The Holiday Watchlist

Holiday flicks I try to watch each year:

• Anna and the Apocalypse
• The Hogfather
• Rare Exports
• Black Christmas (1974)
• Gremlins
• Violent Night
• Christmas in Connecticut
• Muppet Christmas Carol
• Santa's Slay
• Scrooged
• Slay Belles
• It's A Wonderful Life
• Letters to Satan Claus
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• The Little Drummer Boy
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• A Charlie Brown Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie Reviews for Writers: The Norliss Tapes

I can't believe I only recently discovered this flick. 

Considering just how big a Kolchak the Night Stalker fan I am, you'd think I would have seen it way earlier. 

Oh well. 

Coming into this movie, all I knew was that it was very similar to both the Kolchak movies and the series, and that it was produced by the same guy (Dan Curtis, also of Dark Shadows fame).

David Norliss is a writer working on a book debunking supernatural events. It's a book he pitched to his publisher. It's a book he has been paid a large advance for. Only, after almost a year, not a word is written.

Sanford: Hello, David. Been a while. How's the book coming?

Norliss: Sanford, I've gotta talk to you.

Sanford: I know, you're gonna tell me it's only half-written, and we're gonna have to delay our-

Norliss: Half-written, hell. I don't have a word on paper.

Sanford: It's been almost a year.

Norliss: I know how long it's been, Sanford. But I, uh... I can't write it. I'm afraid to write it. You're not making sense.

Sanford: We gave you a sizeable advance to write a book debunking the supernatural, which was your idea not ours. And now you tell me, a year later, you haven't even started it.

Now, before you chalk David's problem up to what is typically called Writer's Block, it's not that. It's much deeper. He's not distracted. He's not "blocked." He's terrified. 

UPDATED FOR HALLOWEEN 2025! Horror Movies that Influence Me as a Writer

 

Note: This is an update to this post. So many new movies have come out and I've caught up on a few I still had managed to miss from the "good old days" that it felt like the right time to update this list. 

As a writer of horror stories and connoisseur of scary flicks, I get asked a lot what my favorite horror movies are. Well, it's not that simple with me (it never is; ask my wife and kids). There are so many and how can one possibly pick a favorite when there are favorites in so many subgenres? (It's like how my wife tells me she can have more than one best friend when "best" is a superlative, not a comparative.) 

Anyway, as of this moment in time (subject to change), this is my list of favorite horror movies (and those that influenced my ideas and my writing) categorized by subgenre. 

If you want to consider this your own "to watch" list, I won't stop you. It's a fantastic list (at least in my opinion) of the essential horror stories committed to film. 

FYI, you will notice some crossover between subgenres, because, well, that's just the way horror works. 

New Category#1! Sinister Locations

My son Evan recommended that I include this as a new category, and the more I thought about it, he was right. I don't include a mere haunted house tale in this list though. Those will be under Ghost Stories/Haunted Houses. This list is reserved for a place that is more than haunted; it is cursed, unclean, unwelcoming and out to get you.

1. Hausu

2. As Above, So Below

3. YellowBrickRoad

4. In the Mouth of Madness

5. Dead & Buried

6. The Shining

7. Messiah of Evil

8. The Watcher in the Woods

9. Silent Hill

10. Dave Made a Maze

11. Suicide Forest

12. Population 436

13. Cabin in the Woods

14. Pet Sematary

15. Southbound

16. Skinamarink

17. The Dark

18. Neon Demon

19. Jugface

20. Waxworks

New Category#2! Kaiju

Who doesn't love giant monsters? It all began with the two kings, Kong and Godzilla. But American sci-fi quickly picked up on the theme and gave us lots of giant monsters thanks to the dangers of atomic bombs and chemicals polluting our waters. 

1. King Kong 1933

2. Gojira 1954

3. Godzilla Minus-1

4. Troll Hunter

5. Tremors

6. Them

7. King Kong 2005

8. The Host

9. Godzilla 2014

10. Destroy All Monsters

11. Monsters

12. Cloverfield

13. Mothra

14. Rodan

15. Kong: Skull Island

16. Tarantula

17. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

18. Nope 

19. The Mist

20. Q the Winged Serpent

21. Pacific Rim

22. Attack of the 50 Foot Women

23. The Blob 1988

24. Anaconda

25. Colossal 

Movie Reviews for Writers: Killer Book Club

Oh my God! A horror slasher about a book club that focuses on horror fiction?! Can't believe I just discovered this one. It's as if it were written for me in particular. 

El club de los lectores criminales, the film's original Spanish title, is based on the book of the same name by García Miranda. From a plot standpoint, it shares a lot with Scream. In fact, much of the plot and the tone are lifted almost directly from Kevin Williamson's deconstruction of modern slashers. 

But Killer Book Club takes the premise of a campus slasher and moves it into territory I love -- writing and reading books. Even the mysterious death that sets the plot into action involved writing and coming up with story ideas. Any more than that, well, that would be spoilers. 

Writing that lacks truth. What is truth?

In the first few minutes of the movie, we have a scene set in a writing course at college. Our professor, who is clearly not in favor of horror writing, says: "Monsters, demons, ghosts, witches… and other representations of darkness have never been well received by critics, despite their commercial success. I've always seen horror as a mediocre genre. It has a major weakness. It always seems to be missing something. What could it be?"

A student responds: "Maybe that the stories lack authenticity?"

Movie Review for Writers: The Great Gatsby (2013)

It's a long-accepted literary theory that the great American novel, The Great Gatsby, is not written (in fact) by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but actually written by Nick Carroway (being channeled by F. Scott Fitzgerald). The 2013 movie version of that novel really leans into that idea, though it is largely ignored in the earlier version (which doesn't really suffer from that thanks to amazing performances by both Mia Farrow and Robert Redford).

As the movie begins, we see Nick talking with a counselor/psychologist about his experiences and being recommended to write it all down in order to finally make sense of these events that have clearly affected him on an existential level. He's trying to work through his feelings about his cousin and her husband, both "careless people" hiding away in the money from responsibility and justice. He's trying to work through his feelings for Jordan, who (at least in this film version) he never really clicked with. But most of all, he's trying to work through his feelings for and about Jay Gatsby. 

Nick: I don't want to talk about this,Doctor. I can't talk about THIS.   

Doctor: Then write about it.

Nick: Write?

Doctor: Yes, write.

Nick: Why would I do that?

Doctor: After all, you said that writing brought you solace, once upon a time.

Nick: Yeah, well. It didn't bring anyone else much solace... I wasn't any good.

The Doctor offers Nick a pen; but Nick does not accept.

Doctor: No one need ever read it. You can always burn it.

Nick: What would I write about?

Doctor: Anything. Whatever you can't quite talk about; a memory; a thought; a place... Write it down.

There's a lot to unpack in this apocryphal exchange that was added to the movie to make the central conceit work more naturally. 

Movie Reviews for Writers: Dead End

Let's just deal with two things first before we even look as what this movie has to say about writers and the writing life. 

(1) This dude is an atrocious writer, as evidenced by the slow pan across his laptop screen: "He pricks her slightly so that a thin trickle of blood starts rolling down her neck and says, "I'm gonna rape and kill you right here..." Not exactly killer prose (so sorry for the pun, but I'm leaving it).

And (2) This flick takesa few minor trips into skinemax territory without getting two 'porny' (to coin a phrase). 

However, all that said, the flick is a pretty watchable little mystery thriller, even if the premise isn't all that original. William Snow plays Todd Russell, a police detective who retired after being unable to solve the most important murder investigation of his career. He took his knowledge and became a true crime writer and quite a popular and successful one. Then one day, it seems like the killer from years ago has returned and is re-enacting the crimes from his unsolved case. Obviously, as the cliche demands, Russell becomes the prime suspect. 

Now, this tight little mystery twists and turns more than Caribbean dancing, and even if you figure out the final twist, you won't be certain of it until the movie confirms it. 

But, you're here to see what it has to say about writing and the writing life. 

Early in the film, while meeting with his research assistant Ben Sykes, played by Matthew Dyktynski, Russell is asked about the coffee in his fridge (yeah, I guess he was iced coffee before it became cool):

Ben: Doesn't that stuff keep you up all night?

Todd: Yeah, writing. 

Ben: I wish I had that sort of discipline. 

Todd: You want to be a writer?

Ben: Yeah? I've got this idea I've been kicking around. 

Todd: Well, if you wanna talk about it or need any help.

Ben: Thanks. I really appreciate it. Maybe I'll just wait until I get it a little more defined. 

Todd: Just let me know.

That scene takes maybe 40 seconds of screen time between the conversation and sorting through the papers and other bits of action between the dialog, but there's a good deal we can unpack from it. 

[Link] Script Collection: Supernatural Horrors That Still Send Shivers

by David Young

Horror has so many dimensions, but one of the most celebrated and explored is the horror of that which is supernatural. It’s not enough to be an extension of the natural—the horror we mean is the stuff of legends, myths, or creatures beyond the veil. Spirits, curses, devils, psychic disturbances, and living products of the mind all create stories we shudder to tell. That means they also provide the fuel for some of the most terrifying or fun horror films in history!

Script included in this article:

• The Exorcist
• The Babadook
• Poltergeist
• The Witch
• Candyman
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Hellraiser
• Final Destination
• House
• Rosemary’s Baby
• Friday the 13th
• The Evil Dead
• The Grudge
• Krampus
• It
• The Conjuring
• Annabelle
• The Omen
• The Ring
• It Follows
• Insidious
• Carrie (1976)
• The Shining
• Fright Night
• Hereditary

Get 'em here: https://thescriptlab.com/weekly-feature/42177-script-collection-supernatural-horrors-that-still-send-shivers/

UPDATED FOR HALLOWEEN 2024! Horror Movies that Influence Me as a Writer

Note: This is an update to this post. So many new movies have come out and I've caught up on a few I still had managed to miss from the "good old days" that it felt like the right time to update this list. 

As a writer of horror stories and connoisseur of scary flicks, I get asked a lot what my favorite horror movies are. Well, it's not that simple with me (it never is; ask my wife and kids). There are so many and how can one possibly pick a favorite when there are favorites in so many subgenres? (It's like how my wife tells me she can have more than one best friend when "best" is a superlative, not a comparative.) 

Anyway, as of this moment in time (subject to change), this is my list of favorite horror movies (and those that influenced my ideas and my writing) categorized by subgenre. 

If you want to consider this your own "to watch" list, I won't stop you. It's a fantastic list (at least in my opinion) of the essential horror stories committed to film. 

FYI, you will notice some crossover between subgenres, because, well, that's just the way horror works. 

New Category#1! Sinister Locations

My son Evan recommended that I include this as a new category, and the more I thought about it, he was right. I don't include a mere haunted house tale in this list though. Those will be under Ghost Stories/Haunted Houses. This list is reserved for a place that is more than haunted; it is cursed, unclean, unwelcoming and out to get you.

1. Hausu

2. As Above, So Below

3. YellowBrickRoad

4. In the Mouth of Madness

5. Dead & Buried

6. The Shining

7. Messiah of Evil

8. The Watcher in the Woods

9. Silent Hill

10. Dave Made a Maze

11. Suicide Forest

12. Population 436

13. Cabin in the Woods

14. Pet Sematary

15. Southbound

16. Skinamarink

17. The Dark

18. Neon Demon

19. Jugface

20. Waxworks

New Category#2! Kaiju

Who doesn't love giant monsters? It all began with the two kings, Kong and Godzilla. But American sci-fi quickly picked up on the theme and gave us lots of giant monsters thanks to the dangers of atomic bombs and chemicals polluting our waters. 

1. King Kong 1933

2. Gojira 1954

3. Godzilla Minus-1

4. Troll Hunter

5. Tremors

6. Them

7. King Kong 2005

8. The Host

9. Godzilla 2014

10. Destroy All Monsters

11. Monsters

12. Cloverfield

13. Mothra

14. Rodan

15. Kong: Skull Island

16. Tarantula

17. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

18. Nope 

19. The Mist

20. Q the Winged Serpent

21. Pacific Rim

22. Attack of the 50 Foot Women

23. The Blob 1988

24. Anaconda

25. Colossal 

New category! Stephen King Adaptations

His work has been adapted into films more than any other living writing writer, probably any writer living or dead, period. Some are fantastic, some are, well, less than fantastic. But here are the ones that have most influenced my work. 

1. Cujo

2.  Salem's Lot (1979)

3. Christine

4. The Shining (1980)

5. Carrie (1976)

6. It, Chapter 1

7. The Mist

 8. Gerald's Game

 9. 1408

10. It (1990)

11. Needful Things

12. Doctor Sleep

13. Pet Sematary (1989)

14. Secret Window

15. Misery

16. Desperation

17. It, Chapter 2

18. Maximum Overdrive (sure, it's silly but so much fun)

19. Cat's Eye

20. The Langoliers

Ghost Stories

For me, ghost stories are my favorite genre of horror tales, and whether they're about a haunted person, house, or even plot of land, I'm all in. 

1. The Orphanage

2. The Devil's Backbone

3. The Haunting (1953)

4. Thir13en Ghosts

5. The Others

6. Ju-on

7. The Ring (US version) 

8. The Innocents

9. In a Dark Place

10. The Sixth Sense 

11. The Shining

12. Session 9

13. The Terror

14. Kwaidan

15. The Babadook

16. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

17. Last Night in Soho

18. Crimson Peak

19. I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

20. The Changeling

The Living Dead

I'm really burned out lately on zombies, and I'm really tired of the "zombies as the apocalypse" theme. I love, however, to see directors and screenwriters do something new and different with the living dead, which for me also includes mummies and ghouls returned from the grave. 

1. Dead Girl

2. Night of the Living Dead

3. Carnival of Souls

4. The Fog (original) 

5. Tombs of the Blind Dead

6. Make Out With Violence

7. 28 Days Later

8. Dawn of the Dead

9. The Re-Animator

10. Zombi 2

11. Dead Snow

12. Brain Dead

13. Dance of the Dead (2008)

14. Return of the Living Dead

15. Day of the Dead

16. Candyman

17. Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night 2

18. The Ghost Galleon

19. Night of the Seagulls

20. Blood from the Mummy's Tomb

Dr. Frankenstein/The Monster

The scientist who wants to play god is another of my favorite genres in horror, but not just that. This type of film also includes for me those who can't accept the "wrong" parts of people and want to create a sort of perfect version, even in non-science-y ways. 

1. Deadly Friend

2. Bride of Frankenstein

3. The Bride

4. Frankenstein

5. Frankenstein Created Woman

6. May

7. Lady Frankenstein

8. Splice

9. Embryo

10. Demon Seed

11. Halloween III: Season of the Witch

12. Depraved

13. The Spirit of the Beehive

14. The Curse of Frankenstein

15. Ex Machina

16. M3ghan

17. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

18. The Island of Dr. Moreau

19. The Golem

20. M3gan

Vampires

Vampires. The original bad boys long before they ever sparkled. Let's just get this straight. I don't mind modern romantic vamps, but I prefer even my romantic vamps to enjoy a good rip of the jugular every now and then. 

1. From Dusk Till Dawn

2. Forsaken

3. Dracula (Spanish Version)

4. Let the Right One In

5. Night Watch

6. Chronos

7. Shadow of the Vampire

8. Nosferatu

9. Prey

10. Salem's Lot (original TV miniseries)

11. Near Dark

12. Dracula (Universal)

13. Lost Boys

14. Fright Night

15. 30 Days of Night

16. Strigoi

17. The Night Stalker

18. Embrace of the Vampire

19. Taste the Blood of Dracula

20. The Brides of Dracula

Werewolves and Shapeshifters

Lycanthropes may be the A-listers in the shapeshifter crowd, but the world of therianthrope isn't limited to just wolves. I think for writers, the shapeshifters offer one of the best shorthand for looking into what makes humanity actually human, whether, wolf or cat or snake or lizard.

1. Cat People (original)

2. Howling

3. Howling V: The Rebirth

4. An American Werewolf in London

5. The Wolfman (original)

6. The Reptile

7. The Gorgon

8. Cursed

9. Cat People (remake)

10. Dog Soldiers

11. Silver Bullet

12. Blood and Chocolate

13. Underworld

14. The Wolfman (remake) 

15. The Curse of the Werewolf

16. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

17. Ginger Snaps

18. Werewolves Within

19. Hisss

20. Night of the Cobra Woman

Demons/Devils

There are as many cultures of demons in the world as they're are countries and cultures of people. Although movies tend to default to the Western devil and demons, I wanted to include a few other brands of the demonic here as well. 

1. Wishmaster

2. Sinister

3. The Beyond

4. The Exorcist

5. Lisa and the Devil

6. Rosemary's Baby

7. Drag Me To Hell

8. Jennifer's Body

9. The Evil Dead

10. Hellraiser

11. Demons

12. Night of the Demons

13. The Garden (2006)

14. Insidious

15. The Exorcism of Emily Rose

16. The Last Exorcism

17. Nightmare on Elm Street

18. Antrum

19. Prince of Darkness

20. Hereditary

"Witches"/Cultists

Yeah, I know there's a huge difference between horror movie witches, Wiccans, and nature worshippers, but for this list it if fits in any of those it works. 

1. Suspiria

2. Black Sunday

3. City of the Dead (Horror Hotel)

4. The Dunwich Horror

5. The Wicker Man

6. The VVitch

7. The Babysitter

8. Curse of the Demon

9. Midsommar

10. House of the Devil 

11. Witching and Bitching

12. Season of the Witch

13. The Virgin Witch

14. The Love Witch

15. Inferno

16. Mother of Tears

17. Rosemary's Baby 

18. The Witch

19. The Woods

20. Viy

21. The Craft

22. Blood on Satan's Claw

23. Witchouse

24. The Autopsy of John Doe

25. The Lords of Salem

Slashers

It's the genre that will never take a break, much less die. Knives, axes, machetes, pointy sticks, bows and arrows, you name it, these folks use any tools at their disposal to dispose of their victims for revenge or no motive at all. And we still love to watch them. 

1. Twitch of the Death Nerve (Bay of Blood)

2. Peeping Tom

3. The Burning

4. Halloween

5. Sleepaway Camp

6. Friday the 13th Part II

7. Dementia 13

8. Hatchet

9. Audition

10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

11. Stage Fright (2014)

12. Last House on the Left (original)

13. I Spit on Your Grave (original)

14. Theatre of Blood

15. The Visit

16. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

17. Martyrs

18. Final Girls

19. The Banana Splits Movie

20. Happy Birthday to Me

Creature Features

For my list, I'm separating supernatural and mutated creatures from the "Nature Gone Wild" critters. These monsters should be way about sharks and bears on the scary-meter. And they are. The thing I love about this genre is that often the critters are more sympathetic than their prey. 

1. Pumpkinhead

2. Gojira

3. She Creature

4. Pan's Labyrinth

5. The Creature from the Black Lagoon

6. Silent Hill

7. Dagon

8. Feast

9. Troll Hunter

10. Humanoids from the Deep

11. Tremors

12. Nightbreed

13. The Mist

14. Digging Up the Marrow

15. The Host

16. The Bay

17. Jeepers Creepers

18. Tremors III

19. The Golem

20. Cellar Dweller

Nature's Monsters

You'll never go back into the water. You'll never venture alone in the woods. You won't piss off earthworms or birds anymore either. 

1. Jaws

2. Cujo

3. The Birds

4. Eight-Legged Freaks

5. Piranha (original)

6. Chaws

7. Deep Blue Sea

8. Orca

9. Squirm

10. Willard

11. Empire of the Ants

12.  Marabunta

13. Alligator

14. Grizzly

15. Razorback

16. Food of the Gods

17. Anaconda

18. Snakes on a Plane

19. Cocaine Bear

20. Zoombies/Zombeavers

Aliens

At some point, sci-fi aliens shifted from adventure to horror, and I love it. Who says first contact should be with something we can categorize and tame? Certainly not these otherworldly killer critters?

1. Alien

2. Slither

3. A Quiet Place

4. John Carpenter's The Thing 

5. Aliens

6. The Blob (remake) 

7. Species

8. Virus

9. Night of the Creeps

10. Bad Taste

11. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (remake) 

12. Phantasm

13. Pitch Black

14. Day of the Triffids

15. Planet of the Vampires

16. Galaxy of Terror

17. Dead Space: Downfall

18. Under the Skin

19. The Mist

20. Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Psychos

There's often a lot of crossover between psychos and slashers, but a true psycho is out of his/her/their mind. They often have little to no rationale for their killings, and if they do, it's because of a break from sanity. They take the murderous urge above and beyond the average.

1. Nightmare in the Wax Museum

2. House of 1000 Corpses

3. Psycho

4. Misery

5. The People Under the Stairs

6. Pieces

7. The Devil's Rejects

8. The Boy

9. 2000 Maniacs

10. Eaten Alive

11. Saw

12. Don't Breathe

13. The Collector

14. Dressed to Kill (and yes, there are problematic issues that don't translate well to today)

15. Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator

16. Christine

17. 31

18. The Devil's Rejects

19. Fade to Black

20. The Pit and the Pendulum

Creepy Kids

Creepy kids have to be the absolutely creepiest movie "monsters." But it's so easy to overdo them and turn a flick into a farce. There's a very fine line that must be walked for the story to avoid the "cornfield" motif from Twilight Zone. 

1. Orphan

2. The Omen

3. Children of the Corn

4. Cooties

5. The Children (1980)

6. Hard Candy

7. Village of the Damned

8. The Bad Seed (1956)

9. You'd Better Watch Out

10. Wicked Little Things

11. Who Can Kill a Child

12. Alice, Sweet Alice

13. The Brood

14. Goodnight Mommy

15. Them (2006)

16. The Children (2006)

17. Kill, Baby, Kill

18. Case 39

19. Spider Baby 

20. Pet Semetary

Holiday Horror

I love just about any horror flick that is attached to a holiday. They can be so much fun, and typically they don't take themselves too seriously. Some though can be super creepy and terrifying, in spite of the holiday trappings (or often because of them). 

1. Black Christmas (original)

2. Halloween

3. Rare Exports

4. Santa's Slay

5. Saint

6. Gremlins

7. April Fool's Day

8. My Bloody Valentine (original) 

9. Anna and the Apocalypse

10. Trick or Treat

11. Satan's Little Helper

12. A Christmas Horror Story

13. Wind Chill

14. Dead End

15. Santa Jaws

16. Letters to Satan Claus

17. Holidays

18. Krampus

19. Terror Train

20. Violent Night

Anthologies

Okay. A lot of anthologies kind of suck. Maybe one good segment in a bucket filled with crap. But a few, a select few, get it right. Maybe by theming with a good theme. Maybe by lining up great writers and/or directors. Or just maybe by getting lucky. 

1. Trilogy of Terror

2. Trilogy of Terror II

3. Tales from the Crypt

4. From a Whisper to a Scream

5. V/H/S

6. Creepshow

7. The House That Dripped Blood

8. Asylum

9. Southbound

10. The Field Guide to Evil

11. Trick 'r Treat

12. Creepshow 2

13. A Christmas Horror Story

14. V/H/S II

15. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors

16. Tales from the Hood

17. XX

18. The Uncanny

19. Cat's Eye

20. Ghost Stories

Creepy Comedy

There's a big difference (at least to me) between a comedy movie that adds tropes from horror and a horror flick that paces and dresses like a comedy during its runtime. I tend to like them both. But the best is the kind that integrates both genres almost seamlessly. 

1. Bubba Ho-Tep

2. Shaun of the Dead

3. House (with William Katt)

4. Monster Squad

5. Black Sheep

6. Fido

7. The Cottage

8. Trailer Park of Terror

9. Doghouse

10. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

11. Elvira Mistress of the Dark

12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie, not series)

13. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

14. Grabbers

15. Zombieland

16. Evil Dead II

17. Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy

18. Psycho Goreman

19. Young Frankenstein

20. Zombie Strippers

Giallo Horror

When Noir abandoned black and white, it found the world of four-color gore and violence. This is one of my favorite genres to watch. I love the Everyman aspect, caught up in a dangerous crime spree or mystery. And I love the way this type of film skirts the edges of horror tales and mystery stories. 

1. Don't Torture a Duckling

2. Deep Red

3. Blood and Black Lace

4. Hatchet for the Honeymoon

5. Bird with the Crystal Plumage

6. Tenebre

7. The Case of the Bloody Iris

8. Cat O' Nine Tails

9. Kill, Baby, Kill

10. Four Flies on Velvet

11. Night of the Glass Dolls

12. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

13. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

14. Black Belly of the Tarantula

15. Unsane

16. A Blade in the Dark

17. Whatever Happened to Solange?

18. Don't Look Now

19. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh

20. The Perfume of the Woman in Black

21. Baba Yaga

22. The Girl Who Knew Too Much

23. Lizard in a Woman's Skin

24. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire

25. Stage Fright 

Body Horror

This one can be a tough genre to watch. It tends to revel in its super-gross-out ideas and images. It can be sickening down to its core concept (I'm looking at you Centipede). But when maintaining a fantastic story to accompany that imagery, they can be the most memorable stories around.

1. Videodrome

2. Blue My Mind

3. Dr. Jeckyll and Sister Hyde

4. Altered States

5. Shivers

6. The Human Centipede II

7. The Fly

8. Teeth

9. Spring

10. Thale

11. Tetsuo the Iron Man

12. Society

13. The Fly (Jeff Goldblum)

14. Sssssss

15. Splinter

16. Dead Ringers

17. American Mary

18. Eraserhead

19. The Skin I Live In

20. Tusk

Voodoo

Voodoo is a mixed bag in horror. Some films treat it as a bogeyman and make stuff up left and right to give it more horror gravitas while some evil cast it as the "white man's fears of others" -- some select few at least try to treat it fairly as a religion. But whatever the bag it's put in, it's still the home of the original zombies. 

1. White Zombie

2. The Serpent and the Rainbow

3. Scream Blacula Scream

4. Venom

5. Eve's Bayou

6. Sugar Hill

7. The Skeleton Key

8. Ritual

9. Jessabelle

10. I Walked with a Zombie

11. The Plague of the Zombies

12. Black Mamba

13. The Curse of the Doll People

14. I Eat Your Skin

15. Ouanga

Gateway Horror for Kids

Even as a kid, I loved being scared by movies. Without these horror-themed entry-level flicks, where would kids like me have ended up? Some were designed to be horror-lite, but some just took elements of horror and wove them in to build in the creepy factor. Either way, they were my gateway drug as a kid. 

1. Coraline

2. Corpse Bride

3. Monster Squad

4. Goosebumps (the movie) 

5. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

6. The Gate

7. Willy Wonka

8. Monster House

9. The Watcher in the Woods

10. ParaNorman

11. Hocus Pocus

12. Little Monsters

13. Gremlins

14. The Lady in White

15. The Witches

Super Powers Gone Crazy

As a writer of superhero fiction, I love it when horror and superpowers mix. Call me a cynic, but I think if we have powers like that in the real world, they would more often lend themselves to moments of real horror than to moments of Boy Scouts saving folks from falling buildings. 

1. Phenomena

2. Carrie

3. The Fury

4. Firestarter

5. Brightburn

6. The Crow

7. New Mutants

8. Split

9. Scanners

10. Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Warriors

11. Akira

12. Dead Zone

13. Chronicle

14. Blade

15. Tourist Trap

Creepy Dolls

On the creepy scale, does anything rate higher than creepy dolls? I mean, really? (Okay, maybe clowns, but even that would be too close to call without a photo finish.) What is it about things that are almost lifelike that scare us so? Especially things that are inanimate. Is there something in them that reflects something we don't want to face back at us?

1. Dolls

2. Puppet Master

3. The Boy

4. Dead Silence

5. Love Object

6. M3ghan

7. Magic

8. Dolly Dearest

9. Marronnier

10. Corn

11. Tourist Trap 

12. Annabelle

13. Devil Doll

14. Bride of Chucky

15. Trilogy of Terror

16. The Devil's Machine

17. Baba Yaga

18. Anatomy

19. The Doll Master

20. Love Object

Stupid Shark Movies

I'll admit it. I love shark movies, both the genuinely awesome, scary ones that make me look twice at the ocean before entering the water at the beach AND the ones that are so stupid, so ridiculous that I simply laugh all the way through at the zany situations they create on celluloid. In fact, sometimes I prefer the really goofy ones, and the dumber the better. 

1. Sharktopus

2. Sharknado

3. Santa Jaws

4. Sand Sharks

5. Ice Sharks

6. Ghost Shark

7. Two-Headed Shark Attack

8. Empire of the Sharks

9. Sharknado III

10. Planet of the Sharks

11. Trailer Park Shark

12. Jurassic Shark

13. Ouija Shark

14. Toxic Shark

15. Malibu Shark Attack

16. Three-Headed Shark Attack

17. Sky Sharks

18. Shark Night

19. Shark Week

20. House Shark

Torture Porn

Not a fan of this subgenre, but the first Saw and the first Hostel, like the original found footage cannibal films, were groundbreaking horror flicks. Seems like the films they inspired were just insipid and uninspired derivatives. 

1. Saw

2. Hostel

3. The Wizard of Gore (original)

4. Martyrs

5. Cannibal Holocaust

Truly Weird/Genre Defying/Outliers

This last list is for my absolute favorite type of horror flicks, the kinds that don't fit neatly, or often at all, into easily definable categories. This is the place where the truly gifted or the truly insane come out to play. It's the kitchen where writers and directors operate with a blender and a spray nozzle more than with a paintbrush or a list of classic techniques and storylines. And it's where the best of the best in horror can usually be found (at least in my opinion). 

1. Uzumaki

2. Lake Mungo

3. Rubber

4. The Lift

5. Lord of Illusions

6. From Beyond

7. Chopping Mall

8. The Woman

9. Jacob's Ladder

10. Freaks

11. Donny Darko

12. Us

13. The Deaths of Ian Stone

14. Irreversible

15. It Follows

16. Frontier(s)

17. The Broken

18. The Baby

19. Scare Me

20. Santa Sangre 

Movie Reviews for Writers: The Black Press -- Soldiers Without Swords

 

Writing and reading have always been important, and not just for entertainment. Words have long been a powerful tool for achieving social and cultural goals, and the history of the black press is just one story that highlights that legacy.

But, as crucial as that history is, this wonderful documentary isn't just a dry presentation of information but also offers something to say to contemporary writers.  

The Importance of Public Words

The early black press took away the invisibility of African-American citizens, both slaves in the South and freemen in the North. Says Vernon Jarrett: 

"We didn't exist in the other papers. We were neither born, we didn't get married, we didn't die, we didn't fight in any wars, we never participated in anything of a scientific achievement. We were truly invisible unless we committed a crime. And in the BLACK PRESS, the negro press, we did get married. They showed us our babies when born. They showed us graduating. They showed our PhDs."

In the same way, your words, no matter how small or large your readership, destroy your invisibility. It shows that you have opinions, thoughts, and ideas that matter. 

And those ideas are targeted, not just the typical who, what, where, when associated with the notion of an unbiased press we often hear about today. According to Phyl Garland: 

"The black press was never intended to be objective because it didn't see the -- the white press being objective. It often took a position. It had an attitude. This was a press of advocacy. There was news, but the news had an admitted and a deliberate slant."

Jane Rhodes echoes that idea: 

"Their whole idea behind Freedom's Journal was to have a voice, an independent voice, an autonomous voice for African Americans. The opening editorial on the front page of Freedom's Journal says, "We mean to plead our own cause ..."

Or, put in other words, "No longer shall others speak for us" (Vernon Jarrett). 

Not only was it important to hear their own voices and see their own faces in the news, it was equally important to train a new generation of writers of color to continue that representation into the next generation. Frederick Douglas probably said it best in his speech on December 3, 1847:

"In the grand struggle for liberty and equality now waging, it is (Unintell.), right, and essential that there should arrive in our ranks authors and editors as well as orators, for it is in these capacities that the most permanent good can be rendered to our cause."

All those new writers, editors, and orators created an interconnected sense of national community that had been limited to disconnected local communities prior. 

Christopher Reed: I would rank the 19th-century African American press as one of the major forces in producing one of the major miracles of that century, pulling African Americans together after slavery into cohesive communities. Whether you're talking about Kansas or Mississippi, ah, New York, it doesn't make any difference -- Washington, these newspapers informed people, elevated morale, built a sense of racial consciousness. You can't, ah, overstate the importance of newspapers.

The Importance of Reading

The rise of the black press highlighted not only the importance of representation in writing but also the crucialness of reading. With the arrival of the black press, reading became a new sort of national pastime for black citizens.

Narrator: As slaves, African Americans were forbidden to read, but after the Civil War, reading became one of the sweetest fruits of freedom. For many, black newspapers were an introduction the power and the magic of the written word.

It surprises me how often people take the gift and miracle of reading so lightly, more as a chore than a privilege. That goes for writers too. I can't tell you how many writers I've talked with who tell them they're too busy writing and don't have time to read. To mean, that's like saying you're too busy driving to fill up the tank with gas. 

I know that as a reader I'm biased -- I get that -- but we have such a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and yes, entertainment available to us that so many simply disregard. 

So, clearly, even today, the importance of the act of reading hasn't changed. 

The Guts to Keep Writing

Perhaps the biggest takeaway we can get from this excellent documentary is that community gives us the courage to keep writing. A living, vibrant group of other creators as the balm the author's soul needs to keep going. 

Just like the Douglases influenced and encouraged the Ida B. Wellses and the Robert Abbotts. 

Christopher Reed: America had to change and the vehicle to express this would be the newspaper.

And, today, while the issues may be different, America still needs to hear new voices and change and grow with each new generation of writers. Maybe, just maybe, something you write, may have a bearing on that and influence someone in the next generation. 

Movie Reviews for Writers: Christmas in Connecticut

I'm a sucker for Barbara Stanwyck. Not only is she a compelling dramatic actress in such films as Double Indemnity and The Secret Loves of Martha Ivers and Meet John Doe, but she is also a gifted comedic genius, whether the sharp wit of Lady of Burlesque and Ball of Fire or the almost Lucille Ball-like sense of manic panic as it this one.  

Holiday movies, I'm not usually so much a fan. They tend to either smack of forced melodrama or cutesy romantic intrigue that's about as believable as the romance between Anakin and Padme. 

But I do love this charming little flick about a magazine writer who gets herself in trouble by "faking it" without "making it."

Stanwyck is Elizabeth Lane, a sort of Martha Stewart before there was a Martha Stewart. She writes home décor and cooking articles for a major magazine, and she's a rock star in the world of doilies and fancy dining. The only trouble is she's a total fake. When she is called out on it and has to put on a holiday dinner for a returning war hero, she finds that as a Fifth Avenue dame, she's way out of her element, no where close to the ranch, newborns, and homey world she pretends to inhabit. To save her job, she had to pull off the con of her life.

So, to use our writer slang, she fakes it. 

But making it, well, that's a little more difficult. 

It's a classic sort of screwball comedy, so the laughs are built around her flailing attempts to pretend to be a mother and a homemaker and a cook of the first order, all while balancing a pretend husband and the soldier she finds herself falling for. But underneath all those laughs (and trust me, there are a lot -- Stanwyck gets accolades for her dramatic thrillers but not nearly enough for her comedy chops, if you ask me) is a cautionary tale about writing what you know. 

Have you ever taken on a writing assignment that was clearly out of your depth, the sort of job where you figure you can learn everything you need to know to make it happen by the deadline? The kind you sort of bluff your way through the initial meeting, knowing it will "all be fine"? 

• Accepting a blog writing gig for B2B articles for a corporate client
• Ghostwriting a romance book when you do mainly thrillers
• Editing a textbook in a subject you know little about

Sure, research is always a writer's best friend, and the only way to grow into new areas of "writing what you know" is to learn new things. But there's a difference between pushing yourself and cheating your client or publisher. Let's say you've worked for a company in a similar industry. Well, then, that blog article might not be too much of a stretch with a rudimentary bit of research. Let's say you've only blogged about sports and the client is in international cosmetics. Then, that rudimentary research turns into a doctorate-level dive that might mean you turn in work that might (a) misrepresent your client or (b) reveal your lack of knowledge. 

Now, that's a rather extreme example, and that's a far cry from thriller writers trying their hands at romance -- as long as both the publisher knows up front it's that writer's first excursion into romance. And proofreading that textbook might not be an issue, whereas content editing it might. 

The simple truth of it all is this: Unlike Stanwyck's Elizabeth Lane, you and I don't usually have the kind of people on hand to pull ourselves out of the fire if we misrepresent ourselves, and even if we did, it doesn't override the moral obligation to be honest in our business dealings with our writing. The trick is to know where that fine line between "I can research this" and "I will have to fake this" lies. One side is fair play. The other is dirty pool. 

Movie Reviews for Writers: Conjuring Spirit

I love Asian horror. I just don't get to cover much of it here because it usually doesn't have much of anything to do with writers and writing. But today, we're both lucky, because Conjuring Spirit is a creepily beautiful (or beautifully creepy, take your pick) Vietnamese ghost story about a popular mystery novelist who leaves her husband after his affair and takes her son with her to an apartment complex to start over. 

After walking in on her husband in flagrante delicto, Lan decides she has had enough and she and her young son, Bi, move out. Cue the haunted apartment and the ghosts that only Bi can see at first. (Because, of course only the kid can see the spirits.)

All the while, Lan is under deadline (almost behind deadline) for her next book. 

The Guilt of Frustration

So, in the midst of having to learn to be a single parent, deal with a haunted kid who may or may not be seeing ghosts, and fend off the romantic advances of a neighbor, she also had to make time to write her book. Throughout it all, Bi constantly asks her to play with him and she promises later just about each time. 

You can hear the frustration (both with herself and him) in her voice and see the frustration in her face each time. Ever been there? You've finally managed to carve out some time to write and BAM!, here comes a call from your mother, one of your kids breaks a glass, you name it. And you start to feel guilty for your irritation that your family is cutting into your work time. (Because, your mother has clearly told you before that writing isn't a real job.)

The Power (and the Trap) of a Series

Early in the film, Lan meets with her publisher, who lays down the law about the pending deadline. During this conversation, Lan offers a few tidbits that are common to us as writers. 

Lan's mysteries series is based on the adventures of Detective Kieu, a female private eye. It's a best-selling series, so fans and the publisher keep clamoring for more. Only, Lan is growing a little tired of Kieu. 

When asked for yet another Kieu book, Lan responds, "Another story of Detective Kieu?" She's a writer who is full of ideas and wants to explore them, but she's trapped by her own success and by the expectations of readers. 

For all the benefits of writing a series in which each new volume markets all the others, there is the downside of sacrificing all your time to one character or set of characters. 

Hitting a Trouble Spot

During her conversation with her publisher, Lan admits that she is stuck with the newest book. She feels as though Kieu has worn herself thin as a character and she just doesn't know what she will do next. Without that crucial question answered the author can't move on to develop either the plot or the character. 

What does the issue stem from? It's coming from Lan's personal life (Can you say authorial intrusion, anyone?). But she can't help it. With her personal life in turmoil, much of that is bleeding over into the life of her best-selling detective. 

Because of Lan's situation, she just can't keep treating Detective Kieu like she has. With her life hitting a serious emotional depth suddenly, she feels like that must also be applied to her characters. 

Just as she faces new challenges, so much Kieu, or so she believes. 

Just as her view of the world has been shattered, so much the detective's worldview. 

It's what they both need to move forward. 

Detective Lan

Now, this is a minor and more fun thing, but sometimes we learn things in order to better write our characters. It could be something simple like visiting a cave to gauge the temperature and the feel of the rocks in the dark for accuracy in description. Or, in the case of both Lan and myself, it might be learning lockpicking to better incorporate it into your work -- writing work, I mean, so don't call the cops. 

When Lan and her boyfriend are breaking into a suspected killer's home, the guy is surprised to find she is able to pick the lock. She responds with a smirk and basically tells him she wouldn't be much of a mystery writer if she couldn't.

 

I concur, Lan. I concur.

UPDATED! Horror Movies That Influenced Me as a Writer

Note: This is an update to this post. So many new movies have come out and I've caught up on a few I still had managed to miss from the "good old days" that it felt like the right time to update this list. 

As a writer of horror stories and connoisseur of scary flicks, I get asked a lot what my favorite horror movies are. Well, it's not that simple with me (it never is; ask my wife and kids). There are so many and how can one possibly pick a favorite when there are favorites in so many subgenres? (It's like how my wife tells me she can have more than one best friend when "best" is a superlative, not a comparative.) 

Anyway, as of this moment in time (subject to change), this is my list of favorite horror movies (and those that influenced my ideas and my writing) categorized by subgenre. 

If you want to consider this your own "to watch" list, I won't stop you. It's a fantastic list (at least in my opinion) of the essential horror stories committed to film. 

FYI, you will notice some crossover between subgenres, because, well, that's just the way horror works. 

Ghost Stories

For me, ghost stories are my favorite genre of horror tales, and whether they're about a haunted person, house, or even plot of land, I'm all in. 

1. The Orphanage
2. The Devil's Backbone
3. The Haunting (1953)
4. Thir13en Ghosts
5. The Others
6. Ju-on
7. The Ring (US version) 
8. The Innocents
9. In a Dark Place
10. The Sixth Sense 
11. The Shining
12. Session 9
13. The Terror
14. Kwaidan
15. The Babadook
16. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
17. Dark Water (original) 
18. Crimson Peak
19. Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman
20. The Changeling

The Living Dead

I'm really burned out lately on zombies, and I'm really tired of the "zombies as the apocalypse" theme. I love, however, to see directors and screenwriters do something new and different with the living dead, which for me also includes mummies and ghouls returned from the grave. 

1. Dead Girl
2. Night of the Living Dead
3. Carnival of Souls
4. The Fog (original) 
5. Tombs of the Blind Dead
6. Make Out With Violence
7. 28 Days Later
8. Dawn of the Dead
9. The Re-Animator
10. Zombi 2
11. Dead Snow
12. Brain Dead
13. Dance of the Dead (2008)
14. Return of the Living Dead
15. Day of the Dead
16. Candyman
17. Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night 2
18. The Ghost Galleon
19. Night of the Seagulls
20. Blood from the Mummy's Tomb

Dr. Frankenstein/The Monster

The scientist who wants to play god is another of my favorite genres in horror, but not just that. This type of film also includes for me those who can't accept the "wrong" parts of people and want to create a sort of perfect version, even in non-science-y ways. 

1. Deadly Friend
2. Bride of Frankenstein
3. The Bride
4. Frankenstein
5. Frankenstein Created Woman
6. May
7. Lady Frankenstein
8. Splice
9. Embryo
10. Demon Seed
11. Halloween III: Season of the Witch
12. Depraved
13. The Spirit of the Beehive
14. The Curse of Frankenstein
15. Ex Machina
16. M3ghan
17. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
18. The Island of Dr. Moreau
19. The Golem
20. Island of Lost Souls

Vampires

Vampires. The original bad boys long before they ever sparkled. Let's just get this straight. I don't mind modern romantic vamps, but I prefer even my romantic vamps to enjoy a good rip of the jugular every now and then. 

1. From Dusk Till Dawn
2. Forsaken
3. Dracula (Spanish Version)
4. Let the Right One In
5. Night Watch
6. Chronos
7. Shadow of the Vampire
8. Nosferatu
9. Prey
10. Salem's Lot (original TV miniseries)
11. Near Dark
12. Dracula (Universal)
13. Lost Boys
14. Fright Night
15. 30 Days of Night
16. Strigoi
17. The Night Stalker
18. Embrace of the Vampire
19. Taste the Blood of Dracula
20. The Brides of Dracula

Werewolves and Shapeshifters

Lycanthropes may be the A-listers in the shapeshifter crowd, but the world of therianthrope isn't limited to just wolves. I think for writers, the shapeshifters offer one of the best shorthand for looking into what makes humanity actually human, whether, wolf or cat or snake or lizard.

1. Cat People (original)
2. Howling
3. Howling V: The Rebirth
4. An American Werewolf in London
5. The Wolfman (original)
6. The Reptile
7. The Gorgon
8. Cursed
9. Cat People (remake)
10. Dog Soldiers
11. Silver Bullet
12. Blood and Chocolate
13. Underworld
14. The Wolfman (remake) 
15. The Curse of the Werewolf
16. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
17. Ginger Snaps
18. Werewolves Within
19. Hisss
20. Night of the Cobra Woman

Demons/Devils

There are as many cultures of demons in the world as they're are countries and cultures of people. Although movies tend to default to the Western devil and demons, I wanted to include a few other brands of the demonic here as well. 

1. Wishmaster
2. Sinister
3. The Beyond
4. The Exorcist
5. Lisa and the Devil
6. Rosemary's Baby
7. Drag Me To Hell
8. Jennifer's Body
9. The Evil Dead
10. Hellraiser
11. Demons
12. Night of the Demons
13. The Garden (2006)
14. Insidious
15. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
16. The Last Exorcism
17. Nightmare on Elm Street
18. Antrum
19. Prince of Darkness
20. Hereditary

"Witches"/Cultists

Yeah, I know there's a huge difference between horror movie witches, Wiccans, and nature worshippers, but for this list it if fits in any of those it works. 

1. Suspiria
2. Black Sunday
3. City of the Dead (Horror Hotel)
4. The Dunwich Horror
5. The Wicker Man
6. The VVitch
7. The Babysitter
8. Curse of the Demon
9. Midsommar
10. House of the Devil 
11. Witching and Bitching
12. Season of the Witch
13. The Virgin Witch
14. The Love Witch
15. Inferno
16. Mother of Tears
17. Rosemary's Baby 
18. The Witch
19. The Woods
20. Viy
21. The Craft
22. Blood on Satan's Claw
23. Witchouse
24. The Autopsy of John Doe
25. The Lords of Salem

Slashers

It's the genre that will never take a break, much less die. Knives, axes, machetes, pointy sticks, bows and arrows, you name it, these folks use any tools at their disposal to dispose of their victims for revenge or no motive at all. And we still love to watch them. 

1. Twitch of the Death Nerve (Bay of Blood)
2. Peeping Tom
3. The Burning
4. Halloween
5. Sleepaway Camp
6. Friday the 13th Part II
7. Dementia 13
8. Hatchet
9. Audition
10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
11. Stage Fright (2014)
12. Last House on the Left (original)
13. I Spit on Your Grave (original)
14. Theatre of Blood
15. The Visit
16. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
17. Martyrs
18. Final Girls
19. The Banana Splits Movie
20. Happy Birthday to Me

Creature Features

For my list, I'm separating supernatural and mutated creatures from the "Nature Gone Wild" critters. These monsters should be way about sharks and bears on the scary-meter. And they are. The thing I love about this genre is that often the critters are more sympathetic than their prey. 

1. Pumpkinhead
2. Gojira
3. She Creature
4. Pan's Labyrinth
5. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
6. Silent Hill
7. Dagon
8. Feast
9. Troll Hunter
10. Humanoids from the Deep
11. Tremors
12. Nightbreed
13. The Mist
14. Digging Up the Marrow
15. The Host
16. The Bay
17. Jeepers Creepers
18. Tremors III
19. The Golem
20. Cellar Dweller

Nature's Monsters

You'll never go back into the water. You'll never venture alone in the woods. You won't piss off earthworms or birds anymore either. 

1. Jaws
2. Cujo
3. The Birds
4. Eight-Legged Freaks
5. Piranha (original)
6. Chaws
7. Deep Blue Sea
8. Orca
9. Squirm
10. Willard
11. Empire of the Ants
12.  Marabunta
13. Alligator
14. Grizzly
15. Razorback
16. Food of the Gods
17. Anaconda
18. Snakes on a Plane
19. Cocaine Bear
20. Zoombies/Zombeavers

Kaiju

It all began with the two kings, Kong and Godzilla. But American sci-fi quickly picked up on the theme and gave us lots of giant monsters thanks to the dangers of atomic bombs and chemicals polluting our waters. 

1. King Kong (1933)
2. Gojira
3. Destroy All Monsters
4. The Host
5. Godzilla (2014)
6. Mothra
7. King Kong (1976)
8. Kong of Skull Island
9. Rodan
10. Godzilla King of the Monsters
11. King Kong (2005)
12. Godzilla (1996)
13. Godzilla 2000
14. The Beginning of the End
15. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
16. Cloverfield
17. Godzilla vs. Kong
18. Q the Winged Serpent
19. Them!
20. Pacific Rim

Aliens

At some point, sci-fi aliens shifted from adventure to horror, and I love it. Who says first contact should be with something we can categorize and tame? Certainly not these otherworldly killer critters?

1. Alien
2. Slither
3. A Quiet Place
4. John Carpenter's The Thing 
5. Aliens
6. The Blob (remake) 
7. Species
8. Virus
9. Night of the Creeps
10. Bad Taste
11. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (remake) 
12. Phantasm
13. Pitch Black
14. Day of the Triffids
15. Planet of the Vampires
16. Galaxy of Terror
17. Dead Space: Downfall
18. Under the Skin
19. Killer Klowns from Outer Space
20. Ghosts of Mars

Psychos

There's often a lot of crossover between psychos and slashers, but a true psycho is out of his/her/their mind. They often have little to no rationale for their killings, and if they do, it's because of a break from sanity. They take the murderous urge above and beyond the average.

1. Nightmare in the Wax Museum
2. House of 1000 Corpses
3. Psycho
4. Misery
5. The People Under the Stairs
6. Pieces
7. The Devil's Rejects
8. The Boy
9. 2000 Maniacs
10. Eaten Alive
11. Saw
12. Don't Breathe
13. The Collector
14. Dressed to Kill (and yes, there are problematic issues that don't translate well to today)
15. Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator
16. Christine
17. 31
18. The Devil's Rejects
19. Fade to Black
20. The Pit and the Pendulum

Creepy Kids

Creepy kids have to be the absolutely creepiest movie "monsters." But it's so easy to overdo them and turn a flick into a farce. There's a very fine line that must be walked for the story to avoid the "cornfield" motif from Twilight Zone. 

1. Orphan
2. The Omen
3. Children of the Corn
4. Cooties
5. The Children (1980)
6. Hard Candy
7. Village of the Damned
8. The Bad Seed (1956)
9. You'd Better Watch Out
10. Wicked Little Things
11. Who Can Kill a Child
12. Alice, Sweet Alice
13. The Brood
14. Goodnight Mommy
15. Them (2006)
16. The Children (2006)
17. Kill, Baby, Kill
18. Case 39
19. Spider Baby 
20. Pet Semetary

Holiday Horror

I love just about any horror flick that is attached to a holiday. They can be so much fun, and typically they don't take themselves too seriously. Some though can be super creepy and terrifying, in spite of the holiday trappings (or often because of them). 

1. Black Christmas (original)
2. Halloween
3. Rare Exports
4. Santa's Slay
5. Saint
6. Gremlins
7. April Fool's Day
8. My Bloody Valentine (original) 
9. Anna and the Apocalypse
10. Trick or Treat
11. Satan's Little Helper
12. A Christmas Horror Story
13. Wind Chill
14. Dead End
15. Santa Jaws
16. Letters to Satan Claus
17. Holidays
18. Krampus
19. Terror Train
20. Violent Night

Anthologies

Okay. A lot of anthologies kind of suck. Maybe one good segment in a bucket filled with crap. But a few, a select few, get it right. Maybe by theming with a good theme. Maybe by lining up great writers and/or directors. Or just maybe by getting lucky. 

1. Trilogy of Terror
2. Trilogy of Terror II
3. Tales from the Crypt
4. From a Whisper to a Scream
5. V/H/S
6. Creepshow
7. The House That Dripped Blood
8. Asylum
9. Southbound
10. The Field Guide to Evil
11. Trick 'r Treat
12. Creepshow 2
13. A Christmas Horror Story
14. V/H/S II
15. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
16. Tales from the Hood
17. XX
18. The Uncanny
19. Cat's Eye
20. Ghost Stories

Creepy Comedy

There's a big difference (at least to me) between a comedy movie that adds tropes from horror and a horror flick that paces and dresses like a comedy during its runtime. I tend to like them both. But the best is the kind that integrates both genres almost seamlessly. 

1. Bubba Ho-Tep
2. Shaun of the Dead
3. House (with William Katt)
4. Monster Squad
5. Black Sheep
6. Fido
7. The Cottage
8. Trailer Park of Terror
9. Doghouse
10. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
11. Elvira Mistress of the Dark

12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie, not series)

13. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
14. Grabbers
15. Zombieland
16. Evil Dead II
17. Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy
18. Psycho Goreman
19. Young Frankenstein
20. Zombie Strippers

Giallo Horror

When Noir abandoned black and white, it found the world of four-color gore and violence. This is one of my favorite genres to watch. I love the Everyman aspect, caught up in a dangerous crime spree or mystery. And I love the way this type of film skirts the edges of horror tales and mystery stories. 

1. Don't Torture a Duckling
2. Deep Red
3. Blood and Black Lace
4. Hatchet for the Honeymoon
5. Bird with the Crystal Plumage
6. Tenebre
7. The Case of the Bloody Iris
8. Cat O' Nine Tails
9. Kill, Baby, Kill
10. Four Flies on Velvet
11. Night of the Glass Dolls
12. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
13. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
14. Black Belly of the Tarantula
15. Unsane
16. A Blade in the Dark
17. Whatever Happened to Solange?
18. Don't Look Now
19. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
20. The Perfume of the Woman in Black
21. Baba Yaga
22. The Girl Who Knew Too Much
23. Lizard in a Woman's Skin
24. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire
25. Stage Fright 

Body Horror

This one can be a tough genre to watch. It tends to revel in its super-gross-out ideas and images. It can be sickening down to its core concept (I'm looking at you Centipede). But when maintaining a fantastic story to accompany that imagery, they can be the most memorable stories around.

1. Videodrome
2. Blue My Mind
3. Dr. Jeckyll and Sister Hyde
4. Altered States
5. Shivers
6. The Human Centipede II
7. The Fly
8. Teeth
9. Spring
10. Thale
11. Tetsuo the Iron Man
12. Society
13. The Fly (Jeff Goldblum)
14. Sssssss
15. Splinter
16. Dead Ringers
17. American Mary
18. Eraserhead
19. The Skin I Live In
20. Tusk

Voodoo

Voodoo is a mixed bag in horror. Some films treat it as a bogeyman and make stuff up left and right to give it more horror gravitas while some evil cast it as the "white man's fears of others" -- some select few at least try to treat it fairly as a religion. But whatever the bag it's put in, it's still the home of the original zombies. 

1. White Zombie
2. The Serpent and the Rainbow
3. Scream Blacula Scream
4. Venom
5. Eve's Bayou
6. Sugar Hill
7. The Skeleton Key
8. Ritual
9. Jessabelle
10. I Walked with a Zombie
11. The Plague of the Zombies
12. Black Mamba
13. The Curse of the Doll People
14. I Eat Your Skin
15. Ouanga

Gateway Horror for Kids

Even as a kid, I loved being scared by movies. Without these horror-themed entry-level flicks, where would kids like me have ended up? Some were designed to be horror-lite, but some just took elements of horror and wove them in to build in the creepy factor. Either way, they were my gateway drug as a kid. 

1. Coraline
2. Corpse Bride
3. Monster Squad
4. Goosebumps (the movie) 
5. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
6. The Gate
7. Willy Wonka
8. Monster House
9. The Watcher in the Woods
10. ParaNorman
11. Hocus Pocus
12. Little Monsters
13. Gremlins
14. The Lady in White
15. The Witches

Super Powers Gone Crazy

As a writer of superhero fiction, I love it when horror and superpowers mix. Call me a cynic, but I think if we have powers like that in the real world, they would more often lend themselves to moments of real horror than to moments of Boy Scouts saving folks from falling buildings. 

1. Phenomena
2. Carrie
3. The Fury
4. Firestarter
5. Brightburn
6. The Crow
7. New Mutants
8. Split
9. Scanners
10. Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Warriors
11. Akira
12. Dead Zone
13. Chronicle
14. Blade
15. Tourist Trap

Creepy Dolls

On the creepy scale, does anything rate higher than creepy dolls? I mean, really? (Okay, maybe clowns, but even that would be too close to call without a photo finish.) What is it about things that are almost lifelike that scare us so? Especially things that are inanimate. It there something in them that reflects something we don't want to face back at us?

1. Dolls
2. Puppet Master
3. The Boy
4. Dead Silence
5. Love Object
6. M3ghan
7. Magic
8. Dolly Dearest
9. Marronnier
10. Corn
11. Tourist Trap 
12. Annabelle
13. Devil Doll
14. Bride of Chucky
15. Trilogy of Terror
16. The Devil's Machine
17. Baba Yaga
18. Anatomy
19. The Doll Master
20. Sociopatha

Stupid Shark Movies

I'll admit it. I love shark movies, both the genuinely awesome, scary ones that make me look twice at the ocean before entering the water at the beach AND the ones that are so stupid, so ridiculous that I simply laugh all the way through at the zany situations they create on celluloid. In fact, sometimes I prefer the really goofy ones, and the dumber the better. 

1. Sharktopus
2. Sharknado
3. Santa Jaws
4. Sand Sharks
5. Ice Sharks
6. Ghost Shark
7. Two-Headed Shark Attack
8. Empire of the Sharks
9. Sharknado III
10. Planet of the Sharks
11. Trailer Park Shark
12. Jurassic Shark
13. Ouija Shark
14. Toxic Shark
15. Malibu Shark Attack
16. Three-Headed Shark Attack
17. Sky Sharks
18. Bad CGI Sharks
19. Shark Night
20. Shark Week

Torture Porn

Not a fan of this subgenre, but the first Saw and the first Hostel, like the original found footage cannibal films, were groundbreaking horror flicks. Seems like the films they inspired were just insipid and uninspired derivatives. 

1. Saw
2. Hostel
3. The Wizard of Gore (original)
4. Martyrs
5. Cannibal Holocaust

Truly Weird/Genre Defying/Outliers

This last list is for my absolute favorite type of horror flicks, the kinds that don't fit neatly, or often at all, into easily definable categories. This is the place where the truly gifted or the truly insane come out to play. It's the kitchen where writers and directors operate with a blender and a spray nozzle more than with a paintbrush or a list of classic techniques and storylines. And it's where the best of the best in horror can usually be found (at least in my opinion). 

1. House (Hausu)
2. Usumaki
3. Lake Mungo
4. Rubber
5. Dave Made a Maze
6. The Lift
7. In the Mouth of Madness
8. Lord of Illusions
9. From Beyond
10. Chopping Mall
11. Cabin in the Woods
12. The Woman
13. Jacob's Ladder
14. Freaks
15. Donny Darko
16. Us
17. Waxworks
18. The Deaths of Ian Stone
19. Irreversible
20. It Follows
21. Frontier(s)
22. The Broken
23. The Baby
24. Scare Me
25. Santa Sangre