Top 5 Horror Movies
The Exorcist (1973) - Most Horror Movie
It is the most horror movie of all time. William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name served as the inspiration for William Friedkin’s 1973 American supernatural horror picture “The Exorcist”, which he also directed. Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair are the movie’s stars. The plot centers on a young girl who becomes possessed by a demon, and her mother’s attempt to free her by having two Catholic priests perform an exorcism.
Friedkin, Blatty’s pick for the director’s chair, and Blatty, who also served as producer, struggled with the casting. Warner Bros. officials objected to their decision to use relative unknowns Burstyn, Blair, and Miller instead of well-known actors. Principal photography was challenging because it was done in hot regions and on sets that were chilled. Unusual mishaps delayed filming and resulted in numerous cast and crew members being hurt or killed.
The film was said to be cursed because production took twice as long as anticipated and nearly tripled the original budget. On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was screened in 24 theaters across the country. Although there were mixed reviews, there were huge queues outside in the cold, and Warner made even more money from the sold-out performances because it was the first time a major studio had hired it under leasing agreements with four walls.
Some viewers experienced negative physical reactions to frightening events, such as dizziness or nausea, like a realistic cerebral angiogram. Because so many kids were allowed to watch it, accusations that the MPAA rating body had catered to Warner by awarding the movie an R classification rather than an X rating to assure the troubled production’s commercial success have been levelled. Many communities made an effort to openly forbid it or keep kids from going.
The movie received nine other nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture, making it the first horror movie to receive such a nomination. Best Adapted Screenplay honours went to Blatty, and Best Sound went to the sound designers. It had some sequels and, up to It, was the most successful R-rated horror movie in terms of box office revenue. The Exorcist has had a significant influence on popular culture and several publications regard it as one of the greatest horror films ever made.
Hereditary (2018) – Second Most Horror Movie
In his feature directorial debut, Ari Aster created the 2018 American psychological supernatural horror thriller “Hereditary”. The movie, starring Gabriel Byrne, Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and others, centres on a heartbroken family who becomes cursed by a demon after the death of their reclusive grandmother. It is the second most horror movie.
Hereditary, Aster’s debut feature film, was given the go-ahead by A24 when they became aware of his short film work. Aster intended it to be largely a family drama divided into two halves. The majority of the interior scenes were filmed on specially constructed sets in a studio in Utah in 2017 to give the movie a dollhouse feel.
Hereditary had its Sundance Film Festival debut on January 21, 2018, and on June 8, 2018, it was distributed in theatres around the country. Numerous critics praised the movie, praising Collette’s performance, Aster’s direction, and Stetson’s score in particular. It became A24’s highest-earning movie ever at the time, grossing nearly $82 million on a $10 million budget; the record stood until the release of Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022.
The Conjuring (2013) – Third Most Horror Movie
James Wan and Chad and Carey W. Hayes’ supernatural horror thriller “The Conjuring” was released in the United States in 2013. It is the first instalment in The Conjuring Universe series. As paranormal researchers and authors Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, they are linked to well-known haunting instances. The Amityville Horror novel and film franchise were inspired by their allegedly true-life accounts. The Warrens helped the Perron family, who in 1971 began to encounter increasingly unsettling occurrences at their newly occupied farmhouse in Rhode Island. It is the third most horror movie.
The Warren Files, later renamed The Conjuring, is a movie that centres on the purported real-life activities of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple who investigated paranormal happenings. Production on the movie started in January 2012, and reports confirmed Wan as the director. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga played the lead roles of Ed and Lorraine in his second film with Wan. The filming of the scenes took place in Wilmington, North Carolina, starting in February 2012.
Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema released The Conjuring on July 19, 2013, in the US and Canada. Critics gave it favourable reviews and lauded the musical composition, directing, storyline, atmosphere, and acting. In comparison to its $20 million budget, it brought in almost $319 million globally. The Conjuring 2, the follow-up, was published in 2016.
The Shining (1980) – Fourth Most Horror Movie
“The Shining” is a 1980 horror movie that Stanley Kubrick co-wrote with author Diane Johnson and produced, directed, and co-wrote. Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers star in the 1977 novel by Stephen King of the same name. Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer and sober man who accepts a new job as the Overlook Hotel’s off-season caretaker. Danny, played by Lloyd, is a young boy with psychic talents (referred to as “the shining”) that he discovers from head chef Dick Hallorann (Crothers). It is the fourth most horror movie.
Before a winter storm leaves the family stranded in the Colorado Rockies due to snow, Danny’s imaginary buddy Tony informs him the motel is haunted. Under the impact of the hotel and its guests, Jack’s mental health declines, putting Danny and his mother Wendy (Duvall) at grave risk. With sets based on actual locations, production took place nearly solely at EMI Elstree Studios.
Having a small team allowed Kubrick to complete numerous takes, sometimes due to the performers’ and crew members‘ tiredness. The picture has an avant-garde and realistic appearance and feel thanks to the usage of the new Steadicam mount in many scenes. Because of the contradictions, ambiguities, symbolism, and deviations from the novel, there has been a lot of conjecture regarding the meanings and events in the movie.
Warner Bros. distributed the movie on May 23, 1980, in the United States, and on October 2, 1980, in the United Kingdom. There were many cuts made for theatrical presentations, each one being roughly 27 minutes shorter than the one before it. When the movie first came out, reviews were divided, and Stephen King criticized it for departing from the novel. At the inaugural Razzie Awards in 1981, the movie was nominated for two contentious awards: Worst Director and Worst Actress, the latter of which was later overturned in 2022 owing to Kubrick’s abuse of Duvall on the set.
Since then, the movie has received more positive reviews. The Shining was listed in the Sight & Sound Directors’ vote as the 75th best movie of all time in 2012. As a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” work, the movie was chosen by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry in 2018. Thirty-nine years after the original book’s publication, King released a sequel novel in 2013, and on November 8, 2019, a sequel film, Doctor Sleep, was released.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – Fifth Most Horror Movie
Tobe Hooper wrote the story and the script for the 1974 American horror movie “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, which he also produced and directed. The actors that play Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the business owner, and Leatherface in the film are Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen. It is the fifth most horror movie.
The movie centres on a group of friends who, while travelling to see an old farmstead, are attacked by a cannibal family. To draw in a larger audience and serve as a subtle commentary on the political situation of the time, the movie was advertised as being based on real-life occurrences. Although the murders of serial killer Ed Gein served as inspiration for Leatherface and a few minor plot points, the story itself is entirely made up. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise began with this movie.
With a budget of less than $140,000 ($800,000 after inflation), Hooper assembled a cast of mostly unrecognized actors from central Texas, where the movie was filmed. Hooper had to shoot for long hours seven days a week because of the tight budget to finish fast and save money on equipment rental. Hooper had trouble finding a distributor for his violent movie, but Louis Perano of Bryanston Distributing Company eventually bought it.
Hooper attempted to get a PG rating by reducing the amount of violence on screen, but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave it an R rating. Similar issues were encountered elsewhere; the movie was outlawed in several nations, and many cinemas ceased playing it in reaction to criticism of its graphic violence. Although reviews of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were initially negative, the movie was still very successful, earning over $30 million domestically, which is about equivalent to over $150.8 million as of 2019 and selling over 16.5 million tickets in 1974. Since then, it has developed a reputation as one of the top and most significant horror movies.
The use of power tools as murder weapons, the portrayal of the perpetrator as a huge, hulking person wearing a mask, and the execution of victims are all elements that are credited as having originated in this film. The story of Leatherface and his family was extended through a franchise that included prequels, sequels, a remake, comic comics, and video games.
These are the Top 5 horror movies.
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