Just Keep Telling Yourself It's Only a Thread: Talking Time's Top 50 Horror Movies!

1) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
2) Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
3) Halloween (1978)
4) The Thing (1982)
5) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
6) Alien (1979)
7) The Terminator
8) Predator (1987)
9) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
10) Friday the 13th Part 3D (When seen in its proper 3D presentation)
11) Hellraiser
12) Mandy
13) Reanimator
14) Hereditary
15) Get Out
16) It Follows
17) Creepshow
18) Suspiria (1977)
19) The Bride of Frankenstein
20) Dracula (1931)
21) Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight
22) An American Werewolf in London
23) Midsommar
24) The Strangers
25) Suspiria (2018)

But if you asked tomorrow, the entire list might be different.

Oh hell, no!

1) Babadook (2014)
2) Poltergeist (1982)
3) Alien (1979)
4) Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948): It may be a comedy, but this movie manages to be quite an effective climax to the original “Dark Universe.” Can you believe this was the third movie to group Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolf Man, and the first one where they...actually interact with each other? The Wolf Man has gone in a great direction, with his human form utterly beleaguered at his inability to die or end his curse (which requires ignoring/retconning previous movies, but even those movies ignored/retconned their own predecessor), so choosing to direct his energies at defeating other monsters. Lugosi returning to the role of Dracula (the only feature-length film other than the 1931 Dracula where he does so!) is incredible, and he’s fantastic when trying to pass as a harmless aristocrat. Unfortunately, the Frankenstein Monster is basically a prop at this point, and even though Abbott and Costello would work with Karloff on multiple occasions, he’s not on board for this one. But all the monsters get plenty of screentime, and screentime with each other. They’re all played totally straight, with the comedy deriving entirely from Abbot and Costello’s shenanigans. There are some classic Halloween setpieces, with spooky woods and stormy castles, there’s a surprise bonus monster/actor, the score is iconic (I always think of this movie’s respective musical cues for the monsters as their themes), there’s even a really nifty animated intro. And it’s absolutely hilarious!
5) Godzilla (1954)
6) War of the Gargantuas (1966): While it may be a stretch to call this horror, as kaiju flicks go, this one goes particularly out of its way to place individuals in peril in shocking and inventive ways. And since this is kinda, sorta, a Frankenstein movie (long story), it’s fitting that it has far more moments resembling traditional horror movie scares than others. This movie opens strong, with a ship suffering a suspense-filled octopus attack, before said octopus is suddenly driven off by one of the eponymous Gargantuas, who proves to be even more terrifying. There are some really creative shots throughout this movie as the Gargantua seeks out humans to gobble, including using forced perspective to have both it and fleeing victims swimming in the same shot, a shot of some boaters suddenly seeing it staring up at them from beneath the surface, its legs blending in with trees in a misty forest, and it sprinting, which sets it apart from most kaiju. Outside of the horror vein, there’s a lot of monster-derived pathos in this one, with a pair of kaiju brothers who have very differing stances on humans. Generally one of the strongest Toho flicks, with the only real mark against it being that it doesn’t really have an ending...it just smashes to a halt.
7) Rodan (1956): This is one of those movies where it’s really hard to go in without knowing the premise, but it’s a great ride if you can manage that. There are layers and layers of red herrings, and the movie is suspenseful. Our protagonists are from a small mining village, and the mines and caverns make for very effective scenery, especially before the mystery has been revealed. After the revelation...well this is a film where Toho goes particularly all-out with the effects (and would in fact recycle many shots from this movie well into the 1970s). And it manages to generate some sympathy for the titular critters by the end.
8) Aliens (1986)
9) Terminator (1984)
10) Psycho (1960)
11) The Birds (1963)
12) Predator (1987)
13) The Thing (1982)
14) Halloween (1978)
15) Scream (1996)
16) The Fly (1986)
17) Get Out (2017)
18) Us (2019)
19) The Blob (1958): This movie opens with a very silly theme song! Also, I'm not sure how conscious this was, but it seems to inspire a few iconic movie sequences (like Jurassic Park's kitchen scene). It has a surprisingly open-minded message about bridging the generation gap, particularly with a cop learning a lesson about his prejudices against those wild teenagers. And it manages to close on an incredibly dark and ominous note that is a really effective sequel hook, even though that's only in retrospect, and it was almost definitely intended as an unambiguously happy ending at the time.
20) Trick r Treat (2007)
21) Shining (1980)
22) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954): The location, the creature effects, and the swimming/aquatic cinematography go a long way in this movie. It does manage to be quite suspenseful, and creates an incredibly memorable creature (who is an extremely sympathetic character throughout).
23) Cabin in the Woods (2011)
24) Identity (2003): My wife introduced me to this movie just this past year, and it may dip more into "mystery/thriller" than horror, but it definitely has spooky vibes. It centers on a small group of people stranded in a remote motel under a range of tragic-unpleasant circumstances. But all is not what it seems! It has some intriguing twists and turns, and I like the mood it sets.
25) Bride of Frankenstein (1935)