Horror Movies and Their Appeal

For as long as I can remember, I have loved horror movies. I can remember watching them as a child, getting scared to death, then running to my parents room to sleep with them. Plenty of times, they marched me straight back to my room. I learned a trick; take my sleeping bag in and sleep on the floor at the foot of their bed. This helped keep the nightmares away, too.

Once I became a teenager and trick or treating was no longer socially acceptable for someone my age, I hosted Fright Night parties. Tons of girls, pizza, skittles and horror movies made for great sleep-overs. My senior year, my mother granted a co-ed party, which turned out to be the best one of all.

It's the adrenaline thrill and scare that I love. Sometimes, it's more about the story and how frightening the story would be as a reality. Characters in peril and how they resolve to free themselves from hopeless situations. Sometimes, with no hope at all, they are lost to the outside forces controlling them. I find that the older horror films are good about incorporating all of these aspects of a story, while still making it frightening and fun.

Here's a list of my top 50 favorites (in no particular order):

1. Sisters
2. Carrie
3. Rosemary's Baby
4. Stepford Wives (original, day-time horror)
5. Demons
6. Night of the Living Dead
7. Dawn of the Dead (original and remake)
8. Shaun of the Dead
9. The Birds
10. Suspiria
11. Phantasm
12. Psycho (original)
13. The Omen
14. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
15. The Fury
16. Terror Train
17. Prom Night
18. Halloween (the original)
19. The Ring
20. Zombieland
21. The Shining
22. Rec
23. 28 Weeks Later
24. An American Werewolf in London
25. The Descent
26. Black Christmas
27. Trick 'r Treat
28. From Dusk till Dawn
29. Near Dark
30. Brotherhood of the Wolf
31. Pitch Black
32. Blade
33. Blade II
34. May
35. Shadow of the Vampire
36. From Hell
37. The Fog (original)
38. Creepshow
39. Creepshow 2
40. Constantine
41. The Omega Man
42. Resident Evil
43. From Hell
44. 30 Days of Night
45. Silent Hill
46. Let's Scare Jessica to Death
47. The Howling
48. Candyman
49. The Prophecy
50. Aliens