but the most stripped down of fear (there's no score, no pop-out spooks), the most successful independent film and marketing campaign revolves around three missing film students who venture into the woods of Maryland to shoot a documentary about a legendary local witch. They are never heard from again. Absolutely harrowing (in this film lover's opinion) especially the final chilling moment.

14. 28 DAYS LATER (2003)
Danny Boyle's all-too-timely, post apocalyptical thriller revolves around 4 survivors who must fight together against a virus that has wiped out most of the population of London. The "infected" are fast moving, blood thirsty violent human beings turned zombies, thus throwing out the antiquated image of slow, stupid zombies. The film, shot in glorious DV, is also a very involving and deeply human story of man's struggle to survive. Cillian Murphy (Red Eye) and Naomi Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) star.

13. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
It has a Best Picture Oscar, which pretty much means that to some people it's not an actual horror movie. That's right: movies involving diabolical cannibals, serial killers and women getting skinned aren't horror movies? Jodie Foster is at her very best as the fragile FBI agent tracking down a serial killer with the help of another (TAH-DAH!) serial killer: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector. Jonathan Demme's artfully violent masterpiece is considered one of the greatest films of all time, but hang on to your skin. You just might fly out of it. Or have it ripped from you. Whichever.

12. ALIEN (1979)
So Spaceballs may have ruined some of the impact of this film's highly regarded chest-popping sequence. Despite that, the rest is some of the best science fiction ever put on film. A crew investigates a SOS message from a ship on a distant planet and soon discover that it wasn't a SOS, rather a warning as an alien species is about make the ship its home. Sigourney Weaver, towering and elegant as always, stars in master director Ridley Scott's film.

11. PSYCHO (1960)
Perhaps the first official slasher film, Alfred Hitchcock's most famous film tells the story of Norman Bates, the shy and psychotic manager of the Bates motel and the murders he must clean up after his mother goes a little mad. Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh star. Despite its age, the film still packs a punch, particularly the oft-parodied shower sequence.

10. THE THING (1982)
Genre fave Kurt Russell may have eventually crossed over to the mainstream by being Goldie Hawn's arm candy, but his best work lies in the early 80's and in the films he did with John Carpenter. The Thing is a remake of the 1950's B-movie classic, where a group of scientists in the Antarctic battling an alien species that can assume the person - or thing! - it kills. The special effects are wonderfully cheesy by today's standards, but still have impact as it's some of the most creative makeup work you'll ever see. The blood testing sequence is classic.

9. DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979)
The second installment in George Romero's Dead series focuses on a foursome of survivors holding out for months in an abandoned mall as the outside world is ravaged by zombies. Equal parts scathing satire on a consumerist society and gory horror film, it's probably the most realized of the Dead films and certainly the one that puts the zombie world in perspective. There are many different versions of Dawn of the Dead available but any of them will likely be the most gory film you will ever see. A surprisingly worthy remake in 2004 took the film in a more action oriented route, and managed to be a solid film on its own terms.

8. THE DESCENT (2006)
It turns out that when trapped underground in a cavern, flesh craving, high evolved bat-people are the least of your worries. Especially when you have friends that will take any chance at screwing you over in order to save their own ass. Yes, Neil Marshall's expertly directed creature feature about 6 female cave divers battling an undiscovered and very hungry new species turns out to be a battle of woman vs woman, instead of woman vs beast. A bleak morality play disguised as a horror film, this serious side adds to the depth of this modern genre masterpiece.

7. CARRIE (1976)
Sissy Spacek, in perhaps her best work and the greatest performance by an actress in a horror film, stars as Stephen King's creation - a telekinetic outcast who uses her powers to seek revenge against those who wronged her at her high school prom. Be prepared the film's notorious final jolt, ripped off numerous times but never as effective as it is here. Brian De Palma directs one of his best films, even if the film plays different in a post-Columbine world.

6. SCREAM (1996)
If Psycho is the mother of all slasher movies, Halloween the brother and Texas Chain Saw Massacre its in-bred cousin, then that would make Scream the bastard stepchild that blabs all of the family's secrets. Writer Kevin Williamson helps Wes Craven shred apart some of the clichés he invented with what may be the most clever of slasher films. Managing to both parody and pay homage to the then dead genre with cameos and in-jokes galore, the film surrounds a group of horror-savvy teens (led by Neve Campbell) as they must battle or die at the hands of a serial killer who uses horror trivia to dispatch his victims. As gruesome as it is hip and hilarious.

5. THE SHINING (1980)
Like the typical Kubrick production, this one was plagued with problems from the get go. And like the typical Kubrick film, it's nothing short of a masterpiece. No matter what author Stephen King thinks of the final product, this is an intense character study of a man driven to madness by his own isolation. Despite the grand interiors, the film feels incredibly claustrophobic, and this is the rare well made haunted house film that will appease the gore hounds. In a word: spooky.

4. JAWS (1975)
A bit hesitant the last time you went in the ocean, were you? Gee, I wonder why. Actually, the shark in this movie is enough to keep people out of pools, baths, sinks, anything with water. This and The Exorcist were 2 of the first official blockbusters, though this film is given credit for creating the summer blockbuster. A beach is shut down after a series of shark attack and a crew is dispatched to kill the great white responsible. Steven Spielberg directs, and John Williams' score is probably the genre's best...

3. HALLOWEEN (1978)
Actually, John Carpenter's score to his own film is the genre's best. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Laurie Strode, a babysitter being stalked by Michael Myers on Halloween night. Simple and yet very effective, Carpenter's best film revived the slasher genre and created a movie star out of Janet Leigh's daughter, Miss Curtis. That's just one of the film's many inside jokes.

2. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1973)
Not as violent as many believe it to be - there's actually very little blood on screen, director Tobe Hooper's indie feels at times like a documentary, perhaps even a snuff film. As a group of teens venture across Texas, they get caught in slaughterhouse where Leatherface and his family of cannibals have some disturbing plans for them. Star Marilyn Burns delivers what may be the longest Oscar clip, spending the last half of the movie crying, running, screaming with a look of blood-curdling horror plastered on her face. And three decades prior to the current red state vs blue state mentality, the film proves what we've always known: No matter where hippies go, rednecks will kill them.

1. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
Survivors barricade themselves in a farmhouse as the outside world turns into flesh-craving zombies. George Romero's very low budget, hugely successful film is the easily the most terrifying film ever made. In grainy black and white, the film's impact echoes throughout the ages and is given new life given the current climate in the world where a biological attack is repeatedly warned. Adding to the film's stark realism, Judith O'Dea is no Sigourney or Neve, as she sits almost helplessly at a loss for words. The film's other lead is Duane Jones, a black man, and the fact that the film and its characters are probably the first in movie history to call no attention to the difference in races proves that when in the most horrific situation, there's virtually no point in separating ourselves for any reason from others. Though the zombie invasion is eventually controlled as the film ends, it's far from a happy ending. Even without zombies, it's still a dark world we live in.


So..

What's your favorite scary movie?