When preparing this list, I initially had around 100 movies and so had to cut it down. Those expecting certain iconic horror movies may be disappointed, as I have opted to include some more obscure movies in this list over some more well known ones. All favourite lists are subjective, and this one is no different. If there are films you think I should have included, feel free to make your own. Also, there will be spoilers ahead. You have been warned…
I also had planned to have this series finished by the end of October, but these articles take longer to write than I initially planned.
20. Carmilla (2019)
Directed by Emily Harris in her directorial debut and based on Sheridan le Fanu's novel Carmilla. There are some who may wonder why this film was included in my top fifty, let alone at number twenty, but I like this film. At the beginning Lara's world is rather isolated as she wanders around her father's estate, sometimes on her own and sometimes in the company of her strict governess Miss Fontaine. To this extent the film mirrors it's source material, you feel Lara is cut-off from the rest of the world and is rather lonely. When Carmilla arrives, courtesy of a smashed up carriage in the middle of the night, she feels like an intruder into Lara's world, but a welcome one. Lara and Carmilla have some nighttime adventures, but the rest of the household grow wary of Carmilla as she never eats, hides the cross normally on the wall under her bed, and never seems awake during the daytime. While Lara's father is away searching for Carmilla's kin, the rest of the household give way to superstition and fear they have let a vampire into the house. When Carmilla is found to be possibly feeding on Lara's blood and then Lara falls ill, that becomes the final straw and leads them to take rather severe and violent action against Carmilla. This is a quiet contemplative movie that slowly builds up to its shocking climax. In this version Carmilla may have been a vampire, or the runaway fears of Lara's household may have caused them to commit a horrible murder against an innocent girl.
19. Underwater (2020)
A science fiction action horror movie directed by William Eubank and starring Kristen Stewart in one of her best roles, and Jessica Henwick (who I seem to have a crush on). Set in the future, something goes wrong in a drilling station located in the Mariana Trench. A small group of survivors end up having to go through the remains of the drilling rig and even walk on the ocean floor in heavily pressurised suits to get to another drilling station that has, so far, survived the disturbance, while encountering strange aquatic creatures. Something huge under the station has been awoken...
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
18. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Directed by George A. Romero. One night the dead come back to life. They rise out of their graves and eat the flesh of the living. A group of seven people are trapped in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. All night they have to fend of the hordes of the undead in a desperate defence. By dawn there is only one survivor, Ben, who ends up being shot dead by an armed posse who mistake him for one of the dead. This film created the zombie subgenre. Virtually every zombie movie that has been made since has been influenced by this.
17. You're Next (2011)
Slasher film directed by Adam Wingard. A family has a get together in their vacation home in rural Missouri when they are attacked by a group of assassins wearing animal masks. However these killers hadn't counted on Erin, the girlfriend of one of the brothers. Little does anyone know that Erin grew up in a survivalist compound in Australia. Once the assassins begin attacking, Erin springs into action. Using a variety of weapons, such as knives, screwdrivers, and even a blender, she manages to singlehandedly defeat both the attackers and the family members behind the attack. She shows no mercy even to those closest to her. This film is extremely gory, and has a high body count.
16. The Thing (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter. Released the same week as E.T. and Blade Runner, this film bombed in the box office, but has seen gained a huge following and is now widely regarded as one of Carpenter's greatest films. Based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. Set in an American research station in Antarctica which is infiltrated by a shape changing alien that imitates and absorbs any lifeform it encounters. Once it is in the station it becomes difficult to ascertain who is human and who is the alien, which of course leads to distrust and paranoia between all the surviving people there. This film has some spectacular creature effects, many of which are quite disgusting. Even at the end it is uncertain whether one of the two survivors is the alien or not.
15. The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015)
Directed by Osgood Perkins. This film is also known as February. The film is split into two different narratives. It starts with two girls stranded at their Catholic boarding school during the start of the holidays. The older one, Rose, is worried she is pregnant, while the younger one, Kat, is convinced her parents are dead since they have failed to come and take her home, she has had dreams of them dying in a car crash . She also believes she is possessed. The second narrative is about Joan, a young woman who has escaped from a mental institution, who accepts a ride from a middle aged couple who have lost a daughter. How these two narratives relate to each other and how it is revealed what actually happened during that holiday is unsettling and chilling. An atmospheric film that is a slow burn, with an ending that is horrific.
14. Ginger Snaps (2000)
Canadian werewolf movie directed by John Fawcett. Lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty. Sisters Brigitte and Ginger share a morbid fascination with death. One night Ginger, who is having her period for the first time, is bitten by a creature. During the next full moon she begins to transform into a werewolf. The transformation isn't a momentary thing like in other werewolf movies, but slow and ongoing. As she transforms, Ginger becomes more aggressive and sexually active. Brigitte teams up with Sam, the local drug dealer, to find a cure, as they both know Ginger is turning into a werewolf. They create an extract of monkshood (also known as wolfbane) to inject her with. Brigitte pretends to be loyal to Ginger, but eventually Ginger realises Brigitte is not on her side and turns on her and kills Sam. It leads to a final altercation in their shared bedroom....
13. Cat People (1942)
The first of eleven horror films Val Lewton produced for RKO Pictures, and directed by Jacques Tourneur. Serbian immigrant Irena Dubrovna fears she will turn into a bloodthirsty beast after she marries Oliver Reed, due to the folklore from her country. Her fears get the better of her and Oliver begins to fall in love with Alice Moore, a woman he works with. When Irena finds this out she begins stalking Alice, and possibly changes into a black panther. An iconic scene is when Alice is using a swimming pool at night and something begins stalking her. All you see is the shadow of a large cat. Another time she is walking home and realises she is being followed. The way the camera uses lighting and shadow in this film is brilliantly done. It is often used to suggest something is there, rather than showing it. After Irena dies, it is unclear whether it was her changing into a large cat, or a large black panther who escaped from the zoo.
12. Byzantium (2012)
Irish/United Kingdom vampire film directed by Neil Jordan. Clara and Eleanor, played by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan, are a mother and daughter on the run from other vampires called The Brotherhood. As the film progresses you slowly get to know both their backstories. Eleanor continually writes her story down and then throws it away. She only feeds on people who are ready to die. Clara works as a sex worker and is a bit more opportunistic on who she feeds on. They end up in a dilapidated coastal town where Clara turns an old hotel with the name of Byzantium into a brothel, while Eleanor goes to the local school and ends up striking a relationship with a boy who also goes there. Eventually their past catches up with them. There is a lot in this film about sexism and misogynism, especially how women where often forced into occupations they didn't want and how little power they usually had to change things in their own lives. The Brotherhood itself is a good example of this: a group of male vampires who dictate all the rules of who can and can't be a vampire. This film also has a good supporting cast.
11. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Werewolf horror comedy directed by John Landis. American college students David and Jack are on a walking tour of Britain when they are attacked by a werewolf on the Yorkshire moors. Jack is killed and David is injured, but survives. He wakes up three weeks later in a London hospital. The transformation scenes by Rick Baker were considered groundbreaking at the time. As David transforms you hear things snapping and tearing making it seem a rather painful process. David's friend Jack also turns up in various stages of decomposition urging David to kill himself to sever the werewolf's line, otherwise Jack will forever remain in limbo. After David, as a werewolf, goes on a killing spree, he also sees all the people he killed are stuck in limbo like Jack is, and they also tell him to kill himself. When he transforms again while in Trafalgar Square he is eventually shot dead by police after causing a lot of carnage.
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©️Joanne Fisher 2023
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