The Seven Best Horror Films

7: Les Diaboliques (1955)
Starring: Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot and Paul Meurisse
In Seven (or more) Words: Teachers at war! A husband/headmaster is murdered by his wife and mistress, though his body disappears, and both women inherit a belief that the supernatural is afoot. With a memorable climax, this French classic was a valuable precursor to Psycho.

6: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal and Gunnar Hansen
In Seven (or more) Words: A film made on a low budget with even lower expectations, this seminal movie surprised even the director himself, Tobe Hooper. Leatherface became an icon of despicable horror creations, and the film, like many successful pictures of the genre, has spawned into a franchise.

5: The Wicker Man (1973)
Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Diane Cilento
In Seven (or more) Words: The Wicker Man is uneasy viewing. Because it doesn't feel like a horror film. The aesthetics of it resemble a Famous Five location; a small island off the coast of Scotland. Though, as it progresses, and with a stalwart of Hammer Films, Christopher Lee, appearing twenty or so minutes in, the horror begins to seep through.

4: The Innocents (1961)
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde and Megs Jenkins
In Seven (or more) Words: More haunting than The Haunting, The Innocents is the most impressive of British horror films. Deborah Kerr has never been better, and Martin Stephens who plays the sinister Miles, is much creepier here than he was in another great British horror movie, Village of the Damned.

3: Psycho (1960)
Starring: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles
In Seven (or more) Words: That shower scene. Enough has been said about this influential stream of images, but enough is never enough with Psycho. It was the first true 'slasher' movie, foreshadowing the emergence of Halloween eighteen years later. What Les Diaboliques did for baths, Psycho did for showers, and many people started to avoid cleansing at all costs!

2: Freaks (1932)
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams and Olga Baclanova
In Seven (or more) Words: A classic horror film is a classic because of the ending. The ending has to succeed the palette of images previously seen, and leave an indelible mark on the voyeur's conscious. Freaks does this. Seek it out.

1: The Shining (1980)
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd
In Seven (or more) Words: One has to watch The Shining on the hugest screen possible. Kubrick is perhaps the most accomplished director ever, because he transcended his talent into every genre. With this film, horror was a constant presence. His arduous re-taking may have left Shelley Duvall cold, though it exposed both her and Jack Nicholson at their most raw and authentic (this being on a massive scale), even if the former comes off as slightly annoying.

The Next Article is... The Seven Best Film Trilogies