My 50 Favorite Horror Movies

• Posted with varying degrees of explanation and links to reviews I’ve written at my film review site Arthouse Grindhouse.
• If you’re wondering why horror film X isn’t on here, either A.) I haven’t seen it, B.) I don’t consider it horror, or C.) I think it sucks or is just like really good and not great or whatever. To paraphrase The Big Lebowski, “Yeah, well, you know, that’s just like, uh, my opinion, man.” This is a list of 50 incredible flicks, but it’s certainly not comprehensive or objective. If you make a polite and convincing suggestion in the comments, I’ll happily check it out.
• Everything here is post-1960. Just where my viewing preferences lie.

50. Child’s Play (1988)

An insane idea executed to B-movie perfection.

49. Hellraiser (1987)

Excerpt from my review: “Clive Barker’s unrelentingly grim Hellraiser thoroughly and intelligently deals with the complicated relationship between pain and pleasure, employing the fetishized S&M of the ’80s punk scene (think leather, studs, and piercings) as a springboard for this tale of hedonistic exploration.”

48. Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm) (1968)

Excerpt from my review: “This shockingly bleak ’60s English horror film centers on a young soldier trying to protect his new bride from real-life ‘witchfinder’ Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price), who tortured hundreds of women across the English countryside in the 1600s until they…