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Top Twenty Horror Movies of The Decade
My list of the top twenty horror films of the decade.
The decade is rapidly closing and top lists are appearing everywhere. With this in mind I decided to make a top ten horror films of the decade. After doing a bit of research and straining my brain I found it impossible to limit my list to ten movies. The list quickly stretched to fifteen and with a bit of work made it to twenty. One thing that may strike you is the number of foreign language films on my list. It may be more shocking to some people that know me that any English language movies made it. American cinema continues to struggle with quality, while foreign language films, as well as English language, non Hollywood films seem to get better. Without further ado here is my list with a very short synopsis on each.
image from Wikipedia
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1. Let The Right One In -
On the surface a vampire movie this is just as easily a love story about two outcasts who find companionship with each other. Wonderful performances from the two child actors propel this Swedish film above the competition and puts twilight to shame. An American remake is on the way as we speak.
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2 The Devil’s Rejects
Rob Zombies masterpiece is this dirty gritty revenge movie that while many will not consider horror, it delivers the goods. Zombie blends ultra violence, with a driving 70’s soundtrack, and great performances from a virtual army of genre actors.
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3.Shaun of the Dead
The movie most faithful to the Romero trilogy isn’t a Romero film, it isn’t even a serious movie. Edgar Wright and Sean Pegg create a Zombie Comedy Romance ( Zomcomrom?) that is both hilarious and respectful of the Dead films. Each new viewing seems to reveal a different homage to Romero’s classic films.
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One of the most brutal and unforgiving films you will ever watch. Martyrs is a brilliant French film that pulls no punches but never seems gratuitous or cheap. The pain is more real than in an American torture porn film. See it at your own risk, but see it.
Image via Wikipedia
5.The Mist
One of the best adaptations of a Stephen King story that has come along in a long time. Purists may scream at the ending but it remains a very faithful adaptation. I think if King had decided to write an extra twenty pages, he would have written the ending that Frank Darabont filmed for the Mist. A great movie but the ending is one of the darkest and most heart rending in film history.
6.The Descent
Neil Marshall proves his horror chops with The Descent. The Descent is one of those few films in the horror genre to succeed with an all female cast. The Descent is brutal while not being overly gory or bloody, still it like many classic films feels much more bloody than it actually is.
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7. Haute Tension
Another French film in the list, Haute tension is directed by Alexandre Aja who went on to direct The Hills Have Eyes remake. Haute Tension is every bit as bloody as Hostile, but without the overly long buildup and “happy ending.” It does suffer from lapses in continuity but the sheer joy of it’s brutality overcomes these issues.
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8. May
May is the story of a girl who just doesn’t fit in with society. This is fertile fodder for the horror genre and director Lucky McKee takes the idea and runs with it. May is subdued and fairly bloodless but still delivers the goods.
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9.*[Rec]
Spanish horror film that was remade as Quarantine in the states. While Quarantine is not a bad movie, *[Rec] is far superior. The lead actress is much more charismatic and the acting seems much more real and not “Hollywood,” which is a good thing considering most of the film is supposed to be news footage. A great new entry into the zombie genre.
10. 28 Days Later
Another unconventional zombie film and one of the few “fast” zombie movies that is worth watching. 28 days is one of those films that never slows down. The viewer can never feel safe or secure, every lull is a trap. Purists will argue that it’s not really a zombie movie and technically they are right, but do not let nit picking stop you from watching this film.
Cover of Wrong Turn
11. Wrong Turn
Eliza Dushku and Jeremy Sisto elevate this inbred family slash festabove the masses of mundane movies. All the characters are like able and we feel for them. Even more striking and unusual is that the characters actually show remorse for their fallen comrades. Dushku even shows guilt over her being responsible for her friends being there. Not only great acting but they never skimp on the gore and nasty kills.
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12. Zombieland
Woody Harrelson gives the performance of his career in my opinion. Zombieland is more comedy than horror but horror fans won’t be put off by this. The cast is excellent and it would be sacrilege to give away the special guest star.
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13.Frailty
Matthew McCougheny and Bill Paxton star in this underrated horror film about a man who may or may not be insane. Paxton is a demon hunter who cannot understand why his son doesn’t want to follow in his footsteps. Not a bloody or gory film but intense none the less.
14. Ju-On
The movie that launched the Japanese ghost story to popularity in the States. Remade as The Grudge, Ju-On also helped popularize the scary child genre of films. While the grudge was not a bad film, the original is much better, as is often the case.
15.Ginger Snaps
Another coming of age movie, and another rare movie with a mostly female cast. The Fitzgerald sisters are on their way to becoming women, unfortunately Ginger is on her way to becoming a werewolf. One of the best werewolf movies to come along in a long time, this Canadian movie is a must see.
Wikipedia16. Dog Soldiers.
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The other werewolf movie in my list Dog Soldiers hails from England and is the second film in my list directed by Neil Marshall. More of a conventional werewolf flick than Ginger Snaps, it is much bloodier as well. What happens when well trained soldiers face off against the supernatural? Find out in Dog Soldiers, one of the best military against monsters films ever made.
image by wikipedia
17.Mulberry Street
One of the Eight Films to Die for, Mulberry Street is the cream of the crop. It is another of the new unconventional zombie movies that bears some resemblance to the creatures in Quarantine. Like Quarantine, rabies appears to be the culprit but in Mulberry Street the victims take on the appearance of rats. Not an easy gimmick to work with but Mulberry Street pulls it off. The fast pace, claustrophobic feel and excellent low key acting makes up for a gimmicky premise.
image by wikipedia
18.Trick r Treat
A compilation film that brings to mind Creepshow, Trick r Treat is the best Halloween themed film to come along since, well, Halloween ( the Carpenter classic). Based around the ritual’s of Halloween set in small town America on that most haunted night, it is a fun but scary gem. Great acting, great story and all around fun time.
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South Korean horror film from director Chan-Wook Park of Oldboy fame, Thirst is a stylish, violent vampire love story. Forget the brooding, teen vamps of twilight and check out Thirst.
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20. Fido
Fido takes place in a world after the zombie apocalypsehas been contained. Humans have learned to control the zombies and basically use them as slaves. Billy Connelly stars as Fido in this funny and heart touching zombie comedy.
Like my list? Love it? Hate it? Come visit Lord Dixie’s Dark Domain to heap praise or dog me out
A lot of people did not like The Myst but I thought it was underrated. I thought I was the only person that watched The Descent.
You have just reminded me why I never watch horror films.Basically they scare the crap out of me!.
Terrible list! lots of obvious choices sandwiched between piss-poor imitations, I mean Devils Rejects? Seriously?
MEH!
Shaun of the dead? one of the best horror films of the decade? hahaha. I love that film, quality comedy. Simon Pegg is awesome (you should check out some of his other stuff – Hot Fuzz and Run Fat Boy Run are awesome)
Alistar – I have seen all of Simons except the New Star Trek, he has a short on the Grindhouse double feature that is hilarious. I know it is more comedy than horror, but I included it because he never makes fun of the horror genre and there are elements of horror.
AS for the picks being obvious, the best movies usually are, TDR is one of my persoanl favorites and fefinitely Rob’s best work. AT the end it’s my list of what I enjoyed thanks for the looks and coments
I was very happy to see you put Let The Right One In at the top and then immediately disheveled to see you not even knowing from which country it comes; it’s swedish, not finnish. Such a glaring mistake immediately makes me distrusts your movie accumen. Sorry.
Mc Fraggle- you are correct- I fixed the error but am commenting here so as not to “hide” my mistake. I did realize it was Swedish when I watched it and first read about it. It was totally my mistake not to go back and check nationality of films but in the end where the film is in doesn’t affect it’s quality. I watch several foreign language films a month, mostly horror, some drama and action. I don’t alwasy research the country of origin and in the case of soem ASian films it is multi national. Thats not the case of Let The Right One In. Sorry if the mistake ruined it for you. I don’t claim any special movie acumen, its just my list of what I thought was the ebst
Hey nice article!, i liked the movie let the right one in so much i hope hollywood doesn’t ruin the movie with their remake
Mulberry St. sucked balls and belongs on no list whatsoever. Ignoring Hostile simply because it is “Hollywood” is just ridiculous, and Paranormal Activity isn’t part of the decade…? This comes from the typical movie snob I expect to see making lists. Retarded, acknowledging High Tensions faults (which were too many to accept) yet praise it by putting on the list. What about Frontiers!!!?? No foreign film love for that one?? What about Hatchet?? At least it knew what kind of film it was from the beginning, where Shaun was schizo. Funny at times, but far too serious at others. Best part of Zombieland was the opening credits and Bill Murray, besides that, blah…
Hostile simply wasn’t that good. Sorry it was good but not that good. Mulberry street got special attention becasue it was lower budget and a damn good movie, in my opinion. I didn’t like Frontiers that much, could just be me but it didn’t really impact me. hatchet almost made the list and probably would if I did it over. Paranormal Activity mostly didn’t make the list because its a pretty crappy movie, once again in my opinion and is nothing worthout the audience reaction. The shaky cam, faux documentary has been done to death and there are much better examples then the flash in the pan Paranormal Activity. Not liking Shaun bascially throws any of your other comments out. Maybe it doesn’t belong on a best of horror but it was definitely a ebst of decade
Openly admitting Shaun doesn’t belong on a best horror list, of which it is currently ranked third, basically throws out any of your rankings.
Bazzing-ga!
but I didn’t admit it I said maybe, all lists are open to personal judgement. I put it there I stand by it. ALso never said they wwere in order although Let The Right One In would be my number 1 and the top ten would be my ten. But its my list, thank you for the comment
Your use of plausible deniability is honorable…Cheney would be proud!
Any reader would assume this to be a ranking when you call it “Top 20″ with numbers next to each movie.
Nice information..Will watch some of these in the weekend
Wrong Turn…? Really? You said “Not only great acting but…” When Eliza Dushku is your top star(although I do love to watch her) you really can’t use great acting as something of note. And how is Fido a horror movie? I’ll give you Shaun Of The Dead cause well…its awesome, but Fido? I think next time you make a list you need to define your idea of horror cause man you missed some great ones and filled those spots in with very questionable titles.
Also, for everyone talking about Simon Pegg check out his show(before all the hoopla) called Spaced. Its two seasons of greatness with more pop culture references(from the 80s & 90s) than you can count.
The Descent is awesome! seriously if you like horror films you gota check it out