9.18.2021

What is Horror? (Baby, don't hurt me)


A list of all-time favorite Horror Movies? Eh, that's pretty lame. I mean, c'mon, you already know what they are, so let's not waste everyone's time. We thought about "favorite vampires," "favorite zombies," shit like that - still felt derivative and dull. So now, there's this: our favorite Horror Movie from each year for the past 50 years. It forced us to make tough choices as well as scrutinize the dry spells. In the end, hopefully, we can take a step back and determine the deadliest decade. (We don't know what that will accomplish, but it will be fun.)

But way more than that, it turned out to be an agonizing reappraisal of the "Horror" label. This project provided us with a rich dialogue pertaining to exactly what is and isn't Horror; we were able to agree that David Lynch, certain Stephen King, and Silence of the Lambs are, in fact, not Horror with a capital "H." And while these particular aforementioned areas of Cinema have always been debatable, we've drawn a line in the sand, Dude, and we're prepared to let the debate seep in through our stupid cheap weather stripping and defend these choices. That's not to say we didn't agree to disagree in some other necks of woods, but again, opinions are abound in this challenge, and in this day & age, they're worth getting violent over. So let's!


The Paul List

1970 - Equinox

1971 - Vampyros Lesbos

1972 - Tombs of the Blind Dead

1973 - The Exorcist

1974 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

1975 - Jaws

1976 - Carrie

1977 - Suspiria

1978 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1979 - Zombi 2

1980 - The Fog

1981 - An American Werewolf in London

1982 - The Thing

1983 - Twilight Zone: The Movie

1984 - Ghostbusters

1985 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

1986 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

1987 - The Monster Squad

1988 - The Blob

1989 - Little Monsters

1990 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch

1991 - Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

1992 - Bram Stoker's Dracula

1993 - Jurassic Park

1994 - Wes Craven's New Nightmare

1995 - Tales From the Hood

1996 - From Dusk Till Dawn

1997 - Cube

1998 - Vampires

1999 - The Blair Witch Project

2000 - Ginger Snaps

2001 - Jeepers Creepers

2002 - Dog Soldiers

2003 - Freddy vs. Jason

2004 - Shaun of the Dead

2005 - The Devil's Rejects

2006 - Slither

2007 - Grindhouse

2008 - Lake Mungo

2009 - Halloween II

2010 - Paranormal Activity 2

2011 - The Innkeepers

2012 - The Lords of Salem

2013 - The Conjuring

2014 - It Follows

2015 - Bone Tomahawk

2016 - The Monster

2017 - It

2018 - Mandy

2019 - Us

2020 - Gretel & Hansel


The Babes List

1970 - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

1971 - Vampyros Lesbos

1972 - Sisters

1973 - The Exorcist

1974 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

1975 - Jaws

1976 - Carrie

1977 - Suspiria

1978 - Halloween

1979 - Alien

1980 - The Shining

1981 - An American Werewolf in London

1982 - Poltergeist

1983 - Videodrome

1984 - Gremlins

1985 - Demons

1986 - Aliens

1987 - The Lost Boys

1988 - Night of the Demons

1989 - Stepfather II

1990 - Arachnophobia

1991 - Dolly Dearest

1992 - Bram Stoker's Dracula

1993 - Needful Things

1994 - In the Mouth of Madness

1995 - Tales From the Hood

1996 - From Dusk Till Dawn

1997 - Cube

1998 - Ringu

1999 - The Blair Witch Project

2000 - Ginger Snaps

2001 - Session 9

2002 - Bubba Ho-Tep

2003 - Freddy vs. Jason

2004 - Shaun of the Dead

2005 - The Devil's Rejects

2006 - Final Destination 3

2007 - Grindhouse

2008 - Let the Right One In

2009 - Halloween II

2010 - Black Swan

2011 - The Innkeepers

2012 - The Lords of Salem

2013 - The Conjuring

2014 - It Follows

2015 - The Witch

2016 - Raw

2017 - It

2018 - Mandy

2019 - Midsommar

2020 - Possessor

2 comments:

Jacob Spickelmire said...

So I'm guessing Jess doesn't consider Body Snatchers to be horror? Hmmm, I feel like that movie is more traditionally 'horror' than, say, Raw. or even Aliens for that matter.

P and J said...

I went with the scarier of the 2 movies