15 Horror Movies That MUST Be In Your Collection.
 

I searched for a similar thread, and I know one has to be out there somewhere, but I found nothing, so..

Give us your 15 titles that you believe HAVE TO BE OWNED by Horror fans. Base your answers on whatever criteria you choose, and, if you are so inclined, give us the reasons these titles stand out to you .

I just woke up thinking of this topic, so I'll be giving it some thought through the morning, and I'll toss my list up as soon as I have settled on my 15.

I cant wait to see what you folks consider mandatory horror for us fright freaks!

Two more days until OCTOBER and I cant STAND IT!!! ::devil::::danger::

Nosferatu (1922)
Psycho (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Texas Chain saw massacre (1974)
Jaw (1975)
Halloween (1978)
Alien (1979)
The Shining (1980)
The Evil Dead (1981)
The Thing (1982)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Predator (1987)
Saw (2004)

Ok, so I managed to open the reply without seeing any others, I wanted to try to go just from my own mind, no inspiration.

I'm about 8 titles in right now...this is hard...continuing...

1 The Thing
2 Shaun of the Dead
3 Psycho
4 Dawn of the Dead (2004)
5 Crawlspace
6 Night of the Living Dead
7 The Evil Dead
8 Friday the 13th
9 The Signal (2007)
10 Of course, just thought of 28 days Later How did I leave that out?
11 For as much crap as it gets...Event Horizon.
12 Final Destination (1)
13 Creep (2004)
14 Tetsuo - The Iron Man
15 Haute Tension

I'd like to make a mention of "Suspiria" too, but can't give a proper place because I haven't seen it all the way through.

I see a few response posts, but I'm going to avoid them until I post mine. I have a feeling if I see other peoples lists before I get my 15 up, it will totally confuse the issue for me.

That said, and in no particular order...

Psycho - Hitchcock at his most cynical and sadistic...well, besides Frenzy!

Nosferatu (1922)

Frankenstein (1931) - Still one of the most influential horror stories ever.

Audition - Every fan needs this J horror masterpiece.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - The best Horror movie ever made, IMHO.

Suspiria - It's Argento's twisted Cinderella and It has to be on your shelf.

Halloween - I'm guessing this one makes EVERYONES list.

The Thing (1951)

Amer - Underrated, atmospheric and riveting from start to finish.

Phantasm

Black Sunday - Mario Bava is a genius. I wont hear any arguments! ;)

The Tenant - My favorite of Polanski's apartment horror trilogy

Night Of The Living Dead

Santa Sangre - Stunning. It delivers on every level a film can.

Phantom Of The Paradise - Sex, Faust, and Rock n Roll!

That was FAR from easy! Now, i'm off to see what others have posted.

Solid! Alien was right on the line for me. If it was a top 16 list, Alien would have been on mine. Damn...I forgot JAWS! Yeah, I knew it was best not to look at these posts before I posted mine. Jaws, for fuc' sakes!

Cheebs smashes my " Halloween makes everyones list" theory!

Tetsuo is an inspired pick. Yeah, that one has to be owned for sure. And it's nice to see you give Suspiria an honorable mention. It made my top fifteen and it wasnt even debatable. It's a beautiful, and perplexing film.

We've got Psycho on all 3 so far.

Night Of The Living Dead too! Both deserve the respect, without a doubt.

The Exorcist
Alien
Poltergeist
The Sixth Sense
The Shining
Halloween
The Haunting
High Tension
V/H/S
The Thing
The Fly
Jaws
Saw
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
A Nightmare on Elm Street

Do I put an additional fifteen titles which I found great or should I just follow the sheep and repeat what others have already stated?

If you reply to the thread before reading everyone elses post in there, you might not face this dilemma.
That's what I did, that's what repo'd did after roshiqs original reply.
I don't think it matters that each and every one be unique in the list, in fact it would probably be more interesting to see what doubles up after posting and taking a look.
But that's just me.
I get that some people might just want to be insulting and make useless posts instead though, 'cos those always add to a thread.

90% of his posts are just hostile and negative

LOL! I only see that guys posts when others quote him, because he's the only person on my ignore list. Let him do what he wants, I certainly don't care.

Not unnoticed.
Though everyone's got a right to be here,and all that.
I try to advise on how people might want to approach things differently, but how it's taken on board is up to the person in question.
I've got nothing personal against them, but I suppose I'd like to encourage them to be a bit more productive than just trying to be that "edgy" guy...at a point it becomes pretty played out.

Anyways, moving on.

...

Dammit, Jaws again. Still don't know how I missed that. Great to see the love for Poltergeist and The Shining. Both were movies I strongly considered.

The 15 was pretty hard to narrow down, there was at least 4-5 that were very strong contenders for those positions, but I tried to keep my list a little bit varied theme wise, well, more so than it would have been anyway.

This is always going to happen though. It's like, give me 20 spots, and I'll just want to fill 25.

Yep, making a list like this is always hard. I actually kept the number low because, as you said, it's really never enough when you are such a fan of the genre. About eight years ago I was asked by a publisher friend to compile a list of the best 100 horror movies of all time and I STILL was sick about leaving a few titles off.

Im more of an 80's cult guy I guess. In no particular order...
Phantasm
Hellraiser
The Toxic Avenger
Jaws
Evil Dead (call it the series)
Psycho
Halloween
House of 1000 Corpses
The Fly
Return of the Living Dead
Carrie (original)
Cujo
Alien
House
The Gate

I didn't look at any of the lists, these are my own personal favorites:

1. Frankenstein (1931)
2. Dracula (same era)
3. The Wolf Man (same era)
4. Taste the Blood of Dracula
5. Dog Soldiers
6. The Howling
7. Friday the 13th
8. Halloween
9. Nightmare on Elm Street
10. Jaws
11. John Carpenter's Vampires
12. 30 Days of Night
13. Creature From the Black Lagoon
14. Grabbers
15. Shaun of the Dead

Toxic Avenger?! That's a spirited choice, Jake, and I think I get your including it here. Great representation of low budget success and a very memorable monster/hero. Also, I'm a huge fan so I'm obviously biased!
Great to see another list with Phantasm on it too.

Holy...that looks amazing. I think I have a vague memory of seeing the movie poster, but that could be wrong. Ty for posting.

At last, another Frankenstein! I almost added Dracula and The Wolfman as well but stuck with one of the Universal Monsters since the list was limited to 15.
Taste The Blood of Dracula is one that I wouldn't have thought of, but I do love seeing it on your list. I'm really fond of that flick.

It's great seeing your posts, HDC'ers. Thanks for the response!

Taste the Blood of Dracula is hands-down my favorite vampire and Christopher Lee/Hammer movie!

My pleasure, Boss. Phantomis an outright joy to watch. All kinds of great performances and hummable tunes. It's dark in all the right places and light when it needs to be. Classic DePalma cinema style as well. I hope you Love it Boss. I do!

Looking forward to your 15 Must Have list, man!

Can't say I blame you. I do wish there was a bit more of Mr. Lee, but his presence is still perfection. TTBOD is so debauched and slick! I think I may have to watch this one again this October. Thanks for the inspiration, Hammer.

Well, just focus on the 10% that are positive then.

See ya, H.C.

Toxie would probably make my top five if I had to narrow it down to that. He holds a special spot in my heart. When it comes down to it, he epitomizes 80's cult movies and a genre of horror/comedy/super hero film that has still, to this day, gone mostly untouched.

You're welcome! I would have put ALL of the Hammer movies that I love, but, I didn't want to be repetitive! ::big grin::

The way I think about this list is to try to include not necessarily the 'best', but a variety. Frustratingly its most movies by white men about white people. Not trying to be 'PC' as some might say, but to show a broader range. I'm also not very good at picking titles out of my brain and I do not collect films much(mostly books) and I'm not going to put a movie in this list I haven't seen. So I sort of went with classics, variety of theme, etc. NOT a criticism of anyone else's list!!!

Something Wicked This Way Comes
Halloween
Return of the Living Dead
From Beyond
Candyman
The Haunting(of Hill House)
Hellraiser
Evil Dead
Cabin in the Woods
House
The Entity
Poltergeist
The Blair Witch Project
Videodrome
The Thing

Do I recall that your dad turned you on to Toxie? If my recollection is wrong, I'm sorry, but if it's right, I know just what you mean. i have a Paternal connection to 1955's Tarantula. It will forever be a favorite for that reason…and for the 100 feet of KILLER SPIDER!!!

AHHH Candyman! Damn, I completely forgot it. Love your list!

Thanks. Yeah I wanted to include some atmospheric films. I love when what his name talks and he's all sultry, so neat.

Yeah, hes got a wicked voice.

That's a nice horror shelf! You have about 5 titles that I almost added to my list. BWP and Videodrome would probably make it if it were a list of 18! Videodrome in particular is a movie that fits all my criteria for "must have" status.

I ignored all the lists and putting up my own:

1 - The Exorcist (director's cut)
2 - The Descent
3 - Resident Evil
4 - House of 1,000 Corpses
5 - Blade
6 - Interview with a Vampire
7 - 30 Days of Night
8 - Dead Snow
9 - Silent Hill
10 - The Hills Have Eyes (remake)
11 - Hostel
12 - The Collector
13 - Priest
14 - Sleepy Hollow
15 - Cabin in the Woods

It really is hard to narrow it down to 15.

I forgot about Silent Hill. If I had remembered I would've included it in my list. Such an amazing film. The Descent was number 16 for me, such a good film too.

This fifteen is as fun as any that's been posted. There's quite a few that I wouldn't put on my list, but there are pretty much NONE there that I don't find very entertaining. I love that you have House OF 1,000 Corpses on your list. That's such a polarizing film among Horror lovers. Myself, I'm a fan, but you just know you're going to get a strong reaction when you bring up that title. I think that's actually true for most if not all of RZ's cinematic work.

You can see the horror film in my signature if the courage, good luck ::danger::

1. Halloween (1978)
2.The Shining (1980)
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
4. Friday The 13th (1980)
5. Evil Dead II (1987)
6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
7. Last House On The Left (1972)
8. Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
9. Saw (2004)
10. Event Horizon (1997)
11. The Exorcist (1973)
12. The Devil's Rejects (2005)
13. The Lost Boys (1987)
14. Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
15. May (2002)

Nosferatu 1922
King Kong 1933
Psycho 1960
Night of the Living Dead 1968
The Exorcist 1973
Texas chainsaw Massacre 1974
Jaws 1975
Carrie 1976
Halloween 1978
Alien 1979
The Howling 1981
Poltergeist 1982
The Thing 1982
The Fly 1986
Evil Dead II 1987

Cool lists!

These all blew my hair back.