My Favorite Works of Horror / Entenmann's Products (Patreon)

The Shining – A big sprawling toy box of a movie with so much to gawk at and savor and admire. A once-a-year viewing is required for me. The fact that it’s almost completely nuts in parts makes it even better somehow.

Pet Sematary – The book, that is. Stephen King would have become known as a great writer whatever genre he picked, I think; this one’s many ruminations on death and grief hit so close that I find them painful to revisit. Above all, it’s just really ghastly, white-knuckle stuff. When it comes to his short stories, I like Jerusalem’s Lot best of all in terms of straight-up chills, and of course, I’ve read the vampire novel that borrowed its name to tatters.

The Exorcist – For me, it’s probably the greatest work of horror ever. Very few filmmakers make horror movies this way: with utter, relentless seriousness, as if it’s an Ingmar Bergman film instead of something you down with popcorn and Dr. Pepper. (I’ve also watched Exorcist III more than a few times—a lot of good scenes in there. William Peter Blatty was a hugely smart guy; I enjoyed trying to keep up with the deep references in Legion, and The Ninth Configuration is a personal favorite too.)

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The Blair Witch Project – I am always completely immersed in this one, and always impressed by how incredibly tight it is; not an ounce of fat on it. The kind of uniformly naturalistic acting the cast achieved is kind of rare. On the found footage front, Paranormal Activity creeped me out pretty bad too. My favorite found footage scene remains the no-cutaways tent sequence near the end of Bobcat Goldthwait’s Willow Creek.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward – I find most of Lovecraft to be just very pleasantly sinister; this one came the closest to really widening the ol’ eyeballs as it went along. At the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow out of Time... all gold in their way too.

Rosemary’s Baby – It takes a lot of skill to make a somewhat absurd concept consistently spooky, and the movie has so many little clever bits.

The Evil Dead – When it’s an amateurish mess, it’s entertaining. Then, in its few minutes of genuine excellence, it’s kind of unforgettable.

The Thing – John Carpenter directed the crap out of this flick, and what a cast. It’s been 35 years and I’ve still never seen more effective special effects. As for Halloween, it’s right up there too.

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The Monkey’s Paw – Such economy of storytelling and such a perfect dark jewel.

Dawn of the Dead – When I was 12, my friends and I loved the gore. I never told them that I quickly started to prefer the quiet character scenes, which Romero was so good at. The little moments he depicts between good people are why I also love Day of the Dead, and his very non-horror movie Knightriders.

Dread – My favorite Clive Barker story, in which he pulls back on the weirdness a little and goes full-on terror. The Books of Blood left me thinking, “How does one brain come up with all this stuff?”

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The Willows – Algernon Blackwood’s tale is a great example of how atmosphere and suggestion can carry you very far indeed.

Dracula – Best character in horror ever? What imagination this book displays. My favorite movie adaptation of it by far is Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre, which I actually used to listen to on a Walkman during the years I couldn’t find a videotape of it.

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The Wicker Man – An ending for the ages.

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The Birds – The playground scene, am I right? The kids singing that song and then Tiddi Hedren isn’t paying attention and then… it doesn’t get any better than that. Notice next time you watch this movie how important the sound design is, and how much of it seems to be a weird domestic drama instead of a horror flick.

Jaws – Is Jaws on right now? Because if it is and you’re not telling me, I’ll be very upset. The U.S.S. Indianapolis scene goes on my list of the most mesmerizing monologues of all time. 

Seven – I keep forgetting how well done this was, and how gripping I find it from beginning to end.

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Alien – There are a lot of people who prefer Aliens, which is also a very good time, but this one to me is on a different level of expertise.

Cloverfield –  My best guilty pleasure. I will always watch this when it comes on for that awesome jittery realism. 

Signs – Shyamalan is just too skilled for me to ever pass him by. I personally find this one to be his most clever and entertaining on a repeated basis. 

The Fly – I love how Cronenberg kept the tragedy in this story so much in focus, just as he did in The Dead Zone.

Honorable Mention: The Legend of Hell House, The Haunting, the short horror stories of Joyce Carol Oates, M.R. James, and Poe, Lake Mungo, Donut Variety Pack, Session 9, The Fog, Creepshow, The Yellow Wallpaper, Whistle and I'll Come to You (BBC, 1968), Carnival of Souls, Jacob's Ladder… oh, I know I’m forgetting a bunch of stuff…