Chorus.fm's Top 25 Horror Films (As of 2024) Movie • Page 2

1. Possession
2. Santa Sangre
3. I Saw the Devil
4. Midsommar
5. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
6. Hereditary
7. Antichrist
8. American Psycho
9. The Neon Demon
10. Vampire's Kiss
11. mother!
12. The House That Jack Built
13. Black Swan
14. Eraserhead
15. Pearl
16. Thirst
17. Alien
18. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
19. Shaun of the Dead
20. The Fly
21. Get Out
22. Mad God
23. The Skin I Live In
24. Terrifier 2
25. The Human Centipede 2

 

If anybody fancies exploring horror from elsewhere, and doesn't mind it being a bit ~unpleasant~, I can heartily recommend searching out some Hong Kong Category III films, particularly from the mid 80s to the handover in 97. Around that time, possibly because of the incoming handover to China, filmmakers began pushing boundaries, and making some really transgressive, and frequently unpleasant films.

They were often made super cheaply, and many of them don't exist apart from on dodgy Laserdisc rips, which means the bad subtitles and crackly quality are part of their charm. Often pretty out there in terms of practical gore, sexual content and dialogue, but there are some real gems in there for those interested.

Broadly speaking, the films in the 80s are much more likely to be supernatural, black magic films and then the films in the 90s are much more likely to be tough going serial killer / nasty people films.

Some films in particular, bolded come more highly recommended, if this sounds like your kind of thing;

Violent People films
The Kiss of Death (1973)
Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980)
The Red Panther (1983)
Hong Kong Godfather (1985)
Her Vengeance (1988)
Sentenced to Hang (1989)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)
Escape from Brothel (1992)
Dr Lamb (1992)
Run and Kill (1993)
The Untold Story (1993)
3 Days of a Blind Girl (1993)
Raped by an Angel (1993)
Taxi Hunter (1993)
Daughter of Darkness (1993)
Women on the Run (1993)
A Chinese Torture Chamber Story (1994)
Bloody Beast (1994)
Red to Kill (1994)
Diary of a Serial Killer (1995)
Horrible High Heels (1996)
Ebola Syndrome (1996)
The Peeping Tom (1997)
Intruder (1997)

Black Magic stuff
Ghost Eyes (1974)
Black Magic (1975)
The Oily Maniac (1976)
Hex (1980)
Corpse Mania (1981)
Bewitched (1981)
Hell Has No Boundary (1982)
Human Lanterns (1982)
Curse of Evil (1983)
Devil Fetus (1983)
The Boxer's Omen (1983)
Red Spell Spells Red (1983)
Seeding of a Ghost (1983)
The Seventh Curse (1986)
Devil Sorcery (1986)
Blood Ritual (1989)
The Blue Jean Monster (1991)
Robotrix (1991)
The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead (1991)
Evil Black Magic (1992)
Beauty Evil Rose (1992)
The Eternal Evil of Asia (1995)

If anybody is interested but can't track the films down, please feel free to send me a PM. A lot of these films will only exist in scrappy quality though.

 

your Letterboxd reviews of random old Hong Kong films are one of the biggest contributors to my watchlist, haha.

 

Will probably be reaching out about some of those, lol.

Nice to see some Neon Demon love!

 

fuck it let's do it

1. Scream (Craven, 1996)
2. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
3. Alien (Scott, 1979)
4. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
5. Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978)
6. Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984)
8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper, 1974)
9. Resolution (Benson & Moorhead, 2012)
10. Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
11. Possession (Żuławski, 1981)
12. Don't Look Now (Roeg, 1973)
13. The Changeling (Medak, 1980)
14. The Blackcoat's Daughter (Perkins, 2017)
15. Nope (Peele, 2022)
16. Coherence (Byrkit, 2013)
17. In the Mouth of Madness (Carpenter, 1994)
18. Pulse (Kurosawa, 2001)
19. The Blair Witch Project (Sanchez & Myrick, 1999)
20. The VVitch (Eggers, 2015)
21. Get Out (Peele, 2017)
22. The Ring (Verbinski, 2002)
23. Prince of Darkness (Carpenter, 1987)
24. Signs (Shyamalan, 2002)
25. The Conjuring (Wan, 2013)

 

honourables: The Descent, Donnie Darko, The Ritual, Dream Warriors, Talk to Me, Midsommar, As Above So Below, The Fog... probably a million more I'm forgetting

 

I'm not always sold on Benson and Moorehead, but Resolution is so cool. So is Coherence. Didn't initially consider that horror, but cool to see it on someone's list.

 

man the existential crisis Coherence leaves me with scares me more than almost anything else on there lol. been a long ass time since I watched it cos it fucks me up

 

Idk if I even like enough horror films to make a top 25 lol but I'll attempt a list

1) Scream
2) Halloween (1978)
3) Hocus Pocus
4) Scream VI
5) Friday the 13th Part II
6) Halloween (2018)
7) IT (2017)
8) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
9) The Lost Boys
10) An American Werewolf in London
11) The Witch
12) Scream (2022)
13) Midsommar
14) Friday the 13th Part III
15) A Quiet Place
16) Shaun of the Dead
17) Friday the 13th Part VI
18) The Conjuring
19) It Follows
20) Dracula (1992)
21) Silver Bullet
22) Dog Soldiers
23) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
24) Halloween II (1981)
25) Friday the 13th (1980)

 

Scream VI at number four is wiiiild haha

I do love Coppola's Dracula, though

 

To be fair I just took my highest rated horror movies on letterbox’d and listed them in that order. Doesn’t mean Scream VI is my 4th favorite horror film

 

Scream VI does rule though

 

Revisiting Jacob's Ladder this week boosted it up about six spots on my list.

 

the Evil Dead Remake is an all timer for me. really underrated.

 

I somehow came across the last 15 minutes of the movie Smile on YouTube. What a totally terrifying and memorable sequence. I’m usually let down by modern horror films.

What are the best horror films from the last 3 or 4 years?

 

Pearl
Mad God
Terrifier 2
Crimes of the Future
When Evil Lurks
Infinity Pool
X
The First Omen
Bones and All
Possessor
Talk to Me

Would be my favourites of the last few years.

 

Skinamarink
NOPE
Pearl
Censor
Possessor

I'd probably shout out Barbarian and Fresh, too.

 

I was reading a bit about skinamarink last month. From what I hear, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to give it proper attention. I’d love to read a review of yours if you did one for the Last Movie thread. The production style is really cool on it and I am familiar with some of its niche influences and frequent that kind of content on YouTube regularly.

Possessor has been on my list to see for a while it looks very stylish.

Did you watch Smile?

 

dude Terrifier 1 was probably the most sickening movie I’ve seen. I remember him wearing somebody else’s skin and being very unnerved. don’t remember the plot lol.

and I had no idea daddy Cronenberg made another proper og style Cronenberg movie lately, with Crimes.

 

Terrifier 2 is much better than the first imo but I'd say it takes the sickening aspect to another level. It's wild haha.

Yeah Crimes is honestly up there with my favourites he's ever made. It's super interesting conceptually and visually.

 

Hell yeah, here's the first and most detailed review I left on Letterboxd (I've logged it three times):

"Based on the trailer and the first 20 minutes, I honestly wasn't sure how I would feel about Skinamarink. But after that first act, something shifted. I watched the film alone with the lights off, which helped me to immerse myself in the experience, and depite the fact that this is largely shots of household items and liminal spaces with grain overlay, a number of scenes genuinely scared me more than any horror film I've ever scene.

Skinamarink is primal and delivers an unbelievably accurate portrayal of childhood imagination, nightmares, and fear of the dark. It fucked with me long after the movie ended, and honestly, I can't stop thinking about it. Instantly the best horror film I've seen all year, let alone the most effective I've seen in my adult life. Believe the hype."

It's definitely not for everyone and I understand why, but I really do think it's innovative and kind of the next evolution of horror, not unlike The Blair Witch Project was at the time. It targets the one thing that's supposed to bring us comfort: nostalgia. I Saw the TV Glow did something similar this year, albeit being less traditionally scary and more so unnerving.

Possessor is awesome and you'll enjoy the younger Cronenberg if you like his dad. I did see Smile! I thought it was surprisingly effective. I was really expecting a throwback to shitty 2000s teen horror based on the title and marketing lol.