Monday, August 10, 2009

The Vault of Horror: The "Cyber-Horror Elite" Present: THE HORROR CANON#links#links

Some time last week, I got an e-mail from B-Sol of "The Vault of Horror" fame asking for a top ten essential horror films list. Why did he require such a list you may be wondering? So he could do some mathematical magic and come up with a sort of "Horror Canon" if you will. A list of films that any fan of horror, whether a veteran or someone new to the game, should be required to see in order to be considered a horror aficionado. Of course, I was honored to be considered for such a task, as everyone involved are the coolest of the cool when it comes to horror blogging, so being in anyway down with that crew of mofo's is very flattering indeed...I just hope they have a cool handshake like Depp and Deluise from 21 Jump Street did!

It took me a few days to shift things around and add a few/drop a few before making it an official essentials list, and to be honest, it was actually kinda hard (the list, you pig!), but here is the 10 that I came up with…

1. Halloween
2. Night of the Living Dead
3. Alien
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
5. Hellraiser
6. The Exorcist
7. Suspiria
8. The Evil Dead
9. Psycho
10. The Fly

I really tried to mix up the movies by having different themes and/or genres. Body horror, Slasher, Social Commentary, Sci Fi, Giallo, Exploitation, get the drift.

It was tough with my pick for The Fly at number ten, as it was a back and forth between The Thing and The Fly until I ultimately went with The Fly because of the body horror aspects and also Carpenter already had my top film to represent his horror legacy. I also struggled with leaving off films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Jaws, and all of the 20's and 30's Universal Monster films probably the most, but it isn't an easy thing to do, putting a list like this can't have 20 movies fit on a top 10 list!

So, the end result is my list along with a whole bunch of other horror fiends lists - resulting in the "Horror Canon," a list of 35 horror film must sees for anyone that dare call themselves a horror fan. Click on the clicky link thing below and check out the official list at The Vault of Horror. It has some interesting movies on it, and should generate a ton of great movie dialogue about what belongs and what doesn't. And isn't that what it's all about? Debating, and generally taking about horror films? Enjoy!



  1. I really dig your list Matt.
    It is basically what my list would have looked like. Expect I would have 86ed "Psycho" and subbed "The Birds" and swapped "The Exorcist" with "The Shining". Fab list though. Way to represent!

  2. Ha! I can't believe you "86ed" one movie for another!

    I'm glad you dig the list though, and The Shinning is one that could very easily have made mine. If it wasn't for The Exorcists history and how it caused such a ruckus when it was released, it could have been bumped off the list for a film I like better.

    I was thinking of putting horrors modern masterpiece Chaos on my list, but it is a little too new to have on an essentials list...maybe next time!

  3. Thanks for taking part, Matt! Glad to have you aboard.

  4. Great picks, Matt - I can't believe I left Texas Chainsaw off my list!

  5. Thanks, Jeff! That is one that came immediately to mind when I began pondering my list.


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