Today sees the opening of "The Cabin In The Woods," one of the freshest, most enjoyable horror movies in years, one that we can only urge you to go see (read our review here). To mark its release, Time Out have polled critics, programmers and filmmakers as to their favorite horror movies, and collated their finds in a mammoth list.
Topped by "The Exorcist," it's an excellent read, and one you'll want to sit down with over the weekend, and as a taste, below you can find the top ten picks of ten of the most notable filmmaker contributors. You can find the full list, as well as picks from many, many more interesting figures, from Antonio Campos and Joe Dante to Simon Pegg and Rob Zombie, over at Time Out's site. And why not weigh in with your own ten picks over in the comments below?
Roger Corman ("The Pit & The Pendulum," "Flesh For Frankenstein")
1. "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" (Robert Wiene, 1920)
2. "Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens" (FW Murnau , 1922)
3. "Psycho" (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
4. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
5. "Alien" (Ridley Scott, 1979)
6. "The Exorcist" (William Friedkin, 1973)
7. "Les Diaboliques" (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
8. "Rosemary's Baby" (Roman Polanski, 1968)
9. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (Wes Craven, 1984)
10. "Halloween" (John Carpenter, 1978)
Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Mist," "The Walking Dead")
1. "The Exorcist" (William Friedkin, 1973)
2. "Alien" (Ridley Scott, 1979)
3. "The Thing" (John Carpenter, 1982)
4. "The Fly" (David Cronenberg, 1986)
5. "Night of the Living Dead" (George A Romero, 1968)
6. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
7. "Frankenstein" (James Whale, 1931)
8. "The Silence of the Lambs" (Jonathan Demme, 1990)
9. "Se7en" (David Fincher, 1995)
10. "Day of the Dead" (George A Romero, 1985)
Sean Durkin ("Martha Marcy May Marlene")
1. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
2. "Rosemary's Baby" (Roman Polanski, 1968)
3. "Images" (Robert Altman, 1972)
4. "Black Christmas" (Bob Clark, 1974)
5. "Halloween" (John Carpenter, 1978)
6. "Hour of the Wolf" (Ingmar Bergman, 1967)
7. "The Changeling" (Peter Medak, 1979)
8. "House of The Devil" (Ti West, 2009)
9. "See The Sea" (Francois Ozon, 1997)
10. "Deep End" (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1970)
Drew Goddard ("The Cabin In The Woods")
1. "The Thing" (John Carpenter, 1982)
2. "Alien" (Ridley Scott, 1979)
3. "The Evil Dead" (Sam Raimi, 1981)
4. "Dawn of the Dead" (George A Romero, 1978)
5. "The Descent" (Neil Marshall, 2005)
6. "Halloween" (John Carpenter, 1978)
7. "Suspiria" (Dario Argento, 1977)
8. "Hellraiser" (Clive Barker, 1987)
9. "The Strangers" (Bryan Bertino, 2008)
10. "Shaun of the Dead" (Edgar Wright, 2004)
Monte Hellman ("Two-Lane Blacktop")
1. "Don't Look Now" (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
2. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Don Siegel , 1956)
3. "Frankenstein" (James Whale, 1931)
4. "Dracula" (Tod Browning, 1931)
5. "Dead of Night" (Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Deardon, Robert Hamer, 1945)
6. "The Ghost Breakers" (George Marshall, 1945)
7. "The Mummy" (Karl Freund, 1932)
8. "The Picture of Dorian Grey" (Albert Lewin, 1945)
9. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
10. "Rosemary’s Baby" (Roman Polanski, 1968)
Tom Six ("The Human Centipede: First Sequence")
1. "Saló" (Pier Palo Pasolini, 1975)
2. "Crash" (David Cronenberg, 1996)
3. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
4. "Nekromantik" (Joerg Buttgereit, 1987)
5. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
6. "Boxing Helena" (Jennifer Lynch, 1993)
7. "Teeth" (Mitchell Lichtenstein, 2007)
8. "Haze" (Shin'ya Tsukamoto, 2005)
9. "The Exorcist" (William Friedkin, 1973)
10. "The Blair Witch Project" (Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, 1999)
Guillermo Del Toro ("The Devil's Backbone," "Pan's Labyrinth")
1. "Bride of Frankenstein" (James Whale, 1935)
2. "Possession" (Andrzej Zulawski , 1981)
3. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
4. "Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens" (FW Murnau , 1922)
5. "Rosemary's Baby" (Roman Polanski, 1968)
6. "The Innocents" (Jack Clayton, 1961)
7. "Alien" (Ridley Scott, 1979)
8. "The Night of the Hunter" (Charles Laughton, 1955)
9. "Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages" (Benjamin Christensen, 1922)
10. "Freaks" (Tod Browning, 1932)
James Watkins ("The Woman In Black")
1. "Alien" (Ridley Scott, 1979)
2. "Psycho" (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
3. "Blue Velvet" (David Lynch, 1986)
4. "Dead Ringers" (David Cronenberg. 1988)
5. "Manhunter" (Michael Mann, 1986)
6. "Jaws" (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
7. "Peeping Tom" (Michael Powell, 1960)
8. "The Tenant" (Roman Polanski, 1976)
9. "The Vanishing" (George Sluizer, 1988)
10. "The Abominable Dr Phibes" (Robert Fuest, 1971)
Ti West ("House Of The Devil," "The Innkeepers")
1. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
2. "The Exorcist" (William Friedkin, 1973)
3. "Rosemary's Baby" (Roman Polanski, 1968)
4. "Jaws" (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
5. "The Changeling" (Peter Medak, 1979)
6. "Psycho" (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
7. "Alien" (Ridley Scott, 1979)
8. "Night of the Living Dead" (George A Romero, 1968)
9. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
10. "Halloween" (John Carpenter, 1978)
Ben Wheatley ("Kill List")
1. "Come and See" (Elem Klimov, 1985)
2. "Dawn of the Dead" (George A Romero, 1978)
3. "Videodrome" (David Cronenberg, 1982)
4. "The Thing" (John Carpenter, 1982)
5. "The Shining" (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
6. "Scum" (Alan Clark, 1979)
7. "Threads" (Mick Jackson, 1984)
8. "Cannibal Holocaust" (Ruggero Deodato, 1979)
9. "Don't Look Now" (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
10. "Evil Dead II" (Sam Raimi, 1987)
Ben Wheatley (of Kill List fame): Come and See at # 1 , very true and definitely more horrifying than any film in the "horror" genre. Also great to see Guillermo Del Toro giving props to Zulawski's criminally underrated Possession at #2.
My favourites: 1. The Exorcist 2. The Blair Witch Project 3. Horror Express 4. Rosemary's Baby 5.Pet Semetary 6.The Wicker Man 7. Poltergeist 8. Jaws 9. The Thing 10. The Birds
Total Film did the same exact thing a little over a year ago with a better list of contributors. Shame on you, Time Out! Here are lists from TF…
GEORGE ROMERO
1. The Thing From Another World
2. The Innocents
3. Repulsion
4. Cat People
5. Jaws
6. Alien
7. Poltergeist
8. Frankenstein
9. Bride of Frankenstein
10. Cult of The Cobra
JOHN CARPENTER
1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
2. Suspiria
3. Psycho
4. The Exorcist
5. Night of the Living Dead
6. The Mummy (1959)
WES CRAVEN
1. Nosferatu
2. The Exorcist
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
4. Man Bites Dog
5. The Omen
6. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
7. Frankenstein
8. The Tenant
9. Repulsion
10. Rosemary's Baby
JOHN LANDIS
1. The Exorcist
The rest in no order: Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Thing, The Fly (1986), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Island of Lost Souls, Psycho, Repulsion, Kwaidan, Onibaba, Kuroneko, The Innocents, The Haunting, Night of the Living Dead, The Devil's Backbone
TOBE HOOPER
1. Psycho
2. The Exorcist
3. The Haunting
4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
5. Frankenstein
6. The Devil's Backbone
7. Pulse
8. Night of the Demon
9. Mask of the Demon
10. Suspiria
JOE DANTE (I love how his list here is so different from his Time Out list)
1. The Innocents
2. Psycho
3. The Exorcist
4. Blood and Black Lace
5. Bride of Frankenstein
6. The Body Snatcher
7. The Black Cat
8. Night of the Demon
9. The Masque of the Red Death
10. The Seventh Victim
GUILLERMO DEL TORO (also very different)
1. Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein
2. The Birds/Jaws
3. The Shining/The Innocents
4. Vampyr/Nosferatu
5. Alien/The Thing
6. Night of the Hunter/Don't Look Now
7. The Tenant/Possession
8. Martin/Let The Right One In
9. Shivers/Night of the Living Dead
10. Eraserhead/The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
EDGAR WRIGHT
1. Carrie
2. An American Werewolf in London
3. The Thing
4. Dawn of the Dead
5. Don't Look Now
6. Halloween
7. The Wicker Man
8. Suspiria
9. The Brood
10. Evil Dead II
ELI ROTH
1. Pieces
2. The Wicker Man
3. Alien
4. Zombie Flesh Eaters
5. The Evil Dead
6. Cannibal Holocaust
7. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
8. The Shining
9. Ju-On (2000)
10. Who Can Kill A Child?
They also polled Alexandre Aja, Sean S. Cunningham, Neil Marshall, Greg Nicotero, Marcus Nispel, Matt Reeves, Zack Snyder, Eduardo Sanchez, Tom Six, James Wan, Ti West, Rob Zombie, Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Gunnar Hansen, and a bunch of critics. It was pretty much the same feature except way better. Suck it, Time Out.
In no particular order – The Shining ; Session 9 ; Hellraiser ; House of the Devil ; Shutter (Thai version, not the shit US remake); Tale of Two Sisters ; The Orphanage ; Ils (Them) ; Blair Witch Project ; and of course Event-fucking-Horizon!
In-no-way-hostile correction: Corman didn't direct Flesh For Frankenstein, Paul Morrissey did. Maybe you're thinking of Frankenstein Unbound.
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.
Two of my fave's in recent years are Session 9 (2001) and The Collector (2009).
Again….a little FUCKING PROOFREADING MAYBE?!
Why do I have to do your job for you?
Crash…1996, not '76. DUMB. MOTHER. FUCKERS.
It's embarrassing now. Stop it.
I don't get how some of the movies here count as horror, ok Alien maybe but Seven, Blue Velvet, The Silence of the Lambs ..and even Black Swan ? for realz ? i'm no horror movie fan so obvi i havent' seen much but my fav horror film of all time is def The Shining.
Personally: 1. "The Thing" (1982), 2. "Don't Look Now" (1973), 3. "Freaks" (1932)
4. "The Night Of The Hunter" (1955), 5. "Dead Of Night" (1945), 6. The Wicker Man" (1973), 7. "An American Werewolf In London" (1981), 8. "The Devil's Backbone" (2001), 9. "Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn" (1987), 10. "Black Swan" (2010)