The Top 25 Horror Films of the Decade

Submitted by Jon on Wednesday, Dec 16th 2009

Through the process of creating this list, the one thing that impressed me the most was the depth of quality to be found over the last decade in the horror genre. We had over 100 films receive votes -- a testament to that depth -- but the final 25 films that emerged from the process represent a level of quality that I'd be willing to stack up against nearly any other decade in film history.

When you're purchasing your ticket for the 30th horror remake of the decade or sitting through a studio-mangled thriller, it's easy to lose sight of how good things have been. The number of foreign, independent or otherwise neglected films on this list speaks to the way that horror -- good horror, the kind worth celebrating -- can often get overlooked. But we here at BGH are happy to report that things have been, indeed are, quite good. Savor it.

Some notes on the process:
Nine BGH contributors submitted ballots. Each voted on 25 films, in order. I then retired to the nerdery with my calculator, and scientifically combined those nine lists into the uber-list you'll find below. Many thanks to Eric, Mark, Casey, Joe, John, Tor, Todd and of course Louis.

The Top 25

25. Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Directed by Sam Raimi
BGH Review | Podcast | Buy it!

24. Grindhouse (2007)

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Buy it!

23. Jason X (2001)

Directed by James Isaac
Buy it!

22. The Strangers (2008)

Directed by Bryan Bertino
BGH Review | Buy it!

21. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Buy it!

20. Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

Directed by Ronny Yu
Buy it!

19. Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)

Directed by Lloyd Kaufman
BGH Review | Buy it!

18. The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Directed by Rob Zombie
Buy it!

17. The Ring (2002)

Directed by Gore Verbinski
Buy it!

16. Black Sheep (2006)

Directed by Jonathan King
BGH Review | Buy it!

Comments

You forgot the most important

Submitted by mark on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 18:15.

You forgot the most important statistic of all. "Number of Rob Zombie Films Appearing in the top 25: 1"! Who says we're biased!

Foreign horror

Submitted by tvandalism on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 20:35.

Interesting to see the number of foreign movies that invaded the list. Some of the best work in the genre seems to be coming from abroad. I wonder how many foreign horror films would have been included in a 90s best of list? Probably very few. Interesting that there are no Asian horror flicks on the list. No huge shocks on the list with the possible exception of Poultrygeist making the list. I really need to go back and revisit Session 9. I saw it years ago and liked it but can barely remember it. Overall, a very satisfying list!

Asian

Submitted by Eric on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 21:17.

The only Asian horror film on my list was Battle Royale. I'm sure guys like Todd and Tor had more on their list, but since it was a composite from all of our opinions this was just the way it worked out.

What's really interesting to me is that while most of the list is populated with American films, only 1 of the top 5 was from the US.

Asian Horror

Submitted by Tor on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 21:57.

Yep, I had a few on mine including Suicide Club as my top pick.
Beyond that:
Battle Royale
Imprint
Noriko's Dinner Table

I didn't see 'Thirst' and I gave 'Old Boy' some consideration but it was less horror than most of the other stuff on my list including Noriko's'.

I had "Suicide Club" on my

Submitted by John Shelton on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 01:17.

I had "Suicide Club" on my list too, only under the alternate title "Suicide Circle". Should we demand a recount?

My other Asian (actually I just noticed all Korean) movies were "Thirst", "The Host" and "A Tale of Two Sisters".

The most questionable movie on my list was "Requiem for a Dream" which some people might say isn't horror but it scared the crap out of me so much that it's taken almost 10 years for me to even consider watching it again.

The biggest surprise for me is that "American Psycho" didn't make the list. Maybe it's been so long that people have forgotten about it.

The Full 25.

Submitted by Louis Fowler on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 23:57.

In the perverse interest of total transparency, here's the full 25 I turned in...

1. Slither
2. The Mist
3. Rob Zombie's Halloween/H2
4. Jason X
5. Frailty
6. The Feast Trilogy
7. House of 1000 Corpses/The Devil's Rejects
8. Final Destination 2
9. Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
10. The Happening
11. Snakes On a Plane
12. Grindhouse: Planet Terror
13. Repo!: The Genetic Opera
14. Shaun of the Dead
15. The Orphanage
16. Mother of Tears
17. Cabin Fever
18. May
19. Willard
20. The Wicker Man (remake)
21. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
22. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
23. The Eye (original Thai version)
24. Dreamcatcher
25. Undead

Please tell me the Wickerman

Submitted by peloquin on Fri, 12/18/2009 - 00:29.

Please tell me the Wickerman remake is on there purely for the comedy value?
Other than that and the odd few seems a fairly decent list to me, but I feel we both have a love for the shall we say less popular movies.
BTW I still havent got round to watching Bitch Slap.

Dead Snow - no love

Submitted by axlrotten on Fri, 12/18/2009 - 22:00.

It's too bad Dead Snow didn't even get a mention. I truly loved that film this year and it will definitely make my Top 25 list (Top 10, even) and my Top 5 for this year.

Just curious

Submitted by Laush on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 05:14.

how many of the nine contributors read the book beforing seeing the adaptation? I expect nine responses below.

Let The Right One In?

Submitted by Eric on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 06:00.

Let The Right One In you mean? I didn't read the book. Based on what I've read and heard from others, I'm really glad that I didn't. It sounds like such a vile and depressing novel that it would have been hard to appreciate the film on the level that I was able to had I read it. Again, from what I've read and heard discussed on some other podcasts, they really seemed to pick a beautiful sort of innocence out of the source material while leaving out key plot points that soften the story a bit. One of those times that I was glad I'm not a "read the book first" type of person.

I generally don't read the books before the films

Submitted by Tor on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 06:37.

In the same vein there are books that I would never go to see in film form. I won't watch any version of "Lolita", even Kubrick's, because the book can't be duplicated. Likewise for "The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea".

I went against my own rule with the film version of "The Shipping News" The book is one of my favorites but the movie...ass.

so no, I haven't read LTROI.

Didn't read the book

Submitted by Joe on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 21:26.

But I didn't like the movie either so I don't think I'd bother. What can I say, I not so smart some times.

Interesting

Submitted by Laush on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 18:17.

Thanks for responding... and yeah, I meant LTROI.

Interesting... I think my views of the movie were very much colored by reading the book. I very much liked the movie, just didn't freak me out like the book did. They also left out a wonderful bit of vampire-zombie action from the book, which probably would have totally thrown the balance of the movie.

Tor - Kubrick's Lolita is an interesting attempt but the way he gets at the material is similiar to his adaptation of The Shining. Adrianne Lynne's made me feel dirty. Never heard of The Sailor... Will have to check that out.

Peace.

the mist

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 12/25/2009 - 16:26.

can't really take seriously this list because of the mist.. anyone who considers that to be a good, or even a decent, horror movie, is on a different planet with me..

the mist

Submitted by kylef22 on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 05:36.

i agree , the mist is more of a kids film that only kids will like

the mist

Submitted by profondo_rosso on Sat, 04/03/2010 - 03:09.

the mist was one of the few king books brought to film I ever cared for.

top 25 of the decade

Submitted by kylef22 on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 21:59.

u have a comedy as number 4 and number 1 u hav a film thats basicly like the film grace but instead of feeding a baby blood its his gf and the decent is more of a kids film and its number 2 so i gota disagree with this list,but im glad u hav rec frailty 28 days later in the list