50 Unmissable Horror Movies
41. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Italian cult horror film Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is widely considered the first found-footage horror film. Although its graphic violence led the film to be banned in many countries following its release, its innovative style was certainly influential and led to the making of one of the most successful independent films of all time, the landmark horror film The Blair Witch Project.
Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, the film follows three college students, Heather (Heather Donahue), Mike (Michael C. Williams) and Josh (Joshua Leonard), during the production of a documentary on the legend of the Blair Witch, who is said to haunt the woods around Burkittsville, Maryland. However, things take a turn for the worse when the group ventures into the woods and cannot seem to find their way out. Frustrated and lost, the group unravels as they realize that something in the woods is hunting them.
The Blair Witch Project was made for just $60,000 and grossed nearly $250million, making it the eleventh highest-grossing film of 1999 and one of the most profitable films of all time. Reception to The Blair Witch Project was similar to that of Ring, which was released the year prior. The film’s mockumentary style inspired fellow hits Cloverfield (2008), Paranormal Activity (2009), and The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014). MR
Recommended for you: 10 Best Found-Footage Horror Movies
42. The Sixth Sense (1999)
10 Best The Sixth Sense Moments
M. Night Shyamalan made an instant statement with his sophomore feature The Sixth Sense. It was a movie so good that magazines were dubbing him the next Steven Spielberg…
The film stars Bruce Willis as Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist trying to help out a young boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment), who claims he “can see dead people”.
A small-scale, personal thriller of the very best kind, The Sixth Sense matches scares and spookiness with heartbreak and tenderness. As much as Crowe is trying to help Cole, the relationship works the other way around – Crowe’s relationship issues mirror Cole’s inability to connect with those around him. The film may have its ghosts and shocks and shivers, but it is most of all a story about two human beings trying to help each other. It’s an incredibly touching and intimate film, culminating in one of the greatest twist endings ever conceived, pulled off with such incredible deftness that it seems like a magic trick.
The Sixth Sense was an instant hit, taking the record for the largest August box office taking in the USA, and matching Titanic in being only the second film to ever make $20million (or more) at the box office for five weekends straight. It ended its theatrical run as the ninth highest-grossing film of all time. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Supporting Acting (for Osment and his on-screen mother Toni Collette), but came away empty handed. It established Shyamalan as one of the biggest directors working, and remains as likely to leave you crying as it is to leave you screaming. KJ
43. Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
Ju-on: The Grudge tells of a terrifying curse born from a violent murder-suicide that haunts a house in Tokyo. When a social worker named Rika (Megumi Okina) is assigned to visit the home, she encounters the curse’s ghostly manifestations, including Kayako (Takako Fuji), a vengeful spirit, and her son, Toshio (Yuya Ozeki). Each person who enters the house becomes entangled in the curse, condemned to die or disappear mysteriously, spreading the malevolent force further. The story unfolds non-linearly, following multiple characters as they experience the curse’s effects, creating a chilling tapestry of dread.
Following two other Ju-on films, Takashi Shimizu’s third film in the franchise was the first to be released theatrically in the West and is now considered a landmark in Japanese horror film. The non-linear narrative creates a disorientating and suspenseful experience. This slow-building tension marks a departure from more traditional horror tropes, focusing on a pervasive sense of dread rather than shock. This is best exemplified in the terrifying death rattle sound which has kept viewers up at night since 2002.
Internationally, Ju-On: The Grudge attracted a lot of attention from horror fans. The original US DVD release contained an audio commentary featuring horror titans Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel. An American remake sharply followed, which director Shimizu returned for. Nowadays, the franchise has amassed thirteen films thanks to Ju-On: The Grudge’s success. GT
Recommended for you: 10 Great Japanese Horror Movies
44. Saw (2004)
In Australia at the turn of the millennium, two young men wanted to break into the film industry. They asked each other how they could keep two men in a room for an entire film to keep budgets down as much as possible. At home one night, Leigh Whannell wrote the word “SAW” on a piece of paper, with blood dripping from it. Following a concept short made in an attempt to get the film greenlit, Lionsgate gave Whannell and co-conspirator in mayhem James Wan $700,000 to make their horror thriller, not realising that it would turn into the seventh most profitable horror franchise of all time, and give license to an entire modern subgenre.
With Whannell and The Princess Bride (1987) actor Cary Elwes chained up in a disused bathroom, given instructions by the Jigsaw Killer to complete their respective tasks or rot, police detectives chase down the killer across the city. Due to a limited budget, and despite the reputation of its sequels, the first film has surprisingly little blood or gore. Saw is a perfect potboiler, ratcheting up the tension inch by inch, moment by moment, all the while knowing from very early on after discovering a pair of handsaws, that one of them in the bathroom is going to take it to their ankle to escape. With memorable moments such as the reverse bear-trap flashback, a puppet inspired by Dario Argento’s Deep Red, and a sucker punch twist that ranks up there with the best, Saw is a remarkably accomplished film.
With a dynamic style due to very little shooting time, the grotty and grimy presentation gives Saw an authentically dirty feel in the same way that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) had done thirty years earlier. This no doubt helped it to become a roaring success at Sundance Festival in early 2004, convincing Lionsgate to give it a wide release at Halloween. It would go on to make over $100million at the box office, greenlighting Saw II after only a few days on the big screen. Imitators such as Hostel (2005) would follow in quick succession, but they lacked the roughness of Saw, the tight mystery script, or the creative desperation. When you think of horror films in the 2000s, you think of Saw. KJ
Recommended for you: Saw Movies Ranked
45. The Strangers (2008)
The home-invasion subgenre is fairly niche, and there are only a few home-invasion horrors that have pulled it off correctly. One of those is The Strangers (2008), a small film starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman; a couple experiencing difficulties after a turned-down marriage proposal. At a remote cabin set up for what was supposed to be a romantic getaway, they have a knock at the door from a young girl asking if Tamora is home. Thinking everyone is gone, Liv Tyler tries to get the place in order. She’s wrong. Not everyone is gone… there’s a masked stranger in the house.
A simple structure of a couple facing an allegory for relationship troubles in the form of Dollface, Pin-up Girl, and Man in the Mask, The Strangers succeeds thanks to a stripped-down script, tight direction, and a simple but relentless gauntlet.
From the moment there’s a knock on the door, the chills stay deep within the bones and the hairs on the arm firmly upright. The mystery of the strangers’ identity only adds to the terror. There is no bargaining, no end in sight, no solutions. You survive their playful toying with your lives, or you do not. There are no alternatives. It’s grim and realist and incredibly bleak.
The fairly bloodless film – which acted as a change of pace from the glut of splatter films beginning to fill the screens in this period – became a slow-burning sleeper hit. Making $83million from a budget of $9million, The Strangers had its critics but nevertheless became a modern cult classic. A sequel, The Strangers: Prey At Night, was released in 2018, followed by a trilogy of standalone sequels, with the first, The Strangers: Chapter One, released in May 2024. With a number of home-invasion films such as You’re Next (2011), The Purge (2013), and even Knock At the Cabin (2023), coming out since the film’s release, The Strangers helped to energise this next wave of the subgenre, whilst always remaining a short and sharp thriller in its own right. KJ
Nice work everyone. Next year: 50 MORE unmissable horror films.
What a list, truly something for every horror movie lovers’ taste!