The "Cyber-Horror Elite" Strike Again: Presenting the Top 25 Horror Films of the Modern Era!

Call me a glutton for punishment, but here we are again. About a month ago, I polled a number of prominent online horror bloggers and writers, asking each to send me his/her own personal list of the top 10 horror movies. My purpose was to determine the 50 best horror films as judged by a sampling of intelligent and well-written folks who are passionate about the genre--in response to HMV's polling of more general, casual fans.

The results raised a veritable sandstorm of discussion, debate, name-calling, and lots of other stuff. And like the consummate puppet master I am, I watched the proceedings with great interest. One of the legit complaints that was raised about the original list was that we had neglected flicks of recent years in favor of more time-honored "classics" of earlier eras. And while I felt there were definitely some explainable reasons for this, I also couldn't help but agree, since the vast majority of our picks went back 20 or more years.

So, I thought, why not attempt to remedy the situation by putting together another poll--this time focusing strictly on horror's "modern era"? For the purposes of the poll, I chose to define "modern era" as 1990 to the present. I was tempted to restrict it strictly to this century, but I decided that would steal the thunder of any "Best of the Decade" lists that are sure to pop up among my peers and I at this time next year.

As I did last time, I compiled the list using a points system. If a participant ranked a movie number one, it received 10 points, 9 points for number two, etc. Now, to diffuse some expected critiques, let me say this: Yes, there are some interesting anomalies. For example, The Mist, which was the only movie from the 21st century to make the all-time list, is here ranked below two other 21st century movies, neither of which made the all-time list. On the flipside, The Addiction made the all-time list, yet paradoxically did not make this list. My best explanation for this is that this time, our participants were slightly different, with a couple of folks dropping out, and a couple of new pundits taking part for the first time.

But enough of this palaver! Let's get on with the show:

1. The Descent (2005) dir: Neil Marshall
2. The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir: Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez
3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) dir: Jonathan Demme
4. The Ring (2002) dir: Gore Verbinski
5. Scream (1996) dir: Wes Craven
6. The Mist (2007) dir: Frank Darabont
7. 28 Days Later (2002) dir: Danny Boyle
8. Braindead (Dead Alive) (1992) dir: Peter Jackson
9. Inside (2007) dir: Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
10. Shaun of the Dead (2004) dir: Edgar Wright
11. Saw (2004) dir: James Wan
12. [REC] (2007) dir: Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza
13. Audition (1999) dir: Takashi Miike
14. Ginger Snaps (2000) dir: John Fawcett
15. American Psycho (2000) dir: Mary Harron
16. Session 9 (2001) dir: Brad Anderson
17. Dawn of the Dead (2004) dir: Zack Snyder
18. Army of Darkness (1993) dir: Sam Raimi
19. Dog Soldiers (2002) dir: Neil Marshall
20. Cabin Fever (2002) dir: Eli Roth
21. Let the Right One In (2008) dir: Tomas Alfredson
22. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) dir: Francis Ford Coppola
23. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) dir: Stanley Kubrick
24. Halloween: 20 Years Later (1998) dir: Steve Miner
25. Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man) (1994) dir: Michele Soavi

Some other prominent vote-getters: Ringu, Hostel, Jacob's Ladder, The Orphanage, Candyman, Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, The Sixth Sense, Jeepers Creepers

The inevitable stats:

• Earliest movie on the list: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Most recent movie on the list: Let the Right One In (the only 2008 entry)
• Only five of the 25 were made in the last five years (further supporting the theory that movies need time to ferment in the mind)
• Director listed the most times: Neil Marshall (2)

Eleven movies from outside the U.S.

• United Kingdom: The Descent, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, Dog Soliders
• New Zealand: Braindead
• France: Inside
• Spain: [REC]
• Japan: Audition
• Canada: Ginger Snaps
• Sweden: Let the Right One In
• Italy: Cemetery Man
  

(Very interesting that while only eight of the top 50 of all-time were non-American, eleven of the top 25 of the modern era come from outside the U.S.)

Yearly breakdown:

• 1991: 1
• 1992: 2
  
• 1993: 1
• 1994: 1
  
• 1996: 1
• 1998: 1
• 1999: 3
• 2000: 2
• 2001: 1
• 2002: 4
• 2004: 3
• 2005: 1
• 2007: 3
• 2008: 1

Our participants this time around included:

Wes Fierce of Horror Film Magazine
Vince Liaguno of Slasher Speak, horror novelist
Max Cheney of The Drunken Severed Head, 2007 Rondo nominee for Best Website
Karswell of The Horrors of It All
Stacie Ponder of Final Girl and AMC's Horror Hacker
Ryne Barber of The Moon Is a Dead World
Brad Miska of Bloody-Disgusting
John W. Morehead of Theofantastique
The Lightning Bug of The Lightning Bug's Lair
Sean T. Collins of Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat, Marvel.com and Maxim
CRwM of And Now the Screaming Starts
The Horror Guy
Justin of Send More Cops
Gary D. Macabre of Blogue Macabre and The Many Faces of the Frankenstein Monster
Garg the Unzola of The Necro Files
BC of Horror-Movie-a-Day
Peter Hall of Horror's Not Dead
Unkle Lancifer and Aunt John of Kindertrauma
John Kenneth Muir, horror critic (Booklist Editor's Choice)
Pax Romano of Billy Loves Stu
Curt Purcell of The Groovy Age of Horror and Cinema Nocturna
Scott Weinberg of FEARnet, Cinematical, Horror.com and Rotten Tomatoes
Brian Matus of FangoriaOnline
Jo of Nightly Accounts
Nate Yapp of Classic-Horror.com
And yours truly, of course.

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