Halloween is right around the corner, which means it is time to start carving pumpkins, eating candy, getting costumes ready, and (if you are a cinephile like us) popping in some scary movies. The library of great Halloween horror movies is seemingly endless, but Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has taken to social media to give us his top 50 favorites for the creepiest of holidays. They are:
1. Jaws -- Spielberg, 19752. Audition -- Miike, 19993. Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- Kaufman, 19784. The Host -- Bong Joon-ho, 20065. The Thing -- Carpenter, 19826. Green Room -- Saulnier, 20167. The Brood -- Cronenberg, 19798. Rosemary's Baby -- Polanski, 19689. A Tale of Two Sisters -- Kim Jee-woon, 200410. The Birds -- Hitchcock, 196311. 28 Days Later -- Boyle, 200312. Train to Busan -- Sang-ho Yeon, 201613. House -- Obayashi, 197714. Saw -- Wan, 200415. Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- Siegel, 195616. Night of the Living Dead -- Romero, 196817. They Live -- Carpenter, 198818. Cloverfield -- Reeves, 200819. Cronos -- Del Toro, 199320. Piranha 3D -- Aja, 201021. Peeping Tom -- Powell, 196022. The Night of the Hunter -- Laughton, 195523. The Mist -- Darabont, 200724. Dead Alive -- Jackson, 199225. Shaun of the Dead -- Wright, 200426. Funny Games -- Haneke, 199727. Troll Hunter -- Ovredal, 201128. Evil Dead II -- Raimi, 198729. The Shining -- Kubrick, 198030. The Descent -- Marshall, 200531. Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages -- Christensen, 192932. The Sixth Sense -- Shyamalan, 199933. Aliens -- Cameron, 198634. Bride of Frankenstein -- Whale, 193535. Martin -- Romero, 197736. Near Dark -- Bigelow, 198737. Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein -- Barton, 194838. Suspiria -- Argento, 197739. Zombieland -- Fleisher, 200940. King Kong -- Shoedsack, Cooper, 193341. Get Out -- Peele, 201742. Scream -- Craven, 199643. Cemetery Man -- Soavi, 199644. Shivers -- Cronenberg, 197545. Carrie -- DePalma, 197646. Basket Case -- Henenlotter, 198247. The Blob -- Russell, 198848. Alien -- Scott, 197949. The Fly -- Cronenberg, 198650. The Faculty -- Rodgriquez, 1998
A pretty solid selection, right? Within James Gunn's top 50 horror movie Facebook post, there's a proper blend of eras, with John Carpenter's endlessly ambiguous 1982 classic, The Thing, nestled right alongside last year's neo-Nazi slasher fest, Green Room. There's also a commendable blend of American and international films, with Asian horror flicks like Audition, Train to Busan, The Host all within the top 15. That said, you cannot beat the classics, as James Gunn's list is topped off with Steven Spielberg's game-changing blockbuster, Jaws, taking the top spot.
Amid all of the films that provide straight-faced screams, James Gunn also made a point to include some of the most iconic horror comedies of all time. Among these are Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn, Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, and Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland. Gunn is a man known for including a healthy dose of grim humor in most of his movies (look no further than Slither if you need evidence of that fact) so it makes quite a bit of sense that he would have a personal affinity for that blend of laughs and scares. After all, what's better than sitting down to watch a gut-busting horror comedy on Halloween night?
We should also take the time to note that James Gunn made sure to temper this list by pointing out the fact that these merely represent his 50 favorite horror movies of all time. This list does not present itself as an objective ranking of the 50 best spooky flicks ever made, which is likely the reason why some typical classics like Halloween and Psycho are not present on this list. My personal list would probably include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Dawn of the Dead, maybe even the original Evil Dead. Everyone has his or her own taste, and this is Gunn's.
What do you think of James Gunn's top 50 list of horror films? Give us some of your Halloween mainstays in the comments below. Beyond that, make sure to take a look at our 2017 movie premiere guide and our 2018 movie premiere guide to keep yourself up-to-date on all of the major film releases over the next year.
