Top Ten Best Horror Oscar-Worthy Films

In keeping with the last post about scary movies, it’s interesting to think of those movies that were Oscar contenders, or should have been, because they were so good they cut through the cloth of cinema and became wholly notorious for decades to follow. Here is the list in time for Halloween:

1. Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock still gets all of the credit for this beautiful, creepy movie. Still one of the best horror films because he never even has to show the knife entering the flesh yet there is no doubt that there will be blood.

2. Frankenstein – Not even Dracula could upstage the prototype of Frankenstein’s monster and the brutal, angry mob on his trail.

3. Halloween – John Carpenter’s original which has yet to be equaled by all of the dumb films it later inspired. The music, Jamie Lee Curtis, another long knife, another freaky lonely monster.

4. The Silence of the Lambs – not only is it one of the best horror films but it’s one of the best Oscar winners in its history.

5. Don’t Look Now – you have to make it past the acrobatic sex between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. You’ll never forget the final scene.

6. The Exorcist – well deserving of all of its praise and a movie that simply could not be made today. You will never see a film starring a young girl doing those things. It remains the only film that has ever made me lose sleep because it was so damned scary.

7. The Shining – everything is so big in this movie and the people are so small. The best horror films have memorable scores to go with them and The Shining is, of course, no exception.

8. The Thing – Carpenter’s version. It’s completely underrated, along with all of Carpenter’s work, and is much better than the original.

9. Carrie – both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were nominated for this film, deservedly. It resonates today because, like all good horror films, there is truth to the characters and the story.

10. Alien – the first is a horror film, the second is an action film. Alien broke the mold.

11. Jaws – I had to add it but couldn’t find a place for it.