Best Horror movie of all time: The Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Exorcist. Poll

Wondering about The Silence of the Lambs as well

 

The Shining. That messed me up when I saw it for the first time at 6yrs old.

 

Exorcist over TX Chainsaw (which is pretty terrible IMO) -- Shining, Jacobs Ladder, Halloween, Silence of the Lambs could be on there.

 

Chainsaw. It's seriously terrifying, twisted and macabre. You could see it actually happening.

Exorcist, I think, is scarier to people who are religious, which I am not. It was also a groundbreaking movie at the time.

The Shining is my favorite because it's Kubrick. Alien, Event Horizon and Evil Dead 2 are some of my favorites.

There are different sub-genres of Horror movie so it's hard to pick a favorite. My favorites are monster and psychological as well as Lovecraftian, which can be several of the below.

8 Horror Subgenres

While all horror films are meant to frighten audiences, there are a number of different methods and subgenres of horror that filmmakers may use to make their films scary:

1. Psychological horror: Psychological horror films rely on mental and emotional fear, rather than violence or monsters, focusing on characters’ states of mind throughout the story. Examples of psychological horror include The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs, and Psycho.
   
   
2. Slasher: Slasher films usually focus on a serial killer (think Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger) as they go after a group of people. Classic slasher films include Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
   
   
3. Gore: Gore films, also called splatter films, zero in on the vulnerability of the human body, often with frequent close-ups. Examples of gore films include The Evil Dead and Saw.
   
   
4. Body horror: Closely related to gore, films in the body horror subgenre may feature scenes of the human body that has been severely altered. Filmmaker David Cronenberg is considered a pioneer in the body horror subgenre. Horror films that feature body horror include The Fly, The Thing, and The Exorcist.
   
   
5. Found footage: Found footage is a horror genre in which the film is portrayed as if it were “discovered” by the filmmakers rather than created by them. For instance, main characters finding footage of an unknown evil on an old video recorder. Examples of found footage films include The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield.
   
   
6. Monster horror: Many horror films capitalize on the fear of the unknown by featuring frightening monsters from science fiction and dark fantasy. Werewolves, vampires, aliens are often the main antagonists of this horror subgenre. Most recently, undead and zombie films have been an especially popular form of the classic monster movie. Examples of monster horror films include Night of the Living Dead, Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, Jaws, Godzilla, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, and Alien.
   
   
7. Paranormal horror: The paranormal horror subgenre is similar to monster horror, but rather than featuring corporeal beings, paranormal horror focuses on the monsters we can’t touch—supernatural entities like ghosts, spirits, and demons. Paranormal films often feature haunted houses, possession, exorcism, or occult worship. Examples of paranormal horror include The Exorcist, Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror, The Omen, Carrie, and Poltergeist.
   
   
8. Comedy horror: Horror doesn’t always have to leave your skin crawling—there is an entire subset of horror movies that aims to make you laugh at the same time. Examples of comedy horror include Scream, The Cabin in the Woods, Shaun of the Dead, and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.

 

Totally forgot about The Thing and Alien.

 

Those are both classics. Hard to draw a line of distinction between horror and sci-fi with them. Both of the creatures are so utterly alien that they're terrifying but the movie doesn't have to be (even though it is).

My type of 'horror'- has some plot and substance as opposed to just slashing, running and jump scares.


Forgot Paranormal Activity. Freaked me out. My wife and son were visiting my inlaws and I watched it at night by myself.

 

Paranormal Activity was a nice surprise really well done. Event Horizon is a movie that seems to be great fit for me but I never liked it probably a 5/10 at best.

 

I'm partial to Sam Neil horror flicks. He seems to bring them up a notch. In the Mouth of Madness was a great one with him too.

 

Watched Signs recently again and while not horror there are plenty of creepy scenes -- the Mexican b-day party is so freaky for some reason.

 

Potentially triggering horror on date nights.

 

Bingo, that's why I never mentioned either, plus some other ones that creeped me out but were more on the sci-fi side.

 

I'd add another one, unless this fits into Cat1

Atmospheric Horror: Not bloody, just creepy

Alien, The Witch, Suspiria, Hereditary, Wicker Man (not the bear punching one), Midsommar, others...I'd put the Exorcist in here too

And there's also Jump Scare Horror: the cheapest kind of horror, and it sucks.

 

Exorcist: a paranormal horror. Religious, suspenseful, some jump cares. Not gore based but had iconic tricked out scenes. Also little girl dropping the F-bomb; which was shocking for its time. All before them South Park kids.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Villain based, body gore, slasher. Lot of chase scenes; now a standard in the genre. The gore isn't torture p*rn like the SAW movies, but It and the Friday 13th movies laid the blueprint for Slashers decade to come.

Exorcist a classic; wider appeal. Chainaw is more of cult favorite for Horror movie fans.

 

Event Horizon was 'disturbing' as hell to me. Not scary, but totally ****ed up, especially visually.

Reminded me of some of the old school Lovecraft/Barker stuff: From Beyond or Hellraiser for example

 

The Endless is a good Lovecraft inspired mystery/ horror movie.

 

Will do. Check out 'The Void' for that same weirdness.

Spoiler

Session 9 is a good 'atmospheric creepy' movie too.

 

I've never watched a scary / horror movie that I've enjoyed. Though the line between thriller/scary movie blurs sometimes, I do enjoy some "thrillers".

 

I started The Void but it was edited so I stopped. I’ll watch and check out Session 9.

 

I love the Exorcist.

I love Rosemary’s Baby. I’ve watched this one at the River Oaks Theater a few years and creeped me out. Very well made movie.