What are the top ten horror movies?

(1) Psycho: Based on a novel by the American author Robert Albert Bloch, Psycho is the considered as the best horror movie of all times. The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and it was released in 1960. The movie is about the relationship between a secretary named Marion Crane and Norman Bates, who is the owner of the motel Marion, is residing in, after fiddling with her employer for years. The movie received four academy award nominations and it was a blockbuster of its era.

(2) Alien: It is a horror film with a touch of scientific fantasy. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie hit the cinemas in 1979. The movie revolves around the lives of astronauts who, on their spaceship, accidentally come across a signal. It was from a derelict alien spaceship. The humans try to find out what is on board the alien spaceship but come out empty handed; only to find out later that the alien had followed them. The alien then tries to kill the human crew and kills all but two members before it is killed. The movie won several awards including the Academy Award for the Best Visual Effects and Saturn Award for the best science fiction movie.

(3) The Shinning: Directed by Stanley Kubrick, this psychological horror film was released in the 1980. The film is based on a novel by the American author Stephen Edwin King; the movie is about a writer who accepts the job of a caretaker at a hotel, not knowing that the son of the hotel owner possesses psychic abilities. The hotel is haunted, its owner is influenced by this and tries to kill his wife and son. The movie is considered the classic of horror movie genre.

(4) Les Diaboliques: The French movie is based on a novel Celle qui n’était plus by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. Directed by Henri Georges Clouzot, the movie was released in 1955 and it is now considered a classic. The plot of the movies focuses on a woman, her husband and her husband’s mistress. Both women try to murder the man and throw his body in a swimming pool. They think the murder would appear to be nothing more than an accident when the body would resurface but the body doesn’t come up and mysteriously disappears. Some strange events happen after that.

(5) The Thing: It is science fiction horror film released in 1982. The movie was directed by John Carpenter and it is an adaptation of the novella Who Goes There? by John Wood Campbell Jr. The film depicts an alien who first infects humans, imitates them, wins the trust of fellows and later kills them. In the movie the alien manages to infiltrate an Antarctic Research Station, infects the humans and tries to kill all of them. Although the film itself is based on a novella, later the movie itself was novelised. The film also won the Saturn Award for the Best Horror Film.

(6) King Kong: Co-directed by Merian Caldwell Cooper and Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack, the movie tells us the story of a gorilla that lives on an isolated island. The heroine, Ann Darrow, is caught by the natives of the island when she is on an expedition along with other adventures. The native try to offer the woman to the gorilla, who takes her back to the forest. Ann’s crew manages to rescue her from the gorilla. The crew later also subdue the gorilla with a gas, which makes the gorilla unconscious. The crew bring the gorilla to the New York City as an exhibition item. When the gorilla sees Ann again, he tries to get her and is killed in his attempts. Library of Congress considers the movie “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant” and it is preserved in United States National Film Registry.

(7) Rosemary’s Baby: Released in 1968, Rosemary’s Baby is a thriller and a horror film. The film is directed and written by the famous French-born Polish film director Roman Rajmund Pola?ski. The movie is a screen adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by an American author Ira Levin. The protagonist of the movie is Rosemary Woodhouse, who is married to a struggling actor. They shift to a new house and their neighbours are an eccentric old couple. Strange events began to happen when the young couple decides to have a baby. Rosemary feels she has been raped by a demon in her dream and when she relates the events to her husband and other they start thinking she is delusional; Rosemary later gets pregnant and in the end she realises that her child is the ‘anti-Christ’.

(8) Frankenstein: The movie is directed by James Whales and it is a screen adaptation of the play written by the British playwright Peggy Webling. The play itself is based on a novel of the same name by Mark Shelly. The movie was released in 1931 and it is about a young scientist who tries to create life artificially in his laboratory but instead, accidentally, ends up creating a monster who only knows hatred, horror and murder. The monster gets out of the laboratory and threatens the lives of villagers. The film has also been selected for preservation at the United States National Film Registry.

(9) The Exorcist: The horror movie is based on a novel of the same name by the American author William Peter Blattly. The Exorcist is considered the magnum opus of the author. The movie was directed by William Friedkin and it was released in 1973. The movie shows the attempts of desperate mother to win back her daughter from demonic possession. The mother hires two priests to do the job and one of the priests, Father Merrin, frees the girl. The girl forgets about her ordeal when she is freed. The film turned out to be one of the most profitable horror movies of all times.

(10) Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari: It is a silent film released in 1920 and it is directed by Robert Weine. The movie is about Dr. Caligari, who runs a mental asylum, and assistant Cesare who is somnambulist. Cesare kills people on Caligari’s directions until Caligari orders Cesare to kill Jane, a beautiful young woman. Cesare is captivated by her beauty and refuses to kill her. When the townsfolk come to know about Caligari’s reality they kill Cesare and Francis, Jane’s friend, imprisons Caligari in his asylum. It is considered one of the most expressionist German films.