Top 10 Groundbreaking Horror Movies of All Time
Steve Barton
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Freaks (1932)
Directed by Tod Browning
Any time you can grab a video of a guy with no arms and no legs rolling and lighting his own cigarette, it’s advisable that you do it. It almost sounds like a setup for a joke… What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs who smokes? Hack. (*rim shot*) In all seriousness, Browning’s film, which is also in the US Film Registry, was legendary for bypassing all the inconveniences of having to create circus freaks using F/X and just went out and hired actual circus performers. Kind of like the original reality TV. Having worked at a sideshow in his youth, Browning was familiar with the atmosphere and the composition of the performers and put that into his work. He obviously held the circus freaks in high regard as in his film he portrayed them as heroes and “normal” people as the antagonists. Freaks is unforgettable for its absolutely remarkable cast, the likes of which has never been assembled again. A truly unique film that opened doors and pushed the limits of what was “acceptable” to show on film. Gabba, gabba, hey!
Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Directed by a true master filmmaker and promoter, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was not only an amazing piece of filmmaking, but it was marketed brilliantly. Hitchcock kept everything about Psycho under tight wraps to be sure the film’s secret stayed a secret. Reviewers were not even allowed early screenings for fear the shocking ending would be leaked. And this was before file sharing and SOPA! The shower scene was like nothing audiences had seen before. (Also, viewers had never had the opportunity to see a toilet on the big screen either, but Psycho fixed that as well!) Often credited as the first slasher film and said to inspire later films to use more gore, Psycho (also on the US National Film Registry) was acted, directed and sold to the public in brilliant fashion. An inspiration for horror creators on the same level that Black Sabbath is an inspiration to metal bands, everything goes back to this.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Directed by George A. Romero
This landmark film did nothing less than define the modern zombie as we know it today. Even though the beasts in the film were referred to as ghouls, the shuffling, shambling undead invading that Pennsylvania farmhouse were the direct ancestors of all the zombies we have today. Think about the massive amounts of entertainment revolving around the modern zombie – television series, comics, web series, feature films and shorts – and that’s not even counting all the zombie-themed events we participate in socially, like zombie walks and zombie pub crawls. These all look back and trace their roots to the one and only Night of the Living Dead. This is another one that is enshrined in the US National Film Registry. It simply influenced a massive amount of entertainment. Thanks to Romero and his creative vision and determination, zombies went from slaves of voodoo witch doctors to the flesh-craving nightmares we know and love today.
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