Recently, there have been a great many horror lists published on various blogs as a rebuttal to Owen Gleiberman's list in Entertainment Weekly.
I cheated my list back 22 years so as to include In A Glass Cage, one of my favorite horror films of any time.
Good horror comedies such as Shaun of the Dead are missing because they're not real horror to me.
You won't find Blair Witch Project here because it is now and always has been utter shit.
I realize some films here such as Battle Royale may not meet everybody's definition of horror. For mine, the film's premise is horrific )enough in my book -- kill all your friends and classmates or you die!
Utterly disturbing.
Extremely tense. Claustrophobic. Doesn't put a foot wrong.
The cheat ending still bothers me, and almost bumped it off the list, but everything that comes before it is true horror executed with love and gusto.
A masterpiece from the late Kinji Fukasaku, a god among directors.
Surreal, atmospheric horror.
One of the best Italian horror films ever made (and they've made some doozies). Grisly, surreal, erotic, disturbing, and beautiful.
Despite the lack of perfect versions of this, it is a rich, atmospheric horror film occasionally handicapped by wrong-headed comedy. Still, its necrophilic tone qualifies it for greatness.
I love Arturo Ripstein, and this phenomenal Mexican version of The Honeymoon Killers is sometimes unbearable to watch.
As I am not a fan of Audition (I find it quite boring), my Miike choice is the brilliant and twisted Ichii The Killer.
As the years pass, I like Silence of the Lambs less and Ridley Scott's Hannibal so much more.
Gary Oldman's 'Mason Verger' is a modern horror creation that Lon Chaney would have been proud of.
One of the most subversive horror films ever to be slipped through a studio gate.
Real horror with brutal catharsis.
Easily one of the most bizarre, troubling, and anxiety-inducing horror films. From director Fruit Chan.
I may be alone on this one, but John Dahl's riff on the Duel premise is a taut, unrelenting horror pic with a great, unseen villain ('Rusty Nail').
What can I say that hasn't already been said?
Powerful psychological horror that captures the terror of being a prisoner of your own delusions.
A nightmare captured on celluloid.
This '87 masterpiece of bloodsucking just slips through the 22-year gate.
One of the most bizarre, cruel, and horrific studies of child abuse ever burned to the screen, Midori is a worthy successor to Todd Browning's Freaks.
Based on Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show by Suehiro Maruo.
Supreme tension.
Masterful, understated horror fairytale.
Accomplished tale of alienation where the horror grows like cancer on sunburn.
David Mamet's only attempt at writing a horror picture is stark and frightening and unforgettable. Stuart Gordon's direction is flawless.