My Top 20 Horror Films PART FOUR (4-1)

Time to finish up my longer-than-expected list of my top 20 favourite horror movies! Apologies to all the Rob Zombie haters (wait... no apologies!) this is my all time top 4 horror films that I could watch anytime anyplace anywhere!

4. THE DEVILS REJECTS.

This is the horror film I’ve watched the most, its my guilty pleasure, never gets old, one of my favourite chilling-on-an-afternoon movies. The characters are what draws me back, they’re lovable and hillarious whilst also being gross and sadistic, quite an accomplishment for the film, whilst also being played by iconic actors like Sid Haig, Ken Foree, Michael Berryman and Bill Mosely, to name just some of the genre legends who make an appearance. Zombie has yet to match its brilliance, but remains underrated as a filmmaker for those who can’t get to grips with this misunderstood masterpiece.

3. SUSPIRIA.

This is without a doubt Dario Argento’s best film, and the best Italian horror you’ll ever see, perfectly characterising the insane colours, set design and gory death scenes of the Giallo style. Argento’s Phenomena and Opera are also personal favourites, but its the visual and aural assault of Suspiria, like some ultra-violent adult fairy tale about witchcraft in a ballet school, that makes it truly the best of the bunch.

2. HELLRAISER.

Hellraiser is perhaps the most perfect horror film ever made, thanks to its imaginative story by horror master Clive Barker (only Candyman came close to being this great an adaptation of his work). The imagery has become iconic, Pinhead with his face of pins/nails, the puzzle box, the skinless creature of Frank in the attic, the dangling hooks and chains… A beautiful orchestral score by Christopher Young adds to the eerie charm, along with the fact my DVD boxset comes in a replica puzzle box (which was delivered by accident by Amazon when I’d ordered a cheap version, yay!)

1. PHANTASM.

My all time favourite horror movie and, of all of my picks, the one that for some reason really takes me back to my best days of discovering and falling in love with horror, which is why its number 1. Maybe it was the gorgeous Anchor Bay boxset it came packaged in (with its 3 sequels, 2 & 3 equally as good as the 1st film). The late 70s is when horror looked and sounded its very best, and Coscarelli’s film is loaded with incredible imagery, the spheres, the dwarfs, the wonderful Angus Scrimm, the white marble morgue… The cinematography is immensely atmospheric and to top it all off there’s that memorable theme tune. An inspiration for all indie horror filmmakers out there.