Many people have thought of different great horror movies that have occurred over time throughout the history of them being around. Here are just some of the ones that have wowed people theatrically over the years, going in increasing order with the rankings:
5.) “The Ring” (Stars Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox) (2002)
One cannot deny that this is easily one of the creepiest movies of the 2000s, mainly for the eerie tape that has a curse on it, which is the main crux of this movie. This movie is about a videotape, where if you watch it, then you have seven days to make someone else watch the tape before a strange ghost-like spirit demon comes to kill you. Journalist Rachel Keller (Watts) ends up investigating this after her niece died under mysterious circumstances, as we saw with her watching the tape. Her very adult young son and ex-husband, Aidan and Noah (Henderson) do get involved with all of this in solving the mystery too. The strange happenings that do happen throughout the movie do leave people scared, such as the creepy phone call saying “7 days” for how long a person has until the end of the curse, to anything involving Brian Cox’s character and the argument that he and Rachel have, are enough to leave a person scared for their lives throughout the entire movie. Furthermore, this is a clear indictment of the perks of this movie in particular. However, the main reason it is at #5 is that it did not feel scary for me, personally, unless it was the well-known scary parts, such as the tape, along with a few other scenes.
4.) “Longlegs” (Stars Maika Monroe, Nicolas Cage, Blair Underwood) (2024)
If the Oscars had a category for “best marketing,” this movie would sweep this category without a doubt for the 2025 Oscars. From January to June of 2024, this movie was everywhere in advertisements all over social media. At one point, after the movie came out, the trailer had nearly 17 million views on YouTube. This movie is about an awkward FBI agent Lee Harker (Monroe) having to investigate a new string of serial killings with almost no evidence of the killer being home. Still, the killer does leave behind a strange note with the word “Longlegs” on it, that gets deciphered quickly by Harker to slowly reveal more clues about Longlegs. This movie was one of the most unsettling of 2024, and this is especially because the director of this movie, Osgood Perkins, is the son of horror legend Anthony Perkins, the icon who played Norman Bates in “Psycho.” He clearly got the horror gene from his father, as this movie gets incredibly haunting and suspenseful throughout the entire runtime. It is at #4 mainly for this being a big break for this director, and he hasn’t delivered on some previous movies but has certainly picked up the pace with this one. Furthermore, this should be remembered as one of the most well advertised horror movies in human history.
3.) “The Substance” (Stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid) (2024)
This movie was certainly the buzz for a long time, as the advertising and trailers were very intense. The premise of this movie is that washed-up actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) takes a drug to birth a younger version of herself named Sue (Qualley) after she gets let go from the daytime workout show that she had by her boss, Harvey (Quaid). After this, the ladies have to take specified food and drugs to keep the “balance” going to make sure there are no side effects and keep up a good life for both of them. As one can expect, this goes south quickly, and jealousy of the other half makes body horror and gore happen pretty quickly. This movie does body horror incredibly well, as it makes many gross happenings out of things you would not think could happen with the body. The up-close shots of all of these body parts, and certain reactions that happen with them due to said substance, make for an incredibly grotesque and jaw-dropping thriller. This gets the #3 spot, mainly for it being an absolute smash jab at the anti-aging industry, along with the fact that it is one of the few horror films that has gotten Oscar nominations.
2.) “Saw” (Stars Tobin Bell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover) (2004)
This is probably one of the most recognizable horror movies for its incredibly well-put-together theme song that comes at the climactic end of each of these movies. In this movie, two men, Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon, wake up in a bathroom and they have to mentally put themselves through riddles and puzzles to avoid the fate of a serial killer, while tied to pipes via a chain. This killer is called the “Jigsaw Killer” because whenever someone fails one of his traps, the killer cuts a jigsaw piece out of their skin. This movie has to be one of the most heart-pounding, bone-chilling thriller movies of modern times, and if the Oscars gave a damn about horror movies, this movie would have swept the 2005 Oscar nominations with it coming out in 2004. I encourage, once people have seen enough blood in movies, to watch not only this movie but its sequels afterward, as this is essentially the “Harry Potter” of horror movies. This partially leads this movie into the #2 spot, as this having one of horror’s most insane plot twists gets it into movie infamy for eternity. Overall, this movie will always live in amazing infamy for me and some of my first gateways into horror movies.
1.) “Silence of the Lambs” (Stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine) (1991)
This is the one movie that I watched for the first time with family, in the 5th grade, where it made me feel scared, and I didn’t wanna go back upstairs in the dark because I was scared of Buffalo Bill coming out to get me. That’s how scared I was of the main villain of this movie. This movie is one of the only horror movies that got nominated for an Oscar, and rightfully so with the amazing performance of Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter. This movie is about a newly-in-training FBI agent Clarice Starling (Foster) trying to crack the case of some kidnappings of young adult women, which leads her to get advice from the sinister, creepy, and unnerving Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins), who serves as a bit of an anti-hero in this film. The sinister talking of Lecter to help try and catch Buffalo Bill (Levine) is certainly the stuff of nightmares, but that can also be said about Buffalo Bill’s behavior as well. All of this certainly makes for a daunting ride of a movie. Furthermore, this final movie gets a perfect 10/10 for me, mainly because of the unnerving aura during the movie’s entire run and the absolutely harrowing performances from Foster, Hopkins, Levine, and the rest of the cast all around.
Overall, one should try to look into all of these great films, as this will make it so that people can enjoy new kinds of movie genres!
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