50.
The Haunting (1963)
The pioneer of movies based on the haunted house premise, The Haunting is regarded as a classic in the genre today. Dishing out genuinely creepy thrills and chills, with plenty of scares and suspense-charged sequences, this movie broke new grounds in the 60s with its strong script and brilliant presentation of it.
The buildup of the atmosphere of the movie is excellent. The house itself is presented with a chilling emptiness, with its closed doors and deep, dark, unknown passageways. The viewers will feel fidgety and unnerved as the characters themselves are driven towards uneasiness, gripping all of them with a tense foreboding of evil. The movie grabs the viewers in a vice-like grip and doesnt relent, till the end.
The plotline is simple - a scientist comes across a house named Hill House, which is said to have been unlucky and haunted ever since it was built. He is determined to spend some time in the house, so that he could prove his theory about a house being really haunted. For his adventure, he invites a group of people who have had some experience with the unknown before, but only a handful of those decide to accompany him. And once night falls, the scares start, and its a long way till morning comes...
The characters are introduced with unique personalities each, which adds further to the tense atmosphere of the movie. The strong point of the movie is the apparent lack of any real visual scares, yet it excels in inspiring sheer horror in the audiences. The script is driven by the solid premise of the fear of the unknown, which is maintained from the beginning of the movie till the end. Its darn near impossible to sit through this movie and not feel even one moment of genuine fear, but the constant suspense of the eventual solution or a possible explanation makes this an edge-of-the-seat ride. Also there are twists in the plot which add subplots to the pace of the flick and make it more unpredictable, yet they add to the psyche of the movie, and fill it with total surrealness and gripping tension.
Excellent direction, a very strong script, and great performances create a masterful horror-filled atmosphere throughout this classic. The editing, soundtrack and cinematography are awesome, and make The Haunting a milestone in the horror genre...often repeated, but never bettered. Comes with a high recommendation.
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49.
The Blair Witch Project
Aided by a phenomenal advertising campaign, The Blair Witch Project managed to gross many multiples of its low budget in the opening weekend alone. By convincing many that it was the actual tape of the last days of a film crew, Blair Witch is widely toted as the scariest film made in years, and deservedly so. Though many may complain that the plot moves too slowly, the incredible tension that is set up in the final half hour or so makes it worthwhile. -
The_Return
48.
The Amityville Horror (1979)
The haunted house has been an icon for horror since God-knows-when. Rarely, however, is it taken seriously. In fact, the haunted house is used in most Halloween-time children’s programs. The Amityville Horror, however, is the exception. The Amityville Horror shocks me over and over again with its ability to horrify, even keying in the fact that not a single person dies in the flick. -
alkytrio666
47.
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
THIS is what a remake should be – In remaking Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead, Tom Savini (who, of course, is a frequent collaborator and friend of Romero’s) stayed incredibly true and faithful to the source material, while still updating it for modern society and adding enough twists, turns and sly references to keep even the most die hard fans of the original on their toes to the very end.
The main change is this version is the character of Barbara. In the original she is weak, scared and – in all honesty – annoying beyond reason. Savini revamps her completely, turning her into a strong willed, thick-skinned warrior woman by the end of the film. My other favourite update has to do with the ending, but I won’t spoil that for you, in case there’s still some poor should reading this that hasn’t watched either version. Suffice to say, it’s a wonderful little twist on the classic ending of the original. Not quite as powerful of course, but still pretty stunning.
This movie has it all. Social commentary, great acting (Tony Todd is at his best, and Tom Towles chews the scenery like a pro), twists, turns, and plenty of gore. Does it live up to the original? God no, nothing ever has or ever will. That doesn’t change the fact that this is hands down one of the best zombie movies of modern times, and easily among the all-time greatest remakes. -
The_Return
46.
Demons (Demoni)
Ever since I saw this Argento classic, I fell in love with it. This movie has some really sweet gore scenes and a very interesting plot. The effects have been done really well and the director needs to be commended on the way he handles the plot and the characters with apparent smoothness.
The story concerns two female friends who get tickets to a re-opened theater. The girls decide to pay a visit to the theater where they come across other people who have got similar tickets. One of them, a prostitute gets her cheek cut by a prop mask kept in the lobby. She shrugs it off and like others, starts to watch the movie which is about demons. The movie includes scenes from "real life", and the prostitute runs into the bathroom to see her cut growing larger and within no time, she turns into a demon. Her scratches turn others into demons and so on, and suddenly there's complete mayhem at the theater. The ones who are normal, band together to stay alive and get out of that theater.
A major part of the movie centres on the gore, which I must say, is excellently done. The transformation of the humans into demons is shown quite nicely, with all the blood and pus involved. Also the demons move around in packs, which makes the atmosphere really charged up everytime a pack of demons set their eyes on the human survivors. The demons themselves look freaky, and there's a lot of cheesiness involved, especially from the sword welding hero who kicks the demons' butts in the end.
The characterisation is really good. The major characters are the two girls and two guys whom they meet, but several smaller characters play their roles to perfection. Bava handles all of it with perfectly timed ease, which keeps the pace of the movie real smooth and edgy from start to finish.
A majorly entertaining flick. Apparently one of the best demon movies of all time. Great effects, and fantastic gore. -
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