20. High Tension (2003) - 91 minutes
Two college friends, Marie and Alexa, encounter loads of trouble (and blood) while on vacation at Alexa's parents' country home when a mysterious killer invades their quiet getaway.
Any horror fans looking for that home invasion scare need to check out Alexandre Aja's controversial horror movie that will leave you asking "Wait what?" as the credits roll. Love or hate the ending, the trip there is bound to leave an impression.
19. Saw (2004) - 103 minutes
With a dead body laying between them, two men wake up in the secure lair of a serial killer who's been nicknamed "Jigsaw". The men must follow various rules and objectives if they wish to survive and win the deadly game set for them.
Love or hate the series it spawned, there's no denying the force Saw exploded with upon it's release in 2004.
And come on, (to those you've seen it) you still think of that ending now and again.
18. Cloverfield (2008) - 85 minutes
The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that an unknown monster attacks the city.
Following one of the most memorable advertising campaigns in the history of film audiences were given a film that wasn't too bad either. Your ability to enjoy may very well fall with your ability to watch it in its entirety without feeling motion sickness.
17. The Sixth Sense (1999) - 107 minutes
A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.
In the same box as Saw, The Sixth Sense offers a great, (if slow going) horror tale with a twist that has been talked about for years.
16. Paranormal Activity (2007) - 86 minutes
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Carrying on from the found footage genre started by (under manys opinion) The Blair Witch Project, 2007's Paranormal Activity is worth the watch. As long as you don't fall asleep before stuff begins to happen.
15. American Psycho (2000) - 102 minutes
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
14. May (2003) - 93 minutes
Psychological horror about a lonely young woman traumatized by a difficult childhood, and her increasingly desperate attempts to connect with the people around her.
13. Audition (1999) - 115 minutes (Severe Graphic Warning - May destroy your mind)
A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
Those with weak stomachs should avoid this one - you have been warned.
12. Inside (2008) - 83 minutes
Four months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.
11. Rec (2007) - 78 minutes
"REC" turns on a young TV reporter and her cameraman who cover the night shift at the local fire station.
Some more from the found footage genre, this one here is a great movie that doesn't shy away from the jump scares knowing that's what it does best. The ending also might stay in your mind for years to come.
10. Trick 'r Treat (2007) - 82 minutes
Trick r' Treat takes the viewer through loosely related plots that somehow never ceases to ask for attention. An unique film for certain.
9. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - 101 minutes
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
A rare example where the remake is actuallt better than the original.
8. The Descent (2005) - 99 minutes
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators
7. Frontier(s) (2007) - 108 minutes
A gang of young thieves flee Paris during the violent aftermath of a political election, only to hole up at an Inn run by neo-Nazis.
6. Martyrs (2008) - 99 minutes (Warning - Severe violence)
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Be careful with this one, not for the faint of heart.
5. The Devil's Backbone (2001) - 106 minutes
In 1939, during the last months of the Spanish Civil War, young Carlos is brought to an isolated orphanage by his tutor. Believing he will stay only until his father returns from the armed services, Carlos is shocked when his tutor abruptly leaves him in the strange new location. In reality, Carlos's father had died in the war, leaving his son in the care of the orphanage for the foreseeable future.
4. The Blair Witch Project (1999) - 81 minutes
Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch.
One of the most unique and genius films in years, the Blair Witch delievers. With a feeling so real the Blair witch stands as one of the scariest films ever made.
3. The Orphanage (2007) - 105 minutes
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
2. 28 Days Later (2002) - 113 minutes
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
One of the greatest movies ever made also happens to fall into the horror genre. 28 Days Later is a masterpiece of film making and as such as gone down as an instant classic.
1. Let The Right One In (2008) - 115 minutes
Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire
It’s rare enough for a horror film to be good; even rarer are those that function as genuine works of art. Let the Right One In, adapted from the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, is one of those films – an austerely beautiful creation that reveals itself slowly, like the best works of art do. The simplicity of the story – a young boy, bullied in school, meets a young girl who just happens to be a 200-year-old vampire – allows Swedish director Tomas Alfredson to focus on these two pre-teen characters with a penetrating insight that not only makes it a great vampire film but a great coming-of-age film as well. Of course, calling it a coming-of-age story is likely selling it short. Because at its core, Let the Right One In is, simply, a human story, a pensive meditation on the transcendent possibilities of human connection. Most of all, it’s a film that sticks with you, and whose stature will continue to grow in the decades to come.
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