The Haunt Of Fear: ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Results Thread

When I was little, my mom, the furthest thing from an intellectual of the arts for lack of a better way to put it, said of The Shining, "You almost want Wendy to get it!" Unsettled me even then. Then last month read almost the exact same quote from Kubrick. Make of that what you will.

Phase IV got 4 votes from the first 18 ballots. It got one more vote for the entirety of the polling period thereafter. It landed in slot #190, between Naked Lunch and Cannibal Holocaust.

God Told Me To is the best Larry Cohen film (that I've seen anyway) that about midway through goes from being a weird scummy-70s murder mystery to totally batshit I-cannot-believe-this-is-happening pseudo-religious alien abduction gender studies 101 headfuckery. MUST SEE

Argh, the top three of 'the next 50' were all ones I voted for.

Things I voted for that I am superpissed did not place shame on all of you for not c+ping my ballot etc

5. God Told Me To
11. Society
16. Basket Case
19. The Hellstrom Chronicle
20. American Psycho
22. Piranha
24. The Return of the Living Dead
29. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
30. Slither

When I was little, my mom, the furthest thing from an intellectual of the arts for lack of a better way to put it, said of The Shining, "You almost want Wendy to get it!" Unsettled me even then. Then last month read almost the exact same quote from Kubrick. Make of that what you will.

Wendy is not sympathetic. Her sad little bat swings and the fact that she only accidentally connects with Jack's head. She's like the ultimate "Why doesn't she just leave??!?" DV victim. Which is why, for me, it's even more awesome that she gets the job done and gets them out of there. Danny is the hero in that he defeats the monster (his own dad) by being quick and clever, but Wendy's the adult who gets Danny out of the house and eventually gets them down off the mountain.

The Shining WAY TOO LOW!

About halfway through the countdown, I jotted down my prediction for the Top 10 (no order)--got six of them:

(Right) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Night of the Living Dead
Rosemary’s Baby
Psycho
The Shining
The Wicker Man

(Wrong) The Evil Dead II
The Exorcist
The Night of the Hunter
+ something Japanese

i really have not been able to keep up with this thread very diligently so i totally missed that The Exorcist already placed yesterday, and let me just say how the fuck a) did it miss the top 10 and b) was i the only person to vote #1 for it?

Also, now that the poll is completely over and I can say a couple things I wanted to during the rollout:

I am MOSTLY very pleased with the way the results shook out. There's a nice mix of true horror, conceptual horror, art horror, cult horror, and "not really horror" -- it's the combination of them all that allows the "not really horror" to slide by virtue of context. In other words, I think it's pretty cool that you all pushed Threads into the final results, even if I would be hard pressed to include it under even some of the largest umbrellas of horror.

As the decade breakdown shows, the demographic breakdown here obviously favors the '70s and '80s. I can personally live with that because I subscribe to the idea that horror movies really came of age in the '60s. I imagine the same people who ran screaming up and down the aisles at The Mummy and The Phantom of the Opera still weren't sure that train wasn't going to bust through the screen and run them down one of these times.

(Exception: I'm glad that even with vote-splitting going on, we were able to chart a healthy portion of Val Lewton's work.)

I'm happy that some of the movies I've always thought waaaaaay overrated on most horror lists -- Silence of the Lambs, The Exorcist, Jaws -- got knocked down a peg or two in these rankings. Particularly gratifying as personal interest in Carrie, NotLD and Texas Chainsaw had me on edge watching those three bob in and out of the top 10 (even 20) throughout the course of the polling.

Conversely, there is just one single movie in the top third of this list whose presence there just fucking irks me to no end, and it just seemed to keep gaining momentum the more ballots that came in (to the point that it flirted with top 20 once or twice). The Ring. What the fuck do you people see in that movie. It's totally lame. It's not scary. It's like the movie version of a kid's carousel outside a K-Mart store painted black and affixed with a few cotton-ball cobwebs. You can debate all you want about whether Don't Look Now, Hour of the Wolf, The Wicker Man or anything by Lynch actually count as horror. I could dwell on the presence of the probably too new Cabin in the Woods or the not scary and even less funny Shaun of the Dead. I'd give any one of them a pass over The Ring, which is obv intended as horror but fails on every conceivable level. It's a horror movie for people who are basically anti-horror. That's my one unabashed challop over the whole results, and I think you'll agree I earned one. That The Ring's ranking kept The Evil Dead out of the top 30, The Brood out of the top 50, The Beyond out of the top 100, just burns me up.

Related note: I haven't seen Jacob's Ladder in its entirety, and I remember thinking what I saw was pretty good and all, but damn if most of you that included it high up on your ballots weren't the same people voting for The Ring. I'll watch it from start to finish one of these days, but my guard is up.

+ Something Japanese was totally robbed btw, scared me out of my skin

Silly, I know--hope it doesn't come off patronizing. Just an admission I don't know that stuff very well.

there are only 2 Kubrick films i like more than the shining and that would be 2001 and dr. strangelove. i was even more obsessed w/ the shining than w/ a clockwork orange when i was a teen. it was #2 on my ballot & could've just as easily been #1 so FU shining haters.

I just got off the phone from another DEADLY LONG meeting but WOW
thanks to all of you for making this a fun week, but esp Eric and Pillbox for the hard work

oh and the other person who voted TWM #1

It's the gentlest horror movie in the top 10!

Eric, do you mean only the American the Ring, or do you include Ringu in that rant too?

La Lech, I wanna see your ballot! To the ballots thread, immediatement.

Just the American one. The one directed by the guy responsible for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Which are scarier than The Ring.

I subscribe to the idea that horror movies really came of age in the '60s. I imagine the same people who ran screaming up and down the aisles at The Mummy and The Phantom of the Opera still weren't sure that train wasn't going to bust through the screen and run them down one of these times.

Assuming this isn't trolling, here's more proof (in case anyone needed it) that Boomers have colonized all master narratives.

also, Val Lewton's films (along w/night of the hunter and freaks) are exactly the types of lol old-timey movies that would appeal most strongly to current tastes and sensibilities, even if they aren't gory. so i'm not at all surprised that so many Lewton films ended up in the Top 100.

i also cosign w/ eric's critique of the ring. but whatevah.

ok! momentico...

two people voted for Wake in Fright in a Top 100 Horror poll?! ARE THEY KANGAROOS?????

KJB, you'll have to forgive me if I'm overstating things now. It was a long seven days to remain (mostly) neutral.

But, yeah, poll no doubt voted on by mostly 20- and 30-somethings in preferring the films from 10 years on either side of their birth year shockah.

FTR:

Action poll winner: 1988
Comedy poll winner: 1980
Horror poll winner: 1980

Lewton's four films in the Top 100 was a highlight for me; non-finish of Friday the 13th was also gratifying. (I mean, the lower reaches would have been fine, but at one point I started to wonder if it was going to finish high, and that wouldn't have made sense to me.)

i would like to say i voted for Jacob's Ladder but not The Ring, which i've always regarded as even more of a pop culture flash in the pan than Blair Witch, i was totally surprised by its high ranking

OK, I feel like I ask this w/every poll that I either don't follow or do so only intermittently, but is it possible to see the results w/o loading the entire 4,000-post thread?

Permalink a post for me if that's easiest.

112. The Omen [151/7] 0_o

would never have predicted this so low. i'm amazed.

The Haunt Of Fear: ILX Top 100 HORROR Movies Poll Results Thread

Thanks, Eric.

Much as I was glad to see the Lewton films place (being the one who voted Seventh Victim #1) I'd have to say that the exclusion of The Body Snatcher was probably the major disappointment for me. ILX did get rid of it. :(

I'm pretty surprised by the low placing of the Omen, too. I prefer it to the Exorcist, though it's not one of my favourite horrors by a long shot. It's just kind of fun.

Pirates & The Ring rule!

Eric, you were an AMAZING host. And guys, those stills. Thanks!

Never really cared for The Omen, or frankly many of the evil child sub genre. Recently, Joshua was an exception, but mostly because it's basically a metaphor for having a gay child.

a horror film w/ the 2nd Doctor (who doesn't get regenerated after he gets snuffed), Atticus Fitch & David Warner's flying decapitated head filmed from 4 different camera angles (one of the greatest GOTCHA! moments in film history b/c it was meant to fuck w/ folks who covered their eyes when they saw it coming) will always have a special place in my heart.

i mean, this is just so awesome on so many levels:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLlSjyZupzU

OK, I feel like I ask this w/every poll that I either don't follow or do so only intermittently, but is it possible to see the results w/o loading the entire 4,000-post thread?

there is this - the "ILX List of Lists" thread, where poll results are linked for future reference

personally, i always wish that poll managers would ask mods to update the OP to include a link to the ballot results (hint hint), but this suggestion hasn't proved terribly popular in the past

or frankly many of the evil child sub genre

Ophan is good for some pitch-black comedy & assorted ott lols

See my evil child faves 34,736 posts ago.

Thanks Eric, this was great. It was fun to make the ballot, and it gave me a lot to watch. I have library rentals of Onibaba and Wicker Man sitting by the TV. Totally feel you on The Ring, it felt like the world's longest Korn video.

Man now that I have seen the top 150 man you people really really hate the hostel movies huh?

Any chance of knowing where they placed Eric?

Totally feel you on The Ring, it felt like the world's longest Korn video.

LOL I voted for The Ring and like it a lot, but very LOL

cosign on LOL'ing at tipsy's comparison of the ring to a Korn video.

There are only about 10 or so of all the films mentioned in this entire thread, including ballots, that I've never heard of. I wonder if they are alternate titles?

oh man i just got home and finally got to look at this thread on my computer rather than my phone. THE GIFS! thank you so much, eric and pillbox.

What a great list. The only thing that bums me is all those wonderful & original films after #100 & seeing Cabin in the Woods in their place.

it's a shame that the impact of Salem's Lot (@ least over here in the UK) was badly diminished by a butchered 'theatrical' edit that was all you could get on VHS, was an hour shorter and made no sense, it was terrible. you couldn't get a full length home video version until the mid 1990s. i'm sure that if you could it'd have the same rep as many of the great King adaptations cause it's bloody terrifying even now. very little has dated about the actual horror aspects.

amazing poll though aye; hats off poll-organiser chaps!

I guess I'm not as completely unschooled on horror as I thought...I've seen 35 of the top 100, and ten more from #101-150.

This has been a lot of fun to follow, even as a non-voter. I have some must-sees on my list now. Thx to Eric and Pillbox for running this.